{"id":1508,"date":"2007-09-22T02:16:57","date_gmt":"2007-09-22T06:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2018-08-16T17:50:31","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T21:50:31","slug":"fourth-meditation-on-democracy-written-saturday-september-22-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1508","title":{"rendered":"<span class=\"caps\">FOURTH<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">MEDITATION<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">ON<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">DEMOCRACY<\/span> (written Saturday, September 22,&nbsp;2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Recent\u00adly, two Cana\u00addi\u00adan high school stu\u00addents did a remark\u00adable thing. It was remark\u00adable enough to gen\u00ader\u00adate a large amount of com\u00adment in the blo\u00adgos\u00adphere.&nbsp;Accord\u00ading to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal news item in the Hal\u00adi\u00adfax Chron\u00adi\u00adcle Her\u00adald [1], a grade 9 stu\u00addent \u201carrived for the first day of school last Wednes\u00adday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 old\u00ader stu\u00addents who mocked him, called him a homo\u00adsex\u00adu\u00adal for wear\u00ading pink and threat\u00adened to beat him up.\u201d&nbsp;Any\u00adone who has attend\u00aded high school knows the usu\u00adal out\u00adcome of such sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions. But in this case, it was dif\u00adfer\u00adent.&nbsp;Two senior stu\u00addents, Travis Price and David Shep\u00adherd, were dis\u00adgust\u00aded by this crude bul\u00adly\u00ading.&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s my last year. I\u2019ve stood around too long and I want\u00aded to do some\u00adthing,\u201d David explained.&nbsp;The two stu\u00addents bought 75 pink tank-tops and, ral\u00adly\u00ading stu\u00addents through the inter\u00adnet, per\u00adsuad\u00aded&nbsp;half the stu\u00addent body to wear them, or to sup\u00adply their own.&nbsp;When the bul\u00adlies next came to school, they were con\u00adfront\u00aded by an ocean of pink sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adi\u00adty.&nbsp;\u201cThe bul\u00adlies got angry,\u201d said Travis. \u201cOne guy was throw\u00ading chairs (in the cafe\u00adte\u00adria). We\u2019re glad we got the response we wanted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The protest rapid\u00adly spread to thir\u00adty oth\u00ader Nova Sco\u00adtia schools, then across the rest of Cana\u00adda.&nbsp;High schools are no longer iso\u00adlat\u00aded, self-con\u00adtained, strat\u00adi\u00adfied, and despot\u00adic mini-soci\u00adeties.&nbsp;Social net\u00adwork\u00ading media like Face\u00adbook and MySpace are enabling rapid, flu\u00adid and demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion, not only between stu\u00addents in the same school, but link\u00ading them to every oth\u00ader school in the&nbsp;world.<!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There have been a lot of com\u00adplaints about Face\u00adbook, and sim\u00adi\u00adlar net\u00adworks, from school author\u00adi\u00adties.&nbsp;They are always express\u00ading their grave con\u00adcern over some new men\u00adace.&nbsp;Typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, school author\u00adi\u00adties com\u00adplain that social net\u00adwork\u00ading will be used for \u201ccyber\u00adbul\u00adly\u00ading\u201d.&nbsp;Hmm.&nbsp;Well a cen\u00adtu\u00adry of real high school bul\u00adly\u00ading nev\u00ader seemed to elic\u00adit any grave con\u00adcern from edu\u00adca\u00adtors. Why so much alarm about puta\u00adtive \u201cbul\u00adly\u00ading\u201d on the inter\u00adnet? The old fash\u00adioned bul\u00adly with fists is more of a com\u00admon-sense dan\u00adger.&nbsp;It turns out, of course, that the inci\u00addents that actu\u00adal\u00adly trig\u00adgered school admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtions\u2019 ire were invari\u00adably cas\u00ades of teach\u00aders or vice prin\u00adci\u00adpals being crit\u00adi\u00adcized or made fun of by stu\u00addents on Face\u00adbook\u2026. or hav\u00ading their teach\u00ading skills sub\u00adject\u00aded to com\u00adpar\u00ada\u00adtive analy\u00adsis by stu\u00addents. Social net\u00adwork\u00ading is, I sus\u00adpect, dis\u00adtrust\u00aded and denounced by those in author\u00adi\u00adty for the same rea\u00adson that they pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly hat\u00aded the spread of the writ\u00adten word and the print\u00ading press.