We've heard plenty about the recession in the U.S., but what about the rest of the world? Countries across Europe have faced budget crunches and conservative governments are using the crisis as an excuse to roll back the social safety net that most have enjoyed for decades.
Many of the problems--and the solutions--sound sadly familiar. Lowered taxes on the rich and corporations, falling wages, and deregulation led to the crisis, which is being shifted onto the backs of the working class--as Michael Hudson notes, putting the class war back in business. Hudson joins us in studio, along with Richard Wolff, to discuss the economic crisis in Europe, what we can learn about the response to it and apply back at home. Here's a hint: it involves organized labor. http://www.grittv.org/
Investors at the CIA and Google are backing a company called "Recorded Future" that monitors tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts in real time in order to find patterns, events and relationships that may predict the future. The news comes amidst Google’s so-called "Wi-Spy" scandal, that refers to revelations that Google’s Street View cars operating in some thirty countries snooped on private Wi-Fi networks over the last three years. http://www.democracynow.org/
PressTVGlobalNews
Max Keiser is on the edge of the financial news where future financial scandals, market crashes and monetary crisis begin, be there before it happens
GAGuild
Local Sprouts' mission is to provide people in Maine with creative local and organic food and holistic learning through cooking food for our community. Local Sprouts is a new culinary and cultural organization that focuses on connecting people through sharing cooked food, mutual support, knowledge and developing local self-reliance. www.localsproutscooperative.com This vid was created by http://www.grassrootsactivistguild.org/
In this bracing talk, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse. Astonishing photos and stats make the case.
The Story of Cosmetics, released on July 21st, 2010, examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo. Produced with Free Range Studios and hosted by Annie Leonard, the seven-minute film by The Story of Stuff Project reveals the implications for consumer and worker health and the environment, and outlines ways we can move the industry away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives. The film concludes with a call for viewers to support legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of cosmetics and personal care products. http://storyofcosmetics.org
Nos enfrenta a la aceleración del calentamiento global, a la perdida de millones de especies, a la insensibilidad de los políticos y a la despreocupación de los ciudadanos ante un panorama que ha levantado y a las alarmas de los científicos de todo el mundo quienes opinan que la forma de vida de una parte de la humanidad va a condenar a toda al especie.
Five students sit down to talk with journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. In preparation for this encounter, the students spent a month reading Pilger's articles and books and watching his documentaries, as well as working with faculty mentors to develop their questions. This event was coordinated through the REEL Film and Speaker Series at Houston Community College's Town & Country Campus. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3380693972506979770
The current crisis appeared to materialize out of nowhere. Even regulators and financial authorities would have us believe that they were taken entirely by surprise. Dire headlines demanded quick action to prevent the collapse of the financial system. Politicians told us that we have to bail out Wall Street to keep Main Street afloat. As many of us lose our savings, our jobs and our homes, they tell us that we have to swallow hard and make sacrifices for the good of the country. The same political class tries to convince everyday Americans that the reasons for the bailout are too complicated for us to understand, so we must leave the solutions to the financial experts . . . the same ones that didn't see this coming. At the same time, they give our hard-earned money to Wall Street fat cats, without any strings attached, turning a deaf ear to our intense and vocal opposition. They saddle us and our children with an alarming debt burden as they expect us to passively allow the greatest transfer of wealth in American history.
Life On The Edge of A Bubble challenges the prevailing view of the sudden, unforeseeable and unique nature of the crisis by bringing to light the unfamiliar historical pattern; in fact, each generation has found itself precariously perched on the edge of a bubble. While the media focuses on symptoms, this film addresses the root causes that politicians, lobbyists and corporate executives conveniently avoid. The pattern unfolds for the viewer in an entertaining and accessible blend of archival footage, historical vignettes, and snapshots of current events, revealing the story in a sometimes irreverent, often surprising manner. The DVD also includes a special documentary short on the genesis of our nation's banking and financial system.
If knowledge is power, then this film arms the viewer with the information they need to restore the promise of the American Dream and a financial system that serves us all.
In this patriotic and sentimental film, international award winning Writer/Director Kevin P. Miller (GENERATION RX, WE BECOME SILENT) exposes how Canadians are being stripped of their personal sovereignty by government agencies — and how free trade deals and other international agreements imperil Canadian democracy.
