Feb 25, 2011

Daniel Quinn’s theories on culture and civilization part 3

Daniel Quinn insists that the agricultural societies in the Americas gave up on the 'invention' of their agricultural experiment and just returned to their previous lifestyle yet people are creatures of habit and a few centuries in a social system is not something people would just walk away from as it has already become an established way of living.

The following extracts are from Daniel Quinn's book Beyond Civilization;

We weren’t the only people in ancient times to recognize the benefits of growing all our food. Among thenotable adopters of this meme in the New World were the Maya, the Olmec, the people of Teotihuacán,the Hohokam, the Anasazi, the Aztecs, and the Inca.

What’s significant for our study of this most fundamental meme is that, by the time Europeans arrived in the New World at the end of the fifteenth century, only the latest of these civilizations, the Aztec and the Incan, were still clinging to it.

He goes on to say that the others simply abandoned agriculture because they saw it as a failed social experiment. Then he claims that no explanation of the disappearance of these cultures will never be satisfactory because of the following reasons:

No such explanation will ever be satisfactory, because we all know these things:

• The soil may be depleted here, but it’s not depleted everywhere.
• Earthquakes and hurricanes don’t last forever.
• Climatic changes can be ridden out.
• Diseases run their course.
• Insect pests come and go.
• Peasant revolts can be put down—or survived.
• Invaders can be repelled—or absorbed.

It couldn’t have been things like this that made these people quit, because look at us. These things are mere inconveniences compared to whatwe’ve faced—all these things, plus much worse: famines, wars ofevery kind, inquisitions, government by torture and assassination, endlessly rising crime, corruption, tyranny, madness, revolution, genocide, racism, social injustice, mass poverty, poisoned water, polluted air, two devastating world wars, and the prospect of nuclear holocaust, biological warfare, and extinction. We faced all that and more—and never once have been tempted to abandon our civilization.

A few counter theories; As Jared Diamond points out, the crops grown in one area can move east and west but not north and south. That is why it was impossible for cultures in the Americas to expand as the whole continental landmass is mostly north to south.

Next the spread of small pox is a lot more destructive that one can imagine...to a culture that has no immunity to it. It begins fast and spreads fast. Wherever people are grouped together diseases can spread super fast and decimate a population which means that agricultural cultures are the first to go.

If we look at the dates of European explorers visiting North America we notice that Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 and guy named Leif Ericson may have arrived a good 500 years earlier. In other words, the spread of small pox can still account for the destruction of a variety of communities. Any neighbors would be aware of any illnesses and would avoid the area maybe even the whole style of living just to avoid death by the mysterious illness.

There are various reasons for the slow development of civilization in the Americas and the theories outlined by Jared Diamond (posted about here and here) provide a better explanation than do the theories of Daniel Quinn.

Jared Diamond’s ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ Part 2 – Conquest and the Tropics

In these next episodes Jared Diamond explains why the New World was conquered so easily by the Europeans. He begins with why a few hundred Spaniards were able to conquer the massive Inca civilization and walks through the various reasons from guns, to animals to the germs carried by Old Worlders for which the New Worlders had no immunity. Then he shows how expansion worked very differently in Africa for the same reasons (i.e. guns, germs and steel).

Quick overview with notes;

Conquest - Summary of show and transcript

All livestock animals in Europe came from the Fertile Crescent and this eastward expansion gave the Europeans the resources to grow on land that was more productive

In the new world there were no horses or cattle so all farming had to be done by hand-so their productivity was lower

Lamas had never been harnessed and existed only in the south

Horses, besides beats of burden, provided faster transport and thus better control of their territory and were objects of awe in the new world…an intimidating/supernatural experience for the new worlders

The real power of the conquistadors were their swords, the rapier. Guns were inaccurate though intimidating to the new worlders



[ Note: The longitude argument holds as a reason for the lack of spread of livestock and farming technique ]

12 years before Pizzaro arrived a slave with small pox was aboard a Spanish vessel that arrived in Mexico. Within days thousands were infected.



