The Listening Project and Socrates

I just finished watching a film called, "The Listening Project". Here is the description taken from the LinkTV website http://www.linktv.org/programs/the-listening-project:

"The Listening Project follows four unique Americans through fourteen countries – from a Shanghai hip-hop club to a war-ravaged Kabul neighborhood to a village at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro – in each place asking, "what do you think of America?" In beautifully-photographed locales, we encounter fascinating and diverse characters who reveal not only the impact of the U.S. on their lives, but also their perspectives on crumbling empires, human fellowship, and what it means to be a citizen in a globalized world."

Commentary

I've always known that people from other parts of the world have very strong opinions about American foreign policy and globalization. But, I've also known that despite the negative opinions about our country, people seem to understand that American citizens are separate from those policies, which are made by our government. In fact, I experienced this perspective during my travels to Greece. The Greek people I met there made it clear that they did not dislike us as people, they disliked our government policies (this was during the Bush administration). It turned out that I agreed with them. So, the film's message (which was the message from other people in the world) was not a revelation for me. However, seeing and hearing what different people had to say about the U.S. was very moving.

Socrates once said, "I am not an Athenian or Greek, I am a citizen of the world." Now, I do not necessarily believe in unrealistic ideas like world unity, world peace, "One Love", etc.... because I believe Strife is an inherent part of the KOSMOS. However, I cannot deny the real interconnection that exists among all of humanity as well as our shared responsibility for the health of our planet. These are things we need to deal with if we expect to progress, if not survive.

Socrates declared himself a citizen of the world. Why? Was that some sort of arrogant statement he was trying to make prior to his state sponsored execution? I don't believe it is. I think Socrates was wise enough to understand, while facing death (or perhaps because of that fact), that human beings are all part of something larger and share a responsibility to each other. This is not some ideological fancy, it is a reality with real consequences. Unfortunately, those consequences are never seen by most Americans because of political maneuvering on the part of our politicians and the sanitizing of our mainstream media. We need to be willing to bite the hand that feeds us and find our own food, so to speak. We now have the ability to search out alternative methods of connectivity and sources of information that allow us to be independent and find out for ourselves what is going on. This film is one of those sources in my opinion.

There are no easy answers and finding the right or best solutions is often very difficult. But, as someone wise once told me in Greece, progress never comes without struggle.