My Invite Must Have Gotten Lost In The Mail

Berlin to host global town hall:

Will China take over as the world's superpower from the U.S.?" "Can humanity improve itself without profit as a motive?" "Is it possible to continue globalization without losing our cultural identity?"

These questions--among 10,000 from people around the world--will be winnowed down to 100, then submitted to some of the planet's biggest thinkers ["biggest" as is Michael Moore's waistband big?], a sort of intellectual G-8 that will gather in Berlin on Sept. 9.

The Web site dropping knowledge is sponsoring the thought summit, which will bring together 112 artists, scientists, philosophers and others near Bebelplatz Square, site of Nazi book burnings in 1933.

Actor Willem Dafoe will pose the questions to the panelists, who will gather around a massive table to discuss topics from national security to personal values, racism to environmental concerns.

Because nobody screams "intellectual" like the man who played the Green Goblin.

"We're launching what we think will be an infrastructure for a global community of citizens," said Dr. Ceasar L. McDowell, dropping knowledge's U.S. director of operations, in an interview from Berlin. "There's a need to have something that allows people to share their knowledge with each other on a platform that's not controlled by an interest group or a government, with no one trying to drive an issue."

Yeah, I'm sure that no one will be using this opportunity to drive their pet issues. Nope, just pure intellectual discourse.

McDowell couldn't vouch for the politics of the visionaries set to attend. He said that thinkers of a more conservative viewpoint had been invited, but declined to attend.

"One might look at the table and say it's overly 'left' or liberal, but our intention is to create a table where people aren't responding from political ideologies," McDowell said.

Read as: we've invited a bunch of people who hold leftist political views, but steadfastly refuse to identify themselves as such.

Dropping knowledge, a not-for-profit corporation based in Germany and the United States, is sponsored in the U.S. by the Tides Foundation, a San Francisco-based philanthropy committed to social change; the group provided dropping knowledge with $259,000 in grants last year.

Dropping knowledge also is supported by the Wallace Global Fund, a Washington-based organization that funds projects related to the environment, public policy and social justice; the Club of Rome, a think tank that works on global issues; Alllianz, the German banking and insurance conglomerate; and individual benefactors.

Let the bashing of America, George W. Bush, capitalism, and Judeo-Christian values begin!