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wirewitchviolet · 1 year ago

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"They Don't Teach Kids About Computers These Days!"

I see variations on this a LOT these days. Sometimes it's people in their teens/early 20s being frustrated at how they're expected to know everything about computers, sometimes it's college professors straight up HORRIFIED when they realize they have students who don't have any understanding that their hard drive, a school's internal network, and on a public website are completely distinct places for a file to be located, and I kinda figure the weird stress a lot of people seem to have about the concept of getting a game and not having it just go into their Steam library specifically is a related issue.

Now on the one hand, obviously, I sympathize with this. I have a series of posts on this blog called How A Computer Works, because... I want to teach people about this stuff. (That's still ongoing by the way, I've just got a lot else going on and need to settle on the scope of the next lesson.) On the other hand, uh... I'm from the generation before the one that apparently has all the computer literacy problems, and nobody taught us this stuff in school... and the next generation up wouldn't possibly have had access. So was anyone taught how to use them?

Now I say "they didn't teach my generation how to use computers in school" but that isn't technically true. I see a lot of people call people my age "the Oregon Trail generation" when this topic comes up. Sort of on the edge of Gen X and Millennials, going through school in that window where Apple had really really pushed the Apple ][ on schools with big discounts. And they did have "computer classes" to learn how to do some things on those, but... that isn't really a transferable or relevant skill set.

Like, yeah, if you're below the age of let's say 30 or so as of when I'm writing this, the idea of what "a computer" is has been pretty stable for your whole life. You've got some sort of tower case, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and in that tower there's a bunch of RAM, a processor, video and sound cards of some sort, and a big ol' hard drive, and it's running Windows, MacOS, or some flavor of Unix going for the same basic look and functionality of those. It's generally assumed (more than it should be, some of us our poor) that a given person is going to have one in their home, any school is going to have a whole room full of them, libraries will have some too, and they are generally a part of your life. We can probably make the same sort of general assumption about IPhone/Android cellphones for the past what, 15 years or so too, while we're at it. They're ubiquitous enough that, especially in academic circles where they're kind of required professionally, people are going to assume you know them inside and out.

Prior to the mid-90s though? It was kind of a lawless frontier. Let's say you have a real young cool teacher who got way into computers at like 5 years old, and now they're 25 and they're your computer class teacher in the mid-90s. The computer they got way into as a kid? It would have been this.

That's not a component of it, that's the whole thing. A bank of switches for directly inputting binary values into memory addresses and some more switches for opcodes basically, and then some LEDs as your only output. Nothing about this is other than the benefits of fundamentally understanding some low level stuff is going to be useful at all in any sort of practical sense if you sit down a decade later with one of these.

This at least looks a bit more like a computer you'd see today, but to be clear, this has no mouse, no way to connect to the internet, which wasn't really a thing yet to begin with, and no hard drive, even. You did not install things on an Apple ][. You had every program on a big ol' floppy disk (the sort that were just a circle of magnetic film in a thick paper envelope basically and were, in fact, floppy), you would shove that in the disk drive before turning the machine on, it'd make a horrible stuttering knocking sound resetting the drive head, and just read whatever was on that right into memory and jump right on in to running Oregon Trail or a non-wysiwyg text editor (i.e. there's no making bold text appear on screen, you'd just have a big ugly tag on either side of your [BOLD>bold text<BOLD] like that). It was not unlike popping a cartridge or disc into an older video game console, except for the bit where if you wanted to save something you'd have to take the disk out while it was running and pop a blank one into the drive to save to.

So when I was a kid and I'd have my "computer class" it'd be walking into a room, sitting down with one of these, and having a teacher just as new to it as I was just reading out a list of instructions off a sheet like, "flip open the lock on the disk drive, take the disk out of the sleeve, make sure it says Logo Writer on it, slide it in with the label up and facing you, flip the lock back down, hit the power switch in the back of the machine..." We didn't learn anything about file management beyond "don't touch anything until the screen says it's done saving to the disk" because again, no hard drives. I guess there was a typing class? That's something, but really there's nothing to learn about typing that isn't where every key is and you only (but inevitably) learn that through practice.

Now, overlapping with this, I eventually got myself a used computer in the early 90s, very old at the time, but not as old as the ones at school. I had a proper black and white OG Mac. With a hard drive and a window-based operating system and everything. And... nobody taught me a damn thing about how that one worked. My mother just straight up did not touch a computer until something like 2001. I didn't really have any techie mentors. I just plugged it in and messed around and worked everything out. Same way I worked out what I was doing with older computers, mostly on my own at the local library, because that computer class wasn't much, and how I was totally left on my own to work out how to hook up every console I ever owned, which was slightly more involved at the time.

That forky bit in the middle was held in place with a pair of phillips headscrews. Had to keep the VCR and cable box in the right daisy chain order too.

Enough rambling about how old I am though. What's the actual disconnect here? How did my generation work out everything about computers without help but the next one down allegedly goes dear in the headlights if someone asks them to send them a file?

Well first off I'm not at all willing to believe this isn't at least largely a sampling bias issue. Teachers see all the clueless kids, people asking online for help with things is more common than people spontaneously mentioning how everything is second-nature to them, etc. Two things stick out to me though as potential sources of the issue though:

First, holy crap are modern computers ever frail, sickly little things! I'm not even talking about unreliable hardware, but yeah, there's some shoddy builds out there. I mean there's so many software dependencies and auto-updating system files and stuff that looks for specific files in one and only one location, just crashing if they aren't there. Right now on this Windows 10 machine I've got this little outdoor temperature tracker down in the task bar which will frequently start rapidly fluttering between normal and a 50% offset every frame, and the whole bar becomes unresponsive, until I open the task manager (don't even have to do anything, just open it). No clue what's up with that. It was some system update. It also tries to serve me ads. Don't know if it's load-bearing. Roughly every other day I have to force-quit Steam webhelper. Not really sure what that's even for. Loading user reviews? Part of me wants to dig in and yank out all this buggy bloatware, but I genuinely don't know what files are loadbearing. This wasn't an issue on older computers. Again, screwing around with an old Apple ][, and old consoles and such, there wasn't anything I could really break experimenting around. It was all firmware ROM chips, RAM that cleared on power cycling, and disks which were mostly copy-protected or contained my own stuff. No way to cause any problem not fixed by power cycling.

Next, everything runs pretty smoothly and seemlessly these days (when working properly anyway). Files autosave every few seconds, never asking you where you actually want to save them to, things quietly connect to the internet in the background, accessing servers, harvesting your info. Resolutions change on their own. Hell emulators of older systems load themselves up when needed without asking. There's a bunch of stuff that used to be really involved that's basically invisible today. The joke about this being "a 3D print of the save icon" already doesn't work because how often do you even see a UI element for saving? When we still used disks regularly, they held next to nothing and would take like half a minute to read and write.

And don't even get me started on launchers and start menus and all that.

So... basically what I'm getting at here is if you feel like you never learned how to properly use a computer, go get your hands on an old computer and mess around. There's yard sales, there's nice safe runs in a browser emulators, hell there's kits to build your own. That or just look for someone wearing like a Mega Man T-shirt or playing a Madonna CD (hell maybe just any CD these days) and start politely asking questions, because again just because everyone who knows this stuff just had to work it out on our own doesn't mean you should have to.

#computers #education #technology used to move fast #yes i used to have a tv like that and it took two people to move if you ever needed to get back behind it or you'd just climb over the top

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blackjackkent · 10 months ago

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Writing Interview Tag Game

I was tagged by @ra-scheln - thank you! :D

When did you start writing?

A looooooong time ago. Haha. As a kid there was a several year period where I thought I wanted to be an author as a career, and always liked writing even after I moved on to other plans. The stuff I wrote as a kid is mostly lost to time, although I do still have the Google doc of a “novel” I wrote for my senior English project in high school. I haven't had the courage to look at it for a long time because it is uh. Not Good. :P (No judgment on my past self - we become better through trying and learning. But it would probably be unrecognizable compared to my writing now.)

Are there different themes or genres that you enjoy reading than what you write?

Sort of? I like reading scifi and fantasy and the majority of my writing has also been in those genres. But I also like reading things like regency romance, historical fiction, very specific types of horror, etc. that I have no real interest in trying to replicate.

Can you tell me about your writing space?

Sometimes I write on my phone flopped on the couch - that's how I'm writing my answers to these questions in fact! I'm a pretty fast phone typist but it's still a slower process, though, so when I really want to buckle down I usually go to my desktop computer which is in the office. Right now it's a big wooden corner desk but I'd like to replace it with a couple of smaller ones that are more easy to maneuver and put cool rgb lights on for the Gamer Aesthetic. XD

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Lately as I've been trying to write more consistently, I've been having a lot of luck with this web app called 4thewords.com. It's a bit of gamification but the main thing I like about it is you pick an amount of time and a word goal and it sets a timer for you and it has proved REALLY effective for forcing me to just get words down on paper. The first draft is the hardest for me by far and it's been often really useful for getting over that hump. So lately I'll set myself up for 500-1000 words or so per day of “battles” and that gets me the forward momentum that I'm trying to maintain.

That said, I'm also trying to be better about not forcing myself to write when it's just not coming at all. I don't want to burn myself out.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing?

I am sure the answer is yes but it's hard for me to distinctly identify them. (I'd be interested in hearing reader answers to this question.)

Off the top of my head, though - missing scenes, mutual pining, struggles with emotional control. I think one major thing is that, as someone who missed my prime dating years due to the Big Sad, a lot of my characters do have an underlying thread of finding love/fulfillment/connection despite obstacles, later in life, or when they feel they don't deserve it or don't know how to do it.

What is your reason for writing?

The same reason I was almost an actor, the same reason I like making people laugh on my stream. Hell, even the same reason I like programming and making software that improves someone's day.

I like making people feel things. I like seeing their reaction to something I've done and hearing that it evoked something in them. This is the most fundamental human connection in my opinion.

Is there any kind of specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Honestly, any time someone takes time out of their day to leave any type of comment at all, it's guaranteed to make my whole week. But in keeping with my previous answer - my favorite comments are ones where I get to hear about how I affected the reader's emotions, or where they mention particular parts that really struck them. Those always make me really happy. c:

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Interesting question. I think… as someone who is good with character voices and keeps tight hold of the fundamental core of the characters even when putting them in different situations. Someone who can manage both angst and humor well. Once again, I'd like people to look forward to what I write because they know it's gonna make them feel something that they enjoy.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Character voices and dialogue. I've been told I've been very good at catching the cadence of different characters, and some of my favorite things to write have been just bouncing those voices off each other and seeing what happens. I think this is really the pillar on which all the rest of my work is able to stand bc the characters feeling like themselves makes the rest have more impact.

How do you feel about your own writing?

This really depends on when you catch me, haha. Some days I'm really proud of it, and some days I have a hard time seeing anything good in it. Currently in a bit of a trough of overthinking it, but I’m lucky to have a couple readers who are v supportive which helps. <3 Overall though I think I do a good job and have some interesting stories out there and in my to-do list. (I also tend to way over-compare myself to other people in the fandom; there are so many incredible writers around here that it's hard to put myself next to them.)