Quietly, over a period of many years, unconstitutional legislation encompassed in Bills C-51, C-6, and the current Bill C-36 have placed not only basic civil liberties and freedoms at risk, but Canada's national sovereignty as well. The film shares how entangling alliances with groups like the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, Codex Alimentarius, the United States and even multinational corporate interests have become so powerful that they literally threaten to make elected officials in Parliament irrelevant.
A QUESTION OF SOVEREIGNTY discusses why this dramatic shift in the balance of power puts the nation and its people at a vital crossroad early in the 21st century — and why some of the past giants of Canadian politics may hold the answers to Canada's future.
GENERATION RX addresses many of the key issues surrounding the use of ADHD drugs, antidepressants, and anti-psychotic medications among children and teenagers worldwide. For decades, scores of doctors, government officials, journalists, and others have extolled the benefits of psychiatric medicines for children, said Miller, the films writer and producer. GENERATION RX presents the rest of the story and unveils how this era of unprecedented change in Western culture really occurred and what price has been paid by our society. By employing the expertise of internationally respected professionals from the fields of medicine, ethics, journalism, and academia, Kevin P. Miller investigates whether collusion between drug companies and their regulatory watchdogs at the FDA exists. He also focuses on the powerful stories of real families who followed the advice of their doctors and faced devastating consequences for doing so. GENERATION RX is a film about families who confronted horror and found nowhere to turn for help and how scores of children have been caught in the vortex of mind-bending drugs at the earliest stages of their growth and development. This powerful documentary also examines whether we have forced millions of children onto pharmaceutical drugs for commercial rather than scientific reasons. Ultimately, Miller says, Generation RX may help parents decide whether the perceived benefits of these medications outweigh the serious risks to children. Critics have already begun hailing the GENERATION RX as one of the best documentaries of 2008. Mike Adams, publisher of NewsTarget and Natural News says the film delivers a jawdropping emotional ride, and weaves a terrifying tale of criminal conspiracy. http://kevinpmiller.blogspot.com/
This documentary tells the story four people and their struggles with prescription drug abuse and also of one woman overcoming the death of her mother, who passed away from the disease of addiction from an overdose. This film delves into the characters introduction to the drugs, their downfall from addiction into their rock bottom, while leading into their hope for freedom from active addiction touching on their recovery process.
Consumer advocate, former presidential candidate and author, Ralph Nader, provides an assessment of the Obama administration's first sixteen months in office, and suggests new ways for progressives to succeed in electoral politics.
The final plenary at the 2010 LEFT FORUM conference in New York features Frances Fox Piven, Brian Jones, Arundhati Roy and Noam Chomsky. The presentation begins with a memorial for the beloved historian, Howard Zinn, and proceeds to the theme of the 2010 conference: "The Center Cannot Hold - Rekindling the Radical Imagination." http://www.pdxjustice.org/
How a Theory of the Neocortex May Lead to Truly Intelligent Machines
Jeff Hawkins (Numenta founder) presents as part of the UBC Department of Computer Science's Distinguished Lecture Series, March 18, 2010.
Coaxing computers to perform basic acts of perception and robotics, let alone high-level thought, has been difficult. No existing computer can recognize pictures, understand language, or navigate through a cluttered room with anywhere near the facility of a child. Hawkins and his colleagues have developed a model of how the neocortex performs these and other tasks. The theory, called Hierarchical Temporal Memory, explains how the hierarchical structure of the neocortex builds a model of its world and uses this model for inference and prediction. To turn this theory into a useful technology, Hawkins has created a company called Numenta. In this talk Hawkins will describe the theory, its biological basis, and progress in applying Hierarchical Temporal Memory to machine learning problems.
Part of this theory was described in Hawkins' 2004 book, On Intelligence. Further information can be found at www.Numenta.com
As part of UBC Psychologys 5th Annual Quinn Memorial Lecture (QML), held on Friday, 9 October 2009, from 4:30 - 5:30 pm. The title of this lecture is "Constructive memory: Remembering the past to imagine the future. " Daniel L. Schacter is Kenan Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Schachter is a renowned researcher whose research on memory and amnesia memory has had a profound impact on psychological science in general and cognitive neuroscience in particular. This webcast is sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Psych in the City 2007
Prejudice: The Roots of Discrimination may be Deeper than We Think
Dr. Stephen Wright
What does it mean to say that someone is prejudiced? Are things like racial prejudice or sexism a thing of the past?
Research in social psychology shows that prejudice is much more than thinking negative thoughts or treating people from other groups badly. Prejudice can also be found in our unconscious thoughts and feelings, and can leak out in our unintended actions.