&nbsp;The pink protest demon\u00adstrates that the inter\u00adnet and social net\u00adwork\u00ading are pow\u00ader\u00adful tools for the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of jus\u00adtice and civility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Travis and David\u2019s actions may be a reca\u00adpit\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion of one of the most sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant steps in human evo\u00adlu\u00adtion, one which should be under\u00adstood by any\u00adone hop\u00ading to move the world in a pro\u00adgres\u00adsive direc\u00adtion, towards demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, tol\u00ader\u00adant social cus\u00adtoms, and respect for human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We are pri\u00admates, descend\u00aded from a line of pro\u00adto-human pri\u00admates, and close\u00adly relat\u00aded to chim\u00adpanzees, bono\u00adbos, and goril\u00adlas.&nbsp;A lot of analo\u00adgies and con\u00adclu\u00adsions about human soci\u00adety and psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy have been made from the obser\u00adva\u00adtion of the social inter\u00adac\u00adtions of oth\u00ader pri\u00admates.&nbsp;A gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion ago, observers of pri\u00admate behav\u00adiour dis\u00adcov\u00adered aston\u00adish\u00ading amounts of vio\u00adlence, bul\u00adly\u00ading, mur\u00adder, rape, among our close evo\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary rel\u00ada\u00adtives. They saw clear\u00adly hier\u00adar\u00adchi\u00adcal pow\u00ader struc\u00adtures dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded by \u201calpha males\u201d.&nbsp;Many peo\u00adple con\u00adclud\u00aded that bul\u00adly\u00ading, vio\u00adlence, and tyran\u00adni\u00adcal gov\u00adern\u00adment were innate aspects of human behav\u00adiour.&nbsp;This view appealed to the rich and pow\u00ader\u00adful, who are always hap\u00adpy to have it con\u00adfirmed that their posi\u00adtion is \u201cnat\u00adur\u00adal\u201d.&nbsp;But the com\u00adpar\u00adisons soon came under crit\u00adi\u00adcal scruti\u00adny.&nbsp;Obser\u00adva\u00adtion of human com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties show that they usu\u00adal\u00adly have noth\u00ading like the kind of vio\u00adlence observed among chim\u00adpanzees.&nbsp;Human beings may engage in war\u00adfare with neigh\u00adbour\u00ading tribes, or dis\u00adtant coun\u00adtries, and that war\u00adfare can become hor\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading\u00adly vio\u00adlent.&nbsp;In some dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adships, aris\u00adtoc\u00adra\u00adcies have man\u00adaged to inflict hor\u00adren\u00addous atroc\u00adi\u00adties on their sub\u00adjects.&nbsp;But the ordi\u00adnary human com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty, on aver\u00adage, is strik\u00ading\u00adly less vio\u00adlent than any chim\u00adpanzee troupe.&nbsp;All our obser\u00adva\u00adtions of hunt\u00ading and gath\u00ader\u00ading soci\u00adeties&nbsp;\u2014 a pat\u00adtern of human pol\u00adi\u00adtics that per\u00adsist\u00aded through most of human his\u00adto\u00adry, and still has some prac\u00adti\u00adtion\u00aders \u2014 have shown that they have rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly egal\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan deci\u00adsion-mak\u00ading, and are not char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adized by extreme inter\u00adnal vio\u00adlence. [2] When humans know each oth\u00ader and live togeth\u00ader on a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly equal basis, they do not attack each oth\u00ader near\u00adly as fre\u00adquent\u00adly as chim\u00adpanzees do. Human vio\u00adlence occurs large\u00adly between soci\u00adeties, or between castes and eth\u00adno-reli\u00adgious clus\u00adters that exclude each oth\u00ader from their def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty, while chim\u00adpanzee vio\u00adlence is a con\u00adstant inci\u00addence of rage and vio\u00adlence with\u00adin a com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty. Peo\u00adple in mod\u00adern urban civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtions may, or may not, have effec\u00adtive egal\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan pol\u00adi\u00adtics, but rape and vio\u00adlent assaults are not nor\u00admal among them.&nbsp;These activ\u00adi\u00adties are rare, dis\u00adturb\u00ading, and trou\u00adbling to us.