Global War on Disinformation
George Soros (1930):
There has been an ongoing conflict between market values and other, more traditional value systems …
Advertising, marketing, even packaging, aim at shaping people's preferences rather than, as laissez-faire theory holds, merely responding to them.
Unsure of what they stand for, people increasingly rely on money as the criterion of value.
What is more expensive is considered better.
The value of a work of art can be judged by the price it fetches.
People deserve respect and admiration because they are rich.
What used to be a medium of exchange has usurped the place of fundamental values, reversing the relationship postulated by economic theory.
What used to be professions have turned into businesses.
The cult of success has replaced a belief in principles.
(The Capitalist Threat, The Atlantic Monthly, 279:2, pp 45-58, February 1997)
Jarecki Eugene [Documentary Film Maker]:
The 400 richest Americans today, now have more money than the bottom 150 million. …
[The Pew Research center has demonstrated that] 300 people incarcerated per 100,000 in a society … deters crime …
As you climb from 300 to 500 you start to see a diminishing impact on crime — you stop fighting crime with that incarceration …
Beyond 500 you [create] more crime than you are deterring.
We incarcerate 740 per 100,000 in America [— more than China or Russia.]
And in 10 American cities, African Americans are incarcerated at a rate of 4000 per 100,000.
Ten times the recommended dosage.
(The House I Live In, RSA, 20 May 2013)
Kate Raworth [Senior Researcher, Oxfam]:
What would it take to end [world] hunger?
It would take 3% of the current global food supply.
30% of today's food supply is lost, wasted or thrown away in the supply chain.
So we're looking for 10% of what we don't even eat at the moment.
(Doughnut Economics: Creating a safe and just space for humanity, RSA, 18 October 2012)
Matthew Taylor (1960) [Chief Executive, RSA]:
If you want to be happy for a year — get married.
If you want to be happy for a decade — get a dog.
If you want to be happy for the whole of your life — get a garden.
(The Power to Act: A New Angle on Our Toughest Problems, RSA, 12 September 2012)
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Polly Higgins: Lawyer
There was a man who sat underneath and oak tree.
And he came to a very important decision in his life.
He decided that it was time to abolish slavery.
His name was William Wilberforce.
Now, when William Wilberforce started on his journey, he didn't know how long it would take for that outcome to become a reality.
He didn't know whether or not it would happen in his lifetime.
In fact it did.
Despite all the odds being stacked against him, two days before he died, the laws were passed.
He died a happy man.
And that triggered a ripple effect right across the world.
Now that's a man who didn't have Facebook of Google.
We do. …
Today we can do the same.
It's a different form of slavery.
Instead of it being human beings, it's … the earth itself that's become enslaved …
… I believe, that by creating an international law of ecocide, we can … end the era of ecocide. …
The extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystems(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or be other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severe diminished. …
We know we can use technology and innovation in another way.
We do have solutions.
[It's about] facilitating a governance system that allows industry to flourish.
I really don't want to see economies collapse over this. …
Because he was absolutely clear that you have to make sure that industry is held in place in a transition period.
And in fact … not one of those three hundred companies [who were dependent on slavery] went underwater.
A lot of them went on to trading in tea in China and some of them became policers of the sea.
So you get poacher turning gamekeeper if you like.
So they were all helped financially … so that the economy didn't falter …
Now if that means we throw extra money at this problem in the short term to get through a transition period, so be it.
[It] will create more resilient economies in the long run. …
(
RSA, 16 May 2012)
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