Readers of this weblog will know I am interested in the intertwined themes
of leadership, and justice.
In my published writing on knowledge work and knowledge management,
a key insight is that leaders seek wisdom--the ability to discern, to understand
and act on differences. Wisdom rises from understanding,
which in turn is based on good information.
I found an ancient source of wisdom,
in a song of the oppressed--which they will always sing,
in songs of lament and popular blues,
expressed in native art forms
of every culture--
extracted from their suffering.
It's a song of justice, of the leadership wheel of fortune,
affirming the reality that who is up, and who is down,
is in play
beyond the local boundaries
of the current times.
In a church service this week, I heard the people sing
a "metrical paraphrase" of the Hebrew Psalm 52,
attributed as a song of David,
that started with this attack on tyranny:
"Why dost thou tyrant, boast abroad thy wicked works to praise!"
This is 19th century translation language, based on the ancient poetry,
yet even as contemporary an artist as
Bob Marley has gone straight for this same psalm, as he sings:
"Why boasteth thyself
Oh, evil men
Playing smart
And not being clever
I said, you're working iniquity
To achieve vanity"
Here is the most scholarly translation of Psalm 52,
from the New Oxford Annotated Bible
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 718),
a version widely used in seminaries, the graduate schools of pastors and preachers:
Psalm 52 (New Revised Standard Version)1. Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?
All day long
2. you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
3. You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth.
4. You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.5. But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
6. The righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7. "See the one who would not take refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
and sought refuge in wealth!"8. But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9. I will thank you forever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
Here is ancient wisdom,
based on understanding
information communicated again
here today.
For those who are high on leadership
and those low on the scale,
what goes around
comes around.
I've just posted over on the Information Renaissance group research weblog,
on the topic Birthday of the Renaissance.
The British writer John Man elaborates this memorable
characterization in his recent work on Gutenberg.
Historical periods don't quite have a day they're born, of course.
Yet periodization is one way to think about historic times.
For some people, thinking of history as periods, or chapters in a book,
is a start, a way or heuristic, to comprehend the movement of
history's large social forces.
When was the information revolution born?
When did it grow into the global information renaissance?
I'll provide here the header to my Information Renaissance entry, "The Law of Unintended Consequences: Fall of Constantinople Gives Rise to the European Renaissance."
This lead paragraph reports the "news," of John Man's hypothesis, and has a complete citation to the quote:
I've been reading John Man's book Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words New York: MJF Books, 2002.John Man says "29 May 1453 . . . was the birthday of the Renaissance" (Man, 2002, p. 231).