Hedrick Smith, Former Reporter, The New York Times; Producer, PBS: Author, Who Stole the American Dream?
Is the American Dream becoming a lost ideal of the past? Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy-winning journalist Smith suggests that it is as a result of four decades of erosion induced by corporate and political decisions, Smith discusses the extent to which the American Dream has declined, as well as the future.
In the 2011 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture, Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, looks at the "cute cat" theory of internet activism, and how it helps explain the Arab Spring. He discusses how activists around the world are turning to social media tools which are extremely powerful, easy to use and difficult for governments to censor. The Vancouver Human Rights Lecture is co-sponsored by the UBC Continuing Studies, the Laurier Institution, and Yahoo.
Tagged with human rights arab spring internet technology lolcats politics activism
How Did Taxes Become a Bad Word? The Former Clerk of the Privy Council, Alex Himelfarb, discusses why we should be investing more, not less, in our future. While today’s political leaders exalt the benefits of increased tax-cutting, Himelfarb argues that further tax cuts will come with serious consequences, including cuts to services and deeper inequality. According to Himelfarb, what we need is nothing less than a re-think about what our future is worth. His lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.
Hungarian philosopher, Gaspar Tamas, on The Failure of Liberal Democracy in Eastern Europe and Everywhere Else. His lecture was delivered at the Munk School of Global Affairs on September 20, 2011. Tamas is a prolific writer of essays with a wide-ranging and distinguished career in academics and government. He was also a leading figure in the East European dissident movements.
Tagged with philosopher liberal democracy critique politics
Richard Dawkins urges all atheists to openly state their position — and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science. A fiery, funny, powerful talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_dawkins_on_militant_atheism.html
Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s leading intellectuals, father of modern linguistics, outspoken media and foreign policy critic and tireless…
http://www.archive.org/details/RadioDiscordia022NoamChomsky-PropagadaAndThePublicMind