Don't know quite how to respond to this. The guy talking about China is
confident and impressive, and undoubtedly China is now on a steady rise while
the US and Europe are flipping this way and that.
But then every country that has espoused a new way of seeing itself politically
and of organizing itself into something more ideal than it was has exuded
confidence and has had its clever people say good things about it.
I'm reading a very interesting if somewhat depressing book right now. It's
"Bloodlands" by Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale. The book deals
with the political and economic growth of Nazi Germany and the nascent Soviet
Union and how the ideology of each state, and the conflict between them,
affected the people that lived between their respective boundaries - the Poles,
the Ukrainians, the Lithuanians, the people of the Balkans, etc. The conflict,
based both on ideology and the egotism of leaders like Hitler and Stalin and
their upper echelon followers, led to mass starvation, the shipment of large
numbers of people to remote prison camps (the gulag), the creation of Jewish
ghettos, and simply shooting large numbers of people on the spot (among them my
Polish grandfather).
Yes, China is growing and becoming a strong and wealthy country. But one does
have to recall events such as Mao's cultural revolution and the continuing
movement of large numbers of people from the countryside to the toxic
megacities that account for much of the country's growth. And yes, China is
well organized, but then so were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. For a
country to be well organized doesn't mean that its people are happy with the
planning and organizing they are being subjected to. One hears snippets here
about how unhappy some people are. One even hears about rebellion here and
there.
So it's nice to hear the guy talk about how good things are getting in China.
But it makes you wonder whether they really are that good.
Ed
________________________________
From: Ray Harrell <mc...@nyc.rr.com>
To: 'Steve Kurtz' <kur...@ncf.ca>; "RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,
EDUCATION" <futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 7:04:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] important talk
I've watched this three times and thought a lot about it.
First of all, "don't fool with us, we have our culture we love authority and
always have. We are happy here." (I remember those Soviets visiting our
school and talking Soviet Agriculture and how wonderful it was and how they
would soon not need to buy our wheat. Didn't happen. Although they did do
a lot of wonderful educational things, it was a mixed bag as Ed points out
every so often.
Second: Chaos outside of an election is the best form of flexibility as shown
by the wild and destructive swings from Mao to the present. He spoke of our
hubris but this definition of flexible went beyond hubris and into the absurd.
Jihad maybe? Or Kublai black banner foreign policy when he ran low on funds.
Except the Spirits of the Sea wouldn't cooperate and destroyed that
"flexibile" approach. Much as they did to the Spanish Armada.
Third: Once they've caught us then they have to replace our creativity with
their theft of ideas. I don't see new work coming out of China although the
science in space and stem cells escapes the current nihilism of American
business in relation to the two. There is lots of amazing technique and
virtuosity but the core that creates an option to the problems at hand?
There's always the Three Rivers Dam.
As for culture? Yes, they have culture in spades and a long history of
creativity within the context of authority. The question is whether once you
have authority and discipline, what happens next? Today they are trying on
Western econo-idolatry. The religion of money. How long before they
discover the hollow core of that? There's still Adam Smith's first
masterpiece. They are however a long way away from the concept of consensus
that brings everyone along and makes government struggle to NOT follow the easy
way.
Ultimately this young man reminded me of the Soviet people sent out to push
their system and the counterpart in Radio America and those lies. It's all a
story and each person should be careful. It's a mine field.
REH
From:Steve Kurtz [mailto:kur...@ncf.ca]
Sent: Sunday, July 14, 2013 4:01 PM
To: Mike Hollinshead; Ray Evans Harrell; Keith Hudson; ROY MADRON; Kenn von
Kaufmann; Tony Judge
Subject: important talk
The guy is excellent. Worth the 20 minutes. I prefer meritocracy, but can't
speak to its reality there.
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_x_li_a_tale_of_two_political_systems.html
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
Futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca
https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
Futurework@lists.uwaterloo.ca
https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