The germs decimated the local population making conquest much easier

Our diseases evolved from animals so we developed a kind of tolerance- (i.e. over the many 'plagues' in the old world, natural selection had improved the overall immunity of the old world population) new worlders had never come into contact with these germs so were extremely vulnerable

There is some debate as to how many natives were killed in the early conquest, experts estimate the new world had a population of over 20 million and up to 95% dies from old world diseases - that’s why the continent was virtually empty when the expansion inland finally began


Tropics - Summary of show and transcript

Cities and kingdoms once spread across the African continent

Europeans conquered and transplanted their cities and systems - agriculture- used railroads-

South Africa - the cape - had similar climate to Europe making it possible for comfortable colonization

Germs are the biggest killers in history- Europeans took these germs with them wherever they went which decimated populations and made colonization seem easier than it would have otherwise been

1830s thousands of Dutch farmers began to settle into Africa like in the Americas - guns had advanced by then and every settler had 2-3 guns

You couldn’t go around without your rifle - guns were a part of life and everyone had one
When they had gotten about 800 miles inland they entered the land of the zulus - a 'mighty African kingdom' who wiped out settlers nearby stopping the advance of the Europeans further inland

In a large war the Zulu were defeated by a smaller European force because of their guns

Eventually settlement continued to expand as technology grew and was implemented in Africa and the machine gun was invented - now one man could decimate a less technologically advanced civilization easily

Eventually the settlers were stopped by geography - land became impossible to plow, crops wouldn’t grow, their shoes fell apart in the mud-[their technology was not adapted to that particular geographic region]-

The settler’s livestock also started dying and they picked up malaria. The Europeans had come up against a disease that they were not immune to.

All of these reasons combined put the Europeans at a disadvantage in the same way that was previously their reason for success. Their culture had simply not evolved to survive in this environment

Small pox decimated populations in South Africa and the Americas but not further north in Africa

The imported animals had no immunity to indigenous germs

African cattle had immunity to tropical diseases and since small pox originated with cattle, and may even have originated in Africa, the population had a greater immunity but more importantly they had medicine to bestow immunity to small pox for life! So this was a problem they had encountered before

Africans had antibodies against malaria, a tropical disease that was deadly for Europeans

Africans had even evolved a culture in high and dry areas which kept them away from the wet areas where mosquitoes breed plus they lived in small communities which limits the spread of Malaria.

The Europeans did not know this and settled next to rivers where mosquitoes bred

Here guns were effective but germs were the deciding factor in holding back European expansion. [ Question: Are germs more powerful than guns in expansion of culture/civilization]

With settlement out of the question the Europeans turned instead to harvesting natural resources.

In conclusion;

Jared Diamond’s ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ Part 1 – Out of Eden

Jared Diamond is the author of the book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’, which explains how some cultures can advance faster than others, how some civilizations just crumble and how one civilization can become the dominant civilization on the planet, all without using a cultures beliefs as the reason for it’s rise or fall.

National Geographic put together a 3 part documentary outlining the essentials of Jared Diamond’s theory in the book Guns, Germs and Steel. This post outlines some of the ideas presented in the videos of the documentary as an introduction to Jared’s book.

Episode 1 – Out of Eden - Summary of show and transcript

The research that led to the book Guns, Germs and Steel began because of a question posed to him by a native New Guinean while Jared was on one of his bird watching expeditions.

He was asked, "Why you white men have so much cargo and New Guineans so little?".

Cargo represents ‘things’ or more accurately ‘wealth’ which is held in high esteem in almost every culture. The ability to come up with new technology and greater wealth is respected by New Guineans and is the essential difference between a native New Guinean and a native European. So by answering this question you can explain the whole of modern civilization.

The questions are basically, ‘Why did the Europeans dominate most of the world and not some other culture or civilization?’ - ‘What is the root cause of economic inequality across cultures?’ – ‘Why have some societies advanced faster than others?’.

Jared notes that the European beliefs for their world wide dominance (i.e. racial superiority or higher intelligence for whites than other races) is not supported by his observations so he begins to look at history, geography and other factors that could explain the economic inequality at the root of the question posed to him.

After living amongst the New Guineans Jared noted that a great deal of time goes into producing the food that they need to survive. Even with all the effort put into food production by the whole community there was still a very low amount of protein in their diet which is essential for health. On top of that, none of the food could be stored for very long so there was no time for people to relax and pursue other activities. There could be no specialization as the entire community was almost constantly involved in food production.

A quick overview with video clips and notes;



First settlements were in the Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago - stored wheat and barley-could be stored for years

In selecting what to grow (biggest and tastiest seeds) changed plants-i.e. domesticated them

Within 1000 years most of the new villages of the fertile crescent were abandoned as the ecology of that area was too fragile to support extensive farming

People were destroying the environment, cutting trees, using up soil nutrition and over grazing.

