First off, it’s worth stating that this writer is indeed, herself, an American. I was born and bred here, and before you comment with death threats or anything you should be aware that I don’t hate the USA; so don’t even bother to assume that I do. In point of fact I love the potential of this country, I love what it was intended to be, and I love what it could be. I love many of the people who are here and the work that they do and the way that they do it.

I am, however, heartbroken at the current state of this country on a number of levels; and for years I’ve been trying to think of what I might be able to do to be part of the solution rather than perpetuating the problem. (Don’t bother to suggest that I could “help” by killing myself – suicide is not a sane act… and Ms. Sanity is a lot of things but she’s not a complete idiot. I humbly suggest that this country needs more people who are not complete idiots, not fewer… but I digress.)

I have the good fortune (and the interesting experiences) of both living with and working with a number of people who are not Americans by birth; including my husband and the clients I work with who hail from all over the world. I have noticed recurring themes that my fellow ‘mericans seem to adamantly believe and or assume about this country and the world. The only problem is these strongly held beliefs are untrue. That doesn’t make them insane, of course; just wrong. With no further ado, time and again I find that American people believe:

1. The USA is the best, most desirable place in the world, and everyone in the world, if they had a choice, would want to live here.

Absolutely untrue. Study after study, year after year, (not just recently) has shown that the happiest and most satisfied people in the world are NOT Americans. People in Sweden, Belgium, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway are all reported to be much happier than Americans, and much more satisfied with their lives/their countries. One source for this statement is here: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-happiest-places-on-earth-are-heavily-taxed . There are many other sources that would underscore this point.

2.When politicians and regular folk talk about “Protecting our American Way of Life” ™ they are referring to our “freedoms,” our ability to worship the way that we wish to do so, dress the way we wish to do so, and so on.

Nope. In general this is code-speak for “The continued ability of the US to use up 24% amount of the world’s energy, although we only have 5% of the world’s population.” It also means that we “want to be ‘free’ enough to NOT pay enough taxes to have a sustainable infrastructure.” Note the link above; people in those “happy” countries actually pay more taxes than Americans do. “You get what you pay for” is a pretty inescapable truism. It also refers to paying low prices for goods and services- both domestically and abroad- which of course keeps American wages low – and this is done, intentionally or no, on the “backs” of people in poverty, both American and otherwise. See: http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainability/Americans-Consume-24percent.htm

3. America and Americans are the most giving people in the world – we help out other countries more so than any other country does.

Wrong in the first case, partially true in the second. From the American Governmental perspective, “Foreign Aid” is only about 1% of the federal budget (per Wikipedia – yes, I know that’s not the strongest source in the world, but I’ve seen that citation elsewhere as well.) To quote from http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance#ForeignAidNumbersinChartsandGraphs (emphasis mine) “USA’s aid, in terms of percentage of their GNP has almost always been lower than any other industrialized nation in the world, though paradoxically since 2000, their dollar amount has been the highest.” The part that is partially true, is that as individuals – not as a country- Americans are fairly generous. But not to the level of “more than any other country.” Again, quoting from the site above, “ Americans privately give at least $34 billion overseas—more than twice the US official foreign aid of $15 billion at that time.” (2002 figures.) However, some argue that those figures aren’t even from Americans – they say that these are remittances from foreign nationals living in the US. Americans should feel proud of the help that is being given as individuals/small groups of people to others; but should not make the assumption that cutting out foreign aid as a country will help solve the country’s financial problems- (an assertion I have seen repeated over and over…) it’s a drop in the bucket that wouldn’t even pay one hour’s interest on the national debt. For more on this topic see the link above, The US is rated very far down on this list.

4. America has the best health care system in the world. Anyone who needs care can go and get it at an emergency room, whether they have money or not.

