I just noticed a "Radical Islamic Terrorist Awareness Week" poster in one of the buildings on campus that is in part sponsored by the BYU Republicans. I think that it is great of them to occasionally remind us of the people that we are supposed to hate and fear. Otherwise I may have forgotten and, as a result, been kind to the Muslim people that I know.
While we are at it, I thought that it would be a great idea to start other sorts of similar weeks:
Columbian Drug-dealer Awareness Week
Thieving Mexican Awareness Week
Violent African Awareness Week
Lazy Poor-people Awareness Week
Communist Unpatriotic Democrat Awareness Week
Where's McCarthy when you need him?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Language
I recently had an English assignment where we were supposed to find a letter to the editor that we agreed with and disagree with it. Here was mine:
"On February 5, 2008, Gary Hatch published a letter to the editor of the Daily Universe condemning the verbage of Senator Chris Buttars, who referred to a bill that he didn't like as "dark." Have we become so sensitive as a people that we can't say a thing without someone accusing us of racial hatred?
"As I sit here typing this response, my screen is a little dark because I don't want it to run out of batteries. By that, I mean I decreased my screen's luminescence.
"I went to bed early last night because the film my roommates were watching was a little too dark for my tastes. I mean it wasn't as light-hearted as I would have liked it be.
"I recently made a batch of cookies, but they didn't turn out well. They were a little dark. I mean they were not quite burnt but more well-done than I usually prefer to eat. But this is not because I don't like non-Caucasian people. Had there been one there, I would've given him or her one of my cookies. Except for the fact that they were a little da. . . I mean, burnt.
"In an effort to avoid offending a small minority of hypersensitive extremists, it seems we often have to tiptoe around language, and sometimes it's quite a detour. Since when have special interest groups hijacked freedom of speech?
"In short, perhaps we all need to learn to not take offense to the smallest turn of phrase. People usually aren't out to get you."
I thought it was one of the most offensive things that I had ever written. Unfortunately, I had a few people respond to this post saying that I made a few good points. I was shocked! Rather than leave a legacy of racial hatred behind me, I decided to write this as a response and hopefully partially redeem myself:
"While it is one thing to say that it is dark outside, it is another to call an immigration bill "dark and ugly," and make pretty direct reference to a tar baby. (I left out the other part to help strengthen my argument.)
"Even if this comment weren't supposed to be a racial reference, I believe that we should be careful about what we say. I think that part of becoming a "perfect man" by taming our tongue, as James says, is by knowing when it is appropriate to use certain language. I think that "speaking with the tongue of angels," like in the talk by Elder Holland, is learning to respect others through our language.
"I had a friend in high school from England who let out an occasional 'damn' and 'hell.' He would claim that because it didn't mean anything to him, it was OK. I explained to him, however, that we should be careful with our words, not because of what they mean to us, but because of what they mean to others.
"While perhaps we all could learn to not be offended, I think that it is yet more noble to learn to not offend."
"On February 5, 2008, Gary Hatch published a letter to the editor of the Daily Universe condemning the verbage of Senator Chris Buttars, who referred to a bill that he didn't like as "dark." Have we become so sensitive as a people that we can't say a thing without someone accusing us of racial hatred?
"As I sit here typing this response, my screen is a little dark because I don't want it to run out of batteries. By that, I mean I decreased my screen's luminescence.
"I went to bed early last night because the film my roommates were watching was a little too dark for my tastes. I mean it wasn't as light-hearted as I would have liked it be.
"I recently made a batch of cookies, but they didn't turn out well. They were a little dark. I mean they were not quite burnt but more well-done than I usually prefer to eat. But this is not because I don't like non-Caucasian people. Had there been one there, I would've given him or her one of my cookies. Except for the fact that they were a little da. . . I mean, burnt.
"In an effort to avoid offending a small minority of hypersensitive extremists, it seems we often have to tiptoe around language, and sometimes it's quite a detour. Since when have special interest groups hijacked freedom of speech?
"In short, perhaps we all need to learn to not take offense to the smallest turn of phrase. People usually aren't out to get you."
I thought it was one of the most offensive things that I had ever written. Unfortunately, I had a few people respond to this post saying that I made a few good points. I was shocked! Rather than leave a legacy of racial hatred behind me, I decided to write this as a response and hopefully partially redeem myself:
"While it is one thing to say that it is dark outside, it is another to call an immigration bill "dark and ugly," and make pretty direct reference to a tar baby. (I left out the other part to help strengthen my argument.)
"Even if this comment weren't supposed to be a racial reference, I believe that we should be careful about what we say. I think that part of becoming a "perfect man" by taming our tongue, as James says, is by knowing when it is appropriate to use certain language. I think that "speaking with the tongue of angels," like in the talk by Elder Holland, is learning to respect others through our language.
"I had a friend in high school from England who let out an occasional 'damn' and 'hell.' He would claim that because it didn't mean anything to him, it was OK. I explained to him, however, that we should be careful with our words, not because of what they mean to us, but because of what they mean to others.
