Month: May 2005

The Toughest Decision . . .

Funny:

THE TOUGHEST DECISION: SHOULD MY LOVED ONE BE PLACED IN AN ASSISTED COMPUTING FACILITY?

From The Silicon Pines Assisted Computing Facility[*1] web site.

I’m sure Medary.com readers are savvy techology users and wouldn’t be candidates for Silicon Pines. But someone close to you just might . . .

On second thought, it does sound rather restful . . .

But, but, but, the economy is struggling!!!

A survey of recent American news site headlines, via Google News:[*1]

USA Today, 5/6/05: Job growth explodes in April, up 274,000.[*2]

But then, we have:

ABC News/Reuters, 5/6/05: Jobless claims rise more than expected.[*3]

Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel/Knight Ridder/Dallas Morning News, 5/6/05: The wrong diagnosis: U.S. economy is slow, but this isn’t stagflation.[*4]

Sioux Falls Argus Leader/AP, 4/29/05: U.S. economy slumbering.[*5]

Bloomberg.com, 4/28/05: U.S. Economy: 1st-Quarter Growth Slowed, Inflation Accelerated.[*6]

Then, you have:Washington Times, 5/6/05: Poll: Consumers dour on U.S. economy.[*7]

I wonder why? Do you suppose it might be in part because of the steady drip-drip-drip of negative news from our friends in the “mainstream media?” One of the most admirable things about “The Greatest Generation”[*8] was that, in the words of the song popularized by Bing Crosby, would “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.”[*9]

It isn’t that they had any fewer problems than we did, but it’s about how they went about tackling them.

And before you go off about how naive they were back them, remember that when that song was popular, the world was in the midst of a war more terrible than anything happening today, coming on the heels of an economic depression the likes of which today’s Boomers, Gen-X’ers, and Millenials can scarcely imagine.

Mad Ivan leaves Free Republic

OK, you might file this under “Blognews” if I had such a section. “MadIvan,” a fairly regular British poster of the FreeRepublic[*1] discussion board announced he was leaving that conservative site[*2] after one too many Brit-bashing posts. I had words to say about that and the general condition of political discourse (click “read more” to read my comments):

(p.s. here’s a link to one of Mad Ivan’s websites[*3] , and here’s another one[*4] .)

Update:
MadIvan has been asked by the FR moderators and lots of others to reconsider his departure. My post to MadIvan on FreeRepublic:
(legend for those not familiar with Free Republic:
“FR” = Free Republic
“DUmmie” = poster of disruptive posts or messages on FR, typically considered to be from the Democrat Underground web site
“opus” = long-winded diatribe posted by frustrated member announcing he/she is leaving FR forever.)

MadIvan, this is sad news.

(I’ll pull over my soapbox and hop up.)

Some people forget that on the other end of the Internet connection, there is another living, breathing, thinking, feeling person. Others forget that “power corrupts . . . ” Still others forget that you collect more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Bit by bit, I see the “right” slowly losing the high ground, mainly by a slow descent into the tactics of the irresponsible left–personal invective, innuendo, guilt-by-association, and a general holier-than-thou attitude vs. solid and rational argument from a principled position. Not everyone here, mind you, and definitely not all the time, but my perception is that we are slowly turning from reasoned argument to blustery confrontation, and that concerns me.

I don’t post on FR often, and for the most part post with tongue firmly in cheek. But I do appreciate all of the thoughtful and informative posts I see here (as well as the more humorous, silly, and flippant ones).

The fact is that I tend to agree with many (but not all) of the positions of the “right.” On the other hand, I am constrained from agreeing with many positions generally considered to be on the “left” until some sense of political sanity takes hold over there.

I may or may not agree with your particular opinion. You may try to convince me, and you might succeed, if your argument is good enough. Or, I may decide that life’s too short to worry about your issue right now.

Those of you who take Issue XYZ so seriously that you are blinded to everything else would do well to heed the sage words “when you become obsessed by the enemy, you become the enemy.”

There is more to life than abortion, immigration, Social Security, judicial nominations, male horse jokes, global warming?, Boeing vs. Airbus, Iraq, North Korea, Ted Kennedy, etc., etc. All have their place, and you’re free to think that any of those (or any other issue) is the most important issue in the world today. You need to realize that others do not necessarily hold the same opinion, and this is not simply because they are more ignorant or misguided than you. Everyone has their own priorities. To make headway on your issue, strive to make friends and forge alliances, not create enemies and stiffen resistance.

Those here whose first reactions are to attack and blame anyone who does not instantaneously agree with “their” issue are more disruptive and damaging to their cause than a hundred DUmmies. My reaction to the latter is bemused humor. To the former, just a sad shake of the head.

This is by no means an opus (I’d need to post my own vanity for that) but instead a plea for FR to return to “civil discourse.” Maybe I’m shouting against the storm, but I felt the need to give it a try.

So, hopping off of my soapbox, I bid MadIvan farewell and good luck.