This is such an absurdly incorrect idea as to be sickening. No matter what measure you use, whether it is access to care, cost of care, patient outcomes, or any other – The USA is nowhere near the top. Yes, there is a federal law that if you show up at a hospital emergency room, and are in danger of losing your life, they have to treat you. However, if you chop your hand off with a chainsaw, and don’t have health insurance – they will stop the bleeding and keep you from dying, but if you think they’ll sew your hand back on, guess again. Some charity hospitals might but the cold reality is that most just plain will not. They are only federally required to keep you from dying. Period. Back to the original point re: “best” health care system, to quote from the link below, “The U.S. ranks last when it comes to providing safe care, and next to last on coordinated care. U.S. patients with chronic conditions are the most likely to report being given the wrong medication or the wrong dose of their medication, and experiencing delays in being notified about an abnormal test result.” See: http://7thspace.com/headlines/349077/health_system_performance_us_ranks_last_among_7_countries.html. Per this report linked to from CNN below, about 60% of bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills. How is that humane, sane, or the mark of a civilized country – much less the “best” system in the world? http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/05/bankruptcy.medical.bills/ (hint: it isn’t) Anyone who truly believes we have the “best” system in the world here, cannot possibly be making frequent use of this so-called system. As a cancer survivor, who has had other ongoing medical issues her whole life, Ms. Sanity knows what she’s talking about. I am less than 45 years old, I have a college degree, I have been working full time for more than twenty years, and yet there have been several times in my life where I’ve had to make a choice between buying food and buying medicine. How is that reasonable? Or acceptable? Oh yeah, wait, it’s all MY fault. See #7.

5.“The Government” (and/or Government employees/employment, and/or “bigger government”) is bad/useless, and private sector employees are always more useful/valuable/productive.

Granted, the above position is generally taken by conservatives and libertarians, but there seems to be an underlying theme of this belief among many, many Americans. The problem is that we can’t make useful or sensible or meaningful blanket statements like this. Government is meant to be about more than just invading other countries in this day and age. Ms. Sanity cannot however disagree with the point of view some people espouse that “The government can only ethically operate with the amount of money that the governed consent to give to the government.” That bit is true. However, Americans would do well to look at what they are currently “getting back” for their investment into government. The largest budget expenditure in the US is on the military. I’m not anti-military by any stretch of the imagination and I think that they should be paid well for what they do. But I also think we should question how or why in this day and age we need a military budget that is larger than the expenditures of the next forty or so countries combined. Private sector employees and employers are not, in and of themselves, by their very nature, more virtuous or productive than government employees. The people screeching a la Norquist that we need to make the government so small we can drown it in a bathtub are deluded. Going back to frontier style society is not going to help anyone. Roads and bridges and schools don’t maintain themselves. What are you going to do? Make them all toll roads? Charge parents for all schools?I have heard it said correctly that private sector employees in the US are generally paid with no rational regard to their usefulness to society. We cannot live for long without, say, the people who come and collect our trash. I can live eternally without the CEO of a health insurance organization, who will be paid say $60 million dollars this year, vs. the trash guy who will be doing very well if he takes home about $48k (the national median income, give or take.) How is this sensible?

6. The American people have the most civil (and other) rights, freedom and privacy on the planet.

Not by a long shot. The Patriot Act, (which, I might remind you, is still in force) severely curtailed any privacy and long-held rights vested in the people; notably “Habeas Corpus” – which had been around since the Magna Carta – it basically means that the government can’t hold you indefinitely without actually charging you with a crime. Now they can. Some of the most appalling parts of the Patriot act were apparently fairly recently overturned/curtailed in court but not all of them. I can’t claim to understand it all (I am not a lawyer, after all.) It used to be if you were in trouble, the people charging you with something had to say what you were being charged with, and produce you in court. This is no longer always the case, and it apparently applies to American citizens and to non-Americans alike. It is my understanding that the Patriot act also gave law enforcement agencies the right – without a warrant- to come into your home, search it, (sometimes referred to as a “sneak and peek,”) and they don’t even have to tell you that they did so! For more recent information, see this link: http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=cc2a44b9-a0be-4bab-9de0-b7374d6a3485 which includes a letter written by Senator Leahy that includes the fact that we now know that National Security Letters (a provision of the Patriot Act) were severely misused in recent years. Your internet activities,your telephone calls, your library books, all of these things can be monitored by the US Government even today should they want to do so. In February of this year, under the Obama administration, the Patriot act was extended for another year. If you think this has nothing to do with you, or me, as law-abiding natural born citizens of the US, think again. See: http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/congress-drops-ball-upgrading-patriot-protections. They can tap your phones, they can pretty much do whatever they want, if you become for some reason, a person of interest. Last comment on this topic: Workers in other countries, I’m thinking of the UK, specifically, have far more legal rights than they do here. If you get fired in the UK because you refuse to sleep with your boss, it’s my understanding that there is a nonpartisan, independent, watchdog tribunal – which has actual power – which will hear your case, and you can end up getting your job back, financial remuneration, or both. In the US, in most states, you are imply out of a job – unless you have the money to sue.

