Russia Direct: The Rebirth of Journalism or Just Another Cynical Putin Ploy?

by Nomad

Monologues vs. Dialogues

Here's an interesting podcast about the Russian government attempts to promote fair and balanced journalism inside America. Or maybe it's just a new Russian offensive against the West.

The motto of Russia Direct is "turning monologues into dialogues" and seeks to reach out to "well-educated Americans."
The target audience is Americans who are "skeptical" and open-minded. Cynics would say that those are precisely the kind of people that would be most accepting of Russian propaganda. Especially in light of the election of a president of the US is casting aspersion about US-based intelligence agencies and news sources that do not match exactly his own way of thinking.

Founded in 2013, Kremlin-financed Russia Direct features original reporting which, depending on your perspective either represents the possibility of breathing new life in journalism or just another attempt by the Russian government to subvert the West with phony journalism.
(Not a particularly rare commodity in the West as it is.)

This Social Experiment Gives a Fresh Look at Empathy

by Nomad

This is a video experiment was produced by a Lithuanian website. The site is a kind of online handbook on how to deal with hate speech not only online but also in the mass media, and in real life situations.

The experiment setup was fairly standard for a "prank." Various people, all non-actors, all Lithuanians with English language backgrounds- were invited to a casting call for a commercial. They were clueless that the scenario or the hidden cameras. The unsuspecting targets were then given a simple task- translating an online message from Lithuanian into English.

That's enough background information. Watch and see what happens next.

Here's Wishing You All a Happy New Year

by Nomad

I wanted to wish all of you copious amounts of positive energy, limitless patience, and emotional strength in the coming year.
I suspect we are all going to need it.

Out of curiosity, I also have a few questions for you:

• What was the single best thing that happened to you this past year?
• If you could pick three words to describe 2016, what would they be?

• What was the most important thing you learned this past year?
• What's the most important decision you had to make in 2016?

• And finally, if you could go back 12 months ago, what advice would you give yourself about 2016?

The Delightful Sport of Deflating The Donald

by Nomad

For comedians and cartoonists, the Trump Presidency will be boom years. Hopefully, for the rest of us, that won't be true in the literal sense.
Here are some that caught my eye. Hope you enjoy them.

Why This 1967 Interview of Prof. A.J. Toynbee is Still Thought-Provoking

by Nomad

The observations of an esteemed historian from 1967 still hold true in our time.

More than a Historian

To call Professor Arnold J. Toynbee a historian is to fall short of the mark. He was called a " philosopher of history." 

His most famous work "The Study of History" is a staggering 12 volumes and took three decades to write. On a human scale, that's a lot of history right there.
Today, Toynbee is known mostly in academic circles but in his time, he was a widely read and discussed scholar in the 1940s and 1950s.
Sadly, for the anybody without a masters' degree, the work is not what most people would consider and "easy" read.

But that's not to say it is inaccessible. A later condensed version allows us mere mortals an opportunity to understand Toynbee's brilliance. Even then, there are moments when you look up from the book and wonder, what the heck did I just read?
(The Wikipedia version is perhaps the ultimate abridgment.)

To put it simply, Professor Toynbee studied what caused primitive societies to transform themselves into civilizations and the reasons why civilizations collapsed.

Toynbee's goal was to trace the development and decay of 19 world civilizations in the historical record, applying his model to each of these civilizations, detailing the stages through which they all pass: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.

In a way, Toynbee turned a very wide angle lens on humanity. Toynbee, as dry as his works could often be, provided remarkable insight into where we are in the bigger picture. He also hinted at where we might be going.