Oh Dear, We've Got A Bias Problem In Our Hands.

I was at Chili's last night, and was eating. An older couple in the booth next to ours was talking about Hillary and Obama(Well, the guy was talking, his wife was making polite agreement sounds.) And he said things that were obviously biased, and untrue, making it obvious to where his allegiances lie.

Now, first off, it's not a political thing I'm talking about. That's just an example. My point is how hard it seems for people to be unbiased. I have no idea why this is, and I am certainly not an exception. It's just interesting. People become so stubborn to change of their opinions. Things thought first are always right. At the risk of offending people, an example would be people who still don't believe in Evolution. Everyone has their beliefs, and I can respect that, but I don't understand how people can flatly deny something that is certainly fact. I can see Intelligent Design. But...just creation theory? It's been disproven, it's just not real. And stuff like that happens in everyone's mind, whether it comes down to religion and politics, or the score of a backyard baseball game. I wonder if this is somehow coded in to our survival instinct, and goes along with not liking new things, and I'm betting it's in our culture somewhere.

I dunno. I'm a quote fan, as you may see from some of my blogs. So I'll end it with this one.

They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were; they all fused into a single stubbornness.

Vigilantism

There's been a billion books, a billion movies, and probably a ton of songs about this. This being Vigilantism. In case you don't know, it's basically taking the law in to your own hands, often for revenge. Popular vigilantes would be The Punisher, from comics. Hell, the Die Hard movies are focused around a vigilante.

Generally, through the books and movies, you see the good side. FIGHTING AGAINST CRIME. Sometimes, they show the cops trying to arrest the vigilante. But, generally, the cops sympathize, and let them go. This is generally because something horrible happened to them, and they're getting revenge now. Of course, there's some grandstanding political figure condemning the whole thing, but who cares about them. Nobody trusts the politicians, the legal system, or the government.

I mean, think about it. I'm reading a book, A Time To Kill, where a man's daughter is raped, and he kills the two rapists on the steps of the Courthouse. Honestly, I agree with him. If I ever become a father/husband, and my family is hurt....Well, let's just say I don't trust in the judgement of the Court. We've all seen the acquittals and the short sentences that people get. But that's scary. I don't know of one person who can really say that they trust our government to do what's best for us, or that the politicians aren't lying, or that the legal system is fair.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was, or is an increase in Vigilantism as a result of this. Maybe not, and I'm just looking too deep into it. But say something horrible happens to you, or the people you love...And you don't trust the authorities to do the right thing....What DO you do?

Sliding Scale Rate

As it came up in class Monday, I asked my Econ teacher about Unemployment Benefits, and I was thinking it'd be a set rate. Like maybe at or slightly above what the poverty line is, per year.


Nope. It's sliding scale, based on previous income. I found this quote, and other sites seem to agree with it.

How much does unemployment insurance pay, and for how long?
The amount can vary slightly from state to state, but in general, the amount you will receive will be approximately 50% of your weekly earnings, with a set maximum amount you can receive. The maximum varies from state to state. (Note: because of this maximum, most workers receive far less than 50% of their weekly wage).

In general, Unemployment Insurance lasts for 26 weeks (about 6 months). In times of extended high unemployment, benefits may be extended by 13 weeks or more.

I can see the benefits to having this. It keeps people who have high bills, because they are in higher income areas, floating. But I'm not sure. People who have higher incomes save more, because they sped less of a % of their income overall, even though they spend more money overall. (Yay for Econ.) So they save alot more money then people who do not have as much income. So they'll be easier off, maybe not easy off, but easier, then those with a smaller income. I guess it seems like it'd be easier to survive with Unemployment Benefits for people with higher incomes, even though they're getting the same % of Benefits. Seems kind of unfair. I mean, if you have a 2 million dollar job, and then you lose it, for the next 6 months, you get 500,000 dollars. That's crazy. They should be able to easily live off their savings, unless they spent unwisely. Which is kind of their fault.

