I really have to wonder sometimes where people's heads are at. I'm beginning to think the vast majority of people are cruise controlling their way through their lives, leaving most of their thinking to our government. It's both frightening and discouraging that, as our country limps along, there are so many people who can't formulate linear thought processes in order to make worldview decisions. Learned helplessness perhaps? Or just paralyzing fear. Whatever the reason, older generations are showing the younger generations how in the face of crisis, Americans are great at doing nothing, cutting off their noses to spite their faces or proving Einstein's quote (the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results) to be true.
Case in point: the recent Congressional election in Michigan's 15th district. They re-elected incumbent John Dingell. And he is quite the incumbent. Dingell is 84 years old, he has been in Congress since 1955. Let that marinade for a moment. And then, for those of you who are old enough, reflect on everything politically and socially that has transpired since 1955 in this country. The revolutions that have rocked our population, the wars, the JFK and MLK assassinations, the moon landing, the civil rights movement, the end of the Soviet Union, the technology boom. And then ask yourself how someone who is clearly ravaged by age can aggressively move his constituents through the 21st century?
And that is what I find most disturbing about the voting population of Congressional district 15 in Michigan. That they are so impaired and fearful of the reality bearing down on all of us like a train that they cling to a man who is unbelievably out of date. I have deep reservations about 84 year olds driving, I certainly wouldn't want them making my political decisions for me in Washington. Would America elect an 84 year old president? And how dangerous would that be?
As intelligent and wise as Abraham Lincoln was as a president, even if we had the ability to somehow magically zap him into power in today's world, I would be against it. Yes his morals and ethics were admirable but he'd lack the 21st century savvy that the job requires for our country today. 84 year olds like Dingell have long since retired from their respective careers, their minds aren't in any condition to tackle Washington decisions. And they also lack future perspective. It is reckless and dangerous to the welfare of the American people to put geriatrics in charge of designing and revolutionizing our health care and Social Security systems when many of them won't be around for even a decade of that time. What's their motivation for making sure the systems benefit future generations and not just the ones using the system currently? The answer is none.
At a time when Michigan desperately needs change, the people of the 15th district have decided someone with a 1955 perspective is good enough for them.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Be True To Your Blue Light Special
Growing up in a Rust Belt state, a person learns to say goodbye to those old familiar places. It's a here today gone tomorrow climate. Businesses who can usually get bought out by a conglomerate and those who can't, well they pack and leave in the dead of night. Farmer Jack's, Winkleman's, Mervyn's, Perry Drugs, Arbor Drugs, Montgomery Ward's, the list just goes on and on depending on how old you are. Nationally Sears squeaked through a bankruptcy whole except for the elimination of the Sears Christmas catalog, a Sears staple. When K-mart hit the skids in the 90s, the ship didn't appear that it would make it. It was acquired by Sears a number of years ago and they have both admirably buffered each other since then but survival seems suspect.
Why the American retailer history? Lately I've been feeling a retail based angst which sometimes bubbles up into a momentary retail rage. When you live in an economic wasteland like Michigan is, the past--the failed past--lies in the rubble around you. You're constantly reminded of it. When you're young, stuff like that doesn't bother you that much. You're too focused on running ahead. As you get older, you still keep moving forward but you look behind more often. When I see a K-mart advertisement now, I feel a lot of sadness. K-mart was one of the neatest places to go with my mom when I was eight years old. I could buy (well my mom could) sneakers, a new book, a stuffed animal and even a Coca-Cola Icee (if I was well behaved). My first bike was bought there. I began going to K-mart more regularly after my grandma died a few years back. When she was alive, I would bump into her there from time to time. Older people like routine and stores they can count on for some reason or another and so she was a frequent K-mart shopper. After she passed, I went in just to remember her and of my childhood. At the same time, my discount mass retailer options were beginning to annoy me in the worst way. I had been (practically) forced to shop a few times at Wal-mart, a store that I refuse to give any of money to and those coerced retail experiences only reaffirmed my dislike for the retailer. Target, my usual go-to guilty pleasure, has left me high and dry in recent months, chronically out of stock in the products I need. Plus somehow it has morphed into a nonstop daycare center which makes shopping a test of endurance in the face of supreme aggravation and annoyance. I'm someone who likes to register complaints but in discount mass retail who do you lodge complaints with and isn't it like spitting into the wind? The futility left me even more annoyed, with current economic conditions considered, until I finally realized that retail is picking the lesser of two (or three) evils. So yeah there weren't PowerPoint reasons for me to do all my sundry shopping at K-mart. It's not always more convenient, their prices are comparative with their peers and so is their customer service. But it makes me feel like I'm contributing a little something in memory of a lost childhood memory (plus they have a loyalty card). And it's not like I hoped there would be a stark difference in their competitors' balance sheets because of my absence (because obviously there wouldn't be) but I feel like I'm finally behaving like a consumer on my terms and not as a hostage.
Why the American retailer history? Lately I've been feeling a retail based angst which sometimes bubbles up into a momentary retail rage. When you live in an economic wasteland like Michigan is, the past--the failed past--lies in the rubble around you. You're constantly reminded of it. When you're young, stuff like that doesn't bother you that much. You're too focused on running ahead. As you get older, you still keep moving forward but you look behind more often. When I see a K-mart advertisement now, I feel a lot of sadness. K-mart was one of the neatest places to go with my mom when I was eight years old. I could buy (well my mom could) sneakers, a new book, a stuffed animal and even a Coca-Cola Icee (if I was well behaved). My first bike was bought there. I began going to K-mart more regularly after my grandma died a few years back. When she was alive, I would bump into her there from time to time. Older people like routine and stores they can count on for some reason or another and so she was a frequent K-mart shopper. After she passed, I went in just to remember her and of my childhood. At the same time, my discount mass retailer options were beginning to annoy me in the worst way. I had been (practically) forced to shop a few times at Wal-mart, a store that I refuse to give any of money to and those coerced retail experiences only reaffirmed my dislike for the retailer. Target, my usual go-to guilty pleasure, has left me high and dry in recent months, chronically out of stock in the products I need. Plus somehow it has morphed into a nonstop daycare center which makes shopping a test of endurance in the face of supreme aggravation and annoyance. I'm someone who likes to register complaints but in discount mass retail who do you lodge complaints with and isn't it like spitting into the wind? The futility left me even more annoyed, with current economic conditions considered, until I finally realized that retail is picking the lesser of two (or three) evils. So yeah there weren't PowerPoint reasons for me to do all my sundry shopping at K-mart. It's not always more convenient, their prices are comparative with their peers and so is their customer service. But it makes me feel like I'm contributing a little something in memory of a lost childhood memory (plus they have a loyalty card). And it's not like I hoped there would be a stark difference in their competitors' balance sheets because of my absence (because obviously there wouldn't be) but I feel like I'm finally behaving like a consumer on my terms and not as a hostage.
Monday, October 18, 2010
One Is Too Many
Today my sister received the news from a childhood classmate that another one of their classmates had passed away and tragically he had taken his own life. She texted me the news and I sat in stunned silence. I used the word 'another' because between the two of us we know ten people that we went to school with who have taken their lives and to us, that number is mind numbing. These were good people who we spent most of our formative years with. The joke tellers, the homework helpers, the laughter sharers and yet in the end none of it seemed to matter or help. Each one of these individuals felt like they didn't have any other options left.
