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“Movement”

Term “movement” is so broad that you can interpret it in unlimited ways, throughout various contexts. It can be physical travelling from point A to B, moving forward- as a development and growth, movement as a social, political protest and sharing ideas. From my view, moving means changing whether it means future or past (moving forward, moving back, moving in a circle) and this transition can be felt in dimensions of time, space and matter. If we think about ourselves from the philosophical perspective of existence- everything around us is moving; nature is always changing, technology is moving forward, our body and mind is changing from the minute we come to this world until the day we depart.

With this mini project, I am aiming to develop a concept of “Movement” throughout philosophical and visual contexts. When I first thought what the action of “Movement/moving” would look like in a graphic expression, I straight away pictured something colourful and vibrant. The primary object I explored was a straight horizontal line, because it symbolizes a way, road, path, space and a direction in which we move. That was my starting point- space of movement. The follow up idea was a train journey- I have to travel by train a lot and I really enjoy it. The sound of the moving train and the pace is calming and I normally reflect on my day and move ideas in my head while moving physically by the train. Train journey perfectly defines harmony of moving in time (reflecting on the past) moving in space (physically moving from point A to B) and me feeling both movements at the same time.

The second idea I wanted to explore is “Movement in time”. Time moves forward and we will never be able to live the past day again. Moving time is measured by centuries, decades, years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. To picture this concept visually I chose an inspiration of sunrise and moving of light. The natural change of the darkest shade black sky at night to white bright light in the morning and the light moving through the action of sunrise optically depicts actual moving of time, changing from day to day.

I would imagine the final outcome to be the series of abstract graphic illustrations consisting of vibrant lines and colours, moving shades and light to form an appearance of “Movement”in different dimensions. To justify my concept I would use inspirational photos of changing or movement in nature and philosophical definitions of “Movement’ of time, “Movement” in space and “Movement” of ideas.

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Bridging Distances

2020 was challenging to the human race. The year where we had to be locked down, in order to protect each other and “Social Distancing” became new normal. Besides all that, rising protests and discussions of race and gender equality divided society even more. The “Black Lives Matter” movement following the death of George Flloyd was one of the really big protests which led to peaceful protesting as well as violence and rioting in the US and caused controversy and intensive debates all around the world. Yet amongst all the debates, people viewed those with opposing views as an “enemy” (for two examples “silence is violence and the storming of the Capitol building in response to the US election). Toxic masculinity and gender issues have also been fiercely debated.

Has social media, rather than bring the world together to share ideas, just created a space for people to find others who agree with them and so no other opinion can be correct? Is it easier to get angry and threaten violence when you are typing onto a screen? Do people believe that there is not a fellow human receiving these and instead just a computer?

At this point I realised the size of the distance among us as a society and as a humanity which needs bridging. We need to try and be more patient, accepting, encouraging, inspiring, supportive and kinder to each other. My mini creative catalyst consists of diversity and inclusivity inspired illustrations transferred on T-shirt’s creating funky and laid back look. The illustrations are hand drawn on T-shirts and coloured with fabric paint. My aim was to try on one of the techniques to illustrate on clothes because that is what I will be doing in my final project. The first t-shirt is decorated by peoples’ of different gender, race and nationality faces and words we should say to each other to bridge distance. On the second one I used Leo Tolstoy’s quote “I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts” and again symbolic faces of people from different cultures and backgrounds. I am pretty happy how I approached the task conceptually, just not fully happy with the technical outcome; the fabric paint seemed quite thick so it was difficult to draw smaller details. As for my main project I think that I will choose digital printing on the fabric rather than hand drawing, as I am hoping for a technical, clean and precise result. However, it was a great experimental project which taught me an instant creative solution to a small task.

