Meritocracy, in the first, most administrative sense, is a system of government or other administration (such as business administration) wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or examinations.

Meritocracy itself is not a form of government, but rather an ideology. In government applications, individuals appointed to a meritocracy are judged based upon certain merits which could range from intelligence to morality to general aptitude to specific knowledge.

Supporters of meritocracies do not necessarily agree on the nature of "merit", however they tend to agree that "merit" itself should be a primary consideration during evaluation.

Although meritocracy as a term is a relatively recent invention, the concept originates from the works of Confucius, along with other Legalist and Confucian philosophers. The first meritocracy was implemented in the 2nd century BC, by the Han Dynasty, which introduced world's first civil service exams evaluating the "merit" of officials. Meritocracy as a concept spread from China to British India during the 17th century, and then into continental Europe and the United States. With the translation of Confucian texts during the Enlightenment, the concept of a meritocracy reached intellectuals in the West, who saw it as an alternative to the traditional ''ancient regime'' of Europe.

Meritocracy in its wider sense can be any general act of judgment upon the basis of people's various demonstrated merits; such acts are frequently described in sociology and psychology. Thus, the merits may extend beyond intelligence and education to any mental or physical talent or to work ethic. In rhetoric, the demonstration of one's merit regarding mastery of a particular subject is an essential task most directly related to the Aristotelian term ''Ethos''. The equivalent Aristotelian conception of meritocracy is based upon aristocratic or oligarchical structures rather than in the context of the modern state.

The most common form of meritocratic screening found today is the college degree. Higher education is an imperfect meritocratic screening system for various reasons, such as lack of uniform standards worldwide , lack of scope (not all occupations and processes are included), and lack of access (some talented people never have an opportunity to participate because of the expense, most especially in developing countries). However, academic degrees serve some amount of meritocratic screening purpose in the absence of more refined methodology. Education alone, however, does not constitute a complete system, as meritocracy must automatically confer power and authority, which a degree independently does not accomplish.

Etymology

Although the concept has existed for centuries, the term meritocracy was first coined by British politician and sociologist, Michael Young in his 1958 satirical essay, "The Rise of the Meritocracy", which pictured the United Kingdom under the rule of a government favoring intelligence and aptitude (merit) above all. The essay is written in the first-person by a fictional historical narrator in 2032, and interweaves history from the politics of pre- and post-war Britain with those of fictional future events in the short (1960 onward) and long term (2020 onward).

The essay was based upon the tendency of the then-current governments in their striving towards intelligence to ignore shortcomings and upon the failure of education systems to correctly utilize gifted and talented members within their societies.

Young's fictional narrator explains that, on the one hand, the greatest contributor to society is not the "stolid mass" or majority, but the "creative minority" or "restless elite". On the other hand, he claims that there are casualties of progress whose influence is underestimated and that, from such stolid adherence to natural science and intelligence, arises arrogance and complacency. This problem is encapsulated in the phrase "Every selection of one is a rejection of many".

History of the concept

The earliest example of meritocracy dates back to Ancient China the Qin and Han dynasties developed a meritocratic system in order to maintain power over a large, sprawling empire, it became necessary for the government to maintain a complex network of officials. Prospective officials could come from a rural background and government positions were not restricted to the nobility. Rank was determined by merit, through the civil service examinations, and education became the key for social mobility. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the nine-rank system was established during the Three Kingdoms period.

According to the Princeton Encyclopedia on American History:

The concept of meritocracy spread from China to British India during the 17th century, and then into continental Europe and the United States. With the translation of Confucian texts during the Enlightenment, the concept of a meritocracy reached intellectuals in the West, who saw it as an alternative to the traditional ''ancient regime'' of Europe. Voltaire and François Quesnay wrote favourably of the idea, with Voltaire claiming that the Chinese had "perfected moral science" and Quesnay advocating an economic and political system modeled after that of the Chinese.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a social theory which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is a model, not only for the development of biological traits in a population, but also as an application for human social institutions — the existing social institutions being implicitly declared as normative. Social Darwinism was at its most popular from the late 19th century to the end of World War II. Proponents of Social Darwinism argue that the theory justifies social inequality as being meritocratic. Darwin himself only ventured to propound his theories in a biological sense, and it is other thinkers and theorists who have applied Darwin's model to unequal endowments of human ambition.

Historical examples

Confucianism

In teaching, there should be no distinction of classes. (''Analects'' XV, 39)

The main basis of his teachings was to seek knowledge, study, and become a better person.