I remember when a high school classmate took his life in the spring of our senior year, it was a jarring wake up call amid the seemingly neverending backpatting and good times that pepper the final year of school. The message that some students feel their life is already set in an ominous stone had broken the Iron Curtain of sheltered suburbia and I remember the message that I took away from it was that nothing last forever and there are always options if you are willing to ask for help. Five years later I lost a friend to suicide, one of the most intellgient and funniest guys I have ever known. In the years since my sister and I have grieved the loss of several more friends and classmates. Lives cut short sometimes without rhyme or reason. Experts claim that there are signs as if there is some kind of formula that needs to be in place before something like this can happen but I can say that without reading someone's mind, it seems to catch us all sleeping and totally unaware. And that is at the base of me and my sister's frustration. There is nothing more we would like to do than help people we know who believe they've run out of answers but how are we to really know? How are we to know who is at risk? There's a common saying that goes you never know what is really going on in someone's home or head and the truth in that statement makes preventing suicide and recognizing when loved ones need people (and professionals) to reach out to them, all the more difficult.
I remember when a high school classmate took his life in the spring of our senior year, it was a jarring wake up call amid the seemingly neverending backpatting and good times that pepper the final year of school. The message that some students feel their life is already set in an ominous stone had broken the Iron Curtain of sheltered suburbia and I remember the message that I took away from it was that nothing last forever and there are always options if you are willing to ask for help. Five years later I lost a friend to suicide, one of the most intellgient and funniest guys I have ever known. In the years since my sister and I have grieved the loss of several more friends and classmates. Lives cut short sometimes without rhyme or reason. Experts claim that there are signs as if there is some kind of formula that needs to be in place before something like this can happen but I can say that without reading someone's mind, it seems to catch us all sleeping and totally unaware. And that is at the base of me and my sister's frustration. There is nothing more we would like to do than help people we know who believe they've run out of answers but how are we to really know? How are we to know who is at risk? There's a common saying that goes you never know what is really going on in someone's home or head and the truth in that statement makes preventing suicide and recognizing when loved ones need people (and professionals) to reach out to them, all the more difficult.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
When Is A Journalist Not A Journalist (and other riddles)
There is a scene in the classic Disney movie Alice In Wonderland where Alice happens upon the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. At some point during their tea party centered ravings, the Mad Hatter poses the question to Alice: why is a raven like a writing desk? It's a nonsense question that Lewis Carroll penned in his book. There was to be no answer but writers, scholars and everyday people have created a variety of possible answers to this question meant to have no refrain to echo back. Detroit Free Press columnist (as well as radio personality, author and journalist at large) Mitch Albom tried to answer a similar question in a recent column that began by discussing the recent media dust up between Andrew Breitbart (of ACORN expose fame) and Shirley Sherrod (formerly of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and video footage that Breitbart released where Sherrod admitted having racist attitudes towards white farmers seeking aid from the department in the 80s. Breitbart did not release a portion of tape that followed where Sherrod says that she went on to help white farmers seeking aid and was glad she did. The mainstream media has since pounced on Breitbart with a number of accusations ranging from race baiting to the issue of truth in journalism.
What Albom was most incensed about was not what concerned me greatest which was the idea of racism and racist attitudes within a department of the government. The government, its departments and various agencies are supposed to be colorblind and treat all of its citizens fairly and equally. The fact that these personal attitudes arose in Ms. Sherrod, even if they weren't acted upon, needed to be addressed and corrected. Personal beliefs and attitudes have no place within the federal government (as the separation of church and state is constantly pointing out ad nauseum). Albom, along with most other mainstream journalists, despise Breitbart for being an outsider who took a page from their own handbook. Albom and his ilk are toiling away at a dying media. The public has become disgusted with the fabrication of truth and facts that has become so rampant in mainstream media and have sought to stay informed through other alternative, less costly methods. Enter Internet media and Internet journalists (among them bloggers like Breitbart). As far as the mainstream public is concerned, mainstream media is a self-serving lot and the beauty of living in a society with freedoms, if you don't like the government mouthpiece press (hello NBC!), you can go elsewhere to spend your cash or create your own press. They can't say the same in Cuba or North Korea. Of course they have bigger problems like surviving national poverty to deal with.
Albom argues in his column that bloggers aren't real journalists (why do I feel a pitch for unionization coming on?) and that Breitbart is dangerous. The truth is the media is still pissed at Breitbart for taking ACORN down and emphasizing the longtime connection between ACORN and their Savior-In-Chief. And the fact that he used guerrilla journalism, something mainstream journalists believe they had patented, against their agendas only enrages them more. And they are going to crush him however long it takes and whatever it takes. That's the oath of the mainstream journalist after all. The following are my musings as I emailed to Albom.
Mitch,
With all due respect, your indignation and outrage at Breitbart in your Sherrod column had to be a tad inflated right? Because if not, I'm really shocked that a seasoned journalist like yourself can still look at mainstream media (forgetting the Internet media and blogging for a moment) like it hasn't already permanently sullied itself. Journalism was fact manipulation media long before bloggers like Breitbart were even conceived. Print journalism is nothing but collecting subjective quotes to weave a story and the nightly news is the arrangement of carefully orchestrated sound bites. And though you as a mainstream journalist would like nothing more than to distance yourself from those knock-off journalists known as Internet bloggers (per your column), Internet journalism is the mainstream media's illegitimate offspring, out committing sins of the father so to speak.
I'm 28 years old and it's been like that for as long as I can remember. There hasn't been a time in my life when I took mainstream journalism at face value. And I put Internet media and their journalists through the same sieve. I view both as being equally without merit. I look at someone like Dan Rather and the scandal he created some years back, having to leave his career disgraced because of disregarding facts, and I think about all his years as a journalist and how many other stories he must have dirtied or outright fabricated.
What I'm trying to say is that your anger is 30 years too late and it's misdirected. Breitbart is just the latest manifestation of the world's second oldest profession. If you had said that it was throwing gasoline on the fire regarding race relations in America today or shook your finger (like my father does) at Generation X and said the whole stinking generation is nothing more than a bunch of godless mercenaries with no respect for anyone, I could understand your argument. But Breitbart's and Rather's methods aren't so different. Manipulation through media.
What Albom was most incensed about was not what concerned me greatest which was the idea of racism and racist attitudes within a department of the government. The government, its departments and various agencies are supposed to be colorblind and treat all of its citizens fairly and equally. The fact that these personal attitudes arose in Ms. Sherrod, even if they weren't acted upon, needed to be addressed and corrected. Personal beliefs and attitudes have no place within the federal government (as the separation of church and state is constantly pointing out ad nauseum). Albom, along with most other mainstream journalists, despise Breitbart for being an outsider who took a page from their own handbook. Albom and his ilk are toiling away at a dying media. The public has become disgusted with the fabrication of truth and facts that has become so rampant in mainstream media and have sought to stay informed through other alternative, less costly methods. Enter Internet media and Internet journalists (among them bloggers like Breitbart). As far as the mainstream public is concerned, mainstream media is a self-serving lot and the beauty of living in a society with freedoms, if you don't like the government mouthpiece press (hello NBC!), you can go elsewhere to spend your cash or create your own press. They can't say the same in Cuba or North Korea. Of course they have bigger problems like surviving national poverty to deal with.
Albom argues in his column that bloggers aren't real journalists (why do I feel a pitch for unionization coming on?) and that Breitbart is dangerous. The truth is the media is still pissed at Breitbart for taking ACORN down and emphasizing the longtime connection between ACORN and their Savior-In-Chief. And the fact that he used guerrilla journalism, something mainstream journalists believe they had patented, against their agendas only enrages them more. And they are going to crush him however long it takes and whatever it takes. That's the oath of the mainstream journalist after all. The following are my musings as I emailed to Albom.
Mitch,
With all due respect, your indignation and outrage at Breitbart in your Sherrod column had to be a tad inflated right? Because if not, I'm really shocked that a seasoned journalist like yourself can still look at mainstream media (forgetting the Internet media and blogging for a moment) like it hasn't already permanently sullied itself. Journalism was fact manipulation media long before bloggers like Breitbart were even conceived. Print journalism is nothing but collecting subjective quotes to weave a story and the nightly news is the arrangement of carefully orchestrated sound bites. And though you as a mainstream journalist would like nothing more than to distance yourself from those knock-off journalists known as Internet bloggers (per your column), Internet journalism is the mainstream media's illegitimate offspring, out committing sins of the father so to speak.
I'm 28 years old and it's been like that for as long as I can remember. There hasn't been a time in my life when I took mainstream journalism at face value. And I put Internet media and their journalists through the same sieve. I view both as being equally without merit. I look at someone like Dan Rather and the scandal he created some years back, having to leave his career disgraced because of disregarding facts, and I think about all his years as a journalist and how many other stories he must have dirtied or outright fabricated.
What I'm trying to say is that your anger is 30 years too late and it's misdirected. Breitbart is just the latest manifestation of the world's second oldest profession. If you had said that it was throwing gasoline on the fire regarding race relations in America today or shook your finger (like my father does) at Generation X and said the whole stinking generation is nothing more than a bunch of godless mercenaries with no respect for anyone, I could understand your argument. But Breitbart's and Rather's methods aren't so different. Manipulation through media.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Race to the Bottom: Michigan's Intelligence Freefall Continues
This past week it was announced that Michigan had not made it to the next round of finalists for the coveted Race To The Top education funding that the White House is dangling in front of state governments like a golden carrot on a stick. Immediately Governor Jennifer Granholm issued her standard and underwhelming official statement of disappointment and the finger pointing blame game ensued, most of it laying at the feet of the MEA (Michigan Education Association) union whose political muscle and enforcement ensured that a vague, unaccountable proposal was submitted to Education Czar Arnie Duncan. So once again education in Michigan takes a backseat due to its political officials' disinterest in educating its constituents, its unions desire to keep the status quo and its citizens welcomed ignorance and great interest in only things of a vice nature. In layman's terms, Michigan wants to keep itself stupid for a variety of reasons.
Recently I had to take a certification exam that was made available at no cost to residents who had been laid off from their employers. It was being proctored at two locations, both of which were 20 plus miles away. I called ahead to inquire what I should bring to the test and was told to bring a calculator for the mathematics portion of the exam. Out of habit (from at least a decade's worth of standardized testing experience) I brought several number 2 pencils. I was also told to arrive 15 minutes early for exam instructions. I arrived to find myself the only person under 30 years old in a group of 20. Most of the people taking the test were middle aged men and that wasn't a surprise since most employees in industries that have closed up shop in Michigan and 21st Century America (manufacturing, automotive) are men who are now in career transition. What surprised me was how ill equipped the group was for the exam and I'm not talking about exam content readiness. Right from go, the time the exam was set to begin was pushed back 25 minutes as we waited for one person on the attendance list to show up. The woman was well into her 60s and offered no apology for holding up the class when she eventually wandered into the class. The proctor didn't seem to care either. The exam was starting to feel like a graduation open house. Show up whenever. Two other people, who were nursing students, brought calculators and the same amount brought pencils. The standardized exam answer sheet, known as the trusty Scantron form used in schools K-12, colleges and skill certification exams nationwide, was handed out. That's when the disconnect happened. Myself and the two nursing students were the only ones who knew how to fill out a Scantron form. A middle aged melee ensued as people began to react to the Rubik's cube that was handed to them. It's actually a pretty self explanatory form but the proctor still spent the next 20 minutes guiding the class through filling out the preliminary info on the Scantron (name, DOB, etc). What takes 20 minutes to say? Well plenty when everyone talks over the proctor! I was astounded at how the minute the proctor said she would explain, everyone piped up seemingly repeating over and over how they didn't know what this was and oh, did they mention that they don't have a pencil? Well they don't. The proctored exam had turned into chaos.
I hung my head in my embarrassment since essentially this generation (and, gulp, the generation preceding it!) is running the state. No wonder the state is the mess to end all messes that it is. We used to snicker at the kids that showed up the first day unprepared for school. No writing tablets, no paper, no pencils or pens. They just sat there expectantly waiting for it to magically appear before them. Now it all makes sense because their parents are showing up to Life every day completely unprepared. No problem solving skills, no active listening abilities, none of the responsibilities assumed when you become adults. They show up empty handed and empty headed looking expectantly at the person in front of them, waiting to be handed supplies, their marching orders, essentially their lives.
Recently I had to take a certification exam that was made available at no cost to residents who had been laid off from their employers. It was being proctored at two locations, both of which were 20 plus miles away. I called ahead to inquire what I should bring to the test and was told to bring a calculator for the mathematics portion of the exam. Out of habit (from at least a decade's worth of standardized testing experience) I brought several number 2 pencils. I was also told to arrive 15 minutes early for exam instructions. I arrived to find myself the only person under 30 years old in a group of 20. Most of the people taking the test were middle aged men and that wasn't a surprise since most employees in industries that have closed up shop in Michigan and 21st Century America (manufacturing, automotive) are men who are now in career transition. What surprised me was how ill equipped the group was for the exam and I'm not talking about exam content readiness. Right from go, the time the exam was set to begin was pushed back 25 minutes as we waited for one person on the attendance list to show up. The woman was well into her 60s and offered no apology for holding up the class when she eventually wandered into the class. The proctor didn't seem to care either. The exam was starting to feel like a graduation open house. Show up whenever. Two other people, who were nursing students, brought calculators and the same amount brought pencils. The standardized exam answer sheet, known as the trusty Scantron form used in schools K-12, colleges and skill certification exams nationwide, was handed out. That's when the disconnect happened. Myself and the two nursing students were the only ones who knew how to fill out a Scantron form. A middle aged melee ensued as people began to react to the Rubik's cube that was handed to them. It's actually a pretty self explanatory form but the proctor still spent the next 20 minutes guiding the class through filling out the preliminary info on the Scantron (name, DOB, etc). What takes 20 minutes to say? Well plenty when everyone talks over the proctor! I was astounded at how the minute the proctor said she would explain, everyone piped up seemingly repeating over and over how they didn't know what this was and oh, did they mention that they don't have a pencil? Well they don't. The proctored exam had turned into chaos.
I hung my head in my embarrassment since essentially this generation (and, gulp, the generation preceding it!) is running the state. No wonder the state is the mess to end all messes that it is. We used to snicker at the kids that showed up the first day unprepared for school. No writing tablets, no paper, no pencils or pens. They just sat there expectantly waiting for it to magically appear before them. Now it all makes sense because their parents are showing up to Life every day completely unprepared. No problem solving skills, no active listening abilities, none of the responsibilities assumed when you become adults. They show up empty handed and empty headed looking expectantly at the person in front of them, waiting to be handed supplies, their marching orders, essentially their lives.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Saying Goodbye in the Big Ten is Never Easy
I spent the whole weekend mulling (and sulking) over Tom Izzo (Michigan State's Men's Basketball coach, a titan of the Big Ten and kindly king of East Lansing, Michigan) and his impending departure to greener pastures, to the tune of three million dollars more/yr greener. Apparently the Powers That Be at the Cleveland Cavaliers is a MSU grad and what he wants is Izzo. Izzo had quickly pointed out to the media after MSU was knocked out of the Final Four earlier this year that he wasn't going anywhere. That more money was a laughable motivator and he was staying put in East Lansing. I usually don't believe such statements. Coaches are marionette puppets and their strings are pulled solely by money. They're also incredibly bad actors so they say a lot of stuff but there is a clear disconnect between their mouths and their brains that makes them extremely unbelievable. But with Izzo, I really believed him. He is treated like royalty in and around Michigan State University and is heavily respected and admired in the sports world around the state and across the country. His integrity shows and he has never been one to shirk blame when it's due.
It began as ugly rumors a week ago, then news came that his family had taken a trip down to Cleveland, then he met with his team at Michigan State. Then nothing. The silence spoke volumes and Spartan fans knew that the Izzone (the student section at the Breslin Center) was living on borrowed time.
It's hard for me to wish Izzo well in Ohio. Naturally I'm bitter. I had to endure many U of M Wolverine fans rubbing their hands together gleefully and it's like a knife in my back every time. But he has been with Michigan State since 1983 and with so many talented players returning in the fall, he is essentially throwing the team and the school's basketball program under the bus. Which is why it stings so much, it's so uncharacteristic of him. Michigan State will lose their recruiting power and their dominant position in the college basketball arena. Plus for myself, an alumni, this is a deja vu situation going back almost a decade to when coach Nick Saban left the Michigan State football program to go to the NFL. He failed miserably and went back to the college level to coach for Louisiana and he began another wildly successful career stint. I feel very strongly that this may be Izzo's future. He expects a lot from his players, starting with respect and drive. His college players have always been eager to oblige but at the professional level, the athletes attitudes are much much different. They are getting paid either way and many remain undisciplined and do not like father figure coaches reading them the riot act for poor performance on or off the court. I think, like Saban, Izzo is a niche coach. His area of expertise is at the college level, there's no shame in that but coaches have to recognize their limitations. They also have to recognize gift horses when they are looking them in the mouth.
It feels like Izzo will leave State on a sour note which is a terrible way to address a school and a student body that has given him so much. And it's hard for me to not feel betrayed and angry. There's a right and wrong way to exit a team and school and I hope Tom Izzo remembers that first and foremost
It began as ugly rumors a week ago, then news came that his family had taken a trip down to Cleveland, then he met with his team at Michigan State. Then nothing. The silence spoke volumes and Spartan fans knew that the Izzone (the student section at the Breslin Center) was living on borrowed time.
It's hard for me to wish Izzo well in Ohio. Naturally I'm bitter. I had to endure many U of M Wolverine fans rubbing their hands together gleefully and it's like a knife in my back every time. But he has been with Michigan State since 1983 and with so many talented players returning in the fall, he is essentially throwing the team and the school's basketball program under the bus. Which is why it stings so much, it's so uncharacteristic of him. Michigan State will lose their recruiting power and their dominant position in the college basketball arena. Plus for myself, an alumni, this is a deja vu situation going back almost a decade to when coach Nick Saban left the Michigan State football program to go to the NFL. He failed miserably and went back to the college level to coach for Louisiana and he began another wildly successful career stint. I feel very strongly that this may be Izzo's future. He expects a lot from his players, starting with respect and drive. His college players have always been eager to oblige but at the professional level, the athletes attitudes are much much different. They are getting paid either way and many remain undisciplined and do not like father figure coaches reading them the riot act for poor performance on or off the court. I think, like Saban, Izzo is a niche coach. His area of expertise is at the college level, there's no shame in that but coaches have to recognize their limitations. They also have to recognize gift horses when they are looking them in the mouth.
It feels like Izzo will leave State on a sour note which is a terrible way to address a school and a student body that has given him so much. And it's hard for me to not feel betrayed and angry. There's a right and wrong way to exit a team and school and I hope Tom Izzo remembers that first and foremost
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Why Walmart Really Sucks
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Etiquette Pitfalls of Free WiFi
Last week I was having breakfast with a relative at Panera so we could catch up. Like any work day morning, this breakfast depot was in a state of controlled chaos. Anything that involves lining up to obtain food and drink seems to throw people in a kind of frenzy. As if they were Frenchmen and Marie Antoinette had just shouted 'Let them eat cake!' Michigan is an overweight state, obesity reigns supreme here so no one is going to starve to death because Panera ran out of Apple Crunch muffins. But the reaction from people is as if the cashier just ordered them to hand over their children. Horrified and desperate.
Anyhow this particular Panera had a strange blend of patrons. The one closer to where I live is mainly young professionals in the morning getting their breakfasts to go and moms in the afternoon lunching with friends. This Panera had a lot of senior citizens on their laptops, taking advantage of Panera's free WiFi (which I have used in the past and is super handy). It's kind of bemusing to watch older people surf the Internet. It really takes me back to 1995 when the World Wide Web concept was first floated to us at my junior high school. And back then YouTube was still light years away!
Despite the influx of senior citizens mainlining technology, the dining area was loud and noisy and the tables are close together so our conversation became a mix of shouts and mutters depending on the topic of discussion and current decibel level in the room. The both of us were sitting at a tiny cafe table and I was breaking apart my muffin (no plastic cutlery to be found on the premises--so much for etiquette) and drinking my hot chocolate when what appeared to be a two person camera crew lumbered past our table. I say camera crew because they had so many bags with them that it would be safe to conclude that they were about to break out a video camera with scores of extension cords and other paraphernalia and start broadcasting. Alas, no Hollywood break for me, it was not a camera crew. A man and woman in their 50s were shoving two cafe tables together and setting up their laptops. Coffees in hand, they began unpacking their bags but I had already turned back to my conversation about layoffs at my current employer. The conversation continued on for another couple minutes when I looked down and was shocked to see the man trying to crawl under our table to plug his adapter plug into the electrical socket located on the wall just to the left of our table. In the process he had knocked over my purse, the contents starting to tumble out. And like Frick and Frack, the woman was not far behind the man armed with her own adapter plug. I didn't know what to do first---scoop up the contents of purse and make sure I hadn't been pick pocketed by the worst cat burglar in history or ask him if my shoes were interfering. Neither the man nor the woman ever uttered a word to us, a quick excuse me or even tossed us a sheepish apology. That's spoiled Baby Boomers for ya. I love my dearly departed grandparents to the moon and back but I have a lot of bones to pick with their generation in regards to their past parenting techniques. But I digress.
Because this two person A-Team decided to upend my nice breakfast with a member of my family, I had no choice but to twist around in my seat to give them my patented Evil Eye. That's when I saw it. It was like Office Max threw up in the corner. They had all kinds of crap unpacked and spread out everywhere, even on the floor. Again these were two tiny cafe tables shoved together, not a booth. It was evident that they were setting up shop, basing their home office here for an indeterminate amount of time, coming to you live from Panera Bread!!
Two things. Three things actually: 1. If you're going to take up real estate at a free WiFi eatery for an indeterminate amount of time, buy a freaking meal. Coffee buys you a half hour tops. Quit being a cheapskate. It's rude to other customers and the establishment. 2. If you have to inconvenience another patron because you're being a socket hog or you arrived during their peak hours, the utmost politeness is required. If I want to use my laptop at a WiFi establishment, I either find a table with an adjacent socket or I consider myself SOL and stay as long as my battery holds out. And 3. be realistic. I have known individuals in the past (and perhaps presently) that set up a WiFi command post at Panera or Starbucks for four or five hours. That's ridiculous. I know the economy sucks and that the recession and layoffs are pinching everyone and free WiFi is a gift from the gods but the proprietors (even if it's a corporation) don't owe it to you. Make a list of things you need to get accomplished and stick to it. Be efficient. If you need four or five hours truly, you need to get acquainted with your local library. They encourage creepers. Which is what you look like after four or five hours.
Anyhow this particular Panera had a strange blend of patrons. The one closer to where I live is mainly young professionals in the morning getting their breakfasts to go and moms in the afternoon lunching with friends. This Panera had a lot of senior citizens on their laptops, taking advantage of Panera's free WiFi (which I have used in the past and is super handy). It's kind of bemusing to watch older people surf the Internet. It really takes me back to 1995 when the World Wide Web concept was first floated to us at my junior high school. And back then YouTube was still light years away!
Despite the influx of senior citizens mainlining technology, the dining area was loud and noisy and the tables are close together so our conversation became a mix of shouts and mutters depending on the topic of discussion and current decibel level in the room. The both of us were sitting at a tiny cafe table and I was breaking apart my muffin (no plastic cutlery to be found on the premises--so much for etiquette) and drinking my hot chocolate when what appeared to be a two person camera crew lumbered past our table. I say camera crew because they had so many bags with them that it would be safe to conclude that they were about to break out a video camera with scores of extension cords and other paraphernalia and start broadcasting. Alas, no Hollywood break for me, it was not a camera crew. A man and woman in their 50s were shoving two cafe tables together and setting up their laptops. Coffees in hand, they began unpacking their bags but I had already turned back to my conversation about layoffs at my current employer. The conversation continued on for another couple minutes when I looked down and was shocked to see the man trying to crawl under our table to plug his adapter plug into the electrical socket located on the wall just to the left of our table. In the process he had knocked over my purse, the contents starting to tumble out. And like Frick and Frack, the woman was not far behind the man armed with her own adapter plug. I didn't know what to do first---scoop up the contents of purse and make sure I hadn't been pick pocketed by the worst cat burglar in history or ask him if my shoes were interfering. Neither the man nor the woman ever uttered a word to us, a quick excuse me or even tossed us a sheepish apology. That's spoiled Baby Boomers for ya. I love my dearly departed grandparents to the moon and back but I have a lot of bones to pick with their generation in regards to their past parenting techniques. But I digress.
Because this two person A-Team decided to upend my nice breakfast with a member of my family, I had no choice but to twist around in my seat to give them my patented Evil Eye. That's when I saw it. It was like Office Max threw up in the corner. They had all kinds of crap unpacked and spread out everywhere, even on the floor. Again these were two tiny cafe tables shoved together, not a booth. It was evident that they were setting up shop, basing their home office here for an indeterminate amount of time, coming to you live from Panera Bread!!
Two things. Three things actually: 1. If you're going to take up real estate at a free WiFi eatery for an indeterminate amount of time, buy a freaking meal. Coffee buys you a half hour tops. Quit being a cheapskate. It's rude to other customers and the establishment. 2. If you have to inconvenience another patron because you're being a socket hog or you arrived during their peak hours, the utmost politeness is required. If I want to use my laptop at a WiFi establishment, I either find a table with an adjacent socket or I consider myself SOL and stay as long as my battery holds out. And 3. be realistic. I have known individuals in the past (and perhaps presently) that set up a WiFi command post at Panera or Starbucks for four or five hours. That's ridiculous. I know the economy sucks and that the recession and layoffs are pinching everyone and free WiFi is a gift from the gods but the proprietors (even if it's a corporation) don't owe it to you. Make a list of things you need to get accomplished and stick to it. Be efficient. If you need four or five hours truly, you need to get acquainted with your local library. They encourage creepers. Which is what you look like after four or five hours.
Monday, May 17, 2010
The One Thing FarmVille Is Missing
Many people living in this country today have not had the experience of growing up in a family that has an agricultural background. Though most of my family is from Southeast Michigan, my great grandfather grew up on a farm on the west side of the state and one of my grandmothers grew up on a farm in Michigan's Thumb. Farming is an all consuming kind of employment. It never ends which is why it's more a lifestyle than job. You never punch out, shut the computer down or ask your co-worker to cover for you. It's arduous work and it involves the whole family. People forget about that. FarmVille makes it seem so cutesy, television glamorizes it. I am the first to admit that I don't think I could hack it for a day. But I don't forget their sacrifices and I don't forget the important work they do, that is vital to mankind's survival. If it was my responsibility to grow or raise my own food, I'd starve plain and simple. As much as I love having a summer vegetable garden, by July I don't know whether to cry or just burn the mess I've made and salt the earth to ensure I don't repeat myself the following summer.
Farms have a place in our society and they always should have a place. And it shouldn't be on the outskirts. Radicals have demonized conventional farming as environmentalism, animal rights and the organic movement have become so trendy that they have spread like swine flu. While I do think organic farming has due merit, conventional farming remains a safe, affordable way for average people to have access to food. The vast majority of Americans cannot afford the harvests of organic farming. And the costs are too much for farmers, they aren't making money hand over fist.
That is why the concept of farm subsidies by our 'grab a little more' government has always been difficult for me to digest. I am the first person to advocate for farmers and how they need support not only from their communities but from the government. Tax breaks yes but subsidies no. Farmers are businessmen, they are business owners just like anyone who has a store on Main Street. To grow their business, to create more economic growth, they need tax breaks. What they don't need is the government paying them to leave their land undeveloped or the government to continue to feed a farm that simply isn't being managed properly. If a farm isn't profitable because its business model is terrible or there is no business model, then the farm shouldn't continue and the government should not throw good money after bad year after year. I think permanent tax breaks should be given to farmers and grants to farmers who have experienced temporary hardship, be it natural or unnatural. But I recognize that my idea is still problematic because it involves more government which clearly helps no one except the government by getting government embedded more in private citizens' lives and businesses. Because in order to evaluate a farm's need, the government would have to create some kind of criteria as to what qualifies a farm as one that has temporary hardship. And as Americans have bore witness to in the past few years, more recently with TARP and the inception of socialized medicine, the people running our country should not be creating any criteria for businessmen, corporations or private citizens. Their criteria is never objective, it's always subjective and they are never looking out for the best interest of taxpayers or people who value their freedom.