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Ferguson, N. (2021) ‘Control, halt, delete‘ The Spectator, January, Vol 345; no 10,038 p. 12-14

‘Can anyone stand up to big tech?’ questioned the historian Niall Ferguson in a weekly British magazine on politics, culture and current affairs ‘The Spectator’. The article outlines the growing power of big network platforms Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Google and Apple (he later simply refers to this combination as FATGA) over social media platform users’ (including high rank politicians such as President D.Trump) opinions and freedom of speech. One of the most vivid questions I raised in my project ideas proposal was whether modern technology (internet, social media platforms in particular) has any impact on our freedom of speech or freedom of expression (when we talk about artists) and what that impact might be. This question is extremely relevant in today’s society because technology growth changes our ways of living, natural environment, our sociable behavior, and beliefs. The last few decades have shown what modern society values the most - voice, equality, freedom (I am referring to the numerous protests that happened in the past few decades starting with political and legal independence of countries and regions and finishing with human rights and environmental activism). I chose the above source because of its recency and relevance to my research theme in sociological context.

N.Ferguson starts off by comparing the power and dominance of FATGA with the Pre-Reformation Catholic Church at its height of power. This comparison gave a pretty clear insight where big tech companies stand in our everyday lives today. In 2020/2021 it was proven to us that without smartphones, laptops, apps and other “modern day ammunition” we wouldn’t be able to enter a restaurant or have team meetings at work, nor also seek medical advice or educate our children. This is quite a felicitous comparison, I would say, and just to add up, I think despite all the comfort and advance we have in our lives today thanks to modern technology, the question of freedom of speech on social media platforms is still on the table.

Subsequently some facts about censorship on online media platforms were laid out in this article. N. Ferguson casually tells readers how Twitter and Facebook start shutting down and suspending multiple accounts 'because of their expressed political views’ (Ferguson, N., 2021, p.13) and points out discrimination of some social media users (he uses the recent example of President D. Trump and his supporters). Then contrasts this to the argument raised by Justice Anthony Kennedy that it is unconstitutional to prevent sex offenders from accessing and expressing opinions on social network platforms. This parallel makes me (and probably most of the readers) consider what is acceptable and not on social media platforms and if all opinions are really welcome. Not very long ago I noted Australian conservative political commentator Sydney Watson asking her followers on YouTube to follow her on other platforms as YouTube allegedly deletes her content (and recently the broadcaster TalkRadio had their YouTube channel temporarily removed for objecting to the latest lockdown measures bought in by the U.K government). This once again proves the relevance of the issue raised in N.Ferguson’s article.

Where does law stand in the matters of free speech on the online platforms? Who is held accountable in the cases of hate speech and harmful in any way content online, user or provider? Justice Anthony Kennedy refers to online platforms as “the modern public square”, “most important place for the exchange of views” (Ferguson, N. 2021, p.13) various lawsuits over the years been referring to the big tech as: “public good, held in private hands” (Ferguson, N. 2021 p.13). These names gave us an inkling of a free, comfortable and trusted environment to express our opinions and hear others. The article then refers us to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which states that the websites are immune from liability for what their users post, but also entitled to take down any content that they don't like. This Legislation (in the US) in my opinion, is pretty outdated taking into account how fast technology is growing and social media platform influence is rising (there is mounting evidence that more and more younger people get their news from social media as opposed to more traditional means). However, it raised another contentious question in my head- are we free, censored or both when it comes to social media platforms?

Throughout the whole article N. Ferguson expresses constructive criticism to FATGA and their relation to political and sociological opinions expressed online. He gives examples of “silenced” or banned until-lockdown campaigners, politicians and even academics. The argument the author raises is whether something should be done about it ? Change of legislation referring to the internet? Yes I agree that it should be reviewed merely because technology is moving forward so fast and the internet has become a huge part of our everyday life. It is one of the best inventions of humanity- a network which allows us to communicate and access information from any part of the word. With censorship (even if it is invisible, and doesn’t directly affect us) we lose opportunity to hear and challenge each other’s and our own opinions, improve in certain fields when we receive criticism addressed to us, opportunity to reevaluate our own views and gain critical thinking which helps us to move forward. We don’t want a step back for freedom of speech in the 21st century.

Combining satirical comparisons and publicism historian Niall Ferguson created an engaging style of this article compelling readers once again reconsider big tech companies’ influence on our freedom of expression. In the end of the text he refers to George Orwell (English novelist, journalist and critic) who raised concepts of socialism, censorship and invisible society manipulation in his mid 20th century novels and essays, and leaves some space for readers to decide whether it is fiction or prediction of our future.

