Archive for the 'society' Category

When Can We Place Some Blame?

Published by Brian Baldowski on March 3, 2008 in society. 1 Comment

Stricklands settle after death of son  I am not going to debate the question of whether this teenager needed to die.  He did not.  The sentence did not fit the crime he committed.  I do have a problem with one issue here.  If Stricklend had never stolen a PlayStation, the cops would not have been at his door.  This is aspect of the situation that seems to have been overlooked in the outrage over the actions of one trigger happy cop.

In today’s society we seem to overlook the actions of a person if an injustice results from those actions.  Rodney King would not have been in a situation to be beat by LA officers if he had not been doing drugs and driving erratically.  Why did someone not point this out.  It was wrong for the cops to bludgeon him, but he brought the cops attention to himself by being high.  There are other circumstances also, he kept resisting the officers.  If he had just stayed on the ground he would not have been beaten either.

How many times a day have officers arrested someone and no one was hurt in the incident?  Many.  But when something goes wrong the blame is always placed on the cops and little mention is made about the offenders crimes.  When can we place some blame?

Quote from Speaker for the Dead

Published by Brian Baldowski on January 22, 2008 in religion and society. 0 Comments

  • A great rabbi stands teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife’s adultry, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death. (There is a familiar version of this story, but a friend of mine, a Speaker for the Dead, has told me of two other rabbis that faced the same situation. Those are the ones I’m going to tell you.)
    The rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him, the mob forbears, and waits with the stones heavy in their hands. “Is there anyone here,” he says to them, “who has not desired another man’s wife, another woman’s husband?”
    They murmer and say, “We all know the desire. But, Rabbi, none of us has acted on it.”
    The rabbi says, “Then kneel down and give thanks that God made you strong.” He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, “Tell the lord magistrate who saved his mistress. Then he’ll know I’m his loyal servant.”
    So the woman lives, because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder.
    Another rabbi, another city. He goes to her and stops the mob, as in the other story, and says, “Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone.”
    The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. Someday, they think, I may be like this woman, and I’ll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her the way I wish to be treated.
    As they open their hands and let the stones fall to the ground, the rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman’s head, and throws it straight down with all his might. It crushes her skull and dashes her brains onto the cobblestones.
    “Nor am I without sin,” he says to the people. “But if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead, and our city with it.”
    So the women died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance.
    The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis, and when they veer too far, they die.
    Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.

    • By Orson Scott Card

    The Global Community

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 31, 2007 in society. 5 Comments

    I have been reading several articles lately about the need for America to mind it’s own business in world affairs.  It is an admirable idea.  The problem, in my eyes, is the complete interconnectedness of the world today.  If an exchange burps in Japan, the European exchanges taste the after effects and can tell what the Japanese exchange had for lunch.  Same for U.S. markets, Asian markets, every decision made by one company or group is felt globally.  This extends to politics, culture, religion, in essence every part of one society is effected by another societies decisions.  We can’t just mind our own business when our lives are being affected by the decisions made hundreds or thousands of miles away.

    A Great Warning Label

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 18, 2007 in society. 0 Comments

    The following is part of the warning instructions for the washing machine at the Y where I work.

    Failure to operate this machine according to the Instruction Handbooks or the work safety and hygiene standards and COMMON SENSE (emphasis mine) may result in conditions which CAN PRODUCE bodily injury or loss of life.

    I love it. Common sense is usually not part of a warning but if every body put this on their products it would cover so many issues. You wouldn’t need to put a warning on a hair dryer like “Don’t use in the shower” or Preparation H’s “Don’t use orally” All these warnings are on these products because someone tried to do it. With this warning you could just say, “Is it common sense to use something that uses electricity in the shower? No you will die.” or “Is it common sense to put a gel in your mouth that is used to cause things in you butt decrease in size? No you will get sick, or a really small mouth.” I love it.

    Terry Pratchett

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 14, 2007 in society. 0 Comments

    Thanks to my friend Jeremy I found out today that one of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  He announced the news on Paul Kidby’s website (Kidby is the long time illustrator for Pratchett’s books)

    http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html

    Pratchett is one of those writers that captures the imagination.  His novels are a constant read for me.  I will usually sit down with one of his books and know I will be entertained and challenged.  I have probably read everyone of his books at least three or four times.  I went for a year and a half and did nothing but read his novels (Obviously between times of work and other activities.)  He usually challenges a person to think while they read.  His commentary on life, politics, religion, culture, you name it is fairly spot on.  I rarely read something and say “That’s not right.” or “That’s not how it works.”  His books are an excellent read.

