Facebook Wants to Know Little Known Things About Me

Things you may not know about me:
1. Twelve is an unholy number.
2. The prophet sees all of time and does not like cheese dip.
3. Some people would do well to ascend to African apes.
4. Spilling Hawaiian Punch is an unforgivable sin before age 6.
5. Groucho Marx misquoted me.
6. Three-hundred and four minus two-hundred and ninety-eight.
7. Your imagination doesn’t exist. It was replaced three years ago with an emphatic, white noise random numbers generators that hums binary. You hear the hum when it is completely silent, and you secretly fear it has already proven you like frozen Twizzlers in cheap whisky, even though you haven’t ever tried it.
8. There is no 8. The numbers 9 and 7 were over-achievers and created a number to eliminate being shamed by cube roots and those exiled to the Island of Lonely Integers.
9. Redacted, due to inducing impromptu kissing and aggregate supply of emotional commodities.

Flag on the Play: A quick criticism of the NFL bullying discussion

So I’ve been rather perplexed in the myriad of perspectives and discussions revolving around the Miami Dolphins and adult bullying, otherwise known as bullying. The parts of this conversation that leave me puzzled are the assertions that people who are large, muscular and physically intimidating are less likely to be bullied, and the bully and bullied appeared to be the best of friends (according to teammates).

 

First, when everyone in the room is physically intimidating it’s harder to be used as a gauge of dominance. In fact, it’s a rather negligible factor. I’m not sure why this has eluded those mentioning it, as though a 300lb muscular athlete is any less susceptible to the vices of small group dynamics, especially in a hyper-machismo, bro-tastic hazing microcosm.

 

Second, in patriarchal structure the idea that men aren’t bullied in friendships is quite frankly bullshit. The only thing smells worse is the suggestion that these men are “elites” in anything. The locker room model can breed camaraderie, teamwork, and interdependence. That is not to be confused with trust. Bullies exist in many forms, for many reasons. Even from personal experience, I can attest that sometimes friendship is an environment where bullying can thrive, like a functional, yet destructive relationship. The guise of friendship reduces the level of bullying, but much like this story and others teach: there is no way to ease out of such torment. You have to leave.

 

A culture of bullying is never acceptable.

An Economy of Bad Ideas

Can we talk for a moment about bad ideas? Some ideas are brilliant, some are profound, some are neutral, and the rest should fall into a metal bin labeled “BAD”. Then that bin should be taken out back and the contents lit on fire. Or should it? I’m not completely certain, with regard to how popular so many of them are, that people can  identify a bad idea when they see, hear, or come up with one. So, to more clearly define the lines between an idea that’s good, neutral, or HORRIBLY WRONG here are some things to consider:

How do these people become so damn relevant?

Being elected into a political office appears to have an effect on the psychology of a person that propels into believing their victory equals infallibility. The level of over-confidence is startling, especially when it’s coming from the leadership, i.e. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Raising revenues (taxes) will raise spending…on unimportant bloat that some of us like to call the Federal Deficit. The more election wins, the more solidly that politician thinks their ideas and actions are secure. We can recognize that that level of security can garner several benefits in any organizational framework—that is until it turns into friends-with-benefits or any other aptly provocative scandal. Suddenly they’re hoisted by their own petard. People in office, especially at the national level, continually view their success as validation, however, far too often elected officials take this way to far. It’s not enough to say “I’ve been elected to take my ideas into the discussion.” The method that’s used is, “My ideas are the only ones valid for discussing and if we don’t I’m taking my ball and going home.” For example, there are those who have sought to stranglehold progress as of late with Presidential nominees. While questions should be asked, points should be debated, etc. why does the Bad Idea Fairy visit them? Threatening filibuster for Jack Lew for the Treasury, Chuck Hagel for Defense, John Brennan for the CIA, or attacking Ambassador Susan Rice for her role in messaging after the 9/11/12 attacks in Benghazi to show she is incapable of being Secretary of State takes the powers of someone either really well-versed or really inept at being a logician. It’s almost impossible to figure out which. This is why Congress has a lower approval rating than Chris Brown.

Ain’t nobody got time for
domestic violence.

Some arguments do not have the two sides we’re presented.

Let’s agree to disagree! Or not. Because some ideas do not have two sides. Evolution, climate change, birth certificates do not have controversies that need to be taught. All ideas will have dissenters, but at what point do “dissenters” become “truthers”, “birthers”, or Crazy Uncle Bill who always smells like black powder and has a YouTube video YOU HAVE TO SEE? The sell-ability of the idea of “two sides” is based largely in our ability of convergent thinking. We, as humans, tend to first look at just a simple list of set possibilities based around causation. However, we live in a free cosmos, so there can be more than one wrong answer—and that’s usually the ones people are most noted with going with. If a conspiracy can be suggested because we don’t agree with facts, then it’s more valid. Sometimes the crazier the conspiracy sounds the more plausible people will see it. To put questions to rest: We evolved from ape-like creatures hundreds of thousands of years ago into homo sapiens. The Earth is getting warmer in part due to how well we haven’t taken care of the planet. The President was born in Hawaii (HI)—It’s the Aloha State! We were attacked by a terrorist plot on 9/11/2011. Women using birth control allows to them to have control over their animal cycle of reproduction, improve their upward mobility, and overall increases the quality of society. Facts. They can be verified.

Let’s just say something indefensible and point out how it can’t be rebutted.

So when you don’t have a valid counter argument to a fact you dislike it’s time to pour some crazy on it. Ted Cruz was recently guilty of this when he wanted Chuck Hagel, nominated to be Secretary of Defense, to prove he hadn’t donated money to an organization named “Friends of Hamas”. The first issue is proving a negative. Prove you haven’t picked a book off a shelf, etc.today. The second issue: “Friends of Hamas” doesn’t exist. There’s no such organization…officially. And now you start thinking: Well what if there is a secret organization tha—STAHP. Just stop right there. Powers of the Universe: COMBINE in form of Critical Thinking Skills…in shape of Common Sense. There was no group. Brennan didn’t donate money to the non-group. It’s not a conspiracy to cover up anything, unless you think the conspiracy is covering up Ted Cruz’s ability to do something rationally productive.

The only thing we manufacture here are crises.

“Crises are our business and business is good” should become the unofficial motto of Washington, D.C. There are other organizations, governments, NGOs, etc. that use the similar methods. However, if you have a sizable portion of responsibility, and then use that to act capricious, destructive, and then manipulative in regard to proving that you’re needed, then you’re an abusive significant other. Not Congress. The debt ceiling fiasco, fiscal cliff, and sequestration started with the Tea Party garnering enough support based on the ineffectiveness of government. Once in power, Senators like Rand Paul and Representatives like Michele Bachmann, did not seek to improve the quality of government through any review or process analysis. They sought entirely to use the grassroots movement (still debated based on the Koch Brothers involvement) to bash government and essentially operate as obstructionists. Elected officials and those who support them in Tea Party have been widely labeled as the “American Taliban”, but it’s not their Christianity they evangelize as gospel. It’s the good news of specific parts of the Constitution that are their religion. Selective reasoning has pushed them into focusing on the Second Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, and other philosophical teachings based in the notion that they have edge on what the Founding Fathers really meant. The intention of the Founding Fathers was that we didn’t have be beholden to the intention of the Founding Fathers. There was absolutely no reason for Congress to let itself be obstructed by ne’er-do-wells identifying themselves as purists. The Tea Party isn’t the American Tea Party—they’re the American Hipster Party.

Oh great. The CEO is going to speak.