A Dancing Rant for the Record Book

Just in case it matters, ranting here is just straight dope, not pointless blather. It's anti-blather.

Ranting has more meanings than blind polemics, which I find mostly useless, and usually off-point. The definition I like best is the Scottish derivation to frolic or make merry. That may seem a strange way to deal with facts and truth, but I tend toward depression over public affairs, the level of gridlock in politics, and the apparent willingness of persons in power or fame to trade truth for expediency. And by truth I mean to include the common good; and by expediency I mean to include special and selfish interests.

An obvious partial antidote for this is to speak truth to power, or at least to speak truth to oneself. But another aspect to the antidote is not to take every step with rancor, but instead to wrap in a few dances along with the stumbling. A few Zorba (the Greek) dance steps (syrtaki or συρτάκι) and a bit of ouzo (ούζο) will speak truth to power at least as well as most NY Times columns and a batch of Twitter feeds. And if that's not actually true, then the ouzo at least tastes better, especially with a little earthy bdrmm, bdrmm, bdddrmm to go along with it, and perhaps with the Aegean in the background.

We may not always be able to get the powerful to focus, even after a healthy dose of straight dope. But that doesn't mean we can't interlace our own arms with our neighbors' shoulders and remind ourselves, along with a little rant that we're all in this together.


* Ouzo Bottle, photo from Wikipedia by AlMare (2008), CC BY-SA 2.5

NGOs, to what end?

Hard to stay current on foreign events, what with America's major news sources spending a full minute or two a day on foreign events, and that devoted essentially to wars and threats of wars, and the occasional celebrity adoption or promo. The Global Journal, otoh, discusses NGOs: A Long and Turbulent History in a recent edition. There are some 20,000 NGOs.

The Global Journal lists their Top 100 picks, by category -

Education:  Wikimedia, Barefoot College, Room to Read
Development:  BRAC, Acumen, Mercy Corps
Environment:  Ceres, RARE, Water for People
Peacebuilding:  Cure Violence, APOPO, Search for Common Ground
Children and Youth:  Akshaya Patra, Aflatoun, Save the Children
Shelter:  Common Ground, Habitat for Humanity, Architecture for Humanity
- as well as several other categories, including Human Rights, Health, and Law and Justice.

Religious and other cultural outreaches are also included among the 20,000 NGOs.

Where does the motivation for all this effort come from? Religious fervor probably provides it's own emotional and rational grounding, but the rest looks largely altruistic. And wildlife preservation hasn't been mentioned yet.

I could simply say, Bravo! - but what I really want to know is: NGOs, to what end? This is not as simple a question as it may sound. Of course the goal, on the face of it, is to improve quality of life. But what motivation is being satisfied? It will sound brutal, perhaps, but why altruism, rather than conquer and lay waste, as in ages past? Is it guilt? Is it moral evolution? Is it cultural reorganization (for example, readjusting of nationalistic powers, and urges, blocking traditional imperialism while permitting international altruism to emerge)? Is it even genuine altruism and group to group cooperation? If so, do these efforts represent a new world vision?

If it's genuine altruism, why are the underlying (American) financial support groups not expending a lot more organized efforts to raise the educational opportunities and quality of life among America's poor?

* The NGO Network (source of the image above) is one of a number of collaborative efforts among NGOs. Other examples of collaborative efforts include the GEF-NGO and the IMF external networking with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

This is a huge subject which I hope to look at from time to time. For now here is a study on NGO Networks: Building Capacity in a Changing World, prepared in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

Some Topics to Discuss

Just a list of future topics:

Why does science matter?
Why do we think 'free enterprise' improves life?
Should distribution of income be directed?
Is religion substantial; is it waning; is it psychological?
What happened to history?
How does the mind work?
Is there a limit to knowledge?
Why are family groups so different than national groups?
Are we destroying the planet?

 

Get it right or go home

There's more than one way to look at almost anything: Science has all the answers. Religion has better answers. My political and economic views are more accurate than yours. Supply-side? No, Keynesian. I think social engineering is necessary. No, we should all be libertarians. Philosophy will guide us, provided it's the correct blend of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. No way. Materialism or some version of naturalism is the right ticket to the show. Regardless, it's logic or bust. No, we also need intuition, imagination and feelings.  Ranting and raving about all these things is fine if you have the right logic (and intuitions) behind you, and no hidden assumptions. The right logic and intuitions, not the right special interest. But remember, just because I said it, doesn't mean I meant it.  Well, there you go ... it is what it is.