The way that we think about ourselves and our own groups can also create and maintain prejudice and discrimination against others.
While alarming and disappointing to people who do not want to believe they are prejudiced, these new ways of recognizing and understanding prejudice also offer important insights into how we can combat it and reduce inequality.
Although the nature of morality is hotly debated, many psychologists argue that morality has its origins in empathy. Empathy is the process by which an individual experiences the same feelings as another person.
Studies on empathy have suggested that human beings, as well as many other non-human animals, possess this basic capacity to share emotional experiences.
Based on this research, many psychologists believe that empathy is hard-wired into the biological constitutions of human beings a result of millions of years of evolution. On this account, we are by nature moral creatures.
In this presentation, Dr. Sokol challenges this biological view and urges instead, that empathy develops in social interactions. It is the structure of these social interactions not our biological makeup that makes us moral.
He will discuss research on a school-based prevention program that models these empathy-building social interactions between children and an infant.
Joseph LeDoux is a professor and a member of the Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology at NYU. His work is focused on the brain mechanisms of emotion and memory. In addition to articles in scholarly journals, he is author of "The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life" and "Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are." He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the New York Academy of Science, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the recipient of the 2005 Fyssen International Prize in Cognitive Science. LeDoux is also a singer and songwriter in the rock band, The Amygdaloids. http://bigthink.com/ideas/20451
This year's department-sponsored lecture, The Steinhardt, features Dr. William Black, University of Missouri-Kansas City.
It occurred Thursday, Feb. 18th, 2010, 7:30-9:00PM.
The title of Dr. Black's talk is: Why Elite Frauds Cause Recurrent, Intensifying Economic, Political and Moral Crises.
Presented by the Department of Economics at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, USA
Note: a 30 second delay appears before the video. The film has been checked for completeness. Stupidity by Albert Nerenberg Features Bill Maher, Noam Chomsky, George W. Bush, Mark Crispin Miller and many others. A humorous examination of stupidity in contemporary American culture, covering: the effects of television and mass media on the American intellect; the "dumbing down" of American culture; the popularity of Steve-O and Jackass; role of religion in willful stupidity; the identifaction of many Americans with George W. Bush; the evolution of such concepts as "idiot" and "moron." The DVD edition contains extra interviews commentaries and readings. The film is not connected to Matthijs van Boxsel's book called Encyclopaedia of Stupidity -- also 2003- but recommended. Notes written September 17th, 2007 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2599954293614654567
The first 15 minutes of our interview with David. He talks about the financial collapse, the creation of money and the symptoms of the economic system. http://moneyandlifemovie.com/
David Shenk is the author of six books, including Data Smog (indispensable—The New York Times), The Immortal Game (superb— The Wall Street Journal), and the bestselling The Forgetting (a remarkable addition to the literature of the science of the mind.—The Los Angeles Times ). He has contributed to National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, Gourmet, Harpers, The New Yorker, The American Scholar, and National Public Radio. Shenks work inspired the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary The Forgetting and was featured in the Oscar-nominated feature Away From Her. His latest book, The Genius In All Of Us, was published in March 2010.
commonwealthclub
David Shenk, Author, The Forgetting, Data Smog and The Immortal Game
Shenk presents a compelling case against the notion of genetic giftedness. Forget everything you think you know about genes, talent and intelligence. In recent years, some scientific evidence has emerged suggesting a completely new paradigm: not talent scarcity, but latent talent abundance. Integrating cutting-edge research from a wide swath of disciplines - cognitive science, genetics, biology, child development - Shenk reveals a highly optimistic new view of human potential.
bu
Joshua Aronson, an associate professor of applied psychology at New York University, talks about the impact of stereotypes on how we perform on a day-to-day basis and on tests, and on how we learn. http://www.bu.edu/buniverse/view/?v=1jBZCk6L
Hosted by BU Women in Science and Engineering on March 3, 2008.
While Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $550 million to resolve a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC, Goldman has not been held accountable for many of its other questionable investment practices. A new article in Harper’s Magazine examines the role Goldman played in the food crisis of 2008 when the ranks of the world’s hungry increased by 250 million. We speak to Harper’s contributing editor Frederick Kaufman. http://www.democracynow.org/
globalbeehive
This is an excerpt from the documentary "Evidence Of Revision, Part 5", which introduces the viewer to how social reality is constructed in America today, via control of frames and schemas that impact the perception of its recipients. As Daniel Goleman tells us, reality is nothing more than a set of shared perceptions amongst a given audience.
