The Power of Witchcraft 8 November 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, media, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology, witchcraft.Tags: witchcraft
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John Stossel, a reporter for the show 20/20, did a great 1 hour documentary on the power of belief. Essentially, his point was that people’s desire to believe in things, even if they are not real, had incredible power. This is essentially circular reasoning with a conscious avoidance of critical thinking. I would like to take it one step further, specifically in the areas of witchcraft and satanism. Even if these are not real forces (I am not suggesting they are or are not), the belief alone is sufficient for these tradecrafts to have some effect. As a great example, see this video. This video is also a great example of another current trend – media sensationalism. The show makes a big build up claiming that something incredible happened to this scientist that changed his mind, when nothing REAL happened at all.
The Bailout 2.0 (Why it Won’t Work) 11 February 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in economy, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: bailout
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Let’s see, it didn’t work the first time (for the reasons I mentioned), so let’s do it a second time. Hmmm, what a strategy… Oh yeah, and the majority of the population was against it the first time, they have not yet benefitted from it, so what are the chances that the majority will be behind it the second time? Oh, and did we forget that the huge sum of $700 Billion did not fix anything – we are still declining!
OK, here are some reason why these bailouts will not fix the economy:
- You are putting money into the wrong end of the pump. Giving money to banks is supposed to unfreeze credit. People don’t need credit to get new homes, they need to pay for the mortgage that increased so they can keep their homes. If you lost your job, no one is going to give you credit. Not to mention, our economic system is not designed to run this way.
- Psychology is not being considered. The executives running the banks are in this business for one reason, they like money, and they use these institutions as their personal investment projects. They have absolutely no desire or even incentive to spend this money in the manner that congress would prefer.
- There is no accountability or enforcement. To simply state that the behaviour (described above) is unethical soungds good, but the situation is actually worse than that. It should be illegal. The Government has given these commercial institutions tax money, and they should be able to enforce how that is used.
There is a much simpler solution that will fix the economy immediately, but no one is talking about it. I will save it for another post.
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”.
Racism Detection 24 July 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, media, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: bad science, ethic food, national children's bureau, racism, racist toddlers, young children and racial justice
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Ah, I found a case in point of raciphobia.
I heard this news story about a week ago, and I honestly thought it was a joke because it is so insane, but today I found another blog talking about it at detecting racism in your toddlers. The original news article can be found here (it may take some time to load).
Apparently, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) in the UK wrote a guide (over 300 pages) for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice. It contains some very outlandish concepts for identifying racism in young children, and recommendations for how to react.
Every now and then, something so ridiculous comes along that you just don’t know where to begin.
First, not liking certain ethnic foods cannot be an indicator for racism (even in people old enough to like everything you put in front of them). Despite the fact that toddlers are picky eaters ANYWAY, food is a CULTURAL artifact, and not a by product of any race. If you don’t know the difference between culture and race (and how they have absolutely nothing to do with each other), then you are too stupid to be talking about the subject at all. The recommendations are not even based on science. The fact that it urges child care facilities to REPORT and DISCIPLINE this so called “racist” behavior is quite disturbing.
Second, children are learning about the world. Racism is a structured concept (that does not mean it is something to be proud of, I just mean it relies on a multi-level propositional network, albeit a flawed one) that preschoolers are not yet equipped to formulate. This begs me to write a post on the definition of racism.
Third, it is quite normal for a young child to be apprehensive towards people that are different from them. They usaully grow out of this after learning how alike we all are and that skin color is just skin color. Racists are adults that don’t reach that level of cognitive development.
Finally, it always disturbs me when we are harder on our children than we are on adults. I can’t imagine what people would say if you “punished” an adult in a restaurant that didn’t like an ethic dish. Would people call them racist?
