ThomStratton.com

I’m having difficulty finding anything to write about this week. This wouldn’t be so difficult if I hadn’t decided to cut back on political commentary. No one cares what I think, and those who do already know. Yes, I admit I’m itching to mock a recent New York Times article about what the Democratic Party can do to win over white male voters (Why would they even want us? We’re the root of all evil! Unless, of course, we become a Democratic president, then we can do no wrong). But I’m tired of the negativity, and if I don’t want to read it, I shouldn’t write it, either.

But I don’t feel like regaling you with the boring details of my life, either. Who cares that I watched “Dragonheart” for the first time last night? Who with kids is at all surprised that sometimes they misbehave, some times they’re amazing, and most of the time they’re good kids. I’m not seeing much positive to say about pop culture these days, either. I didn’t watch The Academy Awards. I really don’t care which of all the movies I didn’t watch won the approval of the navel-gazers. I learned a long time ago that Hollywood and I have very different ideas about what makes a movie great.

I haven’t finished any books lately, either, so no reviews to write. Yes, there are some books I read that I haven’t reviewed yet, but I tend to want to take the Thumper approach with my reviews: If I don’t like a book, or have a hard time discussing it without bringing up a bunch of negative points I’d rather not say anything. I’m starting to move in (the far outskirts of) writers circles, and it’s not inconceivable that I’ll meet some of the people I review. I’d rather not go on the record at all than be on the record as panning their work, especially when it’s just because the genre/subject/approach just doesn’t appeal to me personally.

It’s a little too late in some cases to have made this decision, I realize. I’m a little nervous about one day running into Stephanie Meyer. I’ve not been kind to Twilight, although I have no authority to speak to it at all. Twilight was not written for me, that’s all. It was very successful at connecting with those for whom it was written. To repeatedly target it for that is…well, from a writer, likely sour grapes. I’ve got nothing against Stephanie Meyer. She got it right, and she got it right in a big, completely unpredictable way. Good for her. We can debate about the messages she sent and the influence she’s gained, certainly, but really, where does it say she had to use her talents for some narrowly-defined “good”? She is writing entertainment, and that covers a very broad territory. To debate about what she should have done is rather pointless. Someone else is already doing that, guaranteed. And others are doing exactly the opposite, and much more dangerously, guaranteed. To hold someone else to my own standard is pointless, and only invites others to hold me to theirs.

So I’ll leave Stephanie Meyer alone, and I’ll not review a book that I can’t be positive about. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever say anything negative about a book. But if I review it, it’s because I saw the positives as much more prevalent than the negatives.

But I’m still at least a week away from finishing my latest audio book (and it’s a good one, if you’re me), probably months away from finishing “The Way of Kings” at my present rate, and at least a few more days away from finishing the latest book I’m reading to my family. Nothing to review for awhile.

I’m also up to my eyeballs in to-do list. I’ve been behind on things for the better part of a month or more, so that’s not entirely conducive to blog posting, either. It’s hard to convince myself to go spend some time writing today’s latest inanities when I’ve got responsibilities staring me in the face. I still haven’t edited and sent out all the family pictures I took at Thanksgiving! At this rate half the kids won’t be recognizable by the time I get this done.

So anyway, if you get posts this week consider yourself fortunate–or unfortunate, depending on your point of view, but if you’re coming here intending to hate my stuff, well…why are you coming here? You’re a masochist, and you deserve what you don’t get. We’ll see what we can do, but I’m just not very interesting this week. Sorry about that, chief!

I’ve got nothing today. So in lieu of content, here’s a picture of a rodent in a food-bearing plant.

You’re welcome!

Sorry, but I’m going to have to end the week with a “Video Cop-Out (TM)”. Today’s VCO is brought to you by the Letter ‘M’.

First up: Mr. Mister!

And then: Mike + The Mechanics

No, these weren’t random, and no ‘M’ theme was intended. Just a few things on my mind lately.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s statement on her veto of Arizona’s Senate Bill 1062 is interesting, as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does say:

Good evening and thank you all for joining me here this evening.

I’m here to announce a decision on Senate Bill 1062. As with every proposal  that reached my desk I give great concern and careful evaluation and deliberate  consideration, especially to Senate Bill 1062.

I call them like I seem them despite the cheers or the boos from the crowd. I  took the necessary time to make the right decision.

