On July 1st, a long list of new laws went into effect here in Virginia. I wonder why.
The major new law prohibits text messaging while driving - it carries a $20 fine for the first offense and a $50 penalty for subsequent violations, and drivers can be cited only after being stopped by police for another reason, such as running a red light.
On the one hand, texting while driving is so dangerous that one side of me is glad it's been outlawed. On the other hand, I think it's depressing that we need a law to keep people from doing something so dangerous. It's also depressing to know that the Common Virginia Dumbass (moronus oblivious) will keep on doing it anyway, until he kills himself or someone else.
We seem to have the idea that problems can be solved simply by passing laws. My personal view is that a proliferation of laws breeds resentment and what one might call "law fatigue." I've never believed you can legislate common sense - we can ban smoking in most bars and restaurants (coming here in Virginia on December 1st), and people intent on killing themselves and others by smoking will still find a way to do it; you can ban texting while driving, and fools who think they'll live forever will still do it; you can require motorcyclists to wear helmets, and morons will line up to prove they have granite heads impervious to injury when they come out second in a contest with a fixed object.
I have the same feeling about so-called "hate crime legislation." If a person is murdered because he's black or white, gay or straight, Jewish or Muslim, male or female, or whatever - the crime is murder. Murder has been illegal since Cain slew Abel (unless, of course, you are a radical Muslim, in which case you believe killing infidels is okay). The victim, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, or anything else, is still dead and the killer needs to be punished. Adding another layer of legal obfuscation atop the original crime does nothing except give new ammunition for lawyers seeking to drag out the procedings and make more money.
Paradoxically, more laws can lead to less-lawful behavior as scofflaws ignore them, shrewd lawyers engineer workarounds, and venal legislators legislate exceptions for their campaign contributors. We started out with 10 Commandments...the United States Code alone is divided into 50 separate "Titles," and each state, county, city, and minor municipality piles its own laws on top of those. Each of us can almost certainly be arrested for something.
Common sense isn't so common any more. We've buried it under heaps of laws.
Have a good day. Do the right thing because it's right - not because the law forces you to.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Monday, July 06, 2009
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The Fifth of July
Yesterday was the Fourth of July, America's premier national holiday and the traditional high point of the summer. There were parades and picnics, family reunions were held, much baseball was played, and huge fireworks displays were offered in those communities which can still afford them. Here in Pittsburgh, where we're visiting my father, the weather was warm and cloudy, with a nice breeze. It was a good, traditional, American Fourth of July.
But today is the Fifth of July.
If you're the Fifth of July, you get no respect.
Nobody goes to a movie called "Born on the Fifth of July." There are no parades and fireworks, just the complaints of a lot of grumpy people who have to clean up the mess from the previous day. Stores don't have blowout Fifth of July sales. Even all the red, white and blue bunting looks a little limp and sad, and the flags don't seem to fly as high and float as proudly on the summer breeze.
So let's make the Fifth of July feel a little better. What happened on the Fifth of July?
In 1943, the largest tank battle in history - the Battle of Kursk - began. What the Germans called "Operation Citadel" pitted some 50 German divisions against an enormous Russian force, and led to a decisive defeat for the Germans.
Showman P.T. ("there's a sucker born every minute") Barnum and American Naval hero David ("damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead!") Farragut were born on July 5th, as was former French prime minister George Pompidou.
On July 5th, 1865, William Booth established the Christian Mission in London's East End. The Christian Mission in 1878 became what we know today as The Salvation Army - one of the world's major charitable organizations.
Swing Era bandleader Harry James and architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school of design, both died on July 5th.
On July 5th, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveiled a daring two-piece swimsuit at a swimming pool in Paris. He named it the "bikini," after the location of the recent nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
And on July 5th, 1687, Isaac Newton published his book, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (Principia Mathematica). The book contains Newton’s laws of motion, which are part of the foundation of modern physics.
So let's show a little love to the Fifth of July. Even if you'd prefer the fifth of bourbon, ha, ha.
Agnes and I will be heading home later this morning, so please try to avoid us on the highways if you're traveling, too. The drive up here was stressful enough...I could use a break.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
But today is the Fifth of July.
If you're the Fifth of July, you get no respect.
Nobody goes to a movie called "Born on the Fifth of July." There are no parades and fireworks, just the complaints of a lot of grumpy people who have to clean up the mess from the previous day. Stores don't have blowout Fifth of July sales. Even all the red, white and blue bunting looks a little limp and sad, and the flags don't seem to fly as high and float as proudly on the summer breeze.
So let's make the Fifth of July feel a little better. What happened on the Fifth of July?
In 1943, the largest tank battle in history - the Battle of Kursk - began. What the Germans called "Operation Citadel" pitted some 50 German divisions against an enormous Russian force, and led to a decisive defeat for the Germans.
Showman P.T. ("there's a sucker born every minute") Barnum and American Naval hero David ("damn the torpedoes - full speed ahead!") Farragut were born on July 5th, as was former French prime minister George Pompidou.