Although Confucius claimed that he never invented anything but was only transmitting ancient knowledge (see ''Analects'' VII, 1), he did produce a number of new ideas. Many European and American admirers such as Voltaire and H. G. Creel point to the revolutionary idea of replacing nobility of blood with nobility of virtue. Jūnzǐ (君子, lit. "lord's child"), which originally signified the younger, non-inheriting, offspring of a noble, became, in Confucius' work, an epithet having much the same meaning and evolution as the English "gentleman". A virtuous plebeian who cultivates his qualities can be a "gentleman", while a shameless son of the king is only a "small man". That he admitted students of different classes as disciples is a clear demonstration that he fought against the feudal structures that defined pre-imperial Chinese society.

This new idea, of the meritocracy, led to the introduction of the Imperial examination system in China. The system allowed anyone who passed an examination to become a government officer, a position which would bring wealth and honour to the whole family. The Chinese Imperial examination system seem started in 165 BC, when certain candidates for public office were called to the Chinese capital for examination of their moral excellence by the emperor. Over the following centuries the system grew until finally almost anyone who wished to become an official had to prove his worth by passing written government examinations.

Han Feizi

In addition to Confucius, another ancient Chinese philosopher of the same period (that of the Warring States) advocated a meritocratic system of government and society. This was Han Feizi who was famous as the foremost proponent of the School of Law, otherwise known as the philosophy of Legalism. This had, as its central tenet, the absolute rule of law, but also contained numerous meritocratic elements. Another Legalist, Shang Yang implemented Legalist and meritocratic reforms in the state of Qin by abolishing the aristocracy and promoting individuals based on their skill, intelligence, and initiative.

This led to the armies of the Qin gaining a critical edge over the other nations that adhered to old aristocratic systems of government. Legalism, along with its pro-meritocratic ideals, remained a key part of Chinese philosophy and politics for another two millennia, although after the Qin Dynasty it was heavily diluted. But meritocratic governance within the bureaucracy remains a key stone of Chinese government all the way to the present. This can be most clearly seen in the use of standardized "imperial examinations" to determine entry into the official class, which began in the Sui Dynasty.

Genghis Khan

Meritocracy was the primary basis for selection of chiefs and generals in the Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan chose whomever was talented and fit for his military chain of command. He even trusted generals and soldiers from opponents' armies if they showed loyalty to their leaders. For example, Genghis Khan's general Jebe had been an enemy soldier who had shot Genghis in battle before he became Great Khan.

British India

Under Chinese influence, the first European power to successfully implement a merit-based civil system was the British Empire, in their administration of India. To avoid corruption, "company managers hired and promoted employees based on competitive examinations in order to prevent corruption and favoritism."

Napoleon

Napoleonic (Revolutionary) France is considered to have been meritocratic. After the revolution of 1789 most members of the former elite had been removed. When Napoleon rose to power in 1799, there was no ancient base from which to draw his staff, and he had to choose the people he thought best for the job, including officers from his army, revolutionaries who had been in the National Assembly, and even some former aristocrats such as prime minister Talleyrand. This policy was summed up in Bonaparte's often-quoted phrase "La carrière ouverte aux talents", careers open to the talented, or as more freely translated by Thomas Carlyle, "the tools to him that can handle them". A clear example is the order of the Légion d'honneur, the first order of merit, admitting men of any class. They were judged not by ancestry or wealth but by military, scientific or artistic prowess.

Modern meritocratic states

Singapore

Singapore describes meritocracy as one of its official guiding principles for domestic public policy formulation, placing emphasis on academic credentials as objective measures of merit. It separated from Malaysia in 1965 after the federal Malaysian government insisted on giving special privileges to the Malays as part of their "birthright" as an "indigenous" people. Political leaders in Singapore argued instead for the equality of all citizens, with places in universities, government contracts, political appointments, etc., going to the most deserving candidates, rather than to those chosen on the basis of connections or ethnic background. This dispute between State and Federal governments proved irreconcilable; Singapore therefore became an independent city-state separate from Malaysia.

There is criticism that, under this system, Singaporean society is being increasingly stratified and that an elite class is being created from a narrow segment of the population. Although most agree that Singapore's economic success has been due in part to its strong emphasis on developing and promoting talented leaders, there are signs that an increasing number believe that it is instead becoming an elitist society. Defendants recall the ancient Chinese proverb 'Wealth does not pass three generations', suggesting that elitists will eventually be, and often are, replaced by those lower down the hierarchy. Indeed, many top political leaders in Singapore come from peasant backgrounds, while modern peasants boast about their great ancestry.

