Transparency in business

I found a very interesting article on Wired about transparency and honesty in business and the positive effects it can have. It goes against some of the basic rules of corporate America, but in the Internet age, everything has changed. It's a long article, but really good. I have a huge drive for openness and honesty, and it was very encouraging to see how this can be proven true and beneficial even in business. I know how pessimistic and distrusting I can be towards big businesses because of all the polished press releases and publicity. No one believes it anyway. It's nice to see some people trying to change that and be honest, and the benefits that it brings.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html

Crash

This afternoon I watched the movie Crash for the second time. It's an extremely powerful movie, and usually produces strong emotions in those who watch it. The first time I watched it I was quite torn on how I felt about it. It's a very real, honest, and powerful demonstration of how we are affected by prejudice, fear, anger, power struggles, injustice and a whole lot of other stuff we like to pretend doesn't exist. One of the things that hit me the most when I first saw it was that it completely blurred or destroyed the images of "good characters" and "bad characters" in the story. I like to see people as mostly good or mostly bad, but that's mostly delusional thinking. Instead you see both sides of the characters and are left without a "hero" to pull you through the movie. It offers no warm fuzzies, no peaceful comfortable atmosphere. Instead it left me a little disturbed but very moved by the honest look at the corrupt world we live in and the messed up people in it, of which I am a part. It is amazing to see how different people's prejudices played on one other, fueling anger and fear which often got displaced, and brought out more prejudice. It is a violent spiral. This is definitely a movie that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. It has forced me to think about what my prejudices are and what brings them out. There were so many things said that rang so true to me and also seem so wrong. But it's healthy to confront the reality of the world and ourselves.

Conflict

My friend Erika posted a blog about conflict in marriage. It was a really awesome blog, so I had to link to it. It's a subject that is rarely talked about with such openness and honesty, especially in a public forum. Conflict is something I've struggled with, and honesty and openness have become very important things to me, so I was very excited about this blog.

http://www.newaesthetic.com/2007/01/conflict-is-so-cool.html