人人有责

Sources on Aristotle's Political Context & Career.

(This short post implicitly relates to a youtube video on the same topic, to be found on my channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZEkgohG7k7r2KOvbCAIKvulmFOp1kRKc)

You can get both articles from JSTOR.

(1) "Aristotle's Paradox of Monarchy and the Biographical Tradition."  J. Miller, 1998, in: History of Political Thought, Vol. 19, No. 4,

(2) The "extreme" position (i.e., arguing strongly that Aristotle was "an agent of Macedonia" in Athens) is presented in "Aristotle and the Foreign Policy of Macedonia." Anton-Herman Chroust, 1972, The Review of Politics, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul., 1972).

Source #1 repeatedly alludes to the extent to which source #2 has been reluctantly/negatively received by other scholars in the field; for a sense of why this is, see (3) Christopher Kirwan's (negative) review of Aristotle: New Light on His Life and on Some of His Lost Works by Anton-Hermann Chroust, in: The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 26, No. 1 (1976), pp. 69-70

(4) For a "simple" biographical source on Aristotle, it doesn't get any simpler than Diogenes Laertius (but secondary sources such as the ones linked above are engaged in skeptically questioning to what extent these biographies are historically valid, especially given the long "pause" between the death of Aristotle and the writing of these accounts): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D1

(5) There is one further (analytical) source salient to this discussion hidden away in the pages of Essays on the Foundations of Aristotelian Political Science, 1991, edited
by Carnes Lord and David K. O'Connor, although I have left this in fifth place, as its salience is of a more general character.  It is titled, "Aristotle's Critique of Athenian Democracy" by Barry S. Strauss (staring on p. 212). https://books.google.ca/books?id=q58eP8kKBmMC&pg=PA212&dq=On+Aristotle%27s+Critique+of+Democracy&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw0ZG68czbAhWZGTQIHSOqAqgQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

About Peer Review (Again)

The original cartoon is attributed to "Sheneman", and can be found here: http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/07/sheneman_cartoon_bridge_out.html

Giving advice to a suicidal (long-time) viewer.

[Question from a viewer.]

Hi Eisel. I'm a 17 year old from [an English-speaking country] and have been a fan of your YouTube channel for maybe a year and a half. I'm writing because I believe we share many similar viewpoints across different topics (though over my time watching your channel I have found many things I've disagreed with) and am hoping that maybe you can offer some kind of advice.

I'm a nihilistic athiest like you and at the moment am really suffering and struggling with an existential crisis. This has been progressively worsening with time to the point where now I consider suicide anywhere from 3 times a week to 3 times a day or more. I eat well and I exercise frequently but I essentially just think this depression is because of an unchangeable truth and see no possible way to overcome it. Today I saw a doctor and he'd like to meet again but I've seen your video on antidepressants and it seems very convincing, especially coupled with the fact that what is bringing me down just seems to be an unchangeable part of reality, so I'm not sure what I should do about that.

Essentially I'm just searching for some kind of point or meaning in my life and have reached what appears to be a dead end. Do you have any kind of advice for getting out of this pit I've ended up in? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

——————————

[小品] "小康社会”有什么意思？

在最近发布的文件中，我们常常可以看见“小康社会”这四个字。在习近平中国共产党第十九次全国代表大会的讲座，他说了“小康”多少次？我算了下，这个词出现了十八次，其中在题目中出现了两次以上。

其实在习近平报告的第一段已经看到这样的官话：“中国共产党第十九次全国代表大会，是在全面建成小康社会决胜阶段…
决胜全面建成小康社会…团结带领全国各族人民决胜全面建成小康社会…"
等等。最终地，“小康”有什么意思？在这个报告里，小康是中国梦，而“中国梦”的意思是小康生活方式。这个定义很像一条蛇吞食自己的尾巴。

如果美国政府去月球种菜，我猜一猜中国政府会说，“小康社会需要月球殖民地”。我觉得我们不好意思承认，模仿美国是“小康社会”的真正意思。中国比缅甸更舒服，中国比尼泊尔更舒服，但是都不够：美国付几百亿元为人类登上了月球，迟早中国也试一试。

我决定调查这个词，因为，诚实地说，对我来说这个词是有一点儿奇怪：我的父母认为应将马克思主义、毛泽东思想视为恒久的真理（他们是加拿大白人，不过在上文革时他们参军毛派共产主义派）。

在网上，很多网民说，“小康是古老的词，你可以在孔子的诗中找到”。也许你也可以在唐诗三百首里看到这个词，但是我不觉得这种古老的诗文可以帮助我们明白现代的“小康”的意思。同样地，古老的“求是”没有这两个词现代的意思。

“小康社会”这个词的用法是由邓小平在1979年第一次提出的。在胡锦涛的五年计划的时候，我们也常常听到这个词，但是这个词的意思还没有具体的描述：人们需要多少钱才可以算为“小康”？在2007年我离开了老挝的北部，到了云南：我看到云南最穷的农村比老挝更“康”。同时，也看到云南比日本更穷。也许这样比较是不公平的，但是，诚实地说，日本算是有“小康社会”吗？为什么我们不知道“小康社会”是什么样的水平，我们什么时候才应该用“小康社会”来描述一个国家？

我不知道为什么，但是看来共产党是不能够用数量来表示小康：他们一直解释的是贫困人口比率 ("poverty headcount ratio")，所以“小康”这个词仍然是很模糊。