Computing

Meritocracy Online

Although formal meritocracies are uncommon online, informal ones are quite prevalent. They often occur in online games such as MMORPGs where the best players are more likely to become guild leaders or be otherwise influential, although the ability to invest large amounts of time and/or money is also important. In discussion forums, it is often assumed that the most knowledgeable users have the best chances of becoming moderators, although online popularity and policy support may be just as important.

Further, due to the nature of online interaction, where identity and anonymity are more readily managed than in direct interaction, the effects of offline social inequity can often be discounted in online communities. Intelligence, effort, education, and personality may be readily conveyed in an online interaction but a person's gender, race, religion, and social standing can be easily obfuscated or left entirely unaddressed.

Open Source

There is a tendency, in the structure of open source projects, for a meritocracy to arise. Technically, the more proficient the developer is in contributing towards the project - developing new features or maintaining existing code - the more they are required or the more the project necessitates their contribution, and thus the more senior their informal position becomes. Those who contribute more code, and have more of an effect on the direction or status of the project, will tend to have more seniority and influence. The Apache Software Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation are examples of (open source) organizations which officially claim to be meritocracies.

Criticism

The primary concern with meritocracy is that the unclear definition of "merit" itself. Different people often have their own standards of merit, thus raising the question of which "merit" has the best merits - or in other words, which standard is the "best" standard.

Meritocracy has also been criticized by egalitarians as a mere myth which serves only to justify the status quo, with its proponents only giving lip service to equality. In the words of sociologist Laurie Taylor:

A second concern regards the principle of incompetence, or the "Peter Principle" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle). As people rise in a meritocratic society through the corporate ladder, they reach and are stuck at the first level of what they are unable to do.

See also

Equality of opportunity vs Equality of outcome

Equality before the law

Jedem das Seine

Meritocracy in China

Merit (Buddhism)

Criticism:

Functionalism (sociology)

Differential Education Achievement

Notes

References

Burbank, Jane and Cooper, Frederick. (2010). ''Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691127085.

Kazin, Michael, Edwards, Rebecca, and Rothman, Adam. (2010). ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History Volume 2''. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691129711.

Schwarz, Bill. (1996). ''The expansion of England: race, ethnicity and cultural history''. Psychology Pres. ISBN 0415060257.

External links

"Meritocracy and the Erosion of Self-Respect", lecture by Sjalling Swierstra und Evelien H. Tonkens (with a german introduction)

World Wide Words — Michael Quinion writes about the changing use of the term, as does Progress Online

Category:Political philosophy Category:Social philosophy Category:Forms of government Category:Political neologisms Category:Affirmative action

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Jim Whitehurst is the Chief Executive Officer at Red Hat. Prior to that, he was a Chief Operating Officer of Delta Air Lines. Whitehurst was tapped by former Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein to lead the airline out of bankruptcy and played a critical role in Delta's battle for survival against the hostile takeover attempt by US Airways in 2006. Whitehurst became a very popular figure during the campaign to Keep Delta My Delta because of his transparent honesty and genuine affection for the company and its heritage. Some have speculated that his fierce defense of Delta worked against him as Delta's Board sought a successor to CEO Grinstein in 2007. Before his appointment as COO of Delta, Whitehurst served as Senior Vice President and Chief Network and Planning Officer for the company.

Prior to joining Delta in 2002, he served as Vice President and Director of The Boston Consulting Group and held various management roles at its Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Atlanta offices.

A native of Columbus, Georgia, Whitehurst graduated from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Economics. He also attended Erlangen Nuremberg University in Erlangen, Germany, holds a general course degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Whitehurst is married and has two children.

External links

On the record with Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat's new CEO: 'I must have a mission', an interview with Jim Whitehurst

Jim Whitehurst's details at redhat.com

Category:American businesspeople Category:Boston Consulting Group people Category:Delta Air Lines people Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Columbus, Georgia Category:Rice University alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Coordinates	51°34′39″N4°34′51″N
name	Alain de Botton
birth date	December 20, 1969
birth place	Zürich, Switzerland
occupation	writer, documentary maker
nationality	Swiss
period	1993–
influences	Seneca, Marcel Proust, Montaigne, Stendhal, Gustave Flaubert
website	http://www.alaindebotton.com/ }}

Alain de Botton (born 1969) is a Swiss writer, television presenter, and entrepreneur, resident in the UK. His books and television programs discuss various contemporary subjects and themes in a philosophical style, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. In August 2008, he was a founding member of a new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life. In May 2009, he was a founding member of a new architectural organization called "Living Architecture". In October that year, de Botton was appointed an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture.

