Potent Quotable #1

"Characters are not born like people, of women; they are born of a situation, a sentence, a metaphor containing in a nutshell a basic human possibility that the author thinks no one else has discovered or said something essential about." -Milan Kundera

Disclaimer: Friedman, You Are Not Worthy.

Occasionally in the course of human events, an ordinary individual, who's life is bound to the mainland, will accidentally release a piece of knowledge that will glide on the cool winds of genius to the cool island. Today, Mr. Friedman was lucky in this manner. He even submitted several applications for immigration and I struck them down with my large red stamp marked "UNCOOL." He should feel privileged that this little insight of his made it this far, because he never will. Friedman, go play with your flat toys.

A Message in a Bottle

This washed up on the shores of the Cool Island. Its from a mainlander named Thomas L. Friedman. Say what you will about the man, sometimes he is just right.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04friedman.html?em&ex=1210392000&en=faad74bdab6c2cfb&ei=5087%0A

Adam Smith 2.0

Primarily, it must be clarified that while Adam Smith is a great thinker and extremely influential, he has no place on the Cool Island. Sorry Adam, but your theory of market liberalism is quite flawed.

This allows me to introduce our newest member to the Cool Island: Mr. Karl Polanyi. And, like our Father Mr. Antonio Gramsci, let this be the first of many posts citing the brilliance and wisdom that our dear friend shares with us via The Great Transformation.

Polanyi Wisdom #1: "Laissez-fair was planned; planning was not." There is nothing natural about the free market (sorry Adam). In fact, the free market was implemented by the state. The invisible hand is not so invisible. However, what the state did not plan was the extreme backlash prompted by the free market. The disembedding of markets (planned) caused extreme social dislocation and thus a response from civil society (un-planned).

Official Score: Polanyi 100
Smith 0

The Mother

There are some women in history who you would never want to cross. The Empress Dowager Cixi (Tz'u-hsi)(1835-1908) is the ultimate example of such a woman. As one of the most evil, manipulating, calculating, and maniacal people in history, Cixi has earned the right to permanent residence on the Cool Island. Working her way up from a family of a low-ranking officer, she became a concubine of the Emperor. When the Emperor died and left 8 ministers in charge until his son was able to rule alone, Cixi aligned herself with the other Empress, Ci'an, and several princes. After turning just about everyone against everyone else, she removed the ministers from authority, executing 3. She positioned herself in power with the Emperor in an only minor position of power. When the emperor died (she is thought to have poisoned him), she put her nephew in power (breaking the rules of secession ). She retired to the country and controlled Peking through a network of spies. She even supported the Boxer Rebellion. When the nephew Emperor's reforms proved inconvenient for her, he died (also thought to have been poisoned by her). Se died the next day. She was the last real powerful emperor in the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China, Perhaps one of the most manipulative, but undeniable brilliant, women in history, Cixi shall be given a company parking spot right next to the cool coconut tree on the cool island.
She was once quoted saying " Whoever makes me unhappy for a day, I will make suffer a lifetime."
Evil, but cool.

The Father

Antonio Gramsci -- Let this be the first of many Cool Island posts praising and revering the revolutionary ideas of Sir Gramsci. For Gramsci, the one, the only, Antonio Gramsci, is precisely the reason why the Cool Island blog inhabits this sacred cyberspace. His thoughts and exaltations have inspired my comrade and myself to begin documenting the THINKERs and snippets of their thoughts.

To Begin -- Opening thoughts on Gramsci: The idea that every man/woman is a philosopher. It implies that yes, the high-horsed academic cannot create revolutionary social change by his/herself. The knowledge produced in and out of the grassroots must be combined with that of the scholar in order to produce a social movement worthy of making progress.

Please refer to Playing with Fire: Feminist Thought and Activism through Seven Lives in India for physical evidence of this theory turned into truth.

Bienvenidos a la Isla Chida

Welcome,

As you probably know by now, you are here because you are a badass. Not everyone is this cool. Feel special. This is the Cool Island. It is home to all the people in this world who are just a little (or a lot) more interesting than everyone else. Make yourself at home. Get to know the other cool people. We are the Movers. We are the Shakers. We are the Cool Islanders. The Coolies. The Cool Islandese. And we know it.

- All the cool people in life.