Sitting in an ouzo bar late at night in Athens last Friday, I got asked by a colleague out-of-the-blue what my "vision" was. Never an easy question to answer whether enebriated or not (I wasn’t.) I think I replied something along the lines of, "Hey, how about that Acropolis!"
Sitting on the subway this morning, it came to me what I’m about: I provide lightsabers to Ewoks.
That is to say, I want to help enable the "little guy" (the
marginalized, the unheard, the suffering) to get access to the weapons
to fight against the Imperial Forces. And when I say "weapons" I don’t
mean the bang-bang-kill kind, I mean the armaments of public debate —
access to the traditional media, tools to create new media, aggregators
and disseminators of critical information. The communication tools of social change in a democratic society.
Why light sabers, you might ask? Why not Imperial Star Destroyers for Ewoks? For me, the light saber signifies that how you win the fight is just as important as whether you win or not. The Jedi light saber is about power exercised responsibly, with honor, grace, and flair.
So my personal interest is in cool technological solutions that empower people, that give voice. Whether that be building spaces for civil society in virtual worlds, video podcasting, or $100 laptops for the poor. These obviously aren’t the only tools that matter, but they are key to the success of various social movements for change.
Obviously this is a work in progress. But isn’t everything…
I tend to disagree about the character of the Jedi weapon, or rather the character of the Jedi order altogether.
They impose superhuman discipline on human minds, ask their followers to sell away their souls in exchange for mastery of the force. They don’t win with grace and honor. They win at the expense of their humanity, or ewokitude, or what have you.
That they should promote a reaction like the sith/empire is because the Jedi are themselves a cancer of sorts, albeit a slow growing, hard to identify one.
Interesting points.I certainly don’t want to get into an argument about Star Wars lore and culture.
I am not arguing that the “Ewoks” should all become Jedi, which I think would just be imposing another elite order on top of another one. But simply that they need elegant and powerful weapons to fight against evil.
Thanks for the comment.