Sunday 11 July 2021

Observations

 1.  With all this chatter by people on Hunter Biden's artwork (that he himself painted) and sells for hundreds of thousands.....did you notice that not a single art critic has offered commentary?  

2.  Governor Cuomo of NY says the outrage over Critical Race Theory is fake.  After you sit and ponder for a while, you then realize that Cuomo's outrage over the outrage....is probably fake.  

3.  At some point in the past week....President Biden was given a chance to comment over the fine work of his chief of Health and Human Services.  It was a great moment to mention the guy and his work.  But at this moment....the President's brain freeze occurred, and he couldn't remember the guy's name.  After a few seconds, he did utter 'Xavier', but he probably started thinking of the Marvel character 'Doctor Xavier'....then he uttered 'Mr Secretary' instead.  

4.  There's an interesting publication from last year....gleaned from data of 2018, which says.....from all the people in the US who are below the poverty level....60-percent of them are white.  The number two group?  Latinos at 18.5-percent.  Blacks only make up 12-percent.  

5.  It is odd...over the past three to five years, a number of folks stood up and spoke to the idea that a number of master's degrees are worthless.  Their meaning?  The two years and likely $50,000 of cost doesn't necessarily translate into better job opportunities or better pay.  The system....for whatever it's worth....has evolved.  So this two year period of effort....might be totally worthless?  Yeah, and that ought to bother the university system a fair bit....if they can't convince you this is of value.....they'd have to lay off thousands of professors with no true value.

The Wave of Lecturing

 Probably around 2012....I reached some point while viewing the news media and social commentary.....where I felt lectured on a daily basis.  

Politicians, sports people, social justice warriors, news people, doctors, etc.....were all jumping on the lecture wagon.

At some point in the mid-1990s....while still in the Air Force, I sat in an exam room and got a three-minute lecture by some military doctor.  About six months would pass and I'd be back in the exam room with another doctor, who also wanted to lecture me....which I stopped about 30 seconds into this and just told the guy my time was valuable and I didn't need BS....urging him to get to the exam business.  

Am I anti-lecture today?  Yes, to a significant degree.

If I'm in a airport situation and forced to view CNN....I slip into the anti-lecture mood, and try to find a corner where I can't view the monitor.  

If I'm flipping channels and get to a point where something interesting is on....I'm ready to hit 'mute' the minute that the lecture starts up.

I don't want the Channel twelve weather guy to lecture me on climate change.  I don't want the deacon of such-and-such local church to lecture me on 'fake good will'.  I don't want fake lectures from some Congressman or Doctor-Doom-type on Covid-19.  I don't want some Captain Star-Tripper lecturing me over life or death.

Looking back....in the 1970s/1980s....I probably didn't ever get the five-star lecture treatment, and when I did....it was just a once-a-week type of experience.  Today?  I'll suggest at least forty lectures a day, and some are pretty intense.  

A phobia about lectures?  Maybe....but the question, how would you treat a patient like that?  Send them  off to Montana for a month of isolation?