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DEBATE & POLEMIC

RAGE & REASON IN A WORLD OF MANIFESTOS

+Definitions & Distinctions‘Debate’

+Definitions & Distinctions‘Polemic’

+Definitions & Distinctions‘Manifesto’

+Definitions & Distinctions

Polemic, Debate and Manifesto

Video: ‘Einstein – Does God Exist?’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw8YSgFCKoc

Response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw8YSgFCKoc

+The Importance of DebateSome Possible Reasons

Encourages discussion, thinking and formulating an opinion which needs to be researched, backed up and articulated

Challenges a given ‘law’ or school of thought – challenges power systems and structures

Forces engagement with a current topic or issue

May help to expand your viewpoint or test your beliefs

IN EDUCATION:

Develops critical thinking

Develops research skills

Improves communication abilities

+The Importance of DebateSome Possible Reasons – Cont’d Develops an ability to work on solving problems

creatively

Increases self-confidence

Develops the ability to express views effectively and respond cogently to arguments with which you disagree. Personal Examples

Secondary School – Casual Debates (distinctly different to arguments)

Beliefs and Core Values – testing them through engagement and thinking

Danger of ‘thinking you’re right’ whatever the weather…

+The Importance of DebateOn Manifestos In it’s extreme form, the manifesto may be intended for

shock value to achieve a revolutionary effect, voicing themes of freedom (of expression) and the implied or overtly stated superiority of the writers over the status quo

An art manifesto gives a means of expressing, publicising and recording ideas for the artist or art group.

EXAMPLE – Stuckist Manifesto

http://www.stuckism.com/stuckistmanifesto.html

“Put your ego somewhere useful”….

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Manifestos:Past Realities &

Imagined Futures…

Events or campaigns of great humanity (or inhumanity)

+Manifestos:Past Realities, 1 (U.S.A. Declaration…) The American Declaration of

Independence 1776

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

+Manifestos:Past Realities, 2 (Hitler’s Mein Kampf)

In Mein Kampf, Hitler outlined his political philosophy. He argued that the German race was superior to all others.

Hitler warned that the Aryan's superiority was being threatened by intermarriage. If this happened world civilization would decline.

Although other races would resist this process, the Aryan race had a duty to control the world. This would be difficult and force would have to be used, but it could be done. To support this view he gave the example of how the British Empire had controlled a quarter of the world by being well-organised and having well-timed soldiers and sailors.

+Manifestos:Past Realities, 2 (Cont’d)

Hitler believed that Aryan superiority was being threatened particularly by the Jewish race who, he argued, were lazy and had contributed little to world civilization. (Hitler ignored the fact that some of his favourite composers and musicians were Jewish).

+Manifestos:Current Considerations, 1 (First Things First)

The ‘First Things First 2000’ manifesto, launched by Adbusters magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland, a British designer.

Its aim was to generate discussion about the graphic design profession's priorities in the design press and at design schools. The question of value-free design has been continually contested in the graphic design community between those who are concerned about the need for values in design and those who believe it should be value-free. A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Situationist International,[1][2] and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself."

+Manifestos:Current Considerations, 1 – [Cont’d]

+Manifestos:Current Considerations, 1 – [Cont’d]

Those who believe that design can be free from values reject the idea that graphic designers should concern themselves with underlying political questions. Those who are concerned about values believe that designers should be critical and take a stand in their choice of work, for instance by not promoting industries and products perceived to be harmful.

Examples of projects that might be classified as unacceptable include many forms of advertising and designs for cigarette manufacturers, arms companies and so on.

+Manifestos:Current Considerations, 2 (The Hacker’s Manifesto)

The Conscience of a Hacker (aka The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written in 1986 by a computer security hacker who went by the name of The Mentor.

It is considered a cornerstone of hacker culture, and it gives some insight into the psychology of early hackers. It is said to have shaped the hacker community's view of itself and its motivations.

+Manifestos:Current Considerations, 2 - [Cont’d]

The Manifesto states that hackers choose to hack because it is a way for them to learn, and because they are often frustrated and bored by the limitations of standard society.

The Manifesto acts as a guideline to hackers across the globe, especially those new to the field. It serves as an ethical foundation for hacking, and asserts that there is a point to hacking that supersedes selfish desires to exploit or harm other people, and that technology should be used to expand our horizons and try to keep the world free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8K16Rcqu4E

+Manifestos:Imagined Futures, 1(Russell–Einstein Manifesto)

The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955 by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War.

It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict.

The signatories included eleven pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, including Albert Einstein, who signed it just days before his death on April 18, 1955.

+Manifestos:Imagined Futures, 1 (Russell–Einstein Manifesto) “WE invite this Congress, and through it the

scientists of the world and the general public, to subscribe to the following resolution:

"In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them."

