Saturday, December 15, 2012
iWhat?!?
Yes, we are now on iTunes! Please visit the iTunes store and search for the podcast. Give us a five star review and write something about how awesome the podcast is. Thanks!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Budget Graphics 2012
So whenever I find a good graph for the rest of the year I'm going to put them here so I can find them. -AM
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Modus Operandi Podcast episodes 93-97
My apologies for not updating the blog in ages. I promise to do better. Please check our Facebook page for up to the moment posts of new episodes, news links, political cartoons, and witty observations because, as you well know, we are all about witty observations. Alternatively you should use our RSS feed in your podcast client of choice to get new episodes the instant that they are uploaded to the internets.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
On Facebook
3/28/2012
On Facebook
As our listener will know, Dave and I are at a sort of
impasse on the subject of social media and Facebook in general. The argument reached an interesting state
this last week (episode 96) as Dave built a pair of contradicting rules for how
one can research or comment upon a subject.
Rule One (made with an earlier argument about whether or not Colorado was a
conservative state) was that your comments are only valid if you have spent
time in a place and Rule Two (which was about Facebook) was that the only valid
commentary is from someone who has read enormous amounts about the
subject. So I’m going to try to pick
this thing apart in writing while it’s fresh in my mind.
So the accusation was made that when I described my
experience with Facebook that it was invalid because it was purely my
experience. Now as a long time fan of
first hand journalism I find that slightly offensive. I am not a research scientist but I am also
not a blithering, uncritical idiot. My
experience of Facebook as a well educated and observant person is completely
valid and as I pointed out, my descriptions of my experience are meant to
describe what most people experience when using the service.
Dave’s further argument was that I hadn’t read any of the criticism of social
media. I was unable to get a word in
edgewise and the argument glossed over this assertion. Earlier I had pointed out that I listen to a
large number of podcasts relating to the media and science. Dave derided these as being something found
on the internet that agrees with my beliefs.
I had mentioned the names of the programs I listen to and to call them
biased or shallow demonstrates a complete lack of understanding as to what the
programs are or complete contempt for anything that isn’t “in print.” The programs include Media Matters, from WILL AM, Onthe Media from WNYC (NPR), The Worldin Words, The World Science Podcast, and The World Tech Podcast from TheWorld (BBC), This American Life (NPR),
Studio 360 (PRI), Science Friday (NPR), Quirks and Quarks (CBC), The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and
numerous NPR, BBC, PRI, PRX, and CBC science, news, and documentary podcasts. I listen to these for over 8 hours a day
while I am working with my hands.
Actually that’s not completely true.
I break up the day with comedy and music but most of what I listen to is
news. Journalism. Reports on research. Interviews with the researchers and authors
themselves. From the best news services
on the planet and journalism and science award winning programs to boot. Just because it’s not in writing doesn’t mean
it’s any less informative, especially since it allows me to listen to the
authors of more books than I could possibly read while I earn my living with my
hands. To denigrate the knowledge I
glean from exposure to this much high quality reporting and interviewing is
more than a bit conceited.
The fact that I regularly read Harper’s Magazine cover to cover, constantly read The New York Times Online, Talking PointsMemo, National Geographic, Media Matters.org, and literally dozens of other
journalism and science websites also puts the lie to Dave’s assertion that I’m
just some ignorant parrot reciting my experiences. My experiences relate to the experiences of most of the several billion people that
use Facebook every day. I’ve even delved
into the realm of Twitter (which we didn’t even touch on) enough to where I
think I see how the regular user experiences it. I’m not that sure though I hear many people
talk about their use of Twitter and have heard many excellent articles about
how it is used and by whom. At my
minimal usage level it seems fun and the character limit is a challenge. I have read a great deal of criticism and
studies of social media. There are many
valid criticisms of what social media is doing to our society and what the
breakdown of privacy is leading to. I’ve
never said anything against any of these criticisms. There are many good things that come from the
use of social media, there are vast amounts of neutral effects, and there are
many bad things that are happening because of them. Here’s what I don’t think Dave gets: Almost all the people that criticize social
media have used them extensively and most of them continue to do so. Why would this be? Perhaps it’s because they are an enjoyable
place to go. Perhaps it’s because using
them makes keeping up with friends and families simple and easy. Perhaps it’s because it gives them an outlet
for their creativity or opinions.
Perhaps it’s because users of social media are at an advantage over
those who do not use it. Perhaps it’s
because they know that if they do not swim in the waters regularly they will no
longer be qualified to criticize those waters.
There are fantastically valid critiques of the motion picture industry
but that doesn’t stop Dave from going to see movies. There are strong criticisms of sports but
that doesn’t stop Dave from knowing the names of high school basketball
prospects. But it isn’t the criticism of
social media that keeps Dave from using them.
More on that later.
My argument with Dave’s criticism of Facebook et. al. is
that the only thing he knows about it is through works of criticism. I compared it to his assertion that only by
living in a place can one make a valid anthropological study of it (though what
I was doing was quoting what journalists reported about the politics in Colorado which I’m
pretty sure is different from an anthropological study). I’m sure there will be a semantic argument
here but for all practical purposes, Facebook is a place. It may be a “virtual” place but when one sits
down and enters into the interface, moving around, reading posts, looking at
pictures and videos, listening to music, chatting with friends, maybe
unleashing a long diatribe on a page or in a group, it functions as a
place. It’s a place you can pop in on
for a second and then pop back out of.
It’s a place you can spend hours in, looking at friends’ pictures,
reading through what other people are posting, maybe getting in on some conversations
or strings of jokes or wordplay. It can
also be this place that exists parallel to your internet browsing that you send
things into while you are browsing. For
a lot of people it’s on their mobile thingy and they can check in with someone
they’re supposed to meet or find out where the next party is they were invited
to or quickly find the address for that gallery their friend told them to check
out, or they’ll post pictures or videos of things they’re doing while they’re
doing them (“Check it out, Bruce Willis is in line behind me!”), or describe a
funny thing that just happened. It can
be all these things and more. Like with
a video game, a race track, a book, a restaurant, or an album, if you haven’t
actually experienced the thing or place in
depth you probably aren’t qualified to criticize it (and in Dave’s case, a
man who is confounded and frustrated by door locks, not going to this place and
using this thing in depth completely
disqualifies him). Dave really can’t
experience Facebook like most people because he refuses to have internet access
in his home or to use his work internet connection for anything but work. That leaves him an occasionally moment in an
internet café or the library now and again.
I think that all of my fellow users would agree that he has not gone
swimming in the waters, has not walked around the town square, has not really used the thing as most people use it.
It doesn’t help that Dave’s angry attack on Facebook was
based on his belief that everything is about him. He was angry that our listener/reader visited
our Facebook page but not our blog and presented it as “them” forcing him to do
this thing. The world is against him. I’m against him. When I ask him to do something I’m putting
this enormous imposition upon him by asking.
I somehow become “The Man.” I ask
him to put links on his blog posts and he celebrates the fact he refuses to do
this little amount of extra work. “Let them look it up if they don’t believe
me.” First of all, it’s simply the
professional way to present data, secondly, if the writer does this one thing
it keeps every potential reader from having to do that thing which means you as
the writer are doing something nice for
your reader, but most importantly I fucking asked him to do it. “They” are not giving him extra work, he’s
not being a prick if he does that little bit of work. I tell Dave that most people are coming to
Facebook so he should post there.
Somehow that’s an attack on him.
This horrible amount of work and effort being thrown onto his shoulders
and it’s all about him. All the
arguments about experience and knowledge are secondary to the affront of Dave
having to figure out how to do something new.
Dave made the comparison of using computers and the
internets and stuff with using a hammer to build things. First, this is funny to me because I’m a
carpenter and Dave would probably hurt himself if faced with a day of using a
hammer to do a job. Secondly, he is
comparing getting acquainted with an complex interface to swinging a
hammer. Apples and oranges. The hammer is more like the keyboard on a
computer. Maybe compare the mouse to an
air hammer (which is used more these days than a regular hammer and you have to
know how to keep them working and how to use the compressor) while an interface
like Facebook is more like driving a car.
Apples and oranges. A hammer is a
tool used in a process. But even the
simple hammer requires a good bit of knowledge and that knowledge is always
increasing. What size/type of nail do you
use for what projects? You have a new
project you might have to use a nail you’ve never used before or a nailing
pattern or need to pre-drill this wood but not that wood and on and on. Learning should be a continuous part of life
but Dave hates learning new things and tends to turn that hatred against the
things that require him to learn to use them.
If all he had was a typewriter he’d curse it because he had to change
the ribbon. And then he turns it
outwards against the users of Facebook that visit our page there because
they’re forcing him to use Facebook. Our
reader/listener doesn’t deserve such callous treatment. He should want
to give this extra effort for our wonderful MOPodites. It saddens me, as I know it saddens you, dear
reader, that Dr. David Overbey doesn’t go out of his way to do things for you,
like I hope you feel I, your humble editor and producer and poster of cartoons
and stuff, do for you.
Lastly Dave kept asking why were our users going to the
Facebook page instead of the blog. Over
and over. I answered it was because the
Facebook page is easier and most people that are in Facebook don’t really feel
like leaving it. But I’ve since realized
that another reason is because I post a lot of stuff on our Facebook page. I post cartoons, links to stories, comments
on current events, news and political video, and it has a convenient player for
our podcasts. For me the Facebook
interface is easier to use than the blog though I like keeping the blog active
as more of a magazine. Another reason
they’re visiting the Facebook page almost exclusively is because of Facebook
itself. If they’re interested in things
that are posted on the Facebook page they’ll see them when they sign in to
Facebook. Many people no longer check
their e-mail more than once a day because their “important” conversations are
going through Facebook. There is a
qualitative argument here as well but I’ll just say that the chatter has
increased exponentially which means the “important” chatter and the meaningless
drivel has increased in equal amounts.
The latter is never going to go away and the former is all over the
internets.
So there you go.
That’s what I have to say on the Facebook argument. I am not an anthropologist. Dave is not a giver. I am not a vapid idiot, Dave does not use Facebook.
--AM
My argument with Dave’s criticism of Facebook et. al. is that the only thing he knows about it is through works of criticism. I compared it to his assertion that only by living in a place can one make a valid anthropological study of it (though what I was doing was quoting what journalists reported about the politics in Colorado which I’m pretty sure is different from an anthropological study). I’m sure there will be a semantic argument here but for all practical purposes, Facebook is a place. It may be a “virtual” place but when one sits down and enters into the interface, moving around, reading posts, looking at pictures and videos, listening to music, chatting with friends, maybe unleashing a long diatribe on a page or in a group, it functions as a place. It’s a place you can pop in on for a second and then pop back out of. It’s a place you can spend hours in, looking at friends’ pictures, reading through what other people are posting, maybe getting in on some conversations or strings of jokes or wordplay. It can also be this place that exists parallel to your internet browsing that you send things into while you are browsing. For a lot of people it’s on their mobile thingy and they can check in with someone they’re supposed to meet or find out where the next party is they were invited to or quickly find the address for that gallery their friend told them to check out, or they’ll post pictures or videos of things they’re doing while they’re doing them (“Check it out, Bruce Willis is in line behind me!”), or describe a funny thing that just happened. It can be all these things and more. Like with a video game, a race track, a book, a restaurant, or an album, if you haven’t actually experienced the thing or place in depth you probably aren’t qualified to criticize it (and in Dave’s case, a man who is confounded and frustrated by door locks, not going to this place and using this thing in depth completely disqualifies him). Dave really can’t experience Facebook like most people because he refuses to have internet access in his home or to use his work internet connection for anything but work. That leaves him an occasionally moment in an internet café or the library now and again. I think that all of my fellow users would agree that he has not gone swimming in the waters, has not walked around the town square, has not really used the thing as most people use it.It doesn’t help that Dave’s angry attack on Facebook was based on his belief that everything is about him. He was angry that our listener/reader visited our Facebook page but not our blog and presented it as “them” forcing him to do this thing. The world is against him. I’m against him. When I ask him to do something I’m putting this enormous imposition upon him by asking. I somehow become “The Man.” I ask him to put links on his blog posts and he celebrates the fact he refuses to do this little amount of extra work. “Let them look it up if they don’t believe me.” First of all, it’s simply the professional way to present data, secondly, if the writer does this one thing it keeps every potential reader from having to do that thing which means you as the writer are doing something nice for your reader, but most importantly I fucking asked him to do it. “They” are not giving him extra work, he’s not being a prick if he does that little bit of work. I tell Dave that most people are coming to Facebook so he should post there. Somehow that’s an attack on him. This horrible amount of work and effort being thrown onto his shoulders and it’s all about him. All the arguments about experience and knowledge are secondary to the affront of Dave having to figure out how to do something new.
Dave made the comparison of using computers and the internets and stuff with using a hammer to build things. First, this is funny to me because I’m a carpenter and Dave would probably hurt himself if faced with a day of using a hammer to do a job. Secondly, he is comparing getting acquainted with an complex interface to swinging a hammer. Apples and oranges. The hammer is more like the keyboard on a computer. Maybe compare the mouse to an air hammer (which is used more these days than a regular hammer and you have to know how to keep them working and how to use the compressor) while an interface like Facebook is more like driving a car. Apples and oranges. A hammer is a tool used in a process. But even the simple hammer requires a good bit of knowledge and that knowledge is always increasing. What size/type of nail do you use for what projects? You have a new project you might have to use a nail you’ve never used before or a nailing pattern or need to pre-drill this wood but not that wood and on and on. Learning should be a continuous part of life but Dave hates learning new things and tends to turn that hatred against the things that require him to learn to use them. If all he had was a typewriter he’d curse it because he had to change the ribbon. And then he turns it outwards against the users of Facebook that visit our page there because they’re forcing him to use Facebook. Our reader/listener doesn’t deserve such callous treatment. He should want to give this extra effort for our wonderful MOPodites. It saddens me, as I know it saddens you, dear reader, that Dr. David Overbey doesn’t go out of his way to do things for you, like I hope you feel I, your humble editor and producer and poster of cartoons and stuff, do for you.
Lastly Dave kept asking why were our users going to the Facebook page instead of the blog. Over and over. I answered it was because the Facebook page is easier and most people that are in Facebook don’t really feel like leaving it. But I’ve since realized that another reason is because I post a lot of stuff on our Facebook page. I post cartoons, links to stories, comments on current events, news and political video, and it has a convenient player for our podcasts. For me the Facebook interface is easier to use than the blog though I like keeping the blog active as more of a magazine. Another reason they’re visiting the Facebook page almost exclusively is because of Facebook itself. If they’re interested in things that are posted on the Facebook page they’ll see them when they sign in to Facebook. Many people no longer check their e-mail more than once a day because their “important” conversations are going through Facebook. There is a qualitative argument here as well but I’ll just say that the chatter has increased exponentially which means the “important” chatter and the meaningless drivel has increased in equal amounts. The latter is never going to go away and the former is all over the internets.
So there you go. That’s what I have to say on the Facebook argument. I am not an anthropologist. Dave is not a giver. I am not a vapid idiot, Dave does not use Facebook.
--AM
Friday, March 2, 2012
Fuck yeah! Breitbart dead!
Ding dong this worthless piece of shit is dead. Fuck him and fuck everyone that loved him. Big party next year to celebrate a year on earth much improved by his absence from it. [updated 3/3/2012] By "everyone that loved him" I was referring to his fans, not his family or friends. -AM
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
episode 89 1/28/2012
Jeez, I forgot to post when I uploaded episode 89, the longest episode in MOpod history.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
UK #1, Murray State Nation's Only Undefeated Team
With Syracuse and Baylor losing over the weekend, the University (for lack of a better word) of Kentucky moved to No. 1 after holding off a determined Alabama team 77-71, while Murray State's win over SIU-Edwardsville leaves them now as the nation's only remaining unbeaten team. UK remains at No. 1 with a 57-44 win at Georgia on Tuesday.
While Kentucky fans can revel in their No. 1 ranking, the most exciting story this basketball season is Murray St. Led by guard Isiah Canaan, the Racers now stand at 20-0, and could wind up as high as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA if they finish the regular season and conference tournament undefeated, according to CBS sports commentators.
While they lack a dominant inside force, the Racers are a dangerous outside shooting team, and have good size and depth at all positions. They have also continued to win despite the recent injury to their leading rebounding and third-leading scorer, forward Ivan Aska, whose return to the lineup will strenghten their inside game and enable Murray's guards to do more damage offensively. Murray St. hits their three-pointers consistently, runs the floor very well, and--with a roster of juniors and seniors, a stark contrast to UK--has excellent chemistry. They play well together, maintain their poise, and they are quick to make on-court adjustments to whatever the oppositon is throwing at them. The only doubts about them are the quality of opponents they've played. While the OVC is a solid basketball conference, it is impossible to think of Murray St. having the same record were they in the SEC or Big East, for example. But any team that makes it 20-0 and shoots the ball as well as Murray St. is not a team anyone wants to play in March. And as for how Murray St. would stack up against the big-time conference opponent, I would remind everyone of Morehead St.'s opening round win against regular-season Big East champion Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament (which happenend within minutes of UK squeaking past Ivy League representative Princeton on a last second shot by Bradon Knight).
How far can Murray St go? I haven't seen a more prolific outside shooter than Canaan, and when he is on, it is tough to see how Murray can be beat. No one in their right mind would have thought teams like George Mason (2006) or VCU (2011) would make it to the Final Four, but these teams showed that a hot-shooting ball club that gels as a unit can take down the powerhouses loaded with better size and talent. My call: unless Murray St has an off night shooting the ball or runs into a team with a dominant big man who has the game of his life, the Racers will make it at least to a regional final, a la Kent State in 2002.
As for UK, they remain a ridiculously talent, yet erratic and at times frustrating team to watch. Their talent is enough for them to go all the way, but depending on which Terrance Jones shows up, turnovers, and making some timely threes to stretch the defense and allow the Wildcats' formidable front line to go to work inside, this team is vulnerable, especially if freshman shot-blocking freak Anthony Davis gets into foul trouble.
Could it be that the first time ever UK and Murray St. meet would in a regional final or the Final Four?
While Kentucky fans can revel in their No. 1 ranking, the most exciting story this basketball season is Murray St. Led by guard Isiah Canaan, the Racers now stand at 20-0, and could wind up as high as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA if they finish the regular season and conference tournament undefeated, according to CBS sports commentators.
While they lack a dominant inside force, the Racers are a dangerous outside shooting team, and have good size and depth at all positions. They have also continued to win despite the recent injury to their leading rebounding and third-leading scorer, forward Ivan Aska, whose return to the lineup will strenghten their inside game and enable Murray's guards to do more damage offensively. Murray St. hits their three-pointers consistently, runs the floor very well, and--with a roster of juniors and seniors, a stark contrast to UK--has excellent chemistry. They play well together, maintain their poise, and they are quick to make on-court adjustments to whatever the oppositon is throwing at them. The only doubts about them are the quality of opponents they've played. While the OVC is a solid basketball conference, it is impossible to think of Murray St. having the same record were they in the SEC or Big East, for example. But any team that makes it 20-0 and shoots the ball as well as Murray St. is not a team anyone wants to play in March. And as for how Murray St. would stack up against the big-time conference opponent, I would remind everyone of Morehead St.'s opening round win against regular-season Big East champion Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament (which happenend within minutes of UK squeaking past Ivy League representative Princeton on a last second shot by Bradon Knight).
How far can Murray St go? I haven't seen a more prolific outside shooter than Canaan, and when he is on, it is tough to see how Murray can be beat. No one in their right mind would have thought teams like George Mason (2006) or VCU (2011) would make it to the Final Four, but these teams showed that a hot-shooting ball club that gels as a unit can take down the powerhouses loaded with better size and talent. My call: unless Murray St has an off night shooting the ball or runs into a team with a dominant big man who has the game of his life, the Racers will make it at least to a regional final, a la Kent State in 2002.
As for UK, they remain a ridiculously talent, yet erratic and at times frustrating team to watch. Their talent is enough for them to go all the way, but depending on which Terrance Jones shows up, turnovers, and making some timely threes to stretch the defense and allow the Wildcats' formidable front line to go to work inside, this team is vulnerable, especially if freshman shot-blocking freak Anthony Davis gets into foul trouble.
Could it be that the first time ever UK and Murray St. meet would in a regional final or the Final Four?
"We're Getting Used to It": Mental Illness and the Onset of Cultural Amnesia
One of the most horrifying and wasteful events Alan and I have been covering over the course of MoPod has been the forlorn War on Drugs in Mexico. Last week, a piece in the NY Times (Archibold, R. (2012, Jan. 19) "Mexico Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought Safe") reports that the violence and carnage in Mexico not only is failing to stop the drug trade, but is spreading to parts of the country once though insulated from it. In other words, typical of the times in which we live, everything continues to get worse.
Originally, the article states that violence was concentrated around border areas. Now it has seeped into the heart of the country, including posh areas in Mexico City. An estimated 47,000 people have been killed since Mexico officially declared war on its drug cartels in 2007, upon orders of then Northern Hemisphere President George W. Bush, and continued, of course, under President Obamacon (whom Alan has delightfully nicknamed George Bush III).
Mexican Government officials predictably endorse the chaos and bloodshed, despite acknowledging "violence probably would not decrease significantly for five more years." Just as U.S. officials said of the bloodshed in Iraq after declaring "mission accomplished" Mexico's Public Safety Secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna, says, "You have to give the process more time to measure its efficency." This absurd statement basically says we have to wait and wait and wait while more mutilation and killing go on before we can "measure" something that already has been declared as "efficient," in spite of the fact it obviously is the complete opposite thereof.
The most disturbing part of the report, though, is that instead of getting sick of the incessant violence and wanting the Drug War to end, Mexicans are "worried but growing accustomed to the gruesome violence." Well, how about that. I can't think of a more noble or worthy mission of government than to condition its citizens to perceive "gruesome violence" as normal, an obviously pathological, if not outright savage mindset. Says Jasia Grinberg, 65, who works in an upscale shopping mall recently strewn with human blood and body parts, "We are living in a terrible situation, and meanwhile getting used to it" (emphasis added).
The "getting used to it" is the final stage of cultural amnesia and the onset of a Dark Age. Societies always have problems, but in more enlightened times the problems actually bother people, to the point where corrective, stabilizing measures are taken to deal with the problems. Instead, the collective mentality moves toward acceptance of what normal human psychology would never find acceptable: "living in a terrible situation."
That, I am afraid, is the agenda of governments all around the world: to persist with agendas that serve to do nothing but perpetuate "terrible situations" for its people until the living memory of times when things were not so terrible is lost through the eventual death of the older generation, leaving only a population whose apparent legacy to future generations will be that they got "used to" the "terrible situations" that surround their everyday lives.
Originally, the article states that violence was concentrated around border areas. Now it has seeped into the heart of the country, including posh areas in Mexico City. An estimated 47,000 people have been killed since Mexico officially declared war on its drug cartels in 2007, upon orders of then Northern Hemisphere President George W. Bush, and continued, of course, under President Obamacon (whom Alan has delightfully nicknamed George Bush III).
Mexican Government officials predictably endorse the chaos and bloodshed, despite acknowledging "violence probably would not decrease significantly for five more years." Just as U.S. officials said of the bloodshed in Iraq after declaring "mission accomplished" Mexico's Public Safety Secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna, says, "You have to give the process more time to measure its efficency." This absurd statement basically says we have to wait and wait and wait while more mutilation and killing go on before we can "measure" something that already has been declared as "efficient," in spite of the fact it obviously is the complete opposite thereof.
The most disturbing part of the report, though, is that instead of getting sick of the incessant violence and wanting the Drug War to end, Mexicans are "worried but growing accustomed to the gruesome violence." Well, how about that. I can't think of a more noble or worthy mission of government than to condition its citizens to perceive "gruesome violence" as normal, an obviously pathological, if not outright savage mindset. Says Jasia Grinberg, 65, who works in an upscale shopping mall recently strewn with human blood and body parts, "We are living in a terrible situation, and meanwhile getting used to it" (emphasis added).
The "getting used to it" is the final stage of cultural amnesia and the onset of a Dark Age. Societies always have problems, but in more enlightened times the problems actually bother people, to the point where corrective, stabilizing measures are taken to deal with the problems. Instead, the collective mentality moves toward acceptance of what normal human psychology would never find acceptable: "living in a terrible situation."
That, I am afraid, is the agenda of governments all around the world: to persist with agendas that serve to do nothing but perpetuate "terrible situations" for its people until the living memory of times when things were not so terrible is lost through the eventual death of the older generation, leaving only a population whose apparent legacy to future generations will be that they got "used to" the "terrible situations" that surround their everyday lives.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thinking for Yourself in the Age of Mental Illness
In a media-saturated age, what does it mean to think for oneself? Is it even possible? Has introspection become obsolete, if not cognitively incompatible with the deluge of media that we assume--mindlessly--empowers us? Might these questions be worthwhile at a time when one in five adults have been clinically diagnosed as mentally ill--with the greatest number of those between 18 and 25, the most media-immersed of the adult population (Ogre-oid, 2012, January 20, LA Times)?
Sure enough, this focus on mental illness in our society has been reinforced by yesterday's reports that 49ers receiver Kyle Williams received death threats for his fumbles in Sunday's NFC Championship overtime loss to the NY Giants. And, quite interestingly (for me, anyway) Williams cites the availability and influence of digital media for what is obviously a psychotic, anti-social reaction to an athlete making a mistake that allegedly "cost his team the game."
Says Williams: "People just write blindly and I guess that's to be expected with how open Twitter is and how open Facebook is. Again, there's a line and some people cross it and some people have respect for it (ESPN.com: NFL, 2012, January 24). The article contextualizes Williams' statement by prefacing that the receiver "talked of the imaginary 'line' that exists between athletes and fans, one that has become blurred, especially in the age of social media.
What "line" is this? And how does it figure into mental illness? I would say the line is the same line of which the prominent psychiatrist R. D. Laing writes in his book The Divided Self, the line between the human as person and human as mechanism. Back in 1969, Laing argued that the blurring of this line has lead to the methodological problem of conflating the human as person with the human as mechanism in order to study mental illness. In the context of psychiatry, humans exist as mechanisms, or "it-processes" from a biochemical and physiological standpoint. Psychatrists identify chemical imbalances in the brain, for example; but this "it-process" is the human as mechanism, not the person. Laing argues that while it is obviously crazy for humans to see themselves as machines or animals (characteristic of schizoid and schizophrenic personalities), it is equally crazy for psychiatry to study humans by conflating the person with the mechanism in precisely the same way the mentally ill do.
In the age of digital, (anti)social media, humans exist as mechanisms in many ways: Facebook photos and posts, data-bits or "cookies" compiled by computers about their spending habits, political views, and other behaviors, as well as other files such as credit history, criminal records, scholastic transcripts, etc. But none of these things is the actual person, of course. I would argue that what Laing was saying about psychiatry in 1969 applies to society in general in the 21st century: a scholarly problem has become a popular one. Laing argues it is impossible to understand anyone as a person by depersonalizing them into "it-processes" and assuming that the human as mechanism is the human as person.
Obviously such conflation is at work when sports fans threaten to kill another human being for fumbling twice during a playoff game. Kyle Williams the person is nothing more than Kyle Williams the mechanism: the media transmitted unit that exists to do nothing but perform an athletic function. If these people knew Williams as a person, if they interacted with Williams face-to-face and knew him as someone with feelings, a family, someone who exists to do more than be watched on TV playing football, it seems unimaginable people would threaten to kill him. In turn, the availability of digital media of which Williams speaks makes possible the communication of severely mentally ill intentions: to kill another human being because he failed to hold on to a football.
While I haven't received any death threats for reporting that I went to see a film about the Sept. 11 attacks that questions the official story of why the twin towers collapsed, the vitriolic, ad hominem attacks I received from my MoPod colleague are expressions of mental illness. I am reduced to the vocal transmissions via a digital network that constitute part of a podcast. Because I found the arguments made by the filmmakers to be compelling, I am now a creationist, and someone in denial of climate change. My colleague knows good and well I am neither of these things. So why his reaction?
My guess is that digital media occupy so much time and attention from people that are making all other forms of intelligence vital to effective communication--particularly interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence-- obsolete. Knowing how to use the media is the only remaining knowledge domain.
There is nothing wrong with going to see a film that questions the official version of what happened on September 11. Why was Mayor Guiliani evacuted from Tower 7 after being told the North and South Towers were going to collapse when the people in the towers themselves were not only told not to evacuate but to return their offices after they had left? I remember that day vividly and I know the footage of Guiliani saying to the media that he had left Tower 7 because he had been told the towers were going to collapse is credible and not doctored with a voiceover or digital alteration. There is other testimony from people while the buildings were smoldering but still standing that they assumed there was no way the buildings would fall. And here's the thing: one the first tower was hit, if in fact the authorities knew that building alone was going to collapse, not only would the people in the other tower been evacuated--there would have been an evacuation of lower Manhattan. Why protect Guiliani and let a herd of spectators waiting for a swath of falling skyscraper devour them? While there may be flaws in the film, this one observation alone makes the chilling prospect that our government and military wanted as many people in those towers to die. I don't want to believe that, and more investigation needs to be done before I would unequivocally reach such a conclusion, but if there still is such a thing a thinking for yourself, this matter is one for which I shall continue to do so, even if it means other people will insist I think God created the Earth in the year 1776.
Here's the point: with such an extraordinary, bizarre, "how-in-the-fuck-could-this-happen," horrific event such as September 11, the normal assumptions we have about who to trust and what to believe go out the window. It may be that the claims made in this film are not credible, but the only credible way to dispute them is through empirical demonstation that shows why the version of events the film offers is not scientifically explainable while the version of events according to the official version offers a satisfactory explanation. As for me, a decade after the attacks that led to erosion of our civil liberties, two wars and occupations, and soaring debt that is a significant factor in our continued economic malaise, the official story falls well short of offering a satisfying explanation. The personal insults I incur from my colleague simply because I found the film to be compelling and worthy of inquiry are expressions of cowardice, a childlike inability to fathom that Mom and Dad and Big Brother not only aren't perfect, but capable of evil as any human is.
Here's one rhetorical problem with Alan's opinion on the matter. Alan claims that Bush-Cheney, et al. knew something was going to happen but didn't work all that hard to stop it. But that doesn't mean that they "let it happen." Yet I remember President George W. Bush specifically saying "If I had known there was going to be a terrorist attack on this country, I would have done everything I could to stop it ." Bush said this after "conspiracy theories" began to gain some crediblity. Well, if Alan is right, then Bush is lying. Furthermore, Alan's position is a distinction without a difference. If our government knew the country was facing an imminent terrorist attack and did anything less than everything it could to stop, that is treason--that is unforgiveable evil. The sinister agendas that have been in place since those attacks: war, occupation, wire-tapping, torture, strongly suggest that the sources of the official version of the attacks--the media and government--are not trustworthy.
In any case, it seems that asking questions and expressing that one has doubts about the official version of a national tragedy is in the spirit of a democratic society and intelligent, educated, civil discourse, whereas berating someone for doing so reflects the anti-social, pathological behavior typical of tyranny, and, sadly, our 21st century society. The availability of digital media not only aren't serving any constructive purpose--we've seen no improvement in our economy, our education system, or our mental health since digital media have become entrenched in everyday American life; they appear to exacerbate anti-social tendencies that may be in all of us but are being socially reinforced as admirable, or at least acceptable behavior. Our obsession with digital media conflates our Facebook pictures, tweets, comments, and the data they in turn generate about us with who we are as actual persons. That's the best explanation I can give for why people would want to kill another human over fumbling a football or insisting that someone is a complete buffoon because he feels the agony and misery countless people suffered on September 11 is worthy of continued study and discussion, rather than being an obedient automaton and passively accepting what mainstream media claim is what happened that day.
The cumulative effect of these reports about mental illness, and persistent reports of anti-social behavior via digital media empirically demonstrate that we have begun to internalize the same perspective the corporations and government have had for us for some time now: as disposable, interchangeable parts, mechanisms that can be discarded without a second thought, not as persons "endowed with reason" and worthy of rights, liberties, and respect.
Sure enough, this focus on mental illness in our society has been reinforced by yesterday's reports that 49ers receiver Kyle Williams received death threats for his fumbles in Sunday's NFC Championship overtime loss to the NY Giants. And, quite interestingly (for me, anyway) Williams cites the availability and influence of digital media for what is obviously a psychotic, anti-social reaction to an athlete making a mistake that allegedly "cost his team the game."
Says Williams: "People just write blindly and I guess that's to be expected with how open Twitter is and how open Facebook is. Again, there's a line and some people cross it and some people have respect for it (ESPN.com: NFL, 2012, January 24). The article contextualizes Williams' statement by prefacing that the receiver "talked of the imaginary 'line' that exists between athletes and fans, one that has become blurred, especially in the age of social media.
What "line" is this? And how does it figure into mental illness? I would say the line is the same line of which the prominent psychiatrist R. D. Laing writes in his book The Divided Self, the line between the human as person and human as mechanism. Back in 1969, Laing argued that the blurring of this line has lead to the methodological problem of conflating the human as person with the human as mechanism in order to study mental illness. In the context of psychiatry, humans exist as mechanisms, or "it-processes" from a biochemical and physiological standpoint. Psychatrists identify chemical imbalances in the brain, for example; but this "it-process" is the human as mechanism, not the person. Laing argues that while it is obviously crazy for humans to see themselves as machines or animals (characteristic of schizoid and schizophrenic personalities), it is equally crazy for psychiatry to study humans by conflating the person with the mechanism in precisely the same way the mentally ill do.
In the age of digital, (anti)social media, humans exist as mechanisms in many ways: Facebook photos and posts, data-bits or "cookies" compiled by computers about their spending habits, political views, and other behaviors, as well as other files such as credit history, criminal records, scholastic transcripts, etc. But none of these things is the actual person, of course. I would argue that what Laing was saying about psychiatry in 1969 applies to society in general in the 21st century: a scholarly problem has become a popular one. Laing argues it is impossible to understand anyone as a person by depersonalizing them into "it-processes" and assuming that the human as mechanism is the human as person.
Obviously such conflation is at work when sports fans threaten to kill another human being for fumbling twice during a playoff game. Kyle Williams the person is nothing more than Kyle Williams the mechanism: the media transmitted unit that exists to do nothing but perform an athletic function. If these people knew Williams as a person, if they interacted with Williams face-to-face and knew him as someone with feelings, a family, someone who exists to do more than be watched on TV playing football, it seems unimaginable people would threaten to kill him. In turn, the availability of digital media of which Williams speaks makes possible the communication of severely mentally ill intentions: to kill another human being because he failed to hold on to a football.
While I haven't received any death threats for reporting that I went to see a film about the Sept. 11 attacks that questions the official story of why the twin towers collapsed, the vitriolic, ad hominem attacks I received from my MoPod colleague are expressions of mental illness. I am reduced to the vocal transmissions via a digital network that constitute part of a podcast. Because I found the arguments made by the filmmakers to be compelling, I am now a creationist, and someone in denial of climate change. My colleague knows good and well I am neither of these things. So why his reaction?
My guess is that digital media occupy so much time and attention from people that are making all other forms of intelligence vital to effective communication--particularly interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence-- obsolete. Knowing how to use the media is the only remaining knowledge domain.
There is nothing wrong with going to see a film that questions the official version of what happened on September 11. Why was Mayor Guiliani evacuted from Tower 7 after being told the North and South Towers were going to collapse when the people in the towers themselves were not only told not to evacuate but to return their offices after they had left? I remember that day vividly and I know the footage of Guiliani saying to the media that he had left Tower 7 because he had been told the towers were going to collapse is credible and not doctored with a voiceover or digital alteration. There is other testimony from people while the buildings were smoldering but still standing that they assumed there was no way the buildings would fall. And here's the thing: one the first tower was hit, if in fact the authorities knew that building alone was going to collapse, not only would the people in the other tower been evacuated--there would have been an evacuation of lower Manhattan. Why protect Guiliani and let a herd of spectators waiting for a swath of falling skyscraper devour them? While there may be flaws in the film, this one observation alone makes the chilling prospect that our government and military wanted as many people in those towers to die. I don't want to believe that, and more investigation needs to be done before I would unequivocally reach such a conclusion, but if there still is such a thing a thinking for yourself, this matter is one for which I shall continue to do so, even if it means other people will insist I think God created the Earth in the year 1776.