Please see "The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge" by Berger & Luckman for more: http://www.amazon.com/Social-Construc...
To Berger and Luckman the world is a Hollywood stage front, but not a delusion. The authors explain that the next generation forgets, or is led to believe, that the social world is given when it was produced or manufactured. But it isn't manufactured mechanistically but is interactively produced. The social order can be maintained by various techniques including intimidation, propaganda, mystification, or the manipulation of symbols. However, man is not a passive, but a reactionary creature that will not merely swallow social reality whole but will also often try and alter it. As the authors state man produces society, society becomes an objective, coercive, and reified (as in deified) reality, and, in turn, man becomes a social product of his own creation. Man experiences alienation when he forgets he created society or when he is powerless to control what he created. Man experiences what is called anomie when social worldviews no longer reflect reality.
Interview w/ David Swanson, constitutional advocate and author of DAYBREAK, and Cindy Piester of Pulse TV. Discuss Congress, Obama's administration, Progressive politics, and over-reaching presidential power.
Filmed at CAPS TV in Ventura, CA on Jan. 16, 2010.
RutherfordInstitute
Sixty years after George Orwell warned of the dangers of Big Brother, surveillance cameras are everywhere, the government listens in on our telephone calls and reads our email, political correctness has run amok and hate crime legislation punishes thoughts. In this week's vodcast, John W. Whitehead shines the spotlight on 10 films that depict the dangers of "loving Big Brother."
In this episode of Friendly Fire, John Whitehead goes head-to-head with political strategist and activist David Swanson about the dangers posed by an imperial presidency to our democracy.
uniandes
Conferencia 'Biodiversidad y Salud Humana', dictada por Eric Chivian, Premio Nobel de Paz (1985), el 20 de agosto de 2008 en la Universidad de los Andes en el marco de la celebración de los 60 años de la Universidad. La conferencia del Nobel se centró en su último libro Sustaining Life: how human health depends on biodiversity, el cual reúne el trabajo iniciado en la Cumbre de Río de 1992 por cerca de 100 científicos de todo el mundo.
Chivian es profesor de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Harvard, donde es fundador y director del Centro para la Salud y el Medio Ambiente Global.
Dans cet extrait de l'émission d'Arrêt sur Images (@si) du 14 mai 2010, l'économiste Frédéric Lordon s'explique sur le billet de son blog intitulé "sauver les banques, jusqu'à quand ?" et publié le 11 mai sur le site blog du Monde Diplomatique (http://blog.mondediplo.net/2010-05-11-Sauver-les-banques-jusqu-a-quand).
Daniel Schneidermann interroge Lordon sur la dernière partie de son billet de blog, où il réclame la renationalisation des banques, puisqu'elles disposent du pouvoir d'accorder des crédits, sur lequel repose toute l'économie. Il est exact, reconnaît-il, qu'il faut à tout prix sauver les banques, sous peine de voir le système entier s'effondrer en quelques jours. Mais c'est pour cette raison qu'il refuse de le laisser aux mains d'intérêt privés. Comment faire cela ? Quelles conséquences ?....
L'économie guidée par l'opinion et la croyance (F. Lordon) enviado por stemol
Dans cet extrait de l'émission d'Arrêt sur Images (@si) du 14 mai 2010, l'économiste hétérodoxe Frédéric Lordon explique "l’homologie formelle extrêmement forte qui s’établit entre l’univers médiatique et celui des marchés de capitaux". Selon lui, ces deux univers sont fondamentalement gouvernés par des forces socio-anthropologiques primitives qui sont "l’opinion" et "la croyance". Et dans ces deux univers également, les mécanismes mimétiques font fureur.... Et Lordon de citer ce que le grand sociologue Émile Durkheim déclarait en 1907 lors d'une conférence devant la Société d'Économie Politique.
Dans cet extrait de l'émission d'Arrêt sur Images (@si) du 14 mai 2010, l'économiste Frédéric Lordon, économiste hétérodoxe, explique pourquoi le plan européen d'aide à la Grèce, accueilli de manière euphorique par les marchés boursiers sur le moment, est en réalité voué à l'échec.
Face à la crise, désarmons la finance: soirée-débat organisé par Attac France le 19 juin 2010 à Paris.