有时候,习近平的报告是清楚的，如下是一些具体意见：
“坚持按劳分配原则，完善按要素分配的体制机制，促进收入分配更合理、更有序。…坚持在经济增长的同时实现居民收入同步增长、在劳动生产率提高的同时实现劳动报酬同步提高。拓宽居民劳动收入和财产性收入渠道。”

我觉得这些具体意见很明确是跟小康社有关。共产党想像什么样的社会？他们正在建设一个地主所有制的社会（有“财产性收入渠道”和“劳分配原则”）。他们保证“人民平等参与、平等发展权利, 会得到充分保障”，但是房东和房客不平等，工人和厂主也不平等。在日本有钱的人越来越有钱，没有钱的人越来越穷，一些人交房租，一些人有“财产性收入渠道”。中国的未来就会像80年代的日本吗？这也算不算是一个小康社会？

My Chinese handwriting (on the meaning of "pirate")

Obviously, very rapid, very sloppy writing (on a chalkboard) —and yet legible enough for the students.  This was in 德宏, of course.

First Nations Languages (A Very Strange Job Application)

To the teachers and directors of _________________,

Many years ago I decided to devote the rest of my life to First Nations languages: specifically, I wanted to work in indigenous education (and in the political processes related to avoiding the extinction of indigenous languages in Canada).

I went to First Nations University of Canada and I enrolled in Algonquian languages (studying Cree and Ojibwe and taking related courses). I do, indeed, have the transcript to prove this.

Years later, I tried to study west-coast languages at the University of Victoria, also: despite the vague statements about the university being committed to preserving indigenous languages, I found that it was impossible (genuinely impossible) to study any indigenous language at UVic at all (and yes, I spoke with professors, face-to-face).

So, at this time, most of my accomplishments (listed in my C.V.) are related to Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, Laotian, Pali, etc.) —and, within the education sector, I've had work experience teaching English (E.S.L.) in Asia. However, the truth is that all of these things have been a result of the impossibility of continuing to work on First Nations Languages (and First Nations Language education) in Canadian universities.

I did, also, achieve some level of expertise in Asian languages: I delivered a lecture at Oxford University, England, at the invitation of senior professors, and the audience was almost entirely comprised of senior professors. Although the topic of the lecture was Asian, I can genuinely say that the audience was shocked when I presented them with a "parallelism" from the history of the British Empire in Canada (i.e., the genocide of the indigenous peoples). The lecture is listed in my C.V., and the transcript of that lecture is still available on an Oxford University website (to prove the truth of the anecdote, and show exactly what I said about First Nations languages, at that time, in that forum).

This is all I can say for myself in terms of my "qualifications and experience" in relation to First Nations and indigenous language education: I can prove that this is a topic that I have been passionate about (and that I tried to pursue, as my career, via First Nations University) but it has been impossible for me (thus far) to make further progress in the field, because of the extremely poor situation within Canadian Universities for my generation.

As for the job's other qualifications: yes, I have experience teaching English as a Second Language in Asia. I have just completed a full year of teaching university-age students with all of the responsibilities of a university professor (from writing lectures and grading exams to one-on-one work: memorably, I had separate meetings with one girl who had a severe hearing-disability (she was deaf in childhood, apparently), to help her with her elocution). Yes, I am "sensitive" to the issues that separate E.S.D. from E.S.L. in the Canadian political context: in many ways, my dream was to work on Canadian Aboriginal Languages, and a job of this kind would let me recapture some small part of that dream.

Eisel Mazard

My work on Buddhism: how is it perceived by (non-scholarly) white Buddhists?

This is a link from 2016 I stumbled upon (when googling my own name to find the link to an article that I know I uploaded somewhere).

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/24451/articles-on-buddhism-by-a-former-pali-scholar

You see the religious mentality at work here: one contributor to this website is saying that my articles (and videos) about Buddhism are "honest scholarship" and raise important questions for Buddhists to consider.  And the other members of the forum reach for whatever excuse they can find to dismiss the articles without reading them (one explicitly says that he made his decision on the basis of the titles of the articles being too cynical).  ;-)

I finally discarded the jacket I got married in.

A certain black jacket that you may have seen in my photos and videos many times has finally been put into a garbage bag.

This was, in fact, a Canadian military jacket (sometimes recognized as such by veterans and government officials, in various places around the world) that I had a tailor modify in Vientiane (to make it slimmer).  The original cut of the cloth was very bulky, to be worn over a harness or other (military) equipment.  The material was ("bullet-proof") aramid (Nomex 3 aramid fiber, as I recall).

I was wearing this jacket on the day of my legal marriage (shown in the pictures above) and on the day when my wife and I were separated (legally, we still aren't divorced!).

My former Cree Teacher Advocates for Cree Street-Signs.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCvJuFE0POM

Solomon Ratt was one of my professors at FNU, and I talked about this issue with him (street-signs, no-smoking-signs, etc.) ALL THE TIME.  Part of my argument was to point out that the Canadian government had signage in Chinese for Chinese neighborhoods ("Chinatown" streets)… but why didn't we ever see Cree/Ojibwe on street signs?  I have no idea if my kvetching about this (years ago) at FNU was part of the impetus toward his formally lobbying on the issue, but I would note: he'd been there (as a professor of Cree) for many, many years… and he didn't take this on earlier.