"I think it would be supremely ironic if China rescued us with conditions on how we can use the money. We have been imposing conditions on aid to thirld world countries for a long time. Now we would get . . ." more
"The Powers on Wall Street are not dumb. They set this up so that they get rescued FIRST, and then maybe, just maybe, the rest of us will not be destroyed. There is a LOT of anger in the country about this. . . ." more
"I think it will backfire...HOPE it will backfire. But the Big Lie is a proven campaign technique in this country. If you say it often enough, some ill-informed people will believe it. Some others will . . ." more
"I totally disagree with Andrea. In fact, I think Obama has a MUCH better chance of enlisting the cooperation of the rest of the world than McCain who just wants to continue these ridiculous wars forever. . . ." more
"I just watched the SNL "debate" and almost fell out of my chair. Tina was brilliant, but Biden was also portrayed correctly as totally inane. I didn't watch much of the actual debate. After . . ." more
Thanks for the ping. I am in total agreement with you; it is difficult not to express anger and frustration at some of the folks who comment. As I learn more about what's out there, I keep trying to develop a way to address these folks. Here is what I've got so far:
1) Treat everyone with respect and no name-calling with the following exceptions:
· People with a bully pulpit (pundits, religious extremists, TV & radio evangelists, hate-mongers of any kind, who make lots of money inflaming the uninformed and easily-influenced public with smear, character assassination, lies, etc.)
· People and politicians who have betrayed the public trust
The people mentioned as exceptions deserve no quarter or respect. These people provide a great disservice to American ideals and principles and are the reason so many people respond with such a profusion of verbal diarrhea.
2) For those with a verbal diarrhea problem, try to guide them, educate them, help them – they have been duped, manipulated, hypnotized, blinded, misled, etc., by the bully-pulpit puppeteers mentioned above. They are our fellow Americans and their viewpoint and participation is crucial to the debate and to the American way of life.
3) For our fellow Americans listed above in item 2, it is important to constructively and respectfully take them to task for their counter-productive comments (this is a work in progress for me). I often find myself making these kind of comments:
· Democracy depends on an informed electorate and honest debate among its citizens. · Name-calling is counter-productive to this debate, please stop this. · Any statement that is made must be supported by arguments which can then be explored and debated; sometimes this back-and-forth needs to occur many times until resolution or understanding is possible · Criticize their sources of information if they fall into the category of exceptions mentioned in item 1 · Expose lies as such wherever and wherever they occur – just make sure you know what you're talking about and be ready to defend your position relentlessly
I think I'll work on this some more and post it as a article. Thanks again, Bert, for the inspiration!
"Let there be beer in the House of Bert." -On the heels of this declaration, he cackles... and one can hear a PING drop on the dubya dubya dubya-dot-floor.
Bert, I think you raise an interesting topic regarding why the tritone sounds evil. I think it stems from the Baroque period when the pleasing sound of the perfect fifths ruled the day and the dissonant sound of the tritone conjured feelings of rebellion and social naughtiness...hehee. I think we're socialized to continue sensing something devilish when we hear tritone sounds, such as music played by Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix. (Ever hear Purple Haze?) But I think modern music and heavy metal plus jazz and blues have normalized the tritone sound to the point that it seems like a welcome respite from such predictable and (yawn) conventional sounds. But...that's just my opinion.