Crops and animals from the Fertile Crescent could prosper to the east and west because of similar climate and vegetation---that latitude was suitable for expansion

High yielding crops are an advantage in farming- leads to more productive farmers

As the scale of villages increased farming became more productive

Herding begins around this time

Animals supplement grains - eat leftover grains and provide fertilizer- a package of efficiency

With large domesticated animals such as horses and ox's productivity in farming increased tremendously. It also helped in transport making controlling larger territories easier.



Most species can’t be herded

The best animals for domestication are large plant eaters but all of these cant be domesticated -Africans were never able to domesticate their elephants

South Asia - Each elephant is caught in the wild, tamed and used as a work animal--in doesn’t make sense to farm an animal that takes 15 years to mature and produce

Animals good for domestication usually give birth within a year and every year after that =high productivity

The animals need to be social both between sexes and working as a group/herd plus they have to have a hierarchal social structure so by controlling the leader you can control the herd

Animals need to get along with humans but some animals can’t be controlled in a farm environment - ex. zebras are skittish and unpredictable ...maybe that’s why they didn’t get domesticated

Out of the 148 large plant eaters of animal species available on our planet only 14 have been domesticated… 13 of the 14 animals were all from Asia, North Africa and Europe.

South America only had the Lama - North America had none/neither did New Guinea, Australia or Sub-Saharan Africa

In conclusion;

Feb 22, 2011

Daniel Quinn’s theories on culture and civilization part 2

The following table shows the basic differences in behavior between Takers (agriculturists) and Leavers (Tribal/Primitive societies) as described in Daniel Quinn’s book ‘My Ishmael’.

Takers (Agriculturists) Leavers(Tribal Societies)
Believe only their way is right Don't believe only their way is right - it's right for them
The world would be better if people were better You don't need to improve people to make their system work.
Can't develop a lifestyle that works (sustainable and inherited) Lived in a working lifestyle for 100's of thousands of years
Everything is based on utopian ideals (government, school etc. assumes a type of person which is evolved) Based on human nature and tradition with years of evolution of their particular tribal law.
Force others to follow their way - believe their way is best Believe their way is best for them, others can live their own way
Annihilate others in war Fight to show their metal and be unpredictable - not to annihilate
Get products and give products Get support and give support
Specialization; smaller and smaller family units till the breakup of nuclear family is complete Complete cradle to grave support
Laws prohibiting stuff - people know laws will be broken and this divided society into law breakers and upright citizens No laws prohibiting as it doesn't take into account that humans will break laws - so the laws are to minimize the effects of damage to society
Tribal security exchanged for money - a kind of substitute for the sense of tribal community that our species evolved with for 10,000s of thousands of years.

Daniel Quinn’s theories on culture and civilization part 1

Daniel Quinn is best known for his award winning book Ishmael which he wrote after a long career as an editor for various reputable publications. Since then he has expanded on those ideas outlining them in greater and greater detail which is considered to have reached it’s completion with the publication of his fictional novels.

His book Ishmael became a bestseller and won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award for its unique ideas about history, mythology, anthropology and culture. However, that was just the beginning. The ideas in his book resonated with a large number of people from various walks of life and all age groups. They have inspired the song ‘Do the Evolution’ by the music group Pearl Jam, a movie and is being used as a textbook in many schools and colleges.

After Ishmael he wrote ‘My Ishmael’ and ‘The Story of B’ (which go together as a trilogy) followed by several other books and even study guides to help teachers, available from his website.

The books Ishmael and My Ishmael are my favorites because they are engaging both in the story telling and the Socratic Method used to teach. In fact, I think these two books are a great way to introduce students to the Socratic Method which is a very effective teaching method as it forces a student to think.

The movie Instinct is about an anthropologist, Dr. Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins), who disappears in the Jungles of Africa for two years and when he returns commits a crime for which he is committed to a psychiatric hospital. At this hospital Dr. Theo Calder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is assigned to his case and in the process of treating the troubled anthropologist he becomes a willing student of Dr. Powell’s unusual theories and teaching methods.

This movie is based on Daniel Quinn’s theory (who is consulted on the script – though he doesn’t believe the movie really portrays his ideas properly). In the following clip you see Dr. Powell explaining Quinn’s ideas on the difference between tribal and agricultural cultures.

(Note: Daniel Quinn sees our culture as essentially one type of agricultural system he calls ‘Takers’ while tribal societies are called ‘Leavers’ – He choose these names for their neutrality and as descriptions of the basic pattern that these two different systems follow)

In this video Dr. Powell is drawing his view of the history of mankind on his cell walls.



