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Noise to signal ratio. A tilted playing field. Lies; damn lies; statistics. The devil is in the details, and it depends on your point of view.
These, and many more, are the elements of complexity attending any discourse. How on earth can progress be made? With faith, hope, and charity? Or guns, germs, and steel? The meek shall inherit the earth, or eat dirt? Can we all just get along, or f*ck 'em if they can't take a joke? It depends. In my youth, the joke was that, "Optimists teach their children Russian; pessimists Chinese". Today's lingua franca is not French but English. Should we be teaching our children Persian?
I submit that what we should be teaching all our children is how to read with comprehension, how to reason, and the importance of personal accountability. The stakes are getting higher at an accelerating rate (some say exponentially); our politicians are running out of promises they can't keep; the masses are abandoning self-reliance in their greed for handouts; and our youth have their heads in video games, online messing with other kids' heads, or up their own butts. We are getting ripe for a major upheaval. What's it going to be, calamity or a new birth of freedom? Einstein or a dumb blond? It depends. On granularity and perspective. And on the will to live.
[Note: The subject article, published, ironically, in yesterday's New York Times, is a de facto endorsement of John McCain for President. After reading my post, below, if you are still undecided, read the subject article before you succumb to youthful naiveté, inexperience, shameless pandering, arrogance, and no-account ability. — TheBigHenry]
Noise to signal ratio. A tilted playing field. Lies; damn lies; statistics. The devil is in the details, and it depends on your point of view.These, and many more, are the elements of complexity attending any discourse. How on earth can progress be made? With faith, hope, and charity? Or guns, germs, and steel? The meek shall inherit the earth, or eat dirt? Can we all just get along, or f*ck 'em if they can't take a joke? It depends. In my youth, the joke was that, "Optimists teach their children Russian; pessimists Chinese". Today's lingua franca is not French but English. Should we be teaching our children Persian?
I submit that what we should be teaching all our children is how to read with comprehension, how to reason, and the importance of personal accountability. The stakes are getting higher at an accelerating rate (some say exponentially); our politicians are running out of promises they can't keep; the masses are abandoning self-reliance in their greed for handouts; and our youth have their heads in video games, online messing with other kids' heads, or up their own butts. We are getting ripe for a major upheaval. What's it going to be, calamity or a new birth of freedom? Einstein or a dumb blond? It depends. On granularity and perspective. And on the will to live.
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