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

A mix of both, I suppose? Certainly in picking what I want to write about I am thinking primarily about what I would find fun to write and not about what has a “market” in the fandom per se. But I also am lucky enough to have found other people who do enjoy the same characters as I do and enjoy my take on them, and in that sense I am definitely often more excited about a particular idea because I know one or more of my friends would be excited to read it. :D So both things are definitely a factor.

-----

Tagging: @writer86 @rhysintherain @bardic-inspo @thedarkstrategist (and anyone else who wants to do this honestly)

#bjk talks #tag meme #ra-scheln #thanks for the tag! :D

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nursingwriter · 3 months ago

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¶ … Wishing to Pursue Graduate Study Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health was asked in an interview if he knew at a young age what he wanted to do or if it was an idea that evolved over time. He replied: "You can…grow into what you want to do…grow into your aspirations." I took that to mean that personal experiences can open our eyes to possibilities and that small successes can focus our attention on goals that once seemed too lofty. I have learned the importance of taking one step at a time and striving to excel in every stage before reaching for the next level. Like a rock climber, I have also learned to visualize my next handhold -- and picture myself achieving that goal even as I reach for it. Despite some difficult life circumstances, I have been graced by my origins and my experiences as an immigrant. I learned the importance of cultural tolerance and the universality of meeting people's most basic needs for care, compassion, and respect. I have learned to practice the brand of patience that comes from not having the resources to make change happen immediately. I know the value of hard work first hand. I held full-time jobs during my BSN program; before that I worked two jobs to support my family members in two countries. And now, because of the earthquake, I understand what it means to start anew -- to pick up where you left off. I think that I offer the best sort of investment a college can make: A student who has proven to be hardworking and goal-focused; and a professional who will make manifold community contributions. Caring for other people is my life's work and I wish to take it to a higher level by further developing my skills and increasing my knowledge. Part 2: My interests, the kind of work I would like to do in my intended field I love nursing and believe myself to be a good nurse. Because of my extended family and my own children, I have an interest in family nursing. My experiences in nursing extend across a wide range from Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to registered Nurse (RN). Learning to provide nursing services at different levels of responsibility coupled with my ongoing pursuit of more nursing training and education, has over the years, helped me develop strong interpersonal skills and management skills. I used a quotation from Dr. Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners in Health, to introduce my essay because it exemplifies my interest in world health organizations. When I have a bit of leisure time -- which is a rare event in my busy life -- I go online and browse the Internet to see what is happening in various world health organizations across the globe. Happily, I am often surprised by the sophisticated approach that small non-governmental organization (NGOs) employ to provide health services to many of the globe's poorest people. These model programs actually use methods and strategies that work in more developed countries as well. For example, I read in The New York Times magazine that in the delta region of Mississippi, a program is being tested that uses community health workers to go door to door visiting people who need health care services in their homes. While this is not a novel idea, it is not a common practice -- at least not in the United States. Versions of community health workers have been active from Africa to China to Mexico. The groundbreaking work with community health care workers conducted by Partners in Health over the past two decades has informed the medical community about the barriers to accessing necessary health care. These barriers include discrimination, lack of information, social stigma, time constraints, and transportation costs. An important learning that has come from the community health worker models, in the Mississippi delta and across the globe, is the importance of a personal connection between the community health workers and the patients who receive care. In the Mississippi delta, a common issue is the fundamental trust that takes its place when people are "of" the same place. The comment "You're not from around here, are you?" is posed as a question, but it is an unequivocal observation. Dr. Shirley recognized that hospitals and clinics need a person who is trained to figure out exactly what will help a patient get better, and that person must -- absolutely must -- come from that patient's world. The patient and the community health worker must talk the same language, recognize a similar history, share the same frustrations, and be haunted by the same fears. These are the connections that make the difference between being effective and being superfluous. Throughout the world, the importance of being from a place -- being familiar with the customs and fears and hopes of people -- can help medical personnel make a meaningful connection with the people who seek care. Doubtless, my interest in serving the people of Haiti stems from my deep awareness that my heritage is a strength that I can use to leverage trust and cooperation -- indeed, fidelity to treatment interventions and a willingness to consider scientific options -- from the Haitian people. My brief detour into the community health model serves two purposes: to explain how it is that I have chosen a practice path, and to assert the importance of advancing my education to my goals -- and to those I hope to serve. As my exposure to models using community health worker has grown, so too has my understanding of the importance of knowledge that expands the boundaries of conventional medical and health care. Studying a problem, sharing insights, pushing ideas into action -- all of these are important aspects of a university education and the subsequent application of that learning to the demands of practice. I know first hand the importance of personal connection in health care. My belief is that if personal connection is important in countries that have access to many resources and the best medical research available, how much more important must personal connection be for those who live in underdeveloped countries -- where medical care of any type is hard won. Healthcare is as much an art as it is a science. Medical research continually publishes information about the soft aspects of medical practice. We know, for instance, that having close social networks is associated with longevity and health. We know that laughter and joy change our blood pressure and reduce our pain. These elements of nursing fascinate me and cause me to identify with the type of nursing that embraces familiarity, empathy, and an engrossing commitment to care. Jean Watson's theories of nursing hold that caring can only be practiced and effectively demonstrated on an interpersonal level. Watson argued that nursing is complementary to the science of curing and the human needs that are satisficed through caring as it is expressed through nursing, are separate from those human needs that are based in physiology. Yet, as we know from studies about the mind-body connection, these needs are not so very separate, nor are these needs addressed only in ways that are disparate. I have internalized the theories of Jean Watson, not because they are empirically sound and stem from seminal work in nursing, but because they resonate with my own nature -- as a person, and now as a nurse. My belief is strong that it is critical to accept a person when you are caring for them, as they will become, not as they are in their weakened or sickened condition. Also, Watson's theories center on a fundamental belief in the fight of a patient to choose what kind of care or type of action is right for them at any given time. Watson argues that it is up to nurses to create the sort of caring environment that fosters dignity and independence in managing one's own health care needs. Jean Watson's theories are fundamental to my practice of nursing, and her framework fits well with the care configurations and cultural concerns in the locations where I hope to provide nursing care. After the earthquake I went back to Haiti and saw people dying because of the lack of care, compassion, and resources. The shortage of medical doctors and nurse practitioners reached extraordinarily high rates after the earthquake. No fundamental health care system was in place and health insurance was non-existent. The Haitian people had to pay out of pocket for any care they needed -- they had to buy your own supplies and no one seemed to care. That observation was the most difficult for me, and it completely catapulted me back to college -- I decided to go back to school get my BSN. Still, a BSN degree is insufficient to support my objective of serving the people of Haiti. To provide that service, I need to earn a FNP degree, so that I will be able to diagnose, to prescribe, and to help patients holistically. Of course, it is a large ambition to want to help straightening the health system in Haiti. It is the sort of goal that is only achieved through little steps -- and through efforts to teach the next generation. With no small measure of tenacity, I have pursued certification and degrees that have enabled me to meet the care needs of people in various situations in the U.S. But I have not yet achieved the level of preparation that will help me serve the care and cure needs of people in Haiti. Earning an MSN degree with a specialty in the family nurse practitioner (FNP) track would enable me to acquire the academic knowledge and the clinical skills to bring cutting-edge science and health care to patients in Haiti. My goal after completion of the graduate degree is help manage common acute and chronic illnesses, and promote healthy lifestyles and disease prevention in Haiti. Earning an MSN degree will also put me in good stead to engage in ongoing nursing knowledge development to guide practice in Haiti at a time when there is a shortage of nurse practitioners and medical doctors. Perhaps I can engage in the support of the community health worker programs in Haiti. I would like to give back, the same way my nursing instructors helped me and support me during my educational processes. I hope to teach nursing courses, and help minority and disadvantaged nursing students. Perhaps my bred-in-the-bone understanding of the circumstances of living in Haiti will enable me to be a more effective nurse. I fully appreciate that I am poised on a cusp in my quest for deeper knowledge about nursing and my desire to apply my skills in places where conditions are poignant -- and are such a good fit to my ambition and my stewardship. https://www.paperdue.com/customer/paper/wishing-to-pursue-graduate-study-dr-paul-103984#:~:text=Logout-,WishingtoPursueGraduateStudyDrPaul,-Length4pages Read the full article

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pengtheplush · 5 months ago

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I kind of always thought the special ingredients in the vat mud was the recycled remains of previous orcs along with some necromancy. So, there's a chance at them being remolded/reincarnated but they only retain some of the fundamental knowledge from their past lives (depends on how skilled the necromancer is and what's left of their gray matter).

It would certainly explain a lot:

how they immediately know how to stand and walk, much less be spent off to do hard physical labor or march off to war in a matter of days

why Sauron is known as THE Necromancer (implicitly there's other individuals with similar powers)

a lotta orcs certainly look like they've been frankenstein-ed together with all sorts of mismatched and misshapen parts

why the mud looks so dark, and shall we say 'organic'?

If a fallen orc was left to rot like nature intended then perhaps it could cleanse them enough to pass on into the Halls of Mandos. Imagine having lived and died as an orc only to arrive at the Halls of Mandos unblemished and unburdened (looking elf-like but far wilder and liberated at long last). The rest of the residence in Mandos' Hall would've already learned to live and let live, but I imagine the orcs stick to themselves after all they've been through. Heck they probably came up with a post-mortem rehabilitation program for newcomers.

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triviallytrue · 2 years ago

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idk if this is answerable without self-doxxing but what kind of programming are you doing at your job?

also bonus question if you feel like answering: what does a programming job, like, look like? from the perspective of someone like me who has only written really tiny things for practice, things that are like, you know, a few dozen lines or whatever, it's hard to imagine. is there just this massive database of code and they're like "ok you're allowed to modify these parts, uh, implement this feature by next month"? is it like collaboratively editing a google doc? idk. I assume you're working on, you know, some kind of app or website or database or other kind of thing. where there's a fuckton of people and a fuckton of code. how do you keep it straight? etc.

Max asked this a while ago - I have a bit of a better handle on my job now. I'm a newish hire at a large tech company, and I could be loosely termed a "back-end software engineer."

So let's talk about it! When I was an undergrad I had a lot of questions of this type and no real sense of what my future job would look like, so I'm writing with the audience of my former self in mind here.

The fundamental unit of software development is the team. Large companies organize software developers into teams of 5-10 engineers (with the rare teams that are larger or smaller). My team has a set of goals, largely determined by my manager and my tech lead (the seniormost engineer on my team).

The software that my team is responsible for is organized into packages that my team "owns," meaning we are ultimately responsible for what goes into it. Before code anyone writes is merged into our packages and becomes production code, it goes through a process of code review, and since we "own" our packages, people on our team have to approve code that goes into them. Usually you only work on your team's packages, though if you have cross-team dependencies (and basically everyone does), you will occasionally write for another team and it gets approved by them.

Version control is done through git. I actually recommend everyone who works on large collaborative projects learn how to use git - I have, in the past, used git to manage a non-code project (writing math competition problems) in a way that was much more comfortable than other systems like google docs.

I'm not going to give an extensive explanation of git here, but the basic idea is that changes are organized into bundles called "commits," each of which has a one-sentence tagline you write to summarize your changes and also records that you are the author of said changes. There is a remote repository that stores all the production code, which you copy onto your local machine (your work laptop), you make edits on your work laptop, you commit your edits (and test them etc) and then make a code review/pull request/whatever you want to call it. If that is approved, the remote repository copies your changes, and those changes go into production.

There's a lot more to git than just that (branches! merging! rebasing! staging!) but that's good enough for a first glance.

Anyway, back to how we know what to do - my organization has priorities which are conveyed to my team primarily through my manager and tech lead. We then create projects to meet these priorities, which we break down into individual tasks. We then distribute these tasks among the developers on the team and track work using a sprint board, which is basically a list of what work is in progress, what its status is, and who is in charge of it. There are multiple approaches to project management - the most common (I think) is called Agile, whereas my team uses a different approach called Kanban.

There's a lot of other stuff that happens too - how we respond if there's a crisis of some sort, how we handle bugfixes on prior projects, etc. But this is software development at a glance. Happy to answer any followup questions (as long as they aren't too deanonymizing)

#coding

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onecornerface · 3 years ago

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why i hate economics

I find the whole topic of economics very frustrating. Here are some features which, cumulatively, lead me to feel gross about the whole thing:

1. It is extremely important! It is important for understanding the causes and solutions to poverty and the horrors which result from poverty. It is important for understanding what sorts of government or cultural programs are likely to succeed or fail in their aims. This means that getting correct answers is more high-stakes than most other topics. Without making progress in economics, it seems questionable whether we can make progress on many other issues.

2. In my own aspiring-scholarly work, discovering the causes & solutions to addiction, and the results of drug prohibition vs. legalization, requires a lot of knowledge about topics such as poverty, social programs, and black market vs. legal drug economics. There are many forms of analysis and activism in this domain which I cannot effectively pursue until after I learn a lot more economics

3. Can I skip the hard parts by deferring to the experts, as I can in many other domains? I’m not sure. It’s difficult to identify the proper experts or reliable expert consensus. The most obvious experts are economists. But it is hard for me to tell when there is a reliable consensus of economists on a given question. Both in general, and for any given issue, there are seemingly serious criticisms to the effect that the bulk of economists have fundamental flaws in their methods, guiding assumptions, or standards of comparison.

4. A lot of economics appears committed to dubious theories of human psychology and sociology. Some of this, I grant, is self-aware and deliberate use of simplified models, which I believe can be justified e.g. if it has predictive power within relevant parameters. Nevertheless, it still seems too unconnected to relevant fields of psychology and sociology. Also damningly (in my view), the bulk of mainstream economics seems to be largely out of touch with the perspectives and decision-making structures of both the domestic poor and the global poor. As such, its attempts to identify the causes and solutions of poverty are likely to be seriously flawed. Moreover, there seems to be decades of controversy over what kinds of dubious philosophical commitments most economists do or don’t have, and over whether these commitments are or aren't damning to their empirical reasoning. (To be clear, I suspect psychology and sociology are also suffering from similar problems.)

5. Although mainstream economists seem to be of questionable reliability, I do not know anyone else who *does* seem highly reliable on economics. There are heterodox economists and non-economists. I don’t see why I should think any non-economists are experts on this stuff at all. And as for heterodox economists, there appear to be a dozen different schools of them which promote a dozen different wildly contradictory theories. For all I know, they are all crackpots (as indeed many mainstream economists believe). Or, if some of them are *not* crackpots, I find myself powerless to figure out which ones I *should* listen to! Sure, it may well be possible to show that the mainstream neoclassical economists (or whoever) are crackpots. But then why should I believe that, say, the Marxian economists are any better?

6. The process of actually reading an economics article is usually extremely boring and difficult to understand. I am deeply pessimistic about my ability to make progress in understanding economics by doing this. Even if I can get good at understanding the papers, it will be hard to get good at fairly evaluating the arguments, given that I am a non-expert. I think I will need immensely more education in statistics, perhaps also decision & game theory, and various other fields, in order to do this properly. And even then, it is unclear at best whether I will eventually become smart enough to reliably judge and overrule the judgments of economists themselves. Only a few commentators on economics seem to be entertaining enough to sit through—but when they’re entertaining, then I tend to worry that I’m at risk of giving their arguments too much credit as a result of their mere rhetoric.

7. Moreover in general, I find economic arguments very difficult to evaluate. I always recognize that there’s a good chance that I’m reading something which either *is* bullshit, or which at least many very smart people *think* is bullshit, and that in general I cannot tell what is or isn’t bullshit. For most topics, after reading enough about it, I usually develop some degree of basic confidence in my own abilities to evaluate arguments and arrive at conclusions, even if these conclusions are extremely vague and provisional. But with economics, I have not yet developed even a minimal degree of confidence or competence, and I’m not optimistic about my prospects for doing so in the next few years.

8. When economists criticize one another, they seem to do it very uncharitably. They usually treat economists in other schools of thought as essentially being brainwashed into a commitment to egregious and obvious errors of basic facts. Some portion of these attacks seem to be strawman or weak-man arguments, but I am not sure how many. In any case, I rarely see economists grant that the members of other schools of thought could be reasonable people who made an understandable mistake. (I’m guessing there are exceptions, but I don’t know who they are.) The same goes for non-economists who disagree with each other on economics, as I will describe below.

9. Given the social circles that I’m in, and the types of scholarly and activist literature/discourse that I read, I tend to find myself associating with libertarians, left-liberals, and leftists. As I am using these terms, libertarians favor minimal-regulation capitalism, left-liberals favor highly regulated capitalism, and leftists favor abolishing capitalism. Some of this divide stems from their disagreements on empirical economics—e.g. what type of system will create the incentives and distribution system that will sustainably alleviate severe suffering, e.g. poverty, in the long run? Each group accuses the other two of making proposals that will over time collapse due to bad incentives. Most adherents of these positions seemingly do not think much common ground can be discovered, and many of them think almost any scholarship or activism which proceeds from a different position than their own must be bankrupt. It is also commonly assumed that the rival views are driven largely by wicked motives: libertarians by anti-poor bigotry & status-quo bias & corporate shilling, leftists by envy & reckless utopianism, and left-liberals by some combination of these. This all seems to imply that almost any scholarship or activism that I engage in risks either being bankrupt or being seen as bankrupt by other people who I admire. It also means that many people who I admire seem committed to viewing one another’s scholarship and activism as bankrupt.

The several factors above, individually and cumulatively, make economics a seriously unpleasant subject for me. I hate all of this very much.

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exmormondragon · 4 years ago

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It frustrates how much of myself is still wrapped up in the church. Not in thinking about it, but just in the actions I take and the thoughts I think in everyday life. I’ve seen most of the people here talking about it in regards to being watched, or about ‘sins’, or about how they feel about their body.

And I don’t think I feel that way? I don’t generally feel like I’m being watched, I don’t have the weight of past sins hanging over my head. I do struggle with wanting to alter my body, the idea of getting a tattoo or a piercing is hard even though I kind of want one. But I generally rationalize that as not wanting something permanent, and also I hate needles so much and fear pain.

So maybe that has nothing to do with church.

But the thing is, I’m only really starting to figure out what the church did to me. Maybe I do have a lot of those feelings and I just… don’t realize it. And I know that sounds silly, but so many other things that I really didn’t understand have started becoming clear to me too.

I suppose one way I’ve been different from a lot (though not everyone) of the people on here is that I was a True Believer down to my bones. I never had any outright physical abuse done to me, I enjoyed church, I only had the vaguest of feelings that something was wrong. Maybe I just fit well, maybe I was programmed well, I don’t know.

And it seems like a lot of folks on here just knew from a young age that something was wrong.

In the end, I still didn’t leave because of anything done to me. I left because I thought they just sort of vaguely didn’t approve of gay marriage, and I knew that was wrong. I left because my parents taught me to seek the truth, ironically enough, and I realized that there were better ways to find truth out there.

I still loved the church. Not just the people, but the doctrine, the attitudes, how it raised me. Even now, I’m not sure I have any regrets. I don’t think I’d be who I am today without the church.

But I also am not always sure which parts of myself need to change, and the teachings of the church are so fundamental and broad that I can’t just sit down and address every single thing one at a time and ask ‘does this make sense’. It’s going to take me a while, a LONG while, and I keep finding discrepancies where I wasn’t expecting them.

Like, for example, how I treat other people. I thought I was just doing what was best, showering others with praise, constantly helping, pushing others to lean on me even when they’re mostly strangers. People like me, and I make friends quickly.

But reading through Recovering Agency showed me that was something called Love Bombing. And sure, it’s a tool that can be used for good and bad. It’s not bad that it helps me make friends quickly. It’s not bad that it builds trust quickly.

But it’s also not sustainable, and it’s damaging to relationships in the long term. I met my boyfriend two years ago on a trip to Washington, and we were dating VERY quickly. We got ourselves engagement rings after only about four months, despite the fact that most of that time we were in a long distance relationship after I’d returned home. After six months, he moved across the country to live with me in the first apartment I’d ever rented.

And it was really rocky for a while. Honestly, if I hadn’t been raised in the church and taught to keep relationships at all costs, we may have split up. And it was only once I’d learned about all the manipulative, structured actions that I’d been taught (like Love Bombing) that we started to figure out healthy boundaries and settle into a better equilibrium.

On a similar note, and one that showed up more recently, the church’s opinion on porn. Even after two years, I still considered myself to have an addiction. I’d never really done any more research, but I figured it was self-evident: I couldn’t seem to stop, after all.

Though, funnily enough, when I left the church I managed to stay away from it for a solid six months. Only now am I realizing that that probably came from losing the shame that the church holds over your head.

Beginning my relationship with my boyfriend, and I mentioned it to him in the spirit of honesty. He told me that, he too had a porn addiction. We started to try and hold each other to not looking at it, and we both struggled immensely. It’s been a tough thing for both of us for these two years.

Only recently did I think to do a little more research. (Inspired by the Mormon Stories episode about the church’s twelve step program) And mostly, the research is inconclusive, but I got at least a little confirmation that it’s not inherently bad. Sharing this with my boyfriend, and I learn that he had never heard about porn addiction before I told him, and just assumed that he must have it too.

A little more research shows the real issue the church implanted in me, and that was the idea of reporting, of shame, of holding each other to a standard and feeling like we were falling apart when we couldn’t keep it. Of parenting each other instead of being two people in a relationship, working on ourselves individually.

Once we took that out, stopped reporting ‘mess-ups’ to each other… it got so much easier. Once we took away the stigma, it stopped hanging over our heads. Now, I find it easy to not worry about it, to live my life and partake in a healthy amount, instead of compulsively, guiltily.

The church teaches co-dependency, because it needs its members to be dependent, reliant on each other and on the church itself. It teaches monetary self-sufficiency, (sort of) but not emotional self-sufficiency.

And that’s the sort of things I was bringing into my life, into my relationships. And it just frustrates me, that I have to take the time and effort to dig every one of its claws out of my heart and actions and even then still not be sure I got them all.

Maybe that’s another one of the things the church left with me. The desire to be perfect, now.

I don’t know.

I wish I did.

#exmormon #exmo #rant #addiction #ex cult #leaving #emotional self-sufficiency #ship of theseus

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canmom · 4 years ago

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organising an art practice?

someone on a discord server asked me this question

I'm almost done with some examinations, which will give me time to work on myself artistically, and I've got about 50+ tutorials to help. I want to schedule my time properly for next year and really study these tutorials I've got. The thing is, it all feels overwhelming, and though I've selected a few to start with, I don't know what kind of scheduling to do. Like should it be like a school timetable? Or is there another kind of time scheduling I'm unaware of.

Could I get your thoughts on how to go about this?

Thanks!

my answer is so long that I decided to cut it here instead:

gosh, tough question, i've never designed a curriculum before!

what has worked for me is generally speaking to just throw myself into projects and when i'm finding something hard, e.g. how do i draw the muscles of the shoulder, i'll have a strong curiosity-driven motivation to look up references and learn about that thing. this means my knowledge tends to me kind of eclectic, but i really struggled with preset plans of study at university so for me the biggest thing is making sure i am motivated. so having a bunch of different projects so when I'm a little burned out on project A, I can put some time on project B is my way of wrangling the old ADHD. i find stephen zapata's framing of an 'art practice', like a set of habits around how you go about drawing, is a good angle on it.

i also think a project-based approach will train the more abstract, harder-to-teach skills, like coming up with ideas and working out the sort of subjects you personally like to draw; that passion is the foundation of whatever you ultimately end up saying with art. tutorials can be very limiting - I think it’s better to treat them as a kind of reference manual than a program of study.

that said, let's see. i think the thing about the overwhelmingness is like, there are so many different dimensions to art, and you get the impression you have to be able to do everything perfectly. you kind of get the impression that the really good artists can do everything, but that's not really true.

once, kim jung gi, who everyone tends to praise as like one of the absolute masters of classical draughtmanship, perspective, etc., tried to draw an anime girl from memory and it ended up looking very 80s-anime, rather than the modern, graphical style he wanted. that's not a failing, no question he could crack it if he wanted to - drawing anime just not relevant for the kind of art he likes to do. so the trick is to identify what's relevant to what you like doing. but it sounds like you've done that.

i’m sorry, this isn’t really very concrete, but I have never been able to keep a rigid schedule and my life is very chaotic. so for me the trick is to create a self-sustaining feedback loop that keeps me wanting to draw, whenever I happen to find the time. i think the danger of being too programmatic is burnout: you need art to be intrinsically fulfilling, not just an endless list of tasks to do. which is why i don’t personally go for the drawabox method, but i know that suits other people a lot better who really like doing exercises to hone the fundamentals.

the canmom way (don’t do this)

for my part, let me try and explain the path i've taken and maybe it will be useful for you (at least in a “don't do this” way :p )

the last year or two of trying to learn drawing seriously (instead of drawing only occasionally), i've tried a bunch of different things. when i started i believed i could make a one minute film, and started sketching some concepts and animatics, (see https://giant-head.tumblr.com/ ) but i soon realised my drawing was just not up to the task: i couldn't draw consistently or cleanly enough and my anatomy wasn't very good.

so then i started one huge project i've been working on for over a year now. it started as an attempt to teach anatomy by drawing a bunch of different angles, yet once again I tried to just, added more and more stuff I thought would be cool: extreme camera moves, character acting, action hair, explosions, fully coloured in an 80s anime style, almost all on 1s for about ten seconds of animation. i learned a lot from that project, it really improved my anatomy for example, but it definitely feels like it's outstayed its welcome by now! but i also think i had to get that out of my system, prove that i could do something without taking shortcuts. and I am proud of the result.

idk. this is just me lol. it's kind of why i feel sympathetic to cat [another user on the discord server], we both have that perfectionist impulse.

so what's a better way? for me it was really useful to find a structure where I could do short projects.

I joined the 'speed battles' server, and participated in a few of those, where you just animate for a couple of hours on a prompt and post it with some other people. the same goes for '-tober' style prompts, and especially the Animaitsuki challenge on the Sakuga Foundry server, and no doubt the monthly challenges here. (Animaitsuki is probably most useful if you want to work in anime since the Tonari guys critique it). also things like figure drawing sessions.

all of that helped me be less perfectionist. and it also means that like, I actually finish stuff: i have two or three hours and then i have to post it no matter what. i just try and fit those in as often as possible, I don't really have a schedule.

i've never really sat down and worked through tutorials, but what I have done is written tutorials, and I actually think that's more useful because it forces you to engage with the material more accurately. with the perspective series i drew a lot of very technical perspective exercises and like, really internalised all the rules of perspective, and also worked out how to organise it in my mind and make the theoretical connections that help it all 'click'. so i think, if you really want to make absolutely sure you learn something, try teaching it, and writing some notes or a tutorial. and i think it's also really helpful to like, just pick someone who's posting on here and offering them some constructive critique, maybe even a redline if they're willing, because that will develop your critical eye at the same time it's helping them.

i also spend a lot of time watching art youtube when i'm not able to draw, e.g. over meals. for this I mostly just follow the algorithm and click on videos about whatever i happen to be thinking about at the time. but i think that can be a double edged sword, there's a lot of conflicting or bad advice, but it can help give you concepts to anchor onto if you take it critically.

it sounds like you already know what videos you want, so I guess the tl;dr of this is don’t overthink it. whatever stands out at a glance, block out two or three hours and have a go at applying it. if you find you’re hampered by some other missing ‘element’, practice that. try not to get too attached to one project, but use the projects as reasons to look up references, resources and tutorials: e.g. if you’re drawing a shoulder, watch the shoulders video. that’s the only way that’s ever worked for me.

#introspective nightposting #drawing

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scripttorture · 5 years ago

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I'm curious whether you have thoughts/sources on deradicalization of torturers? My plot: A is pressured to get info out of B, and turns to torture because she thinks it works. She sorts through the lies and garbage she extracts and encounters more info about the other side of the war they're fighting, which causes her to start doubting her morals. B eventually convinces her to do a small thing to help him escape (secondary character, so that's the end of her arc). Sound reasonable?

(deradicalization anon) I've already factored in short- and long-term trauma responses for both torturer and torturee, so I'm more interested in accounts of the process of deradicalization than the psychology. First-hand accounts about trauma symptoms/sources that draw from them are still welcome, though.

The honest response is ‘not enough data’.

But it also depends on what you mean by ‘deradicalisation’. Because I’ve seen discussions that focus on it in the sense of encouraging people to leave extremist groups but I haven’t seen it in the sense of discouraging torture specifically.

My impression is that most of the time it isn’t seen as a priority. Remember that while some torturers are part of terrorist organisations or guerilla groups most of the time we are talking about established, mainstream organisations.

We’re talking about the state military, the police, jails, the local hospital, schools. The bastions of acceptable mainstream society.

Basically the last place any concerted deradicalisation program will go.

The types of people torturers are drawn from are not typically viewed as radicals by their society. Because people whose views are seen as radical are generally screened out of military and policing organisations and those are where the majority of torturers are operating.

My personal view based on the interviews I’ve read is that torturers can come across as racist, misogynistic, homophobic and so forth. But they often aren’t expressing hate to a degree that would seem unusual in their culture, time period and society.

I guess part of what I’m questioning here is whether there are actually any ‘radical’ views or practices at work in a typical torture scenario.

My impression of modern global society is that rejection of violence is a radical position. Condoning it, excusing it and participating in it are not. In fact they seem to be (mostly) accepted parts of modern life.

Which does not make it right. The fact that a proportion of people are willing to accept torture does not change the fact that it’s a brutal and pointless exercise.

But it does make the idea of a concerted deradicalisation program of any kind less likely. It also means that a lot of the time these conversations… aren’t necessarily being approached in the way I think you’re imagining it.

I think it is really likely that some torturers stop without being arrested. But we can’t examine that data set. Because without a trial and a conviction you can not easily ‘prove’ those people were torturers.

And if they’ve already stopped they’re less likely to talk about what they’ve done in the past. Partly because it could be incriminating (I imagine the mental health problems torture causes are also a factor).

All of this makes examining them in any meaningful way really really difficult.

Circling back a little bit, I have talked before about torturers stopping because their mental health problems become severe enough that they’re sacked. I think it’s likely that a portion of them quit because of their mental health problems.

There may also be a much smaller group of people who participate in torture for a short time then quit whatever position they had. I think it would be within the realm of possibility.

But I’ve never read an interview like that so I can’t say what it would be like.

Based on the handful of cases where torturers have quit/been sacked over mental health problems I don’t think there is necessarily a straight-forward deradicalisation process.

It’s unclear how many torturers come to reject torture. We really just don’t know.

I can tell you that it’s possible. I have read interviews where torturers have expressed regret (albeit limited and self-centred). I’ve also read interviews where torturers said they believe torture was wrong and they accomplished nothing.

But the thing is… some of them say they believed that while they were torturing people and it didn’t stop them. Once again this is systematic abuse by government officials we’re talking about, that is a definition of torture; the environment is the major factor over everything else.

None of this means that I think this is a bad story idea.

Though I would strongly recommend that you don’t have this character get useful information from torture. Torturers aren’t equipped to ‘sift through the lies and garbage’. And torture fundamentally can’t ‘extract’ useful information. (Take a look at the links for more information.)

Having said that I get the impression what you’re more focused on here is the idea that this torturer is learning to see the ‘enemy’ as human. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that idea.

I think we should tell stories about people leaving these kinds of toxic environments and rejecting violence. Even if we’re not quite sure what the reality of that looks like.

Stories are (or can be) about exploring human nature. I don’t see any harm in you exploring what you think this kind of character arc would look like. In ten years we might have more research. And it might say you were wrong, it might say you were right. But you were working with what you could access at the time.

The most recent major piece of research I’m aware of on torturers is this book by Sironi. It’s in French. No there isn’t a translation. (I’m working on getting a translation for myself but legally speaking I would not be able to share it.)

Before that… you basically have to go back to Fanon’s examination of two torturers in 1965 The Wretched of the Earth.

As always Rejali is a useful source. But torturers aren’t his sole focus.

There are interviews, like this one, with torturers. But it can be hard to draw conclusions from these. Partly because they’re just talking to one person so they may not be typical. Partly because the interviewers are often going into the situation with a lot of assumptions that colour the piece.

I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a more definite answer.

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

#writing advice #tw torture #writing torturers #deradicalisation #rejecting torture #violence in fiction #Sironi #Fanon #torture does not work

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zd772 · 4 years ago

Text

Expert Interview with Professor Piero Garofalo

The following contains edited excerpts from an hour-long interview conducted with Professor Piero Garofalo from the UNH Italian Studies department. Professor Garofalo is a professor of Italian Studies and the coordinator of the Italian Studies program. He has recently taught linguistics and film studies for the Italian department. When he came to UNH there was no Italian program so he was essentially hired to introduce Italian to UNH. He developed many of the Italian courses that UNH offers, started the department’s study abroad program, and worked with others to get the Italian minor and major developed. His research experience, which can be explored in more detail here, includes explorations of culture and cultural production within certain periods, fascism’s relation to this, and internal exile in fascism, to name a few areas of interest. For my interview, we discussed fascism, populism, and media.

Disclaimer: The content is edited for length and clarity, but the meanings behind the answers are not altered. The full transcription can be accessed here for more information. The format shares highlights of quotes or responses on specific topics which demonstrate my understandings as well as Professor Garofalo’s expertise.

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Interviewer: Zoe Dawson (ZD), senior Communication student at UNH

Interviewee: Piero Garofalo (PG), professor and program coordinator for Italian Studies Department at UNH

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On the topic of fascism in relation to our course (p. 2):

ZD: So I’ve looked into your research on the COLA website and I saw that you had some research focus on fascism (PG: Mhm) so first I thought I would share a few of the things that I’ve learned in this class so maybe we can have a conversation about that or hear about your research... So, in a reading by Federico Finchelstein from my class, we read that “Fascism was founded in Italy in 1919 but the politics it represented appeared simultaneously across the world.” (PG: *nods head*) And then, also he talked about Mussolini’s version of [fascism] being that “the creature was bigger than the creator,” which I thought was interesting. And so those two points, I thought, were significant in relation to Italy.

PG: Yeah. So, I think Federico Fincehlsltein is, I think he’s Argentinean (ZD: *nods head*). I’ve read several of his studies and he does a really good job of taking concepts like fascism, in particular, fascism and populism, and globalizing them beyond the usual suspects. So instead of just looking at fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, he’ll look at Latin America and different movements to kind of give a broader perspective.

I definitely agree about what he said about fascism in Italy in the sense of, the term itself obviously comes from Italian. Preceding Mussolini there was a movement in Sicily called The Fasci Siciliani. Fascia really is just a bundle. It’s a bundle of rods or sticks. So, that movement was really a workers’ union, almost like a unionized attempt to form a union against these large landowners and that movement was suppressed. The government intervened and they were striking and twenty-two of them, twenty-two of the strikers, were killed. And that’s a very different type of movement than what Mussolini was doing (ZD: Mhm), even though the origin of the term is the same. Yeah, so we have this movement in Italy that begins in 1919 and takes on the name of fascism, and that term kind of ends up being, you know, good PR (ZD: *laughs*) and has a lot of success internationally and becomes sort of the default term, kind of becomes overused today right? We talk about ‘fascist, anti-fascist’ without contextualizing the terms.

And yeah, I think it also, the second part that you mentioned, I think it definitely did grow much beyond what he was trying to do or thought of. And so, when we talk about fascism, even within that historical context, we need to be careful about what we mean because Italian fascism is different from Spanish fascism from the 1930s, from German Nazism, and so on and so forth, but even though they share many commonalities and a similar sort of source within each of those societies.

On the connections between fascism and populism (pp. 6-9):

ZD: … I have a few questions related to what I’m about to say, but also in our class we’ve learned about the idea of modern populism as being a post-fascist idea, and also being like a reformation of fascism in post-war contexts so what are your thoughts in relation to Italy since fascism was so prominent?

PG: Yeah I understand the definition, but I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that definition because there are many movements that I would describe as populist which I would not describe as fascist (ZD: *nods head*). If populism is also sort of this mass reaction to the elite, we hear that rhetoric a lot. We talk about Trumpism as a form of populism, you hear that rhetoric against the liberal elites and that sort of thing. You know, there was the Occupy Wall Street movement, which was the 99% against the 1%. You could even think about Black Lives Matter movement, as a grassroots movement or people reacting against the elite, the people in power, the people who’ve created a system that doesn’t allow them to flourish.

In Italy, we have two movements, in your blog you talk about them both. We have the League, the Northern Leagues which now have expanded beyond just being the Northern Leagues, that are a populist movement that I would align to some degree more closely with that idea of fascism, of neofascism. But then we have the 5 Star Movement which describes itself as a movement whose major tenets are the environment, sustainability, access to democracy- everyone’s supposed to have a vote and have access to a vote and participate in the vote, you’re not supposed to be excluded, which many of its programs we would associate more with the political left…

So, a direct line between neofascism, or fascism, and populism I don’t necessarily see. Lots of different movements which have certain characteristics that might fall into these different categories. And it’s become such a broad term that it’s begun to also lose its significance. The word itself as you know, the Latin word populus or in Italian popoli, it’s the people and having that word have a negative meaning. I don’t think it co-opted that way either, I like to think that when people are reacting to an injustice that they see that involves fundamental changes in society, that can still be a positive and not fall under the same rubric as Hilter and Mussolini.

ZD: … That made sense. In our class, I think in the same Finchelstein reading, he talks about how the word ‘fascist’ and the word ‘populist’, they’re both sometimes used interchangeably and also used to describe something as evil or bad even when that really isn’t the case with historical definitions, so what you said made sense with that.

Then also relating to fascism, what do you think the remnants of fascism look like in Italy? I know you mentioned the League, which is far-right.

PG: There is a party that’s more in tune with fascism than the League even. Its new name is Brothers of Italy, FDI- Fratelli d'Italia, and that’s like Le Pen’s party in France. So that’s sort of a far-right party that really does see itself as the heir of fascism. Its earlier iteration, Mussolini’s granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, was a part of it. After World War II, the fascist party was nonexistent, but this party formed called MSI- Movimento Sociali Italiano, Italian Socialist Movement which was really a fascist party, although the die-hards stuck with that it was always a very tiny party.

The other big difference, of course, between Italy and the United States is that Italy has many political parties and it’s easier than here to find a party that conforms more closely with your ideas. Here you kind of have a choice between two parties, and you might agree with everything your party says, but chances are there are divisions. Some things you agree with, some things less. There the parties are much more splintered, there’s an issue that they don’t agree on, they kind of split and go on in different directions.

So this party then became Alleanza Nazionale, or AN- National Alliance, and in that iteration in the 1990s it kind of rehabilitated its image as being professional, not talking about fascism the way it was spoken about in the past but trying just to appear like a legitimate party. They didn’t use a lot of rhetoric, it wasn’t populist in that sense, it wasn’t trying to appeal to people’s emotions and whatnot. It was trying to just rehabilitate fascism in a way that made it seem innocuous and the latest iteration of that party because different moments or scandals or events have led to the elimination of Italian parties… So the latest iteration is this one, Fratelli d'Italia, Brothers of Italy, which is the real right-wing party. The League, the Northern Leagues now there are various Leagues so we just call it the Leagues, shares many commonalities with right-wing parties. In particular its very strong stance against immigration and its xenophobia toward immigrants. In other aspects, it’s anti-European but it’s anti-Italian as well. These parties go back to origins of the modern Italian state where they never see that they’re Italian, that they’re from Venice or Milan. They see their local identity which is what survived for thousands of years. They never managed to bring the puzzle of Italy together to form a unified country.

So, they’re very much rooted in the local; in the local traditions, in the local ideas, the local language, and that’s why they’re anti-immigration. They’re anti-anyone who isn’t them. They’re anti-Southern Italian. They’re anti-everything it seems. They wanna secede, they want total autonomy. That’s why they’re anti-European because European identity kind of erases or limits your national identity… And that’s what we see in Italy, in particular, is that populism frequently takes on that League form of local identity. You have a League in Sicily, it’s the same thing, ‘We wanna be independent.’ So it takes on these kinds of xenophobic and philo-fascist attitudes in many activities. It also sees the central government as the enemy because it conquered Sicily literally. So in Italy populism, with the exception of the 5 Star which is this very different kind of movement, the populist movements tend to be very focused on the local identity and reasserting a local identity that the Italian nation has tried to wash over, eliminate, white-wash for the past 150 years since unification.

ZD: Yeah, I think that’s interesting what you were talking about with the regional specificity kind of. I watched a documentary and one of the politicians was harping on ‘Italians First’ but based on what you said it sounds more like specific to their region, their people first. (PG: Yeah.)

On how populism has affected the political climate in Italy (pp. 9-10):

ZD: … how would you say populism has affected Italy’s overall political climate?

PG: Well it’s definitely created more chaos. The Italian political system was intentionally designed to be weak. After fascism, the Constitution is intentionally designed to not let political parties accomplish very much unless there’s a lot of support for what they’re doing. The moment that there’s opposition to what they’re doing they get kicked out of power. So it always seems like Italian governments don’t last very long, but that’s built into this system…

The populist parties have made that more difficult because there’s less room to compromise. They have very strong stances on big issues that used to be, despite differences, pretty much agreed on… So you’ve lost room to really coalesce, to form a coalition with other parties with enough common ground where you can really accomplish stuff. That’s always been a challenge but not really a big one because we see historically these same parties really ended up forming the next government only with a slight change and then they got the legislation that they wanted to do until they hit the next crisis. There was a lot of predictability. You weren’t worried that the country was gonna go in a completely different political or economic or social direction. Now it’s a lot harder to predict, there’s a lot less certainty and it’s not clear who the opposition is either. The center-left parties are also reforming themselves and fractured and also have less coherent identities so it makes things much more messy and tricky now.

ZD: Yeah that makes sense and I’ve definitely seen that. And it seems really relevant to right now also. I researched a little about Giuseppe Conte’s coalition and that really led to him having to resign.

PG: Yeah, and it was one of the center-left parties that withdrew. They had like 1% of the vote, but that 1% was all they needed, and all of the sudden he didn’t have a majority and he was out. And it was a gamble because they could’ve gone to elections or Salvini could’ve come into power or something and now we have this technocratic government and we’ll see if it lasts until the elections next year.

On the populist presence in the media (pp. 12-13):

ZD: … one of the people I focused a lot on was Matteo Salvini and his use of Facebook and Facebook live to kind of “expose” people like I’ve seen him shouting at immigrant families and things like that. And it’s very blunt and in your face (PG: *nods head* Right) which is effective for his followers which I think is interesting. So if you follow any Italian media and government, how would you say the populist presence is?

PG: I think it’s expressed the most through social media. In Italy, the media for many years was dominated by the RAI, sort of the BBC of Italy. So you had these sort of government-owned and so anything they talked about they’d have to present all the different parties’ sides, everyone had to have equal time on television running for office, this sort of thing. That changed in the 1980s when Silvio Berlusconi came into power, so it’s part of the Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher movement, this neoconservatism of the 1980s… In the last decade especially, social media has become the center ground for promoting your ideas, promoting your campaigns, and being media savvy is extremely important for, especially populist politicians, but modern politicians in general.

One of the things about Donald Trump was this constant use of Twitter, right? Always keeping himself in the news. Obama was considered incredibly media savvy, but he didn’t do things the way that Donald Trump does and Joe Biden is not media savvy in that same way at all. But as you pointed out with Salvini, they’ll do lots of events which they’ll stream live through Facebook. They keep issues in your face. If it’s print media or the 6 o’clock news, it dies after a day or two or three, but they don’t let it die. They keep it in your face, in your feed constantly. So they’re very active on Twitter and other platforms, though certainly, Facebook is the most dominant one. They use it to connect to people and to keep them enraged in a sense, you know? To keep you emotionally invested so that you’re out there voting, promoting that point of view, and you’re keeping them on everyone’s mind. PR is half the battle, so if it’s always out there they must be important, they must have something to say.

ZD: Yeah I was gonna ask how the forms of media play into social and cultural grievances, but that really seems like the answer (PG: Yeah). That it’s so in your face that you can’t really avoid it. I was gonna ask also what populism’s role is in inflating that, but that also seems to be kind of the answer.

PG: Yeah I think that it doesn’t matter what the issue is. Whether it’s a boat capsizing in the Mediterranean or a boat being stopped, or some sort of government scandal- I can’t think of a good one that’s happened recently, but anything is an excuse for outrage that allows them to step forward and say, ‘Look at what they’re doing, we need to stop this’ even if they’re doing the same thing…

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Thank you again to Professor Piero Garofalo for taking the time to be interviewed and giving very insightful answers!

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Finchelstein, F. (2017). From Fascism to Populism in History. Oakland, California: University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpb3vkk

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lanaisnotwool · 5 years ago

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406 Why You Need Masterminds - Interview Alex Pardo

http://moneyripples.com/2020/07/10/1597/

Chris Miles, the "Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor," is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He’s an author, speaker, and radio host that has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, Entrepreneur on Fire, and spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results.

Listen to our Podcast here:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples/2020/06/05/406--why-you-need-masterminds-interview-with-alex-pardo

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Chris Miles (00:00): Hello, my fellow Ripplers! This is Chris Miles. Your Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor. Hey guys! I'm going to welcome you out for another show this week. A show that's for you and about you. Those of you that work so freaking hard for your money, and you're ready for your money start working harder for you. Now! You want that freedom. That cash flow. That prosperity. Today! Not 30 or 40 years from now, but right now. So you work because you want to. Not because you have to. So you have that life that you love being with those that you love doing what you love. But it's not just about your own comfort and convenience, right? It's not just about having that life of your dreams, where you can just sit back and sip on some lemonade or whatever. But it's so much more than that guys, because as Ripplers, you guys actually want to create a ripple effect through people's lives. Not just your family, but through your community and across the world, because as you become free yourself, you can help others do the same too.

Chris Miles (00:58): And I'm excited to be a part of that ripple effect because you guys allow me to create the ripple effect through you. And guys, I appreciate it so much. I appreciate you guys being a part of this. Of this movement. You guys are becoming a part of something that's amazing, and it's allowing me to express it and get that bigger impact and reach that I've always wanted. So thank you for being a part of this, sharing it bingeing on these episodes and everything else you do.

Chris Miles (01:21): Quick reminder, check our website, MoneyRipples.Com There's great stuff on there as well. You can also reach out to me if you've got questions in addition to that. All right, guys. So today I want to bring on a special guest, a guy that I've come to really respect in one of my mastermind groups that he's in a part of a high level, real estate mastermind group, Collective Genius that we're together in. And Alex Pardo. He's the guy that's always impressed me, right? One, I mean, not just an amazing entrepreneur and a real estate professional himself and investor and a coach and everything else. Right? But he's also a family guy. He's like a real person, which as you guys know, I like to bring on genuine, authentic people. You know, not like the slick, you know, snake oil, salesmen of sorts. Like this guy is the real deal. By the way, he's also got another podcast you can check out called FLIPEMPIRE. It's awesome! And that's also his name of his company. He also has a parent company called Creative RE-Solutions. He's flipped well over 300 properties. So even after you graduated from college, but you know, almost 20 years ago, he decided to go work for GE at the time. He's like, you know what, even though I've become a CEO, I'm changing that direction.

Chris Miles (02:27): And so this is where he ended up starting going down that path. No more working 75 hours a week. Moved over towards doing real estate and have a life of freedom. And so guys, the main reason I brought him on today is because, you know, many of you will ask me, they say, Chris, you know, I hear you're part of these great groups, these masterminds, you know, how do I find people like that? Because right now, now more than ever, you need a support group. And so, Alex, love having you on the show, man. Thanks! Thanks for coming on.

Alex Pardo (02:55): Chris. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I'm excited to be on and to share some thoughts with Your audience. So thank you for having me.

Chris Miles (03:01): Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about the path, fill in the gaps for me a little bit, cause I know you're an adventurer. I mean, you've backpacked all over the world and done cool stuff. I mean, but tell us a little bit more about you.

Alex Pardo (03:11): Yeah. I'll try to keep it super brief cause you on a lot of it, but you know, sometime around college, first of all, ever since I was 11, 12 years old, I would buy and sell baseball cards. I would buy packs of cards and boxes and I would flip them. And at the time I didn't know, I was essentially wholesaling like, but I was learning some of the, just the fundamentals of buying low and selling high. And so I think I've always been wired with that in me. And something changed there on college. When I was in college, I, I think it was the prestige or maybe it was the ego, honestly, that I wanted to. I saw like the Jack Welch's of the world and all these big time CEOs. And I'm like, I want to be that guy. Until I got hired by general electric in their financial management program.

Alex Pardo (03:51): And I moved away from Miami for the first time. And I'll never forget, you know, three and a half months into that job. I was averaging about 70 to 80 hours a week. I didn't enjoy anything I was doing. And the defining moment for me, Chris was I would look at my boss. I would look at their boss and then I would keep going up the chain all the way up to the CFO of GE capital. And I looked at them and I said, I don't want to be that person. I don't want to be working around the clock. And I just didn't enjoy it at that decision. At that point, when I made a decision, I'm going to finish the two year program, but I'm going to start educating myself about real estate. I had read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I had read a bunch of these books, but I had never taken action.

Alex Pardo (04:30): Right? So long story short, I finished that two year commitment. I went backpacking around Europe to "Find myself. Figuring out what I wanted to do." And I was in an internet cafe in Ibiza and a friend of mine sent me an email and he said, Hey, I'm going to this camp. Marketing for deals Boot-camp. It's 997 bucks. It does. It might not sound like a lot of money to a lot of people, but for me at the time I had funded my entire three months backpack, triple my credit card. I didn't really have much money and it was a fork in the road. Well, thank God. I decided to take him up on that offer. I spent a thousand bucks on my card, went to the event, pulled out a letter. They were teaching us how to market for pre-foreclosures. This was in late 2005 and I started handwriting envelopes and sending out mailers to Pre-Foreclosures. A couple of months later, I closed my first deal and almost made exactly what I was making as a salary at GE. So, I've been doing that ever since 2005.

Chris Miles (05:28): That's awesome! You know, I can know a lot of people here can relate cause there's lot of people here that work really, they do really work hard for their money, right? And some of them make great money. But it comes with a price, you know, and some people will actually even believe that you have to do that. Like somehow you just have to work those long hours to get that kind of money. And that's just not true. That's a whole paradigm shifts that everybody needs to have. Right?

Alex Pardo (05:50): That's right! A hundred percent. I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head. I see. It's really unfortunate when I see people sacrificing time with their family or whatever they value, whatever it's important in the pursuit of money. Because as cliche as it might sound, forget tomorrow, the next minute is not promised to us. And unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragedy or it, sometimes it takes, it takes you hearing about someone passing away for it's reminding you, like you have to enjoy life. And that's not to say that, you know, you don't pay attention to the responsibilities and end generating income and bringing in the finances. That's important, but you can have both, you know, I learned years ago from a mentor that this is an end world. It's not an either/or. In other words, you can have both things. You just have to be very intentional and strategic about it.

Chris Miles (06:35): Yeah. That's that's, I love that! That whole abundance mindset and realize not either/or, but it's a, how would I have both. Right? How do I have my cake and eat it too. Right?

Alex Pardo (06:44): Right. It's possible.

Chris Miles (06:45): It's sure is. Yeah. Well, tell us, like in your journey, like what's been some of the biggest ways, what are some of the biggest factor for your success?

Alex Pardo (06:55): Great question, Chris. I wish I had a sexy answer for you. I wish it was a story with a chance encounter with some celebrity where I got an opportunity. It wasn't that at all. It was, I've, a couple of years into my journey. As an entrepreneur, I tried to do everything alone. I was a lone Wolf and I had some success, but I also had some pretty big failures and those failures kind of shaped me. And one of the things I realized is I don't have to reinvent the wheel. If I can find the right people, put them into my life and have the right inner circle. I can, essentially success leaves, clues, right? And then I have to follow their exact path because I'm on my own unique journey, but I don't have to make mistakes that these people have already been through.

Alex Pardo (07:35): So the two years, it took me losing $51,000, $52,000. In 2007. Right as the market was shifting, I lost just over 50 grand on a deal. And I vowed to that point. I said, I'm not going at this alone anymore. So I hired a coach at that time. And through that process, I got exposed to masterminds. And so for the last, I don't know, whatever, it's been 12 years, 13 years, I have been coached by a couple of people at the same time. I've invested in myself as you have. We were just talking how we're both a part of multiple mastermind groups. And I could not imagine, Chris, especially with everything going on with COVID-19, I couldn't imagine going at this alone or without having a network, a community, a mastermind. Where I could just pick up the phone and call someone like you, Chris, and Hey, this is my challenge. This is what I'm going through. Or I need your insight. I need your perspective. So that's completely changed my life, you know, not just coaching, but being a part of the right communities, being a part of the right groups, people that are gonna walk alongside you, people that are going to help you to think bigger and challenge you and hold you accountable. It's been a game changer for me.

Chris Miles (08:41): Yeah. I'd be curious to know. Cause I know a lot of people ask me this. They're like, well, how do you find a good group like that? Like how do you find the one that's the right group? Cause there's lots of groups out there. Right? And there's tons of posers out there. There's tons of people that are kind of charlatans. Right? And they tend, and some of them are some of the biggest marketing people out there. Right? And then you get in their groups, you're like, this group stinks, you know, it's like this, isn't like, this is all hype and no real content or no real like, you know, real muscle to it. You know? So for you, like, what's been your experience like how you found the right groups.

Alex Pardo (09:13): Yeah. Well, first of all, phenomenal question. And I think this can be really, really helpful for people that have gotten to the point where they've said, okay, I see the value in being in a mastermind. I see the value in plugging into the right community. Now I go online, how do I even start the process. And one of the things I always say is, you know, do some research. Find out. Look at the leader. Who's running the group? And chances are, you know, most masterminds. You're going to go through some sort of interview process. And in some cases that's kind of a marketing gimmick type thing, a sales thing. In other cases it's legit. Like they, you know, if the leader is vetting, who is being put in the group, that's the kind of group I think you want to be a part of, not just somebody that can stroke a check or send a wire or make a certain investment in themselves.

Alex Pardo (10:00): But you want the group to have some sort of qualifications. And that doesn't necessarily mean X amount of volume or X amount of dollars you make. That could be a part of it. But you want to connect with the leader. They're going to probably interview you. You want to interview them. Ask them about their core values. Ask them about why they started the group. What's their intention? What's their, why are they doing this? Is it a business? And if so, that's fantastic! Absolutely nothing wrong with that because masterminds can be very lucrative as you know, Chris, but I would want to be a part of a group where it's more than just a business for them, right? Where their hearts in it, where they have a heart for service and for giving. And so you want to find out what makes up the DNA on that group, right?

Alex Pardo (10:41): Is it a group of go givers? Is it a group of people or is it a group of just like, you know, ego, chest pounding people that it's all about, Hey, I'm bigger and better kind of thing because there's both groups out there. So find a group that resonates with you. I think the second thing you want to ask yourself is, what direction do you want to take your life in your business? Do you have a vision for your life and for your business? Because depending on what you want to accomplish and the direction you want to go could really dictate what type of group you get into. To your point, Chris, there's no shortage of masterminds out there. It feels like they're popping up left and right now. Now, the flip side is, don't do so much research and don't get into analysis paralysis that, you know, 12 months later, you still haven't joined the group. The right group is out there. I think you can figure out just by having a conversation or a couple of conversations with the leader. And maybe even get some referrals, find out, Chris, you know, who's in that group? Who can I connect with? And gain an unbiased opinion on that group.

