The Purpose of the Blog

Briefly, The Frame Problem is part of a larger personal commitment to promoting real democracy (e.g., effective newsmedia, government, education; empowered citizens), secularism, reason and intellectual honesty, agnostic atheism, and wise enriching mindful living. The world has many very deep problems and I believe that both people and societies are capable of much better for themselves. I hope to promote improvement by spreading awareness of problems, causes for action and avenues for improvement, and by encouraging collaborative action both online and in the material world. Read on for more…

 

The world has got me concerned.

Even in countries claiming to be champions of human rights, civility, democracy and intelligence, we see societies of deep social inequality, democracy-killing corruption and dysfunction in the fundamental lifelines of democracy (e.g., government, media, education). Lives and societies are organized around religious and political ideas that are rooted in inanity, ignorance, childhood indoctrination and constant propaganda, fear mongering, dogmatism and a powerful opposition to criticism. Most people are alarmingly ignorant of fundamental elements of how society works (How many of us, for instance, have even a rudimentary understanding of economics?), and are either politically apathetic or have consigned to political impotence. And this includes the majority of people of substantial education and motivation to learn.

In addition to living in a world of profound political corruption and inanity that robs people of anything resembling the freedom, empowerment and enlightenment that  our governments and citizens claim that they have, we live in a world where the majority of people are needlessly ill-equipt to live fulfilling, enriching, enjoyable, and wise lives. Schools could be teaching children things like mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy techniques, which – between the two of them – are known to promote psychological wellness and enhanced cognitive function, self-awareness, and decreased susceptibility to boredom. In sum, they promote happiness, intellectual function, self-knowledge, and autonomy, while decreasing susceptibility to depression, anxiety and boredom. Schools could offer specialized courses in critical thinking. They could develop curricula and train teachers to teach fascinating and important materials in engaging ways, as opposed to sterilizing the content of much of its intrigue or not presenting it at all. They could offer courses where children, while required to do substantial work, are given great latitude to pick their venues of exploration. And they could teach children how to be intelligent, informed and active participants in their democracy.

 With an educational system so impoverished, is it any surprise that our kids and grown-ups alike are uninterested in book learning, are highly susceptible to boredom and utterly dependent on external stimulation to keep them occupied, entertained and happy because they can’t entertain themselves, are politically ignorant, incompetent pawns, organize their lives overwhelmingly around shallow, minimally fulfilled and sometimes self-defeating external prepackaged targets of fixation and social organization (e.g., pop culture, cliques, social acceptance and status, clothing and gadgets) since they have been conditioned to be incompetent in the task of developing their own avenues for fulfillment?

The Frame Problem, along with my activities at The Edger, are dedicated to promoting awareness of these sorts of problems and our unrealized potentials. I view the Internet as the best thing to have ever happened to democracy. My aim is to use this profoundly important social and informational tool to inform and hopefully invigorate to action as many people as possible. In promoting change, I view collaboration as paramount. Hence, I contribute to and endorse various like-minded virtual and material world collectives, ranging from person-to-person collaborations and group blogs to international organizations.