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The brave new world

The next inspiration of my future illustration series is Brave New World- a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley written in 1931.I haven’t had a chance to read the actual novel yet, but I recently watched the tv series based on this fictional story and was really impressed. The story takes place around some futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story’s protagonist.

The TV show story begins in New London- a fictional place developed and run by let's say future generation and technology. Every New Londoner has his/her place in social hierarchy; Alphas represent the intellectually superior group, who run the factories. They are the highest social class and are further subdivided into plus, minus or doubled plus. Betas have adequate intelligence living similarly to Alphas but their positions require less thinking. Gammas are semi skilled workers; low-risk professionals or experts at repetitive tasks. Deltas are mass- produced (literally genetically created twins) who lack individuality and tend to menial jobs. Epsilons (also mass-produced) can’t read or write, work undesirable jobs like sewage labour and foundry- workers, and are referred to as semi-morons. In New London they work a lot and party, they have sex with different people every night because its only for pleasure and relaxation and not reproduction. Whenever New Londoners feel stressed, anxious or sad they take Soma pills which instantly makes them happy and fulfilled. Parallel to New London (same time scale) the Savage Land exists. It belongs to Savages - as portrayed in the tv show they are pretty traditional and not very advanced , they are individuals, they feel a wide scale of different feelings, they still believe in love and monogamy and create families themselves. New Londoners see them as some wild ancient tribe and they visit Savage Land like an entertainment and amusement park.

The story begins once one of the Savages (regular people) accidentally gets into New London and discovers the “advanced” futuristic lifestyle.

In one of my illustrations I completed to date (see far corner on the bottom left) aimed to satirically depict today's society’s obedience and dependence on big technology. It is my first attempt just to outline what kind of style and content I am going for and I am hoping to improve It technically and stylistically in the future.

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23 04 2021

Project research

At this stage I started to develop the ideological core of my project. As I mentioned before, I have a few subjects and contexts I want to investigate further so I used them as key words to gather relevant information.

Freedom of speech and its concept. Besides reading articles on StudyNet, Google Scholar and political magazines such as The Critic and The Spectator I discovered classic English author George Orwell and read his dystopian novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four. Both works have similar conceptual grounds - opposing totalitarianism and depicting mass surveillance using artistic metaphors. Both novels made me re-evaluate the importance of freedom as a whole and return to historic events marking the former Soviet Union and its regime. As I previously mentioned in my projects’ ideas proposal, the idea of my future project appeared while looking at some history of Soviet Union, its regime and the state of freedom of speech within it. It then occurred to me how vulnerable and easily oppressed this freedom can possibly be. I began to investigate the aspects of freedom of speech (or expression) in today's society, especially on social media platforms, because that’s where we express ourselves the most. That's simply how the idea of 2084 came about, combining George Orwell’s conception of 1984 and predictions of the future looking at today’s directions of freedom of expression.

About a month ago I attended Andrew Doyle’s new books’ “Free Speech and why it matters”online launch event. The author spoke to the audience about the issues of freedom of expression in today's society and his book. The audience were able to interact by calling and asking questions. It was very interesting and relevant to my future project because the author touched many aspects of freedom of speech in this conference. I was particularly interested in the discussion about freedom of expression of artists; he spoke about stage performers/comedians and their right to expression without restrictions, but I can definitely relate because visual artists also have limits on expression in today's world. They may not be legal limits but there are always moral compass and society judgement. I purchased this book and I hope it will provide me with valuable information related to my project research. I also recently listened to an intellectual debate called “Political Correctness; a force for good?”- participated by an academic Michael Eric Dyson, American author and blogger Michelle Goldberg, English actor Stephen Fry and doctor of psychology Jordan Peterson. They discussed the phenomenon of political correctness in today’s society and whether censorship on social media is vital. It was very engaging as they discussed matters such as social activism, alleged gender and race privilege and whether political correctness is a progress of society’s ability to address important issues, or simply a censorship restricting our right to free expression. I now continue to investigate the concept of freedom of speech online through historical and sociological (law and limitations) contexts.