The theory Daniel Quinn outlines is very broad and essentially lumps together all of our agricultural civilization as one type of culture when compared to the general behavior of tribal cultures. In explaining these differences he intends to show his perspective of where our culture went wrong and how we can learn from tribal cultures to help us remake our civilization in a way that will be more sustainable. He sees our problems with pollution, poverty, education, war etc. as arising from underlying cultural behavior which is supposed to originate with the birth of agriculture.

When I first read his books, several years ago, I was very taken by his explanations and evidence. However, since then I’ve come across several instances in which his explanations and evidence are inaccurate. So this post is meant as an introduction to Daniel Quinn while the next post will outline the basic theory. After that I will look more critically at some of his claims with available evidence (this could take a while).

I have chosen Daniel Quinn’s theories as a start to my own analysis of culture as his classifications are broad and begin from the beginning of the agricultural revolution which is also considered to be the beginning of civilization itself. Also, his books are very well written and are even being used as textbooks, so in a sense, his theories represent a view that is gaining greater acceptance in popular culture i.e. it’s not particularly ‘alternative’. Finally, the number of fields of study his theories encompass make his ideas make a great starting point to analyze different fields of research and bring them together which is the purpose of this blog.

A little about rap and some Dr. Dre videos

[Note 03/22/10: Every culture has its art forms and this video mention that hip hop/rap is an art form in and of itself. One thing I would like to mention is that in rap often every word has some significance...as one rapper said "Hey, I want everybody to listen to the words of this song". Keep in mind that swear words are often used as modes of expression and are not meant to be taken literally and the same goes for images describing a perspective]

The reason for the strong negative emotions surrounding rap is a complex one. However, the negative emotions surrounding these issues are societal and from 20th century western culture and I have only just begun my analysis into culture. It’ll probably be a while before I get to analyzing the politics of modern music. In the meantime I thought I would just point out the obvious, done by many before me, about how the lyrics of rap is getting more negative publicity than is fair.

One of the reasons (I think) for the negative emotions surrounding rap has to do with the public image surrounding Gangster Rap of the 80’s and 90’s which I’m not very familiar with (I was mostly into rock and pop at the time, if I have heard any gangster rap I would have to listen to it again to remember). The lyrics in gangster rap reflect the life of inner city youth which is in an area of low economic wealth and therefore tends to be more violent than an area of greater economic wealth. However, it has been accused of being overly violent and consequently rap has developed negative public image over the years which has become almost comical


To put the violence of rap lyrics in perspective I thought I would just make a little list of songs with violent themes from a completely different music genre that haven’t received any negative publicity.

Pardon Me I've Got Someone To Kill
by Johnny Paycheck

Early one mornin' while makin' the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
I went right home and I went to bed I stuck that lovin' 44 beneath my head

By Johnny Cash

Lord you should've seen their frantic faces
They screamed and cried please put away that knife
I guess I'll go to hell or I'll rot here in the cell

By Wagoner Porter

But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die

By Johnny Cash

I've killed the only man I love
He would not take me for his bride

By Olivia Newton

And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground
Oh Ruby, don't take your love to town

By Kenny Rogers

She runs back down the hallway
To the bedroom door
She reaches for the pistol
Kept in the dresser drawer
Tells the lady in the mirror
He won't do this again
Cause tonight will be the last time
She'll wonder where he's been

By Garth Brooks

With that out of the way, let’s enjoy some music.

I have only owned two rap albums in my life one by Snoop Doggy Dog back in the early 90’s and the other by Dr. Dre (Chronic 2001). When I first heard the songs from Chronic 2001 on the radio I was instantly attracted to the passion in the music. Over the years, when I return to listening to music I always hunt down some songs from this album. Since I first bought the album I have a better understanding of why I like this music so much. If you listen to the lyrics you notice there is anger, love, brotherhood, loyalty, forgiveness and contains a dialogue to events in Dr. Dre’s life. That’s one of the reasons music is important in our culture as it not only sounds good but contains the life experiences of the song writers(which reflects aspects of the culture and society they come from). It’s the kind of music I like to hear so I thought I would post some of it. So here are some of my favorite songs of that album.











