A Presidental Energy Policy: Twenty-Five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
March 14, 2010
Review
Laden with technical speak and extensive histories of economic and environmental policies, Michael C. Ruppert’s A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money feels incredibly inaccessible to those with little background in the subject matter. This is fine, of course, as not every book can be expected to cater to every audience lest it stretch itself too thin and lose the ultimate message. But anyone interested in checking it out ought to understand that this book is not intended for novices. As I happen to fall into this category – my familiarity with climatology as a science is negligible on a good day, and I can speak with no authority on traditional and alternative sources of energy – it will be the perspective from which I speak.
Honestly, I struggled quite a bit with this book. Ruppert’s thesis is clear enough – he believes that if Americans hope to end their dependence on oil and gas and protect the environment from harm, then the economy will gradually improve. He touts that “money and energy are inextricably intertwined” (225) and “can live together in harmony and sustainability” (225), supporting these statements with 25 main ideas as to how this can be accomplished. Chapter 15 explains everything in more simplistic terms, so anyone unfamiliar with the charts, graphs, histories, and explanations of the previous 14 may find it easier to skip ahead in order to understand Ruppert’s core points. Many times, he sites his own works From the Wilderness and Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil sources. As I have never read either the newsletter or the book, I can neither confirm nor deny if the information contained therein remains reliable. Unfortunately, he also relies on Wikipedia and blogs in many cases – though more credible websites, journals, and periodicals do crop up in his bibliography. This mixed bag of sources both generally accepted and highly questioned, however, leads me to be somewhat wary of his research.
Regardless of my questioning attitude towards Ruppert’s choice of citations, I found the attitude he displayed throughout the book rather off-putting. While I do believe that people should not outright dismiss the independent media, I also think anyone with an opinion outside the mainstream would better reach an audience if they display a more open, accepting demeanor. It’s one thing to be forthright and challenging, it’s entirely another to come off as overly confrontational and declaring, “…nothing intimidates me anymore” (216) to readers with little to no intention of causing him alarm. Ruppert’s prose falls squarely in the second category, giving off an air of macho posturing – even paranoia at times. After a while, his tirades against the American government and the mainstream media begin to overshadow the ostensible main message of how to bolster the economy using alternative energy as a conduit. I could not tell if Ruppert meant to promote his ideas or promote himself. Whether left, right, moderate, or another ideology entirely, anyone hoping to convey a particular perspective ought to do so by attacking opinions instead of the people who hold them. To his credit, the author does admit “[he] will make errors” (14), but overall the impression I got was of a man who feels frustrated with his place as a political commentator and chooses to adopt a less-than-productive aura of bitterness as a result.
Bibliographic Information
Ruppert, Michael C. A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money. Los Angeles: New World Digital, 2009.
Further Reading
I may not necessarily always agree with everything that independent media figures have to say – or some of the tactics and sources used to convey it – but that does not mean that they need to perpetually go ignored, either. People ought to look at as many sides of an issue as they can before forming a cogent opinion, even if it means reading material that induces anger. Because Michael C. Ruppert uses himself as a source so frequently, anyone who wishes to read A Presidential Energy Policy ought to become acquainted with his From the Wilderness, Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, and his own blog. Be forewarned that some rhetorical techniques used appear to mimic many of those used in supermarket tabloids – discussing ambiguous “Washington sources” (as seen here on Ruppert’s From the Wilderness biography) to imply reliability instead of solidly establishing it. Some may not mind this tactic, of course, but others may want to know about it before clicking the link.
~Riot
The Art of War
October 11, 2009
Review
It’s almost impossible to write a worthy review of a book with as much undeniable historical significance as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. What more can be said about this eloquent and revolutionary tome? Even though I personally abhor war and violence, I still believe that Sun Tzu could not have picked a more appropriate title. “The road to survival or ruin” (63) is paved with intelligence, analysis, cunning, and understanding – mental factors which also play into the creation of more popular forms of art such as painting or sculpture. Though The Art of War revels in the glory of battle, Sun Tzu stresses that “to capture the enemy’s army is better than to destroy it” (77) – a provocative and reflective statement that acknowledges the core humanity inherent even in adversaries. And that preservation of basic human dignity stands as the reason why this book has endured for more than two millenia – it doesn’t revel in violence for the sake of violence, nor does it promote war for the sake of war. Rather, Sun Tzu accepts armed conflict as an inevitability and provides richly detailed and thoughtfully penned stratagems for all aspects of armed conflict, from terrain to head count to the best times of day to strike.
