“Money”

From a response to a Salon article by the oddly-named "Hoosier Daddy":

Money does not, in fact, exist. It is merely a concept devised by man to try to control the production and exchange of goods and services. It is a concept just as language and mathmatics are concepts, inventions of the mind of humankind.

However whereas language has been used to produce the works of Shakespeare (along with the feeble words of you and me), and mathmatics has been used to build bridges and design rockets to fly to the moon, money has pretty much served to concentrate power in the hands of a few. We really, really need to improve on this money idea. But, in the end, that's all it is: an idea. It is our invention, and we can control it.

So the deficit, the national debt, and all money problems really are just imagined fears, ones that could be solved by improved thinking. Our economic system could collapse, as we were ominously told might happen any day two years ago, and life would continue.

…from here, he goes off on a screed about "Global Warming," which is unfortunate because he had a good point until he started in on the "New Abortion."

He's right. Money is VIRTUAL. It's based on nothing (thanks to Nixon taking us off the gold standard). It exists only on computer screens. My solution? Get rid of it. Forgive all debt (because it's really meaningless, anyway) and START OVER.

War is Hell

There's a secret war going on in this country. It's not like the widely hyped "War on Drugs" (which is failing after very large amounts of money were poured into it – of course, we don't hear about that money). It's not like the widely hyped "War on Terror" (which is failing after very large amounts of money were poured into it – and of course, the guy who's responsible isn't associated with that money anymore). No, it's bigger, better funded, more mysterious, and far more deadly. There is a War on Education in America, and it's escalating.

it's not about Republican versus Democrat, or even "left" versus "right," although those are all effective smokescreens. It's about the proudly, willfully ignorant versus those of us who want to improve ourselves, to be better thinkers and writers and workers. It's about the pundits who ignore what real, qualified experts have to say (since they never invite any on their shows) in favor of partisan hacks who play political games as they use terms incorrectly (or make up new ones that mean even less), distort the real truth (which is neither "right" nor "left"), and denigrate anyone who dared to go to school instead of the military or the blue collar workforce. The term "elitist" is the key. You are an "elitist" if you have an education, or if you actually consider what they have to say and think, "Are any of these guys really saying anything?" You are an "elitist" if you don't think, believe and act the way they do. You are an "elitist" if you don't tow either "party line." In short, if you think, you are the enemy.

The original definition of the word "elitism" is the following:

1 : leadership or rule by an elite

2 : the selectivity of the elite; especially : snobbery <elitism in choosing new members>

3 : consciousness of being or belonging to an elite

(Merriam Webster - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elitist)

The definition of "elite" is the following:

elite

 noun \ā-ˈlēt, i-, ē-\

1 a singular or plural in construction : the choice part : cream <the elite of the entertainment world>b singular or plural in construction : the best of a class <superachievers who dominate the computer elite — Marilyn Chase>

(Merriam Webster - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elite?show=0&t=1288121740)

 

I don't see anything political there, except for "snobbery" in the first definition.

 

But is snobbery tied to education? Doesn't "snobbery" imply you think you're better than everybody else? Or that you belong to a club that won't allow others in because they don't share your unique qualifications? Education, above the mandatory stages, is made up of first time community college students, people who work two jobs and go to school full time, grad students working their butts off with virtual guarantees they'll never make any money, instructors and professors, and people like me who don't use the degrees they have. Am I better than everybody else? Hell, no. Am I smarter at some things? Of course. But ask me to run a cash register or calculate the rise and run of a beam on a building project or know what to do when a baby cries, and there are plenty of people better than me.

It's about money, plain and simple. The true "elites" in this country are the ones who were (mostly) born into wealth, have never worked a real job in their lives, or who "worked their way up" and now believe they shouldn't give anything back because they are "successful." They've paid their dues, and now they want all of us to pay more. Especially in student loans, which we have to get to improve our intellectual skills. And then we're beholdin to the "elites" because we won't be a threat to them. I constantly hear people call into my local talk radio station and say, "I quit the 8^th grade, and I have my own business, and I'm a success." Well, what will he do when the economy collapses and his business goes under? Where will he go?

Education is not about money (except for the huge sum we have to pay to get one); it's about a much higher goal: Intelligence. Freedom. Rationality over emotion. I know a lot of my students read this blog, and I implore you: Keep going. Don't let the War get you down. Don't listen to people tell you you don't need to by any smarter, you just need to get out there and get your hands dirty "like a real working man." I work 60-70 hours a week at 3 jobs; I have a PhD. I know a lot of PhDs who flip burgers for a living. That's exactly what the generals want; they want us to apologize for our education and regret it and just sit around and do what we're told so a multi-millionaire can get another classic car or some more Cocaine for his daughter.

