Society and freedom

Are you married and you don't have kids? Then you've probably heard many of these ... and now you can play Child-Free Bingo!

See also: Happily Child-Free.

It is forbiden to cry without learning,
to wake up one day not knowing what to do,
to be afraid of your memories.

It is forbiden not to smile at problems,
not to fight for what you want,
to abandon everything because of the fear,
not to transform your deams into reality.

It is forbiden not to show your love,
to make someone pay for your debts and the bad humor.

It is forbiden to leave your friends,
not to try to understand what you lived together,
to call them only when you need them.

It is forbiden not to be yourself in public,
to feign with people you don't care about,
to fake being funny just to make them remember you,
to forget all the people who love you.

It is forbiden not to make things by yourself,
not to believe in God and forge your fate,
to be afraid of life and its engagements,
not to live each day like it was a last sigh.

It is forbiden to miss someone without
cheering, to forget his eyes, his smile,
just because your paths stopped being embraced,
to forget his past and paying it with his present.

It is forbiden not to try to understand people,
to think that their lifes are more valuable than yours,
not to know that each one has his way and his happiness.

It is forbiden not to create your history,
not to have a moment for the people who need you,
not to understand that whatever life gives to you, it takes it away as well.

It is forbiden not to search for your happiness,
not to live your life with a positive attitude,
not to think that we can be better,
not to feel that, without you, this world wouldn't be the same.

Poem: Alfredo Cuervo. Image: Book Fair

There are 100 parodies of this downfall clip. The studio, Constantin Films, has ordered takedowns of some of them. In this clip, Hitler is the producer, and his lawyers tell him why he can't do a DMCA takedown and how the EFF would stop him. He desperately searches for other ways to protect his movie.

Produced by Brad Templeton, who is EFF chairman but releases this video on his own, the video educates about intellectual property issues and parodies the actions of the studio using the very clip they are trying to block.

COOPER: Would legalizing marijuana increase violence?

JEFFREY MIRON, SENIOR ECONOMICS LECTURER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Absolutely not. There's not a shred of evidence or any good reason to think that legalizing marijuana would increase violence. Just the opposite.

Most of the violence we associate with marijuana is because, when you force a trade underground, people in that trade resolve their disputes with guns rather than with lawyers and advertising, the things that people do in legal industries. So it's prohibition that's creating the violence, not marijuana creating the violence. It's just completely preposterous to suggest that marijuana use causes violence.

[...] Well, the mere fact that these medical marijuana dispensaries may be dispensing widely to people who are using for reasons other than medicinal is undoubtedly valid. But if there's been an increase in use, then where's the surge in violence? California is just as peaceful and just as normal a place as it's been for a long time, despite this alleged surge in use from the medicinal marijuana. So then, doesn't support the claims being made by the prohibitionist in any way, shape or form.

Full transcript

(Versión en castellano en Ecosofia.org).

The struggle between species on Earth is, for now, settled. In the quest for evolving new and better ways of surviving and replicating, we have found a powerful and general adaptation. Our brains are able of creating technology to manipulate matter, energy, and information, at a scale far beyond our physical limitations as primates. This adaptation puts us well above the other animals on Earth.

We are a remarkable species that over a few hundred thousand years has been consolidating its position as the dominant species. We have become formidable predators, and while there are still many ways in which the rest of the terrestrial biota can kill us, we are able of sterilizing vast areas of the planet, leaving only the flora and fauna that fits our interests.

But the key to our success, our brain, is not only a tool of survival and replication. Our brain can do many other things that are well beyond the interest of our genes for multiplying themselves. A human can decide, against its reproductive drive, to take contraceptives. A human can decide, against energy efficiency considerations, to spend a great deal of his life creating music, poetry, dance.

A human being may also decide to switch sides. Obviously a human can not stop being a human. But he can decide to advocate for non-human interests, for the interests of the other beings in our ecosphere. He can decide that he does not want its own species to continue growing and dominating the other species in the way they it has been doing it.

This is not something now. Throughout the years, there have always been people who, for various reasons, have decided to join the ranks of the weak. Human sexual dimorphism makes human females with less muscular mass, that have been forced by men to serve their interests. But some men helped the women break free. Also some groups of humans developed the socio-technical mechanisms to create powerful armies before other groups. Those who did have the weapons before, conquered the others. But some white men also helped black men to be free.

In the same way, a human being can decide to join the ranks of the defence of other species, and fight so that other humans curb their exploitation of Earth's resources. Those who decide to give this step will find loneliness and no applause. Those who decide to switch sides, should expect contempt from the other humans. Many of our older institutions are fundamentally enterprises of promotion of human interests, and hence their rejection of any effective way of self-limitation of the human population, and their rejection of any deeper concerns with non-human animals.

Moreover, those who decide to fight for the non-human must understand that it is fundamentally different from protecting the ecosphere so that it can sustain human interests. Many of those who fight for the ecosphere as a resource for humans will simply never switch sides, but their power can also be used as a tool. Those who decide to switch sides and fight for non-human interests, must be willing to create alliances with them too, understanding clearly that while they are not in the same side, there are common interests.

Finally, those who decide to switch sides and fight for non-human interests must expel summarily from their ranks anyone who uses or is willing to use violence in this fight. Creating pain will not reduce pain. You do not take sides with the weak to destroy the strong. You take the side of the weak to find a balanced agreement of coexistence that is harmonious, sustainable, prosperous, and peaceful.

There is much to be said about this confrontation. Most will remain neutral. Those who want to fight, know where they are needed.

Photos: Salish Sea, Greekadman @ Flickr (CC).

(Versión en castellano en Ecosofia.org).