Early life

Born in 20 December 1969 in Zurich, De Botton comes from a Sephardic Jewish family, originating from a small Castilian town of Boton (now vanished) on the Iberian peninsula. He is the only son of his father, banker Gilbert de Botton who co-founded Global Asset Management with Jacob Rothschild and Mark Weinberg. Alain's father and mother, Jacqueline Burgauer, married in 1962. He has one sister Miel.

De Botton spent the first eight years of his life in Switzerland where he learned to speak French and German. He was sent to the Dragon School, a boarding school in Oxford, where he learned to speak English. Describing himself as a shy child, he subsequently boarded at Harrow School. He achieved a double starred first in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1988–1991) and completed his master's degree in philosophy at King's College London (1991–1992). He began a PhD in French philosophy at London University, but gave up research to write books for the general public.

Writing

De Botton has written in a variety of formats to mixed response. Positive reviews of de Botton's books claim that he has made literature, philosophy and art more accessible to a wider audience.

Ambivalence is apparent in the following example,

De Botton's idea of bringing philosophy to the masses and presenting it in an nonthreatening manner (and showing how it might be useful in anyone's life), is admirable; the way he has gone about it is less so. —''The Independent''

Negative reviews allege that de Botton tends to state the obvious from a position of privilege and have characterized some of his books as pompous and lacking focus.

His books include black-and-white photographs punctuating the text.

Essays

De Botton has written books of essays in which his own experiences and ideas are interwoven with those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. These have been called a "philosophy of everyday life."

Fiction

In his first novel, ''Essays In Love'' (titled ''On Love'' in the U.S.), published in 1993, De Botton deals with the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book is unusual because it mixes elements of a novel with reflections and analyses normally found in non-fiction. In 2010, ''Essays in Love'' was adapted to film by director Julian Kemp for the romantic comedy ''My Last Five Girlfriends''.

Non-fiction

In 1997 he published his first non-fiction book, ''How Proust Can Change Your Life'', based on the life and works of Marcel Proust. It is a mixture of a "self-help" envelope and analysis of one of the most revered but unread books in the Western canon, ''In Search of Lost Time''. It was a bestseller in the U.S. and UK.

This was followed by ''The Consolations of Philosophy'' in 2000. The title of the book is a reference to Boethius's ''Consolation of Philosophy'', in which philosophy appears as an allegorical figure to Boethius to console him in the period leading up to his impending execution. Though sometimes described as works of popularization, ''Proust'' and ''Consolations'' were attempts to develop original ideas about friendship, art, envy, desire, and inadequacy, among other things, with the help of thoughts of other thinkers. In ''The Consolations of Philosophy'', de Botton attempts to demonstrate how the teachings of philosophers such as Epicurus, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Seneca, and Socrates can be applied to modern everyday woes such as unpopularity, feelings of inadequacy, financial worries, broken hearts, and the general problem of suffering. The book has been both praised and criticized for its therapeutic approach to philosophy.

De Botton then returned to a more lyrical, personal style of writing. In ''The Art of Travel'', he looked at themes in the psychology of travel: how we imagine places before we see them, how we remember beautiful things, what happens to us when we look at deserts, stay in hotels, and go to the countryside.

In ''Status Anxiety'' (2004), de Botton examines an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned directly: what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser.

In ''The Architecture of Happiness'' (2006), he discusses the nature of beauty in architecture and how it is related to the well-being and general contentment of the individual and society. He describes how architecture affects people every day, though people rarely pay particular attention to it. A good portion of the book discusses how human personality traits are reflected in architecture. He ends up defending Modernist architecture, and chastising the pseudo-vernacular architecture of housing, especially in the UK. "The best modern architecture," he argues, "doesn't hold a mirror up to nature, though it may borrow a pleasing shape or expressive line from nature's copybook. It gives voice to aspirations and suggests possibilities. The question isn't whether you'd actually like to live in a Le Corbusier home, but whether you'd like to be the kind of person who'd like to live in one."

