Arquivo para a ‘Information ethics’ Categoria
Russian and Israeli strategy
12
Feb
On the one hand, a power on the left, which
does not negotiate with opponents and does not give up power, on the other, a Western power where war can help keep right-wing forces in coalition in power.
Wars are political and we cannot see them only from the perspective of dictators and genocides, even though any war is based on the illegitimate killing of civilians and even within the parameters of international agreements on war, they are exceeded.
Any narrative that exists hides hatred and revenge against opponents, anger and violence as a foundation, using discourses of virility, ideologies of single thinking and even humanistic appeals that are outdated after the first battle.
The critical analysis is that is there will be no setbacks, in a recent speech Putin declared that there is no possibility of defeat in Ukraine, that is, he would use catastrophic nuclear weapons or resources close to this, but mitigates this by saying that there is no interest in Poland and Latvia.
Despite having elections coming up, the only Russian opponent that Putin respects, others are already in prison or disappear in prison or dead, there is no possibility of any change in power.
In Israel, President Netanyahu threatens to send troops to Rafah, a refugee camp on the border with Egypt, which has had a peace treaty with Israel for 45 years. American President Biden also asked that no troops be sent there, but the proximity of the Israeli elections demands a nod to the more radical right in Israel.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russel said civilians in Rafah must be protected as they have nowhere to go: “Some 1.3 million civilians are trapped, living on the streets or in shelters. They need to be protected. They have no safe place to go,” he said according to the international press.
The logic of war is that it favors dictators and does not allow any more humane and democratic principle to be respected, it is the absence of serenity and tolerance towards opponents.
Healing minds and hearts
09
Feb
It is increasingly common to appeal to material
goods, as we close in on ourselves and have a false idea about what happiness is, wounded souls and hearts that seek happiness where it is not found, it may be a temporary consolation, but it is not happiness, happiness balanced.
Another book by Seneca that is quite fundamental to his thinking is about the tranquility of the soul, modern man lives in exteriority, mistakenly called objectivity or materiality, because things (beings) are part of ontological aspects and must be thought of and cultivated appropriately in interiority. , which is not subjectivity, but soul.
Said the Roman philosopher, who we posted yesterday about Wrath, now about the soul:
“If man had the opportunity to look inside himself, how he would torture himself, he would confess the truth and say: “Everything I have done up to now, I would prefer if it had not been done; When I think about everything I said, I envy the dumb; everything I desired, the curse of my enemies; everything I feared. O righteous gods! Better not to have wanted to. I made many enemies, and hatred replaced friendship (if there is friendship between evil people), and I’m not even friends with myself.
Although written at the beginning of the Christian era, the author Of the tranquility of the soul, reflects the difficulty it is for the common man and also for the wise man to maintain his serenity, faced with a spectacle of injustice and baseness (see how old this is), which he witnesses every day, is precisely the counterpoint to Anger, hatred and confrontation.
The text begins with an imaginary letter written by Sereno (of course the name is on purpose): “I will tell you what is happening to me, and you will find a name for this illness”, and at the end he states: “Sometimes, my soul rises with the magnitude of thought, becomes greedy for words and aspires to heights. So the speech is no longer mine [emphasis added]. Forgetting about the norms and rigorous criteria, I stand up and speak with a mouth that is no longer mine.”
From then on, he will reflect on how to overcome obstacles that prevent peace.
Although the discourse is moralistic and ethical, and it is no less important for this reason, the elevation that Seneca sought cannot find any other place than in a spiritual asceticism, it is also found in other cultures, Buddhism is an elevation on the path of virtues, Ghandi used the peace as a political exercise to lead India, and in the case of Christianity it is the “cures” of Jesus.
The Biblical text says, when they see the healing of a deaf-mute (Mc 7,37): “He does all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak”, and he also cured “unclean” lepers.
Sêneca. (2009) Da Tranquilidade da Alma (wordpress.com) (portuguese). transl. Lucia Sá Rebello e Ellen Itanajara Neves Vranas. Brazil, Porto Alegre: LP&M Pocket.
About Wrath and Hope
08
Feb
The ancient Roman philosopher Seneca 
(4 BC – 65 AD) wrote a beautiful essay On Wrath which, although it is in three books, can be divided into two parts, it is addressed to his older brother Gallio, the first part deals with a theoretical issue ( I-II.17) and talks about the horrors of Wrath and its definitions, the second part gives tips on how to calm people, both children and adults, using real cases as examples.
Although the texts are very interesting and intelligent, there is an essential gap that cannot be achieved through spiritual asceticism, the hope that the context will be changed by actions that go beyond the personal, social or group level, raising the level of spiritual health of a person. group.