7.Liberals/Progressives and their leaders just want the government to take care of all of their needs, from the “cradle to the grave,” they don’t believe in personal responsibility, they expect the government to somehow magically make everything fair, and they want the population to be controlled by the government. That’s how it is in Europe, and that’s what the Liberals want here too.

Ah, no. I do not, myself, want or expect the government to provide for my every need. I already know from experience (I did my first professional job at age 9) the satisfaction that comes from working and working hard, I learned early that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I have known lots of well to do people and even more not very well to do people, and never once have I heard any of them say: I think the Government owes me a living, I wish there was a robin hood to steal from the rich so that I can sit around and do nothing. In Europe, which of course varies greatly country to country, there is simply a stronger commitment to the provision of a strong social safety net. Generally speaking, there seems to be a more compassionate view of each other than there seems to be (again, very broadly) here in the US. For some reason, in the USA, if a person or a family falls on hard times, many people seem to take the attitude that “it’s your own fault… you didn’t work hard enough/plan enough, etc.” When of course, like it or not, hard times/disaster can happen to anyone, rich or poor, etc. I have heard with my own words the (oddly famous and listened to right-wing conservative blowhard) Rush Limbaugh say in these words: “look, folks, liberals don’t trust you individuals to do the right thing, that’s why they want to make all these laws to control you.” That has not been my experience in the very liberal and progressive circles I’ve been working in for more than a decade now. What “the libruls” do not trust, is that just because an organization is not the government, that it will be responsible or behave ethically or treat people well or even follow the law. There are far, far too many historical examples where corporations both large and small – took the little guys to the cleaners. Oh wait, Wall street Just did that… and you and I footed the bill, and will be doing so for generations. Do the “libruls “expect the government to prevent that sort of crap – whether it’s done by Wall Street, Enron, or the coal mining operation down the road? Yes, they sure do. And they are not wrong, to do that. Life is not and never has been and can never be made “fair.” Anyone with one functioning brain cell is aware of that.

We had better learn to start talking to each other and to get serious about seeing clearly what has been happening in our society, and what, as a people, we wish to change. Yes, life is changing, life is always changing, and the United States that existed in 1955 is no more. We could perhaps start by trying to be at least a little more compassionate toward our fellow Americans. I’ll try, for example, to not get so riled up and mind-bendingly furious at what I perceive from the Right-wing as being wrong wrong wrong and horrible. It’s a start. You? What the hell else can we be doing, at this very late stage in the game?

I know there are a bunch of other untrue things that my fellow Americans tend to believe. What are your top seven that aren’t on my list?

]]> http://www.manicmeltdown.com/2010/07/03/untrue_american_beliefs/feed/ 13 http://www.manicmeltdown.com/2009/09/02/health-care-in-usa/ http://www.manicmeltdown.com/2009/09/02/health-care-in-usa/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:59:55 +0000 Ms. Sanity http://www.manicmeltdown.com/?p=284 I am really, really, really, really tired of the blatant, self serving, and manipulative lies coming out of the Right wing and the $1.4 million/day (look it up!) health insurers’ lobby regarding possible changes to the US health care system.

Over and over and over ad nauseum I’ve seen blogs and “tweets” and letters to the editor filled with craziness, outright, bald-faced lies and inaccuracies not only about the intentions and effects of the (FOUR) potential, proposed bills/new systems – but also about what life is like in the rest of the civilized world where they DO have universal health care. (For you accuracy buffs, there’s no such thing as “Obamacare”… yet, anyway.)

Few people -if any – are idiotic enough to believe that having a system of universal health care creates instant nirvana, nor would any thinking people living in a country with such a system insist that their systems are perfect.

However, because of the work that I do and the fact that I am married to a man who was born in Europe, I know and work with- regularly and intimately- people all over the world. I also, obviously, have relatives by marriage living in other countries, and I am here to tell you that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM would come here for health care, nor would they trade our system for theirs, nor do any of them have any desire whatsoever to come here to live. Period. In fact, none of them will even set foot on US soil without (expensive!) traveler’s health insurance, due to the fact that any sane person knows that a minor accident (much less a serious one) can BANKRUPT a person who doesn’t have health insurance.

