[Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: Verizon's greed

[mike cole]

That *is* a neat Venn diagram, Greg. And I just learned of the word today
for reasons that grow out
of an MCA project involving a hard to define non-English words. The link to
Mimi Ito, connected learning zeitgeists, and passionate affinity groups is
a welcome addition to my education.

mike

PS- Neat looking web page too!!



On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 5:03 PM, Greg Mcverry <jgregmcverry@gmail.com>
wrote:

> As we were discussing ikagi in this thread it reminded me that it seems to
> be popping up more and more  in my circles.
>
> Here was a post I did a few months back after a group of us read Jenkins,
> Ito, and boyd's latest book.:
> http://jgregorymcverry.com/in-search-of-ikigai-meaning-making-as-culture/
>
> It has no academic value or insight just a personal reflection.
>
> The concept of "ikagi" seems to be gaining cultural relevance in the tech
> scene or emerging theoretical perspectives "connected learning-- a
> pragmatic amalgamation of learning theories with deep roots to XMCA.
>
> Not sure if the rising popularity of Ikagi is window dressing for the newly
> minted millionaire's, "millennial attitudes," or effects of our networked
> society.
>
>  Given that I hate generational distinctions and avoid guessing anyone's
> motives I am going witha  theory that the  semiotic power of a well
> balanced Venn Diagram and the meaning packed within creates an
> inspirational aspiration.
>
> One that "hipster" crowd has appropriated. In fact if anyone has had the
> chance to see the American satire show "Silicon Valley" I would be willing
> to bet on an "Ikagi" joke.....which also speaks to a much larger level of
> cultural appropriation.
>
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 7:34 AM Lplarry <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > Val opened this line of the intertwining  thread with her passion for
> > requisite variety as the quality of permeable membranes and interface as
> > necessary for general systems theory unfolding as human projects.
> > This occurs at all levels (cell, self, families, teams, communities,
> > nations).
> > Two nations that Val offers as exemplary are Japan and Germany.
> > Implicit is the realization that these two nations *tend* towards
> > equilibrium having *requisite variety*
> > This post lead to Andy exploring the notion of having a *reason* for
> > getting up in the morning. Helen then contributed and elaborated on this
> > quality of life.
> >
> > Then Wagner, taking his turn,pointed to a deep contrast with how he saw
> > the *reality* of  Japanese culture and it’s focus on the ideal  of not
> > being a nail that sticks out as *actually* being more like a *linear*
> > dynamic system that is generally closed and nonpermeable.
> > This type of system  which displays qualities which *express*  what seems
> > to have the quality of  mechanical systems having the  opposite system
> > characteristic  of cells which  have *organic permeable boundaries* .
> >
> > My question is how Japan can be conceptualized as both exemplary (living
> > experience as if organically permeable) following the theory of general
> > biological systems theory) and also be perceived as a dead and lifeless
> > place which images a general mechanical systems theory with external
> moving
> > *parts* only mechanically related and therefore forming a sense of
> lifeless
> > *repetition*.
> > It seems that within japanese culture we can be participating in both
> > organic général systems (permeable membrane image) and at the same time
> > participating in mechanical general systems (closed impermeable dead
> > membranes)
> > Both  forms of recognition in Nancy Frasers understanding of culture but
> > it seems to hinge on the difference between mechanical and organic
> > metaphors of system boundaries. Are system boundaries closed *walls*
> > (Trump) or permeable *membranes*.
> > Dead/mechanical or living/breathing systems.
> > Is this the difference between *linear* and *nonlinear* notions of
> systems?
> >
> > My turn is to reflect on the relation between *eco* system as a concept
> > and the aboriginal image of *mother earth* as a similar concept.
> > These symbols both sharing notions of open  membranes but they do have a
> > diiferent feel and sense of being organic life.
> >
> > Sent from my Windows 10 phone
> >
> > From: Wilkinson
> > Sent: April 24, 2016 9:04 PM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Fwd: Verizon's greed
> >
> > Note (a continuation):
> > I was in such a hurry that I couldn't remember "the project as unit of
> > analysis." (thanks Andy)  We do progress!  It's not just survival of the
> > fittest, but also mutual aid is a factor.  And like we used to say in
> > Medieval Lit,
> > "when Adam dug and Eve spun,
> > who was then a "gentleman"?
> > V
> >
> >
> > On 2016/04/25 12:13, Wilkinson wrote:
> > > Life in the present mode of existence, being.
> > > Hello, dear Xmca-er colleagues.
> > >
> > > I'm checking in as a woman scholar voice doing research in General
> > > Systems Theory.  Once I was just at the beginning and now nearly the
> end
> > > of my institutional career.  In Japan.  A National University.
> > > I live in an educational world where the children have been taught that
