Jarreth Merz: Filming democracy in Ghana

http://www.ted.com Jarreth Merz, a Swiss-Ghanaian filmmaker, came to Ghana in 2008 to film the national elections. What he saw there taught him new lessons about democracy -- and about himself.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

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[PatrickEnder]

0:15

[nanokris]

He lived in Ghana and Switzerland.....think of his exposure to chocolate!

[skwaag5233]

why are people commenting about the volume?

[roddaz]

A speech about humanity and governance that would be relevant to peoples anywhere in the world, not just Ghana. Yet 90% of western posters below choose to comment on the volume.

[michaelasirifi]

wtf!!!

[system3142]

@Rinkukalsy Oooooooooooooooooooooh.... Okay... That makes so much more sense...

[Rinkukalsy]

@system3142 - it's "chameleon" :)

[WoundedEgo]

ISTM that the point he was making was not political, but rather personal. He is a person who needed to know that his people were not losers... and he drew encouragement by their exemplary behavior in a crisis. I'm on board wit dat! Theories are only inspiring when "fleshed out"... that is, the story conveys the ideal better than a sermon or a lecture. A secondary matter here is that the guy considers himself African, when he just as easily identified with the Swiss.. Like Obama...

[mtdeezy]

@aeslkjfhghae Alright.

[aeslkjfhghae]

@mtdeezy Just because we don't like the intro, doesn't mean we're immature. I don't like pop music. Does that make me immature? No, that merely makes me a person who dislikes pop music.

As for the the intro itself, i don't mind the visuals, but i do (as quite a few others i've heard) think the sound is a bit loud. You can't say the sound IS too loud, or it ISN'T too loud. That would be silly. It's just basic perception.

Get off your high horse, believeing your perception is the right one.

[qttytn]

I don't even know if the intro is above 'normal' volume level, but I skip it anyway as it is boring and adds no value for me 0:15