Translator Samuel B. Griffith provides ample supplementary material, discussing the book as it relates to Taoism and China’s dynastic structure. Admittedly, many of his tracts were difficult to grasp, as I am only familiar with Taoist principles and have not studied Chinese history in too much detail. However, I fully appreciated his essays, as they provided a fascinating and necessary context for The Art of War. Like all classics, Sun Tzu’s masterpiece remains both firmly rooted in its time as well as sending a message that is purely timeless. Griffith’s contributions help to balance its history with its transcendence, though the main text can certainly still do so on its own accord.
Bibliographic Information
Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Trans. Samuel B. Griffith. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Further Reading
Griffiths speaks extensively on how Sun Tzu’s The Art of War would later come to influence Mao Tse-Tung’s writings. On Guerilla Warfare especially draws from its esteemed predecessor, garnering enough influence to be included in the bibliographies of some U.S. Army Field Manuals.
~Riot
[Diversity Rocks! Challenge Progress: 15/24]
Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy
August 23, 2009
Review
Throughout literature, film, music, and other media, the exultation of Italy as a paragon of culture and beauty has become something of an expected cliché. Memoirs of time spent perusing the magestic ruins and timeless, influential art are a permanent staple of any travel writing section at a bookstore. G.G. Husak’s Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy skirts the possibility of tumbling into triteness by emphasizing areas of the country that generally go unnoticed by tourists and the ways in which she and her husband Al come to an “understanding of the larger world in ways [they] didn’t expect” (68).
The Husaks take a yearly sojourn to Italy every year, and offer up a wide variety of advice on how to handle when “the unpredictable happens” (355) for novice travelers as well as information on intriguing, overlooked locales for the more seasoned. The more popular tourist destinations are certainly touched upon, but the author’s real passion for the country shines through in her descriptions of more intimate settings going largely untouched by anyone but the locals. She relates her experiences in the cathedrals, monasteries, opera houses, cafés, and other spaces with rich detail, conveying their emotional appeal alongside the physical. It’s obvious to see why the Husaks continue to return on a yearly basis, and every one of their eager immersions yield insights into the interpersonal and intrapersonal worlds.
However, in spite of her overwhelming passion for Italy, its peoples, and its cultures, Husak does not lose her head in overidealizing her favorite destination. There are aspects of Italian society she yearns will find its way over the Atlantic, certainly, but she refrains entirely from declaring it superior to her home country and is unafraid to address her concerns and disappointments. Pickpocketing and the exploitation of tourists do not recieve a whitewashing treatment, and Husak relates the ways in which she and her husband narrowly avoided losing their valuables. It’s helpful information, certainly, but also fully illustrates the way in which the author does not allow herself to become fully carried away by the magic and romance of foreign travel. This cool-headed optimism and willingness to accept the ebbs and flows of a different rhythm is a great example for all aspiring globetrotters to fold into their repository of information. Without them, an exciting adventure could quickly spiral into a horrific nightmare.
Bibliographic Information
Husak, G.G. Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy. Charleston, SC: BookSurge, 2008.
Further Reading
For a reversal of G.G. Husak’s annual Passeggiata, the similarly-titled Passage to Liberty: The Story of Italian Immigration and the Rebirth of America by A. Kenneth Ciongoli and Jay Parini tells the compelling story of Italians adjusting to the culture shock as they explored and attempted to forge a life in America. Anyone interested in putting pictures to place names and the works of art Husak describes would do well to peruse Annie Sacerdoti’s Wonders of Italy. The binding is stuffed to figurative bursting with stunning photographs of the celebrated Italian landscape and architecture that provide an excellent visual complement to undercut Husak’s beautifully textured prose.
~Riot
Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy
August 6, 2009
Review
Though reading more as a biography than a straight treatise on business practices, Isadore Sharp’s memoir Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy provides for an interesting glimpse into a subject I never formally studied. Sharp formed his iconic hotel empire “from a customer’s perspective” (xv), closely examining consumer trends and demands in order to offer the best possible service and amenities in the hospitality industry.