According to the philosopher, a great man should never become angry and, when it is not possible to avoid anger, he should try to calm down as soon as possible, his famous phrase is:
“No man becomes more courageous through anger, except one who, without anger, would not have been courageous: anger, therefore, does not come to help courage, but to take its place” (I.13).
However, in social life there are situations in which good and fair men are subject to the power of authoritarian, presumptuous and arrogant men who humiliate, exploit and mistreat humble people.
To this the Stoic responds with another sentence; “Let nothing be allowed to you while you are angry. For what reason? Because he will want everything to be allowed.” (III.12), said in a modern way, if we lose our calm when pointing out a mistake, we can lose our reason in reacting to the error.
Hope is fundamental when an entire social, political or even religious situation becomes difficult and points to a path that seems to be without that of destruction, error and fear, it is not about being in conformity, we wrote in the previous post about the disposition which precedes the intention, but the intention to calm propagate peace and avoid anger becomes both hope and the possibility of viable course correction, anger does not, initiates or expands the confrontation.
It is necessary to believe that the union of forces that desire positive change has a light that is superior to the set of human forces, because they can improve the “disposition”, the climate in favor of sensible and constructive attitudes and raise the moral standard in a virtuous circle .
Hypocrisy and power
06
Feb
In the analysis of political and ideological currents,
the notion and problem of hypocrisy is neglected, so it is possible to defend democracy by defending autocratic attitudes, by combating corruption, to justify elements of active and passive corruption, in fact, the active one which is the fact of offering illegal compensation (and it is not said what is illegal) and passive is when a public official receives undue compensation (when possible) from third parties.
The term hypocrisy in ancient Greek (hypocritás) is similar to the current one, it is when a social actor intentionally acts in a simulated way, in acts or words, that hide how he thinks or how he actually acts, the rule today is to say the opposite to confuse public opinion.
As a term used by contemporary authors, I remember Machiavelli, as critics of political reason, and Foucault, who sees it as a central element of power relations, although his analysis moves to the psychological field.
Byung Chul-Han’s psychopolitics moves to the media field, the author believes that the power of digital media facilitates this type of relationship, although he does not directly call it hypocrisy, but gives an interesting recipe in his book “What is power”, “The modern loss of faith, which does not only concern God and the beyond, but reality itself, makes human life radically transitory”, so there is nothing perennial, since everything changes.
The basis of modern hypocrisy is to induce man to believe in a life of ease, what Byung Chul-Han calls an excess of positivity, pain and sacrifice have been abolished, “We forget that pain purifies. The culture of enjoyment lacks the possibility of catharsis. Thus, we suffocate it with the residues [Schlacken] of positivity, which accumulate beneath the surface of the tanning culture.”
This makes man happier, the answer is the opposite of what society promises, depression, bipolarity and boredom are contemporary diseases, “Depression is the illness of a society that suffers under an excess of positivity”.
Men and women, freed from this society of performance, exercise, and despiritualized asceticism, without suspicious and persecutory attitudes, become more affable: “Ordinary men and women, given the opportunity for a happy life, will become more gentle and less persecutory and inclined to view others with suspicion.”
It is possible to reestablish mutual trust, healthy relationships, empathy and fraternity, making society healthier and less conflictual.
Han, Byung-Chul. (2018) What is power?. NY; Wiley.
Hopes for peace
05
Feb
The Russian elections take place on March 15th
and 17th, but Putin’s likely political opponent, former deputy Boris Nadejdin, had his candidacy rejected this Friday, February 2nd by the vice-president of the electoral commission Nikolai Bulaiev, who said reasons for irregularity and which will point out other technical problems.
This procedure is routine in Russian elections, and sometimes opponents disappear or are arrested for some reason or minor infraction, dictators control the state machine to forge a democracy that does not exist in practice and nationalist governments also grow.
One of the reasons is that some people on the list were considered dead, Nadejdin joked:
“You and I are the most alive of the living. If anyone imagines that they see dead souls on my subscription lists, that’s not a question for me, maybe they should look for the church, or an exorcist”, according to news on Telegram, a fair election could change the outlook for the war in Ukraine.
Peace in the Middle East is also possible, Israel wants the release of all hostages and Hamas wants an end to the war, reiterating this Saturday (03/02) that the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip are prerequisites for hostage release agreement.
New attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen were carried out by the United States and the United Kingdom this weekend, and the organization, a group of multiple militias, is believed to be armed and financed by Iran, which denies the accusations.