    I believe his greatest feat is his ability to draw a person in to the story till they are not able to put the book down.  I often find myself reading thinking, “Here it goes.”  When he starts the build up to the final action.  Then there is a long sigh afterwards as you realize the ride you just took.  This is true no matter how many times I read the books.  I recently read what I call the Vimes series again.  It starts with Guards! Guards! and continues through several books, Men At Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, and the latest Thud.  When I finish the book I am reading now I will probably start the Witches series again  These start with Equal Rites and goes through Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Jugulum.  My favorite series though is his young adult books.  They seem to be more insightful then his more adult books.

    I know Pratchett isn’t dead.  He will continue to write, and as he said in his announcement

         ”  ’I am not dead’. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as
    will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too soon to tell.”

    And I know he would not write forever, but his characters are constant companions for me and it is upsetting to know their complete stories may never be known.  That is why I am sad today.  I want to know what happens to everyone and I may never know.

    p.s. If anyone is thinking about buying me a Christmas present, I still haven’t been able to get Pratchett’s Wintersmith or Making Money.  Just to let you know.

    Woman Wants Lake Drained

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 6, 2007 in society. 1 Comment

    Pull the plug on Lake Lynn, suit demands

    Here is an example of insanity and proof, in my opinion, that we live in a law suit crazed world.  A woman bought land on the bottom of a lake now wants the lake drained to develop the land.  The Lake has been there since 1976.  The quote by her lawyer regarding the city is rather enlightening.  What do you think?

    I think it would be like me buying land on the moon then suing the government because they didn’t have a shuttle to get me there

    News Media’s Love of Death

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 5, 2007 in news and society. 0 Comments

    I was some what disgusted yesterday when I logged on to a local TV station’s website and, of the five lead stories, three of them involved the death of someone, or multiple people.  I know the old news motto “If it bleeds, it leads.” but this is rideculous.  Are there no other stories they could feature?  This is the Christmas season (don’t be upset I used the C word) there are many stories of good deeds that could have replaced one or all of those stories.  A friend of mine used to work at a TV station in the area.  She told me there were several mornings the anchors would gather around the wire machines waiting for stories.  If there was not a death the would be upset.

    I guess though we should also examine the fact they would not be showing these stories if we were not watching them.

    The Need for a Unifying Figure

    Published by Brian Baldowski on December 3, 2007 in politics and society. 1 Comment

    What do all revolutions need?  A person that the majority of revolutionaries are willing to follow.  If you look at all the revolutions in the past, those that succeeded and those that failed, you will see the need for a leader.  In Cuba there was Castro, in Russia there was Lenin, in China there was Ze Dong, in England there was Cromwell, in France there was Napoleon, in America there was Washington, in Rome there was Caesar, in South America there was Bolivar.  The theme continues through the ages, strong, unifying leaders help bring about revolution.  Many of these revolutions started with a ground swell of support from the people, led by their charismatic leader against a government they viewed as being against their interests.  It didn’t hurt that many of the people were able to get support for their fight from an outside source that opposed some aspect of the government the revolutionaries were fighting.

    Failed revolutions are marked by little or weak unification.  The American Civil War is an example of a weak unification, little cooperation happened between the seceding states.  This lead to an inability to coordinate an offensive or defense to drive the Northerners to surrender.  The French revolution against Louis XVI had too many competing groups with no unified vision of the future to last.  The revolution that occurred in Cuba, with the help of the Americans at the Bay of Pigs, failed because there was no figure that could ralley the support of the common people against Castro.  If a revolution has no strong leader, then it is doomed to failure.

    Tomorrow, what this has to do with Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Extreme Enviromentalist?

    Published by Brian Baldowski on November 29, 2007 in society. 1 Comment

    I was going to write about Jo Durden-Smith some more but then I discovered this on another blog called Neatorama.

     Meet the women who won’t have babies – because they’re not eco friendly

    Oh my,  I can completely support a person that doesn’t want children, but to view children as a parasite to the planet?  I am some what speechless.

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