Sharp does offer up an interesting enough history of his business, examining his mistakes with the same enthusiasm with which he celebrates his successes. The son of Polish immigrants, Sharp began his career working in the family construction business in Toronto. He credits their “assurance of self-confidence and the[ir] guidance of values” as instrumental in the establishment of Four Seasons as a family- and community-oriented business structure. Although Sharp delves deeply into the history of his beloved company, I thought his specific examples of how it gives back to the community as well as providing excellent and attentive customer service stood out as the strongest elements of the book. In 1989, Four Seasons and other Toronto hotels sent “forty-five tons of relief supplies” (183) to help the victims of Hurricane Hugo – and “well in advance” (183) of government agencies such as FEMA. He mentions the way one of the Maldives branches plunged into action when a tsunami struck in 2007, where “all the two hundred employees acted intuitively to help” (261) the victims in any way they could – and nobody sustained anything beyond minor injuries. Even small things such as the expectation that hotel staff keep regular tabs on the needs and preferences of regular and “special attention guests” (232) with disabilities, severe allergies, and other needs stood out.
While I can’t speak about the Four Seasons service firsthand, it was at least nice to read about how the staff is taken care of by the corporation, and how they pass that attentiveness down to the customer. Even though the book was not always entertaining, it still made for a nice read. I especially enjoyed perusing the stories of a major corporation operating almost as if a smaller, more personable one – that’s not something one comes across terribly often! But it seems as if the formula works, and hopefully others will become inspired to follow suit.
Bibliographic Information
Sharp, Isadore. Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy. New York: Portfolio, 2009.
Further Reading
This is the first book on corporate culture and philosophy I’ve read, honestly, so my frame of reference is quite narrow. Any of you out there have suggestions?
~Riot
The Shipwreck of a Nation: Germany: An Inside View
July 31, 2009
Review
Seeking to provide a “rundown of the derangements” (5) present in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler, The Shipwreck of a Nation: Germany: An Inside View by H. Peter Nennhaus explains how events such as the invasion of Poland and the Holocaust without legitimizing them. It’s apologetic without being apologist, and makes for a fascinating perspective of World War II, especially to American readers with almost exclusive access to the Allied point of view.
Part memoir and part sociological exploration of the German mindset as fascism began to extend its influence across the nation, The Shipwreck of a Nation admits that Hitler’s “rapid recovery of economic vitality, of social peace, and of national self-esteem” (20) led to his appeal and support among the populace. This trust, combined with an exploitation of inherent German patriotism, eventually led him to commit the later atrocities against “the voiceless and defenseless Jews” (22) and other minorities. Nennhaus was only a child during the advent of Nazism, and confesses his juvenile admiration of the soldiers – his brothers included – who faught under Hitler’s orders. Though Nennhaus eventually matures into understanding the grisly reality of the Hitler regime, he nevertheless remains loyal and loving towards his family as the travesties of war befall their home. It fully humanizes the men participating in the struggle without condoning the dictator who forced them into combat – an extremely difficult task that Nennhaus thankfully pulls off.
I consider books such as this essential reading for scholars, historians, and politicians. Without first person accounts of the way things were, it would be near impossible to understand exactly how dictators get away with carrying out mass genocide right under their constituents’ watch. By understanding the attitudes and beliefs of the people that eventually allow dictators such as Hitler to rise to power and commit shocking acts of violence and dehumanization, we arm ourselves with the knowledge to perhaps prevent such things from occurring in the future. I admire Nennhaus’s forthrightness and honesty about his experiences as a child – and eventually, as a proud member of the Hitler Youth – in The Shipwreck of a Nation, as it is a valuable tool in the fight to stamp out racism, fascism, and genocide in societies across the globe.
Bibliographic Information
Nennhaus, H. Peter. The Shipwreck of a Nation: Germany: An Inside View. Colorado: Outskirts, 2009.
Further Reading
Prior to reading The Shipwreck of a Nation, my intake of World War II literature was almost purely from the perspectives of Holocaust victims and survivors both real and fictitious, save for highly unsettling excerpts from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in history classes. H. Peter Nennhaus’s book actually has more in common with Naomi Wolf’s The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot than Holocaust literature or disturbing Nazi treatises. Both explore how fascists sieze the loyalties of their people and manipulate them to achieve their own ends. The only difference is that Nennhaus witnessed the horrors of the tragic extreme, murderous end of the spectrum firsthand.