Feb 17, 2011

Ancient Mysteries: The World's Earliest Cities

"Very deep." Wrote Thomas Mann at the opening of his mythologically conceived tetralogy, Joseph and His Brothers. "is the well of the past. Should we not call it bottomless?" And he then observed: "The deeper we sound, the further down into the lower world of the past we probe and press, the more do we find that the earliest foundations of humanity, its history and culture, reveal themselves unfathomable." Primitive Mythology by Joseph Campbell page 5 [Hereafter referred to as JC1]

With this quote Joseph Campbell began his study in mythology. What I want to examine in this post is just how far back we can trace civilization, cities or even just large communities.

During Joseph Campbell’s time certain excavations (such as Catalhoyuk) had just been uncovered which was beginning to push back the horizon of when our civilization actually began. Since the discoveries were made after he had finished his books he wrote about these recent archeological finds in his forward to the book on Primitive Mythology and pointed out how these discoveries had pushed back the timelines he had outlined in this book. In addition to this, other fascinating discoveries have completely destroyed the original timeline of civilizational development outlined in Campbell’s early overview. However, this was something he expected as he noted, "there will, no doubt, be as many astonishing disclosures during the seventies and eighties as there were in the decade of the sixties."(Forward from Primitive Mythology)

With the discovery of Catalhoyuk we now have evidence of an established villages cluster of at least 10,000 people living together over hundreds of years. The village life is firmly established around 7,500 B.C. So this spreads out the cradle of civilization from the fertile crescent more towards Central Asia and it also pushes back the dates of the earliest cities. The first examples of developed pottery is actually found (rather suddenly) in catalhoyuk which suggests that its was a growing and innovative society.

With the Mesopotamian civilization firmly established in textbooks as the source of civilization everyone has heard of the later cities of Babylon and Egypt. The newer archeological finds, such as Catalhoyuk from the 1960's, haven't quite made it into school or college textbooks. However, museums seem to be catching up to the discoveries of the last century.

Next is a group of cities made of brick which seem to have materialized from nowhere;

"The so-called Harappa stage of the great cities of Mohenjo-daro, Chanhu-daro, and Harappa (c. 2500-1200/1000 B.C), which bursts abruptly into view, without preparation, already fully formed and showing many completely obvious signs of inspiration from the earlier high centers of the West (i.e. fertile crescent), yet undeniable signs, also, of a native Indian tradition – this too already well developed. As professor W. Norman Brown has suggested, a native Indian center (i.e., a mythogenetic zone) somewhere either in the south or in the Ganges-Jumna area would seem to be indicated, where the characteristically Indian traits, unknown at this time farther west, must have come into form. [JC1 - Page 435]

Other interesting facts about the cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa is that the bricks used in making them are uniform, i.e. they had a system to measure and weigh stuff accurately. They had their own sewage system, public baths and the structure of the architecture suggest an egalitarian society, but there are no signs of architectural development. That means these cities arrived fully developed and then went into decline. There are no in-between cities or towns where the Mohenjodaro/Happan style of architecture is first used.

With the discovery of ancient cities off the coast of India, the sudden appearance of Mohenjodara and Harrapa makes more sense. Cities that existed before a rise in the oceans(that began at the end of the last ice age) would explain the sudden appearance of cities like Mohenjodaro and Harrapa;

"The carbon dating of 7500 BC obtained for the wooden piece recovered from the site changes the earlier held view that the first cities appeared in the Sumer Valley [in Mesopotamia] around 3000 BC," said B Sasisekaran of India's National Science Academy.
The images gathered over the past six months led to a surprising discovery - a series of well-defined geometric formations were clearly seen, spread irregularly across a nine-kilometre (five-mile) stretch, a little beneath the sea bed.

Some of them closely resemble an acropolis - or great bath - known to be characteristic of the Harappan civilisation.

The Gulf of Cambay is one of the largest tidal areas in the world - with a current of very high velocity - and so it is conceivable that the area may well have submerged an entire ancient settlement, Mr Ravindran said to the BBC.

I have covered a bunch of evidence of underwater structures in an earlier post called Underwater Ruins. It also has a video of an Indian Archeologist who finds evidence of some underwater structures and links it to the Mahabharata which describes a city that was submerged in some long ago time with vibrant images of life in the city as well as some romanticized images of a city of gold.

For this post I'd like to show with images that there is undeniable evidence - i.e. you can see it for yourself - that there was a civilization or at least a bunch of advanced cities along the coastline before the end of the last ice age.

First a couple of images of the underwater structures off the coast of Japan covered in the earlier post.



