Envisioning: Hope and the Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society

1. Envisioning: Hope andthe Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society

2. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society • Agency and Structure --Individual and System --Person and Institution --Chomsky (on institutions) • Decisions/Positions(Policy & Principle) --Policy: Outcome based on cost/benefit analysis --Principle: Fundamental beliefs

3. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society Accumulated Differential Advantages --Appache (Iraq War) --CNN (Iraq War)

4. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society • What Should I Do? (Chomsky) • What Can I Do? • What Can be Done?

5. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society • Change Requires: --Vision: A Just Society based on … --Knowledge: Accurate Information & Cartesian Common Sense --Action: Local, National … Global

6. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society • Why Should I Care? --Policy: Outcome based on cost/benefit analysis --Principle: Fundamental beliefs

7. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society • Why Should I Care? Principle -It is a matter of “looking at one’s self in the mirror” (Noam Chomsky) -It is a matter of “doing the right thing” (Abdi Sami).

8. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there's a chance you may contribute to making a better world. That's your choice. (Noam Chomsky)

9. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society “Architect: Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength and your greatest weakness.” The Matrix: Reloaded

10. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society Dear God, I’m Doing the Best I Can. Frank

11. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society That's your choice

12. The Responsibility of the Individual in a Democratic Society “Take [this story], for instance. It’s yours. Do with it what you will. Tell friends. Turn it into a television movie. Forget it. But don’t say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You’ve heard it now.” Thomas King, 2005.