3. Frédéric Lordon, Chercheur en économie au CNRS
Muy pocos consumidores saben que están comiendo transgénicos de forma indirecta en la carne de vacuno, la leche, los huevos, el cerdo o el pollo... En el programas crónicas se analiza el debate de los transgénicos en España, único país de la UE que los cultiva a gran escala. Grupos ecologistas denuncian sus efectos sobre la biodiversidad y, a largo plazo, sobre la salud. Para el Gobierno, un grupo importante de científicos y las multinacionales biotecnológicas son seguros. http://www.rtve.es/noticias/20100617/semillas-esclavas-transgenicos-a-debate/336016.shtml
Connie Fogal, the redoubtable leader of the Canadian Action Party, delivers a hard hitting and passionate warning to all who refuse to believe that our democracy is being usurped by an elite few and is being sold off, brick by brick, to the highest bidder. Our very own elected politicians are in collusion with powerful private corporate interests, working together behind closed doors to bring in the ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership’ by “stealth” – as one proponent of the agreement put it – without public knowledge or consultation. In this presentation, she argues that Canadian sovereignty is very much at stake and she urges us to become informed and to take action before we ignorantly surrender all of our freedoms and public services to foreign corporate rule.
The de-growth movement says that efficiency is not the panacea for our ecological woes -- in fact, it has led to a major increase in our ecological footprint. Conrad Schmidt explains how. Schmidt is the author of Alternatives to Growth: Efficiency Shifting.
El combate del pensamiento sería entonces la lucha por liberar las ideas de su sujeción al poder, a la realidad. Si es así, la esencia del combate del pensamiento no forma parte del pensamiento. Porque una idea libre es siempre una idea que sea ha hecho fuerza material. Detrás de una idea liberada hay siempre un nosotros que toma la palabra.
En la tercera emisión de Discursos del Caos, entrevistamos a Santiago López Petit, filósofo, investigador y catedrático de la Universidad de Barcelona. El profesor Santiago nos explica que el capitalismo hoy en día es más que un sistema político y económico; la realidad se ha hecho capitalismo, impone una verdad y una forma de vivir. Con base en esta observación, Santiago construye una serie de conceptos para analizar la realidad social contemporánea, por ejemplo, la movilización global, el estado guerra, el poder terapéutico, una política nocturna, el querer vivir, entre otros. Diversos temas son abordados en esta charla, en la que Santiago señala la importancia de la filosofía principalmente como arma crítica en el terreno de las ciencias sociales y las humanidades.
A la tercera emissió de Discursos del Caos, entrevistem a Santiago López Petit, filòsof, investigador i catedràtic de la Universitat de Barcelona. El professor Santiago ens explica que el capitalisme avui en dia és més que un sistema polític i econòmic, la realitat s'ha fet capitalisme, imposa una veritat i una forma de viure. Amb base a aquest observació, Santiago construeix una sèrie de conceptes per analitzar la realitat social contemporánea, per exemple, la mobilització global, l'estat guerra, el poder terapèutic, una política nocturna, el voler viure, entre altres. Diversos temes són abordats en aquesta xerrada, en què Santiago señala la importància de la filosofia principalment com a arma crítica en el terreny de les ciències socials i les humanitats.
En esta cuarta emisión de Discursos del Caos entrevistamos a Ruth Wodak, especialista austriaca en Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD). La profesora Wodak nos comenta algunos temas fundamentales, a nivel teórico y aplicado, sobre esta postura de investigación dentro de los Estudios del Discurso; por ejemplo, qué significa ser crítico en el ACD, qué significado tiene para la sociedad, qué líneas de trabajo persigue y qué falta por indagar. Ruth Wodak, asimismo, nos explica sobre algunos de sus estudios en torno al racismo, la xenofobia, y el discurso político en Europa.
En aquesta quarta emissió de Discursos del Caos entrevistem a Ruth Wodak, especialista austríaca en Anàlisi Crític del Discurs (ACD). La professora Wodak ens comenta alguns temes fonamentals, a nivell teòric i aplicat, sobre aquesta postura de recerca dins dels Estudis del Discurs, per exemple, què significa ser crític en el ACD, quin significat té per a la societat, quines línies de treball persegueix i què falta per indagar. Ruth Wodak, així mateix, ens explica sobre alguns dels seus estudis sobre el racisme, la xenofòbia, i el discurs polític a Europa.
In this fourth edition of Discursos del Caos we interview Ruth Wodak, Austrian specialist in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Professor Wodak tells us some fundamental issues, in theoric and applied terms, about this posture of research within Discourse Studies, for example, what it means to be critical in the CDA, what does it mean for society, what lines of work are pursued and what remains to inquire. Ruth Wodak also explains about some of their studies on racism, xenophobia, and political discourse in Europe.