Just looking at the above pictures, under around a hundred feet of water, isn't it obvious that the picture right above is carved while the image above that has a typical arch architecture(of a certain time).

Next take a look at these amazing pillars that were recently uncovered just short distance from Catalhoyuk called Gobekli Tepe; [Images of Gobekli Tepe and article quotes are from here]


Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey, Klaus Schmidt has made one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years.


As the archaeologists dug deeper, they unearthed pillars arranged in circles. Schmidt's team, however, found none of the telltale signs of a settlement: no cooking hearths, houses or trash pits, and none of the clay fertility figurines that litter nearby sites of about the same age. The archaeologists did find evidence of tool use, including stone hammers and blades. And because those artifacts closely resemble others from nearby sites previously carbon-dated to about 9000 B.C., Schmidt and co-workers estimate that Gobekli Tepe's stone structures are the same age. Limited carbon dating undertaken by Schmidt at the site confirms this assessment.

Schmidt says the monuments could not have been built by ragged bands of hunter-gatherers. To carve, erect and bury rings of seven-ton stone pillars would have required hundreds of workers, all needing to be fed and housed. Hence the eventual emergence of settled communities in the area around 10,000 years ago.


Hodder is fascinated that Gobekli Tepe's pillar carvings are dominated not by edible prey like deer and cattle but by menacing creatures such as lions, spiders, snakes and scorpions. "It's a scary, fantastic world of nasty-looking beasts,"

Here is a quick comparison between two unrelated structures, yet it's interesting that both seem to have some sort of significance requiring alot of labor to create but with no signs of settlement to explain its creation. The lines drawn in the sand are the Nazca lines in Peru that covers a 37 mile stretch of land.









Finally, I managed to obtain some of the sonar images of the city found over 1000 feet down off the coast of Cuba (mentioned in 'Underwater Ruins'). Not sure where I found them as I havn't been able to find the site again. In any case, these pictures where taken by the underwater team using sonar and small submarine type cameras.





The close ups are of large cube and pyramid shaped like objects, while the sonar shows the size of the area that these structures are built around(several square miles). Unfortunately very little information is available on these structures.

I'm going to go over some other structures and their mysteries in other posts in this series. There is just something interesting I noticed is how large monolithic stones were set up in England on one side and Tibet on the other. It makes me think of a widespread cultural stream that eventually used large stones for some ritualistic or astronomical reason. Who knows(the culture no longer exists). Whats important to me is that what could have been just stones set up in a group, when looked at in terms of all the evidence, suggests a cultural influence that spread across a large expanse of territory.

A tripod like stone structure in England


On the barren windswept plains of Tibet...could this be like a tripod which has been broken?

Group rocks in England

Group of rocks in Tibet.

So far I've shown that our timeline for the beginning of our earliest cities is grossly out of date and if we take that into account we notice that there may have been a broad diffusion of ideas sometime - or many times - in the past. I will continue to look at the remains of the lost part of our history under 'Ancient Mysteries' from time to time.

Feb 16, 2011

What is the difference between culture and society?

The first thing Id like to clear up before I begin to look at culture is that my perspective on culture is a lot broader than is normally used in everyday life(kind of anthropological). When you say England has a different culture than say, Germany what you are really referring to is ‘society’. The society is different, there is a different language, some behaviors are different etc. In other words it fits the following definitions:
Definition of SOCIETY

1: companionship or association with one's fellows : friendly or intimate intercourse : company
2: a voluntary association of individuals for common ends; especially : an organized group working together or periodically meeting because of common interests, beliefs, or profession
3a : an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another
b : a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests


Culture is a broader perspective and can be expanded depending on the classifications you use. Using the above example England and Germany are both Christian majority countries, they share similar economic and democratic values, they share a common ancestral language…infact that ancestral language is shared with the Indian subcontinent as well! A cultural diffusion took place around 4000 B.C. probably from the north Caucasus region as it went from semi-arid to desert. The tribes from this area spread south, west and north-west. That is why all the cultures that developed in the Mediterranean had a very similar pantheon of gods as the Hindus (for example: both Zeus and Indra throw lightning bolts). Later it was discovered that certain languages share roots and we now know that Greek, Persian, Latin, Hindi and English all originate from the same tribal group millennia ago. (You can find an overview of Indo-European Language Subfamilies here)

Each of these groups (Greeks, Hindus etc.) has different societies but they share a cultural heritage. One aspect of my study in this blog will be to examine the broadness of our cultural heritage.