In terms of creative research I continue gathering for visual information on Pinterest and Instagram and experimenting with my own drawings to develop my style. Since a very young age I was interested in pop art and surrealism and I think these two waves influenced me as a visual creator in general. I try to make my illustrations engaging and aesthetic with the hint of quirkiness and unexpected solutions. I am currently looking at works of Morten Morland, John Holcroft and Hardy Leyendecker investigating their techniques and ideological basis of their illustrations. I am also studying Vivienne Westwood’s and Ashish Gupta’s fashion collections related to political activism. It is important that the fashion and artistic world never shy away from political activism (for example, Ashish Gupta’s home country of India only allowed sexual relations between same sex couples in 2018, yet he was active in LGBT designs before then).

As one of my methods to generate creative ideas I use mood- boards. I don't tend to use schemes or lists when producing creative work simply because I prefer loose flow of ideas and because I'm naturally very responsive to visual information. I mainly use pictures as inspiration and guidance for my creative outcomes. I simply make collages of different images reflecting the same theme, this practice helps me to connect ideas, develop style and communicate certain information without words. I think in the illustration practice style and graphic communication is particularly important because that is what Illustration is about- translating ideas through images. Below you can see examples how I turned mood-boards into illustrations.

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Methodologies In Practice

According to an independent researcher Helen Kara all research is creative. Arts and research are closely linked, as artists of all kinds use research in support of their work (Kara, H. 2016). What about using creative practice in support of research? Helen gives few examples of researchers in various fields using creative methods to prove their theory or answer a question. One of them is how American mathematician Diana Taimina explained a theory of hyperbolic geometry i.e geometry of frilly things such as lettuce or jellyfish using crochet. So creative practice can be applied in order to gain knowledge or experience in any field of research. What research methodologies can be used in order to produce artwork?

Surveys- I would consider surveys to be one of practice lead or practice based methodologies, simply because you carry out surveys in order to gain knowledge and understanding of participants responses (survey’s outcome). That can change the direction of the research- if you carry out a survey before actual research, depending on the outcome of the survey and new gained knowledge your research can turn one way or another. I think surveys can be carried out in any type of research including creative. The advantage of survey methods in creative studies would be- connection to the audience and further exploration of ideas. Disadvantage would be time consumption. Let’s say you are writing a thesis and producing creative work on the same subject, it might be difficult to find time to analyse the survey and sum up its outcome.

Experimental studies- I believe those can be applied to all types of research in any field. The nature of experiments within let’s say medical studies and art studies is completely different. If in medical studies (or any other science) experiments are carried out in particular controlled and carefully structured environments and require exceptional accuracy, experiments within creative practice are opposite- loose, feeling based trials of techniques or certain outcomes. The advantage of carrying out experimental studies in art is- trial of techniques and materials can guarantee expected outcome. Disadvantage - can be time consumption or no appropriate space to carry out experiments, also finances, because besides doing your final artwork you would spend money on materials to carry out the experiment.

Longitudinal studies- I would say it is practice as research methodology. Because it is long term, you would need to carry out a research alongside with this study and depending on the outcomes you could turn your research in one direction or another. I can’t see this would be applicable to my creative research because of timeframe, but I can i immagine, for example if you set up a fashion house- you can then collect data for a long period of time to investigate your consumer’s needs and favourite products- following the outcome you would be able to produce commercially successful products and drive business forward. The downside of this methodology can be again the timeframe (it is referred to a long period of time study) and resources.

Cross sectional studies- this methodology can be practice led research, because to investigate the subject further you would need to carry out this study first. As it involves participants from different groups it would take some time to collect data, analyse it, compare outcomes with one another and summarise it. I can see this study being carried out in creative practice- for example in performance or visual arts - see how different social groups perceive the same piece of art or performance. Also seems very time consuming and depending on a research can be very complicated because of different outcomes.

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23 04 2021

What is my Methodology ?

I would describe my main methodology as practice based research. My main focus is to advance knowledge about practice and I use theoretical research to improve my practical or performance skills. In terms of methods I carry out within my practice I would say I only did case study so far. My final MA project idea is very theory based, so in order to gain understanding about my subject and explore it further, I had to look through other authors' work within the subject. I am considering applying survey practice later on in my research, but not entirely sure if it's an efficient and rewarding method, and will need to discuss it with my tutor.

Iterative cyclic web model creates a circle of different methods and ideas used at different stages throughout the process of research. The right hand side is more concerned with the practice-led research, the left hand side with research-led practice. You can reverse this cycle and use ideas and theories developed on one side as outcomes of the research on another side.