Fonte: http://www.upf.edu/upfradio/2010/discursosdelcaos.html
La quinta emisión de Discursos del Caos presenta una charla de Jesús Martín Barbero, filósofo y antropólogo, especialista en comunicación. Es originario de España pero ha pasado muchos años estudiando y enseñando en América Latina, en particular en Colombia y en México. A lo largo de esta emisión, Martín Barbero comenta temas cruciales, tales como la importancia de la interdisciplinariedad y reconfigurar el objeto de estudio en las investigaciones de la comunicación; la necesidad de unos medios públicos útiles y críticos para la sociedad, y, entre otros aspectos, cuál es la situación y el papel de la comunicación en el contexto social contemporáneo, con crisis económicas y políticas, que conllevan nuevos retos de estudio en la comunicación.
Fuente: http://www.europazapatista.org/
ChallengingMedia
The media regularly use public opinion polls in their reporting of important news stories. But how exactly do they report them and to what end? In this insightful and accessible interview, Professor Justin Lewis demonstrates the way in which polling data are themselves used by the media to not just reflect what Americans think but instead to construct public opinion itself. Addressing vital issues (e.g., the role the media play in "manufacturing consent" for political elites, what polls really tell us about public opinion, what Americans actually think about politics), Constructing Public Opinion provides a new way to think about the relationship between politics, media and the public.
Exploding the myth that most Americans are moderate or conservative, Constructing Public Opinion demonstrates the way in which political elites help to promote the military industrial complex and how the media sustains belief in an electoral system with a built-in bias against the interests of ordinary people. Well illustrated with graphics and many examples of media coverage, it is the first film of its kind to present a critical analysis of media and public opinion. http://www.mediaed.org
RTAmerica
Banks take risks, lose money but then are bailed out by their government. This is true in the United States and the European Union. Another thing that has become true is the European Union just announced it will put caps on bankers' short term cash bonuses.
Ficha
Dirección: Pino Solanas
Guión: Pino Solanas
Producción: Primer Plano
Fecha: Septiembre, 2009
Origen: Argentina
Género: Documental
Duración: 92 minutos
Idioma: Español
Clasificación: ATP
SINPOSIS:
Después de Memoria del Saqueo, La Dignidad de los Nadies, Argentina Latente y La Próxima Estación, el fresco sobre la Argentina contemporánea se completa con Tierra Sublevada, una obra en dos partes independientes entre sí: Oro Impuro y Oro Negro.
Oro Impuro, es un viaje alrededor de algunas de las explotaciones a cielo abierto con cianuro que las corporaciones han instalado en el noroeste argentino –San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán Salta - y la reacción de las poblaciones aledañas frente a la contaminación. Se trata de una obra coral contada por sus protagonistas: ingenieros, maestros, chacareros, indígenas, vecinos, ambientalistas, que hacen contundentes denuncias sobre el despojo y cuentan conmovedoras historias de resistencia a la depredación de las mineras. http://www.pinosolanas.com/tierra_sublevada_info.htm
Philosopher and Sociologist Jacques Ellul explains how technology is not "neutral" and is implicated in every aspect of social relations. I hope this video helps explain why green anarchists are not setting for less when they defend small-scale organization.
Neste vídeo ( dividido em seis partes) Jacques Ellul revela como a tecnologia se tornou sagrada nos nossos dias. Ellul demonstra os efeitos catastróficos do uso desordenado da tecnologia, demonstrando que nenhum tecnólogo é livre, e que há um conflito entre liberdade e tecnologia. Segundo aquele pensador a modernidade abandonou a sua independência em troca do prato de lentilhas oferecido pela sociedade tecnológica, recordando que “se tivermos plena consciência do que nos determina, [daquilo que nos controla] realizamos um enorme ato de liberdade" para concluir: “Estamos rodeados por objetos que são atrativos, que são eficazes, etc. Mas que não fazem sentido."
Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) foi um historiador do direito, sociólogo, pensador da modernidade e da sociedade técnica e tecnológica, teólogo da esperança e da liberdade. Escreveu livros sobre sociedade tecnológica e as relações entre anarquismo e a mensagem de Jesus, considerando que a maior traição à acção e ao pensamento de Jesus foi o Cristianismo.