Definition of CULTURE

5a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time
c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization
d : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic


"For anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns." Dennis O'Neil

Feb 11, 2011

Just a few links about Karl Rove

[Note - 13th April '11 : "Within our party, we've got to be very careful about allowing these people who are the birthers and the 9/11-deniers to get too high a profile and say too much without setting the record straight," said Rove, according to a transcript of the exchange with Bill O'Reilly from GOP12.]

[Note: Although I don't like posts of only links and vids there are a few things and people I prefer not to write about unless I absolutely have to...Rove is one of them]

News 8’s description of Rove’s discussion covering “protection of individual liberties” is particularly ironic. Dykes was arrested during a question and answer session after he asked Rove about the Downing Street memo and a record documenting a meeting between Bush and Tony Blair where the two leaders discussed painting a reconnaissance aircraft in UN colors in order to provoke Iraq. The Downing Street memo revealed that intelligence and facts were fixed by the neocon Bush regime around the policy of illegally removing Saddam Hussein from power. The document uncovered that intelligence on Iraq prior to the war was deliberately falsified and not simply mistaken as Bush and the neocons later claimed.

In response to the question, Rove told Dykes to “sit down and shut up.” Aaron was then arrested by UT Police and placed in handcuffs. He was charged with resisting arrest, although Dykes made a point to raise his arms and declare that he was not resisting arrest or posing a threat to the police. He was then transferred to the Travis County Jail where he is being held by the Austin Police.

Infowars cameraman Rob Jacobson was also detained by UT Police but released.





An hour with Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International about his book The Post-American World.


Karl Rove, Still Lying on TV About Iraq


Prep Students Challenge Rove Speech


Card: Rove's Claim That Congress Pushed Bush To War Is Wrong


Daschle Calls Rove's Iraq War Accusation "A Joke"




Comedy relief with Stephen Colbert


The DaColbert Code - Samuel Alito

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The DaColbert Code - Samuel Alito
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Patrick Fitzgerald's Press Conference

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Patrick Fitzgerald's Press Conference
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Mug Shot

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Mug Shot
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Karl Rove's New Book

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Karl Rove's New Book
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Stephen's Sound Advice - Karl's Advice

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Steven Levitt

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Steven Levitt
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The Word - Pity Party

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The Word - Pity Party
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ThreatDown - Bats

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ThreatDown - Bats
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Press Room Renovations

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Press Room Renovations
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Medal of Audacity

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Medal of Audacity
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White House Correspondents' Dinner

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White House Correspondents' Dinner
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Feb 9, 2011

Vice President Aaron Burr & Dick Cheney

Aaron Burr was an interesting man. He had the social influence to get himself into the Vice Presidency and then appears to have used his influence to try and create a country in competition to the American Federation. When he was tried for treason he was acquitted but he never regained his former power or influence and pretty much disappeared.

The fact that he made it to the Vice Presidency shows that he was able to create an positive impression that he was a trustworthy and reliable man (at least for his part of society). He was also an ‘old style gentleman’ which also created an impression of nobility that added to his ability to charm. However, it was only his own self-interest that dominated all his actions. First to get himself into a position of authority and then to try and use the influence he built over the years (decades?) to try and create a war situation which he wanted to use to his advantage to gain more wealth and power. All he had to do was wait for, or try to instigate, a situation where he could get what he wanted.

However, the founding brothers were watching and immediately reduced his influence with a public trial. Here is an extract from the book American Lion (about President Andrew Jackson)

“He was becoming a man of standing in Nashville, and in that role he and Rachel were Aaron Burr’s hosts in Nashville in 1805. A former vice president and the man who had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr was an adventurer at the center of a murky on going conspiracy in these years to lead a military expedition of some kind in the Southwest, possibly to marry US land with Spanish holdings to create a stand-alone republic or empire. It was an elusive scheme, and with Jackson, Burr seems to have spoken only of preparing a force in the event of war with Spain in Florida, a subject of perennial interest in the Southwest at the time. At Burr’s request, Jackson agreed to build five boats and supply them with provisions.

