Monday, October 28, 2013

Russell Brand, Dylan Ratigan, Stefan Molyneux, Paul Chappell

This video of Russell Brand went viral recently: NEWSNIGHT: Paxman vs Brand - full interview.

And then Dylan Ratigan posted this article in response to another of Brand's videos: The Unoffendable Brand

For this post I'd like to also draw attention to another of Dylan Ratigan's recent articles that, among other things, presents an option for changing the way candidates are elected by giving every person a $200 voucher with which they can funnel their support:  Thousands of Stories of Hope, One Barrier and How We Can Overcome It

Then there's this video from Stefan Molyneux: An Open Letter to Russell Brand - Let's Start a Revolution

And, another recent post of a previous article written by Molyneux: The Stateless Society - An Examination of Alternatives

What I am offering here are perspectives on "the problems" as well as some "solutions" being offered, with more or less detail, by all three of these people.

I think in some ways at least, these perspectives do represent many of the different points of view from which people might see the problems and imagine their possible solutions.

(I guess the one I have not included is anything from Adam Kokesh as his aggressive posturing is archaic to me as well as simply being strategically foolish, and besides, haven't seen much of him lately anyway.  Gee, I wonder why?)

There is also the ongoing work of Paul K. Chappell, former Army Captain and now author and Peace Leadership Director for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Although he does not offer any specific solutions to the problems outlined above, he does offer guidance for how we might resolve these problems and conflicts non-violently, in part by learning to respect one another and communicate more effectively with others, including those who oppose our point of view.  He puts a lot of emphasis on empathy in his writing and this is also highlighted in another recent piece  by Ratigan and in two podcasts by Molyneux:  Negotiation Part 1: The Opportunity, and Negotiation Part 2: The Challenges.

I am offering all of these links here because I feel all of these men are deep thinkers, eloquent communicators, and clearly passionate about their work in the world. They are, however, looking at the problems and seeing the solutions, or trying to contribute to the solutions in different ways. I am in the process of considering all of their contributions, and I want to present these ideas to others as well here on this specifically solution-oriented blog.

I will leave it up to my readers to come to their own conclusions about the plausibility and actionability of their recommendations, with the understanding that there are many conflicts to be resolved both on the interpersonal, community, national, and global levels.

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