The Thing About Narrative

At some point yesterday (Tuesday)....President Obama made some personal comments and decided to lay out one of his observations.  He noted that Fox News was spreading negative sterotypes about the poor in America.

The quote:  "I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving got traction. And look, it’s still being propagated. I mean, I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu — they will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them. They’re all like, ‘I don’t want to work. I just want a free Obamaphone,’ or whatever. And that becomes an entire narrative that gets worked up and very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress, which is much more typical, who’s raising a couple of kids and doing everything right but still can’t pay the bills."

The problem with this statement is the word "narrative".

The public over the past decade has gotten use to narrative.

Your son knows the narrative when he brings up an allowance upgrade, and you start talking about responsibility and work ethic.

Your buddies at the office know the narrative of the boss when he's talking bad numbers, crisis period, and layoffs coming up.

When the cops need to explain why they shot some old lady's dog.....you know the narrative that will be used to explain the perceived threat to the cop.

When some state legislative cops start talking about closing state parks because of tax revenue problems.....you know the narrative.

When some Secretary of State tries to explain why some ambassador just accidentally died in Banghazi......you know the narrative.

When some black guy is thrown in the back of some police van and arrives at the destination with a broke neck....as the cops try to explain things....all you think of is narrative.

When the female principal was caught in a parked car out front of the school with some high school senior and the cops smile marijuana and notice that four buttons on the gal's blouse are undone......you listen to the explanation and all you think of is.....narrative.

When your state football coach wraps up the season with a 5-7 record, and explains that he just didn't have the right players.....you listen and all you think of.....is narrative.

Narrative is now a skill.  The guys at the Washington Post, NY Times, Time and Newsweak all know narrative. The folks at MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and Fox News know narrative.  The folks who do the behind the scenes preparation for the morning religious chat shows know narrative.....talking in Moses, IRS, Adam and Eve, immigration control, Satan, and unemployment.

Poor people know narrative.  Rich people know narrative.  Liberals and Conservatives both know narrative.  Cowboys and Indians know narrative.  Farmers know narrative.  And even failed and confused NCAA football coaches know narrative.

As for the President's wisdom in pointing some finger at Fox News over narrative?  He seems awful worried over Fox News......like it's some root-canal or hornet's nest sitting over the backdoor of the house.  For one single news source.....if you pause and look over comments from the White House.....Fox News gets mentioned at least five or six times a year.  NPR or Newsweak?  They never get mentioned.....almost like they don't exist in the mind of the White House.

The poor getting noted by Fox News?  I'm not that sure that they get mentioned much.  Maybe there is some stupid program which does little to help the poor.....which gets mentioned.  Maybe some revenue hand-out gets zero respect because it's not working.  People say things and they get noted.

I suspect most Americans would like to have a President who only gets noticed once a week.....never appears on some comedy show.....and is rarely quoted by the NY Times.  But trying to find such a mythical character is practically impossible.  That's my humble and honest......narrative.

Gambling Coming to Bama?

It is a shocker in Bama over the latest legislative business.  The Republicans in the state....having vowed over the past three decades to protect the innocence of every Bama resident by standing against lotteries, casinos and gambling.....are about to accept it with a friendly smile.

The draft bill sits presently with the state senate and most folks are believing in an acceptance.  The money generated?  Oh, that will be for education and children of course.....at least that's the coded phrase used.  It'll end up in the general fund sooner or later, and then be used for cop cars, state parks, and office furniture.

For decades, the Republican Party in Bama represented this relationship to good morale living, religious lifestyles, and principled authority.  Yeah, I know.....it was bogus....but it was good theater and folks believed it.

If you walk into a barbershop.....nine out of ten Bama guys would say this gambling thing isn't such a big deal.  They probably wouldn't even rate it in the top twenty issues of the day.  Most guys will admit that they already buy lotto tickets across the state line occasionally, and at least three of every ten Bama guys will admit to having been to a casino in the past year or two.

At least a quarter of all Bama women under the age of forty will readily admit that they've been to a casino in the past year or two as well.

The upset folks over this Republican change?  Mostly church folks who got some five-star minister character who quoted Moses and thrilled his congregation with bad-mouthing gambling.

