In Plain Sight

Favor The Wise

By virtue of assertive belligerence or fierce self righteousness the loud often dominate free expression and oppress the voice of the gentle, the compassionate and the wise. In the lands where free expression is possible it is too frequently sacrificed to those who can buy, through favor or cash, privileged access.

In the so-called “free world” the ignorant parade their agendas at the expense of the wise in a frequently unchallenged appeal to convention and steam over the quiet wisdom and suffering of the hidden, the complex and the unpopular.

The “free press” cannot help but distort our perception and our thinking by mediating facts through personality, and “balanced reporting” is constrained by the availability of the articulate on each side.

Freedom of speech is not a balanced thing. There is no requirement that the playing field be leveled. The loud too have the right to be heard; as much right as the meek, the poor and the uneducated. The ignorant – or merely those without the education to appreciate their predicament - have as much right to be heard as the wise.

Today the cause of peace in the world demands that those of us with the ability to speak well must defend those less able. That those of us with the education to appreciate the predicament of others, speak on their behalf.

Yet it is the responsibility of each of us first to listen. In the vast noise there are quiet voices that need to be heard. They will uplift us. They will alert us to injustice. They will inspire and awaken us. They will warn us of the coming storm and they will lead us to discovery. They will humble us.

It is the responsibility of each of us to discern. To think for ourselves and draw our own conclusions. To dismiss the ignorant and favor the wise.

republic - epetition response

Link: republic - epetition response.

"The Monarchy is a vital element of our constitution, and personifies both national and commonwealth unity. As a result of a long process of evolution, during which the Monarch's absolute power has been progressively reduced, The Sovereign acts on the advice of Her Ministers. Britain is governed by Her Majesty's government in the name of The Queen.

The Government fully supports the Monarchy and the continuation of the Crown."

This response is both deeply disturbing and deeply disappointing - especially from a labour government that professes to be a socialist democratic party. I am not a supporter of socialism.

It should be clear to all that Monarchy is intrinsically racism and its continuance is an afront to all who cherish liberty and any notion of democracy.

iPhone Report

My son Freedom took me to the Apple store yesterday. He's determined to spend his savings on an iPhone.

We played with it awhile. It seems that YouTube on the iPhone is not connected to the main YouTube service and none of my favorite YouTube was available. I'm not sure whether that is just a transitional thing or if they are being selective and commercial. I could not find any PJ Harvey video, for example, or my own Vids - that's simply unforgivable. I pulled up a few of my own pages - it does not do Javascript or FLASH - which probably accounts for the YouTube limitation. No doubt they are having to convert the entire YouTube base to the QuickTime format. I was left wondering about all the transcoding that must be going on back at the server - which is, I assume, the real reason there is no Javascript and no FLASH.

My only other criticism is - why is it not perfect? Jeez, I went in expecting perfection and it is something less than that - it just pretty damned cool!

Apple: About as close to God as you can get

Several friends of mine - many in the Microsoft camp - complain about Apple and look at me with worried suspicion as I rave about the company and its products. It's sour grapes. We all wanted to produce devices and services that Apple have now delivered with twice the panache and many more times the expected commercial results than any of us imagined.

Apple TV earlier in the year showed us how effectively Apple have educated the public in clean and simple devices. They have educated and nurtured a public with the clean simplicity of the iPod and the measured delivery of iTunes. Who among us could have imagined several years ago just how important iTunes would become to the consumer public? None of us. Perhaps not even Apple. With superb competence they have simply followed their fortune, and their public, wherever it has naturally has led them. They listened to the market and they got out of their own way.

The iPhone attracts the especial attention of those with sour grapes and those that hang their head because they did not think of it first. But they are missing the point. They could never have invented the iPhone. It is simply the inevitable conclusion, not of plucking ideas from the air, but of looking at what you are doing that is succeeding and of following that wherever it may lead. The innovation of the iPhone lies in the much earlier vision of the Macintosh. It is the result of the continuity leadership and vision given to the company by one man, Steve Jobs.

This is an important observation because it speaks to the necessity of individual and not corporate visions. Apple is the reflection of the consistency an individual's vision can bring. Steve Jobs' skill is not in high technology but in simply being able to identify his fortune and the competence to follow that where it may lead. In other words, he is able to identify the inevitable next step.