"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday 22 May 2014

Charlie Rose Has It All

Charlie Rose' program on Tuesday  was particularly interesting ...and satisfying.

Two books were on the table, each with collaboration of two authors.

First was  The Fourth Revolution  and  second... Think Like A Freak.

Half the program was allocated to each.  Authors of the first ,were Editor-in-Chief of the Economist, a British journal and its Managing editor.

The second  was a  journalist  of high repute and an eminent professor.

I don't remember names but they could  be googled

The first examined organized government from the  beginning of civilization. China having the first  civil service.

There have been three revolutions  already . We are in the midst of a fourth.

Governments world over have ground to a halt in chaos .

Twin problems  identified are Cronyism and Entitlement. 

We know about that don't we in Aurora. We could have written the book . the perfect microcosm.

In my mind  the difference is .......at our level of government,  a candidate ,who commits to  seizing cronyism and entitlement  by the throat and giving  the pair a bone -rattling shake ...can  get elected.

I've been doing it for years.  Hoping it would catch on. Maybe now's the time.

The second book was a serious look at our conditioning.

Analogy of an art was  used.

A magician , holding a kerchief, stretches his arm up and instructs his audience to pay close attention. Adults do.

A child, on the other hand,   looks where he wants to and spots  the magician's sleight of  hand .

The Professor  offered another analogy, closer to home.  A person ,very much his  junior ,could offer an idea to a group and get zero reaction.  Ten minutes later, the professor offers precisely the same idea  and  genius is instantly proclaimed.

As a person without credentials, what  I  offer  is simple and common  sense. But the table perceives it to be  too simple and too common.  It can't be worth much .

It's my experience... as one without status...  and outside cronyism , whose ideas  must  be squashed .... whose rights must be trampled with lawyers and such....

if that's what it takes. .. and that's what it took .

But the jury's still out.... thrown  out in fact

 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't Charlie super !

Anonymous said...


Charlie Rose is the only reason for having a television set.

Anonymous said...

They are unable to see themselves. They have Visions. The run on the bank will continue until the hydro fund is depleted. Then they will be faced by a Council that lacks the where-with-all to fund their life styles.

Anonymous said...

I noticed a letter from Mr McIntyre complaining about finding the money to pay the mortgage, to repair the place. Pauvre M. McIntrye. Heaven forbid he have to deal with such mundane exhausting details. And like so many before him be forced to downsize and reduce his expenses as he ages. He truly believes Aurora taxpayers should bear the responsibility of assisting him. But sadly laments that councillors could vote against his ideas because he does not much like the name of the plan to include him in the cash grab anyway.
What say Council do just that ? Tell him politely that he has to deal with his own reality like everyone else.

Anonymous said...

14:53, I guess it wasn't you bemoaning the lack of empathy these days.

Anonymous said...

Empathy is fine. Forced support for iffy projects is not. How we can refuse to donate anything to the Food Pantry as a town but can get mired in enormous
projects that make no financial sense boggles.

Anonymous said...

Off-topic
Does anyone know what happened with the Edward Street Market ? From the # of cars there over the lunch period, I figured it was doing all right. Now it's closed. The place is only a few years old, surely too soon to need renovations .

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

17:02 Consider that there is no status at the food pantry. Not likely to meet any town "movers and shakers" there. No $1.50 a word consultants to be seen. No expensive trappings to make one feel comfortable. No wine list to ponder.

Having said that I am with you - would love to see a few bucks now and then go to the pantry.

Anonymous said...

17:43
The name is changed to Brooklyn Market. Not sure if the same owners or not.

Restaurants have a very slim chance of success in any environment. ESB was VERY expensive for what it was. They had a shopping side of things that rivaled Maunders - also expensive.

Anonymous said...

7:50
Do we know who purchased the Hallmark property?

Anonymous said...

7:50
No record of Brooklyn Market. I was never in ESM. Over my head for lunch. Jonathan's is about my speed when needed. Neat omelettes.