I see the benefits for having it too, but it seems like it should stop at a certain point, like 50-60,000. That's just my opinion though.

Sense of Accomplishment

Here's a little back story to why I started thinking about this. Since December, we had a TV stand packaged up, and a brand new TV still in it's box just waiting. We couldn't put either of them up, since we couldn't move the other TV cabinet, since it weighed more then an elephant. (Exaggeration.) We finally got some movers to come and move it yesterday morning.

So when I got home, the TV stand was in the family room, in the box. So, at roughly four, I got like 4 screwdrivers, a hammer(Never used it), a wrench(Never used it), and scissors and got down to business. By 9pm(Taking breaks every so often for dinner and such.) I was finished. And I felt GOOD. I wasn't expecting to get past the first part of instructions, much less finish the thing. But I did the whole thing myself, minus some parts where I needed my mother to hold something still while I screwed it in. Now, as far as building things go, it wasn't hard. It was screw here, fit in place, etc. There was just some tedious parts. But I had a sense of accomplishment. I spent most of my free time that day building something, and I was happy. Weird, huh?

Anyway, I was thinking about how little in our life gives that sense of accomplishment. How often do you feel good about that worksheet you finished, or that report you wrote up? I know I don't feel too good about it, it's just "Now that's done, what's next?" It seems like a ton of jobs don't give that sense of accomplishment either. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine a cubicle job being at all rewarding, like you're really DOING something. I kind of feel like a lot of problems might be lessened, if not solved, if people were getting more sense of accomplishments from their life. I don't think it's the long work hours, or the stress that really hurt people. It's the boring, tediousness, USELESSNESS that people feel towards their job. They don't care, because they don't feel like they're doing anything.

I suppose that's why I want to be a therapist. Helping people directly seems like a good way to avoid that, and I get to help people. It's win-win. Hopefully.

Whose Turn Is It To Be The Hero?

Right, so I was talking to a friend awhile ago, and he was having some trouble with a bully. And one of the things he said got me thinking. He knew that he could ignore the guy, because he'd done it, and it'd worked. Solved, right? Not really. See, he also wanted to be the guy to cut this guy down to size. He wanted to be the Hero. I know that I've seen a bully and wanted to put them in their place. I'd be surprised if everyone hasn't thought that one time or another. Even if it's not their business, or if they know it's best to just let it go...You want to be the person to punish this bully. "What goes around comes around." "You reap what you sow." Yeah, well, it's often the case that people want to be the person that makes that happen. You don't want to wait till the person is forty, and all alone...Because, hell, that probably wont happen.

So dealing with that little gem of life, what do you do? Why do we, the human race, but probably especially males, want to knock them off their high chair? I've got a couple of ideas. Number 1: What's more masculine then beating up the most masculine guy around, the tough guy? Number 2: Resentment. Nobody likes to be picked on. And it feels sooo good to put them in their place. Number 3: Glory. And Number 4: Because I don't think too many people actually feel that you reap what you sow. There's too many corrupt politicians that seem to get by fine, and a million others who just abuse, use, and take...And nothing is done.

So why not go all John Wayne, Rambo, or Patrick Swayze(Patrick Swayze?!? Watch Roadhouse. I watched that movie after my friend talked about it. It only reinforced this topic for me. It's pretty much exactly about what I'm talking about.) Somebody needs to protect the people of the world. Except that it never works out that way...Generally it works out like it does in the comedies. Geeky nerd takes a swing at jock bully...Gets whooped. And then everyone gets suspended.

Mostly, I just think it's interesting that we have what I shall now refer to as The Hero Syndrome. I think this is a contributing factor behind some of our greatest achievements...And our greatest failures. It has led to countless acts of bravery and selflessness. And it has led to wars. Hundreds of them, leaving uncounted numbers dead. I suppose THAT's what really interests me. The inherent complexity and confusion in the Human character. The black and white. There often doesn't seem to be much grey, deep down. Lotsa grey on the surface. But when you throw people in to the fire...It's black or white.

