The Responsibility of a Writer

I was listening to an interview with an author a few days ago and he mentioned briefly the responsibility that writers have to tell the truth.

This struck me.  I don't think he was referring to some sort of cultural or societal obligation or expectation.  It was more of a moral obligation that a writer should feel to tell the truth about the subject.  I thought about this, and wondered if it could be taken a step further.

The historical and cultural value of writing is huge.  We can study past civilizations and cultures through their writings.  Through their writings, we can learn about how their society functioned and what their values were.  In modern times, we learn through writings.  We learn from reading the newspaper, novels, textbooks and (of course!) blogs.  Perhaps some of the things that we learn from these sources are not "true" per se, in that the facts can be proven or disproven, but all of these writings serve as a way to hold our society together and advance as a civilization together.  

So this led me to think about the responsibility of a writer to tell stories as they truly see it - without holding back.  And the responsibility that you and I have to write, as much as we can.  There is a distinct value in everything written, and it should not be discounted.

When Rape is "Misconduct"

I originally heard about this news story on NPR (January 28, I believe).  The article that I am referring to for this blog posting can be found on LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fg-cia29-2009jan29,0,1298224.story

The CIA Chief in Algeria has been accused of using a kind of date rape drug to drug two women and rape them at his residence.  If that were not bad enough, he is also accused of taking many photographs of the women (allegedly found at his hotel room in Washington, DC).  

According to the NPR news story, one of the women was actually married and was friends with the CIA Chief.  The shock, shame and humiliation that she must have felt when she awoke in his bed the next day is hard to imagine.

The reason that this story infuriates me is because the US CIA spokesperson issued this statement:  "CIA would take seriously, and follow up vigorously, any allegation of misconduct." 

"Misconduct".  The female reporters on NPR actually used the word "impropriety".  We have a huge problem here when rape is described as misconduct or impropriety.  All of the women across our country should be outraged upon hearing this language used to describe one of the worst violations of human rights that a woman can experience.

If this were a homeless man accused of multiple rapes outside of Underground Atlanta, or some other downtown location, he would likely be in a jail cell waiting for his trial.  But, when it comes to a high ranking government official accused of "misconduct" and "impropriety" outside of our borders, he gets to remain comfortable - and hope that the various agencies involved won't be able to figure out who has jurisdiction.

Does anyone else find this outrageous?

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers... Hyper-Consumerism on Isle 2

I just read this article on Yahoo! News...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_death;_ylt=Aui5ug2nhRLvxiMRjeqHUj3LLJ94

We have a Wal-Mart store employee trampled to death by crazed deal-hungry shoppers this morning.  He was killed by a bunch of crazy, greedy shoppers who protested angrily when they were asked to leave after the death.  In addition, other employees were trampled when they tried to save him.  

What in the world has our American hyper-consumerism brought us to when a human life is taken in order to get a great deal on a plasma television, folks?

Would Jefferson have supported a Universal Healthcare System?

Disclaimer:  I am NOT an expert on Jefferson, I just play one on TV.

While researching this morning the origin of a dubious Jefferson quote (it was too conveniently relevant to modern times... maybe I'll do a post on that sometime!), I found a really nice website that has a lot of information on Jefferson's writings:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeffcont.htm

In addition, I stumbled upon a comment in a forum where a writer suggested that Jefferson would have been in favor of some sort of Universal Health care system:

http://www.radicalreference.info/node/2327

This concept was intriguing, because the founding fathers are always lifted up as super-human beings and their words are studied almost like scripture.  So, I thought, I would just scratch Jefferson's writings lightly on the surface to see if I could find a few excerpts where we can study his views on the individual v. collective rights argument.

Here are some quotes, with my comments.  I am extremely interested in your perspective.

Do you consider caring for our fellow citizens at a basic level a moral obligation?

"Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right." 

--Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1806. FE 8:477

"We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals, 

our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties." 

--Thomas Jefferson: 2nd Inaugural, 1805. ME 3:375

"What is true of every member of the society, individually, is true of 

them all collectively; since the rights of the whole can be no more than the sum of 

the rights of the individuals." 

--Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789.

Jefferson wrote extensively on happiness, as well all know.  Is happiness really an inalienable right?  What is your definition of happiness?  What was Jefferson's?  Is it possible to have either form of happiness when you are dying of cancer because you cannot afford the treatment? 

"The Giver of life gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness." 

--Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1782. ME 4:196, Papers 6:186

And finally, since I know that the everyone's main concern about Universal Health Care is taxation.  Jefferson, thankfully, wrote a lot about taxation.  He found it a necessary function of government, and warned of waste, of course.  In addition, he was a supporter of Americans not being taxed by a government that does not represent us.  I hear comments and protests about taxes, shouting how some don't pay taxes and how it's not fair that some have more of a tax burden than others.  Here is a Jefferson quote for that subject, since it is really relevant  to the health care discussion:

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a 

certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."

 --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785. ME 19:18, Papers 8:682

I'm ready!

Is it possible to be "Over-Educated?"

As a person goes through life, there is a really high possibility that they will encounter ideas that are foreign to them and that will challenge their core values and beliefs.  I think this is the basis for higher education  - to challenge our core values and beliefs.  Sometimes, after learning about a new idea or concept, I come back to my original belief.  Other times, I decide that maybe what I have been believing all this time may not have been based in fact.

But, as a highly educated person, I must ask you to think about the definition of fact?  Is there such a thing as a fact, or is a fact an abstract concept that can be manipulated?  I think facts are abstract concepts, which leads me to the conclusion that all of our opinions are based on abstract concepts.

You can take a simple statement, such as the sky being "blue".  What is "blue?"  Can you define "blue?"  Will your definition of "blue" be the same as mine, and the same as our friends'?  Can "blue" even be described?  As I write this, the meaning of "blue" has actually diminished in my mind, and has now become a clump of letters that some ancient people made up to help them describe, as accurately as possible, potentially abstract concepts.

If you think I'm wrong, think about the definition of life.  A doctor may have a universally agreed upon definition of life (i.e. what type of physiological functions are necessary to have in order to be 'alive'), but the word 'life' means so much to so many different people.  Ask a teenager who is grounded and can't go to the prom.  Is that life?  What do we mean when we tell people to "get a life?"  Is there some popular standard that means that you have a "life"?

In conclusion, I will leave you with a final question:  What is truth?  Maybe you will see, like I do, sometimes, when I am not clutching violently to some belief, that truth, like fact, is an abstract concept and appears differently to everyone who sees it - and even to those who cannot.

The Falling Price of Oil

I am sure I am not the only one that feels a guilty pleasure when filling up the tank of the car recently.  Compared to the $4.25 per gallon that I was paying regularly a few months ago, I feel like I am stealing at $1.79.

Yahoo News reports this morning that the price of oil has fallen below $53 per barrel since the world is frightened about a severe recession.  While this is great news for the price of oil for the near future, I am afraid that us Americans will become complacent yet again about switching our main energy supply from oil to a combination of substitutes.  

In fact, we typically have very short memories.  I have an older V8 car that I have been trying to sell for a few months.  No one would consider it three months ago.  Since the gas prices have been tanking, I have gotten a phone call almost every day about the car.  This is because people were worried about the gas prices, but now that they see the prices falling, they don't seem to care anymore.  Some of us are still in denial about our dependence on oil as a major problem.

I do not want to see us back in the same situation next year, or five years from now.  While I enjoy the cheap gas as much as anyone else, I do not want us to forget that we still need to be working on a solution to this problem.  Let's not pass this down yet another generation.