I met and spoke with my attorneys, lawmakers and citizens supporting and  opposing this legislation.

As governor I have asked questions, and I have listened. I have protected  religious freedoms where there is a specific and present concern that exists in  our state, and I have the record to prove it.

My agenda is to sign into law legislation that advances Arizona. When I  addressed the Legislature earlier this year, I made my priorities for this  session abundantly clear. Among them are passing a responsible budget that  continues Arizona’s economic comeback. From CEOs, to entrepreneurs, to business  surveys, Arizona ranks as one of the best states to grow or start a  business.

Additionally, our immediate challenge is fixing a broken child protection  system. Instead, this is the first policy bill to cross my desk.

Senate Bill 1062 does not address a specific or present concern related to  religious liberty in Arizona.

I have not heard one example in Arizona where a business owner’s religious  liberty has been violated. The bill is broadly worded and could result in  unintended and negative consequences. After weighing all of the arguments, I  have vetoed Senate Bill 1062 moments ago.

To the supporters of this legislation, I want you to know that I understand  that long-held norms about marriage and family are being challenged as never  before. Our society is undergoing many dramatic changes, however, I sincerely  believe that Senate Bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it  purports to solve. It could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine and  nobody could ever want.

Religious liberty is a core American and Arizona value. So is  non-discrimination. Going forward, let’s turn the ugliness of the debate over  Senate Bill 1062 into a renewed search for greater respect and understanding  among all Arizona and Americans.

Considering the lack of gloating on my Facebook feed from the usual suspects over the veto, I can’t help but wonder if they see something there, either in what was said or what was missing, that has dampened their enthusiasm.

Last night our cub scouts den meeting ended a little early. Since we were already in the garage making birdhouses, I figured we could play some basketball until the parents arrived to pick up the boys. I did surprisingly well. I thought I’d share some of my secrets to becoming the neighborhood basketball star:

1. If you must practice, do so on a little “cubicle toys” hoop that hangs over a door inside your house. That way a real hoop will seem huge–practically too huge to miss!
2. Use an adjustable backboard. Set the basket height to around 7 foot.
3. Play against nine year old boys. Press your height advantage for all it’s worth.
4. Play in the near-dark. This may not work for everyone, but even with the outdoor lights on it was pretty hard to see the rim. Oddly enough, I seem to have an easier time making baskets when I can’t see.
5. Play against nine year old boys who don’t like to pass the ball.

And there you have it. Just follow these simple tips and you too can astound and amaze!

Speaking of astounding and amazing, you should have seen the look on the face of one of my scouts when, after demonstrating how to drill a pilot hole, I handed him the drill and told him to do the next ones. He clearly thought I wasn’t going to trust them with a power drill, because his whole face lit up. I had to help him a little–it’s a heavy drill–but he did just fine. Boys that age can be fairly wild, but so far all the boys we’ve taught seem to have a healthy respect for power tools. And clearly, they’re not expecting adults to recognize that.

There are times when I definitely enjoy being a den leader.

If there’s one thing American’s love it’s getting up a full head of outrage. You know the real reason why Facebook won’t give us a “Dislike” button? Because what we really want won’t fit on a button: Click here to hate this to the point of aneurism! To merely “dislike” something would probably cause an outbreak of moderation that could be fatal to most Americans.

Of course what usually accompanies our outrage over those idiotic, close-minded fools would couldn’t see the light if we staked them out in the desert with their eyelids taped open (but we’d like to try, nonetheless) is intense myopia about our own inconsistencies, hypocrisies, and cognitive dissonance. I’m enlightened. You’re anti-science.

But are you? Am I?

I recently came across an interesting article by Michael Schulson that pokes a few holes in the conventional wisdom and the open-minded fairness of, well, everyone:

Still: a significant portion of what Whole Foods sells is based on simple pseudoscience. And sometimes that can spill over into outright anti-science (think What Doctors Don’t Tell You, or Whole Foods’ overblown GMO campaign, which could merit its own article). If scientific accuracy in the public sphere is your jam, is there really that much of a difference between Creation Museum founder Ken Ham, who seems to have made a career marketing pseudoscience about the origins of the world, and John Mackey, a founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, who seems to have made a career, in part, out of marketing pseudoscience about health?

Well, no—there isn’t really much difference, if the promulgation of pseudoscience in the public sphere is, strictly speaking, the only issue at play. By the total lack of outrage over Whole Foods’ existence, and by the total saturation of outrage over the Creation Museum, it’s clear that strict scientific accuracy in the public sphere isn’t quite as important to many of us as we might believe. Just ask all those scientists in the aisles of my local Whole Foods.

Read the whole thing. None of us are nearly so smart as we think we are. We all have areas where we take things on faith. We cherry-pick our information to only pay attention to information that seems to validate our beliefs and ignore contrary information. It’s human nature, and we’re not likely to change, especially in the Information Age where we have far too much data and pseud0-data at our fingertips to ever consume. We have to filter our data intake as a means of survival.

But in acknowledging that perhaps we should try harder to remain calm and avoid rage. Everyone is doing the best they know how with the time that they have. We all live by faith to some degree. Perhaps we should cut one another some slack.

Okay, after last week’s semi-downer attitude, I want to get this week off to a better start. So, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to open it up to audience input here. Leave me a comment below with a favorite inspirational or positive quote, a link to something that makes you smile or inspires you, whatever. Show me something you feel makes you a better person, or at least in a better mood, for having seen it. Ready, go!

Fair’s fair. Here’s mine:

Not necessarily inspiration, but it makes me smile. I love the repeating blunderbuss!

Okay, this one is almost inspirational:

In spite of my best efforts this has been a lousy week in many ways. I didn’t sleep very well for much of the week, and it seems like my Facebook feed has been personalized for my irritation. “You find these kinds of posts annoying? Here’s some more you won’t like!” But to be honest, I suspect that there is a much simpler explanation for my frustrations.

Last week I got to spend three days in a fun world, full of giving and receiving of knowledge and friendship. I got to be…well, not someone else, because that really is part of who I am. But I got to indulge that part of myself that I really like being. For three days I really liked being me, really liked the life I was living. I could believe that I’m not that different from all those other published authors I got to hob-nob with.

But it didn’t last.

Eventually I had to go back to the real world. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of good things in the real world. But the not-so-good things were waiting for me, too. Oh, the rush of last week still lingered. Facebook conversations with some of the people I met kept some it going for awhile. But eventually we all wandered back to our lives, and all that was left was my usual life, my usual Facebook feed. There are unpleasant things on both, waiting to smack me around and torment me for ever thinking life could be different. “Oh, you think you can just go be a writer and life will be cool? Well guess what, buddy! We’re going to wiz in your Wheaties–because we can!”

The world didn’t change. I did. Or tried to. I kinda forgot that I still need to keep up certain defenses. I got banged up a few times, and lashed out a little before I remembered the world was just doing what it always does, and I shouldn’t have left the window open.

My apologies to those who were caught off guard by “evil Thom”. The transporter has been fixed now, and my two halves have been re-integrated. Kirk is back at the Conn, and the landing party is being rescued.

Racism, sexism, and lots of other -isms do exist. But it’s increasingly difficult to take it seriously when so many of the self-appointed -Ism Police are acting more like paranoid schizophrenics, seeing it EVERYWHERE, in EVERYTHING, and WE’RE ALL GONNA DIEEEEEEE! Don’t believe me?

Try this test.

A Beethoven symphony?! I was certain it was a trick question–they all had to be real. The one fake is surprising only in that no one has raised that complaint already. Next these people will be objecting to lawns–a sea of phallic symbolism tied to images of violent pagan ritualism by the voluntary use of green!

These people are trying to guilt or pound us into submission, and if necessary they’ll use total idiocy to win through attrition. You just can’t fight stupid! By trying to apply the label to an increasingly broad and questionable array of circumstances they’re only making it more difficult to take any of it seriously. It’s an erosion of credibility through sincere, inadvertant self-parody. This can only harm those with legitimate claims, if for no other reason than it sucks up the resources that might have gone toward fighting the real ‘isms” out there.

These people need to be stopped, but the people who supposedly most care are at best doing nothing to rein in their own, and at worst enabling or even encouraging such damaging behavior.

In the mean time, we all have to put up with these inanities. I’m growing increasingly convinced that the only response to these people is a condescending smile, a pat on the head, and saying, “You’re just so CUTE!” Anything more than that sucks up time and resources that could be spent in better ways.