Here's the point: with such an extraordinary, bizarre, "how-in-the-fuck-could-this-happen," horrific event such as September 11, the normal assumptions we have about who to trust and what to believe go out the window. It may be that the claims made in this film are not credible, but the only credible way to dispute them is through empirical demonstation that shows why the version of events the film offers is not scientifically explainable while the version of events according to the official version offers a satisfactory explanation. As for me, a decade after the attacks that led to erosion of our civil liberties, two wars and occupations, and soaring debt that is a significant factor in our continued economic malaise, the official story falls well short of offering a satisfying explanation. The personal insults I incur from my colleague simply because I found the film to be compelling and worthy of inquiry are expressions of cowardice, a childlike inability to fathom that Mom and Dad and Big Brother not only aren't perfect, but capable of evil as any human is.
Here's one rhetorical problem with Alan's opinion on the matter. Alan claims that Bush-Cheney, et al. knew something was going to happen but didn't work all that hard to stop it. But that doesn't mean that they "let it happen." Yet I remember President George W. Bush specifically saying "If I had known there was going to be a terrorist attack on this country, I would have done everything I could to stop it ." Bush said this after "conspiracy theories" began to gain some crediblity. Well, if Alan is right, then Bush is lying. Furthermore, Alan's position is a distinction without a difference. If our government knew the country was facing an imminent terrorist attack and did anything less than everything it could to stop, that is treason--that is unforgiveable evil. The sinister agendas that have been in place since those attacks: war, occupation, wire-tapping, torture, strongly suggest that the sources of the official version of the attacks--the media and government--are not trustworthy.
In any case, it seems that asking questions and expressing that one has doubts about the official version of a national tragedy is in the spirit of a democratic society and intelligent, educated, civil discourse, whereas berating someone for doing so reflects the anti-social, pathological behavior typical of tyranny, and, sadly, our 21st century society. The availability of digital media not only aren't serving any constructive purpose--we've seen no improvement in our economy, our education system, or our mental health since digital media have become entrenched in everyday American life; they appear to exacerbate anti-social tendencies that may be in all of us but are being socially reinforced as admirable, or at least acceptable behavior. Our obsession with digital media conflates our Facebook pictures, tweets, comments, and the data they in turn generate about us with who we are as actual persons. That's the best explanation I can give for why people would want to kill another human over fumbling a football or insisting that someone is a complete buffoon because he feels the agony and misery countless people suffered on September 11 is worthy of continued study and discussion, rather than being an obedient automaton and passively accepting what mainstream media claim is what happened that day.
The cumulative effect of these reports about mental illness, and persistent reports of anti-social behavior via digital media empirically demonstrate that we have begun to internalize the same perspective the corporations and government have had for us for some time now: as disposable, interchangeable parts, mechanisms that can be discarded without a second thought, not as persons "endowed with reason" and worthy of rights, liberties, and respect.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Linky Dinks 1/21/2012
Things I think you should read [AM]:
Recent political cartoons, pictures, and videos.
Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to prison for the fraud that went into the collapse of the world's economy. Either the investigations will begin or they'll all remain rich and in power. Let Obama know what you want.
Kentucky Gov. Cuts Education Funding While Preserving Tax Breaks For Biblically-Themed Amusement Park
Obama surprises with SOPA veto threat.
Romney Reveals his Tax Rate is 'Probably Closer to 15 Percent'
Recent political cartoons, pictures, and videos.
Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to prison for the fraud that went into the collapse of the world's economy. Either the investigations will begin or they'll all remain rich and in power. Let Obama know what you want.
Kentucky Gov. Cuts Education Funding While Preserving Tax Breaks For Biblically-Themed Amusement Park
Obama surprises with SOPA veto threat.
Romney Reveals his Tax Rate is 'Probably Closer to 15 Percent'
MOPod episode 87
This week starts Saturday night with football and the NDAA and then moves into Dave's sudden plummet into the conspiracy world after seeing a WTC movie. Just as Alan was talking sense into Dave the phone died. They continued Sunday afternoon and ended with Dave realizing he is an idiot. Also this episode sounds like crap because Dave can't walk and chew gum without fucking up someone else's life.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Linky Dinks
Yeah, I suck. I promise to at least update this weekly.
I mean, what's the point otherwise, huh?
So here's what I've found link worthy in the last week-ish:
"Everything has changed, but not the Democrats. They've always been slower than the GOP to recognize the shifting winds of American politics, slower to respond, inept when they try."
Pot smoking, other drug use not tied to middle-age mental decline
NYC Moves Ahead With Prohibition
Occupy Wall Street Comes Home
Now US Bankers Are Planning To Sue Or Walk If Bonuses Are Too Low
Pot smoking, other drug use not tied to middle-age mental decline
NYC Moves Ahead With Prohibition
Occupy Wall Street Comes Home
Now US Bankers Are Planning To Sue Or Walk If Bonuses Are Too Low
MOpod 86
Dave bitches and gripes for another half hour about the NDAA, the NFL, UK, and other abbreviated things.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
MOpod
Dave finally sends in a rant about how it sucks to have to learn something and bureaucracies suck.
He also made the delicious argument that "error based learning is better than non-error based learning," this from a man who is as resistant to doing anything at which he might fail as a rock is to bending. He did come up with the latest Ogrefest t-shirt theme: "Stagnant and Redundant: Ogrefest 2012"
He also made the delicious argument that "error based learning is better than non-error based learning," this from a man who is as resistant to doing anything at which he might fail as a rock is to bending. He did come up with the latest Ogrefest t-shirt theme: "Stagnant and Redundant: Ogrefest 2012"
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