In ''The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work'' (2009), a survey of ten different jobs, including accountancy, rocket science and biscuit manufacture, which includes two hundred original images and aims to unlock the beauty, interest and occasional horror of the modern world of work.

In response to a question about whether he felt "pulled" to be a writer, de Botton responded:

So I think where people tend to end up results from a combination of encouragement, accident, and lucky break, etc. etc. Like many others, my career happened like it did because certain doors opened and certain doors closed. You know, at a certain point I thought it would be great to make film documentaries. Well, in fact, I found that to be incredibly hard and very expensive to do and I didn’t really have the courage to keep battling away at that. In another age, I might have been an academic in a university, if the university system had been different. So it’s all about trying to find the best fit between your talents and what the world can offer at that point in time.

In August 2009, de Botton replied to a competition advertised among British literary agents by BAA, the airport management company, for the post of "writer-in-residence" at Heathrow Airport. The post involved being seated at a desk in Terminal 5, and writing about the comings and goings of passengers over a week. De Botton was duly appointed to the position. The result was the book, ''A Week at the Airport'', published by Profile Books in September 2009. The book features photographs by the documentary photographer Richard Baker, with whom de Botton also worked on ''The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work''.

Newspapers, lecturing and television

De Botton writes regular articles for several English newspapers, and from 1998 to 2000, wrote a regular column for ''The Independent on Sunday''. He also travels extensively to lecture on his works. He owns and helps run his own production company, Seneca Productions, making television documentaries based on his works.

Other projects

''The School of Life''

De Botton's project from 2008 is The School of Life – a new cultural enterprise based in central London aiming to offer instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life. In an interview with metkere.com de Botton said:

The idea is to challenge traditional universities and reorganize knowledge, directing it towards life, and away from knowledge for its own sake. In a modest way, it’s an institution that is trying to give people what universities should I think always give them: a sense of direction and wisdom for their lives with the help of culture.

''Living Architecture''

In May 2009, de Botton was named as the chief inspiration for a new architecture project called "Living Architecture" – which proposes to build a series of innovative houses in the U.K. using leading contemporary architects. These include Peter Zumthor, MVRDV, JVA, NORD and Michael and Patti Hopkins. The houses will be rented out to the general public. De Botton's aim is to improve the appreciation of good contemporary architecture – and seems a practical continuation of his theoretical work on architecture in his book ''The Architecture of Happiness''. In October 2009, de Botton was appointed an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture.

Personal life

When his father died, his family was left a trust fund of over £200 million, although de Botton says his income is derived solely from the proceeds of his book sales. His stepmother Janet de Botton is a prominent patron of the arts and competition bridge player. De Botton lives in London with his wife Charlotte and their children.

Publications

''Essays In Love'' (1993), also published as ''On Love: A Novel'' (2006)

''The Romantic Movement'' (1994)

''Kiss and Tell'' (1995)

''How Proust Can Change Your Life'' (1997)

''The Consolations of Philosophy'' (2000)

''The Art of Travel'' (2002)

''Status Anxiety'' (2004)

''The Architecture of Happiness'' (2006)

''The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work'' (2009)

''A Week at the Airport'' (2009)

Filmography

''My Last Five Girlfriends'' (based on ''Essays in Love'')

TV series

Philosophy: A Guide To Happiness (from ''The Consolations of Philosophy'')

# ''Socrates on Self-Confidence'' # ''Epicurus on Happiness'' # ''Seneca on Anger'' # ''Montaigne on Self-Esteem'' # ''Schopenhauer on Love'' # ''Nietzsche on Hardship'' (featuring Cathal Grealish)

''Status Anxiety (film)''

''The Art Of Travel'' Prix européen de l'essai Charles Veillon

''The Perfect Home'' (from ''The Architecture of Happiness'')

References

External links

Living Architecture

Open Library. Works by de Botton

Compendium of reviews of ''The Consolations of Philosophy''

Archived web chat

Interview with 3AM Magazine (2002)

Alain de Botton interview: "The City as a Cure for Loneliness"

Alain de Botton at the Internet Movie Database

Interview with Colin Marshall

Alain de Botton at TedGlobal filmed on July 2009: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

Audio: Alain de Botton in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show ''The Forum''

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Old Dragons Category:Old Harrovians Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Harvard University alumni Category:English writers Category:English Jews Category:Jewish writers Category:Swiss Jews Category:Swiss philosophers Category:Swiss expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:20th-century Sephardi Jews Category:21st-century Sephardi Jews

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Robert Scheer (born 1936) is an American journalist who writes a column for ''Truthdig'' which is nationally syndicated in publications such as the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and ''The Nation''. He teaches communications as a professor at the University of Southern California and is Editor in Chief for the online magazine ''Truthdig''.