Unlike what people have assumed elsewhere, and asked me about, these people/relatives/clients I am referring to – in various European countries – are not exclusively or even usually:

• Very Young
• Very Healthy
• Extremely Poor
• Incredibly Heavily Taxed
• Interested in coming to the USA for health care
• Of the belief that the US is the sole seat of innovation in health care and science in the world. (Check the facts! Other countries invent and produce things too!)

I’m sorry that I’m screaming at you if you have read this far but I’m truly annoyed and sickened and disappointed in the way this health care debate thing is going. I despair at the apparent level of discourse and the seeming inability to think critically about this issue. It’s all fear, fear, fear, machismo, “we’re number one,” fear, money, fear, socialism strawmen, and “I’ve got mine, to heck with the rest of you.” (Oh yeah? Who’s going to perform the roles you take for granted if we little people all kick the bucket? You gonna take your own trash to the dump? Fix your own sewers, your own car, wait your own tables???)

Yes, okay, as someone once  said to me, reasonable people can disagree about the best way to solve the problem. It’s just that there seems to be precious little reasonableness around this issue in the public fora. From anywhere or anyone (quite frankly, at this moment, including Ms. Sanity!)

If you’ve been paying attention, and are living in the USA, you must have seen this stuff flying around also.

Here’s a quote from one of the more authoritative writers who has bothered to do research and to try to deconstruct some of the lies (which are being widely circulated!) One thing many of my fellow Americans are insanely failing to do is to consider the costs of DOING NOTHING. Here’s a glimpse, folks:

The US CBO {Congressional Budget Office} estimates that, with no changes to the {current USA} health care system, premiums will increase by $1,800 per year for the next ten years. That means a family will pay an average annual premium of more than $32,000 by then.

Oh, yeah, that’s going to be easy to handle with an average income in this country of about $48K or so. You really think that with this fabulous economy that your wages are going to go up that much in a decade? Think again.

Look, please, for your own good, for our collective good, for heaven’s sake, do some research, consider (shocking, I know) actually speaking to someone who lives in a country besides the USA about their experiences with their health care, read more than one source, don’t just believe the first chain email you get or the supremely unintelligent Sarah Palin stupidly telling you that we’re suddenly going to start killing off old people.

The simple fact is this: We ARE all in this life together. You do not live in isolation, you do not single-handedly completely create the prosperity and wealth that you have amassed, no matter how much you have–and you have a vested interest in the good health of your fellow man.

If a majority of people in this country cannot begin to grasp that simple fact, then our collective future is far darker than it seems.

In the meantime, cut the crap. There are a bazillion resources out there (factcheck.org is a good one, too) if you don’t trust the ones the government is putting out. But if you’re pulling your hair out over some chain email (or even blog posting, purporting to be from someone’s brother in law who is just “concerned” or from some dude the “health care ranger…”) first have a look here:  at the aptly named “Please Cut the Crap.”

My grandfather once, with a grimace,  years ago, said “People get the government they deserve.” (When the people of the state I live in elected – for his second term- a guy who if not a felon, was certainly “crooked.”) If that’s the case, then by the look of things at the zeitgeist, we are deserving not very much…since so many of you seem to believe you are all living on desert islands, and so on….

To riff on a lovely line from the movie Serenity:

You are not John Galt. Universal health care is not some Evil Empire or socialistic conspiracy leading us to the evils of communism. The Obama Administration is also not some Evil Empire. You people railing against health care are not the plucky heroes. This is not the grand arena.

Get a grip. Cut the crap. Read some stuff and don’t limit your information intake to Fox (Faux) news or, for that matter, Daily Kos or the Huffington Post.

If you don’t or won’t, don’t go crying to the rest of the world in a few years when only five perecent of the population has much access to health care, your premiums are $20 grand a year, and our trade imbalance and business competitiveness is even lower than it is at the moment.

I grew up in this land of hyperbole, these United States, and I know I am prone to overstating the case, (culture seeps in, inorexably, after all.) But these days I cannot escape near-constant visions that many, many thousands are going to have to literally lose their lives due to inadequate health care, before the “plucky heroes” of the right-wing begin to see it. And that quite literally breaks my bleeding heart. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Uh, I can answer that without having to bother anyone to tie me up or anything. Yes, it’s torture. Simple as that.

Apparently the powers that be said that the longest anyone has withstood this particular form of torture was something in the neighborhood of 14-15 seconds.

This guy lasted about 6 seconds. (See link here.)

How completely insane. And some people look to idiots like him to help form their opinions about the world? God help us.