~Riot
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
June 20, 2009
Review
Informative and well-researched, Naomi Wolf’s The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot may already be dated in terms of its commentary on the Bush administration, but its message of remaining “dangerously naïve” (25) of the original tenets of democracy still ring true. Ostensibly an open letter to an idealistic younger contemporary, Wolf warns him and her other readers about the negative effects of political apathy. She voices concern over electing “powerful men and women far away from the citizens” (5) and their everyday needs, believing that the burgeoning split between ruler and ruled opens up the floodgates for paranoia, oppression, and even fascism.
Wolf supports her main thesis by showing the ways in which Americans allowed the Bush administration to get away with bucking the terms of the Geneva Convention. She states desensitization to violence in the media as one of the many reasons why revelations of the illegal waterboarding at Guantánamo Bay didn’t impact or shock American citizens nearly as much as it should have, for example. In addition, she also chides censorship of news sources and urges readers to “abandon the passive role [they] have accepted” (132), lest they find themselves eventually at the mercy of a “dictatorial regime” (152). Wolf draws a number of startlingly eerie parallels between the Bush administration and the fascist movement of the early twentieth century, tracing how the ten steps towards the system line up with many of the president’s Post-9/11 policies. One of the key elements of instilling a totalitarian system usually involves an anaesthesized populace accepting anything and everything their elected leaders feed them. She encourages everyone to tackle the “patriot’s task” (154) and educate themselves on the origins and intentions of a true democracy, where the people themselves are freely involved in watchdogging leaders and exercising their First Amendment rights against any injustices they witness.
Though Wolf’s examples give her work an undeniably partisan stance, she nevertheless correctly points out that “any leader of any party” (149) still runs the risk of abusing his or her power and entirely derailing the Founding Fathers’ ideals. A system with “an absence of traditional checks and balances” (149) – or one with such concepts heavily compromised or twisted – means either the left or the right can still hijack the country “through edict rather than submitting to the arduous process of negotiation and compromise” (149). The only way to combat the possibility is for Americans to take a stand against any signs of power abuse they may find and assume a brave and active role in stopping fascism before it can even start.
Bibliographic Information
Wolf, Naomi. The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2007.
Further Reading
For a sociological glimpse into how Americans gradually became so disconnected with their society, Robert D. Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community offers a few different possibilities as well as solutions to the issue. The twin pandemics of apathy and desensitization cannot solely be yoked onto the shoulders of the Bush administration – the roots dig much further back than that.
~Riot
Review
Regardless of your personal religious convictions, How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships by His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers simple, helpful meditations on altruism and compassion accessible to anyone willing to consider his teachings. As he points out early on, “all the great teachers, including Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Moses, were motivated by a desire to help their fellow beings” (4), dismissing physical, cultural, and philosophical barriers in favor of a pluralistic message promoting love and respect. Though the graduated, seven-step meditation process outlined in the book obviously stems from Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama encourages readers to interpret his teachings in a manner that folds in complementary to their own perceptions and ideas.
“Real religion” (5), as he defines it, does not necessarily involve “wear[ing] robes and speak[ing] about God” (5). Even an individual involved in a heavily stigmatized professions such as “a politician or a lawyer” (5) can “truely [practice] religion” (5), provided he or she “takes actions that benefits others” (5). The first step towards understanding and practicing compassion involves acknowledging one’s own humanity and place in the universe. Life may be a temporary gift, but with it one can do wonders to promote peace and comfort. All members of the human race desire happiness – the pursuit of which is inextricably ingrained in the psyche. There is absolutely no shame or negativity in this, but in order to practice love and compassion, an individual must consider how his or her desires may impede the happiness of others. As joy, security, health, and love can be counted among the most basic of human needs and rights, the Dalai Lama believes that the purest form of pleasure comes not from attaining such things without disrupting the lives of others, but rather from helping them in their own paths towards finding it. Though one must be aware of sacrificing too much of their own time and talent as well, lest they find themselves unable to enjoy life. A balance must be maintained during meditation – it’s impossible to feel empathic towards others if one cannot feel empathy towards oneself, after all.