Chris Miles (11:37): I think that's a great idea for sure. Essentially. Cause like, you know, I always took the, you know, as a coach right. And consulting people, I always took kind of more of the group model for a few years. And then I realized that people didn't really need a guru model. They needed a guide. Right? And obviously I still give, you know, help and advice and guidance and stuff. But I realized that one of the biggest shifts for me was after I started to look into mastermind groups myself. And start to see the value when I started to apply that element to my own clients. Cause I had them come out to my house, for example, you know, twice a year. And, and we just have this very intimate group. And a lot of the members of the group said, you know, they'll even say at the end, they'll say, you know, the biggest thing I got out of this, like, sorry, Chris, like your stuff is awesome.

Chris Miles (12:19): But I love talking to people that were at my level, like people that were dealing with the same thing I'm dealing with right now. Like I've learned so much from talking with other people, even just during the breaks or lunch or whatever. Like I have learned so much from that. And it blew my mind. Like my ego was kinda rocked for a little bit. I was like, wait a minute, like I'm supposed to be your mentor. And then I realized, no, this is good. This is awesome. Like it's such amazing, it was such an amazing perspective shift for me and seeing how it really benefits people.

Alex Pardo (12:49): Yeah. And I always tell, I think to that end, Chris, you know, when we interview people and when we, and we have a pretty small intimate group through a sense, but when we interview people, we tell them, look, you're going to get the X's and O's and the strategy, and you're going to get a lot of content. But that's not even where the real value is. That's extremely valuable. But it's the relationships. The relationship capital is priceless. The fact that you and I are in a group and now we're doing this and there's ways that you can collaborate with people and the friendships and the fact that I can pick up the phone and call anybody in our group. Chris is, to me, it's just, it's priceless. So while I get a lot of value at the actual masterminds, to your point, it's the side conversations at the bar at the restaurant or at the break, it's the connection.

Alex Pardo (13:36): I mean, again, everybody's heard, you know, your net worth is your net worth. And I've also heard, it's not, it, it's not what, you know, it's who, you know, I'll take it a step further. It's who knows you. And so to me, that's, if I was weighing it out, that's probably 70%, 75% of the value is the relationships. And yeah, I've learned a ton and I've implemented systems and marketing strategies. And I bought properties from people in our group. And so there's been a lot of business that has come out of it, but the relationships is really what it's all about for me.

Chris Miles (14:07): That's, amen to that man! So, you know, I'll tell you like, and like you said before too, you like even mentioned like, it's, you kind of went to the question, I was already gonna ask you already hit it. Right? Which was, how would somebody know it's the right route for them? Right? And that kind of leads me to your group. You have a group named Ascend, right? So Alex, tell us more about Ascend, you know, what it is and who would be the right fit for that kind of group.

Alex Pardo (14:29): Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for the opportunity to kind of briefly share about it. And I don't want this to be sound like a sales pitch or anything. It's just, honestly, I've been doing real estate now for 15 years. This is what I'm most passionate about. I realized my calling is to pour into people's lives and to work with them. So, because I've been a part of a lot of different mastermind groups and I've had a lot of coaches, I never found the group that brought them both together. So when I got together with my partner, Steve Cavanaugh, last year, we said, how can we create an experience where we mastermind? And we also get the coaching component. So it's a hybrid mastermind and coaching group for entrepreneurs. We have two groups of 15. So it's very small and intimate. We were talking about this offline.

Alex Pardo (15:08): It's not a group where there's hundreds of people and you, you kind of get lost in the shuffle. And not to say that there's anything wrong with that. There's some really valuable groups. We're a part of one that's pretty big and it's awesome, but we want it to go on a little bit of a different direction. We want the right people in there and you know, and so yeah, we, you know, every four months we get together in South Florida and we mastermind in a small intimate setting. It's an experience. We have a lot of fun while we're doing it. And then there's monthly one on one coaching. And then we get together as a group on Zoom. And we mastermind on Zoom. And ever since COVID hit we've been doing that on a weekly basis. So the level of accountability, the level of just transparency that's in the group is amazing.

Chris Miles (15:46): That's awesome, man! And like you said, when you're talking about business owners or you're specifically saying those that are going in the business of real estate, right?

Alex Pardo (15:53): No, no, by the way, thank you. Because I didn't, I didn't clarify that. No! This group is for entrepreneurs. Now having said that because of the content I produced to the podcast, because I've been in real estate, I'd probably say 80%, 75%, 80% of our members are in real estate, but we do have some members that have different businesses. We didn't want it to just be a group about real estate. And I think the other thing that, that makes it unique, Chris, is that we don't just talk business, but we actually start with the life component. At the foundation of what we do is, what's the vision for your life? And then let's help you either tweak, modify and or create a business that supports that lifestyle. So at our mastermind retreat, sometimes we're talking about, you know, Hey, my business, I need to generate more revenue and we're talking about marketing. And then juxtapose that we, you know, we had a situation in our group where somebody is dealing with an addiction. And so we, we really dove into that. So it covers life and business because my belief is that they're connected and one impacts the other. It has a ripple effect. Pun intended on each other. So...

Chris Miles (16:57): That's right. Well, awesome! If people want to find out more information about that, how would they go about doing so?

Alex Pardo (17:03): Yeah, it's super simple. AscendYourSuccess.com AscendYourSuccess.com Short five, six minute video on there. And then it's just an application process. And it's really just a conversation to see, you know, if it's a fit, answer questions and us to find out more about you. So it's a pretty simple process.

Chris Miles (17:20): That's great. Yes. There we go. You'll check that out, man. We'll put that link in the show notes for you guys to, just to go look at or check it out, you know, apply if you want to apply. Obviously I can vouch for Alex. Alex is amazing, man. Like, he's both on and off camera, so to speak, right. You know, or off the mic. He's a great guy. So definitely check that out and also check out his podcast. You wanna get to know him more through there. Check out FLIPEMPIRE as well. So anyways, Alex, appreciate you being on today.

Alex Pardo (17:49): No! Again, I really thank you for having me on. Again, it's for me, it's friendship. I'm grateful for the relationship. I know we have a mutual friend in Armando. And so anything you ever need, brother, I am here for you and same applies to anybody listening to this. If I can answer any questions or if you just want to connect again, I love building relationships. And if I can add value in any way, you know, feel free to reach out [email protected].

Chris Miles (18:14): Awesome! Appreciate it, Alex, man. Everybody else you've heard it like reach out to Alex, check out his stuff. It's good stuff there, but right now is the best time, more than ever to stay connected. If I would have learned anything from the last recession that I went through, I thought I had to suffer alone. And that was not the case guys. Like if, if I would have learned quickly that it was actually reaching out to people and associated with people and looking for help, I would have not have suffered through the recession as much as I had. So guys, I recommend you. Don't fall in that same trap that I did as well, that you learn from our mistakes and from our successes too. So everybody, I'll be making a wonderful prosperous week. We'll see you later.

#Chris Miles #Anti-financial Advisor #Cash flow #Cash flow Expert #Debts #Entrepreneur #Financial Freedom #Money Ripples

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mitigatedchaos · 5 years ago

Text

@learn-tilde-ath

Perhaps anon isn’t saying “it would be correct to view it in the opposite way” so much as “isn’t this flawed like the opposite world be”? Like, uh, what if neither coalition is particularly agentic, and, there’s not really anyone at the wheel?

To continue the grumpy post with another long, grumpy and uncharitable post (again ‘J’ key to skip),

“You can’t be racist against white people, because racism is prejudice plus power.”

By itself, that statement should be enough to realize that Social Justice is ideologically corrupt and that it shouldn’t be given power, including by listening to and following its pronouncements on who is and isn’t “racist.” I considered that obvious the first time I encountered this stuff. I’ll explain how.

The statement is incredibly racist. Or rather, because Left/Libs determine what “racist” is and have decided as a group that it isn’t racist, the statement is incredibly Alternative Racist, or alt-racist.

To end racism, it was supposed to be the case that no one was going to be allowed to, well, do racism. It’s true that “white people” “face less systemic oppression” in general. It is not true that they either never face systemic oppression, or that they never could face systemic oppression in the future. “White people” being allowed to call something “racism” is part of how they’re supposed to prevent the emergence of organized racism against them in the future, if it should come to that, and part of how they enforce the agreement to prevent the agreement’s gradual erosion. Removing the ability to declare racism just because it “isn’t needed” fundamentally disrespects the personhood of “white people” as a party to the agreement.

It is a violation of the agreement, and a pretty major one.

It doesn’t matter if “but it’s a sociological term.” We all know that “racism” in common use most certainly isn’t a sociological term, and that this redefinition is based on bad faith strategic equivocation to leverage the emotional load for the existing term “racism.”

Just about everything in Social Justice is like this.

Let’s take another example. “Lived experiences.” You aren’t supposed to dismiss “lived experiences.” I get what this is reacting against, which is also a logical fallacy - “statistically your group suffers less of this, therefore it can’t have happened to you”. However, it’s still bad epistemology. “Oppressed people” are said to have special information that overrides and is more important than statistics, and which “privileged people” fundamentally can’t understand.

Special information that outsiders can’t understand even if you tell them? That one can’t verify from observations? That sounds like a security exploit for your brain, doesn’t it?

All it takes is to apply just a small assumption of the possibility of bad faith.

“Privileged people can’t see their own privilege.”

Same deal. It’s not hard to notice. Why didn’t they?

Each one of these statements is questionable in itself, but of course they’re much worse when taken in the context of all the other statements.

Take, for instance, “all white people benefit from white supremacy.” (If you mean all white people benefit from e.g. throwing innocent black people in jail then no, that’s begging the question of their guilt. It costs almost one median national income to keep someone in jail, so unless you hate black folks already, keeping someone who wasn’t going to commit a crime penned up for the benefit of drug-planting Racist Louisiana Sheriff B. Adolf Higgins is a huge waste of money that just makes other people angry at you and your government.)

There’s no point making that kind of statement unless you’re trying to pin collective moral liability on the basis of race, presumably under the (broken) assumption that whoever you’re making the statement to can put pressure on Sheriff Higgins, even though Sheriff Higgins was already considered in the wrong at that time. It essentially presumes a racial command and control infrastructure. Going with the high-contextualizer mode that we’re supposed to apply to racism claims in order to detect subtle, hidden racism, otherwise, why even say it? It’s a claim “you’re receiving stolen goods, therefore you need to act (as we say) or you are guilty.”

But combine that with the constant talk about colonialism, conquest, and genocide, which are called “white supremacy,” and then combine that with talk about unearned “privilege.” Suddenly we have not only collective moral liability, but collective moral liability going back seventeen generations, extending to actions on multiple continents, many of which were quite bloody. Since “the benefit” is most of an entire continent, then “removing the unearned benefit” implies removing the continent, plus interest, plus an amount of suffering equivalent to every war waged by colonial European powers.

