Archive for March, 2007
The War on Truth
The Bush Administration is not a very popular club these days. I could list their transgressions against Human Rights, the US Constitution, our global allies, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, etc. But I would tire of typing. Instead, I want to focus on a byproduct of the Bush Administration’s tactics that will haunt our nation for years to come: the war on truth.
More so than any previous administration, the Bush team has manipulated the press and created an alternative reality in which to operate. From the “constitutional crises” of the 2000 election right up to the “cut and run” Democrats, this administration has used language and media as a powerful weapon. The lingering downfall is that they have convinced most of America that unbiased journalism is a myth and that scientific research papers are on the same footing as tabloid news.
This is a Big Problem. (I capitalized the last two words to add emphasis. Seriously, it’s a big deal.) When some (most?) of the voting public thinks that everything they hear on the TV is just banter from one political camp or the other, the whole theory of democracy is in serious jeopardy. When you hear “global warming is a very serious problem” and “global warming is a fiction written by the Democrats” and assume that each is a valid argument, it’s impossible to make smart decisions.
Much fault lies with TV news, particularly 24-hour TV news. It seems that Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. were more than willing to give up on real journalism and rely instead on an endless supply of talking heads to bloviate on this issue and that. Every topic is presented with two and exactly two positions. And each are presented as equally valid.
A geologist who claims “there is a finite supply of oil in the world” will be paired with someone who claims “new oil is being formed all the time and it will never run out”. The host, if there is one, will then act as though this is a real debate or that the jury is still out. The damage is done when the line between fact and opinion, science and politics, reason and faith is blurred. And sadly, this is precisely what the Bush team has done so well.
I don’t know what the solution is, but we absolutely need a free and honest press to maintain a healthy democracy. If journalists are afraid or incapable of doing their job correctly, we are in for a world of hurt.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (2) : Mar 28th, 2007
Dollar Coins
I just listened to an article from the Slate podcast about dollar coins and I learned two important facts:
- Printing dollar bills costs about $700 million dollars a year. (That’s cost, not value of the printed dollars)
- There is a lobbying firm in Washington (”Save the Greenback”) that has fought the adoption of the dollar coins. This small group represents Mississippi cotton farmers and the handful of companies who produce the paper and ink for printing bills. Not surprisingly, this group has the sympathetic ear of Sen. Trent Lott.
With these two facts in mind, I hereby pledge to start using dollar coins.
I challenge you to join me and ditch the dirty dollar! (Did I just coin a slogan? . . . and make a terrible pun?)
Filed under culture : Comments (8) : Mar 26th, 2007
Torture
There are many reasons why torture went out of style in the 20th century. Humanitarian movements demonstrated that life has intrinsic value–even if that life happens to live in a foreign nation (that your nation may find disagreeable). Military strategists learned that torture is a very ineffective means to gather intelligence or discourage insurrection. Perhaps the most important element to consider today is the simplest: torture is a sign of weakness.
I am working my way through a European History course (podcast, naturally) and stumbled upon a real gem in lecture #2: throughout the last 1000 years of world history, only the weakest and most power-starved nations have employed torture as a punishment or deterrent. During the long, slow progress from Feudalism to powerful central governments, torture was always used as a tactic of last resort. Rest assured, few (none?) of the campaigns in which torture played a central role were ultimately successful. (Despite the best efforts during the Spanish Inquisition, Protestantism still exists today!)
In the 21st century, some high ranking U.S. officials seem to have forgotten the last few centuries and instead operate in a fictitious Hollywood version of reality. In this neo-reality, torturing an Iraqi or Afghanistan (or American) civilian is a sure-fire method to gather sound intelligence. (Never mind that this tactic almost never works.)
Since the torture program was outed by the press, these same high-ranking U.S. officials have conveniently redefined the word “torture”. Today, such barbaric practises as sensory- and sleep-deprivation, near-drowning (water boarding), and psychological abuse all fall outside the boundaries of “torture” and are thus fair game for any and all military prisoners. (Keep in mind that psychological and physical torture have similar effects on the mind and body.)
Just as torture has a very negative and lasting effect on the victim, it has an equally negative impact on us. In a few short years, we have tarnished a global admiration for the U.S. that took decades to build. We have effectively lost our diplomatic sway when confronting other nations for their humanitarian violations. Finally, we have exposed our lack of power and control in a region of the world that will be ever more important in the next 20 years.
If only our fearless leaders in Washington had bothered to read about their counterparts throughout history. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to learn these hard lessons all over again.
Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Mar 14th, 2007
Life after college
The first post-college year is a weird. Such has been my experience since graduating and entering the workforce. I now understand why so many of my peers chose to pursue additional education opportunities following undergrad. That said, I am confident in my decision to leave academia (at least for now) and strike a path out there in Corporate America.
With increasing lifespans and changing social norms, I am currently part of a demographic that didn’t really exist just a few decades ago: young, professional, unmarried adults. In some ways, I love this phase in my life: I am independent, I live comfortably, and I have the freedom to focus on personal development. In some ways, I am terrified: my life is full of unknowns. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on this over the last year and I’ve come up with a few theories on how to optimize this phase of life.
Surround yourself with people you love. This one seems obvious, but it deserves mention. As a child, and even to some degree during school years, you have external forces influencing your circle of friends. If you’re extremely lucky, everyone in your friendship cloud will bring you happiness and lift your spirits. For the rest of us, there are always those hangers-on who travel in a cloud of pessimism and contempt, and serve as black holes of energy. At some point, you have to cut the ropes and let these people drift on. Surround yourself with the people you love and you will be happier and much more content with life.
Minimize low-value activities. My shining example of this theory is a simple one: ditch the TV. I’ve been living sans-television for about 6 months now and I love it. I still watch a few TV-shows throughiTunes , but I’ve entirely eliminated the classic time-waster of channel surfing. (Advertisements are also removed, saving about 10 minutes per show.) We each get the same 24 hours per day, so why not optimize your time by reducing low-value activities. This is not to say you have to be working or doing high-intensity stuff all day–to the contrary, rest and relaxation time is very important. The key is to be conscious about how you spend your time, and seek out those activities that add richness and depth to the shared experience we call life.
Be passionate about your work. If you’re lucky, you are extremely passionate about your 9-to-5 job. If you’re like the rest of us, you find your work interesting and enjoyable, but you need to look outside the normal work day to fuel your passions. The important thing in feeling fulfilled in life is identifying what you are passionate about and incorporating that into your work. Hopefully you can incorporate your passion with your 9-to-5, or at least find a happy balance. Don’t know what you’re passionate about? Here’s a quick and easy test: if you read about a subject matter in your leisure time, chances are you’re passionate about it.
[. . . ]
So there you have it. Three nuggets of wisdom from someone with scarcely 23 years under his belt. Take them or leave them. I’d love to hear what your experience has been–add a comment!
Filed under culture, education, work : Comments (3) : Mar 6th, 2007
Why your fifth grade teacher was right
[In writing this post, I'm taking a risk in being viewed as arrogant or elitist or something (I promise I'm not). I'm willing to take this risk because I believe strongly about the subject.]
When you were in grade school, I bet you didn’t enjoy spelling or grammar lessons very much. I know I didn’t. (In fact, I regularly failed my spelling quizzes during 5th grade.) Then came high school, when you started writing papers and essays and (hopefully) learned about thesis statements and topic sentences and how to transition between paragraphs. You probably didn’t enjoy that too much either. Then in college you had to put all this together and produce strong, compelling essays and research papers. Then you graduated from college and said “boy, am I glad I won’t have to use those skills anymore!”
Only one problem: you do need to use those skills!
I’ve been working in corporate America for about six months now and I’m shocked by many people are sloppy with their communications. Just because email is (more or less) instant doesn’t mean you can leave the rules of good writing at the door. I can understand the occasional typo or misspelling of a tricky word (I do it myself with some regularity). It’s the habitual spelling errors, violations of basic grammar, and lack of a coherent, logical structure that get me down.
Things like your vs. you’re; their, there, and they’re; the over-use of apostrophes (plural nouns do not need to demonstrate ownership!); absent or inappropriate punctuation (one ! will suffice, thank you); CAPITALIZING FOR NO REASON (how I wish the caps lock key would disappear). The list goes on, but I think you get the idea.
The whole purpose of written language is to clearly convey an idea. In the corporate world, just as in school, this is a critical skill. Yet for some reason it doesn’t seem to be a very popular skill to enhance or improve. We all love taking classes on time management, leadership, coaching, etc. yet we leave writing skills by the wayside. Obviously the assumption is that once you’ve graduated from college your writing skills are sufficient. From what I’ve seen (both in college and at work) many graduates could benefit from a refresher course.
Maybe it’s all a matter of time and priorities–no one wants to proof read their emails before sending. Or they rely too heavily on spell checkers and sacrifice contextual accuracy for the sake of spelling correctness. I may be old fashioned, but I believe that good writing skills are important and it’s worth the extra time to write well.
Filed under education, work : Comments (5) : Mar 1st, 2007