I think it is possible to apply most of these methodologies explained in this section to any creative practice research. I think Longitudinal study would be least relevant to my discipline because of time consumption and lengthiness. So far I only used case study and experimental methodologies in my practice and research but I am seriously considering using Survey in future just to enhance a chance of my research to be innovative and successful.

In my opinion using multiple methodologies in practice and research is more effective, because you can reflect on your work from different perspectives. Also there is a better chance of innovation and advance in the field when applying different methods at different stages of the research. For example you can discover one type of knowledge while doing a case study and different while carrying out a survey or experiment. I am currently considering types of methods I will use in my Creative MA project. To understand what type of methods to use all the way through the study i need to get to the core of my concept, set up goal and decide which methods are most effective in achieving it.

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15 04 2021 Hal Hefner’s Consume

After spending a fair amount of time in searching for an illustration project conceptually and/or aesthetically related to my project proposal idea I came across this bold, freeky, satirical and mildly grotesque pop art series CONSUME. The reason I have chosen this project as my case study is its ideological relevance to my proposed concept (deep focus on sociological and political issues, big tech influence to our freedom of choice, free speech, internet society and its values.)

Iconic pop art series were created by artist, designer and strategist Hal Hefner. It started off as series of 5 in 2015 and took on a life on its own due to the enormous support, artist received from all around the world in the past few years. Originally inspired by John Carpenter’s classic film from the 80’s “They Live” and George Orwell‘s novel Animal Farm (one of the inspirational sources of my future project too), “Consume” raises issues of consumerism, greed, narcissism, pop culture and its influence, hatred and bigotry in today's society.

In John’s Carpenter’s film “They live” (1988) main fictional character Nada discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world it truly is. Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. A visual motif of grotesque skinned off face from John Carpenter's film became not only a distinctive graphic element in Hal Hefner’s illustration but also his trademark and a part of brand identity. The symbolic meaning behind skull faces in “Consume” is almost identical to Carpenter’s film- the aim to mock, ostensibly exposing the real nature of popular culture, consumerism and society obedience to governments and media. Although this kind of art can cause various reactions among viewers; shock, outrage,wince, laugh, criticism, doubts and support I think it fits in pretty well in today’s internet society (we must have what we do not need to feel accepted by others who have what they do not need). In 2016 the “Consume” series were exposed in Glastonbury Festival and used to enhance the concept of a late night venue called “Media, hell truth and lies” using printed posters, banners, video and animation of Hal Hefner and other artists.This satirical and lightly cynical creative approach later led him into working with various brands in the entertainment industry such as Fox, Paramount, Netflix and others.

Digital illustration series “Consume” is classified as Pop art because of its outstanding characteristics: recognisable imagery (icons from popular culture and products); bold, bright colours; irony and satire (humor is one of the main components of Pop art; and innovative techniques (many Pop artists are engaging in printmaking techniques which enables them to quickly reproduce images in large quantities). Hal Hefner’s work consists of all of these features. However I can observe some enhanced Pop art features in “Consume” which strengthens the identity of this work and makes it more recognisable to the audience. Minimal and bold color palette- very few and very strong primary colours- red, blue black white are dominant in these illustrations which translates, power, straight forwardness, impudence and provocation. The artist doesn’t use much shading or 3D work- he focuses on human silhouettes and proportions as well as line work which is very common to all Pop artists, and also makes public figures in his art recognisable without intention to depict their real images. I can identify some similarities between Hal Hefner’s style and my creative practice- I sympathize and use fairly bright colours in my drawings, concentrate on lines and proportions rather than realistic shapes and aim my illustrations to be eye catching. I think that will be taking a different path in connecting my illustrations into series than Hal Hefner did. Instead of using the same motif and structure of illustrations I would like to take less obvious stylistically decisions and create an organic flow of illustrations rather than structured one by one unit line. As I noted above, ideologically and conceptually this work inspires me, and I aim my future project to be just as powerful, just maybe a little less provocative.

I think the discovery of “Consume” gives me a broader understanding of politically, socially and economically influenced art in the 21st century. It’s inspiration, function, and purpose. Translating ideas relevant to a certain period of time was always one of the main functions of art and it will always be, whether it is in a form of satire or parody of politics or narrative telling of a real story.