As long as the real elites in this country pit us against each other in silly, meaningless political squabbles that amount to absolutely nothing, the war will continue. It's all an insidious game that maintains the status quo and make REAL Americans (whether we work inside or outside, in dirty boots or cheap ties) pawns in their schemes for global domination. They can't win as long as we don't let them fool us. Change the dialog (or create one, because there really never has been a dialog). Tell them, "Here's what my education is teaching me…here's what I aspire to." Show them that the work we all do in our classrooms, students and teachers, matters. And when they try to cut our budgets again and again and again, let's take to the streets. Peacefully, of course; educated people don't have to intimidate. We just have to SPEAK.

Some Things are Just Stupid

A few months ago, a crazy preacher with 50 followers announced a plan to have a bonfire in which they will burn copies of the Koran. Now, a crazy Tennessee preacher has announced his plan to burn "a Koran," both on the anniversary of 9/11. I certainly appreciate the free speech rights they (and we all) have that enable them to burn a rival religion's holy book, but I have the same right to give my opinion on the matter. Just because you CAN do something, that doesn't mean you SHOULD (I think my mother told me that when I was about 8 years old). And some things, frankly, are just stupid.

General Petraeus made a statement asking the Florida crazy preacher to call off his "protest," saying that such an action will endanger American troops. The preacher basically said, "Screw the troops! American needs to be America again and stand up!"

How is it standing up for America, and being America again, to incite a bunch of crazy Muslims to blow up more of our buildings and kill more of our people, which is exactly what they'll do? After this moron has his little show and his special on FOX News, Al Qaida will retaliate in the most vicious manner imaginable. Protests mean nothing to terrorists; desecration of their holy relics does. America is about freedom and success, not about your fifteen minutes of fame and another 3,000 people dead in the street. America has never been a tolerant nation; we have done some horrible things to people who didn't believe and espouse what we do. Most of that is by individuals who, being insane like these preachers, really think God is going to deliver them for doing some very un-Christian things.

This same Florida preacher has in the past burned copies of versions of the Bible he didn't believe reflected his own view of the world. Where was the outrage about those Bibles? Why didn't Christians renounce one of their own for desecrating their own holy book?

The sad thing is, conservatives from all over the country have sent this idiot a lot of money and a bought and sent a lot of Korans for him to burn. They see this as a monumental gesture to show how tough we are; it's going to get people killed, and they deserve all the blame. Muslim extremists are just waiting for an opportunity to instill more fear and hatred in Americans by violating us again; Christian extremists are giving them that opportunity.

Some things are just stupid. And stupid things are done by stupid people.

Until this country makes another shift, to support reason and understanding and just plain old literacy, we are doomed. We are turning ourselves into mirror images of the countries that produce ignorant, hateful, religiously-charged psychos who will do anything in the name of their religion. But until we stop buying the oil they produce, we will give them a pass and let nutcases get nuttier and nuttier. We need to purge ourselves of the ignorant, the intolerant, and the hateful. This preacher from Florida said we should send all the Muslims in America to an island so we don't have to live with their influence on our vast, diverse culture that used to accept anybody who was willing to get along. I say we take those people too blinded by "faith" to understand the real world doesn't work the way their insulated, childish worlds do and put THEM on an island. Soon they will grow to hate each other due to tiny differences in doctrine, and they'll kill each other off. That's exactly what Darwin was talking about, but these people think the world is 6,000 years old and cavemen rode dinosaurs.

Ignorance can be changed; people can be taught. But stupidity is engrained. And it must not be tolerated in a civilized society.

A Few Questions

I was on online dating sites for 8 years; I still have accounts, and I check them occasionally, but I have somebody in my life, so it's just sort of a morbid hobby. I looked around on one of those sites today out of sheer boredom, and I looked at some profiles. I have a few questions.

With about 2 exceptions, all the women on these sites LOVE the outdoors. Really? Does everybody but me love the outdoors, with the mud and the bugs and the sweat and the hassle? Why would you go outdoors when you have a perfectly good air conditioner and TV at home? I used to fish when I was a kid, because that's what my family did when we went to the coast over the summer. OK, I've fished. You sit for 6 hours in the heat and stick a piece of string in the water, and usually nothing happens. It's like watching televised golf - what is really the point?

And they all say, "I'm not the average woman; I LOVE sports." Are you serious? If one or two of them said it I might believe it, but they ALL say it. I understand the mom who goes to her kids' games, because you're obligated to do that, but do they really sit around with a beer and yell at the TV? And so many have to include, "Go this" or "go that" to prove that they're loyal to multi-millionaires who couldn't care less if they live or die and date gorgeous (but vapid and meaningless) reality stars. Kim Kardashian could have her own team by now. I am not a sports person; I tried almost everything when I was growing up, and I failed at all of it. I didn't understand it, I didn't get why it was entertaining, and I still don't. That's just me, but does that make me a "traditional woman?" Maybe I should put that in my profile, if I ever wrote a new one.

And then there's "I don't want to play games." No, honey, you don't want to play MY games. You want to play yours, and you want me to enjoy it because I'm lucky enough to be with you. "I don't want to play games" means, "I won't have sex with you until you spend enough money on me over a long, drawn out period of time." That is a game in itself; in fact, dating is a game. That's all it is.

