Sunday, June 10, 2018

TV Show Concept: Philosophical Current Events Commentary

Graphical Representation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave in "The Republic"

Firstly, I honestly wish to keep this concept, and show to be very small. The topics can be SO LARGE & SO VAST that it can be rather overwhelming.


Plato's Allegory of The Cave in "The Republic"
I have been working on my research, and my basic outline for it, and I originally wanted about 3 episodes, but at this point, I have no real intention to shoot MORE than 5. However, due to the nature of it, the content I/we shoot might actually end up become more than that just based on those 5 parts.

Altho' I will be drawing heavily on Ancient Greek Philosophy, especially Socrates & Plato's books "The Republic" and "The Apologia of Socrates" (The Defense of Socrates), I will also draw from Laozi (Lao Tsu) material/book from "Dao De Jing" (Tao Te Ching) and just a few philosophical concepts by Alan Wattsand his take on Zen, as well as Bruce Lee.

Plato's Allegory of The Cave in "The Republic"
I want each aspect to be broken down into easy digestible parts, and show how it relates to everything, and how to use it to understand why things go wrong, how to question things, or possibly how to fix it.

I also do not wish it to be boring, dry, or TOO CEREBRAL.

PLUS, I do NOT wish it to be partisan at all, because I've found these topics resonate with all people including Right Wing, Left Wing, Centrist, Moderate, and Progressive. In fact, when I have these conversations in public, I have often noticed that people around me get very quiet and eavesdrop on my conversations, and this is regardless of whether I'm speaking to a radical, a moderate, a Right Winger, or Left Winger, an anarchist, or anything else.

This is because I use The Feynman Technique which breaks down complex ideas into basic simple ones.

Topics I wish to address are:

Epistemology, Ethics, Morality, The Socratic Method, A Priori Ideas .

Current Events Issues:



* Democracy, 3rd parties, the origins of the US Government, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. What ACTUALLY is: Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Democracy, Feudalism, Plutocracy, Oligarchy, Republicanism, Conservatism, Liberalism, Constitutions, Federalism.
And what do those things mean to your life?

* The 2016 Election: why it went wrong (possibly Brexit as well) equating it to simple principles in the Dao De Jing.

* The Great Depression comparative commentary on the so called "Great recession" Economic Melt down of the Bail Outs, and the Economy relating to the neo "Tea Party" and how it got taken over by the corporate organizations it was protesting, "Occupy Wall Street", "Anonymous", and the media manipulation of news and events to turn politics into tabloids, ratings, and social media take over, including The Arab Spring. 

* Rhetorical framing in politics, media, and manipulation of narratives, empty platitudes.

* How to spot if your own relatives, coworkers, bosses, and friends are actually manipulating you using "leveraging" or "gas lighting" and equating it to Socrates VS. The Sophists in Plato's book.


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I also feel like I want to break up the dryness of the seriousness of it, and may wish to include some comedic elements... persons like Jon Stewart & Lee Camp come to mind, among others. But, not a copy-cat of those.


Some Older References (somewhat outdated) :



Humor Commentary:



One of my previous films at UMASS Boston circa. 2016:




There are just a few elements I might take from this, but not so experimental & subjective or artsy...



Example of Unfiltered/Uncut ON-The-Fly Rhetorical Framing (2015):


Uncut/Unfiltered; Dismantling Preconceived Ideas (Sophistry/Rhetoric) Philosophically using commentary on Current Events [2015]: