A View Askew
(Or: Did the Dinosaurs See the Comet?)
Apr 2014 Issue
11
When
Friends Pretend to be Helpful
Someone’s idea of humor at Dear Leader’s expense
I recently committed a rather grievous
error in judgment. (Almost never happens) As many of my friends know, I enjoy a bath every evening. (I
know, I know, when I was a kid it was hard for my mom to wrestle me in there even
once a week. Also, I understand that this might leave a very ugly mental
picture for you, sorry.)
I have had this unusual habit for
several years. I take my current reading material and a single cocktail (in a
Solo cup for safety, of course, not its convenient huge size!) and soak in hot
water for an hour or so. (And yes, it is very kind of Mrs. Dear Leader to be so
patient.) Ahhhhh. As luck would have it, this past week, after all this time
with no “accidents,” I managed to knock my beverage into the tub. Well, you can
imagine the damage that did to the ice cubes and my drink – I could barely
scoop it back in the cup! Well not really, so despite my desperate urge to
salvage it, alas, I let it run down the drain – tres tragique!
As if that wasn’t bad enough, though, I
then committed the terrible blunder of mentioning this sad event to our local pusher,
er, ah, liquor store manager. As you might guess she and her staff didn’t
really see as much tragedy in this event as did I. In fact, they found humor in
it – the nerve! Worse, she even offered a solution to preclude future
accidents. Yes, a tippy cup (as shown in the picture above.) Very kind of her,
huh?
Why, if I didn’t need them more than
they need me I'd do something about this outrageous insult!
Thanks anyway, Jen.
Short Takes
More Bad Visuals Alert!
I recently had my annual physical
(don’t worry I’m not going to go where you think I am.) So as anyone who has Medicare
will tell you a Medicare physical is . .
. different. First, the nurse takes the BP then she gave me three words she
wants me to memorize (I believe “sunrise”, “banana” and “chair”) and said she was going to ask me again later.
Then she asked me if I had fallen down lately or had any “accidents” (I didn’t
mention the horror of the bathtub incident.) Then she asked me to draw a clock that
said 11:10 (I was going to ask AM or PM but thought better of it.) I then drew
a digital clock which she quickly said had been done before (must had one of my
friends in before me) so I just drew a boring clock face. Must have passed
that. Then she asked me to reproduce those three words – Easy! “sunrise”,
“banana” and “lunch.” Hey, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right? It’s been like three
minutes already! Finally, she asked me if I been depressed lately. Of course I
answered, “Compared to what?”
That’s it. That’s the physical – I
hadn’t even seen the doc yet! When I did see him he said that’s all that
Medicare requires; no unsightly touching or coughing or anything! How great is
that?! (And it saves tons of money for Medicare too.) Except, of course, if
you’re actually interested in your health.
He then proceeded to give me his usual
“vigorous” physical which, despite the nurse’s misgivings about me, I appeared
to pass with colors (not sure they were flying though – I hope she uses the
same three stupid words for next year, I’ll be ready!)
I
Miss Calvin and Hobbes!
“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists
elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
– Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
Want Some Rice With that Degree?
You may have noted that Condoleezza Rice is to give
a speech at the U of M and apparently this irritated a few (liberal) people.
They were angry that she was giving a speech because, A) she was a part of the
Bush administration and supported the war policies and B) was a getting a check
for 150G’s. Can’t do anything about the money (no matter how hard I find it to
believe that anyone has $150,000 of information to share) but opposing someone
because they have different views than yourself doesn’t sound like the height
of academic vigor to me. Luckily, it seems the University Senate voted to keep
her on the agenda.
In my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter what your
political persuasion is, having a closed mind is never a good thing -
especially in college.
Things That I Think About
“SOME” SAY OBAMA PLANNED 9/11!
I’m sorry, that’s not
quite right. Maybe what he really said was that he planned to get to the bottom of 9/11 but who cares?
(Equal opportunity picture at the
end)
Facts, Beliefs and . . . Fear? (Part One)
Hold
on to your hats folks, you’re about to get a REAL askew view of Dear Leader’s
mind!
I know it’s a cheap trick but the picture and quote
above got your attention, right? Just like a National Enquirer headline – or a
political email we might get. I’ll bet you had some immediate response too; either
got mad about another attack on our peerless leader or kind of laughed as if
anything is possible with this guy. It really represents a great look into the
way we think. So how come you reacted as you did? Because you have some facts to support you?
Or is it an opinion or belief about the man (and what he represents to you?)
