Out of My Mind

Penguin Books Australia Ltd August 1, 1996. 1996. Softcover. 8vo softcover 216pp very good. RUPERT IN ECOTOPIA, Extract from Chapter 42. The rapid rise of Rupert Murdoch, and his affect on planetary culture, is usually greeted with acclaim. The tycoon is seen as a visionary, an electronic equivalent to Alexander the Great. Other visionaries, the ones without inordinate wealth and a media empire, must rely on the power of their ideas to reach a mass audience. In the future, what if opposing champions met face to face, as they once did in ancient Athens? Athens, 335BC: Alex, the most powerful man in the world, asked to be taken to meet a homeless derelict, nicknamed “the Dog”, found sprawled on the steps of the Parthenon. Towering over him, the General asked: “Is there anything I can do for you?” “There is”, snapped the beggar, “Stand out of my sun.”The General retreated, remarking to his companions. “If I was not Alexander the Great, then I would be Diogenes, the Dog.”Diogenes, the famous Cynic, dressed in rags and slept in a clay pot . In reaction to an age of vulgarity and love of wealth, his teachings stressed voluntary simplicity, conveyed by personal example. Sold as a slave, he scolded the powerful, (including Plato, a “sell-out”) and regarded himself the one free man in Athens. It is recorded that these two men - the one who had everything and the one who had nothing - died on the same day. .