&nbsp;We do not expect to be beat\u00aden every oth\u00ader day, even in the most oppres\u00adsive and vio\u00adlent cultures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So why are human com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties much less vio\u00adlent, at least with\u00adin social groups?&nbsp;There are some ways in which humans are notice\u00adably dif\u00adfer\u00adent from their hominid ances\u00adtors and from oth\u00ader liv\u00ading pri\u00admates.&nbsp;For exam\u00adple, humans have much less phys\u00adi\u00adcal dimor\u00adphism between gen\u00adders, and they have abstract lan\u00adguage.&nbsp;These two par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar dif\u00adfer\u00adences have attract\u00aded the atten\u00adtion of paleo-anthro\u00adpol\u00ado\u00adgists who are puz\u00adzling over the rel\u00ada\u00adtive inter\u00adnal peace\u00adful\u00adness of human soci\u00adeties.&nbsp;The argu\u00adment goes rough\u00adly like&nbsp;this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some\u00adtime, prob\u00ada\u00adbly fair\u00adly late in the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of our species, we devel\u00adoped the skill of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcat\u00ading through abstract sym\u00adbol\u00adic lan\u00adguage.&nbsp;This seems to have had the side effect of enabling all sorts of oth\u00ader new and dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive abil\u00adi\u00adties.&nbsp;The human toolk\u00adit under\u00adwent extreme\u00adly slow evo\u00adlu\u00adtion for a long peri\u00adod, then sud\u00adden\u00adly blos\u00adsomed into a wide range of sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded imple\u00adments.&nbsp;At the same time, sym\u00adbol\u00adic arti\u00adcles, such as dec\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtive beads, requir\u00ading patient work to make but serv\u00ading no imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly prac\u00adti\u00adcal pur\u00adpose appeared. Very quick\u00adly, elab\u00ado\u00adrate visu\u00adal arts, musi\u00adcal instru\u00adments, and oth\u00ader evi\u00addence of sym\u00adbol\u00adic behav\u00adiour mul\u00adti\u00adplies in the archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal record.&nbsp;Human beings seem to be \u201cful\u00adly mod\u00adern\u201d&nbsp;in their cul\u00adture forty thou\u00adsand years ago, and a tan\u00adta\u00adliz\u00ading trail of evi\u00addence sug\u00adgests that the ini\u00adtial out\u00adburst of rapid cul\u00adtur\u00adal elab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion occurred some\u00adwhere between sev\u00aden\u00adty-five and a hun\u00addred thou\u00adsand years ago.&nbsp;I sus\u00adpect that the acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of abstract lan\u00adguage was the key com\u00adpo\u00adnent in this \u201cpack\u00adage&nbsp;deal\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some sci\u00aden\u00adtists [3] have looked at this and come to the con\u00adclu\u00adsion that the devel\u00adop\u00adment of more sub\u00adtle means of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion indi\u00adrect\u00adly trig\u00adgered a reduc\u00adtion of inter\u00adnal vio\u00adlence and a reduc\u00adtion of gen\u00adder dimor\u00adphism.&nbsp;While pri\u00admates with\u00adout lan\u00adguage skills were some\u00adtimes able to com\u00adbine to counter the harm done by vio\u00adlent alphas, the acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of abstract lan\u00adguage allowed weak\u00ader mem\u00adbers of the human tribe to com\u00adpare evi\u00addence, plan con\u00adfronta\u00adtions, co-ordi\u00adnate strate\u00adgies, and com\u00adbine effec\u00adtive\u00adly against the vio\u00adlence of alphas. In oth\u00ader words, instead of sit\u00adting still and watch\u00ading the most vio\u00adlent alpha males bru\u00adtal\u00adize, rape and mur\u00adder the weak, they got togeth\u00ader on their inter\u00adnet and agreed to wear pink shirts.&nbsp;Even among non-human pri\u00admates, there are attempts to curb bul\u00adly\u00ading behav\u00adiour.&nbsp;Among the high\u00adly strat\u00adi\u00adfied chim\u00adpanzees, low sta\u00adtus males, or females, may band togeth\u00ader to lim\u00adit the pow\u00ader of aggres\u00adsive alpha-males.[4] How\u00adev\u00ader, these impromp\u00adtu alliances against the dom\u00adi\u00adnant have to occur spon\u00adta\u00adneous\u00adly, in favourable cir\u00adcum\u00adstances.