Obama plans to do away with farm subsidies, supposedly due to corruption and a high degree of fraud within what has been called the largest corporate welfare program. That's all well and good, I'm all for rooting out costly corruption wherever it may be and I think that calling it the largest corporate welfare program is fairly accurate but what about Wall Street? What about TARP? What about the all of the phony concern from Washington over making sure the financial industry is policed effectively. Obama is not a fan of conventional farming or animal husbandry and most of his supporters mimic his disdain for these agricultural lifestyles rooted in what liberals call 'fly over country' so I do take offense to him singling out this industry and going after it with a meat cleaver while he and the rest of Washington is in bed with the financial industry. Government needs to be concerned with the future success of farming but needs to go about it in a way that encourages the farmer (businessman) to expand his business so he can increase profits as well as yields. With food borne illnesses and crop contamination rampant in today's global agricultural society and no way for the United States to hold other countries to our levels of sanitation, we must grow more of our food internally (within this country) and locally so that the quality can be monitored and managed effectively.
Farms have a place in our society and they always should have a place. And it shouldn't be on the outskirts. Radicals have demonized conventional farming as environmentalism, animal rights and the organic movement have become so trendy that they have spread like swine flu. While I do think organic farming has due merit, conventional farming remains a safe, affordable way for average people to have access to food. The vast majority of Americans cannot afford the harvests of organic farming. And the costs are too much for farmers, they aren't making money hand over fist.
That is why the concept of farm subsidies by our 'grab a little more' government has always been difficult for me to digest. I am the first person to advocate for farmers and how they need support not only from their communities but from the government. Tax breaks yes but subsidies no. Farmers are businessmen, they are business owners just like anyone who has a store on Main Street. To grow their business, to create more economic growth, they need tax breaks. What they don't need is the government paying them to leave their land undeveloped or the government to continue to feed a farm that simply isn't being managed properly. If a farm isn't profitable because its business model is terrible or there is no business model, then the farm shouldn't continue and the government should not throw good money after bad year after year. I think permanent tax breaks should be given to farmers and grants to farmers who have experienced temporary hardship, be it natural or unnatural. But I recognize that my idea is still problematic because it involves more government which clearly helps no one except the government by getting government embedded more in private citizens' lives and businesses. Because in order to evaluate a farm's need, the government would have to create some kind of criteria as to what qualifies a farm as one that has temporary hardship. And as Americans have bore witness to in the past few years, more recently with TARP and the inception of socialized medicine, the people running our country should not be creating any criteria for businessmen, corporations or private citizens. Their criteria is never objective, it's always subjective and they are never looking out for the best interest of taxpayers or people who value their freedom.
Obama plans to do away with farm subsidies, supposedly due to corruption and a high degree of fraud within what has been called the largest corporate welfare program. That's all well and good, I'm all for rooting out costly corruption wherever it may be and I think that calling it the largest corporate welfare program is fairly accurate but what about Wall Street? What about TARP? What about the all of the phony concern from Washington over making sure the financial industry is policed effectively. Obama is not a fan of conventional farming or animal husbandry and most of his supporters mimic his disdain for these agricultural lifestyles rooted in what liberals call 'fly over country' so I do take offense to him singling out this industry and going after it with a meat cleaver while he and the rest of Washington is in bed with the financial industry. Government needs to be concerned with the future success of farming but needs to go about it in a way that encourages the farmer (businessman) to expand his business so he can increase profits as well as yields. With food borne illnesses and crop contamination rampant in today's global agricultural society and no way for the United States to hold other countries to our levels of sanitation, we must grow more of our food internally (within this country) and locally so that the quality can be monitored and managed effectively.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Thank You For Polluting
Michigan is not a green state. I hate to break it to the environmental community out there but it never will be. Its residents aren't so much clueless as they are indifferent. They don't care. I have witnessed so many drivers sling fast food bags out the window as they drive down the road that it's commonplace. And on their part, it's effortless. As easy as tossing a cigarette butt out the window. The state has made it really easy for residents to pick up after themselves, especially in Southeast Michigan where many communities offer curbside recycling with liberal content guidelines. All alcohol and pop bottles have a ten cent return refund (remember the infamous Seinfeld episode?) and yet a fresh supply of strewn cans and bottles reappear weekly on my lawn and on the street. The state even accepts cash from Canada to take their trash. Due to homeland security issues and because the state of Michigan was unaware of what types of refuse they were accepting, legislation brought by Senator Debbie Stabenow to end Cash for Trash The practice is being tapered but the idea that it was in place to begin with shows the length at which Michigan will mortgage its ecological future for the promise of money.
I never gave Michigan's slovenly state much though until I traveled out West and witnessed the pristine highways and streets in Nevada. Beyond being aesthetically pleasing, it gave me the impression that the people of Nevada took pride in the land. It's rather heart breaking that a state rivaling Michigan in unemployment and the pinnacle of self indulgence still manages more accountability for its trash habits than Michiganders do. The 'Can't Someone Else Do It?' entitlement slogan ridiculed in an old Simpsons episode rings true for the Mitten state. Whether it can be attributed to the union influence on the metropolitan mindset or the influence of big government, residents have left it up to the elusive 'someone else' to pick up after them while they gorge themselves on a never ending binge of consumerism.
Barack Obama made a stop in Warren, Michigan last year touting green job creation, urging supporters that Michigan should take advantage of solar power by installing solar panels. The crowd (made up of who I would assume were Michigan residents) cheered loudly and from the boisterous cheering it was evident that neither the President nor the crowd for the matter had spent much time in Michigan, a state that boasts an average of only 150-170 days of sun a year. Wind turbines were planted like trees along the shore of Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb region, an agricultural farming community, to harness wind power. Not the happy wooden Dutch windmills that immediately come to mind but scary, Stars Wars-esqe metallic windmills that ominously dot the horizon. I have seen them up close and it's unnerving, although I'm not sure what is more unsettling: the dairy cows loitering around them in the fields, the horrible whooshing sound they make or the fact that the landowners are being paid five thousand dollars a month to have them on their land. Never mind that the electricity doesn't stay local, it is sent to the affluent Traverse City region upstate but nearby residents have complained about the vibrations and noise from the mills making them ill. But money talks and in this poverty stricken state, five thousand dollars buys a lot of words.
Most residents of Southeast Michigan are aware of the trash issue in Detroit. Or should I say issues. Trash pick up can be inconsistent and that's the trash that is bagged at the curb. The trash in empty lots, in front of eviction houses, in and around abandoned houses has taken on a life of its own (and at least a few ZIP codes). Residents routinely call up local TV stations and invite a camera crew out to survey disaster zone after disaster zone while their complaints to the city about rat infestations (one among many trash related issues) fall on deaf ears. Usually the TV expose shames the city into a quick cleanup of that one tiny corner of Detroit that will start accumulating tires, furniture and other garbage the very next week. But to be fair the city is looking like Beirut and conducting itself in a similar war zone fashion so when they are unable to reign in violence of every kind, trash is probably pretty low on their priorities list. When former Mayor Ken Cockrel wanted to implement a trial curbside recycling program in Detroit and the current Mayor Dave Bing is talking about shrinking the city and using the abandoned outer lying areas as urban farmlands, I have to laugh. Talk about putting the cart before the horse--the residents are unable to respect each other enough to stop shooting, robbing, raping and killing each other. How can they respect the land and the earth when they can't even respect fellow human beings? That is the bottom line. If the people of Michigan took pride in themselves, they would take pride in their surroundings.
