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International 'Backs-to-the-Leaders' Day
Robert Jensen in 'Rhetoric Distorts Realities' speaks of 'moral relativism'
while the Ohio State graduating class is talking about the moral clarity of
'fascist rallies' (see footnotes). It seems high time that we reviewed the
basics of 'relativity' (ambiguity) and 'clarity' (absoluteness) in the context
of the world we live in. When we do, there is reason to propose the
celebrating of true leadership with an International 'Backs-to-the-Leaders'
day. Here's why;
Relativity says that when you live in the spherical space on the surface of
the earth, when you face someone, at the same time, your back is to them.
If you start off back-to-back with another person and proceed forward in a
straight line, you will eventually meet up face-to-face with that person.
Since we do not 'turn around' when we walk in a straight line, it is evident
that we are face-to-face and back-to-back at the same time.
We do not live on a flat earth. Sailors found this out when sailing in
a consistent compass direction and running into the same things they had left
behind some time ago (including their garbage). This is the
'relativity' property that characterizes motion in a finite space. The
mess that you make is, at the same time, the mess that you take.
But 'relativity' doesn't have to be negative, ... as the Beatles say; 'and in
the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make' (Lennon-McCartney)
Given that we live in a self-referential 'relative' space, ... one wherein
our actions reflect back to us, as 'relativity' says it must (read Henri
Poincar�'s 'The Relativity of Space', ... Poincar� was there before Einstein,
with the larger non-nerdy fundamentals of relativity).
The fascist leader who thinks he can line everyone up in the world to 'follow
the leader' is out of his gourd. Such a geometry could only work out
in a flat world, like the flat rectangularity of Euclidian geometry that
underpins our 'rational' thinking. If you push rationality too far
when you live in a spherical space, a 'relativistic' space, ... you will
involuntarily bump into yourself. That's what we're getting from
today's leadership (Bush, Blair, Sharon etc), ... who are pushing 'moral
clarity' to its rational and absurd limit with the aid of modern communications
and military technologies.
If only our 'real world' were an infinite flat plane as Plato and Euclid
assumed, we could look forward to a conflict-free future as we followed their 'purificationist'
lead.
But the reality is that our 'real world' is spherical and 'relative' and so
we need leadership that recognizes that, ... 'in the end, the war you make is
equal to the war you take'. The flora and fauna of the world, not to
mention the air, earth, water and heat, ... have already discovered this curious
fact about the flat-earth leader-follower management tactics of homo
sapiens, which are now reaching new levels of absurdity via 'globalization'..
But not all leaders want to line everyone up going in the same
direction. Some, like Kennedy and Churchill realized that in the
'relative' space of the real world, its more like a game of bumper cars where
everyone wants to have some fun without lining up, ... and if you want to 'drive
friendly' you have to 'let go' of your self-centered attempts to get
everyone going 'your way' and let your movements be guided by a kind of 'moral
relativity', ... of giving everyone the 'sacred space for their authentic
becoming' as the native american elders are wont to say. This is
what we do when we are driving 'friendly' on a crowded freeway; ....we open up
opportunity to move for each other. There is some natural 'moral
ambiguity' here since 'we' represents, at the same time, the
'individual-assertor' and, by way of our movement relative to others (i.e. by
way of how we co-produce the shape of the common enveloping possibility-to-move
space) the 'receptor-collective'. As a collective in this 'relative,
real-world space', as differentiated from the flat, empty, infinite rectangular
abstract-world space of Euclid, we have an opportunity to collaborate so that
our 'opening up possibility-to-move space' accommodates our individual
'assertive trajectories'. When we do this well, ... we achieve a
state of assertor-receptor resonance that is otherwise known as 'community
harmony'.
The real-world spherical space leaders who are adept at inducing 'community
harmony' understand how 'moral relativity' (the judgements you make are equal to
the judgements you take) is an intrinsically bigger concept than 'moral clarity'
(the 'right way' mutually excludes the 'wrong way' as in 'if you're not with us,
you're against us'), ... and by using their natural intuition, the spherical
space leaders don't fall victim to letting their rationality take them to the
flat-earth extremes of 'fascism'.
Electoral reforms seem to be needed. A pre-election qualifying
round for prospective leaders could include a televised bout of bumper-car
participation to see who amongst them induces assertor-receptor resonance aka
'community harmony'.
When elected, such leadership should be remembered in an International
'Backs-to-the-Leaders' day to respect their ability in orchestrating global
harmony in the presence of fundamental ambiguity, ... an ambiguity that is
innate in the self-referential world of our natural experience that has brought
us a wonderful diversity of different folks with different strokes.
emile,
www.goodshare.org
footnotes:
* * *
Bush urges 'culture of service' to
graduates at Ohio State commencement
Fri Jun 14,11:05 AM ET
BY LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON, Associated Press Writer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020614/ap_to_po/bush_7
... Bush was invited to speak at the Ohio State commencement by
representatives of the graduating class. But immediately before class members
filed into the giant football stadium, an announcer instructed the crowd that
all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone
demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest. The
announcer urged that Bush be greeted with a "thunderous" ovation.
And he was. When university President William Kirwan saluted Bush's response
to Sept. 11, the crowd of thousands stood to applaud, whistle and cheer.
* * *
Ohio State Graduation: If You Disagree,
You'll Be Expelled and Arrested (June 15, 2002) http://www.ucimc.org/front.php3?article_id=5967&group=webcast
... while lining up to enter, graduating students were told that they would
be expelled and arrested if they turned their backs, (http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=27823&forum=DCForumID35).
They were alerted that dozens of staff members and police officers would be
watching the stands, as well as the Secret Service. A few students asked for the
definition of expulsion....did it mean removal from the stadium or refusal of
their diplomas, or both? One of the persons at the front said "Both. And
what will your parents do when they are paged from the crowd to bail out their
son?"
So, resolute in their faith in the 1st Amendment, some students turned their
back on Bush despite the threats against their entire futures. And they were
immediately led out of the stadium by the cops. During the walk, the cops
refused to say whether or not the students were under arrest. At the exit, the
cops informed the students that they were being charged with disturbing the
peace, but if they left (and this is THEIR GRADUATION, mind you), the charges
would be dropped.
So, prepare yourselves, if you love the Constitution and the rights it holds
dear - because apparently this new administration and attitude of the US - that
it's ok to give up our right to dissent - is much stronger than I thought. I
would have expected for the crowd to start booing, for people to take to the
field and protest this blatant attack on the First Amendment - but no, nothing.
... If we don't protest the loss of our rights, then we are the enablers and we
allow this to happen. Don't be silent! Because if you don't start now,
while there's still time to do something, it WILL be too late later. ...
Being afraid to speak out and allowing others to have their rights stripped from
them - this is a treacherous, dangerous road to go down - but apparently people
have already resigned themselves to it. ... "When university President
William Kirwan saluted Bush's response to Sept. 11, the crowd of thousands stood
to applaud, whistle, and cheer." It's begun.
* * *
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