They spend their days sifting through reams of market research data. They conduct endless surveys and focus groups. They comb the streets, the schools, and the malls, hot on the trail of the "next big thing" that will snare the attention of their prey--a market segment worth an estimated $150 billion a year.
They are the merchants of cool: creators and sellers of popular culture who have made teenagers the hottest consumer demographic in America. But are they simply reflecting teen desires or have they begun to manufacture those desires in a bid to secure this lucrative market? And have they gone too far in their attempts to reach the hearts--and wallets--of America's youth?
FRONTLINE correspondent Douglas Rushkoff examines the tactics, techniques, and cultural ramifications of these marketing moguls in "The Merchants of Cool." Produced by Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin, the program talks with top marketers, media executives and cultural/media critics, and explores the symbiotic relationship between the media and today's teens, as each looks to the other for their identity.
Teenagers are the hottest consumer demographic in America. At 33 million strong, they comprise the largest generation of teens America has ever seen--larger, even, than the much-ballyhooed Baby Boom generation. Last year, America's teens spent $100 billion, while influencing their parents' spending to the tune of another $50 billion.
But marketing to teens isn't as easy as it sounds. Marketers have to find a way to seem real: true to the lives and attitudes of teenagers; in short, to become cool themselves. To that end, they search out the next cool thing and have adopted an almost anthropological approach to studying teens and analyzing their every move as if they were animals in the wild.
Take MTV. Long considered to be the arbiter of teen cool, the late 1990s saw MTV's ratings on the wane. To counter the slide, MTV embarked on a major teen research campaign, the hallmark of which was its "ethnography study"-- visiting teens' homes to view first hand their lives, interests and ask some quite personal questions.
But what lessons do MTV and other companies draw from this exhaustive and expensive study of teenagers' lives? Does it result in a more nuanced portrait of the American teen? In "The Merchants of Cool," FRONTLINE introduces viewers to the "mook" and the "midriff" -- the stock characters that MTV and others have resorted to in order to hook the teen consumer.
The "midriff"--the character pitched at teenage girls, is the highly-sexualized, world-weary sophisticate that increasingly populates television shows such as Dawson's Creek and films such as Cruel Intentions. Even more appealing to marketers is the "midriff's" male counterpart, the "mook." Characterized mainly by his infantile, boorish behavior, the "mook" is a perpetual adolescent: crude, misogynistic--and very, very, angry.
But also very lucrative. To appeal to the "mook," MTV has created programs such as Spring Break -- a televised version of teen beach debauchery--as well as a weekly program capitalizing on the current wrestling craze.
"What this system does is it closely studies the young, keeps them under constant surveillance to figure out what will push their buttons," says media critic Mark Crispin Miller. "And it blares it back at them relentlessly and everywhere."
Of course, there is resistance to the commercial machine. FRONTLINE takes viewers to downtown Detroit, where media analyst Rushkoff speaks with teens at a concert by the Detroit-based Insane Clown Posse, purveyors of a genre of music that's become known as "rage rock." When asked to describe what appeals to them about such music, the teens invariably respond that it belongs to them; it hasn't yet been taken and sold back to them at the mall. Full of profanity, violence, and misogyny, rage rock is literally a challenge thrown up to marketers: just try to market this!
But marketers have accepted the challenge: rage rock is now big business. Not only has Insane Clown Posse become mainstream, but much bigger acts like Eminem and Limp Bizkit are breaking sales records and winning industry accolades in the form of Grammy nominations and other mainstream music awards.
In "The Merchants of Cool," correspondent Rushkoff details how MTV and other huge commercial outlets orchestrated the rise of Limp Bizkit--despite the group's objectionable lyrics--and then relentlessly promoted them on-air.
But in doing so, critics ask, is MTV truly reflecting the desires of today's teenagers, or are they stoking a cultural infatuation with music and imagery that glorifies violence and sex as well as antisocial behavior and attitudes?
In today's media-saturated environment, such questions, it seems, are becoming increasingly difficult to answer.
"It's one enclosed feedback loop," Rushkoff says. "Kids' culture and media culture are now one and the same, and it becomes impossible to tell which came first--the anger or the marketing of the anger."
Therein lies the danger of today's teen-driven economy, observers say: As everyone from record promoters to TV executives to movie producers besieges today's teens with pseudo-authentic marketing pitches, teenagers increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today's version of what's cool. Rather than empowering youngsters, the incessant focus on their wants and desires leaves them adrift in a sea of conflicting marketing messages.