On July 5th, 1865, William Booth established the Christian Mission in London's East End. The Christian Mission in 1878 became what we know today as The Salvation Army - one of the world's major charitable organizations.
Swing Era bandleader Harry James and architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school of design, both died on July 5th.
On July 5th, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveiled a daring two-piece swimsuit at a swimming pool in Paris. He named it the "bikini," after the location of the recent nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
And on July 5th, 1687, Isaac Newton published his book, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (Principia Mathematica). The book contains Newton’s laws of motion, which are part of the foundation of modern physics.
So let's show a little love to the Fifth of July. Even if you'd prefer the fifth of bourbon, ha, ha.
Agnes and I will be heading home later this morning, so please try to avoid us on the highways if you're traveling, too. The drive up here was stressful enough...I could use a break.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Cartoon Saturday
A US soldier taken prisoner in Afghanistan has reportedly been sold to one of the warring clans; Sarah Palin has resigned as governor of Alaska, probably because she can see Washington from there; North Korea has test-fired seven missiles, the international relations equivalent of a two-year old's temper tantrum, but slightly more dangerous; no one is quite sure who the real president of Honduras is; and the Navy reports that a sailor standing guard duty at Camp Pendleton was murdered earlier this week.
Sit down, take deep, cleansing breaths, and let Cartoon Saturday make it all better.
It's not always easy to go through life with a degree in Linguistics, cringing when language is misused and abused (especially when you live in Washington and have to listen to the tortured screams of English coming from Capitol Hill). Here are two cartoons about language...
and,
There are some good cartoons out there poking fun at those of us in the blogging community, too...
and,
Getting old is a real pain. Of course, the alternative is worse. I was moaning one day some years ago about getting old, and my loving daughter told me not to worry...that I wasn't getting old, I was just getting fat. I think I can relate to this cartoon ...
And finally, surrounded as I am with brilliant and precocious grandchildren, I thought this was an especially good cartoon ...
Cartoon Saturday comes to you today from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Agnes and I are spending the weekend with my father and my sister and her family. Wherever you are spending this Fourth of July holiday weekend, I hope it's safe and happy.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Sit down, take deep, cleansing breaths, and let Cartoon Saturday make it all better.
It's not always easy to go through life with a degree in Linguistics, cringing when language is misused and abused (especially when you live in Washington and have to listen to the tortured screams of English coming from Capitol Hill). Here are two cartoons about language...
and,
There are some good cartoons out there poking fun at those of us in the blogging community, too...
and,
Getting old is a real pain. Of course, the alternative is worse. I was moaning one day some years ago about getting old, and my loving daughter told me not to worry...that I wasn't getting old, I was just getting fat. I think I can relate to this cartoon ...
And finally, surrounded as I am with brilliant and precocious grandchildren, I thought this was an especially good cartoon ...
Cartoon Saturday comes to you today from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Agnes and I are spending the weekend with my father and my sister and her family. Wherever you are spending this Fourth of July holiday weekend, I hope it's safe and happy.Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Friday, July 03, 2009
Let the Computer Do It
The terrible Metro train crash here in DC last month is slowly receding into memory. The investigation is still ongoing, the victims have been memorialized, the politicians have all made the usual promises about fixing the underlying problems, and reinforced battalions of lawyers are licking their chops in expectation of huge fees for suing on behalf of the injured and the merely inconvenienced.
The exact cause of the crash is as yet unknown, but investigators seem to be focusing on a malfunctioning sensor in the rails which prevented one train - operating in the fully automated mode - from realizing that another train was stopped on the tracks ahead.
It was the computer's fault.
Automation can be a wonderful, and even a necessary thing. Much of the speed and convenience we enjoy in everyday life can be attributed to the quiet workings of networks of computers and sensors we generally don't know are even there. John can tell you about the use of computers in the air traffic control system that allows us to fly from point A to point B safely. Computers allow us to share our ramblings in blogs. They let us pay for gas at the pump and Big Macs at the register, and they let Andrea (and all the rest of us) enjoy digital music. They help manage traffic in major cities and facilitate the vast volume of transactions that let stockbrokers and hedge fund managers make our retirement funds disappear into other people's pockets.
But what happens when the computers don't do what they're supposed to? What happens when a sensor fails, or a line of code doesn't work quite right, or some worthless moron of a hacker makes the system go haywire? The best case result is minor annoyance and irritation; the worst case is a fatal accident when computers fail the trains, planes, and cars which rely on them.
This article from The Washington Post points out the problem: Metro Crash May Exemplify Automation Paradox. The article quotes a human factors expert who says, "The problem is when individuals start to overtrust or overrely or become complacent and put too much emphasis on the automation." In other words, perhaps we allow computers to do too much. Perhaps we slavishly assume that everything works better when we take the human out of the system and just let the computers run it.
In the words of the song, "it ain't necessarily so."
In 1966, British author Dennis Feltham Jones wrote a book titled Colossus which was made into a movie called Colossus: The Forbin Project, and which later yielded the Terminator franchise. The basic plot line was that Professor Charles Forbin had developed the ultimate, integrated defense system which allowed a mighty computer (Colossus) to take over all nuclear weapons, removing the fingers of fallible humans from the triggers. Good idea. Except that the Russians had their own version of Colossus, called Guardian, and when Colossus and Guardian recognized each other and joined forces ... well ... let's just say things didn't work out quite the way good Professor Forbin intended. The original novel and film are, in my opinion, much better than the Terminator series, even if they lack the sophisticated special effects.
As cautionary tales go, Colossus is a pretty good one. While the deaths of nine people in a Metro crash ... or even the deaths of 228 people in the recent Air France crash ... don't compare to the deaths of hundreds of millions in the Terminator movies, they still point out the problems of overreliance on automated systems.
Computers and automation have given us amazing levels of safety and convenience, but they can also give us awful levels of heartbreak and misery. There's no point in being a Luddite, but a healthy level of skepticism about automation isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm still flying and riding the Metro, after all ... feeling a little better from knowing that John is on the job when I fly, and that the Metrorail controllers are awake and watching during my commute.
Have a good day. Your computer will help you do it.
Cartoon Saturday is coming tomorrow.
Bilbo
The exact cause of the crash is as yet unknown, but investigators seem to be focusing on a malfunctioning sensor in the rails which prevented one train - operating in the fully automated mode - from realizing that another train was stopped on the tracks ahead.
It was the computer's fault.
Automation can be a wonderful, and even a necessary thing. Much of the speed and convenience we enjoy in everyday life can be attributed to the quiet workings of networks of computers and sensors we generally don't know are even there. John can tell you about the use of computers in the air traffic control system that allows us to fly from point A to point B safely. Computers allow us to share our ramblings in blogs. They let us pay for gas at the pump and Big Macs at the register, and they let Andrea (and all the rest of us) enjoy digital music. They help manage traffic in major cities and facilitate the vast volume of transactions that let stockbrokers and hedge fund managers make our retirement funds disappear into other people's pockets.
But what happens when the computers don't do what they're supposed to? What happens when a sensor fails, or a line of code doesn't work quite right, or some worthless moron of a hacker makes the system go haywire? The best case result is minor annoyance and irritation; the worst case is a fatal accident when computers fail the trains, planes, and cars which rely on them.
This article from The Washington Post points out the problem: Metro Crash May Exemplify Automation Paradox. The article quotes a human factors expert who says, "The problem is when individuals start to overtrust or overrely or become complacent and put too much emphasis on the automation." In other words, perhaps we allow computers to do too much. Perhaps we slavishly assume that everything works better when we take the human out of the system and just let the computers run it.
In the words of the song, "it ain't necessarily so."
In 1966, British author Dennis Feltham Jones wrote a book titled Colossus which was made into a movie called Colossus: The Forbin Project, and which later yielded the Terminator franchise. The basic plot line was that Professor Charles Forbin had developed the ultimate, integrated defense system which allowed a mighty computer (Colossus) to take over all nuclear weapons, removing the fingers of fallible humans from the triggers. Good idea. Except that the Russians had their own version of Colossus, called Guardian, and when Colossus and Guardian recognized each other and joined forces ... well ... let's just say things didn't work out quite the way good Professor Forbin intended. The original novel and film are, in my opinion, much better than the Terminator series, even if they lack the sophisticated special effects.
As cautionary tales go, Colossus is a pretty good one. While the deaths of nine people in a Metro crash ... or even the deaths of 228 people in the recent Air France crash ... don't compare to the deaths of hundreds of millions in the Terminator movies, they still point out the problems of overreliance on automated systems.
Computers and automation have given us amazing levels of safety and convenience, but they can also give us awful levels of heartbreak and misery. There's no point in being a Luddite, but a healthy level of skepticism about automation isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm still flying and riding the Metro, after all ... feeling a little better from knowing that John is on the job when I fly, and that the Metrorail controllers are awake and watching during my commute.
Have a good day. Your computer will help you do it.
Cartoon Saturday is coming tomorrow.
Bilbo
Thursday, July 02, 2009
101 Things to Do (More or Less)
Bloggers seem to have a thing about lists. How many annoying memes have you been tagged with that ask you for five or ten or thirteen things about a particular topic, and how many posts have you read that express the writer's idea in terms of a list?
Last year, I posted Bilbo's Bucket List - my list of things I wanted to do before I kicked the proverbial bucket. This was inspired, of course, by the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie about two elderly men who break out of a cancer ward and set out to have a last fling by doing all the things on their own "bucket lists." I only had five things on that list at the time I wrote the post.
The other day, Amanda wrote about her own 101 Things to DoList, and noted that it only contained 64 items. She wondered about the length of the list, asking "Have I become so unambitious? Am I so complacent in life that I can't even think of things that I want to do before I die? Or have I just become boring? Older? Unimaginative? Narrow minded? Maybe I've lost some brain cells and I just can't think anymore?"
I thought she was writing about me. After all, her 101 Things list has 64 things on it. My more-or-less equivalent Bucket List only had five (six, if you count the one about visiting Vienna and St Petersburg as two items). I need to get moving, lest I be thought of as boring, older, unimaginative, narrow-minded, or lacking in brain cells (no comment necessary, Mike).
So (drum roll, please) ... here is the start on my own updated Bucket List/101 Things to Do Before I Die List. Wish me luck ...
1. Dance at the weddings of all my grandchildren.
2. Hold my first (at least!) great-grandchild and tell him (or her) stories.
3. Visit Vienna (Austria, not Virginia).
4. Visit St Petersburg (Russia, not Florida).
5. Go on a really long cruise with Agnes...around northern Europe and the Mediterranean, or through the South Pacific.
6. Dance a waltz with Edyta Sliwinska.
7. Publish an article in a national magazine.
8. Write and publish a book.
9. Learn to moonwalk.
10. Take a carpentry course and learn to build things.
11. Learn to take really good glamour photographs (no sense in having a high-end camera and knowing lots of beautiful women if I can't intersect the two).
12. Get my garden to the point where I'm actually getting more vegetables from it than the deer are.
Okay, I'm up to 12 things. That's about 52 things short of Amanda's list, so she ought to feel better.
At the moment, though, #1 on my to-do list is to get my pasty-white backside off to work so that I can earn the money to start working my way through that list. I've just got to win the lottery...
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Last year, I posted Bilbo's Bucket List - my list of things I wanted to do before I kicked the proverbial bucket. This was inspired, of course, by the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie about two elderly men who break out of a cancer ward and set out to have a last fling by doing all the things on their own "bucket lists." I only had five things on that list at the time I wrote the post.
The other day, Amanda wrote about her own 101 Things to DoList, and noted that it only contained 64 items. She wondered about the length of the list, asking "Have I become so unambitious? Am I so complacent in life that I can't even think of things that I want to do before I die? Or have I just become boring? Older? Unimaginative? Narrow minded? Maybe I've lost some brain cells and I just can't think anymore?"
I thought she was writing about me. After all, her 101 Things list has 64 things on it. My more-or-less equivalent Bucket List only had five (six, if you count the one about visiting Vienna and St Petersburg as two items). I need to get moving, lest I be thought of as boring, older, unimaginative, narrow-minded, or lacking in brain cells (no comment necessary, Mike).
So (drum roll, please) ... here is the start on my own updated Bucket List/101 Things to Do Before I Die List. Wish me luck ...
1. Dance at the weddings of all my grandchildren.
2. Hold my first (at least!) great-grandchild and tell him (or her) stories.
3. Visit Vienna (Austria, not Virginia).
4. Visit St Petersburg (Russia, not Florida).
5. Go on a really long cruise with Agnes...around northern Europe and the Mediterranean, or through the South Pacific.
6. Dance a waltz with Edyta Sliwinska.
7. Publish an article in a national magazine.
8. Write and publish a book.
9. Learn to moonwalk.
10. Take a carpentry course and learn to build things.
11. Learn to take really good glamour photographs (no sense in having a high-end camera and knowing lots of beautiful women if I can't intersect the two).
12. Get my garden to the point where I'm actually getting more vegetables from it than the deer are.
Okay, I'm up to 12 things. That's about 52 things short of Amanda's list, so she ought to feel better.
At the moment, though, #1 on my to-do list is to get my pasty-white backside off to work so that I can earn the money to start working my way through that list. I've just got to win the lottery...
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Dress Codes, Threats, and Common Sense
Al Qaeda never seems to run out of things to threaten its perceived enemies over. Today, according to this article from CNN, a branch of al Qaeda has threatened to "take revenge on France by every means and wherever we can reach them" for the heinous crime of debating whether or not the burqa should be permitted to be worn in France.
The horror!
In case you aren't familiar with the term, a burqa is the robe worn by some Muslim women which covers them from head to foot, leaving only the eyes exposed. As it is worn in Afghanistan, even the eyes are hidden, covered by a mesh window. Here is a picture of two Iranian women wearing burqas -
The debate over wearing of the burqa has many aspects. Some fundamentalist Muslims believe it is required by Koranic verses which require female "modesty," while others settle for a similar robe which exposes the face, and others for a simple head scarf which hides the hair and neck.
I personally believe the burqa is stupid and without social or religious justification, but my opinion tends not to carry much weight with those who believe women are a deadly threat to men's morals and need to be completely hidden so that they do not provide a temptation to evil thoughts and a distraction from prayer.
But should its wearing be illegal?
The short answer is no. Wearing a burqa may be silly, but if silliness were illegal, there wouldn't be enough people left outside of jail to guard all the inmates. A woman should be allowed to wear what she choses to wear.
Of course, in the case of the burqa, it isn't the woman who is making the decision in many - if not most - cases. It's the religious leaders (all men) who are making the rule, based on their varying translations of Koranic verses. There's a very good discussion of this - including a rundown on the various forms of burqas and the issue of what the Koran actually says in translation - in this Washington Post article by Pamela K. Taylor.
There are good reasons of public safety and security for banning wear of the burqa - not the least of which is that it offers an excellent way to hide weapons, explosives, or other contraband, and that one never can know exactly who is underneath. The most silly recent argument on the subject concerns Muslim women who insist on having their drivers license pictures taken while wearing burkas that reveal only the eyes, if that much. This one goes, in my humble opinion, far beyond the bounds of common sense and reflects an utter lack of willingness to balance their desire to be "modest" with my desire not to be blown up.
Yes, that was an oversimplification, but I think you get my point.
Ladies, if you wish to be modest, by all means, be modest. But I don't think a burqa is a sign of your modesty - if anything, it's telling me you think you're so sexy that you have to completely hide yourself or you'll drive the rest of us so wild with lust that we will forget everything else.
Modesty doesn't require hiding every bit of your body from the world. Wear a head scarf if you want. Fine. But please lose the burqa. I doubt that a God who made you in His (Her?) image is very pleased if you think that image must be hidden away from the world.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
The horror!
In case you aren't familiar with the term, a burqa is the robe worn by some Muslim women which covers them from head to foot, leaving only the eyes exposed. As it is worn in Afghanistan, even the eyes are hidden, covered by a mesh window. Here is a picture of two Iranian women wearing burqas -
The debate over wearing of the burqa has many aspects. Some fundamentalist Muslims believe it is required by Koranic verses which require female "modesty," while others settle for a similar robe which exposes the face, and others for a simple head scarf which hides the hair and neck.I personally believe the burqa is stupid and without social or religious justification, but my opinion tends not to carry much weight with those who believe women are a deadly threat to men's morals and need to be completely hidden so that they do not provide a temptation to evil thoughts and a distraction from prayer.
But should its wearing be illegal?
The short answer is no. Wearing a burqa may be silly, but if silliness were illegal, there wouldn't be enough people left outside of jail to guard all the inmates. A woman should be allowed to wear what she choses to wear.
Of course, in the case of the burqa, it isn't the woman who is making the decision in many - if not most - cases. It's the religious leaders (all men) who are making the rule, based on their varying translations of Koranic verses. There's a very good discussion of this - including a rundown on the various forms of burqas and the issue of what the Koran actually says in translation - in this Washington Post article by Pamela K. Taylor.
There are good reasons of public safety and security for banning wear of the burqa - not the least of which is that it offers an excellent way to hide weapons, explosives, or other contraband, and that one never can know exactly who is underneath. The most silly recent argument on the subject concerns Muslim women who insist on having their drivers license pictures taken while wearing burkas that reveal only the eyes, if that much. This one goes, in my humble opinion, far beyond the bounds of common sense and reflects an utter lack of willingness to balance their desire to be "modest" with my desire not to be blown up.
Yes, that was an oversimplification, but I think you get my point.
Ladies, if you wish to be modest, by all means, be modest. But I don't think a burqa is a sign of your modesty - if anything, it's telling me you think you're so sexy that you have to completely hide yourself or you'll drive the rest of us so wild with lust that we will forget everything else.
Modesty doesn't require hiding every bit of your body from the world. Wear a head scarf if you want. Fine. But please lose the burqa. I doubt that a God who made you in His (Her?) image is very pleased if you think that image must be hidden away from the world.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Excusing Bad Behavior
Today, for the first time in what seems like forever, the front-page news everywhere is not focused on Michael Jackson.
What a breath of fresh air!
But the death of the so-called "King of Pop" offers us a chance to reflect on the dark side of celebrity. In the last few days, Zipcode, Daniel, and OCgirl have all written eloquently on this, and it got me to thinking about a question that's bothered me for a long time: why do we allow celebrities to get away with the sort of terrible behavior that we wouldn't accept in anyone else?
Michael Jackson was an electrifying performer. As a moderately accomplished dancer, I'm in awe of the way he was able to move across a stage - someday before I die, I hope to be able to moonwalk - and "Billie Jean" is a fabulous song from a fabulous album ("Thriller"). But Michael Jackson the man appears to have been a pretty miserable human being with a history of outrageous behavior (remember the pictures of him dangling his child over the hotel balcony railing, or the stories of his love of sleeping in a bed full of young boys?).
It's not just Michael Jackson, though. We seem to accept terrible behavior from celebrities as if it were a tax that has to be paid to enjoy their talent. I remember years ago watching an interview of Stephen Tyler, the lead singer of the band Aerosmith. He was being interviewed with his mother beside him, and she was obviously embarrassed - he was either drunk or high, mostly incoherent, and looked like something the cat had dragged in, then dragged back out after seeing it in the light. My heart went out to the poor woman who was clearly trying to put the best face on a mortifying situation.
Why do we accept this sort of behavior? Even if you like Aerosmith's music (and I don't), there's no excuse for people like Mr Tyler to present such a miserable image to impressionable fans.
Remember Wilt ("The Stilt") Chamberlain, the basketball hero who claimed to have had sex with 20,000 women? Whether he was a world-class hoop star or a bragging blowhard with a malfunctioning moral compass, he was someone many young people saw as a role model. Any question about why some young men think that irresponsible, unprotected sex is fine and illegitimate children are the girl's problem?
Lindsey Lohan? Paris Hilton? Mel Gibson? Why do they get free pass? Do they understand that their public image makes them role models for impressionable youngsters who learn that bad behavior has no bad consequences?
This isn't a modern phenomenon - artists and performers throughout history have had a reputation for erratic and unpredictable, if not downright bizarre, behavior. Why?
And why are there celebrities like the late Paul Newman who manage to overcome the burdens of celebrity and became a beloved philanthropist and humanitarian, not to mention a devoted husband for 50 years after a first failed marriage? (When once asked by an interviewer if he'd ever thought about being unfaithful to wife Joanne Woodward, he famously replied, "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?")
I have four wonderful grandchildren who are surrounded by undesirable images. I try to set a good image for them (generally successfully, I hope), but I'm just one cranky and aging grandparent sticking his finger into a leaky dike of terrible role models. I'd rather they grew up to be Paul Newmans than Michael Jacksons. I'd rather they learned early on that fame and talent don't come with a license to be a lousy human being.
Isn't it time to hold celebrities to the same standards as the rest of us?
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
What a breath of fresh air!
But the death of the so-called "King of Pop" offers us a chance to reflect on the dark side of celebrity. In the last few days, Zipcode, Daniel, and OCgirl have all written eloquently on this, and it got me to thinking about a question that's bothered me for a long time: why do we allow celebrities to get away with the sort of terrible behavior that we wouldn't accept in anyone else?
Michael Jackson was an electrifying performer. As a moderately accomplished dancer, I'm in awe of the way he was able to move across a stage - someday before I die, I hope to be able to moonwalk - and "Billie Jean" is a fabulous song from a fabulous album ("Thriller"). But Michael Jackson the man appears to have been a pretty miserable human being with a history of outrageous behavior (remember the pictures of him dangling his child over the hotel balcony railing, or the stories of his love of sleeping in a bed full of young boys?).
It's not just Michael Jackson, though. We seem to accept terrible behavior from celebrities as if it were a tax that has to be paid to enjoy their talent. I remember years ago watching an interview of Stephen Tyler, the lead singer of the band Aerosmith. He was being interviewed with his mother beside him, and she was obviously embarrassed - he was either drunk or high, mostly incoherent, and looked like something the cat had dragged in, then dragged back out after seeing it in the light. My heart went out to the poor woman who was clearly trying to put the best face on a mortifying situation.
Why do we accept this sort of behavior? Even if you like Aerosmith's music (and I don't), there's no excuse for people like Mr Tyler to present such a miserable image to impressionable fans.
Remember Wilt ("The Stilt") Chamberlain, the basketball hero who claimed to have had sex with 20,000 women? Whether he was a world-class hoop star or a bragging blowhard with a malfunctioning moral compass, he was someone many young people saw as a role model. Any question about why some young men think that irresponsible, unprotected sex is fine and illegitimate children are the girl's problem?
Lindsey Lohan? Paris Hilton? Mel Gibson? Why do they get free pass? Do they understand that their public image makes them role models for impressionable youngsters who learn that bad behavior has no bad consequences?
This isn't a modern phenomenon - artists and performers throughout history have had a reputation for erratic and unpredictable, if not downright bizarre, behavior. Why?
And why are there celebrities like the late Paul Newman who manage to overcome the burdens of celebrity and became a beloved philanthropist and humanitarian, not to mention a devoted husband for 50 years after a first failed marriage? (When once asked by an interviewer if he'd ever thought about being unfaithful to wife Joanne Woodward, he famously replied, "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?")
I have four wonderful grandchildren who are surrounded by undesirable images. I try to set a good image for them (generally successfully, I hope), but I'm just one cranky and aging grandparent sticking his finger into a leaky dike of terrible role models. I'd rather they grew up to be Paul Newmans than Michael Jacksons. I'd rather they learned early on that fame and talent don't come with a license to be a lousy human being.
Isn't it time to hold celebrities to the same standards as the rest of us?
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Monday, June 29, 2009
Good Careers with Bad Reputations
With the economy as bad as it is, people aren't being very choosy about the kinds of jobs they're willing to take on. The jokes about English majors learning to ask "do you want fries with that?" aren't as funny as they used to be, and I knew it was getting really difficult when I took a cab the other day, and the driver spoke English.
Yep, it's tough.
It's so tough that you can now find articles like this one from Yahoo News: Good Careers with Bad Reputations. For those of you looking for a career change (or even a career, period), here's the list:
Mortgage Broker. The term "broker" doesn't actually refer to your financial condition after you take the advice of an individual who tries to get you to buy more property than you can afford. But if you don't mind making people house-poor, there are plenty of openings here.
Executive Recruiter. Think about it ... with so many CEOs and CFOs in jail, someone's got to find the next generation of white-collar crooks.
Publicist. If you excelled at baby-sitting hyperactive and undisciplined two-year-olds, this is the job for you! The world is full of self-important celebrities who need someone to convince the world they're as great as they think they are.
Insurance Sales Agent. Can you play the guilt card on people, and blame property losses on "acts of God" with a straight face? Can you read and write Old Church Slavonic, the official language of the insurance industry? Here's your new career!
And the ever popular,
Tax Collector. If you can reconcile plummeting home values with steady or rising property tax bills, and if you can outrun howling mobs waving pitchforks and torches, governments at all levels always need new tax collectors. Who needs to be popular, anyhow?
Don't like any of these? You could always watch Dirty Jobs on The Discovery Channel, and take your chances.
Or you could just repeat after me: "Would you like fries with that?"
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Yep, it's tough.
It's so tough that you can now find articles like this one from Yahoo News: Good Careers with Bad Reputations. For those of you looking for a career change (or even a career, period), here's the list:
Mortgage Broker. The term "broker" doesn't actually refer to your financial condition after you take the advice of an individual who tries to get you to buy more property than you can afford. But if you don't mind making people house-poor, there are plenty of openings here.
Executive Recruiter. Think about it ... with so many CEOs and CFOs in jail, someone's got to find the next generation of white-collar crooks.
Publicist. If you excelled at baby-sitting hyperactive and undisciplined two-year-olds, this is the job for you! The world is full of self-important celebrities who need someone to convince the world they're as great as they think they are.
Insurance Sales Agent. Can you play the guilt card on people, and blame property losses on "acts of God" with a straight face? Can you read and write Old Church Slavonic, the official language of the insurance industry? Here's your new career!
And the ever popular,
Tax Collector. If you can reconcile plummeting home values with steady or rising property tax bills, and if you can outrun howling mobs waving pitchforks and torches, governments at all levels always need new tax collectors. Who needs to be popular, anyhow?
Don't like any of these? You could always watch Dirty Jobs on The Discovery Channel, and take your chances.
Or you could just repeat after me: "Would you like fries with that?"
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Hidden Hand, the All-Purpose Excuse
I don't normally think about my fellow blogger lacochran and Iranian demonstrators in the same context, but the connection occurred to me when I read her recent post on paranoia.
Lacochran's story dealt with a suspicious conversation with a credit card company whose employee appeared to want a little too much information to establish lacochran's bona fides, causing our heroine's well-developed sense of 21st century social paranoia to tingle (and rightly so, in my opinion).
On the same day, I read another in a series of articles in the newspaper about the unpleasantness in Iran, and how the leaders of that sorry nation are blaming the United States, Great Britain, and Israel for the anti-government demonstrations.
The standard knee-jerk response for regimes in trouble is to blame someone else - preferably The Great Satan - for everything that goes wrong. It gives incompetent and venal leaders (like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad) a convenient external target against which to divert popular anger that might have unpleasant consequences for them if turned inward. Of course, we aren't completely blameless in the case of Iran, having engineered the 1950's-era coup that overthrew the government of Iranian nationalist prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh and returned the shah to the Peacock Throne, but we've been paying for that one for a long time.
Be patient. I'm getting to the point.
Paranoia is a wonderful thing. It allows you to avoid dealing with your own problems by giving you someone else to blame them on. No one in the Middle East is interested in any explanation for their problems that doesn't involve some sinister conspiracy engineered by the CIA, Israel, the Pope, or some combination of the three. It never occurs to anyone there to blame political incompetence, religious bigotry, social backwardness, or outright stupidity for their miseries.
German singer Juliane Werding has a wonderful song titled Die unsichtbare Macht ("The Invisible Power") that is the paranoid's anthem, containing lyrics (with translation) like:
Wer ist der Schatte, der neben mir geht?
Wer ist der Fremde, der hinter mir steht?
Mir scheint ganz schon: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who is the shadow that walks beside me?
Who's the stranger standing behind me?
I know exactly: the Invisible Power.
Wer ruft mich an und legt gleich wieder auf,
Wer zaehlt mein Geld nach und weiss was ich kauf'?
Oh ich spur' sie: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who calls me up and hangs up immediately?
Who counts my change and knows what I buy?
Oh, I know you're there: the Invisible Power.
Wer registriert jeden Schritt den ich tu',
Wer hoert sogar den Gedanken noch zu?
Keine Frage: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who registers every step I take?
Who listens to my every thought?
No question: the Invisible Power.
Yes, folks, blame the Invisible Power, the Hidden Hand, the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the KGB, or your Boogieman of the Month for your problems - it's easier than facing up to them. You may as well be paranoid, since everyone's out to get you anyway.
And I know what lacochran's middle initial is, bwa-hah-haaaaaaaah!
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Lacochran's story dealt with a suspicious conversation with a credit card company whose employee appeared to want a little too much information to establish lacochran's bona fides, causing our heroine's well-developed sense of 21st century social paranoia to tingle (and rightly so, in my opinion).
On the same day, I read another in a series of articles in the newspaper about the unpleasantness in Iran, and how the leaders of that sorry nation are blaming the United States, Great Britain, and Israel for the anti-government demonstrations.
The standard knee-jerk response for regimes in trouble is to blame someone else - preferably The Great Satan - for everything that goes wrong. It gives incompetent and venal leaders (like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad) a convenient external target against which to divert popular anger that might have unpleasant consequences for them if turned inward. Of course, we aren't completely blameless in the case of Iran, having engineered the 1950's-era coup that overthrew the government of Iranian nationalist prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh and returned the shah to the Peacock Throne, but we've been paying for that one for a long time.
Be patient. I'm getting to the point.
Paranoia is a wonderful thing. It allows you to avoid dealing with your own problems by giving you someone else to blame them on. No one in the Middle East is interested in any explanation for their problems that doesn't involve some sinister conspiracy engineered by the CIA, Israel, the Pope, or some combination of the three. It never occurs to anyone there to blame political incompetence, religious bigotry, social backwardness, or outright stupidity for their miseries.
German singer Juliane Werding has a wonderful song titled Die unsichtbare Macht ("The Invisible Power") that is the paranoid's anthem, containing lyrics (with translation) like:
Wer ist der Schatte, der neben mir geht?
Wer ist der Fremde, der hinter mir steht?
Mir scheint ganz schon: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who is the shadow that walks beside me?
Who's the stranger standing behind me?
I know exactly: the Invisible Power.
Wer ruft mich an und legt gleich wieder auf,
Wer zaehlt mein Geld nach und weiss was ich kauf'?
Oh ich spur' sie: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who calls me up and hangs up immediately?
Who counts my change and knows what I buy?
Oh, I know you're there: the Invisible Power.
Wer registriert jeden Schritt den ich tu',
Wer hoert sogar den Gedanken noch zu?
Keine Frage: die unsichtbare Macht.
Who registers every step I take?
Who listens to my every thought?
No question: the Invisible Power.
Yes, folks, blame the Invisible Power, the Hidden Hand, the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the KGB, or your Boogieman of the Month for your problems - it's easier than facing up to them. You may as well be paranoid, since everyone's out to get you anyway.
And I know what lacochran's middle initial is, bwa-hah-haaaaaaaah!
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Cartoon Saturday
Michael Jackson moonwalked off the stage of life this past week, as did Farah Fawcett; the medieval clerical government of Iran is still under siege by people who would prefer to live in the 21st century than the 7th; the governor of South Carolina says he was misquoted - he wasn't "hiking the Appalachian Trail," he was "getting some Argentinian tail" ... over Fathers' Day weekend, no less; nine people were killed and more than 70 injured in a terrible Metro train crash in Washington, DC; and superfraud king Bernie Madoff has been ordered to forfeit $171 billion before going to prison ... and this just represents the total amount that could be connected to his fraud, not the actual, total amount stolen from or lost by scammed investors over the years.
Well, at least Cartoon Saturday is still free.
The clown cartoons just keep on coming ... I think this one is a classic ...
Did you ever wonder what superheroes do when they're not out superheroing? Here's one take ...
A few years back, some brilliant theoretician of child-raising (who probably didn't have any children of his own) decided that a "take your son/daughter/generic child to work day" would be a good idea. Sometimes it can be a good thing. Sometimes not ...
Since I'm the sole breadwinner of the family now that Agnes is enjoying her well-deserved retirement, I have a new set of worries. Mike, it is not necessary to comment ...
I tend to have a lot of nervous energy, and if I have to sit too long I'll often start jiggling my leg. It drives Agnes crazy. Of course, it's not like I'm Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton and have anything else to jiggle ...
And finally, you all know how I feel about those who insist on imposing particular religious beliefs (or lack thereof) on the rest of us. But how far down does that instinct go on the tree of life? ...
I'm reviewing the story of how Hercules cleaned out the Augean Stables in preparation for today's job - Agnes wants me to clean out the garage so that she can set up her stained glass workshop again. Sadly, I don't think the stream that runs through the woods behind our house is quite up to the scale of the job, but at this point, I'll try anything.
I hope you all have a good weekend. Relax. Don't work too hard. Ha, ha. I'll let you know how the garage comes out.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Well, at least Cartoon Saturday is still free.
The clown cartoons just keep on coming ... I think this one is a classic ...
Did you ever wonder what superheroes do when they're not out superheroing? Here's one take ...
A few years back, some brilliant theoretician of child-raising (who probably didn't have any children of his own) decided that a "take your son/daughter/generic child to work day" would be a good idea. Sometimes it can be a good thing. Sometimes not ...
Since I'm the sole breadwinner of the family now that Agnes is enjoying her well-deserved retirement, I have a new set of worries. Mike, it is not necessary to comment ...
I tend to have a lot of nervous energy, and if I have to sit too long I'll often start jiggling my leg. It drives Agnes crazy. Of course, it's not like I'm Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton and have anything else to jiggle ...
And finally, you all know how I feel about those who insist on imposing particular religious beliefs (or lack thereof) on the rest of us. But how far down does that instinct go on the tree of life? ...
I'm reviewing the story of how Hercules cleaned out the Augean Stables in preparation for today's job - Agnes wants me to clean out the garage so that she can set up her stained glass workshop again. Sadly, I don't think the stream that runs through the woods behind our house is quite up to the scale of the job, but at this point, I'll try anything.I hope you all have a good weekend. Relax. Don't work too hard. Ha, ha. I'll let you know how the garage comes out.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
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