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15 04 2021  Reflecting on research and Practice of my MA in Illustration

I have always enjoyed creative tasks more than academic writing, simply because sometimes creative ideas just come to me organically and it's not always easy to explain the process and reasons behind some creative decisions. I found it difficult and very time consuming to provide written reflections under each creative experiment or small task and theoretical research can be draining too if I am not able to find relevant information for a longer period of time. However, I enjoy drawing, sketching, making mood boards and making visual outcomes of the tasks.

The easiest and most enjoyable parts of this programme were visual research and creating illustration. I am passionate about drawing and expressing my ideas through images not words- sorry Gareth, you have been a great tutor, but academic writing isn’t one of my strengths.

The most challenging part in this course was time managing for me. Two consecutive modules - creative and research plus full time job, I really had to plan my time accordingly. The solution was to spare some time for studying everyday. Even if it was reading, looking for relevant videos or films or putting together mood boards. Once I developed my final project's main idea, I tried to gather information on a daily basis everywhere around me.

I tried to make creative and fun outcomes of most of my tasks. I think having a group's forum and gallery really helps to improve everyone’s approach to the audience and make each task aesthetically appealing and interesting to read. With that in mind I aimed my work to look fun and entertaining and that I think, is my strength.

Thorough research in both modules. I lack sketching and annotations in Art and Design because I tend to show more of the complete illustrations rather than it’s development. And I lack more in depth research of my final Ma project idea as well. To improve the quality of my work I tried to get my tutors and peers feedback on each one of the tasks and spend more time on areas where I need to improve (academic writing for example).

I think I am on the right path when it comes to concept development. I have learned how to generate my creative ideas and develop them further using step by step research, creative experiments and analytical thinking. I would like to further explore research methodology and drawing techniques.

The most inspiring and at the same time most complex part is concept development of any major or minor task. Creative ideas generating gives you lots of freedom which is exciting and inspiring, however it can sometimes be frustrating if the outcome is not how you imagined it in the beginning. The most inspiring part of this programme was my MA ideas generating, because I had some time to reflect on myself as a creative and on the path I want to take in artistic studies.

I need to focus on the process more and not the outcome. I tend to jump to a final result too quick without actually enjoying the process of sketching and experimenting.

I mainly learned to evaluate my work and improve it. I am also still learning to gradually explore ideas via experiment and research. This will be useful in any creative job I will do in future.

I see a potential in my illustrations, even though they lack technical skill (which I am working on), they have a bit of ideological/conceptual weight now. I got inspired by political illustrators Morten Morland and John Holcroft and really want to take mine into a new exciting level.

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#What is meant by the term “Political Correctness”? It became a well known phrase throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, mainly in a derogatory term to describe phrases to describe (usually) minority groups were now deemed to be “offensive”. It was often used in the context “political correctness gone mad!”. Many saw it as a restriction on freedoms of speech and a way of forcing viewpoints on others.
Yet, despite this, is it forcing change or was it part of the change? To take an example, the British sitcom “Only Fools and Horses” frequently made jokes at the expense of ethnic minorities or homosexuals. At the time, this was seen as harmless, however looking at them in today’s more multicultural world you can see how these jokes were offensive to these groups. It isn’t forcing viewpoints to state that describing homosexuals as being “funny” would be very offensive to a homosexual.
However, is cowering to political correctness now the easy choice with the least amount of aggravation? I would like to use the example of the late Sir Roger Scruton and the aftermath of his interview with the New Statesman magazine (Cameron’s resignation was the death knell of the Conservative Party”). In this interview, Sir Roger was misquoted by the interviewer to an extent where it implied he had said some derogatory words to describe, amongst others, the Chinese. There was a great fallout and controversy from this, and the then Conservative government immediately dismissed him from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful commission. The response from the government as soon as a decision had to be made after a controversial comment was to sack the individual. Yet, once the full transcript was found and released, this backed Sir Roger’s view that he had not said any derogatory against any people, but their governments, with the quotations manipulated. The New Statesman magazine issued an apology. 
I use this example as the government chose the easy option to sack Sir Roger, rather than the more difficult (politically and maybe socially) of reviewing all the evidence and asking for the full transcript before making the decision. Does this mean that in future it is best to sack and move on rather than investigate and action? 
I think it is crucial to touch the subject of “Political Correctness” when we speak about freedom of expression simply because it is becoming a very popular choice of opinion. You can agree, disagree or stay neutral. Why does remaining neutral is seen as the tastiest bit of cake ? Because you can’t offend anyone and neutrality will never be confronted.