Hmmm, so if I didn’t like Taco Bell, since it is not authetice Mexican food, would I be a racist towards fake Mexicans. Oh wait, Mexican is not a race…
Pregnant Man Gives Birth 6 July 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in media, psychology, sociology.Tags: cbs, early show, illinformed, media, people magazine, pregnant man, press, thomas beatie, transgender, uninformed
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I talked about this subject before, but there is an update. CBS News reported on 04 Jul 2008, I believe it was on the Early Show (I am not sure because I only saw the video) that the “pregnant man” gave birth. The CBS “news” (and I use that term for descriptive purposes only) woman continued to call Thomas Beatie a man. They had a guest on to talk about it, and presented him as if he were some kind of expert, but he actually only worked for People magazine – one of the lowest forms of print journalism being just a step above tabloids. They asked him his opinion and he stated that Thomas sees himself as the father. Now, his statement itself was misleading if you weren’t paying attention to the words, but, for those that didn’t read my previous post on the subject, Thomas Beatie is not really a man and is 100% female. It should not be news at all that “she” gave birth considering she has a uterus and it was natural child birth.
Many people fear that in more totalitarian countries, the people are often uninformed by the press. In the US, we have a new trend, where the people are illinformed for the sake of sensationalism and ratings. This is very disturbing. People that don’t understand the science behind this controversy must be very confused from watchng the news, especially when CBS news reported that the birth was natural (e.g., no C section). Maybe if the news spent more time on the many more important topics out there (like, I don’t know, the war maybe), we wouldn’t be having this discussion. If news agencies would rather run stories that they think will get people to watch out of curiosity, that’s their choice, but you must be factual, otherwise, you are not fulfilling the role of jouralism in society.
Race and Intelligence, Once Again 2 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology.Tags: crick, dna, intelligence, race, watson
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Apparently there is renewed discussion on the correlation between race (genetics) and intelligence, and the nature vs. nurture debate (I prefer to call the seed vs. soil debate). This time the discussion is based on some alleged comments by the famous Dr. Watson of the great Watson and Crick duo that discovered DNA. The concept that we are a product of our genetics and our envrionment is explained in most BIO 101 classes; however, this concept seems to be forgotten, or at least downplayed, when someone wants to propose a controversial theory on the subject. To my knowledge (and I am not up on the latest news on this topic), no one has derived the proportions of these 2 factors. So I would like to take a shot based on deductive reasoning.
First, in most cases, without significant physical or mental disabilities, we have great latitude in our range of possiblilities, capabilities, and accomplishments from both. This typical case is a product of our genetics. While these genetics strictly dictate our hair color, eye color, or even more complex traits, they also grant most of us with the trait of accomplishment – the ability to be many different things at a wide range of levels of ability. Hence, it is most likely, if not obvious, that the variance within a life is greater than the variance between racial groups.
Second, it should not be a surprise at all that if we don’t spend time thinking about certain topics or performing certain skills (essentially training) that we will not excel in those domains (hence, the basketball argument). But, it is not just what we think about, but also how we think. If your most complex thought of the day is how to get a ball in a circle, then you are not exercising your brain as much as you are your body.
Hence, I argue that one’s environment most likely plays a much larger role in intelligence than genetics. But do not forget that culture is part of environment. Many people, surprisingly, still think culture is genetic.
Wisdom with Age 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in philosophy, psychology.Tags: intelligence, wisdom
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Many cultures throughout history have believed that we grow wiser with age. I am starting to believe the opposite is true. Or at least there is a certain facet of intelligence that decreases with age – one that peaks around 12 or 13 years old. I can think of several illustrative examples, but I would rather hear from others.
Here’s a statement that might help get things started: I’ll put a 12 year old opinion against a supreme court judge any day.
Artifacts 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, psychology, religion.Tags: artifacts, holy land, holy war
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Many religions deem artifacts and historical places as an important treasure, a value to the religion itself. Although there is no sense in this. These are, at best, merely symbols of lessons – and it is these lessons that are important. Hence, there is no greater heresy than to violate the moral teachings of a religion in order to protect physical artifacts of the religion. In other words, those that believe in wars over a Holy land, or Holy Grail are really missing the whole point of their religion – and are its worst students.