Beginnings through Vietnam

Scheer was born to immigrant parents. His mother, a Russian Jew, and his father, a native of Germany, both worked in the garment industry. After graduating from City College of New York with a degree in economics, he studied as a fellow at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, and then did further economics graduate work at the Center for Chinese Studies at UC Berkeley. Scheer has also been a Poynter fellow at Yale University, and was a fellow in arms control at Stanford, the same post once held by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

While working at City Lights Books in San Francisco, Scheer co-authored the book, ''Cuba, an American tragedy'' (1964), with Maurice Zeitlin. Between 1964 and 1969, he served, variously, as the Vietnam correspondent, managing editor and editor-in-chief of ''Ramparts'' magazine. He reported from Cambodia, China, North Korea, Russia, Latin America and the Middle East (including the Six-Day War), as well as on national security matters in the United States. While in Cuba, where he interviewed Fidel Castro, Scheer obtained an introduction by the Cuban leader for the diary of Che Guevara — which Scheer had already obtained, with the assistance of French journalist Michele Ray, for publication in ''Ramparts'' and by Bantam Books.

During this period Scheer made a bid for elective office as one of the first anti-Vietnam War candidates. He challenged U.S. Representative Jeffrey Cohelan in the 1966 Democratic primary. Cohelan was a liberal, but like most Democratic officeholders at that time, he supported the Vietnam War. Scheer lost, but won over 45% of the vote (and carried Berkeley), a strong showing against an incumbent that demonstrated the rising strength of New Left Sixties radicalism.

In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse to pay taxes in protest against the Vietnam War.

In July 1970, Scheer accompanied as a journalist a Black Panther Party delegation, led by Eldridge Cleaver, to North Korea, China, and Vietnam. The delegation also contained people from the San Francisco Red Guard, the women's liberation movement, the Peace and Freedom Party, Newsreel, and the Movement for a Democratic Military.

In the November 1970 California election, Scheer ran for the U.S. Senate as the nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party against Republican Senator George Murphy and Democratic Congressman John V. Tunney. Scheer received 56,731 votes and lost the election to Mr. Tunney.

After Vietnam

After several years freelancing for magazines, including ''New Times'' and ''Playboy,'' Scheer joined the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1976 as a reporter. There he met Narda Zacchino, a reporter whom he later wed in the paper's news room. As a national correspondent for 17 years at the Times, he wrote articles and series on such diverse topics as the Soviet Union during glasnost, the Jews of Los Angeles, arms control, urban crises, national politics and the military, as well as covering several presidential elections. The Times entered Scheer's work for the Pulitzer Prize 11 times, and he was a finalist for the Pulitzer national reporting award for a series on the television industry.

After Scheer left the ''Times'' in 1993, the paper granted him a weekly op-ed column which ran every Tuesday for the next 12 years until it was canceled in 2005. The column now appears in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate. He is also a contributing editor for the ''Nation'' magazine.

Scheer can be heard weekly on the nationally syndicated political analysis radio program "Left, Right & Center" produced at and syndicated by public radio station KCRW in Santa Monica.

Scheer has interviewed every president from Richard Nixon through Bill Clinton. He conducted the noted 1976 ''Playboy'' interview with Jimmy Carter, in which the then-presidential candidate admitted to having "lusted" in his heart. In an interview with George H.W. Bush, the future president and then presidential candidate revealed that he believed nuclear war was "winnable." Scheer has profiled politicians from Californians Jerry Brown and Willie Brown to Washington insiders like Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, as well as entertainment figures like actor Tom Cruise.

Books

Scheer's latest book, "The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street" (Nation Books), was released on September 7, 2010. Publishers Weekly wrote that the book "proves that, when it comes to the ruling sway of money power, Democrats and Republicans, Wall Street and Washington make very agreeable bedfellows.” The Los Angeles Times published a review of the book by Jonathan Kirsch on October 17, 2010.

Scheer has written eight other books, including a collection entitled ''Thinking Tuna Fish, Talking Death: Essays on the Pornography of Power,'' ''With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War,'' and ''America After Nixon: The Age of Multinationals.'' In 2004, Scheer published ''The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq'' and made it to the ''Los Angeles Times'' Bestseller List. It was co-authored by his oldest son, Christopher Scheer, and Lakshmi Chaudhry, senior editor at ''Alternet.''