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Manifestos:Save The Earth

…

Gaia Theory, The Eden Project, Earth Day

+The Eden Project

+The Eden Project

“A positive future is available to us all – we just have to be good custodians of the planet”…

At Eden we want to inspire people to go on a journey of discovery about the kind of society we want to live. In a changing world, we need imagination and enterprise; we need to foster our skills and talents; we need communities to get engaged in inventing new, more sustainable ways of living together.

+The Eden Project

By collaborating with a network of like-minded people and organisations worldwide we have been working on similarly exciting projects across the globe that not only benefit the local environment but act as a focus for regional social and economic regeneration.

Eden is a place where visitors can explore their dependency on the natural world and get inspiration on adapting their lives to preserve and enrich the environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5C_ccgp8ZI&feature=related

+The Eden Project: Using Nature’s Genius in Architecture

Michael Pawlyn established the architecture firm Exploration in 2007 to focus on environmentally sustainable projects that take their inspiration from nature.

Prior to setting up the company, Pawlyn worked with the firm Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that radically re-invented horticultural architecture for the Eden Project.

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture.html

(First 4 mins)

+Earth Day

Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco.

Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.

+Earth Day - criticism

A May 5, 2009 editorial in The Washington Times contrasted Arbor Day with Earth Day, claiming that Arbor Day was a happy, non-political celebration of trees, whereas Earth Day was a pessimistic, political ideology that portrayed humans in a negative light

Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet.

+The Feynman Series

Feynman on Beauty in Nature:

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=cRmbwczTC6E&feature=youtu.be

The Feynman Series is a companion project of The Sagan Series working in the hopes of promoting scientific education and scientific literacy in the general population

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Fantasy Manifestos:Explicit

Tolkien’s Manifesto “On Fairy-Stories”

+ Tolkien's essay "On Fairy-Stories" is an attempt to

explain and defend the genre of fairy tales. One touchstone of the authentic fairy tale is that it is presented as wholly credible. "It is at any rate essential to a genuine fairy-story… that it should be presented as 'true'.”

First, he defines fairy stories as not stories about fairies or other supernatural beings, but stories about the interaction between humans and those beings. Second, he emphasises that through the use of fantasy, which he equates with fancy and imagination, the author can bring the reader to experience a world which is consistent and rational, under rules other than those of the normal world. He calls this "a rare achievement of Art.”

+ Tolkien's essay "On Fairy-Stories" is an attempt to

explain and defend the genre of fairy tales. One touchstone of the authentic fairy tale is that it is presented as wholly credible. "It is at any rate essential to a genuine fairy-story… that it should be presented as 'true'.”

First, he defines fairy stories as not stories about fairies or other supernatural beings, but stories about the interaction between humans and those beings. Second, he emphasises that through the use of fantasy, which he equates with fancy and imagination, the author can bring the reader to experience a world which is consistent and rational, under rules other than those of the normal world. He calls this "a rare achievement of Art.”

+ Tolkien suggests that fairy stories allow the reader

to review his own world from the "perspective" of a different world. This concept, Tolkien calls "recovery," in the sense that one's unquestioned assumptions might be recovered and changed by an outside perspective.

Second, he defends fairy stories as offering escapist pleasure to the reader, justifying this analogy: a prisoner is not obliged to think of nothing but cells and wardens.

And third, Tolkien suggests that fairy stories (can) provide moral or emotional consolation, through their happy ending, which he terms a "eucatastrophe".

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Fantasy Manifestos:Implicit

Guillermo del Toro’s Pans Pabyrinth

+ - 'I was trying to uncover a common

thread between the "real world" and the "imaginary world” through one of the seminal concerns of fairy tales: choice. It's something that has intrigued me since Cronos, through Hellboy and now to Pan's Labyrinth: the way your choices define you. And I thought it would be great to counterpoint an institutional lack of choice, which is fascism, with the chance to choose, which the girl takes in this movie.’ (Del Toro)

+“With this film, del Toro seems to have created his manifesto, a tour de force of cautionary zeal, humanism and magic.” (Washingtom Post critic)

Implicit Manifesto: What does this mean? The work appears to define and represent the beliefs and the message of the creator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw

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Students, in groups, to explore manifestos in fantasy or sci-fi/futuristic fiction (film, literature, theatre, etc) and present their findings.

“WITH MY WAKING EYES”- Visions of Grandeur

Entire group work together to choose a piece of work (fantasy or sci-fi) from which they will draw their manifesto

Half of the group to work on researching the conditions for the manifesto (the political climate, the status quo, etc)

The other half work on drawing up the details of the manifesto

The entire group will need to work together to deliver a 5 minute presentation