Ok, so perhaps we can look at it as a publicity stunt, but it’s still perfectly appalling.  What next? Someone cutting off Rush you-know-who’s fingers to see if HE will confess to anything interesting?

Come to think of it maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Note to the humor challenged: my next statement is entirely meant as sarcasm, mmmmkay?

Well, heck, if we can water-board one “rethuglican” talk show host, why can’t we water-board them all?

Oh wait, because it’s TORTURE.

Ms. Sanity shakes her head in wonder….Who pays these idiots? and furthermore, who listens to them?

How Is This Sane?

Tipsy Dazy has a comment here that challenged me to think long and hard about, well, everything, and particularly about communication.

Most of the people I have ever known do all tend to make assumptions regarding what is meant by a particular turn of phrase or word usage, (not to mention tone of voice, and so forth…) rather than listening carefully and attempting to think logically or critically or to ask the communicator for more information. I’d be lying if I pretended for one nanosecond that I don’t exhibit that kind of behavior on a regular basis, but hey, I’m working on it.  Read on if you want to know more about my (sane, though I say it myself… heh) ….assumptions.

In thinking about this sort of thing, and as I am today attempting to think about the issues of equality or inequality in American society, Tipsy made me remember that I should at least attempt to consider what some of the assumptions are behind my statements and my “world view.” It may be clumsy but here’s my attempt at some definition.

One of the assumptions that I believe underlie some of my thinking about the world is the idea that it almost certainly is not possible in human society to “legislate equality.” I can remember in my youth as part of my education in literature, reading the story “Harrison Bergeron” originally published by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961.  (available in full here.) I remember marveling as a child at Vonnegut’s brilliantly made point that it simply is not possible–and it is silly to try– to pass laws that will supposedly somehow make everyone “equal” in any real, meaningful way. We are all born with different skills, talents, interests, and capacities, and no amount of law-making is going to change that.

Having said that, I also in my youth digested the famous line from “Animal Farm,” which states: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL. BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

Whether I and my liberal brethren like it or not, (even though Orwell, of course, was speaking out against “some being more equal than others,”) the truth of the matter is that we are not in any way truly equal in the world except in the metaphorical sense of the worth of a human life which is immeasurable, of course….. and that this inequality does now and always will  include our incomes and cash assets. To oversimplify, our conservative brethren seem to me to also oversimplify, and that they worry that libruls (misspelling intentional, sorry) miss that point–e.g. that income, too, is not equal and never will be.

Actually we liberals/progressives, we understand that last point. Really. Anybody that’s tried to make an actual LIVING in America in the last twenty years or so, can hardly have missed it.

I also assume that conservatives (and too, libertarian types…) tend to think that liberals, and/or “progressives” furthermore have some deluded idea that somehow it is possible to wave our non-existent magical wands and make us all equal, in income or by any other measure. We aren’t equal, not in abilities, not in opportunities etc. etc. etc.

Another assumption that I hold, though I don’t think as a general rule that the majority of my countrymen would agree with me…(my friends, yes, and family… but most of the country? doubt it…. )….is that we ARE all equal, however, in terms of WORTH. (Inner, metaphysical, human-dignity type worth.)

Personally, I hold it to be self-evident too that (although, of course, it’s a slippery slope that requires much caution)  just because someone is in possession of assets – cash or other ones – does not mean that they acquired them legally or in any sort of morally acceptable fashion. This seems to be one assumption tenderly nurtured by the Republicans and Libertarians – e.g. that the assumption is that if someone has something today, that they are entitled to keep it in perpetuity.  (Witness the implosion of the entire financial world partly as a result of leveraging and re-leveraging “assets” that were backed by nothing or not very much or .0001 % of not very much… and the continuing clamor of investors to “be made whole.”)

On the other hand just because I might not think, for example, that Alan Greenspan has come by whatever assets he has in his bank account in any sort of moral, acceptable, or legal way,  does NOT give me the right to just ride in and seize his assets. That’s why we have due process, that’s why we have courts, and that’s why the framers tried to limit (not eliminate) the openings for “mob rule.”

Mobs are notoriously not great at critical thinking.

Back to what I think that conservatives and such assume; I think they assume that liberals think that assets can be/should be just taken away willy nilly from the have-mores and given to the have nothings. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who really believed that.

However what I do assume – and think is self-evident- though again I do not think the majority would agree with me in the United States - is that the inequalities of income CAN and should be leveled at least to a degree.  Take a close look at the graph on this post. How the hell does that make sense in a civilized society?

