Derek Alexander-Wilson’s Post

Want to learn about a great #leader? In the face of great opposition, one man was used by God to begin a return to the study of His word for the common man. His legacy lives on even today. Learn about him in this quality documentary. Happy Reformation Day! #church #bible #jesuschrist #wordofgod #documentaries

Matthew Ehret is my go to modern historian. This video is a very interesting primer to understanding the Middle East Conflict through the past 150 years. All sides are going to have problems with what Matthew Ehret has to say in this video. That is why it is well balanced. We are in a game that is much bigger than most can imagine.

This can easily relate to the current situation Sri Lanka (SL). SL still has free education, healthcare and subsided food, fuel, transport and other things until very recently. The most recent, highly corrupt, administrations hoodwinked the people with fancy buildings, empty airports and ports, stadiums, freeways with borrowed money, often at inflated values. The masses chased away a President but his corrupt administration is still in power. Now there is food, fuel, medicine available thanks to remittances from SL nationals, debt moratorium, tourism, and the assistance from India and IMF in this bankrupt country of 23m people. However, the current government is attempting to gradually take away people’s democratic rights (elections, press freedom, right to demonstrate) from them. IMF has delayed the second tranche of funding demanding more reforms from the government--a delayed but an essential move.

What is broken about public discourse in the US, an example of it & why going backwards isn’t the answer either. A great place to start in understanding this issue is to listen to the latest episode of The Gray Area podcast (https://lnkd.in/gWEe8e_s if you use Bundlr, https://lnkd.in/gV7_7-hd if you use other platforms). The title “Everything’s a cult now” is a good headline but the meat of the discussion is more nuanced & important. The key argument is that we have moved from a model of centralized nodes of influence i.e. mass media, to a plurality of influential nodes. And that these pluralities gain influence by opposing the system itself. This plurality is a mix of individuals & institutions but also fundamental ways of thinking & seeing the world. Ultimately these nodes have tended to create localized points of view which occupy people's minds to the exclusion of others. Let’s take a current example. The “discussion” around the Israel Palestine war. It’s impossible to have a reasoned discussion at the moment, at least in public. On the “left” you have a way of thinking that is captured by postmodern nihilism (& clearly some anti-semitism). So you get a reasonable position about protesting the Israeli response, taken to unreasonable extremes e.g. Columbia students, which wouldn’t otherwise frankly have the scale & energy without the groundwork being laid over the past two decades of a twisted perspective on oppression & power. But… While the genesis of their argument is sound, any reasonable & empathic human is going to say that what happened to Israel was a terrorist attack & existential threat to their country & it has a right to & SHOULD respond. But clearly the approach has now gone too far. In a war where nearly 50% of the casualties are children (https://lnkd.in/geXv3yvm), we can’t just sit back & say, well that’s war. But we have Prof G https://lnkd.in/gtTDEiA4 (someone I have immense respect for but completely disagree with here) providing WW2 & Iraq as reference points for what is or was acceptable. WW2 was globally existential but was Nuking Japan & killing 100s of thousands necessary? And Iraq WAS (effectively & ultimately) a genocide built on false information. The war itself was one of the key reasons we are where we are now…living with completely decimated institutional trust! In both cases prevailing public opinion was engineered by mass media. So going backwards isn’t the solution. We should celebrate the plurality. We just need better platforms & tools to navigate the landscape & get out of our own pockets & in-group clusters. Free speech should win the day but the idea is to expose bad thinking with better thinking, however this requires better distribution models that scale across the whole of society not just pockets of it.

In a nutshell

Listen to "Wesley Muhammad~Questions & Answers:" Our brilliant brother joined the “Straight Words” broadcast Jan. 23, 2024, to discuss some important topics. Callers came with questions and Dr. Wesley came with answers. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gRcRUi-E

An insightful perspective and an excellent history lesson.

See & feel the Reality on both sides to judge correctly https://lnkd.in/gYPEnS9Y

Walk the talk = put your words into action. It means showing that you mean what you say by actively doing it yourself. It is a version of the everyday phrase ‘practise what you preach’. Words are superficial and prove who you want to be, while actions show who you are. #walkthetalk #critic #talker #doer #doers #shapetheworld

🎙️Reminding myself that the feeling of hopelessness right now IS the political project to keep us debilitated, in fear and in-fighting. We get through by seeing this strategy for what it is, by doubling down to lean on and build power together, as we have before. Clip from discussing The Struggle for the People’s King on The Douglas Coleman Show.