Etiquette



DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Mindsets



Mindset: noun
an attitude, disposition, or mood.
an intention or inclination.

Being the homemade philosopher that I am, I was waking up in bed this morning thinking about mindsets.  Btw, how lucky am I to have the uncomplicated life that affords me such a thought luxury?  Very, and I know it!  :) Anyway…

Mindsets are really interesting things to think about.  The irony is that, when you think about them, you do so under a mindset.  I suspect that’s where many-a-reasoning capabilities can and have taken some wild, illogical turns.  Conundrum: How to “see clearly” when under the influence of a particular mindset?  How to weed out fact from fiction, truth from lie, and come out on the other side with a mindset somewhat still intact?  What kind of person can do that?  Or better yet, what kind of person can’t?  Great questions, right?

We all have mindsets.  Actually, we’ve all had many.  Think about how you thought when you were a teenager.  A lot different than now, ‘eh?  Somewhere along the line of life, like the proverbial shit, “influences happen.”  Sometimes they can be like epiphanies, coming out of the blue.  What happens in the brain that triggers that moment in time?  I don’t know; probably some chemical secretion surge.  Like a flash of lucidity, a situation “meets the (your) requirements” and it, a newish mindset, happens... boom.

I was thinking about, for example, people who kill other people.  Take John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman.  He was in a mindset when he approached John and robbed him of his young life.  I wonder if Chapman is NOW thinking, “What was I thinking?! A probable life in prison, for a life in the grave. Was it really worth it?” he must wonder.

Yes it’s very true.  We can mess up our life, or someone else’s, with a somewhat/relatively “momentary life-situation” mindset.  Such mindsets can involve many categories, such as crimes of passion, or revenge, or the meting out of believed justice.  Lots of reasons can put us (stick us) in a mindset; ones that we may regret later.  Your life is pretty much based on your current mindset.  So… here’s my ask:

Talk to us about mindsets.  What do you make of mindsets?  Analyze that phenomenon for us from your current mindset.  Should we be more mindful of them?  How do they affect our politics?

Take your answers to wherever your mind(set) sends you.  And if this write-up has caused you to think about your own mindset more closely, then “mission accomplished.” ;)

Thanks for recommending.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Animosity Toward Journalists & Journalism Is Spreading

The Washington Post describes a alleged incident of hostility toward journalist Ben Watson by a Customs and Border Control (CBP). The CBP is investigating the incident. The officer involved may wind up denying the story. WaPo reports that the journalist has filed a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services and he has published an article in Defense One, the news organization the journalist works for, describing the incident. WaPo writes:
It took a moment for Ben Watson to realize the officer was not joking.

Watson had just told the Customs and Border Protection staffer reviewing his passport that he works in journalism. Then the seemingly routine Thursday encounter at the Washington Dulles International Airport got tense.

“So you write propaganda, right?” Watson, the news editor at the national security site Defense One, recalled the CBP officer asking.

“No,” Watson says he replied. He affirmed again that he was a journalist.

The officer repeated his propaganda question, said Watson, who was returning from a reporting trip in Denmark.

“With his tone, and he’s looking me in the eye — I very much realized this is not a joke,” Watson told The Washington Post on Friday. Watson said he got his passport back only after agreeing with the “propaganda” charge.
The CBP officer made Watson state that he writes propaganda twice before letting him go.

Watson writes in his Defense One article: “Over the past year, several journalists have reported being harassed and even detained by U.S. customs agents. In February, CBP officials apologized to a BuzzFeed reporter who was aggressively questioned upon entering New York’s JFK Airport. In June, freelance reporter Seth Harp described his hours-long detention by CBP officers in the Austin, Texas, airport. .... Update: In an email, a CBP spokesperson said that the agency is aware of and is investigating the “allegation about an officer’s alleged inappropriate conduct at Washington Dulles International airport,” adding that the agency holds its employees accountable and does not tolerate inappropriate comments or behavior. The spokesperson declined to be identified.

Does a president bear any responsibility for demagoguery and authoritarian behavior?
Most or all authoritarian leaders throughout history have relied on dark free speech[1] to some extent to gain acceptance and power. In recent centuries, demagogues and tyrants focus on censoring the press, sometimes forcing it to put out propaganda or go out of business.

The president’s hate of the professional press is well-known and undeniable. The effect of a leader’s rhetoric to influence public opinion and behavior is also well-known and undeniable. Are incidents of journalist harassment due to some non-trivial degree to the president’s anti-journalism rhetoric and behavior? Or, (1) does a president’s rhetoric and behavior have no cause and effect linkage in matters like this, or (2) what the president says is protected free speech and thus any effects the speech may have on people is justifiable or otherwise does not reflect badly on a president in any way?


Footnote:
1. Dark free speech: Constitutionally or legally protected (1) lies and deceit to distract, misinform, confuse, polarize and/or demoralize, (2) unwarranted opacity to hide inconvenient truths, facts and corruption (lies and deceit of omission), and (3) unwarranted emotional manipulation (i) to obscure the truth and blind the mind to lies and deceit, and (ii) to provoke irrational, reason-killing emotions and feelings, including fear, hate, anger, disgust, distrust, intolerance, cynicism, pessimism and all kinds of bigotry including racism. (my label, my definition)

Friday, October 4, 2019

Dispelling the Myths About Sexuality Education

All girls and boys – and all women and men, for that matter – can benefit from comprehensive knowledge about safe sexual behavior. Yet opposition to sexuality education is loud, persistent, and widespread, often because critics lack an accurate understanding of what it entails.

By Helen Clark, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, is a former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sexuality-education-benefits-opposition-by-helen-clark-2019-10

NEW YORK – Sexuality education empowers people to make informed choices about their own bodies and sexuality – and to stay safe in the process. It is therefore an essential element of a quality education. Yet, far from promoting comprehensive sexuality education, many are fighting to limit it. The consequences – especially for young people – are serious, lasting, and sometimes deadly.

As “Facing the Facts,” a new policy paper by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report, reminds us, each year some 16 million girls aged 15-19 (and two million under 15) give birth – a development that often marks the end of their formal education. Another three million girls aged 15-19 undergo unsafe abortions each year.
These numbers are linked to a lack of education about sex, sexuality, and the human body. For example, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to WaterAid, around one-half of girls think that menstruation is a disease. In Afghanistan, 51% of girls know nothing about menstruation before experiencing it themselves. In Malawi, that figure jumps to 82%. If girls – let alone boys – do not know what menstruation is, how can they possibly be expected to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy?
The same goes for sexually transmitted infections like HIV. Young people aged 15-24 account for one-third of new HIV infections among adults. This is partly because only one-third of young women in most low- and middle-income countries know how to prevent the transmission of the virus.
But, contrary to popular belief, sexuality education is not just about sex. As “Facing the Facts” highlights, it also includes lessons about families and social relationships. These can benefit children as young as five, not least by enabling them to differentiate between appropriate physical contact and abuse.
Moreover, sexuality education offers important lessons about gender dynamics, including issues such as consent, coercion, and violence. Some 120 million girls worldwide – slightly more than one in ten – have experienced forced intercourse, forced sexual acts, or other forms of intimate partner violence at some point in their lives. This helps to explain why violence is the second leading cause of death among adolescent girls globally.
Comprehensive sexuality education can go some way toward countering the warped messages about masculinity that encourage male sexual dominance and so often lead to exploitation and violence. It can also assist in breaking the silence on such experiences among victims, potentially inspiring them to seek help.
All girls and boys – and all women and men, for that matter – can benefit from comprehensive knowledge about safe sexual behavior. Yet opposition to sexuality education is loud, persistent, and widespread. Some call for it to be banned outright. Others insist that schools should teach only abstinence, despite evidence showing that such programs often provide medically inaccurate information.
Like critics of LGBTQI+ education, opponents of comprehensive sexuality education seek to justify their stance on cultural, religious, social, or even political grounds. But, whatever the apparent motivation, their opposition often reflects a lack of knowledge about what such education entails. Improving the public’s understanding of sexuality education could therefore help to neutralize the negative hype and open the way for more young people to benefit.
Leaders worldwide must stand up for comprehensive sexuality education, by touting its clear, evidence-based benefits and dispelling harmful myths. An informed news media and advocacy by civil-society groups must also contribute to this process. With accurate information, the public is far more likely to accept sexuality education.
But for such education to be meaningful, it must be of high quality. Teachers must therefore be given the knowledge, resources, and, thus, confidence they need to teach these lessons effectively. Scripted lessons, like those introduced in Namibia and Chile, or online resources for teachers, as Tanzania provides, can go a long way toward fulfilling that need.
Furthermore, sexuality education should ideally be provided as a standalone program, rather than integrated into other subjects (a common practice that diminishes its impact). And it must be complemented by widely accessible, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
It is time to face the facts: humans have sex, often long before they reach adulthood. And it is immoral – perverse, even – to withhold potentially life-saving information from young people. After all, knowledge is power. By giving today’s youth, and girls in particular, a better understanding of their bodies, we can give them the power to protect their health – and their futures.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Hiking the Pawn Trail This Morning

The Pawn Trail is a 0.75 mile loop trail through genuine old growth forest in central Oregon, about 20 miles inland from the ocean. It's my favorite fungus finding spot. It was raining today. I had my old camera, so the picture quality isn't up to snuff.