In 2006 Scheer published ''Playing President: My Close Encounters with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan and Clinton – and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush''; in 2008 he published ''The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.''

Scheer has taught courses at Antioch College, City College of New York, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Berkeley. He is now a senior lecturer at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, where he teaches two courses each semester on media and society.

Scheer was the 1998 honoree of the Shelter Partnership, an organization of Los Angeles downtown businesses, and the USC School of Social Work's Los Amigos award recipient. He won the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism for his writing in the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The Nation'' about the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. He has also received awards and citations from Stanford University, the Moscow Academy of Sciences, the University of California, San Diego, and Yale University.

Scheer and his son were creative script consultants on the Oliver Stone film, ''Nixon,'' which was nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay. He has appeared in small speaking roles as a journalist in several feature films, including ''The Siege'' and ''Bulworth''. In 2005, the Mill Valley Film Festival premiered a documentary on the activist and philanthropist Stanley Sheinbaum which Scheer co-produced.

Political views

Iraq War

In an August 6, 2002, article, he wrote that "a consensus of experts" informed the Senate that the Iraqi weapons arsenal was “almost totally destroyed during eight years of inspections.” On June 3, 2003, Scheer concluded that White House justifications for the war were a "big lie." On November 4, 2003, he penned an article in favor of withdrawal from Iraq.

World War II

In an April 7, 2010, article he wrote that Harry Truman perpetrated "the most atrocious act of terrorism in world history when he annihilated the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Scheer repeated these allegations on the radio program "Left, Right and Center".

Support of Republican Candidate for Kentucky Senate

In the October 1, 2010, episode of the radio show "Left, Right and Center", Scheer, a self-described Liberal, expressed support for Rand Paul, son of former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, in his bid for the 2011-2016 Kentucky Senate seat.

End of ''Los Angeles Times'' relationship

Scheer has often expressed highly controversial thoughts. For example, on February 15, 2005, Scheer wrote an article entitled "What We Don't Know About 9/11 Hurts Us" for the LA Times. In it, he asked, "Would George W. Bush have been reelected president if the public understood how much responsibility his administration bears for allowing the 9/11 attacks to succeed?" After running his column for more than 12 years and working as a reporter for the paper 17 years prior, the ''Los Angeles Times'' ended a nearly thirty year relationship with Scheer in November 2005, citing the need to cut costs while subsequently replacing him with two right-wing columnists. Scheer said in an interview with "Democracy Now!" that the paper's owner, the Tribune Company, currently owns a newspaper and a television station in the same market, which is illegal, and may have fired Scheer in an attempt to make it easier to obtain a waiver permitting the dual ownership from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He also commented during a November 14, 2005, appearance on ''Democracy Now!'' that,

"What happened is that I had been the subject of vicious attacks by Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh…. I was a punching bag for those guys. I'm still standing, and the people who run the paper collapsed."

In a posting at the Huffington Post, Scheer wrote:

:"The publisher Jeff Johnson, who has offered not a word of explanation to me, has privately told people that he hated every word that I wrote. I assume that mostly refers to my exposing the lies used by President Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq. Fortunately 60 percent of Americans now get the point but only after tens of thousand of Americans and Iraqis have been killed and maimed as the carnage spirals out of control. My only regret is that my pen was not sharper and my words tougher."

Scheer's firing incited a protest held outside the ''Times'' downtown office on November 15, and hundreds of readers wrote letters of complaint while some, including actress Barbra Streisand, publicly announced the cancellation of their ''Times'' subscriptions. Within a few days of his column being retired by the ''Times'', the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' offered itself as the new home paper of Scheer's syndicated column, which now runs on Wednesdays there and elsewhere. On November 29, 2005, he co-launched, as editor in chief, a new online magazine called ''Truthdig.'' In 2007, ''Truthdig'' was a finalist for three Webby Awards, in the news, blog (political), and politics categories; the site won both the People's Voice and professional jury prizes in the Political Blog category. In 2010, ''Truthdig'' again received the Webby Award jury prize for best political blog.

Awards

Robert Scheer was awarded the 2010 Distinguished Work in New Media Award and in 2011 Ithaca College announced Scheer the winner of the Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.

