Natural humanity learns from experience; civilized humanity learns from dogma. You could use epistemology as a guide to distinguish what is natural from what is civilized. We are natural because we are a natural “product” subject to natural laws. We also are civilized. Some would argue that being civilized results from our natural evolution, yet [...]
Continue reading about Human Nature – Learning from Experience
The Bards of Balance have a new music video up with our new violinist, Suzanne Bourdeaux. Karl Frederick Mattson of Freelance Productions did a great job of putting it together. Double click on the window if you get an error message.
Pop provides a sobering description of Iwo Jima and other Pacific Island battles. Feb 20, 1965 Mr. Harold Lufkin, V.P. Newton Mfg. Co. Newton, Iowa. Dear Mr. Lufkin: Have been wondering if you were enjoying the Sunny South these days? It sure is a good time to go there. Just 5 below in Norfolk this [...]
As a British charity, I do not know what Solar Aid’s program efficiency is. I do know their purpose, using solar energy to help impoverished communities become more self-sufficient. In my view this is the best type of humanitarian cause, one that permanently addresses the quality of life of a community. Sufficiency is an important [...]
The compensation for the CEO of CARE is more than three times the compensation for the CEO of Doctors Without Borders. What gives? Here’s a yet to be tested hypothesis. CARE has more strings attached to established institutions, receiving much greater support from government than Doctors Without Borders. When you are the CEO of a [...]
Continue reading about Humanitarian CEO Compensation Hypothesis
“Natural humanity is social; civilized humanity has been antisocial.” Hey! Since I’ve been providing quotes by famous people I thought I would include a few of mine own. We ironically brand antisocial behavior as uncivilized behavior. Yet the prehistoric evidence establishes humanity as the most social of animals with a higher intellect. The more “primitive” [...]
Continue reading about Quotes – Human Nature – Social Humans
Pop gets honored for his role in helping to establish one of Norfolk’s organizations. January 2, 1965 Mr. Harold Lufkin, V.P. Newton Mfg. Co., Newton, Iowa. Dear Mr. Lufkin: I am glad that I called the other day about an order and thereby got to talk to you and some of the girls. I used [...]
Humanitarian responses and humanitarian issues roll off the tongue easily. Those words connect together in conversations about humanitarian causes. Humanitarian communities sounds more made up because, well, it is. I’m defining a humanitarian community as a geographically defined social group that seeks to maximize the minimum standards of living for all. Communalism, such as with [...]
A second type of humanitarian organization are those that address humanitarian issues. Think of humanitarian response organizations as those that react to acute catastrophes that occur. Humanitarian issue organizations tackle chronic problems and proactively work towards a better world. There is serious overlap between these two types of organizations, a problem faced by many typologies. [...]
Last week I started posting information on humanitarian organizations. I have a typology for the three basic goals of what I consider to be humanitarian organizations. To date I provided information only on organizations involved in the category of humanitarian responses. This is the largest category of humanitarian organizations (in my typology), corresponding to the [...]