The people who will get addicted?  Well.....yeah.....there are those who can't handle gambling.  The same can be said for those who can't handling driving a car in a safe fashion, or those who can't handle NCAA football in a safe fashion, or those who can't handle prescription pain-killers in a safe fashion, or those who can't handle a credit card in a safe fashion, or those who can't handle chainsaws in a safe fashion.  You can only protect society to a certain degree.....after that.....it's a guy's own responsibility for screwing up.

So, prepare for gambling coming to Bama.  Heck, we might even see a casino or two coming out of this state park business.  Joe Wheeler might turn itself into a fantastic gambling casino.

Free-Range?

It's an odd term.....I actually had to look it up.

The topic of free-range comes up because of a couple up in Kentucky who had the sheriff come out and visit......to confiscate the ten kids.  A local person went and complained over the living conditions, health issue possibilities, and lack of education for the kids.

What is generally said is that the parents were using 'free-range' parenting as their model.  Free range means that you let kids do things on their own.  You give them no limits....no obstacles....no borders....no rules.  The kid learns by mistakes made or their own sense of judgement.

Home-schooling?  No.....don't make the mistake of putting this crew into the same image as home-schooling.

In this case.....you have some kids and if they want to spend an hour working on math problems.....they do it.  If they spend eight minutes a year on math problems.....they do it.

In the home-schooling environment....you the parent will have a curriculum, devote time to some goals, have some text-books which help the teaching process, and set testing processes.  At the end of this....there's a process to get a high school diploma or GED.

In free-range, there's nothing unless the kid reaches a point of deciding learning is important....which may or may not ever occur.  You might have five kids in your free-range house.  Kid number one by eighteen years old will have a 12th grade background in English grammar, a fifth-grade background in math, and might know nothing of the Constitution.  Kid number two might not be able to handle division or multiplication, nor have any talent other than painting.  Kid number three might only be able to handle 4th grade reading by age eighteen, and may never have seen a map in his entire life. Kid number four might be able to handle 12th grade math and science, but knows nothing about American history or civics.  Kid number five might be a great hunter and carpenter by age eighteen, but can only read at the 3rd-grade level.

In this particular case.....there was some confrontation between the father of the kids and the neighbor.  A knife was used to threaten the neighbor, and the father apparently asked one of the kids to retrieve his gun.  The neighbor decided enough was enough.....called county welfare services, and they did the homework.

The family doesn't even live in a house or trailer.....it's a hut of sorts with a tin roof.  No septic tank....no running water....no electricity.

The fight is on apparently.....with the family defending their practices (unschooling is the term used in their defense).  I noticed a bunch of folks who would normally defend home-schooling who were kinda supporting this effort.

The problem is....once this kid gets up to eighteen....now what?  No one (police department, fire department, post office, etc) will hire someone without a GED or high school diploma.  At best, you can flip burgers, cut fire wood for people, or drive a truck (provided you can actually read the driver's manual).  You are gaming the kids for survivor mode and living just off the land.  Beyond that....there's no real possibilities in life.  I admit....we need a handful of folks who can cut down trees and sell firewood to folks.  Maybe if you can keep enough folks 'limited'....this would work out.

What happens with this Kentucky family?  Well....someone got them prepared for the modern world, and got fund-raising on the agenda.  They've got some lawyer money and will take the county social office to court.  The judge?  He's going to ask questions....mostly to the parents.   The family lawyer is going to eventually admit to the parents that they got to change their agenda idea a little bit....get cleaned up.....and make some promises.  Eventually, they will agree to park a trailer on the property as a proper living structure, and to home-school the kids.  The judge will eventually let the kids come back and they will be monitored.  As much as the parents will try to fake the situation.....I suspect the judge will take back the kids within two years.  I just don't see this mess resolving itself.

For the free-range crowd?  I'm kinda shaking my head.  Need to repair a tractor?  The manuals are mostly designed for someone who can read at least at the 8th grade level.  Most household accounting situations in America require addition, subtraction, division and multiplication....6th grade math, and if you can't do it......you can't balance your financial situation or handle obligations.  Like your rights?  Well.....you'd have to read the Constitution, discuss it, and grasp the meaning....which means at least a 8th grade comprehension of civil studies.  I admit that fifty percent of school after the 9th grade is wasted.....but you got to have some foundation.....otherwise, you are lost. Free-range?  No, I'd call it dead-range....you don't go nowhere or do much of anything.