&nbsp;The dom\u00adi\u00adnant chim\u00adpanzee\u2019s aggres\u00adsion has no such lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions. With\u00adout the cru\u00adcial skill of lan\u00adguage to plan ahead, the rebels have poor chances of succeeding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The the\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal impli\u00adca\u00adtion is that we went through a long peri\u00adod in which we weed\u00aded out the worst of our bul\u00adlies, prob\u00ada\u00adbly at first by ambush\u00ading and killing them, then ulti\u00admate\u00adly need\u00ading only social sanc\u00adtions and cus\u00adtom\u00adary norms to con\u00adtrol them.&nbsp;Dur\u00ading that peri\u00adod, the mat\u00ading advan\u00adtage of a big\u00adger male body was less\u00adened, and males and females came much clos\u00ader to being the same size. (The aver\u00adage size dif\u00adfer\u00adence between males and females is notice\u00adable to us, but com\u00adpared to the dimor\u00adphism of chimps, it is trivial).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As I said in my first med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion, the con\u00adtrol of bul\u00adlies is one of the main prob\u00adlems that a soci\u00adety faces.&nbsp;Each human com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty can either max\u00adi\u00admize or neglect the skills nec\u00ades\u00adsary to deal with bul\u00adlies. One of the cru\u00adcial fac\u00adtors is how chil\u00addren are taught to han\u00addle bul\u00adlies, and what the cir\u00adcum\u00adstances of their edu\u00adca\u00adtion lead them to expect. Trag\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, we design spe\u00adcial social envi\u00adron\u00adments for our young in which tyran\u00adny, intim\u00adi\u00adda\u00adtion, and arbi\u00adtrary force run ram\u00adpant. Mil\u00adlions of chil\u00addren go to school with the cer\u00adtain knowl\u00adedge that they will be phys\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly assault\u00aded, threat\u00adened, and humil\u00adi\u00adat\u00aded, and that there will be no social sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adi\u00adty com\u00ading to their defense.&nbsp;Such chil\u00addren are like\u00adly to grow up ready to serve as drones in an atavis\u00adtic, caste-rid\u00adden, and con\u00adformist society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Empires and dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adships are built on this prac\u00adtice.&nbsp;The pub\u00adlic schools of England\u2019s Impe\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal days were night\u00admar\u00adish dystopias in which class dis\u00adtinc\u00adtions were re-enforced by swag\u00adger\u00ading bul\u00adly\u00ading and abject, fawn\u00ading sub\u00admis\u00adsion of the weak to the strong.[5]&nbsp;In grim\u00admer soci\u00adeties, the vio\u00adlence was admin\u00adis\u00adtered direct\u00adly by the teach\u00aders.&nbsp;In his dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of&nbsp;the ancient Roman<em> gram\u00admati\u00adcus<\/em>, Gre\u00adgo\u00adry Aldrete [6] writes: \u201cThe two main char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics of this phase of school\u00ading were end\u00adless amounts of mem\u00ado\u00adriza\u00adtion rein\u00adforced by bru\u00adtal beat\u00adings when\u00adev\u00ader a stu\u00addent failed to per\u00adform prop\u00ader\u00adly. The teacher had a wide range of pun\u00adish\u00adments avail\u00adable\u2026 The ulti\u00admate pun\u00adish\u00adment was the <em>cato\u00admus<\/em>, for which the stu\u00addent was stripped naked and stretched out across the backs of two oth\u00ader stu\u00addents, one of whom would grasp his legs, and the oth\u00ader his arms. The unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate vic\u00adtim was then sav\u00adage\u00adly flogged with a wood\u00aden stick by the teacher.\u201d&nbsp;Not sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly, peo\u00adple edu\u00adcat\u00aded like this found their prin\u00adci\u00adple enter\u00adtain\u00adment in watch\u00ading help\u00adless pris\u00adon\u00aders being torn apart by lions and croc\u00ado\u00addiles.&nbsp;They built col\u00adi\u00adse\u00adums to enjoy these \u201csport\u00ading events\u201d.&nbsp;Amer\u00adi\u00adcans\u2019 apa\u00adthet\u00adic response to crimes of tor\u00adture, com\u00admit\u00adted in the gulags built by their own Pres\u00adi\u00addent, is not sur\u00adpris\u00ading, giv\u00aden the base sub\u00admis\u00adsion taught in their pub\u00adlic schools.