National Writers Union

[SophiaY]

This may be of interest to some of the American writers here; particularly because the organization focuses on the issues that concern free-lance authors.

http://nwu.org/

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Bump.

 

[SophiaY]

New Year's bump

 

[logophile]

Thanks for sharing this link!

 

[mismused]

delete

 

[SophiaY]

Logophile, mismused,

(a cyber curtsey) My pleasure.

I've often thought it was a shame that the old artist's guilds faded away; then my politics are Communitarian...

 

[SophiaY]

Bump for newer folk

 

[JackHarrison]

Logophile, mismused,

(a cyber curtsey) My pleasure.

I've often thought it was a shame that the old artist's guilds faded away; then my politics are Communitarian...

Communitarian?

 

[shereads]

Unions have muscle only when the buying public values the product of the members' labor and isn't happy with available substitutes. Airline pilots have clout because even idiots and cheapskates can appreciate the distinction between a professional and an amateur at the controls of a 727. Freelance writers have relatively little clout, because many of our clients don't know the difference between good and awful - and those who know the difference might still not think it's worth paying for.

As proof, you need only look at the overwhelming success of reality television in the U.S. What began as the networks' temporary solution to an artists' strike was so successful, it's all but delivered a death blow to programming that's written, acted and produced by professionals.

I've been freelancing to supplement my salary for years. I learned early on that clients consider us a convenience, not a necessity. They know they can't design a website or film a TV commercial; but most people think they could do a passable job of writing one.

 

[SophiaY]

Communitarian?

American men, women, and children are members of many communities--families; neighborhoods; innumerable social, religious, ethnic, work place, and professional associations; and the body politic itself. Neither human existence nor individual liberty can be sustained for long outside the interdependent and overlapping communities to which all of us belong. Nor can any community long survive unless its members dedicate some of their attention, energy, and resources to shared projects. The exclusive pursuit of private interest erodes the network of social environments on which we all depend, and is destructive to our shared experiment in democratic self-government. For these reasons, we hold that the rights of individuals cannot long be preserved without a communitarian perspective.

A communitarian perspective recognizes both individual human dignity and the social dimension of human existence.

A communitarian perspective recognizes that the preservation of individual liberty depends on the active maintenance of the institutions of civil society where citizens learn respect for others as well as self-respect; where we acquire a lively sense of our personal and civic responsibilities, along with an appreciation of our own rights and the rights of others; where we develop the skills of self-government as well as the habit of governing ourselves, and learn to serve others-- not just self.

A communitarian perspective recognizes that communities and polities, too, have obligations--including the duty to be responsive to their members and to foster participation and deliberation in social and political life.

A communitarian perspective does not dictate particular policies; rather it mandates attention to what is often ignored in contemporary policy debates: the social side of human nature; the responsibilities that must be borne by citizens, individually and collectively, in a regime of rights; the fragile ecology of families and their supporting communities; the ripple effects and long-term consequences of present decisions.

http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/platformtext.html

An alternative to the four corners of liberal, conservative, libertarian, populist.
Perhaps, because, I feel very identified with my communities, this philosophy works for me...

 

[SophiaY]

A bump for newcomers.

 

[SophiaY]

A hip bump...

 

[SophiaY]

Bumpity do dah...

 

[SophiaY]

Another New Year's bump (my, time does go so swiftly...)