A Brief Essay over Front Porches

This is the front of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.  It looks out onto the water of the bay.....about 300 feet in front of the house.

A magnificent view, no doubt.

You can sit and imagine spring, summer and fall....late afternoon, after a full day of activity, and settling onto a chair facing the bay.  There's no TV....no internet....no radio.....no daily newspaper.....nothing.

Some neighbor might ride up on his horse.....find George sitting there and sipping a whisky.  A discussion could commence....maybe over horses, fondness for peach cobbler, harsh words over some political discussion, or a long-winded joke about a French mistress and a English minister.

Talk might go into the evening hours, with a candle or lamp lit, and the visitor might be offered up a room for the night.

A porch was a place where discussions were a form of entertainment and emotional survival.  You laughed over good times and bad situations.  You contemplated why men did stupid things, or why women uttered harsh complaints.  You might have spent an hour or two discussing why corn is higher in Arlington, than in Richmond.  Or you might have just wasted a whole afternoon discussing why it's so hot this year compared to last year (you didn't have global warming in those days to blame on such events).

In some ways, we have lost the front porch behavior and attitude.  It was an anchored part of our society, our culture, and our future.  No one today defends the front porch.  No quotes great passages or writes epic movie scripts over the front porch.  It was a saga-builder, just waiting for a visitor to start some topic.

Book Review: David Crockett, His Life and Adventures

By John S. C. Abbott

It is a curious book, available on Amazon Digital for free, which was written well over a hundred years ago.

It is a finely woven and clear-cut story over the remarkable Davy Crockett.  I cam to three observations by the end of the 136 page book (it's easily read over a week).

First, there are at least a hundred occasions when Crockett met up with mother nature, disease, bears, mountain lions, Indians, and hostile threats.....and he should have died.  As you come near the end of the saga.....you come to realize the amount of luck this guy had going for him.....day in and day out.

Second, as a kid around age twelve....he was 'directed' by his dad to help some guy who was herding some cattle from the edge of the wilderness to Virginia (roughly 200 miles away).  He completes the job, and basically walks back.  When you take into consideration.....his age.....lack of a map.....no compass.....no adult leadership.....it is a remarkable feat.  If you tried to find some kid in America today who would do something like this.....I think you'd be disappointed.

Third, you come near the end of the book to realize the Alamo period was something that could have been skipped.  If the Indians had invited him to on hunting with them during their meeting.....he would have never gone to the Alamo or met up with the consequences of the Mexican Army.  In such a case.....you'd have to wonder where exactly he would have ended up and if he might have been some future governor of California.   Remember.....he was only forty-nine when he died at the Alamo.

As for the book?  I'd highly endorse it as a reading and history project for a 10th grade class.  They could complete the book in a week or two, and it'd probably draw out three or four discussion episodes for class participation.

General Store - Greek Style

If you walk around the streets of Athens, Greece.....you will eventually come to the Greek version of Home Depot.....a mom-and-pop shop with just about everything....squeezed into a thirty by hundred foot shop.

Alabama used to have shops like this, which thrived off of farmers and the local community.  Most have dissolved away and simply something of a legend today.

Helmets and Greece

 Greeks are pretty tough folks (men and women).  If you stand around and take a decent count over an average day.....out of a hundred motorcycle/scooter operators....roughly sixty will be riding with no helmet.  Greece is OK with this.....being hard-headed is a Greek tradition.

I noted after a week there in Athens....that I hadn't seen a single motorcycle accident. No, not a single one.  No guys hit by a bus.....no one running off some embankment....no guy smashed flat by a garbage truck....nothing.  In fact, I didn't even notice a drunk Greek on a motorcycle.  Everyone seemed to know precisely what speed was safe and what was acceptable.

Now, I admit.....it's a statistic that folks don't think about much.  In all of Athens, I'd take a guess that out of 789,000 residents....at least 100,000 folks ride scooters/motorcycles daily.  If you do the math and various formulas.....it means they are fairly lucky folks.

On the subject of scooters.....I'd also make this observation....people aren't picky.  I probably saw at least a hundred brand names.....some South Korean and Chinese models were out there.

The most interesting observation?  I noticed that cops rode on some occasions with two guys to a bike......getting the second guy to some accident or violation episode.