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Hi, my name is Jim Macdonald, and I have an odd assortment of interests. In no particular order, I love Yellowstone, I am an anti-authoritarian activist and organizer, and I have a background in philosophy, having taught at the college level. My blog has a lot more links to my writing and my other Web sites. In Jim's Eclectic World, I try to give a holistic view of my many interests. Often, all three passions show themselves interweaving in the very same blog. Anyhow, I think it's a little different. But, that's me. I'm not so much out there, but taken together, I'm a little unusual.

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    Thursday, June 13, 2013

    Modern Dance

    Modern Dance

    I danced in a field
    of dandelions and thistles.
    Did any of us belong?
    Weeds, so to speak.
    Home can be ...
    elusive ...
    as wind scatters us.
    Finding ground
    ... to root and to belong ...
    can feel ...
    miraculous.
    But lacking that,
    what else is there to do
    except to ...
    dance some more?

    - jsm

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013

    Who Edward Snowden Is Matters

    The character assassination of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not surprising; the deflection of the issues he raises is not surprising, either. Yet, let's not take the wrong lesson from this. It does matter who Edward Snowden is, just not in the way we might typically think. Snowden, like all of us, is a complicated, no doubt flawed person. There is a real lesson in keeping to heart that reality while understanding it in terms of what he brought to light.

    What happens when you give a few complicated, flawed people unlimited power? Bad things happen.

    Rather than turn a flawed man just like us into a hero - though his action was heroic - let's recognize that he's wrong about something. It's not just that the American government was engaged in criminality; it's that this government - like all governments - are run by flawed people, people who have far too much power. It's not enough to hold them accountable and to put people in power who aren't criminals. We need to dismantle the power of a system that demands that we put trust in people who are inherently flawed and which is therefore incredibly dangerous because of the power it wields.

    If we all fall short in some ways of being able to earn full trust of each other, can't we at least be fully human without worrying whether our every decision might impact the lives of billions of people? Who Edward Snowden is matters; who each of us is matters. We'd matter a lot more if we didn't abdicate that responsibility to an economic and political system that currently dictates so many of the terms of our lives.

    I'd also urge that we not abstract the ideas of Edward Snowden from the man, flaws and all.