> > > the nail that sticks out gets beaten down.
> > >
> > > As a systems theorist, at the level of self, group, community - living
> > > systems naturally seek equilibrium.  So why would I vote or not vote
> for
> > > Sanders?  Why would I vote or not vote for Hilary?
> > >
> > > 40 years of teaching languages, Latin, Greek, English, has been to make
> > > my living.  What I love and want to talk about is how to create a great
> > > team, produce a film, coordinate a satisfactory project, with the young
> > > ones who are enacting the managerial roles having the full support of
> > > the community of adults, both in and out of the academy.  Moreover,
> > > peer-learning, which appears essential, and has so appeared to me since
> > > I was seven, "teaching" my one year younger brother how to read my
> first
> > > English primer.
> > >
> > > Time and again Andy, Larry, and Mike have responded lucidly and kindly
> > > to my flashing dives into the stream.  I feel that Andy's "project" as
> > > mode/method/focus for the self, the team, and the community is
> coherent,
> > > articulate, manageable.  So if I fear and dread recursions of 30s
> > > horrors, world depression, anti-union, the ghastly shape of Nazism
> > > appearing, the shape of Joseph McCarthy's witch-hunts, it's not going
> to
> > > help much with my projects of today, this week, etc.
> > >
> > > But coming back again and again to the present, the projects I am doing
> > > now, this week, this month, working out how to stay in contact with the
> > > players, get announcements out to the community, well, that is quite
> > > enough for me to do.  Since the kids are grown up and don't need me so
> > > much, I have to encourage young students to join clubs, have meetings,
> > > plan events.  Just have to stay busy ...
> > >
> > > But always coming back to General Systems Theory, and moving with the
> > > present, as a woman/mother/lover/teacher/faculty
> > > member/participant-observer, I value the exquisite mind of Ross Ashby
> > > and "requisite variety," which is what a viable system needs to
> survive,
> > > an environment which draws out the creative, which satisfies the
> hunger.
> > >   Permeable membranes and interface is how I see the interaction of
> > > nations and communities and teams and people and families and the cells
> > > in the body maintaining health.
> > >
> > > It is hard for me to check in or dive in with a word, but XMCA
> continues
> > > to be the best forum for my serendipities and synchronicities and
> > > reading of the news.  I'm still a GST person and keep my eye on Ervin
> > > Laszlow and the Budapest Club for international cooperative ventures in
> > > sustainable business, a benign transition to an age of
> ultra-technology,
> > > in which human communities can create harmonious dwellings,
> > > environmentally friendly renewable energy and so on.  I live in Japan
> > > and my brother's family members live in Germany.  Living in the present
> > > does not mean just today.  I see that it means progressing toward
> better
> > > education, better health, better food supply.  I still want to pay
> > > attention to Japan and Germany - and where ever people have learned
> that
> > > wholesome, calm work places, educational opportunities and intrinsic
> > > development, taking it easy and taking it slow, are altogether so much
> > > better than war, war, bombs, and military/industrial complex money
> blah,
> > > messing up the academy, truncating creativity, killing joyful work
> > > places. (But now I see that I am standing on a box in a park instead of
> > > getting on with my projects for today).
> > > Vandy
> > >
> > >
> > > 2016/04/25 9:29, mike cole wrote:
> > >> This is how Sanders represents himself in a way that appeals to a good
> > >> many
> > >> Americans. They do not
> > >> know what to call it and neither does he. I offer it as evidence about
> > an
> > >> unusual phenomenon in American political life that feels to this dated
> > >> person a LOT like what I understand of the 1930's in this country. I
> > come
> > >> from a line of premature anti-fascists and anti-racists (terrible
> > >> sexists)
> > >> who were firm believers in the first ammendment to the constitution of
> > >> the
> > >> US. What I see in this election is very disturbingly like what those
> > >> years
> > >> around my birth were all about.
> > >>
> > >> The result in that case was a massive world war and the beginning of
> the
> > >> atomic age.
> > >>
> > >> The result in this case?
> > >>
> > >> Who was  it you were asking me to vote for?
> > >>
> > >> mike
> > >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > >> From: BernieSanders.com <info@berniesanders.com>
> > >> Date: Sat, Apr 23, 2016 at 4:14 PM
> > >> Subject: Verizon's greed
> > >> To: Michael Cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> [image: Bernie Sanders for President]
> > >>
> > >> When the CEO of a company makes almost $20 million a year but then
> > >> tries to
> > >> outsource jobs, reduce wages, and cut health benefits -- that's the
> > >> kind of
> > >> corporate greed we need to get rid of in America. *And that's exactly
> > >> what
> > >> Verizon is doing right now.*
> > >>
> > >> Verizon's employees are fighting back. They're out on strike for a
> > >> contract. *Stand with them against their CEO and add your name to
