A Few Thoughts on Easy Versus Hard (conclusion)

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So, let’s wrap this up.

Obviously, I’ve not even scratched the surface on all the potential issues on why we see the apparent increase in violent mass murder of school children in this country.  For example, other than the potential impact of violent first person shooting games, I’ve not talked about how mental illness is diagnosed or treated, nor have I addressed, beyond a superficial level, the role of parents and teachers in guiding young minds towards a level of self-esteem, which is so vital for our maturation.  On the other hand, I have attempted to lay out the simple and I believe inescapable truth this is a much larger problem than the buying, owning and using of guns, and by insisting that is all it is we are unlikely to ever seek out, address, and fix the true root causes.  For debating  those issues require's society to reexamine individual standards and behaviors.

What I do believe is we don’t have a clue with regard to the second order effects of the political choices we have made over the past 75 years or so, and those secondary issues are now rising to the surface in ways we find unpleasant.  
 The young, who are being organized to push a fixed political agenda, have neither the experience nor understanding of the human condition to provide anything more than the emotional appeal they are being exploited for.  The people who are truly behind their involvement are using them for that purpose alone.  The rest of society has been conditioned by the media to accept their sincerity as proof of the “rightness” of their cause.

Today is March 14^th 2018, the day the behind the scenes leadership of the anti-gun movement has chosen as walk out day for high schoolers across the country to show their support that guns should be banned.  It seems the opportune time to point out that a fresh young face, with little experience is always the ideal leader for a movement controlled by some unseen force.  This movement has that, but I wonder how far beyond the symbolic rants it will really go?  They don’t seem to have the focus of say the anti-war movement of the 1960s where there was a real self-interest on the part of the radical leadership to stop a war they may be forced to fight in.

Well enough about this… now on to something else, like maybe cat videos.

Life is More Than a Meme.

Ann Althouse has a couple of interesting blog posts today, the first introduces Sarah Pulliam Baily’s column in the Washington Post that talks about “Mommy Blogs” and how they are being replaced by Instagram and its sanitary filters, or Twitter.  The second is the real meat of Althouse’s discussion of Baily’s piece in Whatever Happened to Blogging, she talks about the evolution of blogging away from the grit into a stylized and glamorized depiction of Mommy’s life.

For what it’s worth I think Ann misses a couple of points in this whole rise and fall of blogging.

First, we tend to jump on board with fads.  It doesn’t matter what the movement is if someone tells us it is the “in thing” we jump on board.  But soon there is another “in thing” and we jump off the last thing to join the new thing.  Only the die-hards remain to carry on that last most-greatest fad.

I can remember back to the 1960’s when bell bottom pants, neon colors, and shoulder length men’s hair became the rage.  They lasted for quite a while, but eventually, they were replaced by different styles, colors and hair length, except for those who decided to hold out because they were individuals and didn’t follow the changing fads (except when they did).

With the advent of the blog-o-sphere as a forum for publishing your opinions, ideas, and photos it became the “in thing.”  With the evolution of FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter the blogs became old hat and the trendy people soon left it.  It takes far less effort to put a sentence on the new venues than it does to put together a blog.  As Ann pointed out blogging offered the ability to earn money from your writing, and who doesn’t like that?  But I suspect most people never earned more than a few pennies (like being a Tupperware hostess) and soon tired of the effort. 

I think the second reason is easier to understand, writing is, after all, hard work and routinely sitting down to write is an effort that requires some discipline.  People who enjoy the exercise will remain, those who don’t will find easier ways to express themselves.  The newest platforms allow us to seemingly express ourselves without effort.  We post a picture, we write a line, and we’re done, or we find someone who has already done that and we share it with friends to tell them “this is how I feel too.”  Knowing we’ve shared our true feelings, we can sit back and wait for people to like it.

If we want to engage in a political debate, all we have to do is find a meme that fits our emotion and plaster it on one of the modern platforms as if it were the most insightful and true idea ever.  The legitimacy of the words is hardly ever questioned and you can now move on to the next opinion or emotion you want the world to know about. 

But everything changes.  Even as I write, memes are being replaced by emoticons to simplify even further our communication process.  In the evolution, we seem to be returning to the origin of language with hieroglyphics and other pictographs carved in mud tablets.

Sounds

Life is made up of so many textures, shapes, shades, smells and sounds.   They are what form our world and feed our emotions.  It is remarkable to think how brilliant someone like Helen Keller was to be able to find the beauty and fullness of life when so many of those components were taken away.  As I sit here with my thoughts I am aware of those sounds around and the meanings they bring.

Outside the babble of a fountain is drowned out by the roar of a 16 horsepower-riding lawnmower as my neighbor trims his yard.  The air conditioner comes to life, with the sounds of a blower fan, circulating air to keep the house temperature bearable, as the sun shines down on the West Florida Coastline.

The cat complains to my wife.  It is a female cat, fussy, finicky, and skittish.  In the morning she meows impatiently for food she will turn up her nose to, and then for a head scratch, nothing more and nothing less, finally she will wander off to perch on top of our Belgium wall unit filled with the memories of our past.

The coffee maker fills the pot with a quiet drizzle finally alerting me to its willingness to share its contents with beep-beep-beep.

I push a button and the electric motor surges to life, straining to break the inertia of a heavy weight.  It seems a herculean task for the ½ horsepower motor, pulling open the garage door despite the creaking protestations of the door’s rollers moving slowly along its guide rails. As the door opens the quieter sounds of the outdoors come rushing inside.  There is the swish of the sprinkler, the sound of tires against asphalt as a car rolls by, the exchange of pleasantries as neighbors greet each other on their way to secure the morning paper.

Direct and to the Point.

      In my line of work I review a lot of papers and briefings.  The primary purpose of these papers is to advocate for something, or to recommend a course of action.  Maybe it is just my style to cut through the issues to the heart of the matter but I see an increasing use of passive voice and big words that just obscure the writer’s intent.   

For example, we have a style for the papers that calls for a structure where you state the purpose of the paper, give the background of the issue, and then discusses the issue and finally make a recommendation.  Here is a typical example I see.

Purpose:  The purpose of this paper is to address the problems the contractor has found with the radar system, what has gone on to this point and how they think they will propose tentative solutions which would need the commander to consider before he is to approve.

I think the same information can be condensed to:

Purpose:  To provide the commander with an explanation of problems with the radar system and what the contractor intends to do to resolve them.

What is frustrating for me is my inability to convey the importance of clear, simple writing when you are trying to persuade someone.

Ah well, maybe it is my outgoing demeanor…  Perhaps I shouldn't start the critique with a question about how they got into college in the first place?