Wilful Ignorance

Here's a caveat(ALWAYS wanted to use that word in conversation.) This may turn out slightly rantish, but I'm going to do my very best to avoid that. Touchy subject for me.

Now, moving on to the topic of the day. Wilful Ignorance. If you don't know what this is, it's basically staying ignorant, even though you could move beyond this, for different reasons. Wilful Ignorance, it seems, is especially common in politics and religion. Though, it can happen in anything. Here's an example, the Mac commercials. They just came out with a new one, about how bad Vista is. Well, that's been most of their campaign, but this was more specific. And people will take it at face value without every getting opinions from people who are on Vista, have used it, and have had time to develop real opinions.

I understand being ignorant about some things, well, most things. I'm pretty smart, and I don't know alot more then I know. A whole lot more. But I WANT to learn things that I don't know. If you show me proof, I'll accept it. Well, if it's interesting, I'll continue looking it up, and thinking about it, but I won't deny it.

There's a quote in this book I'm reading, I believe from Mao, that goes something likes this. "We shall disagree with our enemies always, whether they are right or wrong." It's worded much differently, but that was the gist of it. And people do that. Again, especially with religion and politics. If I'm conservative, and you're liberal, or vice versa...Whatever you say, well, sorry. It's wrong.

Why do people do this? Why do we need to be wilfully ignorant, often on the most important subjects? Because it's uncomfortable? So you contiribute to the awkwardness, and the need to actually have intelligent conversation about the subject. Nobody's perfect. Nobody will be perfect. But, you don't need to stop trying to better yourself because of this.

My Masculinity Is Bigger Than Yours.

I was on YouTube last night, and by following the Related Videos boredly, seeing where I'd get, I got to a video about guns. (Try it some time. Start with a subject and just click Related Videos, and see where you end up. Or try it on Wikipedia. Interesting things can happen.) Some guy was talking about how he was an avid gun owner, but was going to vote for Obama. For whatever reason, it's not allowing me to see the comment made by a person anymore, but from my memory, he called Obama a socialist Nazi, and that if you wanted good information on the candidates, go to NRA's website. Oh also, he threw the term "Osama Obama around." I decided to respond with this.

"Please, let's not be so ignorant to throw the term Nazi out just because you disagree with someone's policies. I don't like McCain, or Hillary, or a thousand other people, and I certainly disagree with Obama on some things. But to associate them with a group that caused the deaths of millions is just irresponsible as a human being."

Guess what the response was that I got from a 33 year old man? "Cry me a river." Well now, that gets me on to my topic.

Guns. I believe in the 2nd amendment, but to a certain point. I loved the part in Bowling For Columbine where Michael Moore is talking to a guy about the 2nd amendment, and the right to bear arms. Not necessarily guns, but arms. Which includes nuclear weapons, so Michael Moore asks him if he thinks people should be able to own nuclear weapons. The guy replies something like "Well no, there's wackos out there."

So going down from that to stuff like Assault Weapons. I can understand owning shotguns and handguns. But personally, I think having an assault rifle in your house is a little excessive. You're not going to go hunt a deer with that. The only reason is for 'personal protection.' I suppose. I can see how people would feel safe with an assault rifle at their disposal, but if you feel the need to have such a weapon to feel safe...Well, there's obviously bigger problems going on in the society, because you appear to be living in a warzone then. And it's extremely unlikely that you're going to be broken in to anyway, and if you are, it's likely you're asleep. So your assault rifle isn't helping you much anyway.

I guess I think it goes back to the culture of fear that we've been talking about in class. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm willing to bet that most of the world would feel LESS safe with an assault rifle in their house. So why is having such a dangerous weapon near us comforting, for some people? Does it make them feel more like a man, because they can protect their family from a freak rabid bear attack? I don't know, but I keep coming back to the quote from Albert Einstein. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."