George S. Ledyard

Obviously a success story... but this land of opportunity has not always provided such opportunity to all as I mentioned.

In the old days, the divorce rate was far less. Fine. That didn't mean people were actually happy in their relationships. Women were often completely trapped in marriages as there was no way a single woman could survive economically. Men stayed married but it was accepted that they played around or frequented prostitutes... The Catholic church made divorce impossible. Careers were ended if one divorced. So people who shouldn't have stayed together and lived lives of desperation.

If "empowerment" means not staying in abusive marriage, not staying with someone who doesn't love you, not staying in a marriage in which all the power is one sided, then fine, I guess maybe you could say "empowerment" causes divorce but I guess i am also fine with that.

Financial pressures are cited as one of the primary contributing factors in divorce. Yes, divorce amongst the middle class is often a financial disaster as fortunes which took years to build are split up. But for the majority of folks, they barely have anything anyway. The fact that so many people are close to bankruptcy is independent of their being divorced or not. Plenty of quite happily married people are broke. It is a fact that most small business startups fail. These are folks who work their tails off, try to create something of value, but they fail anyway. I don't see these people as somehow harmed by "empowerment", in fact quite the opposite.

The folks who run these small businesses that don't make it, usually turn around and try again. Often they try several times until they get it right and they create something sustainable. The folks who can do that... pick themselves up and start again, well, someone, somewhere gave them the confidence and will power to do that. That's the "empowerment" I am talking about. And I see it as positive

This one really escapes me... We live in an economy which spends billions of dollars creating a market for unhealthy foods. At the same time our crazy business ethic says that we should be working overtime to attain a "lifestyle" that is unsustainable on a planetary basis. Our economy is driven by consumption. If people were to stop buying things which are unhealthy or unnecessary, we would be in total economic collapse.

Obesity is a direct result of an unhealthy lifestyle associated with our capitalist consumer culture upon which most people's livelihoods depend (2/3 of the average supermarket is stocked with items which we definitively know to be detrimental to our health). If you look at countries like Japan, they are having precisely the same problems with skyrocketing obesity rates. I fail to see how this is the result of "empowerment" or "entitlement".

We have bought into a life style based on speed, we are an ADD society. Our entire economy is based on this and billions and billions of dollars are spent to make sure that we stay that way. I cannot turn on the TV or the radio, pick up a newspaper, or even surf the net without encountering a barrage of propaganda trying to convince me to eat what I shouldn't, more frequently than I should.

We do jobs which do not require physical exertion, try to be super parents by over scheduling our kids, work too late, work the weekends, etc Families find it hard to accomplish all the things they've been told they need to be doing and even sit down to have a family meal together. I don't see that as the result of "empowerment".In fact I see people in desperate need of "empowerment" to help them break this ridiculous cycle. Everything in the culture runs counter to making these changes.

Nope, I definitely don't see how "empowerment" of our youth creates fat kids... In fact I am obese myself and I can tell you I had the traditional strict upbringing with traditional family values galore... But I am still addicted to carbs, despite the fact that I didn't get the type of empowerment you seem to oppose so strongly.

Once again, while these things are true, I fail to see how "empowerment" created this. Perhaps you feel that empowerment has gone too far in some cases. I would say that is probably true. But our lack of savings is determined largely by the consumer economy that devotes every resource it can into getting all of us to believe that we can't wait for that new car, that we need to have the huge house in the more expensive neighborhood, that even folks who simply can't afford things should buy them anyway. If I and my neighbors wait tow years to buy our new car, tens of thousands of workers in Detroit lose their jobs.

The whole economy is driven by consumers who are trained to believe that their worth as individuals has to do with their material success and that the stuff they buy is how they demonstrate that worth. I don't see "empowerment" as the cause of this problem. in fact, true "empowerment" is the solution. Give people a sense of worth that is independent of acquisition... give them something that gives their lives meaning apart from the race to own more stuff. That's real "empowerment". I see Aikido practice as one of many forms of that type of "empowerment".

Somehow you seem to associate the terms "entitlement" and "empowerment" with some sort of unreal, undeserved set of expectations. The terms as I use them have none of the "something for nothing" take that you ascribe to them. I am talking about people who know that they are "entitled" to have the same opportunities to achieve that everyone else has, just like you've had. I am talking about people who as individuals feel "empowered" to take risks, work hard, go for their dreams, not let others tell them they can't. Maybe you and I are talking about different meanings to these words because what I am talking about allows people to be the best they wish to be and to be happy with that. Can't see that as a negative...