I never gave Michigan's slovenly state much though until I traveled out West and witnessed the pristine highways and streets in Nevada. Beyond being aesthetically pleasing, it gave me the impression that the people of Nevada took pride in the land. It's rather heart breaking that a state rivaling Michigan in unemployment and the pinnacle of self indulgence still manages more accountability for its trash habits than Michiganders do. The 'Can't Someone Else Do It?' entitlement slogan ridiculed in an old Simpsons episode rings true for the Mitten state. Whether it can be attributed to the union influence on the metropolitan mindset or the influence of big government, residents have left it up to the elusive 'someone else' to pick up after them while they gorge themselves on a never ending binge of consumerism.
Barack Obama made a stop in Warren, Michigan last year touting green job creation, urging supporters that Michigan should take advantage of solar power by installing solar panels. The crowd (made up of who I would assume were Michigan residents) cheered loudly and from the boisterous cheering it was evident that neither the President nor the crowd for the matter had spent much time in Michigan, a state that boasts an average of only 150-170 days of sun a year. Wind turbines were planted like trees along the shore of Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb region, an agricultural farming community, to harness wind power. Not the happy wooden Dutch windmills that immediately come to mind but scary, Stars Wars-esqe metallic windmills that ominously dot the horizon. I have seen them up close and it's unnerving, although I'm not sure what is more unsettling: the dairy cows loitering around them in the fields, the horrible whooshing sound they make or the fact that the landowners are being paid five thousand dollars a month to have them on their land. Never mind that the electricity doesn't stay local, it is sent to the affluent Traverse City region upstate but nearby residents have complained about the vibrations and noise from the mills making them ill. But money talks and in this poverty stricken state, five thousand dollars buys a lot of words.
Most residents of Southeast Michigan are aware of the trash issue in Detroit. Or should I say issues. Trash pick up can be inconsistent and that's the trash that is bagged at the curb. The trash in empty lots, in front of eviction houses, in and around abandoned houses has taken on a life of its own (and at least a few ZIP codes). Residents routinely call up local TV stations and invite a camera crew out to survey disaster zone after disaster zone while their complaints to the city about rat infestations (one among many trash related issues) fall on deaf ears. Usually the TV expose shames the city into a quick cleanup of that one tiny corner of Detroit that will start accumulating tires, furniture and other garbage the very next week. But to be fair the city is looking like Beirut and conducting itself in a similar war zone fashion so when they are unable to reign in violence of every kind, trash is probably pretty low on their priorities list. When former Mayor Ken Cockrel wanted to implement a trial curbside recycling program in Detroit and the current Mayor Dave Bing is talking about shrinking the city and using the abandoned outer lying areas as urban farmlands, I have to laugh. Talk about putting the cart before the horse--the residents are unable to respect each other enough to stop shooting, robbing, raping and killing each other. How can they respect the land and the earth when they can't even respect fellow human beings? That is the bottom line. If the people of Michigan took pride in themselves, they would take pride in their surroundings.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Move Over Satan, Idle Hands Are Now Terrorism's Tools
The why of terrorism is a question that the media beats like a drum. Their answer to it is ever changing. In light of the most recent (and foiled) attack on American in Times Square by Faisal Shahzad who is, chillingly, a naturalized U.S. citizen, the answer of the hour seems to be boredom. Yes boys and girls, look out because idle hands and a recession mixed with a series of bad financial choices may lead you straight into the throes of terrorism.
Journalists from the AP and AOL News are now blaming banality and the dashed dreams of a parent as causes for Shahzad's downward spiral into terrorism. Eleven years ago this past spring when two violent, antisocial teens picked off classmates and teachers in a horrific school massacre, journalists pointed the finger at bullying and guns which shifted the blame off of the students themselves (and their penchant for violence) as well as their parents and onto commonplace incidents and inanimate objects. Now the media is blaming something that has happened to millions of Americans, the loss of a job, a home and money, for why Shahzad bought a SUV with cash, loaded it up with fertilizer rigged to act as an explosive and parked it in the middle of busy Times Square. Neighbors and acquaintances describe as nothing special with some animosity towards President Bush but from all accounts he did exhibit antisocial behavior.
The question remains why Immigration was unable to detect this antisocial behavior when Shahzad applied to become a citizen. There is a difference between being reticent and antisocial and trained psychologists should be able to make the distinction. I wonder how much (if any) of the citizenship process is based on psychological examination. Criminal background checks only do that, check the past. Our American Immigration sector needs to be checking past, present and future.
It sickens me that the media is using the economy and the recession as cause for acts of terrorism instead of calling evil by its name, evil. Of course it's not surprising since it took the White House and the media almost a week to actually call the Times Square attempted attack by ITS name, terrorism. It sickens me because it devalues and debases the millions of American citizens who love this country but are going through the hardest of times. Lost jobs, lost houses, lost wealth, lost lives. Living in poverty or with family/friends because of their situations. Driving thousands of miles each to a job far from their families. They're hurting, they're depressed, they are at the end of their ropes. But they say hello and smile on the street, they hug their kids, they help those around them even though they themselves need help. They put one foot in front of the other, they get up every morning, they push forward. They don't seek to blow up landmarks or public buildings. They don't want to cause mass bloodshed on innocents. They don't desire the destruction of this country. And for the media to lump Shahzad in with these hardworking and God fearing Americans is the lowest of the low. I don't often find political common sense on SNL but Amy Poehler and Seth Myers said it best on this past week's episode. Nothing in me believes that socioeconomic strife is the cause of Shahzad's terrorism but it falls in neatly with our mainstream media's Socialist agenda.
Journalists from the AP and AOL News are now blaming banality and the dashed dreams of a parent as causes for Shahzad's downward spiral into terrorism. Eleven years ago this past spring when two violent, antisocial teens picked off classmates and teachers in a horrific school massacre, journalists pointed the finger at bullying and guns which shifted the blame off of the students themselves (and their penchant for violence) as well as their parents and onto commonplace incidents and inanimate objects. Now the media is blaming something that has happened to millions of Americans, the loss of a job, a home and money, for why Shahzad bought a SUV with cash, loaded it up with fertilizer rigged to act as an explosive and parked it in the middle of busy Times Square. Neighbors and acquaintances describe as nothing special with some animosity towards President Bush but from all accounts he did exhibit antisocial behavior.
The question remains why Immigration was unable to detect this antisocial behavior when Shahzad applied to become a citizen. There is a difference between being reticent and antisocial and trained psychologists should be able to make the distinction. I wonder how much (if any) of the citizenship process is based on psychological examination. Criminal background checks only do that, check the past. Our American Immigration sector needs to be checking past, present and future.
