Some of you might know this, but Socrates was a dirty hippy. He was probably close to disgusting. People that followed after him slept outside, avoided bathing and yelled at people as they walked by. They were called dogs because of this behavior. In some ways they were the original punk rockers. The word Cynic, if you pronounce the C like a K is related to the word canine. So the dogs were the cynics. Ironically, they were actually interested in the highest moral understanding. It was their indifference to custom and polite society that earned them this reputation...not the truth itself as the word implies today. Socrates was condemned to die for standing around and barking at people. Specifically, he was condemned to die in a trial for corrupting the youth of Athens. Plato wrote about it. He also wrote down in narrative form Socrates response during his trial and this truly became the template for the court scene that happens in so many movies, Im out of order, youre out of order.... Whats so interesting about this is that we love this story. The individual standing up to power and convention. People love that scene. Any movie having to do with someone being wrongly treated and arrested is usually built around the climatic court scene where the accused calls everyone out and lets the truth be known. But when a group does it, and more particularly a specific group of people, its somehow not seen in the same light. We love Socrates. We love Jack Nicholson. We love Tom Hanks. But when it happens on the street it gets treated as some kind of adolescent outpouring, at best. Personally, I am deeply moved by the protests in Ferguson. And unlike some, I can see it as a mass demonstration against injustice. Thats what it is. Its no different than the court scene.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:03:52 +0000
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