Oh yeah, that’s another thing. I do not assume that this really is a civilized society. Maybe never has been, when you take even a moment’s glance at our history.

And I certainly do not assume that this country is a representation of “the good guys” in the world, or that we have any right whatsoever to tell other countries how to run their affairs. Clearly our own “house” is not now and perhaps never been in order.

Two last ones before I stop… I DO also assume that taxes are part and parcel of the dues I and anyone else have to pay for living in a society. I do not assume that taxes are bad. Even if I do not think that the people I pay taxes to are stewarding them the way that I would steward them.

Last, and perhaps most important  assumption: I assume, with few and narrow exceptions, that there is not such a thing as “US” and  “THEM,” at least not on this planet. We live in a literal fishbowl – I assume that it is ALL  US. We are all in this damn life together. That seems pretty damn self evident to me.

And I assume that some day we will all assume that – but I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime.

What do YOU assume? What is self evident to you? I really would want to know.

A Sane Project?

I’ve been interested in this relatively new website called “White House Two,” which is meant to give the man or woman on the street the opportunity to voice their priorities for the country to the White House and to their “fellow Americans.” Nearly 8,000 people have joined the site, including yours truly.

Not surprisingly, it’s questionable how much attention will be paid to all this by the real white house/actual powers that be, but even so, I have found it to be an educational and interesting read. It’s located here. For a little more about it, read on. Another interesting aspect is that it has a system of “political capital” which you “earn” by being involved on the site, setting your priorities, interacting with others, and so on. One of the uses of that “capital” is that you can create advertising to actually sway people to endorse the priorities that YOU think are important for this country.

I have been fascinated, learning about the priorities of others, (even those I disagree violently with) and seeing the points at which we agree. It’s also the clearest picture I’ve seen anywhere of what the Obama administration is currently (publicly anyway) holding as their set of priorities.  And not surprisingly, you can compare and contrast the “real” white house’s stated priorities with your own.

I think anything that gets people to think about what’s going on in their country and to interact with each other about their priorities is a good thing, and I think this website is a very useful tool for that.

And I have certainly learned more about some issues that others espouse, such as the “Fair Tax” (wildly “endorsed” on this site, by the way) and a few others. Check it out. The more people that participate, the better.

For you social media buffs, it also will integrate, apparently with Facebook, and you can also find some of the Twitter people on there. I’d be interested to know what people think about it!

In it, among many other useful thoughts and ideas, I came upon his exhortation that we should all  “Increase our capacity to help other people increase THEIR capacities.”  In other words–to get better at helping others, well, get better (presumably better at whatever it is that they want to be better AT.)

Now I am not egotistical enough to think for one second that I can help everyone with everything. For instance if you want to get better at math, you are barking up the wrong blog, I’m a verbal girl if there ever was one.

I suppose the premise for this blog in toto was to hopefully gently point out some parts of modern life which are insane, and steer the reader to more, well, sane points of view/actions/thinking/tactics.

But I’d really like to know… what are the things that the readers around here would like to get better at? Do you want to know more about social media or blogging? Or how to not go insane when you’re worried about money? Or how to spot absolute insanity in a  prospective romantic partner?

Do tell. And I’ll do my best to help. I may not know the answers, but I am great at finding people who do!

It seems to me that if even a tenth of our culture became fixated on at least occasionally “increasing their capacity to help others increase their capacities” our country and world would be MUCH stronger, as a result.

What say you?

Puritans are so 1700. Don't censor me!

Look, I’m all for people having religious freedom, I really am.  I’m all for people believing whatever they want. I am, however, more than a little tired of puritanical people making decisions about what other adults can see and hear, say on television.

For instance we happened to be up at about 12:30 the other night watching something or other, and the word “damn,” had been edited out. Damn!  I also am not impressed when those warnings come up at 11:30 p.m.  (e.g. “This show is not suitable for children.”) AND it’s also censored. It annoys me to no end. Responsible parents have their *#^$%#)(# children in bed at a decent hour. (Look, I just censored MYSELF!) Just because some people don’t see fit to put their kids to bed at a humane hour, I have to suffer through movies where “you bastard” gets censored to “you rat head!” It’s insane!

Look, I just don’t understand why our sensibilites are considered to be so delicate that we can’t handle language on television. If the puritanical among us get all gooey when someone says “bastard,” then there is an easy solution. Change the frigging channel!