It was this sort of thing that lured me into an interesting
discussion this week with one of my many smart friends. It regarded where the
country was heading and why. (Deep topic for simple a mind!) In the end, as is
often the case, we still disagreed on some things and that’s okay – we’ll always
have golf in common! Unfortunately, though, this conversation sent me
down a rabbit hole trying to understand the difference between facts, beliefs
and opinions. Which brings me to . . .
From Colorado State
University “Writing Studio” site CSU
Writing Studio:
A fact is verifiable. We can
determine whether it is true by researching the evidence. This may involve
numbers, dates, testimony, etc. (Ex.: "World War II ended in 1945.")
The truth of the fact is beyond argument if one can assume that measuring
devices or records or memories are correct.
Nobody argues that 2x2 = 4 or that the theory of relativity
(or gravity) are not true even if we might not understand them.
It can get trickier though.
An opinion is a judgment based on facts, an
honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from factual evidence. (For
example, we know that millions of people go without proper medical care, and so
you form the opinion that the country should institute national health
insurance even though it would cost billions of dollars.) An opinion is
potentially changeable--depending on how the evidence is interpreted. By
themselves, opinions have little power to convince. You must always let your
reader know what your evidence is and how it led you to arrive at your opinion. (From
the same site above)
On the other hand, while many of us may treat evolution or
global warming as a fact, many of us have a differing opinion. (Although ALL scientists put evolution in with gravity!) Same as with Obama? Or is it a belief?
Unlike an opinion, a belief is a conviction based on
cultural or personal faith, morality, or values. Statements
such as "Capital punishment is legalized murder" are often called
"opinions" because they express viewpoints, but they are not based on
facts or other evidence. They cannot be disproved or even contested in a
rational or logical manner. Since beliefs are inarguable, they cannot serve as
the thesis of a formal argument. (From the same site above)
I think most of us would say that our relationship with God
or our religion is totally based on belief. That’s pretty simple and no less important but certainly different than facts and opinions. Of course, when you have
dueling beliefs e.g. Christianity and Islam, liberalism and conservatism
or difficult things like pro-life/pro-choice, we have a tough time
navigating because even if there are facts, they don’t seem to matter – or are
only viewed through the lens of belief. And THAT, dear reader, is where the
trouble starts.
It also seems beliefs in one thing can totally slant your view of something else, something seemingly unrelated. Another example: there’s a lot of facts around global warming, going both ways, BUT it is often the belief in something else that drives our view. For example, you may believe it’s a conspiracy or that you will have to give up something in your life so you disregard the facts and choose not to believe it. Or, you really do believe that man is a creep and we deserve to give up our way of life ergo you choose to believe it. See what I’m saying? A belief in one thing – maybe even unrelated – can drive our views or opinions in other things DESPITE any facts. You get my point; beliefs are powerful and a tough thing to budge - no matter what evidence there may be. And in the end, it seems pretty obvious that most of us deal more with opinions and belief than facts in everyday life. Which brings us to this troubling little item.
It also seems beliefs in one thing can totally slant your view of something else, something seemingly unrelated. Another example: there’s a lot of facts around global warming, going both ways, BUT it is often the belief in something else that drives our view. For example, you may believe it’s a conspiracy or that you will have to give up something in your life so you disregard the facts and choose not to believe it. Or, you really do believe that man is a creep and we deserve to give up our way of life ergo you choose to believe it. See what I’m saying? A belief in one thing – maybe even unrelated – can drive our views or opinions in other things DESPITE any facts. You get my point; beliefs are powerful and a tough thing to budge - no matter what evidence there may be. And in the end, it seems pretty obvious that most of us deal more with opinions and belief than facts in everyday life. Which brings us to this troubling little item.
Another kind of assertion that has no place in serious
argumentation is prejudice, a half-baked opinion based
on insufficient or unexamined evidence. (Ex.: "Women are
bad drivers.") Unlike a belief, a prejudice is testable: it can be
contested and disproved on the basis of facts. We often form prejudices or
accept them from others--family, friends, the media, etc.--without questioning
their meaning or testing their truth. . (From the same site above)
So whenever we
drift very far from facts or even informed opinions, this is where we can kind
of get in trouble with beliefs. My friend would say you need to believe in
something and I absolutely agree - as long as we do our very best to keep
this last little glitch in the system under control!
