Thursday, 25 June 2009
Good Morning Scotland - BBC Radio Scotland
Talked about train drivers reading out quotes and aphorisms on BBC Radio Scotland this morning. More on the story here. Listen again available here for a week, at 2:45:10
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
New podcast
In this special extra edition of Baggini’s Philosophy Monthly, I’m chairing a discussion between five shortlisted authors for the 2009 Bristol Festival of Ideas book prize. This £10,000 prize is for the best book of ideas published in Britain in 2008. Taking part are Nick Davies (Flat Earth News), Misha Glenny (McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime), Richard Holmes (The Age of Wonder), Mark Leonard (What Does China Think?) and Sara Maitland (A Book of Silence). Also shortlisted was Susan Faludi (The Terror Dream). More information on the prize and the books is here.
The discussion was recorded live at the award ceremony at the Arnolfini Centre, Bristol.
Listen or download here or download from iTunes.
BPM is produced by Julian Baggini in association with The Philosophers’ Magazine. If you enjoy the podcasts, please support our work.
The discussion was recorded live at the award ceremony at the Arnolfini Centre, Bristol.
Listen or download here or download from iTunes.
BPM is produced by Julian Baggini in association with The Philosophers’ Magazine. If you enjoy the podcasts, please support our work.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Competence is what matters
"When I call a plumber, I'd rather have a curmudgeonly miser who does a good job than a thoroughly nice chap who doesn't. Given that the task of running the country is even more important than unblocking a u-tube, it seems obvious to me that politicians should also be judged first and foremost on how well they do that job, not on their moral rectitude."Blog at Comment is Free Belief (Posted 12 June, while I was away).
You & Yours - BBC Radio 4
Read an "essay" on complaining on last Wednesday's programme. Listen again here, or read transcript below. Better still, buy the book!
Grumble. Whine. Whinge. Carp. Kvetch. Moan. Bellyache. Grouse. Most of the words we use to describe complaint do not exactly evoke the noblest aspects of the human spirit. Complaint is most commonly associated with petty moans about the minor inconveniences of everyday life, such as late trains, air-head celebrities and the difficulty of finding a tuna sandwich that doesn’t have either sweetcorn or cucumber in it. “He’s always complaining” is never meant as praise.
But complaint isn’t just about whinging and carping. It’s also about protesting, objecting and dissenting. These principled activities have been behind all of the major social advances in human history. I’m sure there were some people who told Emeline Pankhurst to stop moaning and put the kettle on, but it is because she and others like her refused to do so that women got the vote.
Complaining can be this important because at its root is a realisation that there is a gap between the way things are and the way they ought to be. That gap can be between the sunshine we were promised by weather forecasters and the horizontal rain that soaks us on Clevedon pier; or between the luxury lifestyles of millionaire executives and the grinding poverty of people in developing countries producing the goods that made them rich in the first place. Somewhere in between, perhaps, is the gap between the standards expected of our elected politicians and the receipt for moat cleaning services.
To make a complaint is therefore to say something about your values, to tell people how you think the world should be. Hence my complaint is not that we complain too much, but that we do so badly, and generally about the wrong things. The biggest complaints should be reserved for important matters that both can and ought to be different.
The British seem to be particularly handicapped in this regard. I conducted a survey which suggested that half as many Britons as Americans thought that the point of complaining was actually to change things. Lacking the optimism of our transatlantic cousins, we believe the best is already behind us, gone with the Empire. We are left futilely complaining to each other about things that we don’t believe can be changed when we should be protesting to those who can do something about it.
Don’t then believe people when they say that complaint is negative and you should simply be as the lilies of the fields and accept the world as it is. Such fatalism freed no slaves and liberated no peoples.
No, she who is tired of complaining is tired of life. Remember the words of Martin Luther King, always a good person to quote if you want to end on a rousing, moral high note. He said:
So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channelled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action.
Now that’s what I’d call a complaint.
Grumble. Whine. Whinge. Carp. Kvetch. Moan. Bellyache. Grouse. Most of the words we use to describe complaint do not exactly evoke the noblest aspects of the human spirit. Complaint is most commonly associated with petty moans about the minor inconveniences of everyday life, such as late trains, air-head celebrities and the difficulty of finding a tuna sandwich that doesn’t have either sweetcorn or cucumber in it. “He’s always complaining” is never meant as praise.
But complaint isn’t just about whinging and carping. It’s also about protesting, objecting and dissenting. These principled activities have been behind all of the major social advances in human history. I’m sure there were some people who told Emeline Pankhurst to stop moaning and put the kettle on, but it is because she and others like her refused to do so that women got the vote.
Complaining can be this important because at its root is a realisation that there is a gap between the way things are and the way they ought to be. That gap can be between the sunshine we were promised by weather forecasters and the horizontal rain that soaks us on Clevedon pier; or between the luxury lifestyles of millionaire executives and the grinding poverty of people in developing countries producing the goods that made them rich in the first place. Somewhere in between, perhaps, is the gap between the standards expected of our elected politicians and the receipt for moat cleaning services.
To make a complaint is therefore to say something about your values, to tell people how you think the world should be. Hence my complaint is not that we complain too much, but that we do so badly, and generally about the wrong things. The biggest complaints should be reserved for important matters that both can and ought to be different.
The British seem to be particularly handicapped in this regard. I conducted a survey which suggested that half as many Britons as Americans thought that the point of complaining was actually to change things. Lacking the optimism of our transatlantic cousins, we believe the best is already behind us, gone with the Empire. We are left futilely complaining to each other about things that we don’t believe can be changed when we should be protesting to those who can do something about it.
Don’t then believe people when they say that complaint is negative and you should simply be as the lilies of the fields and accept the world as it is. Such fatalism freed no slaves and liberated no peoples.
No, she who is tired of complaining is tired of life. Remember the words of Martin Luther King, always a good person to quote if you want to end on a rousing, moral high note. He said:
So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channelled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action.
Now that’s what I’d call a complaint.
Friday, 5 June 2009
Illusory Egalitarianism
"The Web is supposed to be a great leveller: anyone can blog or twitter, and Facebook friendships are reciprocal. But this equality is entirely superficial. In reality, most blogs are read by very few people while a small minority have huge followings. Similarly, for all the reciprocity of Facebook, there can be competition to get the largest number of friends. As for Twitter, the most popular could not possibly follow as many people as follow them. Social networking thus creates an illusion of equality which it does not even embody itself."Article in Literal magazine (p26) - you can read the article or download entire issue as a PDF here.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
June podcast now out
In the third edition of Baggini’s Philosophy Monthly, I’m off to a new philosophy and music festival at Hay, talking to its founder, Hilary Lawson, radical Tory Philip Blond, and the composer Michael Nyman. Plus I’m debating science and religion on Premier Christian Radio.
Download here or at iTunes
Download here or at iTunes
Monday, 1 June 2009
Breakfast - BBC One
I was on BBC Breakfast this morning, talking about voter apathy and participation. Just for the record...
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