That Jackson was not privy to a treasonous conspiracy seems evident; his call for the militia to make itself ready noted that they would move “when the government and constituted authorities of our country require it.” Burr had other ideas including the possibility of seizing New Orleans. Beginning to suspect trouble, Jackson wrote several officials, including President Jefferson and Louisiana Governor William C.C. Claiborne. “I fear there is something rotten in the State of Denmark,” Jackson told Claiborne. Ultimately Jefferson had Burr arrested and tried for treason; Burr was acquitted in 1807. The episode illuminates two elements of Jackson’s character: his ambition to secure the nation from foreign threats, an ambition so abiding that he very nearly allowed himself to become entangled in a terrible conspiracy; and second, his equally abiding love of the nation as a family that could not be broken up.”


Vice President Dick Cheney

Stephen reminds us of when Dick Cheney launched a pre-emptive strike -- on doubt. (3:29)

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Paul Krugman is part of that fringe 60% of the population that thinks the war was a mistake. (5:20)
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A long overdue investigative report (overdue by several years!), stated plainly that the authorities seem to have intentionally misled us into a war.



Article: Cheney to Treasury: "Deficits don't matter"

Accountant David Walker warns of a 50 trillion dollar deficit and Stephen asks if his haircut can be a tax write off.

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David Walker
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Dick Cheney ignores polls in America but seems to use iraqi polls to show the strategy of iraq war is right



Another video



Daily Show: Dick cheney says that iraq will put us in a quagmire


Dick Cheney and Halliburton

Daily Show: Halliburton moves to Dubai


WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2003: Cheney's Halliburton Ties Remain

(CBS/AP) A report by the Congressional Research Service undermines Vice President Dick Cheney's denial of a continuing relationship with Halliburton Co., the energy company he once led, Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Thursday.

The report says a public official's unexercised stock options and deferred salary fall within the definition of "retained ties" to his former company.

Cheney said Sunday on NBC that since becoming vice president, "I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years."



Waxman Raises New Questions on Cheney

As the government prepared for war in Iraq in the fall of 2002, a senior political appointee in the Defense Department chose oil services giant Halliburton Co. to secretly plan how to repair Iraqi oil fields, and then briefed Vice President Cheney's chief of staff and other White House officials about the sole-source contract before it was granted.


Nigeria Files Charges Against Dick Cheney, Halliburton Over Bribery Case

Nigerian prosecutors filed charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and companies including Halliburton Co., where he was chief executive officer until 2000, for alleged bribery, according to court documents.


Dick Cheney and Halliburton avoid bribery charges in Nigeria ... by forking over $250 million

The natural gas project contract in question was worth $6 billion, Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, told the Associated Press.

Last year Halliburton and KBR pleaded guilty in a U.S. court of paying off the Nigerian officials more than $180 million in bribes when Cheney was chief executive of Haliburton and were fined a record $579 million under the Foreign Corrupt Practices act, and a top KBR executive, Albert "Jack" Stanley was sentenced to seven years in prison.



Cheney/Halliburton Chronology


Vice President Dick Cheney told NBC's Meet the Press "I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts" that Halliburton received in Iraq.

But an internal Pentagon email later obtained by Time magazine indicates that months before the war "action" on the Iraqi oil contract was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. Two months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported, "The Bush administration is eager to secure Iraq's oil fields and rehabilitate them, industry officials say. They say Mr. Cheney's staff hosted an informational meeting with industry executives in October, with Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Texaco Corp., ConocoPhillips and Halliburton among the companies represented. Both the Bush administration and the companies say such a meeting never took place." (Thaddeus Herrick, "U.S. Oil Wants to Work in Iraq," Wall Street Journal, Jan. 17, 2003.)



Halliburton got $7B in no-bid Iraq contracts


During Vice President Dick Cheney's tenure as its chief executive, the Halliburton Corporation altered its accounting policies so it could report as revenue more than $100 million in disputed costs on big construction projects, public filings by the company show. Halliburton did not disclose the change to investors for over a year.


Senate report


Vice President Dick Cheney’s stock options in Halliburton rose from $241,498 in 2004 to over $8 million in 2005, an increase of more than 3,000 percent, as Halliburton continues to rake in billions of dollars from no-bid/no-audit government contracts.


More on Dick Cheney


US vice president Dick Cheney has been charged with "organised criminal activity" over allegations about abuse in privately-run prisons.

Investigating prisoner abuse will be a political food fight, and that is messier than torture. (03:31)
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The only huge surprise about Dick Cheney having his own secret assassination squad is that it didn't include cannibalism. (03:09)

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Sniper Trifle
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Cheney's Secret Assassination Squad
It's hard to believe Dick Cheney had the time to command a secret lawless assassination squad with all the secret lawless torture. (02:10)

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Cheney's Secret Assassination Squad
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