Philosophy Wire! Burn… Burn… Burn…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-02-16]:

Norwegian public television plans to broadcast a burning fireplace for 12 straight hours from Friday evening, with firewood specialists providing color commentary, expert advice and a bit of cultural tutoring. The idea was inspired by the SECOND BEST selling book in Norway which concerns… what else… fire wood! [source: Yahoo! TV]

NRK is not new to quirky programming.

In 2011, it broadcast 134 hours non-stop of a cruise ship going up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic, bagging the world record for the longest continuous TV program along the way.

At one point 600,000 people tuned in to watch that program with 3.2 million people, or over 60 percent of the population, glued to the screen at one point.

And an earlier broadcast of an eight hour train journey from Oslo to Bergen was so popular, NRK had to repeat it.

Who says that money and progress is synonym of mental health?

Well, I have to go now.

I am going to watch a flower grow…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

Philosophy Wire: The need to tag every murderer as “insane”–The Breivik case

Anders Behring Breivik’s defence have told his trial he should be considered sane. Lawyer Geir Lippestad told the court in Norway his client had been driven by extreme politics, while on the same trial the prosecution has called for Breivik to be considered insane [1].

Is that really happening? What is the matter with “progressed” societies? Foucault would be turning over in his grave with this. Insanity as a tool of society to impose rules and codes of conduct…

The dream of every murderer is to be characterized as “insane” so as to get better off with the sentence. However modern Norway cannot let that happen! If you do something different in the “paradise” called “civilized” countries, you have no other choice but to “be” insane! Illogical! Out of your mind! It does not matter that naming you insane will lead you better off to a nice psychiatric resort instead of a prison. It does not even matter that you yourself claim that you are perfectly sane and have deliberately planned what you did months before.

Because we cannot handle exceptions to our nicely formed rules, we are too eager to tag anything irregular as “insane”. Breivik cannot have really thought of what he did. He cannot have really wanted to do what he did.

You MUST be insane!

So that all the others can remain “sane”…

Read more for the role of psychiatry in modern society at the “The Dictatorship of the science of Psychiatry” article.

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

Philosophy Wire: The jail-resort and the Norwegian killer…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-07-28]: The cell where the Norwegian killer will be hosted (yes, this is the correct word) are like the rooms of a 5-star hotel as one can see in the pictures (note the window without bars) [source: web news]. Norwegian authorities probably aim at making him feel bad for killing all those people, by giving him luxuries others would envy (and for free for his whole life). Do you think it will work?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

Philosophy Wire: Oslo, Greece and the mysterious ways of Society…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-07-23]: The tragic events that took place in Oslo remind us of how mysterious the ways of society are. Here in Greece we have riots almost every day. But we are nationally stunned to hear even one family man being killed. In Norway there we no protests. And yet today we mourn for 91 people. How many times have we though upon rage or when arguing with someone “I will kill him” ? But we never do it. We never actually mean it. Why did this man from Norway did it? Was he not strong enough so as to stop himself (this sound a little bit… paradoxical)? Or was it that the Norway society was not strong enough to impose on him?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...