"Kids feel frustrated and lonely today because they are encouraged to feel that way," Miller tells FRONTLINE. "You know, advertising has always sold anxiety and it certainly sells anxiety to the young. It's always telling them that they are not thin enough, they're not pretty enough, they don't have the right friends, or they have no friends...they're losers unless they're cool. But I don't think anybody, deep down, really feels cool enough, ever."
And as more and more teens look to the media to define what they should think and how they should behave, even some cool hunters are no longer sure that their work isn't having a negative impact.
"Even though I work at MTV...I am starting to see the world more like someone who's approaching forty than someone who's twenty," says Brian Graden, the channel's president of programming. "And I can't help but be worried that we are throwing so much at young adults so fast. And that there is no amount of preparation or education or even love that you could give a child to be ready."
Advertising & the End of the World features an illustrated presentation by Sut Jhally of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the producer and writer of the award-winning Dreamworlds series.
Focusing directly on the world of commercial images, he asks some basic questions about the cultural messages emanating from this market-based view of the world: Do our present arrangements deliver what they claim -- happiness and satisfaction? Can we think about our collective as well as our private interests? And, can we think long-term as well as short-term?
Drawing from the broad arena of commercial imagery, and utilizing sophisticated graphics, Advertising & the End of the World addresses the issues these questions raise, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own participation in the culture of consumption.
Making the connection between society's high-consumption lifestyle and the coming environmental crisis, Jhally forces us to evaluate the physical and material costs of the consumer society and how long we can maintain our present level of production.
Sections: Advertising as Culture | How Do We Become Happy? | What Is Society? | How Far into the Future Can We Think? | Imagining a Different Future
A dialogue between Joe L. Kincheloe, Canada Research Chair in Critical Pedagogy and Henry A. Giroux, Global Television Network Chair in Communication Studies. Production Team Giuliana Cucinelli Photi Sotiropoulos Dr. Shirley R. Steinberg Special Thanks To Susan Searls Giroux Produced for The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy
View a Full-Length Preview Low-resolution preview is strictly for purchase consideration. Not for classroom use.
An active citizen, says the prolific and influential Henry Giroux, is "somebody who has the capacity not only to understand and engage the world but to transfom it when necessary, and to believe that he or she can do that." In this provocative new interview, Giroux speaks with passion about the inextricable links between education, civic engagement, and social justice.
Strongly influenced by Paulo Freire, the Brazilian scholar of progressive education, Giroux advocates for a pedagogy that challenges inequality, oppression, and fundamentalism. Essential viewing for students of education, cultural studies, and communication.
Sections: Introduction | On Paulo Freire | Freire's Legacy | Liberating Teaching | No Child Left Behind? | Race & Democratic Education | Questioning Authoritarianism | Media Education | On Agency | The War on Kids | Staying Unfinished | Struggling for the Future
Henry Giroux
Henry Giroux is one of the leading writers and educators associated with the Critical Theory tradition in education. His first book, Ideology, Culture and the Process of Schooling, (1981), established him as an important voice in the world of educational theory. Since then he has authored more than 20 books, and over 200 scholarly articles and chapters. Presently he is the Waterbury Chair Professor in Secondary Education in Penn State's College of Education, and serves as the Director of the Waterbury Forum in Education and Cultural Studies.
Filmmaker Info
Producer: Dr. Janice Welsch & Bill Yousman
Director: Mark Traverso of SCI Television Productions
Narrator: Henry Giroux
Eduardo Galeano: "El mundo se divide en indignos e indignados"
The Crime of Ecocide
http://www.pollyhiggins.com/
"... move away from property laws to trusteeship laws, so rather than I own, to I owe. I owe a duty of care to this planet."
12-year old Victoria Grant explains why Canada (her homeland) and most of the world, is in debt.
"How the Media Frames Political Issues" by Scott London
In The Emergence of American Political Issues (1977) McCombs and Shaw state that the most important effect of the mass media is "its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."[13] The presidential observer Theodore White corroborates this conclusion in The Making of a President (1972):
The power of the press in America is a primordial one. It sets the agenda of public discussion; and this sweeping political power is unrestrained by any law. It determines what people will talk and think about - an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests, parties and mandarins.[14]
McCombs and Shaw also note that the media's tendency to structure voters' perceptions of political reality in effect constitutes a bias: "to a considerable degree the art of politics in a democracy is the art of determining which issue dimensions are of major interest to the public or can be made salient in order to win public support."[15] http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/frames.html