"While perhaps we all could learn to not be offended, I think that it is yet more noble to learn to not offend."
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Clutter Therapy
I was looking my friends blog tonight and came across a post of him lamenting over the impermanent nature of the cleanliness of his room. I chuckled to myself, realizing that I gave up the battle of permanence long ago.
Don't get me wrong though: I am a generally clean person. I like having a clean room and an uncluttered desk; however, I know that when life gets cluttered itself, a clean desk comes after passing my classes and sleeping at night on my list of priorities.
Actually, I think there is something deeply meaningful about a messy room. I’ve recently noticed the the state of my desk parallels the state of my life; when I notice that my desk is getting too cluttered to do anything useful with it, it’s time for a change. (On my desk and in my life.)
If my room were consistently clean, then I’d have no way to tell that my life is a clutter. I would be unknowingly simmering in stressful living and wouldn’t think to get out until I ended up spontaneously bursting into tears of frustration in the JFSB Quad someday.
And furthermore, I think that using psychology to justify my bad habits is among the most genius ideas ever!
Don't get me wrong though: I am a generally clean person. I like having a clean room and an uncluttered desk; however, I know that when life gets cluttered itself, a clean desk comes after passing my classes and sleeping at night on my list of priorities.
Actually, I think there is something deeply meaningful about a messy room. I’ve recently noticed the the state of my desk parallels the state of my life; when I notice that my desk is getting too cluttered to do anything useful with it, it’s time for a change. (On my desk and in my life.)
If my room were consistently clean, then I’d have no way to tell that my life is a clutter. I would be unknowingly simmering in stressful living and wouldn’t think to get out until I ended up spontaneously bursting into tears of frustration in the JFSB Quad someday.
And furthermore, I think that using psychology to justify my bad habits is among the most genius ideas ever!
Monday, February 18, 2008
A response to the crowded DMV
I'm here sitting grading econ papers, and I had this idea. We are talking about the good and bad that the governments can do and the book we are reading makes a point that it is necessary to have the government distribute driver's licenses because otherwise private license companies would just give licenses out to everyone who wanted one and it would make the roads less safe.
But what if we made the issuers responsible for the havoc wreaked by the people they license. They would essentially be insurance companies, and if a certain firm thinks that a person will be too expensive to insure, then that person won't be licensed. If we made it so that fines for speeding had to be paid by the licensing company, those that speed and are a menace on the road will have to pay for it. Similarly those that drink and drive.
And the infrastructure of insurance companies is already there.
I think that there are probably big problems with this line of thought, but I thought that it was an amusing idea nevertheless, and one that is based on "sound" introductory economics.
But what if we made the issuers responsible for the havoc wreaked by the people they license. They would essentially be insurance companies, and if a certain firm thinks that a person will be too expensive to insure, then that person won't be licensed. If we made it so that fines for speeding had to be paid by the licensing company, those that speed and are a menace on the road will have to pay for it. Similarly those that drink and drive.
And the infrastructure of insurance companies is already there.
I think that there are probably big problems with this line of thought, but I thought that it was an amusing idea nevertheless, and one that is based on "sound" introductory economics.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Provo Explodes
So this evening just after 9:30, I heard a big boom from outside. I thought at first that it might be a gun shot, but my roommate have been playing a lot of James Bond recently, so I ruled that out; I'm getting pretty good at recognizing gunshots. Thunder maybe? Nope. The skies are clear and it didn't have that zingy or extended thunder sound. Dragon? No scorch marks; usually they're linked. I decided that the SWKT had probably fallen down and I continued reading.
Ten minutes later, I got a phone call from my friend around the corner asking if I had heard it as well. I told her that I had and informed her of my conclusion. We decided to go questing to see if we could find out what had happened.
We hopped into my car (which still runs fabulously) and started driving around. After about 24 seconds, we decided that we felt a little silly driving around to who knows where we weren't even sure whence the sound came.
We took a loop on campus drive along the side of the hill to see if we could see anything in the city smoking and to make sure the SWKT was still there, and we didn't see anything fishy, so we went home.
I noticed just now online that it was an explosion at some steel plant in South Provo. There's not much news yet, but I'm way impressed with this explosion. It was almost 5 miles away and it shook my windows.
Ten minutes later, I got a phone call from my friend around the corner asking if I had heard it as well. I told her that I had and informed her of my conclusion. We decided to go questing to see if we could find out what had happened.
We hopped into my car (which still runs fabulously) and started driving around. After about 24 seconds, we decided that we felt a little silly driving around to who knows where we weren't even sure whence the sound came.
We took a loop on campus drive along the side of the hill to see if we could see anything in the city smoking and to make sure the SWKT was still there, and we didn't see anything fishy, so we went home.
I noticed just now online that it was an explosion at some steel plant in South Provo. There's not much news yet, but I'm way impressed with this explosion. It was almost 5 miles away and it shook my windows.
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