Bob Brown has named it, the media are being precious. First, they whine, people complained about Gina Rinehart buying a few media shares, then Treasurer Wayne Swan got stuck into the gang of three miners for using media as their personal megaphones, then the Finkelstein media review recommended some actual, semi-government enforcement of abuse rectification. Oh, the outraged howls of injured innocence!
[My previous post, and many before, featured the example of Interface Carpet Inc. The founder and guiding spirit of that exemplary new-paradigm company, Ray C. Anderson, died in 2011. The world is much the richer from his bold and inspiring presence. Here, from a free download, is the foreword from his recent book Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist.]
In memory, Ray C. Anderson
As I sit down to write this foreword, I have a lot on my mind. My company, Interface, Inc., has just marked an important milestone—ten years until our target year for Mission Zero, for zero environmental footprint, a goal for which we have set 2020 as our deadline. I’m immensely proud of Interface, and encouraged about our future. At the same time, I have spent the last year dealing with cancer, thankfully holding my own—barely.
[See this article at philosophers.posterous, adapted from the first chapter of The Nature of the Beast]
… Taoism arose from the close observation of nature and people. It distills a higher wisdom than either of the crude world views that dominated the twentieth century. We can aspire to create economies that transcend the crude and unhealthy economic systems that arose from those twentieth century world views, and that provide for and nurture a healthy balance in the lives of people and societies. …
A complete manuscript of The Nature of the Beast is available for comment. It is under a password, so as not to upset potential publishers, and so I can keep track of who is looking at it. I would love to have feedback of any kind.
Use the Books and Downloads menu above, or go here.
A sample, the first 16 pages, can be downloaded without password.
For all the fuss over the Murdoch crimes in Britain, there has been very little discussion of media ownership, and how it might be reformed to take the power away from a few rich egotists. So here’s another from my archive, from 30 Oct 2002, soon after the Bali bombing. Gee, the CT didn’t publish it.
“America, like Australia, needs informed and critical citizens rather more than it needs unthinking flag-wavers” editorialised The Canberra Times recently, and I thoroughly agree. Further along, it opined that “ . . . many [politicians] are in the process of tearing down many of the established institutions and conventions”, and I applaud.
Yes indeed, these are tough and welcome words. However I think we would be hearing both sentiments a lot more often if our media better reflected the current spectrum of public opinion. I think also that the editorial’s words carry some even tougher implications that perhaps The Canberra Times, and all Australians, could reflect more upon.
I have been well ahead of the pack on a number of important issues, political leadership among them.
Here is the opening sentence from a comment by Don Watson on political leadership, from the current issue of The Monthly.
“It is now all but universally agreed that the Australian Labor party is a near-ruin, ruled body and soul by factional bosses and opinion pollsters.”
Below is a post from my old website www.geoffdavies.com, dated 7 June 1993. You can also find more recent comments of mine here in the category “Political commentary”.
After two months abroad I find little has changed on the Australian political scene. John Howard has finally confirmed he will stay on, the obsessively one-eyed Government is still attacking the ABC for alleged bias, and the Labor Party is still clueless.
[Another instalment of The Nature of the Beast has been posted, Chapters 5-8. Here is a sample from Chapter 6.]
In 1987 Margaret Thatcher said during an interview
“… they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people … But it went too far. If children have a problem, it is society that is at fault. There is no such thing as society. There is a living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”36
This was the origin of an infamous quotation: There is no such thing as society. Continue reading
Two lesser-known economic good news stories provide a revealing perspective on the mainstream economic paradigm, and on Australias current state.
The first economic miracle is Mauritius, brought to our notice by Joseph Stiglitz in the Guardian. Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968, and with few natural resources in its Indian-Ocean archipelago its economic prospects were rated as pretty dismal. Bucking the usual prescriptions of economists (sell your soul and your land to overseas investors and tourists), and despite per capita income of less than $400, Mauritius decided to invest in its one major asset – its people.
I sent this letter to the Canberra Times this morning:
Two correspondents (CT, 17 Nov) raise concerns that are symptomatic of our modern condition. Laurie Quigg (Long waits) laments extremely long waits for services, and Chirs Ellis (Kicking toddlers) wonders what values lead the ACT to spend millions on football while firing five teachers who support children with special needs.
Laurie wonders if anyone can help. Yes, we can help ourselves, by changing our voting habits.
I have two manuscripts in the works. See the image in the left column, or the menu tag Books and Downloads at the top of the site.
Also you will notice I have changed the visual Theme of the site, and rejigged some things. Is it readable, pleasant, clear?
BetterNatureBooks 