I have some hope that my generation (which is mostly still not the powers that be, I’m speaking of people born in the late 60s’) will move the cause of NON-Puritanism further.

I mean, I don’t like hardcore violence or snuff films. Ergo, I don’t watch them. I’m not leading a campaign to have them all CENSORED. Where do these puritans get off?

In other words, I’m one of the millions out here that can handle profanity. It’s the way people talk. Film makers and the lot shouldn’t have to do backflips to try to evade the language police. We are grownups out here in the hinterland. We can decide for ourselves if something is too racy.

We’ve got far bigger societal problems to tackle besides freaking language and content on television.

But you don’t have to take it from me, ask Lewis Black. Now there’s a man who gives me hope.

Use that brain, it's there for a reason

Having grown up in the USA, and been educated here, obviously nearly all of my experience is with American culture. Simply because of pure dumb luck, I was exposed through my work to some well-educated Americans who understood the importance of critical thinking, at the ripe old age of about 32, and who made a point to stimulate “critical thinking” in all their employees.

I had been exposed to the idea of critical thinking briefly early in my education and again in college, but most of my work experience from early adulthood on was entirely based on hierarchy and critical thinking was NOT encouraged.  I still remember my shock when I was asked for my opinion at this critical thinking job.  It seems to me this lack of critical thinking is endemic in the US and it’s one of the many things that MUST change if we are going to improve our standing and our culture; economically, spiritually, and in every other way. I spoke to my mother recently and she mentioned that at her church they had an “organ fund” (for a new musical instrument) which was invested in the stock market and which, like every other stock market holding, had lost 50% of its value in the past few weeks. Fifty percent! She was shocked that nobody other than herself and her husband even questioned why this money was still in the stock market… and that nobody seemed to be able to think through why this was not a good idea… not to mention the fact that fundraising for an organ in this time when people are losing jobs left and right and struggling with how they might feed their children…. might be seen as less than desirable by the community.

We struggled trying to understand why these (she assured me very intelligent and well educated people…) were seemingly unable to think critically about the situation.  She said she would not donate even $5.00 to something that wasn’t being managed in a sensible fashion. I don’t blame her. But others in the church had donated $10,000 toward the fund. Our best guess is that people didn’t want to think about the church’s money because it might make them have to think about how they were stewarding their own resources.

Folks it is way past time for America to put her critical thinking cap on. We have got to stop and think about things, be they pleasant or unpleasant, and form considered (and critical) opinions.

It’s long past time to keep taking cues from what the culture throws out (e.g. Greed is Good! Fame Is Desirable! and so on….) and to see if those values and cues are in line with what we really, down deep, otherwise think. The future of the country and society depends on it.

For more on that last bit see this most excellent article on “Things You Think Will Make You Happy But Really Won’t.” (NSFW, and not safe for people who are offended by profanity, but on the other hand, if you are “offended by profanity,” perhaps you should start right there, and critically examine why you are offended by it and what that really means!)

Critical thinking really is the key to a better tomorrow.  It’s the path to sanity.

Happy Lady

When you look around, it’s easy to think that the culture in the USA is not one that lends itself toward caring for one another (though there is some hope among we liberal types that the tide may be turning to a degree.) It’s easy to get discouraged in these “interesting times” (as the Chinese might call them.) When fear or feeling discouraged it’s really important to remember that there is a great deal that each of us can do on our own toward meeting our needs. We don’t have to wait to be rescued… we can, and should, get  moving, and make a positive difference in our own lives and the lives of the people that we care about.

That is not to say that we should not expect help, from our neighbors or from the government when it is needed (after all, governments are about more than just collecting taxes and invading other countries, theoretically) or that every element of every situation we find ourselves in is our own fault.

Ayn Rand was wrong, for the most part, but that’s a whole bunch of other posts, and I digress.

My point is that frightened or not, it’s critical for all of us to believe in ourselves, in our capacities, both individually and as a family, community, and country. We must also have hope and positive expectations that no matter what we are facing, that we have the ability to make a difference, we are not helpless, lost little lambs.

If you find yourself having trouble bringing up that positive attitude–reach out. Talk to others, talk to someone you trust.

Then get moving. Do something, anything. It’s as my mother used to say, “It’s usually better to do something, because most people aren’t doing anything.” That movement, in and of itself, will help you to feel better.