According to the American Department of Defense, there are several militias financed by Iran, including Hezbollah and the Houthis, after two Americans were killed in the interception of a boat carrying weapons to rebels in Yemen, the American Department of Defense released a photo (above) .
There are always circumstances and situations that can end a war, it is necessary no limit condemning the power of tyrants and warmongering governments so that the world moves towards peace.
Power and respect
02
Feb
Byung Chul-Han in his book The Swarm, clarifies
that only respect has symmetry, that is, it can make the relationship one of mutual respect and recognition of what is good for everyone.
This is one of the greatest values of social action, solidarity with those who for some reason made a mistake or had a deviation in their behavioral action, being allowed to return to social life and the hope of a new life.
It is necessary to experience something new, to resume a respectful relationship with the Other, and to social reintegration. This does not mean tolerating what is unacceptable, whether morally or socially, but having a new life experience of resocialization and reorganization of life. guys.
Power, when exercised only to repress and combat what is socially and morally reprehensible, should not be absent, it would be an omission and disorganization, but every human being and every person can and should be allowed their resocialization and social reinsertion.
Social life has deteriorated not because people make mistakes, this is typical of social and human life, but because resuming a respectful relationship, being patient in listening to the Other and allowing them to change is giving them hope and conditions to have a new experience. and respect.
The culture of exclusion, hatred and lack of forgiveness leads to a hostile society, the end of fair social relations and the path that provides the possibility for greater equity and justice for all. Exclusion thickens the broth of marginality, the culture of disrespect and gives rise to all types of polarization and confrontation.
A society without a return to a balanced social life, fair in all senses, including moral and economic, makes the development of a culture of peace and fraternity possible.
There is no way back, just imposing rules and concepts, often dubious and without an adequate practical reason (the Greek phronesis), becomes an ideological direction that is as hostile as what it condemns: authoritarianism and ignorance.
There is a lack of common sense, practical reason in all areas of society, from political to religious, the practice of distrust, discredit and disrespect for different thoughts, makes the field of authoritarianism increasingly present and the field of democracy and equality distant.
The practice of daily attitudes of good, of patient listening is the path for those who truly desire a more fraternal and supportive world, the practice of aggression and hatred does not lead to a real possibility of returning to the path of war and confrontation.
Those who say they follow Love and solidarity need to get out of words and into actions.
Aretê and righteousness
01
Feb
It is necessary to understand that in ancient
philosophy, mainly in Aristotle and Plato, the objective is to develop a philosophy for the polis, education, the politician (for Plato he must be a philosopher in the sense of excellence of thought) and for Aristotle the citizen, considering that only free men were eligible for citizenship.
Thus aretê translated as virtue, is also a characteristic of a particular excellence, but it is not its translation as proposed by some interpreters, the word that Aristotle uses for this is phronesis, a practical theoretical thought that leads to special wisdom.
We cannot assume that men who do not have a private life of “excellence” and live it wisely are men capable of public exercise, attachment to power, money and the vices of contemporary life, done in the name of freedom, inhibit the ability of the politician.
We no longer talk about the moral field, it is not about theft and lies, the name given today is fake news due to its publication by the media, and the lie may have a short leg, but its action confuses social life, misinforms and leads to other vices, in addition to personal fanaticism.
It is also important to address the issue of freedom, we can do whatever we want, but we cannot ignore the consequences, an immoral and dishonest life does not lead to a fair and balanced social life, other vices will accompany greed and power for power’s sake.
So it doesn’t take long for those who see freedom in this mistaken sense to pay with deformations in their personal lives, involvement with anti-social forces, for example, from trafficking to deaths and human trafficking, like those who have already gained publicity.
It is difficult in this context of a mistaken vision of freedom, they talk about righteousness, good customs, from personal to social, empathy and solidarity, what exists is demagoguery only for the immoral exercise of politics, power and public money.
Resistance or catastrophe
30
Jan
So says the article by the century-old thinker and
educator Edgar Morin, in the article for the Italian newspaper La Reppublica, we are “heading towards probable catastrophes”.
And he asks: Is this catastrophism? This word exorcises evil and gives an illusory serenity. The polycrisis that we are experiencing across the planet is an anthropological crisis: it is the crisis of humanity that cannot become Humanity, the word polycrisis has already been used by the author in other contexts: that of thought, the ecological and social crisis, now he adds one anthropological, other authors say the age crisis of the anthropocene.
He, like other authors, pointed to this crisis, but believed that a change of direction was possible, now it seems too late, “we don’t know if the world situation is desperate or really desperate”, it doesn’t mean with or without hope, like or without despair , we have to move on to a Resistance, and now different from that of the 2nd. war in which France was occupied by the Nazis (photo), now the world is occupied by polarization and hatred.
