March 9th, 2009 posted by Bender Rodríguez
DrupalCon 2009 Keynote by David Weinberger
Great speech about morality in general but in the end applied to the open source software content management system Drupal. His basic argument is that we care about one another because we share the same space: that is planet earth, our country, our city, our neighborhood, our home.
In order to live in harmony with one another within our shared space, "we need to continuously, forever, fight against our comfort, against staying with that which we know and that which we like. It is a perpetual struggle against our baser nature, and to engage with the roots of morality." It is the golden rule, the golden principle, which he inscribed on the tablets carried by Charlton Heston: "Care and share".
As a selfish, self righteous, egotistical culture with a sense of entitlement that rivals no other, we in the United States need to take heed of this concept. I would argue that to grant universal health care to all, a single payer, government sponsored system like you see in Spain or the United Kingdom, would be a step in the right direction. That would show that we care about our fellow citizens, our neighbors, our enemies, the guy down the street who simply will not maintain his garden. We care enough to take care of one another. If we cannot accomplish this simple act of humanity, I think we have no hope for survival.
0 Comments, 0 trackbacks (Trackback URL)"The struggle with evil by means of violence is the same as an attempt to stop a cloud, in order that there may be no rain."
Leo Tolstoy