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Freedom of Speech 11 04 2021

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11 04 2021

Freedom

The word freedom is simply described by Cambridge Dictionary as the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited, or a state of not being in prison. The word describes state of mind (not being controlled or limited) and physical position (not being locked or constrained). I would say that freedom is also a feeling. Being free can be equal to being liberated, relieved, happy and powerful. If we talk as individuals we all know what freedom means to each one of us personally and the meanings and/or experiences of freedom can be distinct.  In Nineteen Eighty Four, the protagonist states that “freedom is the freedom to say 2 plus 2 equals 4”.  Later, he is tortured and taught into believing that 2 plus 2 shall equal whatever he is told, and more importantly, he shall believe whatever he is told, even if contradictory.  This shows that whilst freedom is simple to define, it is also fragile and can be removed.  

I grew up in Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region of Europe which was occupied three times (once by the Nazi Germany and twice by the Soviet Union) in the past hundred years. By occupied, I mean not only being unrecognised by the world as a separate functioning nation with its land, culture, language and identity. I also mean that Lithuania had no freedom. It was controlled and fully dependent on another nation. Lithuanians had no political power, were not able to speak Lithuanian as their official language, and were not able to follow their religious beliefs when living on the land their great great grandparents built. It was a great challenge to survive in the regime which maintained itself in political power by means of secret police, propaganda, disseminated through the state- controlled mass media, restrictions of free discussion and criticism. Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced. Censorship was performed on literature, cinema, radio and television broadcasting as, all media was controlled by the state. Whilst reflecting on these historical events of my own country I established my first project proposal idea “Rave culture in Eastern Europe in the 90’s”, I aimed to analyse the celebration of Freedom and independence through rebellion, parties and youth culture in the 90’s. When I was almost certain that this idea would be my final MA project theme, I unintentionally caught myself thinking about the present. The world I am living in now and the appearance and meaning of freedom in today’s world.

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22 02 2021

What is Critical Thinking ?

“The mastery of higher order thinking skills including quantatative and qualifying analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information, argumentation and creativity“.

Faculty Senate, University of Houston-Clear Lake 2003, as quated on p.6 of the UHCL Quality Enhancment Plan.

This is one of the many definitions of an intellectual process we carry out in order to challenge, examine and evaluate certain knowledge or opinions. Critical Thinking is crucial in making important life decisions and building reasonable discussion. What differs Critical Thinking from passive thinking and inherit opinions? Critical Thinking is an active process which includes finding information, raising questions, rethinking, evaluating and finding reasonable explanations for the information you have on the table. Whereas passive thinking and inherit opinions involves accepting information without questioning or challenging it, nor checking the facts behind the statement. This could be because you simply choose not to look for it. Why is Critical Thinking process is referred to as “The mastery of higher order of thinking skills“? Critical thinking process contains various analytical and creative skills such as:

Recognising problems

Gathering and marshalling pertinent information

Interpreting data

Appraising evidence and evaluating statements

Reconstructing one’s patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience etc.

We very often mix terms - Critical Thinking and Criticism. Even though both words sound familiar they have completely different meanings. We use criticism when expressing dissatisfaction of something using reasonable grounds or constructive advice for improvement. Critical Thinking describes intentional process of challenging information or opinions based on facts and reasoning or evaluating situations in order to take necessary actions. Critical thinking is an analytical (“quantitative and qualifying”) process and criticism is one time result, outcome, reflection/ feedback on a particular action.

To summarise Critical Thinking is designed to use not only in academic studies.  We very often need Critical Thinking when undertaking important personal life decisions, solving problems, addressing to social, ethical, political and scientific issues as well as starting a discussion. Critical Thinking adds weight and logical explanation to any information and helps us to make rational decisions.