The facts and situations drag us into an unprecedented war, “we are condemned to suffer the struggle between two imperialist giants with the possible warlike intervention of a third”, as the author says, “the first resistance is that of the spirit, which must be capable of resisting the intimidation of all the lies spread as truth and the contagion of all collective drunkenness”, calls for a spirit of sobriety and of those who believe, of faith and hope.
Today we must know how to resist hatred and contempt, “it requires the effort to understand the complexity of problems without ever giving in to a partial or unilateral vision. It requires research, verification of information and acceptance of uncertainties” wrote Morin.
This “resistance also implies the coordination of associations that are dedicated to solidarity and the rejection of hate. Resistance would thus prepare young generations to think and act through the forces of union, fraternity, life and love.”
It’s not about finding justice in some kind of hate, but hating the hate itself, it’s not about cheering for this or that side of the war, but making war on war itself.
The resistance that Morin calls for must involve all people of good will and solidarity among those who truly know the consequences of such a war, beyond speech.
The resistance of the spirit of humanity
29
Jan
Victor Serge wrote “Midnight of the Century” in
1939, in the middle of the 2nd. world war, now in an article published in La Reppublica, on 24-01-2024, the French sociologist Edgar Morin published an article: “The resistance of the spirit” about the crisis of current wars.
The war in Ukraine mobilized economic aid from much of the world, while on the Russian side, economically weakened by the sanctions imposed by Western nations, it strengthened both technical-scientific development and the bloc formed with China.
Serge, an anarchist by origin, who supported the Russian Revolution, saw it bureaucratize and persecute all real and imaginary enemies in the Stalinist period, described in “The Great Terror” (1934-38), years before describing the horror to midnight, and whatever you say about today.
A new focus emerged after a massacre of civilians by Hamas on October 7, 2023, followed by deadly Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
In Morin’s analysis, which has been developed for some time, the progress of knowledge occurred by creating barriers in disciplines that are increasingly closed in their object, which leads to a new type of almost blind thinking, linked to the dominance of calculation in a technocratic world, the progress of knowledge does not consider the complexity of reality and becomes blind.
The result of a lack of clarity and understanding of human life exposed by the ease of access to all life on the planet, without its understanding, has led to dogmatism and fanaticism, and a crisis of morals while hatred and idolatries spread.
Recalling the years of Nazi occupation in France (photo Carentan France, June 1944 From the LIFE Magazine Archives), in which Morin himself was a member of the French Resistance, he now evokes a resistance of spirit that avoids almost desperate or truly desperate action, and maintains hope through Resistance.
This resistance implies safeguarding or creating an oasis of communities endowed with a say in relative autonomy (agroecological) and social and solidarity economy networks.
This action also implies associations that are dedicated to solidarity and rejection of hate.
Change of route and power
25
Jan
Today is the day of the city of São Paulo, and the day
of the apostle Paul is also celebrated by most Christians, not a coincidence as the name of the city was given after the apostle, during the time of Portuguese colonization in Brazil.
His name was Saul of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia where he was born in 5 AD and was a highly educated Jew who fought Christianity as a Christian sect, being one of those responsible for the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
It happened that on the way to Damascus, through a horse falling, a figure used to this day to indicate people who change their mentality and route, he had a mystical revelation and became blind, and in this vision he was instructed to go to meet Ananias, and his view has been restored.
From then on, he is called Paul and from then on he will be responsible for taking the apostolate to the Gentiles, as those who were not Jews were called, since these were the people chosen by God, so Christianity leaves its Jewish limits and arrives even Greeks, Romans and other people who lived in the Roman Empire.
His elaboration of thought will then go beyond the limits of Jewish customs, although with some controversies such as the need for circumcision, he will be the first and important theologian of Christianity, having influenced thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, important for Christianity, but also for philosophy.
Paul will understand that this is not a fight for human power nor a fight against the domains of temporal power, but rather the fight against the earthly mentality that does not reach values beyond power, wealth and human passions.
Without Paul, Christianity probably would not have left the Jewish domains, nor would it have reached Greece, Rome and the entire Roman Empire and then the entire world, despite the persecution of local powers it expanded in the world of people and took root within cultures.
The civilizing and human route cannot aim only at taking power and submitting to the values of this power, without a solid human base, with timeless values, power is confined to the dimension of weapons and oppression.
Peace, harmony between peoples, respect for cultural diversity cannot be subjected to the power of weapons and oppression, the lack of freedom and the absence of dialogue and respect.