I won’t get into the specifics of all seven steps. But the most intriguing element of the meditation process the Dalai Lama outlines comes at the very beginning. In order to fully learn to appreciate other sentients, an individual needs to break free from the “natural tendency to put others into categories (such as friend or enemy)” (9), recognizing others as equals regardless of these subjective labels. While meditating on the well-being of beloved family members and friends comes with relative ease, doing so for antagonists poses a far greater challenge. Fortunately, the Dalai Lama presents his lessons in a gradient, where readers start off focusing on loved ones before moving on to neutral parties and further onto those who sow the seeds of hurt and cruelty. The delinations should begin to blur together in the mind of the practitioner, who eventually learns to embrace all beings equally without prejudice. While the Dalai Lama never pretends that he originated these ideas, his presentation of the core message of compassion, altruism, empathy, and love are nevertheless as timely as they are timeless.
Bibliographic Information
His Holiness the Dalai Lama. How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships. Trans. Jeffrey Hopkins. New York: Atria, 2005.
Further Reading
The universal concept of finding personal peace and joy using altruism as a conduit is not unique or exclusive to any religion. I won’t post links to various religious texts out of respect for all the different translations available, but they’re an excellent place to start when researching various perceptions on how to practice love and compassion. All of them have something beautiful to offer the world.
~Riot
[Diversity Rocks! Challenge Progress: 12/24]
Review
Borrowing its title from a popular psychological concept, George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate stands as essential reading for anyone who leans to the left politically. Because of his background in linguistics and cognitive science, Lakoff presents his theories regarding framing, the “strict father model” (6), the “nuturant parent model” (11), and the ways in which liberals and political progressives can reassess their arguments to combat negative stereotyping by some - but not obviously all - adherents to the right wing perspective. He crams an impressive amount of clearly defined and researched information into a relatively small book, outlining six different general philosophies within the liberal community and eleven concise steps towards respectfully reframing arguments and debates in order to accentuate the positive aspects.
Though Don’t Think of an Elephant! certainly cannot claim a nonpartisan approach, Lakoff encourages readers to “acknowledge what conservatives have done right” (33) as a means of better nurturing understanding between the two and dissolving the more demonizing arguments that crop up on both sides. He includes a dizzying slew of examples, but his most intriguing analysis involves “the study of family values” (5). The highly subjective term family values has long been a staple of conservative arguments. Lakoff sites the origins of the ways in which people inherently liken a broad group structure such as American society to smaller elements such as family – a common cognitive phenomenon that the conservative movement siezed upon with gusto.
As a result, their arguments make appeals to people’s sense of family and security, framing the opposition as a threat to these basic needs. The strict father model takes something of an authoritarian stance, reinforcing an awareness of “an absolute right and an absolute wrong” (7), with the latter posing imminent danger to traditional patriarchal family structures. With this framing device, the conservative movement automatically paints the opposition as actively trying to destroy the elements associated with a comfortable, stable family life. Lakoff encourages liberals and progressives to react not with anger, but to show that they carry the same respect for a filial unit as well. The nuturant parent model adheres to almost-universal values such as “freedom” (13), “honesty” (13), “fairness” (13), “opportunity and prosperity” (13) and “service to the community” (13) – all of which the strict father model seeks to encourage as well. Both models seek the same end, but they take radically different routes to get there. The strict father model employs more disciplinarian tactics, whereas the nuturant parent stresses “empathy and responsibility” (12). Neither mindset is inherently wrong nor inherently right, but they both must acknowledge that they don’t hold a monopoly on encouraging basic virtues and values, either. Obviously, I have oversimplified my summary, but the book itself explores these perspectives as well as the middle ground with extremely clear and concise detail.
Bibliographic Information
Lakoff, George. Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. New York: Chelsea Green, 2004.
Further Reading
As George Lakoff himself would certainly attest, the freedom and ability to express one’s opinion should not be the exclusive domain of neither the right, the left, the apathetic, and those in between. Anyone looking for a nonpartisan guide to finding ways to create compelling arguments for debates, essays, or conversations would do well to read Scott F. Crider’s superb The Office of Assertion: An Art of Rhetoric for the Academic Essay. Like Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, it conveys its ideas with extreme clarity so that anyone without a background in the subject at hand can follow and understand the main points.
For something both completely different and unapologetically liberal, I was recently given the honor of participating in a round table podcast over at Equal Measure. “Day of Debate,” Episode 8 of the series, focuses on the recent rulings from the California Supreme Court regarding Proposition 8. There is a small section in which we discuss the role that framing devices have played in the gay rights movement and the ways in which the pro-gay rights camp can better phrase and push their ideals to combat misconceptions and misrepresentations. So there’s one way to listen to Lakoff’s strategies in action.
~Riot
