Culture

Reflections on the Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

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Freedom arrived in the late 1980s, and its symbol was that singular image of “Tank Man” engaging in a brazen and courageous act of self-expression. Once unleashed, though, freedom created a ripple effect (more like a wave) that surged through the culture and threatened to wash away hundreds of years of social mores — the piety of Confucianism, the humiliation of Western imperialism, the righteousness of communism under Mao, all variants of a single unifying characteristic: shame.

Culture

Summer's Gone, or The Bliss of Suburbia

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The irony: I moved to the suburbs and bought a house with a yard so I could grow a garden. I moved to a place where I envisioned long solitary walks. A writer’s dream. I imagined peaceful summers.
I came from Manhattan because the noise and bustle crushed my soul.
Yet the noise is here, every moment, everywhere. My neighbors run machines, buzz buzz buzz. We cannot leave windows open, sleep in a hammock, or read a book in the shade.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

Remembering the Sixties: The Free Speech Movement

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Today, we hear a great deal of talk about the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and very little about the First. Yet, it is that amendment, defending as it does the rights of free speech and assembly, which is absolutely essential to the life of a democracy. We were idealists, who wanted our country to live up to its purported ideals. To that charge, I am still happy to plead no contest. If that made us criminals, so be it. We were loyal Americans, exercising our right to criticize the nation of which we were citizens, and which we loved.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

Myths of Power-with # 4: 
When Connection Trumps Everything

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Mixing up the kind of connection that supports healing with the kind of connection that supports trust and effectiveness, is likely to lead to disillusionment – with people, with groups, with decision-making, or with NVC. Instead, what I see as the path of possibility rests on understanding two key elements. One is about matching the kind of connection to the purpose at hand, and the other is about choosing the range of needs, beyond connection per se, that a group or leader attend to as part of the commitment to conscious power sharing. It is my deep faith that mastering the capacity to flexibly attend to multiple needs in multiple ways can result in groups that function effectively and collaboratively, without resorting to power-over strategies or getting mired in endless discussions that lead nowhere.

art

New Film on Hannah Arendt: Eichmann, Zionism & Other Controversies

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… the new film (“Hannah Arendt”) … lends credence to the simplistic notion that her controversial portrait of Adolf Eichmann at his Jerusalem trial was a mark of great insight. She didn’t merit the abuse that she suffered as a result; … but her most significant conclusions were drawn from the very limited range of Holocaust scholarship available to her in the early 1960s. …

Culture

65 Years Post-Holocaust, Germany Is the World's Most Popular Country (While Israel Barely Beats North Korea)

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However, the painful truth is this: while Germany as a country and a societal entity has largely (though not entirely) moved beyond the historical atrocities committed by the Nazis, the same unfortunately cannot be said for Israel. Israel’s continued subjugation of the Palestinians – its brutal occupation, illegal settlement enterprise, theft of Palestinian lands, and disinterest in pursuing peace initiatives – has inspired the world to look upon Israel with frustration and disdain.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC)

Leadership 101

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n short, people who feel empowered know they are agents, not pawns. When people take on an orientation of leadership, it becomes near impossible to oppress them. Stepping into leadership, by all of us, then, can become an inoculation against submission and passivity, paving the way for a collaborative future.

Culture

The Case Against Empathy

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However, if we are to survive as a society, if our planet is to survive, we are going to somehow have to become smart enough to rely on reason, and not empathy, to make our most important decisions. Yes, we will always be moral. And empathy will always, as an emotion, focus our attention on the personal stories we encounter. As it should.
But our survival depends, paradoxically, on our ability to overcome our emotionally-informed morality. On our ability to look at climate change statistics and say, “Yes, I must act. Immediately.”

Culture

The Tragedy of Self Immolation – No One Cares

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The cynic observer can’t help but wonder: If self immolation no longer works as an agent for change, then is it still worth the price?
At its most profound the act stands as the highest form of human compassion, a confirmation of life by giving up one’s own. At its most incoherent self-immolation becomes more expressive of the frustration of the powerless. The individual, enamored by death, possessed by anger, elicits neither horror nor pity but cynicism. After all, to burn with passion is very much different than to be consumed by rage.