Danielle Levy

–Government may be seen as inefficient, but GM and other corporations have shown themselves to be worse. Factoring in human limitations may yield better results–We often allow so called conventional wisdom to dictate our views with little thought that CW is not always based on fact. We, for example, hold on to the notion that government-run programs are inefficient, bureaucratic and wasteful. The question ought to be, are they more so than the private sector? Many say, yes indeed. And yet if that were so GM would still be the beacon of American industry and business it had been until its demise. And would banks have pushed sub-prime loans and doctor their books to make them look they were bringing in profits when in fact they were loosing money? Our current economic crisis is the result of several corporations being inefficient (Bears Sterns… Lehman… AIG, GM et al.), bureaucratic (don’t we hear how the GM mindset helped to defeat the corporation?) and wasteful (what about those bonuses to AIG and others)?
When we now hear that government may play a role in the future of healthcare, many tremble and raise their dander. It would seem that the limitations of human nature are a far more apt culprit than government, and those are as likely to occur in government as in the corporate sector. The way to address the problem may not be to think in terms of what sector will do what, (how much and who will pay may be more relevant) but how to protect whatever new program from the known current limitations of our specie.

–The Global Peace Index does what it intends to do: Make us think about peace–Most have never heard of the Global Peace Index. It is put together by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a non-profit organization with an address in New South Wales. For the last 3 years it has ranked nations along certain criteria in order to determine their levels of peace. This year New Zealand was first, Denmark and Norway tied for 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Japan was no. 7, Canada, 8. Finland and Slovenia tied for 9 and the United States was 83rd ahead of countries like Libya and Gabon. The last four in the 144 countries ranked are in that order Israel, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq as no 144. France was no. 30 and the United Kingdom 35. The panel of experts behind the index looks at criteria which are aimed at gauging levels of democracy, transparency, education and material well being. They also look at internal strife and conditions leading to internal or external problems. This year food riots in several countries affected the ranking as did the other consequences of the global economic crisis such as unemployment. Several indicators affecting security measure house pricing and pensions are also included, which could explain one of the reasons for the U.S. poor showing. But the point of course is not to engage in a contest of pride but to think through what peace entails and make us all more aware of what goes into making peace. While the index may be a news filler, an afterthought or even an interesting tidbit, it ought to be something for us to ponder.

–Twitter may be a phenomenon but it seems it may have an underside–I just read a long article about Twitter. No matter one’s generation it is a phenomenon, the difference being in what kind of a phenomenon, each generation seeing it through their own prism. I’ve been intrigued and curious but not taken in by it. It is a followers’ medium. For celebrities, for certain businesses, for those who have a following it is useful or at least suit their purposes. If I’m correct, what this implies is distressing because the implication is that Twitter works on the herd mentality, and would thus reinforce what may be a lower aspect of being human. It does so at a time in the history of humanity when individual thought is crucial if our herd instincts are to be left behind for greater things.
I am left with a question of whether or not Twitter is harmful?