> > >> Bernie's
> > >> to say you support Verizon employees.
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/stand-with-verizon-employees?source=em160423-full
> > >*
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Bernie's email to you about this very important issue about this is
> > >> below.
> > >> Thank you for standing in solidarity.
> > >> ------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> Sisters and Brothers,
> > >>
> > >> The CEO of Verizon makes almost $20 million a year in compensation. He
> > >> leads one of the most profitable companies in the country.
> > >>
> > >> *Yet Verizon wants to take away employees' health benefits. Verizon
> > wants
> > >> to outsource decent-paying jobs. Verizon wants to avoid paying federal
> > >> income tax. And right now, Verizon is refusing to sit down and
> > >> negotiate a
> > >> fair contract with its employees.*
> > >>
> > >> In other words, Verizon is just another major American corporation
> > trying
> > >> to destroy the lives of working Americans. *But this time, Verizon's
> > >> employees are fighting back.*
> > >>
> > >> Thousands of very brave employees of Verizon and Verizon Wireless are
> on
> > >> strike until they can get a fair contract. They made a *very*
> difficult
> > >> decision that puts their families at risk -- but it's a choice they
> > >> made to
> > >> stand up for justice against corporate greed.
> > >>
> > >> *I'm asking you today to stand up and tell the CEO of Verizon that you
> > >> think Verizon employees deserve a fair contract that protects health
> > >> benefits, guarantees fair pay, and stops outsourcing. Click here to
> add
> > >> your name in support of Verizon employees.
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/stand-with-verizon-employees?source=em160423-full
> > >*
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> *Add Your Name »
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/stand-with-verizon-employees?source=em160423-full
> > >*
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Twice last week in New York City I stood with Verizon workers in the
> > >> streets. I did so because they're doing something very brave: they're
> > >> standing up not just for themselves, but for the millions of Americans
> > >> who
> > >> don't have a union.
> > >>
> > >> The working class of this country deserves to earn decent wages,
> decent
> > >> benefits, and not see their jobs go to low-wage countries.
> > >>
> > >> Verizon's CEO doesn't think that. He called me "contemptible" for
> saying
> > >> that his employees need a fair contract, and that Verizon should pay
> its
> > >> fair share in federal income taxes.
> > >>
> > >> What I think is contemptible is CEOs with multi-million dollar
> > >> compensation
> > >> packages, presiding over extremely profitable companies, and still
> > >> refusing
> > >> to give their employees fair contracts.
> > >>
> > >> Corporate greed is a scourge on this country, and it will take all of
> us
> > >> standing up for justice in order to rein it in. *One significant way
> you
> > >> can stand up to corporate greed is by standing with Verizon employees
> > who
> > >> are out on strike.*
> > >>
> > >> *Add your name and say you support Verizon employees who are standing
> > >> up to
> > >> the CEO in order to get a fair contract with health benefits, fair
> > >> pay, and
> > >> job protections.
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/stand-with-verizon-employees?source=em160423-full
> > >*
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Corporate America is slowly beginning to realize that they cannot have
> > it
> > >> all. Thanks for helping them know it.
> > >>
> > >> In solidarity,
> > >>
> > >> Bernie Sanders
> > >>
> > >> *Contribute
> > >> <
> >
> https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/lets_go_bernie?refcode=em160423-verizon
> > >*
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Paid for by Bernie 2016
> > >>
> > >> [image: (not the billionaires)]
> > >>
> > >> PO Box 905 - Burlington VT 05402 United States - (855) 4-BERNIE
> > >>
> > >> This email was sent to lchcmike@gmail.com. If you need to update or
> > >> change
> > >> your information or email address, click here to update your info
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/change-your-information?source=email_footer
> > >.
> > >>
> > >> Email is one of the most important tools we have to reach supporters
> > like
> > >> you, but you can let us know if you'd like to receive fewer emails
> > >> <
> >
> https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/fewer-emails?source=email_footer&email=lchcmike@gmail.com&zip=92075
> > >.
> > >>
> > >> We'd hate to see you go, but if you need to do so, click here to
> > >> unsubscribe
> > >> <https://go.berniesanders.com/page/unsubscribe/>. Stand against the
> > >> powerful special interests who are systematically buying our Congress
> > and
> > >> have their sights set on the presidency by contributing to Bernie here
> > >> <
> >
> https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/lets-go-bernie?refcode=email_footer
> > >
> > >>
> > >> .
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>



-- 

It is the dilemma of psychology to deal as a natural science with an object
that creates history. Ernst Boesch