[Advisors] you tube
James Van Leeuwen
jvl at ventus.ca
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:24:57 -0600
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I completely agree Garth.
I would go further and argue that this flawed belief emerges directly =
from a culture that conflates personal freedom with being literally =
carefree.
This translates directly and inevitably into being careless, and for me, =
this word best captures the character of today's Canada.
We Canadians have carelessly allowed political, economic and cultural =
power to become (remain?) far too concentrated and centralized (present =
company notwithstanding).
Power has not been taken from us, so much as we have surrendered power =
to be free of the burden of personal responsibility that democratic =
citizenship entails.
Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but where is our Charter of =
Responsibilities to balance it?
It matters a great deal how we account for the situation we find =
ourselves in, personally and publicly.
If we continue to hold government, industry and everyone else =
accountable, the situation can only get worse.
These agents cannot fix the situation... only we can fix it, because we =
are ultimately accountable for it.=20
We will not have substantive or sustainable progress until we have held =
ourselves to account, personally and publicly, and this is the critical =
challenge we face.=20
We need to engage less with our governments, and far more with our =
communities.
We can start by reframing public discourse to directly reflect this core =
truth about accountability, and by directing discourse within the =
community instead of beyond the community.
Yesterday evening our local Chamber hosted an All Candidates Forum for =
the upcoming provincial election.=20
Questions from the floor clearly reflected a great depth of frustration =
with our provincial government's lack of responsiveness, and people were =
looking for someone to blame.
In my closing comments as Chamber President, I had the opportunity to =
point out the critical roles that we ourselves have played in creating =
the situation we now find ourselves in.
We make it impossible for government to govern effectively, because we =
are failing to govern ourselves effectively.=20
As they shuffled out of the room, some were mumbling excuses as to why =
it wasn't really our fault, that government and industry have =
disempowered us, blah, blah, blah.
There were over 120 people in the audience, with an average age of 63 =
give or take two years. Only six (6!) people including myself were less =
than 50 years of age.
Our youth have all but given up waiting for responsible, meaningful =
leadership from Canada's senior generations.=20
They have disengaged, and we have to reach out and reengage them, as =
their energy and intellect will be essential to substantive, sustainable =
progress.
I still can't get over what I saw at this year's ICT Summit. It was and =
remains an inspiration to me.
JvL (looking forward to a strategy discussion)
On 2012-04-19, at 9:36 AM, Garth Graham wrote:
> On 2012-04-19, at 7:30 AM, michael gurstein wrote:
>> CAP was seriously underfunded and really couldn't do much of a job of =
anything given how modest were the resources that had been made =
available in recent times.
>=20
> All the more reason not to offend the incredible community-based =
loyalty and effort that emerged from a modest investment of my tax =
dollars. And, I suppose, we made that mistaken decision, not him. =
Incredible? - maybe not!
>=20
> Right from the beginning, the feds, both liberals and conservatives, =
have never understood the nature of the frankenstein child they thought =
they had parented, but was actually a cuckoo nestling that communities =
had already cobbled together themselves.
>=20
> I'm going to explain that observation with an example from a different =
sector, industrial development. In the very early days of Ottawa =
Freenet, I meet with a team of Industry Canada officials and outlined a =
way that freenets across Canada could be used to allow small and medium =
enterprises to collaborate in their own and community development at the =
same time. Since the model implied community level self-organization, =
the costs involved were "modest." I sensed a certain tension in the room =
which I interpreted as interest. I later learned that this team of =
officials had just negotiated a $50 million budget for the development =
of Strategis. And there I was, telling them you could do the same thing =
for almost nothing using freenets. They didn't want to hear this. I =
think they felt I was nuts enough so that nobody would pay any attention =
to me, and they were, of course, correct.
>=20
> I believe the significant Canadian failure here, is not the =
underfunding of CAP. It's the belief that nation state control of =
public order and good government demands the articulation of "national" =
strategies for socio-economic transformation. That's not how a digital =
society scales or transforms itself. So, in a way Clement is right, the =
mistaken decision has been ours all along. The lesson from this, in =
re-writing strategy for community-based use of ICTs for development (our =
own strategy, NOT theirs), must start from a single premise:
>=20
> All adaptation to digital society is local.