References

External links

Truthdig, a progressive online magazine aka www.robertscheer.com

Robert Scheer Features at Creators Syndicate

''Left, Right & Center''

Robert Scheer at AlterNet

''Citizen Stan'' documentary

Robert Scheer: "Where Is the Community Organizer We Elected?" – video report by ''Democracy Now!''

Democracy Now!: Amy Goodman interviews Robert Scheer about "The Great American Stickup"

The Real News: Paul Jay asks Robert Scheer "Why Are House Republicans Reading the Constitution? - January 6, 2011 (video 10:25)

Radio interview with Claudia Cragg KGNU on 'The Great American Stickup'

Category:1936 births Category:American columnists Category:American tax resisters Category:American Jews Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:Living people Category:Jewish American writers Category:City College of New York alumni Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Yale University fellows Category:Stanford fellows Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:KCRW Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

de:Robert Scheer nl:Robert Scheer

Coordinates	51°34′39″N4°34′51″N
Name	Round Table
Source	Arthurian legend
First	Roman de Brut
Creator	Wace
Type	Fictional table
Genre	Fantasy
Owner	King Arthur

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.

History

The Round Table first appears in Wace's ''Roman de Brut'', a Norman language adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others. Layamon added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English ''Brut'' in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. In response a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute. Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credit it instead to the Bretons. Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true. There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon. There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne—notably Einhard's ''Vita Caroli'' and Notker the Stammerer's ''De Carolo Magno''—in which the king is said to have possessed a round table decorated with a map of Rome.

Though the Round Table itself is not mentioned until Wace, the concept of Arthur having a marvellous court made up of many prominent warriors is much older. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that after establishing peace throughout Britain, Arthur "increased his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it." The code of chivalry so important in later romance figures in as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him." Long before Geoffrey, Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance ''Culhwch and Olwen'', written around 1100, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur. In fact, the fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the formula "Arthur's Court" in the titles of the triads began to supersede the older "Island of Britain" formula. Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the earlier Welsh material, some passages of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' seem to prefigure it, for instance when Arthur explains the ethos of his court, saying "[w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and honour."

Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture. The earliest of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th century ''Vita''; in the story Arthur has found the altar and attempts unsuccessfully to use it for a table, and returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome dragon. Arthur's household furniture figures into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century, with various landmarks being named "Arthur's Seat", "Arthur's Oven," and "Arthur's Bed-chamber." A henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria is known as "King Arthur's Round Table". The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been associated with the Round Table and has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.

In 2010, following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table but English Heritage, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story.

Later development

The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's ''Merlin'', written around the 1190s, the wizard Merlin creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Holy Grail table. This table, here made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of Judas. This seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot ''Perceval'', a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story, and the knight Percival sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.

The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous. Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era. In these works the Round Table is kept by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Italian Arthurian works often distinguish between the "Old Table" of Uther's time and Arthur's "New Table."

Round Table tournaments

During the Middle Ages, festivals called Round Tables were celebrated throughout Europe in imitation of Arthur's court. These events featured jousting, dancing, and feasting, and in some cases attending knights assumed the identities of Arthur's knights. The earliest of these was held in Cyprus in 1223 to celebrate a knighting. Round Tables were popular in various European countries through the rest of the Middle Ages and were at times very elaborate; René of Anjou even erected an Arthurian castle for his 1446 Round Table. On 19 December 1566, in Stirling Castle, Mary Queen of Scots gave a feast with 30 guests at an imagined replica of Arthur's round table during the masque-themed celebrations of the baptism of the future James VI.

Winchester Round Table

The artifact known as the "Winchester Round Table," a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle bearing the names of various knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament. The current paintwork is late; it was done by order of Henry VIII of England for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's 1522 state visit, and depicts Henry himself sitting in Arthur's seat above a Tudor rose. The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280—during the reign of Edward I—using timber from store felled over a period of years. Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the Winchester Round Table. Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament Edward held near Winchester on April 20, 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

Notes

References

Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.

Geoffrey of Monmouth; Thorpe, Lewis (1988). ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044170-0.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

Loomis, Roger S. (1959). "Arthurian Influence on Sport and Spectacle". ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages''. Oxford.

Padel, O. J. (2000). ''Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature''. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-7689-1.

Rouse, Robert; and Cory Rushton (2005). ''The Medieval Quest for Arthur''. Tempus, Stroud. ISBN 0-7524-3343-1.

External links

Timeless Myths - Knights of the Round Table

The 14th Century Round Table in Winchester, Hampshire. UK

Category:Arthurian legend Category:Tables (furniture)

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