No, I'm not bitter, just trying to be funny. But it's amazing how people will say what they think other people want to hear. The clichés are deafening, and I wonder if there's a guide online somewhere that says, "Put this in your profile. Everybody's doing it!" The women I met online were the ones whose profiles were fresh and interesting and who didn't want me to go to seminary.

It's really funny that women who say they're "old fashioned" watch football, go hunting, and make so many demands. Old fashioned women were women who didn't do any of those things

And don't get me started on grammar and spelling. J

From Mickey Hart

Well, it's about the rhythm of things. If you look around at the Gulf, North Korea, or Iran, it's a rhythmic thing I see. We're out of rhythm with the world. It's a rhythmic universe, and nature is very efficient and likes to be in rhythm because it's most efficient. When you break that rhythm and come between it, you have arrhythmic events and it will destroy, it will not build. It will decompose as opposed to compose. Saying the world has gone mad is not a proper way of saying it, but I look at it as the world has gone out of rhythm. If you look at it in rhythmic terms, it's much more explainable. It's gone out of rhythm, and we're not in rhythm with it, and that's the problem we have in all of these hot spots and these scary places with the Islamic militant views and the extremist religious views. All you have to do is tune into the Dalai Lama, who is about the opposite of that. Now, that's a rhythm master. That guy is really in tune with things. So, we need to be listening to more of that, and we need to be thinking of things in terms of getting along in rhythm, and being efficient and flowing, and being more aware of our surroundings. When I look at the news, in total, that's what I think of.

Which Direction Should We Go?

This is a really simple statement, so forgive me for a moment: Why don't people use their turn signals?

I mean, I thought it was a Mississippi thing until I lived in other states. Hardly anybody seems to know what that little lever next to the steering wheel does. I see people just barrel out into traffic without giving anybody the slightest idea where they're going. I've heard horns, I've seen near-accidents many times, all because some idiot doesn't want to waste his or her time flicking a wrist. It drives me CRAZY. Sure, if you're in a turn lane, maybe. But even if you're in a turn lane, do the people coming the other way really know it's a turn lane? I thought when you got a driver's license you were informed that the turn signal is NOT optional. Yet I've never seen anybody pulled over for not using one.

I think it speaks to a larger issue. We as a culture just don't really care about the people around us anymore. Being polite and friendly has been archaic for a long time. It's just polite to use a turn signal, to communicate with the other people on the road. But we're in such a hurry and so busy and so unconcerned (it will be somebody else's fault if we have a wreck) we have stopped doing a lot of very basic things that are simply good manners. And that has filtered down into our rhetoric and our "dialogue." I put it in quotes because there is no "dialogue" in this country; it's all angry, mostly uninformed people spouting off their opinions whether they actually know anything to support those opinions or not. We live the way we drive – rudely, angrily, and without any concern for the people we share the world with. And that's just sad.

Beware Online Workshops

There are a lot of opportunities for writers to share their work online; it's very, very careful to research these opportunities before you commit to them. I've been in a few online workshops, and I just don't really have time to produce that much work or spend that much time reading critiques. But always be aware that there are agendas working. In a classroom, everybody usually has the same agenda – they're there to learn and become better writers. There's a teacher there who, ideally, is going to guide the feedback and make sure everybody is sticking with the work and being constructive. In-person writing workshops with mediators can sometimes be useful, too, but even they can fall pretty to those who want to do more than write and get feedback to improve themselves.

I was on one particular workshop site for a while (I won't mention the name, but I think it's still going) that really gave me problems. I signed up, submitted work, and got accepted. When I posted my profile, I mentioned that I have a PhD in English, which of course I would do because I do have one. It's no big deal to me. But gradually the criticism of my work get nastier and nastier and nastier, with comments like, "I would think a PhD would write better than this." They never really critiqued my work; they were critiquing me for actually studying poetry, which I would think would be a good thing to do if you're going to write it. They were writing pastiches of Ginsberg and Bukowski, and sonnets and stuff like that, and I was always as helpful as possible to help them get where they wanted to go. They weren't bad writers, they just stayed within their own comfortable confines of what reading they had done. Because I essentially knew a lot more than they did, they resented me. And this was a big deal workshop where you had to submit work and be approved; they painted themselves as a really high-class operation.

But they treated me like an alien, an other, because I had lived a different life than they had. And this was maybe ten years ago, maybe even longer than that. But you don't forget being treated like you don't matter. And if you're going to critique somebody else's work, don't get personal. Focus on the language and the structure and the intent, not on the person writing it. It's extremely immature, and more importantly, it's not helpful. I spent years giving positive feedback to people I positively couldn't stand, and negative feedback to people I was really close to, because of the quality of the work. Once during grad school when I was going through a bad breakup, my friends got together and said, "You know, Jeff, your work is really sucking right now. It's depressing and it's self-indulgent, and you're writing like a 13 year old girl." They were right; I was. I eventually snapped out of it and started really working again instead of weeping. Sometimes that's what it takes.

And if you get negative, personally-based feedback, ignore it. It means nothing.