What about people who hide behind anonymity when they write comments in the internet?
In my opinion this is the dark side when you are empowered by the fact that you don’t have to be liable for your opinions.
I’m saying this because I met Jeff Jarvis from buzzmachine.com and Michael Arrington from TechCrunch.com and they told me that they are insulted every single day – and in the case of Arrington someone even spat on his face.
If we stood by our opinions, I think we should put our name next to it. However, if you go to any newspaper site and click on comments, you see that most people use nicknames in order to insult what people do.
So, I would like to hear your opinion on anonymity in the internet.
So we are here at Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin). Twenty years ago there was a wall here. Unfortunately there’s still another type of wall separating people. So my question this week is: how can we tear down this wall called “the clash of civilizations”?
Christian, a reader of this blog made a very interesting question: is suffering important for you to get some sort of enlightenment?
In my opinion it isn’t necessary. As a Catholic, the example of Jesus is quite telling: he traveled all his life, having dinners, meeting people and yet we remember him going though “passion” , nailed to the cross in the last days of his life.
The same applies to other avatars of humanity, such as Buddha: they were enjoying life. But for some reason the idea has gone round about suffering as a justification for us to go to heaven, or to sacrifice to others.
All my work is based in sharing the best of life and transmitting your happiness to others.
I would like then to hear your opinion on suffering and this attitude towards the spiritual path.
For me its quite cynical because, at the end of the day, if we dont take care of the planet it will destroy us. But we put ourselves in a position that we are saving something and this may be good for our ego but it is ultimately unrealistic. If we dont care of the planet, we will be destroyed not the planet.
But this is my opinion and I look forward to hear yours.
here’s a video I did for the World Economic Forum, where I mention the question I posted here – and where I express, I believe, the gist of your messages:
Thank you so much for your valuable imput dear warriors of the light.
Below the original question I posted here for your to answer.
This week Im participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Contrary to the common perception, people there don’t conspire against the world but actually try to find and exchange new ideas.
So, to improve the state of the world, what would you suggest?
I’m going to check your answers and eventually share them with the people Ill meet there. Thank you then for your opinion on this matter.
I was talking two days ago with a couple of friends and I asked them what was their dream, and the husband replied: To retire. To which I said: Did you have this dream since you were a child?And he confirmed this to me. I was amazed by this reply given that for me this is my worst nightmare but realized that this may be the case for many people.
So now I turn to you: whats your opinion on retirement?
Can art be only recognized by its context or are you able to identify it in any circumstance? I am asking you this because Paul from Austria, that comes often to my blog, raised this question last week quoting an experience that the Washington post made with the violinist Joshua Bell in the subway in Washington D.C.
What is your opinion on free contents in Internet?
As you can see in my blog, I share as much as I can. The entertainment business thinks that it’s hurting their revenues, which I don’t think it is.
I think that the content is free, beauty is free and you have to share, despite of your human condition.
This is a very important moment to discuss that because they are threatening to pass laws for forbidding people to share their contents. I like to hear your opinion on this.
Can more acts of kindness change the world? and perform miracles? I’m convinced that they can do that, and I’m quoting the words of St. Therese de Lisieux:
“Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden to me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.”
Those petals of roses, you can see them always behind me.
Please share your random and small acts of kindness with us.
So this week was in the the newspapers the story the girl who committed suicide because she was pushed to do this by a grown up woman who asked her to do this via Myspace. The girl committed suicide and this story make us think twice about the social communities : how far can we go? What shall we do in order to allow these social communities to connect people instead of separating them? Please give me your opinion on this issue.
Here’s a fragment of this story (Reuteurs)
Woman cleared of felonies in MySpace suicide case
(…)
Drew and others created the fake MySpace persona of a 16-year-old boy to woo Meier for several weeks, then abruptly ended the relationship and said the world would be better off without her. Meier hanged herself in October 2006, just hours after she had read those final messages.
Everyone has a turning point, a moment where everything can change for better or for worst. If you feel comfortable, please share your experience here.
Love Paulo
Do you think that culture can change anything in this world?
I will be participating this week in a cultural forum in Avignon / France and will meet people there that put a lot of hope in what they believe in – the same way I do – but sometimes we feel that despite our best efforts the world doesn’t change.
Yesterday I saw a movie about WWI (“All Quiet in the Western Front”) and had the realization that a lot of things haven’t changed. Nonetheless we cannot lose hope – so this is why I’m turning to you: How do you think we could use culture in a more effective and powerful way?
I believe internet helps – given that it is a platform for people that are open to share ideas. So please, leave here your opinion so that I may share it with the people of this forum.
Everybody is talking about crisis, the end of the world, the crash of the stock markets, etc… But in my generation, the hippie generation, we didn’t have money as our ultimate goal and I think that now we have adapted ourselves, or were forced to adapt ourselves to a new reality.
Don’t you think that this is a new beginning, a new beginning for us to see the world differently from what society has forced us to see?
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So how do you see the world one year from now? Meaning the world in November 2009? Let’s do a type of exercise, not a prophecy, about the state of the world in the future. As you know we are at the brink of the US elections; the stock is crashing; wars are ravaging, etc… So I turn to you : in one year from now, where will we be?
So speculate about this and – God willing – I will repost here your answers in November 2009 and see who came closer to reality.
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Apparently the question of Lia provoked quite a lot of reaction and I have already been asked many times to write about same sex relationships. I’m not planning to write a column about this issue but in my new book “The Winner stands alone” I mention a relationship between two women.
I’m intrigued though and I would like for you to discuss openly about what you think about same sex relationships.
This week I’m will be at the Frankfurt Book fair – which is the most important book event there is- since I was invited to open it on the 14th of October. There will be a press conference on the opening day and on the 15th I will throw a party where most of you will be present through the pictures you sent to the virtual exhibition and also with your hearts.
Given this context, this week I want your opinion on the following matter: will books survive?
This is the question that the book fair is raising and in my speech I say that books will not disappear since there is free content flowing on the net. Said this, many fear sharing content while I think that a solution can be reached in which publishers, authors and agents will agree upon. In my eyes, the wrong way is to be greedy and consider that content shouldn’t be shared and that internauts are mainly pirates. My speech – that will be posted here tomorrow – talks about this: that there are no pirates in internet but people eager to share content.
So I want you to share your ideas on books, free content and on what’s going to happen in this new context.
As you know, I’m a strong supporter of contents for free (with Pirate Coelho and Internet Books) and therefore I’m eager to hear your opinion on this subject. Since there will be more than one press conference in Frankfurt, I’m planning to access my blog and share your views with the journalists at the fair.
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So it seems that we are living in a culture of fear.
Before it was the terrorist attacks and now we see this economic crisis that engulfs the whole world.
My point is that we understand less and less what is happening. Personally, the more I read about this crisis the more I get lost.
Not only that: I’m reading about Pakistan, Afghanistan, Irak and the Middle East and it seems that people are losing control. When this happens we see the rise of a culture of fear. And this is what I want you to share: do you feel we are living a moment where fear is being used against us?
Don’t you have the feeling that besides our personal fear, there’s an atmosphere of doubt that is imposing this world of crisis to us?
I would like to hear your opinion on collective fear.
I believe that when we look for love courageously, it reveals itself, and we attract even more love. If one person really wants us, everyone does. But if we’re alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange…
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