Non-violent? Don’t Flatter Yourself | Mickey Z.

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Photo credit: Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

June 1, 2014

“Extreme violence has a way of preventing us from seeing the interests it serves.”

-Naomi Klein

Thesis: Debating violence vs. nonviolence in today's culture is like debating wetness vs. dryness while you ride the Titanic to the bottom of the ocean.

To explain what I mean, please allow me to introduce a little spiel I sometimes give at the opening of my talks:

This is the point in the evening when the speaker typically implores everyone to turn off the cell phones. But, as far as I’m concerned, you can leave yours on. This way, every time someone’s phone goes off, we can be reminded of the fact that half the humans on the planet have never made a single phone call.

Or maybe, when a phone rings, we can focus on these six simple words: The Democratic Republic of the Congo. We’d do that because one of the primary components of cell phone circuitry is a metallic ore called Columbite-Tantalite -- or “coltan.” Eighty percent of the world’s known coltan can be found in African nation of The Democratic Republic of the Congo (or DRC), which just so happens to be embroiled in a brutal (even by current standards) civil war since the pre-cell phone days of 1994.

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