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I cer\u00adtain\u00adly don\u2019t want Cana\u00addi\u00adan chil\u00addren to grow up that way, and I\u2019m delight\u00aded to see evi\u00addence that they are not. The pink protest is proof that we can raise chil\u00addren to be free men and&nbsp;women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"dquo\">\u201c<\/span>Our inten\u00adtion was to stand up for this kid so he doesn\u2019t get picked on,\u201d one of the two Nova Sco\u00adtia boys explained.&nbsp;When the vic\u00adtim\u00adized stu\u00addent saw the sea of pink sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adi\u00adty, \u201cit was like a big weight had been lift\u00aded off his shoul\u00adder.\u201d&nbsp;No one at the school would reveal the student\u2019s name to reporters.&nbsp;Quite right\u00adly, they under\u00adstood that it would re-vic\u00adtim\u00adize him to do&nbsp;so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">These Nova Sco\u00adtia high school stu\u00addents have inde\u00adpen\u00addent\u00adly dis\u00adcov\u00adered the first, and most impor\u00adtant step in the devel\u00adop\u00adment of a civ\u00adi\u00adlized, demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic soci\u00adety.&nbsp;They have learned that they can and must stand up to the bul\u00adlies, and defeat them \u2014 not by match\u00ading them in brute force, but by using their brains.&nbsp;They have learned that an unjust social order does not exist by any cos\u00admic neces\u00adsi\u00adty, but only by acquiescence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u2014<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> notes:<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [1] Fair\u00adclough, Ian \u2014 \u201cI\u2019ve stood around too long\u201d.&nbsp;Hal\u00adi\u00adfax Chron\u00adi\u00adcle Her\u00adald, Sept.23, 2007<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [2] Among them are Richard Wrang\u00adham and Christo\u00adpher&nbsp;Boehm.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [3] Knauft, Bruce M. \u2014 \u201cVio\u00adlence and Social\u00adi\u00adty in Human Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion\u201d&nbsp;Cur\u00adrent Anthro\u00adpol\u00ado\u00adgy 32:391\u2013428 is a com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive overview of the evi\u00addence and its interpretations.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [4] Uehara, S., M. Hirai\u00adwa-Hasegawa, K. Hosa\u00adka, and M. Hamai \u2014 \u201cThe fate of defeat\u00aded alpha male chimpanzees<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> in rela\u00adtion to their social networks\u201d<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Goodall, Jane \u2014&nbsp;\u201cUnusu\u00adal vio\u00adlence in the over\u00adthrow of an alpha male chim\u00adpanzee at Gombe.\u201d in:Topics in Pri\u00adma\u00adtol\u00adogy, Vol.&nbsp;1.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Human Ori\u00adgins, T. Nishi\u00adda, et. al&nbsp;(eds.), Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Tokyo Press. 1992 pp. 131\u2013142.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Nishi\u00adda, T. \u2014 \u201cAlpha sta\u00adtus and ago\u00adnis\u00adtic alliance in wild chim\u00adpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)\u201d<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Pri\u00admates, 24: 318\u2013336<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [5] Well described in George Orwell\u2019s mem\u00adoir, \u201cSuch, Such Were the Joys\u201d, reprint\u00aded in The col\u00adlect\u00aded essays, journalism<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> and let\u00adters of George Orwell , vol.4. Pen\u00adguin Books&nbsp;1970.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [6] Aldrette, Gre\u00adgo\u00adry S.- Dai\u00adly Life in the Roman City. Green\u00adwood Press 2004. p.64<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent\u00adly, two Cana\u00addi\u00adan high school stu\u00addents did a remark\u00adable thing. It was remark\u00adable enough to gen\u00ader\u00adate a large amount of com\u00adment in the blo\u00adgos\u00adphere.&nbsp;Accord\u00ading to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal news item in the Hal\u00adi\u00adfax Chron\u00adi\u00adcle Her\u00adald [1], a grade 9 stu\u00addent \u201carrived \u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1508\">Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11,409],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007","category-meditations-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8877,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions\/8877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}