Connection: King Lear to "The path of stuff"

Today I saw a video on Youtube-"The path of stuff"
The video was a spirited, 20 minute proclamation of the insustainability of the American market... and it was riddled with pitfalls, in the form of half truths. Half-truths that present a true fact, in a way that misrepresent the matter at hand. One example: in the last 40 years, X % of the Earth's original forests have been cut down. Obviously, replanted forests are misrepresenting the impact of corporations. Additionally, her claim that "wal-mart hurts its employees by not proving healthcare" is grounded in fact, but, wal-mart gives people jobs, healthcare or not. There's plenty of people who appreciate the job.

King Lear is filled with deception, half-truth, and not-truth. So many disguises, lies, and more... I realised that the politically-focused loaded argument, and other fallacies of misrepresentation.

Thoughts on the TED Project

To TED(v.) 1. To use an idea with much potential benefit and execute it poorly ;2. To participate in an Academy-wide project.

This definition sums up the feelings of most of the Academites, myself included.

The TED project succeeded in a few of its objectives:
-Online collaboration worked, simply. I felt as connected as if I was in a room with my groupmates. I thank our choice of Google sites.
-The research and task assignment process was simple and streamlined. Things were assigned, and they got done. The weight for all the students was such that none neglected their duties.

However, the TED presentation fell short, in my opinion, of having overall value. Mostly, research was presented, ideas shared, etc... but these weren't huge, pressing things- they were mostly fairly isolated and separate from our daily life. In all, most, if not all, of what was important in the presentations was already in the videos.