Who gives us permission to explore our world?

Steven just turn me on to this. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before. This is truly amazing - and from 1999. But with all of the stuff going on with blogs, podcasting and videoblogging now - it's as important now as it was then.

There's tons of great stuff in there - this section just amazing:

Who gives us permission to explore our world? The question implies that the world in fact belongs to someone else. Who gives us permission to communicate what we've experienced, what we believe, what we've discovered of that world for ourselves? The question betokens a history of voice suppressed, of whole cultures that have come to believe only power is sanctioned to speak. Because the ability to speak does involve power. It entails ownership and the control conferred by ownership. As the saying has it: "Money talks, bullshit walks."

Right then and there, in that chance encounter in some random Tokyo coffee shop, I gave myself blanket permission: to be curious, to learn, to speak, to write. But it's a long road from permission to practice, and there's plenty of negative reinforcement in between. Freedom of expression may be called out loftily in the U.S. Constitution, but even after two centuries of democracy, it's still a far cry from second nature.

And now we can podcast and videoblog... and damn it - I'm gonna do it!

Oh:

Don’t rely on lists, self-styled "gurus," or business books.

Damn it!