Dimensionally Barrett

A sterling group at the weekly protest in fron of Sen. John Cornyn’s office. Source: The Houston Democracy Project’s Facebook page Another good turn-out in front of Senator John Cornyn’s office. I didn’t take any pics, so I’m fleecing this one from The Houston Democracy Project’s blog (thanks Neil!) Some good discussions about how, even if only one or two people show up, that’s enough. One or two people can still convey the urgency of a situation. One or two people can still reach others, get them to thinking and maybe acting. Also, starting and leaving a chant is really hard work for us soft-spoken types. I envy Neil Aquino who seems to be able to project across the county. In any case, we did get some chanting going and that was a lot of fun. I can’t stress how much smaller gatherings mean. Consistency is key and Neil and others have kept this particular action going for eight years. In Cambridge, the Tibetan community has kept its Wednesday evening vigils going since 2008.  Crit...

  This injunction is targeted for professionals in various areas of law, medicine, and politics. It might seem abstruse to many - it did for me, at least on the first read or two - but it speaks to a larger and deeper ethical framework that is supposed to underpin these professions. Snyder points out how valuable lawyers were to the Third Reich in implementing perception, mass murder, and genocide. The ability to maintain a facade of professional legitimacy in the face of immoral acts of the highest order and broadest reach is integral to ensuring an enthusiastic, if not merely complacent, populace.  Rather like the Milgram Experiment, all it takes is the voice of an authority to wipe away conscience and shore up one’s belief that what they are doing is right.  Snyder recounts how businessmen were all in in the construction of the camps, how lawyers crafted the annexation of Austria and the Netherlands, and how, most damningly, physicians put away the Hippocratic oath to ...