It Can’t Take A Village 30 September 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, economy, law, sociology.Tags: babysitting, stop babysitting
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I love the idea of neighborhood friends taking turns watching each others’ children. Instead of paying high price for low quality day care, everyone who has children and lives near people they know and trust (which is not always the case) simply exchange time with each other in a manner that allows their children to play with their neighbors. That’s how I grew up. In such an environment, the concept of, It takes a village to raise a child, can actually be implemented – people watching over each others’ children, and the children benefiting from multiple adult and peer influences.
However, a recent news item discusses how our degrading level of common sense in this society has finally impacted this ancient concept described above. A woman in MI who watches other neighborhood children for a few hours each morning has been asked to cease citing that she is in violation of day care laws.
I guess if she charged money, no one would have said anything.
False Advertising with Blogs 13 January 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in advertising, business, law.Tags: acai berry, as seen on oprah, as seen on oz, deceptive advertising, dr. oz, fake blogs, false advertisement, mel's diet blog, oprah, weight loss
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False and decpetive advertising have really been on the rise over the last five years or so. But I think it is actually to the point that we have become complacent with it. Maybe its partly because most people see advertising more as entertainment than anything else. There is currently a rash of advertisements on the internet that promote a weight loss program with the catch phrase, “As Seen on Oprah”. Clicking on the ad takes you to one of several fake blogs. These are websites that look like blogs, and maybe really use blog software, but are pre-written by some advertising agency. One site had comments listed, but no way for someone to add new comments. They quickly got smarter and started allowing you to make comments. But the most important issue is that they have photos that are defintely fake. Mel’s Diet Blog is one such blog. It is an advertisement for Acai Berry. Notice that the woman’s hair is exactly the same in all photos, down to every curl, and the strand in front. Quite an achievement given the amount of time needed to loose that weight.
So advertising agency’s, continue to insult our intelligent. You only make yourself look stupid.
Credit Score Abuse 16 December 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in business, customer service, economy, law, psychology, sociology.Tags: credit, credit score, insurance
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For at least 10 years now, businesses have been using credit scores for more than just a determination on whether to lend someone money. They have been used as a metric of “character” for everything from car insurance rates to job qualifications. A Geico agent actually told me that they would pull my credit report to determine my insurance rates because they believed there was a correlation, specifically that individuals with low credit scores are more likely to have an accident. I was able to find an article discussing theories for such a relationship,but the cause and effect relationship has not been established. There are clearly many factors here that could be related at some point.
My point is that this is not what a credit scores measures or was intended to measure. Organizations are using this because it is a conveniently available metric, not because there is any validity to expanding its application beyond granting a loan. In fact, it’s not even good at that. The credit bureau databases are poorly designed and proned to errors in relating information from other people with you (e.g., people with same first and last name). Finally, others are talking about this. See this MSN news article.
Ban on Spanking 26 September 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, child abuse, law, psychology, religion, sociology.Tags: Proverbs 13:24, spank, spanking, spanking ban, spare the rod
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Finally, there was an article today on Slate entitled Spare the Rod -Why you shouldn’t hit your kids. Yes, we are including spanking here. This was a great article, partly because seldom is the science behind this topic discussed. There was also an apsect left unanswered in this article that I would like to address. The article points out that the US is still reluctant to ban spanking in the home since many feel, “…it would undermine American parents’ authority as well as U.S. sovereignty…”. In other words, do we have the right to tell parents that they cannot spank their own children in their home? I have heard this argument before. Well, there is an obvious analogy – does an adult have the right to hit their own spouse in the home? The answer is clearly no. So why don’t children have the same rights?
I also like the fact that the article adressed another argument for spanking I here often. Many believe that spanking is not hitting and so it is OK. I have yet to figure out the difference, but it is apparent that sometimes such behavior escalates, not only in intensity of punishment, but also frequency as the parent uses it for more and more (and less severe) situations. In this case, it is similar to a gateway drug. If spanking is OK, then a little slap on the face is not much different, etc., etc., etc. This progression does not happens with everyone, and that is the reason why if I know someone who believes in spanking there children, I don’t feel the need to argue, unless it turns out that their definition of spanking is quite broad.
The third argument I often hear regarding hitting children is a quote from the Christian Holy Bible that supposedly states, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. Well, the actual quote is from Proverbs 13:24 (NIV) that states, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him”. I find it interesting that the “careful to discipline” phrase was conveniently removed from the slang saying. The first clause could be interpreted many ways and is quite ambiguous. I would also like to point out that the Rod was a symbol of rulership around this time, so it did not necessarily mean a stick with which to beat someone. It is more likely it meant that you rule your children with authority, which can be done without hitting them.
Finally, one more analogy. If I walked up to a strong, full grown adult and lightly slapped them on the face, I could be arrested and charged with assault. If some hillbilly spanks their tiny, defenseless 2 year old repeatedly until they are red, blistered, and cannot sit down, then that is OK. Hmmm!?
The concept is really pretty simple. Without spanking, you are building a relationship of learning what is right and wrong behavior through a trusting friendship, albeit this can be quite difficult in the early stages of language development. When you spank, the parent can sometimes be seen as an “enemy” due to self-preservation. Therefore, it will only cause the to perform the negative behavior when they are not being observed to avoid being spanked.
Also, it was interesting to read in this article that we are at the same level of social evolution in this regard as Somalia.
