For the next eight weeks I will be highlighting on this site an overview of talks I will be presenting for The Life Institute at Ryerson University Toronto.
“The most dramatic instances of directed behavior change and "mind control" are not the consequence of exotic forms of influence, such as hypnosis, psychotropic drugs, or "brainwashing," but rather the systematic manipulation of the most mundane aspects of human nature over time in confining settings.”
“Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful government.”
― Philip G. Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
"Forgiveness allows us to actually let us go of the pain in the memory. And if we let go of the pain in the memory we can have the memory but it doesn't control us. I think it's the fact that when memory controls us, we are then puppets of the past."
― Alexandra Asseily, psychotherapist in Lebanon
“If torture
is permitted, it's hard to imagine what isn't.”
― Jonathan
Glover, Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century
" George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Is Suddenly a Best-Seller"
When asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” why Mr. Spicer had said something that was provably false, Ms. Conway replied airily, “Don’t be so dramatic.”
Mr. Spicer, she said, “gave alternative facts.”
In
the novel, the term “newspeak” refers to language in which independent
thought, or “unorthodox” political ideas, have been eliminated.
“Doublethink” is defined as “reality control.”
 |
| The Stanford Prison Experiment |
“This
film is a fascinating, revealing, upsetting experience. A movie about
the real-life 1971 Stanford prison experiment could have been sadistic and
unwatchable, but director Kyle Patrick Alvarez's clinical approach focuses on
realism and psychological drama rather than on thrills. Alvarez doesn't try to
professionally polish the prison setting; instead, it has a functional,
homemade look that makes it feel more immediate. The way the characters wear
their hair and clothes - and the way they carry themselves - contributes to
what feels like an authentic period piece.”
Our humanity is challenged by the seductive drug of white supremacy explored in an article in The Guardian  |
Heather Heyer killed in Charlottesville Virginia
The
Visitor (2008)
is a powerful, moving film about a lonely widower and college economics
professor who undergoes an emotional rebirth when he befriends a pair of
illegal immigrants, one of whom has recently been threatened with deportation by
U.S. immigration authorities. One reviewer has said: “The best movies are those
that understand the human condition and have a personal vision. The Visitor is one of those rare
creations.”
|
"It’s all about finding
your own voice, he (Daniel) tells them. And when those individual voices come
together — mystically, inexplicably, beyond any rational explanation of notes
or time signatures — something close to rapture can occur. It happened to Daniel
once before, for 58 seconds, when the lights went out and his orchestra kept on
playing in the dark. You might suspect it’ll happen again. And when it does,
you can be sure it’s a culmination of the film’s every pointed lesson: that
loving matters more than judging, that true community blossoms in an atmosphere
of honesty and trust.”
Another relevant film is the 2011 In a Better
World. Set in modern day Denmark and what is likely South Sudan, In a
Better World dramatizes the responses to acts of aggression, whether it is
from a warlord, a schoolyard bully or a belligerent mechanic. What makes the
film so exceptional is that it questions the inadequacy of passivity and
vengeance. The film also illuminates the responses to grief and loss, and the
process of healing.
Reviewer’s
comment:
"An
ethically ambitious, morally thoughtful–and deeply vexing–drama about the
fragility of civil order and the menace of the lawless. A most deserving Oscar
winner."
I highly recommend the novel by Edna O'Brien The Little Red Chairs for
its searching exploration of how the humanity of one of the central
characters is severely damaged and how another finds the capacity to
reclaim her own.
Stepping from the
pages of Fredrik Backman's international best-selling novel, Ove is the
quintessential angry old man next door. An isolated retiree with strict
principles and a short fuse, who spends his days enforcing block association
rules that only he cares about, and visiting his wife's grave, Ove has given up
on life. Enter a boisterous young family next door who accidentally flattens
Ove's mailbox while moving in and earning his special brand of ire. Yet from
this inauspicious beginning an unlikely friendship forms and we come to
understand Ove's past happiness and heartbreaks. What emerges is a heartwarming
tale of unreliable first impressions and the gentle reminder that life is
sweeter when it's shared
I also recommend the powerful documentary The Power of Forgiveness available at the Toronto Public Library
“It’s all
about finding your own voice, he (Daniel) tells them. And when those individual
voices come together — mystically, inexplicably, beyond any rational
explanation of notes or time signatures — something close to rapture can occur.
It happened to Daniel once before, for 58 seconds, when the lights went out and
his orchestra kept on playing in the dark. You might suspect it’ll happen
again. And when it does, you can be sure it’s a culmination of the film’s every
pointed lesson: that loving matters more than judging, that true community
blossoms in an atmosphere of honesty and trust.”
“It’s all
about finding your own voice, he (Daniel) tells them. And when those individual
voices come together — mystically, inexplicably, beyond any rational
explanation of notes or time signatures — something close to rapture can occur.
It happened to Daniel once before, for 58 seconds, when the lights went out and
his orchestra kept on playing in the dark. You might suspect it’ll happen
again. And when it does, you can be sure it’s a culmination of the film’s every
pointed lesson: that loving matters more than judging, that true community
blossoms in an atmosphere of honesty and trust.”
No comments:
Post a Comment