>=20
> GG
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> Advisors mailing list
> Advisors@tc.ca
> http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors
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<html><head></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; =
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I =
completely agree Garth.<div><br></div><div>I would go further and argue =
that this flawed belief emerges directly from a culture that conflates =
personal freedom with being literally =
<i>carefree</i>.</div><div><br></div><div>This translates directly and =
inevitably into being <i>careless</i>, and for me, this word best =
captures the character of today's =
Canada.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>We Canadians have =
carelessly allowed political, economic and cultural power to become =
(remain?) far too concentrated and centralized (present company =
notwithstanding).</div><div><br></div><div>Power has <b>not</b> been =
taken from us, so much as we have surrendered power to be free of the =
burden of personal responsibility that democratic citizenship =
entails.</div><div><br></div><div>Canada has a Charter of Rights and =
Freedoms, but where is our Charter of Responsibilities to balance =
it?</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>It matters a great deal how =
we account for the situation we find ourselves in, personally and =
publicly.</div><div><br></div><div>If we continue to hold government, =
industry and everyone else accountable, the situation can only get =
worse.</div><div><br></div><div>These agents <b>cannot</b> fix the =
situation... only we can fix it, because we are ultimately accountable =
for it. </div><div><br></div><div>We will not have substantive or =
sustainable progress until we have held ourselves to =
account, personally and publicly, and this is the critical =
challenge we face. </div><div><br></div><div>We need to =
engage less with our governments, and far more with our =
communities.</div><div><br></div><div>We can start by reframing public =
discourse to directly reflect this core truth about accountability, and =
by directing discourse within the community instead of beyond the =
community.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Yesterday evening our =
local Chamber hosted an All Candidates Forum for the upcoming provincial =
election. </div><div><br></div><div>Questions from the floor =
clearly reflected a great depth of frustration with our provincial =
government's lack of responsiveness, and people were looking for =
someone to blame.</div><div><br></div><div>In my closing comments as =
Chamber President, I had the opportunity to point out the critical roles =
that we ourselves have played in creating the situation we now find =
ourselves in.</div><div><br></div><div>We make it impossible for =
government to govern effectively, because we are failing to govern =
ourselves effectively. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>As =
they shuffled out of the room, some were mumbling excuses as to why it =
wasn't really our fault, that government and industry have disempowered =
us, blah, blah, blah.</div><div><br></div><div>There were over 120 =
people in the audience, with an average age of 63 give or take two =
years. Only six (6!) people including myself were less than 50 years of =
age.</div><div><br></div><div>Our youth have all but given up waiting =
for responsible, meaningful leadership from Canada's senior =
generations. </div><div><br></div><div>They have disengaged, and we =
have to reach out and reengage them, as their energy and =
intellect will be essential to substantive, sustainable =
progress.</div><div><div><br></div></div><div><br></div><div>I still =
can't get over what I saw at this year's ICT Summit. It was and remains =
an inspiration to me.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>JvL =
(looking forward to a strategy =
discussion)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></d=
iv><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On 2012-04-19, at 9:36 AM, Garth =
Graham wrote:</div><br class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote =
type=3D"cite"><div>On 2012-04-19, at 7:30 AM, michael gurstein =
wrote:<br><blockquote type=3D"cite">CAP was seriously underfunded and =
really couldn't do much of a job of anything given how modest were the =
resources that had been made available in recent =
times.<br></blockquote><br>All the more reason not to offend the =
incredible community-based loyalty and effort that emerged from a modest =
investment of my tax dollars. And, I suppose, we made that =
mistaken decision, not him. Incredible? - maybe not!<br><br>Right =
from the beginning, the feds, both liberals and conservatives, have =
never understood the nature of the frankenstein child they thought they =
had parented, but was actually a cuckoo nestling that communities had =
already cobbled together themselves.<br><br>I'm going to explain that =
observation with an example from a different sector, industrial =
development. In the very early days of Ottawa Freenet, I meet with =
a team of Industry Canada officials and outlined a way that freenets =
across Canada could be used to allow small and medium enterprises to =
collaborate in their own and community development at the same time. =
Since the model implied community level self-organization, the =
costs involved were "modest." I sensed a certain tension in the room =
which I interpreted as interest. I later learned that this team of =
officials had just negotiated a $50 million budget for the development =
of Strategis. And there I was, telling them you could do the same =
thing for almost nothing using freenets. They didn't want to hear =
this. I think they felt I was nuts enough so that nobody would pay =
any attention to me, and they were, of course, correct.<br><br>I =
believe the significant Canadian failure here, is not the underfunding =
of CAP. It's the belief that nation state control of public order =
and good government demands the articulation of "national" strategies =
for socio-economic transformation. That's not how a digital =
society scales or transforms itself. So, in a way Clement is =
right, the mistaken decision has been ours all along. The lesson =
from this, in re-writing strategy for community-based use of ICTs for =
development (our own strategy, NOT theirs), must start from a single =
premise:<br><br>All adaptation to digital society is =
local.<br><br>GG<br><br>_______________________________________________<br=
>Advisors mailing list<br><a =
href=3D"mailto:Advisors@tc.ca">Advisors@tc.ca</a><br>http://victoria.tc.ca=
/mailman/listinfo/advisors<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></=
html>=
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