Overpacification 13 August 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, law, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: offensiphobia, overpacification, tyson, wright state university
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I have been thinking about this obvious problem for a while, but wanted to wait until I could come up with a good word for it. This is the best I could do right now, but I am open to suggestions.
There is another social trend plaguing this country (it seems to be more prevalent in the US, but this may just be a perception due to my proximity to US media). It is the irrational drive to appease smaller minority special interest groups even at the expense of larger special interest groups. In other words, the needs of the loud few outweigh the needs of the obvious many.
Such incidents are probably due to a combination of current social trends as well as pressure from these minority special interest groups, and possibly offensiphobia.
A recent example is when the Tyson company decided to give up Labor Day as a paid work holiday in exchange for a Muslim holiday. I am not saying that they should not allow Muslims to observe their holidays as well, but this is silly for two (2) reasons.
- Labor Day is a national holiday available to most workers regardless of religion.
- I would guess that Muslims are a minority within the company, so why should non-Muslims give up their Labor Day for a holiday they don’t celebrate?
The fact that we are currently at war with several facets of the Islamic religion suggests that overpacification might also be due to either of the following:
- Fear of retribution from the minority group
- An uber liberal sense of sympathy
Giving everyone a specified number of holidays / year to take as they see fit would have completely solved this problem for everyone.
Another example was when I was a graduate student at Wright State University (WSU). Many US students (including myself) had been asking for years to turn the 3 credit hour classes with 0 credit hour labs into 4 credit hour classes because 4 credit hours were required to be considered part-time and deferred payments on your student loans. WSU always refused. Following 9/11, there was a new federal (or possibly state) law that if foreign students on student visas were less than part-time, they could be deported (or investigated, I don’t recall). So, to assist the foreign students, WSU decided to change all 3 credit hour graduate classes to 4 credit hours. Not only is this overpacification, but it circumvented and defeated the whole purpose of the new law.
I hate to have to quote Spock, but there is ridiculously simple rule of thumb. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”.
Offensiphobia 10 August 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in law, media, philosophy, politics, sociology.Tags: offensiphobia, offensive, politically correct
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There is a new fear amongst us. It affects the media, politicians, and is starting to infect the scientific community. It is the fear of offending someone. Someone living with offensiphobia may exhibit the following symptoms:
- Having someone else prepare / review their speech
- Restating bad truths into good lies
- Addressing the audience in a condesending manner of comradery
- Apologizing for every statement made the day after it is made
- Not acknowledging they are human capable of poorly worded statements in haste
- Easily convinced by others that what they said was somehow offensive, even when it may not be
- Overestimating the importance or legitimacy of small or strange special interest groups
This fear is a powerful force in politics and the media these days. If untreated, it often results in politicians making incredibly bad decisions and science misinforming the public.
Law vs. Religion 28 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in child abuse, law, religion, sociology.Tags: exorcism, texas supreme court
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Another installment in the diary of Crazy World.
There was a story in the news today where the Texas Surpreme court ruled that a lower court erred when it sided with a 17 year old girl that sued a church for her physical and emotional damages as a result of an exorcism they conducted on her. The reason for the new ruling in favor of the church was due to the court’s belief that this crossed the line into religious freedom.
This is scary stuff. What this means is that the court feels the church is above the law, and not the other way around. This means that high level judges in our court systems have forgotten the very purpose of laws. Laws are rules that a society must live by in order to maintain the health and welfare of the people. Laws should be based on moral beliefs (sometimes they are based on tyrannical agenda). Those moral beliefs typically come from religion, but that is not neccessary (e.g., Confucionism). If your religion disagrees with the laws, then there is bound to be a problem, but it should not mean that society must avert its eyes to criminal actions performed in the name of religion. The laws of a society must trump the religious practices. Otherwise, someone who follows satanism could say that they should have the right to conduct human sacrifices. This would be no different than the decision above.
This is not the first such incident in recent news. Although polygamy is illegal in England, they are considering making exceptions for men that follow certain religious beliefs that condone it.
The Number One Problem In America 25 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in child abuse, law, politics, sociology.Tags: kennedy v. louisiana, supreme court
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There is a war going on. Our economy is now in a positive feedback loop on the fast track to depression. There might be global warming. Much of our food is not safe to eat. However, in my opinion, there is a bigger problem in the US right now, and none of the presidential candidates are really addressing it. It is the safety of our children. Does it not bother more people than myself that our children can’t even play outside??? No one knows what is contributing to this epidemic, but it is clear that the courts are partly to blame for being too soft. Pedophilia has nearly a 100% repeat offense rate; hence, it defies logic to release these individuals from incarceration ever. In addition, many recent cases where the abuse was undisputed have been thrown out of court on technicalities. When Judge Savage of MD threw out the case last year due to a lack of an interpreter, the technicality was not even cogent because the defendant graduate from a MD high school. A friend of mine had a theory that all judges are pedophiles. I am not claiming this is true, but the news today is compelling. Apparently, the supreme court decided that the death penalty is too extreme for child molestation. The US Supreme Court has been wrong on most major decisions in our nation’s history, so this is not surprising. If their logic is that the punishment should fit the crime, then prison alone is not enough!!!! Something needs to be done, more than what is done now because it is apparently not working. We need to decide what kind of world we want to live in, then ensure that the courts do their job to keep it that way. If you have ultimate responsibility for the decision and you let a criminal walk, then you are partly to blame for any crimes they commit after. Full Story.