Finally, (I can hear the sigh of relief) here’s what I REALLY
want to talk about: we have had opposing beliefs in this country for a loooonnnngggg time - so why does it seem we disrespect other people's beliefs so much now? i.e. “What I believe to
be true must be true and if you don’t believe it then you are not only wrong, you're the freaking enemy!" What the hell happened to us?!
(Find out in the next View Askew! Hint: has to do with fear.)
Depending on Your Beliefs Make up your Own Statement!
More Things to Think
About
The Life of an Adjunct
Teacher
I saw
this article in the Sunday (3/30) StarTribune (see link above) that was
interesting, near and dear to my heart – and depressing. Perhaps you saw it;
the article is titled “Teaching College Courses for Barista’s Pay.”
As
you may know I am an adjunct teacher for the University of Phoenix (I would
never presume to call myself professor!) I will vouch for the fact that we
don’t make very much money but I just assumed that was because we’re a bunch of
schmucks working for a for profit college (not that there’s anything wrong with
that!) Little did I know that adjuncts make up such a huge proportion of
instructors across the whole post- secondary education field including locals St
Thomas, Macalester and the UofM. Shockingly, they are all apparently paid just as
crappy as we are.
Two
things jump out at me: 1) the article mentions professors who are teaching
history and other “soft” fields (like Critical Thinking which I teach, I guess.)
Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a justification for the poverty wages these folks
are making but it begs the question - are there a lot of adjuncts in math and
science as well and are they paid the same?
2) There’s a LOT of people with degrees and advanced degrees working not
only FOR barista’s wages but AS baristas. I doubt that was their career goal. To
me it that just re-emphasizes that the value of degrees has, shall we say,
depreciated over the past several years. Also, I think it implies that the
whole “get a degree” yelling we hear needs to be very clearly thought through by
parents and students.
I
am a HUGE believer in a liberal arts education BUT this isn’t your father’s
world (or even the world YOU grew up in) where employers value a degree in art history or
political science (like yours truly) as you do. And
if the kid just has to be an expert in Near Eastern Mediterranean Basket Weaving then for God’s sake don’t let them go into
debt! As an aside, you hear a lot of people say “It’s good idea to have more
kids go get a skill at a technical or community college.” Sounds like good
advice. As is usually the case, though, it turns out, most parents think that’s
for OTHER people’s kids - but not little Johnny or Julie who MUST to get a 4 year degree (from Harvard!)
I am
fortunate at this stage of life to be able to do something I really enjoy and
not really worry about how much I get paid. A lot of people aren’t so lucky. Do
I think it is wrong that the way people in the article are paid? Of course. You
know what though? A lot of the work in this country is “mispriced.” (See
professional athletes, many corporation CEOs and even college presidents.) But
who cares what I think; I’m just an adjunct teacher working for 10 bucks an
hour!
I
(and most of you) have been very lucky to have lived when we have. I have no
idea where this is all going but I’m glad I’m out of the career game!
Spring is . . . Springing!
In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the
robin's breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself
another crest;
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the
burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to
thoughts of love.
“Locksley Hall” by Alfred Lord
Tennyson
Ah, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of
love. . .
Well, who cares?! What’s an old guy’s fancy
turn to? (Or, more grammatically correct, to what does an old guy’s fancy turn?)
I know what you’re thinking; some predictable thing about golf. Ha! Little do
you know!
No, older guys thoughts also turn to love too
– just in different way. For example, we and our spouse have been cooped up in
a little house together for freaking 7 months and we will really love the fact
that we can get more than 20 ft from each other (without freezing to death.)
Older guys will love not dressing in layers
because we’re always cold - in the house.
Older guys love not digging dog poop out of
snow banks.
Older guys love the period between snow
shoveling and lawn mowing.
Olders guys love the sweet spot between
winter and summer when both the gas bill and electric bill go down.
Older guys love the disappearance of those
burqa-like parkas from the fairer sex (and the return of sundresses.)
And finally, yes, we love green grass, bright
sun and long days of . . . cursing at a little white ball!
Some
sunny music.
Thanks, for reading.
Remember, making a comment is free! And so is sharing the link (or have
them contact me and I’ll add them to the distribution.) Happy Spring and
“Be a good citizen of your world ”
Could I call instead? Oh never mind, I’ll just drive over
. . . and don’t be
a dope.
Quote Du Jour
"The
trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are
full of doubt." Bertrand Russell
A View Askew is the sole property of D Roger Pederson, Mpls MN. You may forward without special permission but if you want to use anything here for your own purposes please send me a request at dpeders2002@gmail.com.
A View Askew
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