It sickens me that the media is using the economy and the recession as cause for acts of terrorism instead of calling evil by its name, evil. Of course it's not surprising since it took the White House and the media almost a week to actually call the Times Square attempted attack by ITS name, terrorism. It sickens me because it devalues and debases the millions of American citizens who love this country but are going through the hardest of times. Lost jobs, lost houses, lost wealth, lost lives. Living in poverty or with family/friends because of their situations. Driving thousands of miles each to a job far from their families. They're hurting, they're depressed, they are at the end of their ropes. But they say hello and smile on the street, they hug their kids, they help those around them even though they themselves need help. They put one foot in front of the other, they get up every morning, they push forward. They don't seek to blow up landmarks or public buildings. They don't want to cause mass bloodshed on innocents. They don't desire the destruction of this country. And for the media to lump Shahzad in with these hardworking and God fearing Americans is the lowest of the low. I don't often find political common sense on SNL but Amy Poehler and Seth Myers said it best on this past week's episode. Nothing in me believes that socioeconomic strife is the cause of Shahzad's terrorism but it falls in neatly with our mainstream media's Socialist agenda.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The Ultimate Jedi Mind Trick: Wishing Away the Realities of Detroit 2010
It didn't take long for Detroiters to react to NBC's Dateline special on Detroit, America Now: Detroit. And surprise surprise, their reaction was the same company reaction that they have given to any inquiry into the state of the city, be it media or government. Denial, mixed heavily with anger and outrage. As a Metro Detroiter (someone who lives outside Detroit but has a vested interest in Detroit thanks to, among other things, taxes) who knows the deal, just once I'd like to see acceptance or ownership from Detroit community leaders. Robert Bobb (DPS emergency financial manager) who is trying to salvage what is left of DPS (Detroit Public Schools) after the wolves have nearly picked its carcass clean and Dave Bing (current mayor of Detroit) have taken more than the lion's share of ownership for past gluttony that they had no part in. But where are the community leaders who were keeping watch over the city for decades now? Where is their ownership in the failure that is Detroit?
I have never thought NBC reflects fair and unbiased journalism. But everything that was captured in Dateline's special by hometown kid who made good, Chris Hansen, was the truth. It was ugly but it was the truth. Yes, it's hard to hear seasoned Detroiters (read: the elderly of the community) say that the best is all gone in Detroit. Statements like that make you want to cry. But it's what we see every night on our local news folks. There were no exaggerations. War zone violence and chaos. Government corruption. So many money grabs that we've lost count. Every abomination known to mankind. It was the Cliff Notes version of Detroit's humiliations and that is an awful bitter pill to swallow. For weeks before its premiere, Detroit was abuzz about Chris Hansen's presence in the city. Detroiters have always been under the perverse notion that any publicity is good publicity. It's rather embarrassing to those of us who know better. Maybe it was annoyance at the fact that a white kid from a suburban Catholic prep school who is now a big city journalist had caught the city with its pants down and its hand in the cookie jar, and was now sharing the footage with the world. Or maybe it was that the city of Detroit believes that truth is a subjective thing. In the same vein as the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". But everyone from religious leaders to Mitch Albom were decrying the special and claiming NBC was out to slander Detroit. Some went as far to say that there were many well-to-do Detroiters, that the poverty in Detroit was exaggerated and that NBC purposely ignored all of the positive things happening in Detroit. Like what? Like trash not being collected, like kids being mowed down by gunfire as they stood at a bus stop on their way home from summer school or like water main breaks that resemble geysers, creating impassible lakes in the streets that aren't shut off unless a news channel with a video camera gets involved?
If you live in Southeast Michigan, you're way past the point of 'Huh?' The fact that at least two people (on record) in leadership positions are so in denial of the devastation that people are experiencing within the city is nothing short of disgusting. And the latest scapegoat is Chris Hansen and NBC. Own your mistakes Detroit. Move past your obsession with public and national perception. You can't spin Detroit's PR any longer. You can sweep the city's transgressions under the rug for only so long. The rug's not big enough to conceal all of the mistakes, wrong doings and evils that were committed against the city anymore. I am reminded of the scene from the Wizard of Oz where the band of merry social outcasts come to see the great and powerful Oz to seek assistance with their situations. When he is unmasked by Toto as being nothing more than a simple man with a megaphone and access to pyrotechnics, he frantically shouts into the mic "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" and tries to direct their attention back to the imposing image on the wall. No one buys it for a second and his pitiful attempts go on for a short while until finally he gives up. Parlor games and Jedi mind tricks aside, Detroit has to realize that Dateline was only holding up a mirror and making their special out to be an exaggerated dig at Detroit is hurting no one but themselves.
I have never thought NBC reflects fair and unbiased journalism. But everything that was captured in Dateline's special by hometown kid who made good, Chris Hansen, was the truth. It was ugly but it was the truth. Yes, it's hard to hear seasoned Detroiters (read: the elderly of the community) say that the best is all gone in Detroit. Statements like that make you want to cry. But it's what we see every night on our local news folks. There were no exaggerations. War zone violence and chaos. Government corruption. So many money grabs that we've lost count. Every abomination known to mankind. It was the Cliff Notes version of Detroit's humiliations and that is an awful bitter pill to swallow. For weeks before its premiere, Detroit was abuzz about Chris Hansen's presence in the city. Detroiters have always been under the perverse notion that any publicity is good publicity. It's rather embarrassing to those of us who know better. Maybe it was annoyance at the fact that a white kid from a suburban Catholic prep school who is now a big city journalist had caught the city with its pants down and its hand in the cookie jar, and was now sharing the footage with the world. Or maybe it was that the city of Detroit believes that truth is a subjective thing. In the same vein as the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". But everyone from religious leaders to Mitch Albom were decrying the special and claiming NBC was out to slander Detroit. Some went as far to say that there were many well-to-do Detroiters, that the poverty in Detroit was exaggerated and that NBC purposely ignored all of the positive things happening in Detroit. Like what? Like trash not being collected, like kids being mowed down by gunfire as they stood at a bus stop on their way home from summer school or like water main breaks that resemble geysers, creating impassible lakes in the streets that aren't shut off unless a news channel with a video camera gets involved?
If you live in Southeast Michigan, you're way past the point of 'Huh?' The fact that at least two people (on record) in leadership positions are so in denial of the devastation that people are experiencing within the city is nothing short of disgusting. And the latest scapegoat is Chris Hansen and NBC. Own your mistakes Detroit. Move past your obsession with public and national perception. You can't spin Detroit's PR any longer. You can sweep the city's transgressions under the rug for only so long. The rug's not big enough to conceal all of the mistakes, wrong doings and evils that were committed against the city anymore. I am reminded of the scene from the Wizard of Oz where the band of merry social outcasts come to see the great and powerful Oz to seek assistance with their situations. When he is unmasked by Toto as being nothing more than a simple man with a megaphone and access to pyrotechnics, he frantically shouts into the mic "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" and tries to direct their attention back to the imposing image on the wall. No one buys it for a second and his pitiful attempts go on for a short while until finally he gives up. Parlor games and Jedi mind tricks aside, Detroit has to realize that Dateline was only holding up a mirror and making their special out to be an exaggerated dig at Detroit is hurting no one but themselves.
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