Education = Peace

...continued from previous post...
For this September 21, International Peace Day...
and of course, the fall equinox,
if you are too busy to read this blog, then you may just want to get out your wine and fine Swiss cheese and click
here.
Then click on the song "Liquid Surfaces", from the hip-hop (yes hip hop for peace, straight, they represent)/electro group, Reverse Engineering. Unlike anything you've heard and à propos for peace.
[Warning: may cause addictive behaviour, especially with the use of head gear.]

And, back to the blog.
...

"Education is favourable to liberty. Freedom can only exist in a society of knowledge. Without knowledge, men are incapable of knowing their rights; and, where learning is confined to a few people liberty can neither be equal nor universal."
--Dr. Benjamin Rush, 1786
(from Video 2, Section 2 below)

In situations when peace is appropriated in a nation or system, one of the first things to go is education. Bye bye teachers. Bye bye freedom to learn.

So, in honour of all the libraries, books and schools that have ever been burned or bombed, and the teachers who have ever had to go in to exile (or worse), for International Peace Day, I have links to three online educational references for exploration at one's leisure. Each successive link leads to a more complex and involved place to peruse. To balance all the oppression in the world, the first two links are libertarian (not necessarily reflecting the views of this author).

And, come to think of it, speaking of liberty, many people forget that freedom, like yang, also has a corresponding yin. Responsibility.

My most memorable meme from Law class at McGill:

Liberty consists of freedom to and it equally consists of freedom from.
Freedom to do what you choose, and freedom from others doing to you what you do not choose, and they also have the same freedom.

And hence the tango of life.

And finally, to provide an ivy league university to anyone with time to kill, the third reference below is one of MIT's masterpieces in open coursewear.


1. The Philosophy of Liberty Flash Presentation

This flash presention is presented by the International Society for Individual Liberty. I do not myself belong to or represent this organization and only came upon this video from an indirect link, but I have to admit I was glued to the screen from start 'til end.

Regardless of whether you agree with all, or part, or none, the flow is hypnotic and gives me utopian (with a bit of a Brave New Worldesque lining) visions of what future school presentations might look like! Like political pokyman, as long as it's in good hands...


2) Constitution Class and the Philosophy of Liberty

This segment links to a real class given by none other than a previous US presidential candidate, Michael Badnarik.

From the introductory webpage (brackets mine):

"Does it surprise you to discover that the United States is NOT a democracy? (uh...no) Have you ever wondered why people have to get a concealed carry permit to exercise their right to "keep and bear arms"? (um...no...and I'd rather send the guns back to the dwarves in the mines under Valhalla thanks) Would you like to know - once and for all - what the "electoral college" is, and why we have it? (the what?) And, do you understand how all of your rights derive from the right to private property? (um...duh...no)...

Michael's Introduction to the Constitution class has been "Lighting the Fires of Liberty" and earning enthusiastic support across the country. This class will "rattle your cage" and challenge what you think you know about the constitution". Consider it everyones duty to watch this! (even, and especially, Canadians, who don't care for police states)"

Yes, I know we are inundated with stars and stripes all the time, but not this kind of inundation. And I admit to being pretty provincial in my understanding of the political machine. Yay again for MySpace where I found this link, something you wont find on CNN, on none other than a rap artist's page too mind you. So, for all those of you who think rappers are nothing but gangsta punks, there be some serious processing going on in the dissident ranks.

This course is presented in 7 video clips, all provided from the above link. This is more than one cup of coffee's worth of viewing time pilgrim (a la John Wayne accent).


3) MIT Open Courseware

If you think Wikipedia is neat, you'll love this site. You may start to have faith in the world again after visiting it. From Aerospace Engineering to Women's Studies, if you have time to kill, or are a making time guru, you could spend much of it here.

But watch out that you don't read too much and turn into Don Quixote who went mad from too much reading. And remember, the best way to attack a windmill is with a pen, or a paintbrush...

Illustration: Gustave Doré

So that brings me to the end of this long peace day post, but before I go, a Gaelic blessing.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat.
Go raibh an chóir ghaoithe i gcónaí leat.
Go dtaitní an ghrian go bog bláth ar do chlár éadain,
go gcuire an bháisteach go bog mín ar do ghoirt.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
the rain fall soft upon your fields.

Discussion welcome via comments below.