“Well they don’t really mean that,” one might say. But the thing about outwards-facing ideological rhetoric is that the next generation doesn’t get the joke.

It’s quite a gamble vs. just keeping individual moral liability and moral liability by ideological/political groups where membership is fluid. It’s also illiberal.

There are all sorts of other approaches. Free school lunches, afterschool programs, food stamps, and the like can reach the worst off, including when “worst off” is not evenly distributed, but don’t have this kind of spectacular potential failure mode. Likewise, demanding police reforms, even on the basis of being victims of racial prejudice, doesn’t require this.

Back when it came out, I thought it was just a few lunatics on the Internet. Then suddenly, it was everywhere. “Respectable,” “serious” people supported this kind of nonsense that was alt-racist against JAWs, and institutions started working this stuff into their rules. Not the full implications, of course. Just, say, hiring people on the basis of their “diversity” statements, as one UC school did, to take an example. (Or in the gender case, weakening standards of evidence for accusations of sex crimes... but in practice only against men.)

Going to Afghanistan could be interpreted as “reacting to” 9/11. Going into Iraq can’t really. Back during that era, Team Blue were “team” “science and reason” and “better than” those “dumb religious conservatives.” It was argued that they would get better outcomes because they had a better theory of knowledge, as demonstrated by not believing in the supernatural.

Then they went and gave power to an alt-racist cult that should have tripped their internal cult warnings before they even got close to it.

There was going to be a reaction to the first black President not immediately ending all racism, but deciding to attribute that to “white people” (actually JAWs, see e.g. “white-adjacent,” “people of more color”) instead of an ideological group (they have been blaming Republicans as racist for years, why not just keep doing that?) was a choice that they made.

So either they’re less cult-resistant, dumber, or more immoral than my initial judgments of them during the late Bush and early Obama administrations.

If both groups are stupid, evil, and culty, then it’s question of which stupid evil cult most suits my purposes at a given time, including which one is more threatening to me and my long-term interests.

#politics #longpost

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randomthoughtsrandomdude · 5 years ago

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Late night thoughts with your host: me

I realize how this post will likely sound, but I mean well with it.

I’m not usually wrong. By that, I mean that I have sooooooooo many experiences where I’m intuitively made a decision and then been proven correct at a later date. And it happens often enough that it can sometimes be hard to explain to new people without sounding overconfident or cocky.

Also, I have a pretty good sponge for a brain. Yeah, it leaks sometimes, but for the most part, knowledge learned is knowledge stored and available for use later. So I’m pretty solid with my LDS doctrine and was regularly turned to on my mission to answer the not-so-easy-to-answer questions. (True To The Faith was one of my favorite study resources back then)

Anyway

I bring this up because (as I’m sure many people are going through) this Lockdown hasn’t been great for me, mental health-wise. Add to that with today being Mothers Day (US), and my mom didn’t answer the phone so I left her a message and then called my grandma.

My grandma is a wonderful person. When I came out to my family, she’s among those who took it best. She’s an LDS temple worker (along with my grandpa) and a retired elementary school teacher, so I know she knows how to learn and express herself in a way to not be misunderstood. I love her very dearly.

During this call, I came out to her about having a boyfriend. She’s met him, I’ve had him over to a family event before so I knew she had a positive opinion about him. But I could tell she was hesitant to be excited or show approval. And I didn’t feel great. She spent most of the remaining call time (probably about 5 minutes) doing the good LDS temple-worker thing about saying how Everyone goes through trials, and God has a plan for each of us, and Life will sort itself out. Ultimately though, even though she didn’t say it, I can tell she believes in the Great Straight-ening in the next life.

It’s hard for me, because I’m not in a good place mentally, so to not only have one of the few relationships I really enjoy to be seen as invalid by a family member that I really respect, but also her words (most likely unintentionally) came across that there’s not much for me relationship-wise to look forward to in this life. [(Before anyone DM’s me the suicide hotline info, I appreciate the concern, but I have it saved in the event I ever need it)] I’m not an active suicide risk, but I’ve definitely had more than one occasion in the past month where I wouldn’t have minded falling asleep and not getting back up.

Getting back to the point of this post

I feel the same way about my identity and sexuality and relationship as I do with many of the other times that I’ve been proven right in the past. Now, I’ve had times where I’m still wrong, but I really want to be right. And not just for me, and not just to say I told you so (tho that’s always a little guilty pleasure of mine), but because LGBT+ LDS members deserve a win. We deserve to be shown the same love and care and affection that the Church teaches is available to all of God’s children and yet doesn’t have a doctrinal place for us (other than, y’know, unhappy or sinners).

My grandma and I talked about how the Lord put things in place that have been helpful during this Lockdown. The “Come, Follow Me” program with a home-centered focus for gospel study. The temple sealing ordinance no longer having a year-long wait after a civil marriage.

The problem with preparations is that they aren’t appreciated or the full implication realized until they’re needed. And I feel like there’s been many preparations made for the LDS Church to be more friendly to the LGBTQ+ lives all around the world, but the final pieces can’t be put into place until they’re asked for, and there’s simply not enough asking going on in the right places. Cuz let’s be honest: Bishop Roulette sucks. Stake President Roulette sucks. Queer members who want to go to the temple have to succeed at both of those, or remain closeted. Then, after you’ve been endowed, that’s basically it. Until there is a fundamental change in understanding or revelation given or the Second Coming, the temple becomes a place where you can contemplate quietly for as long as you want, mostly uninterrupted, up until it’s closing time. But there’s no more progress. No hope for growth. Not under the current doctrine.

So tonight wasn’t a good mental health night. And it’s not been a good mental health week. And since it’s still Lockdown, I can’t really do much to get out and physically change my headspace. Which is why I’m writing these words. If I can get my thoughts out into the universe then maybe they can be heard by someone who can do something about it. I can’t just keep them in my head.

#queerstake #lgbt lds #lds church #tumblrstake

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theselfcaresocialworker · 5 years ago

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Intro Part 3

Applying for FMLA and Reasonable Accommodations

We rejoin the story from a previous post. Picture Summer 2020.

The process of applying for FMLA is difficult; logistically there is a lot to do, a lot of people to talk to. Emotionally it is a lot too. It is easy to feel invalidated and humiliated by all the checking to see if you are “sick enough” to take time off. I got caught in that. I almost backed out, backed down from that fight because I felt so invalidated and weak; I didn’t feel like my bosses believed me, I didn’t believe me some of the time. The process was a test of my self-worth; was I worth the fight, was my care worth this? I ended up affirming to myself that it was going to be worth it almost every time I questioned myself, but it was a hard couple of weeks.

Once I got the paperwork through, I felt a sense of relief. I was going to get the rest, the break, the pause I needed. I spent a lot of time trying to rest and learning more about its importance, what it means for me, and how to do it (more on this later). But unfortunately, part of the point of the time off was doing a lot of internal work. I dreaded it, but I also spent a lot of time thinking in depth about what I had been experiencing, what lead to it, what I needed to make this work sustainable, what would be ideal versus what would be practical, what I wanted in my life and what I didn’t (more on this later too).

At the end of my time off I scheduled a meeting with my bosses to talk about coming back and what had contributed to why I had to take time off. I wrote down bullet points, I practiced what I was going to say. I prepped myself for being firm with the boundaries I was going to set.

Aaaand, the meeting did not go “well.” Going into the meeting I didn’t feel like I was expecting the world, but I had the assumption that they would hear what I had to say, and really take to heart my perspective and struggle. I assumed that when administrators say they care about your mental health and how you are doing, they mean it. This was not the case.

They either didn’t or couldn’t really hear my concerns and struggles which was infinitely disappointing. We fundamentally disagree(d) on what the problem was/is. Something that I feel is unremarkably common happened: I was made to feel like the problem was me, and I had to figure out “if this is the right place for you if you can’t meet these expectations,” while I saw that their expectations were unreasonable. I learned that they saw me (consciously or unconsciously) as dysfunctional therapy bot, expendable, a means to make money for the agency and this was now in jeopardy; they either needed to get me out of the way or get me back in line. It is something that happens in a lot of big agencies, and I ultimately blame capitalism. (How to think about, plan for and deal with this common issue will be addressed in another post, also because I spent a lot of time thinking about it.)

That whole meeting was a lot to process, it was a hard set of realizations to come to terms with. It took me a while to figure out what the hell just happened and where to go from there. I didn’t really know what to do, but I knew I had a lot of choices and decisions I had to make. Again, myself-worth was questioned; was I worth fighting this fight? Yes, I had to do something, or I wasn’t going to make it. I decided to work with the human resources department on how to get a reasonable accommodation regarding what I had brought up to my bosses in our meeting. This again was a long process, there were many forms, people to talk to, even more questions about if I was “sick enough” to warrant these accommodations. It was exhausting and at times made me feel humiliated. I felt weak for needing to go through this process.

Nevertheless, I started back to work having started the reasonable accommodations process and by the end of August, I was approved for the accommodations I asked for, and now, the beginning of October, the requests have been made into action.

I have learned a few things from this whole process specifically:

1. Even though advocating for yourself and reaching out for help can be scary and can feel like a giant mistake, reaching out is not always in vain. While I am stuck in a job that is less than ideal in more ways than one, with immediate supervisors who are not supportive, there are also other people who can and do support me when I ask for it, and there are things that can make the job easier.

2. When some people do not or cannot supply the help and support you need and ask for, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have it, don’t deserve it, or that you were wrong to ask. Asking for support and help from the right people is key to getting it.

Aaand a bunch of other things…During this whole process, through all the thinking and research I have come to a lot of conclusions and all I want to do is share them. That’s why this is a blog; I wish other people knew all of the things I have learned, and I want to help those who need it.

…

On Struggling with Mental Health Issues as a Mental Health Professional

There is a lot of stigma around mental health, just in general, like for “regular people” let alone for mental health professionals. It’s funny that there is an implicit assumption that mental health professionals have it all together, that we don’t need help. Even amongst ourselves, we don’t talk about it openly (maybe some people do, I talk about it with people I trust, but its not widely talked about it my experience). It feels like admitting to colleges that yes, I go to therapy, I have depression, anxiety, PTSD, and past disordered eating is a borderline revolutionary act. It feels like I am making headway in some weird way in this intra-field battle against stigma of mental health issues of professionals in the field. It shouldn’t be that way, especially amongst ourselves as professionals. We of all people do not believe the stigma associated with mental health for others, why is it so hard for ourselves?

Why is it so hard to admit we aren’t ok? Is it really stigma or are there other components to it? Is it like if we aren’t ok we cant help others, if we aren’t ok we are imposters? Is it just easier to focus on the problems of others than to focus on ourselves? (By “we” I mean “I”).

I firmly believe I have to walk the walk. If I tell people that there is no shame in struggling and needing help, but I do not also ask for help, or advocate for myself and for what I need, then I am the last thing I want to be, a hypocrite. Part of why I went through with the FMLA and the reasonable accommodations process was because it’s what I would advise a client to do; they have those rights and protections, they deserve to have what they need. I don’t know why, but it felt like a bigger deal for me to do this as a mental health professional and it shouldn’t be. While it felt like my supervisors just expected me to just be “ok” with whatever was happening or with whatever they asked, there shouldn’t be this double standard for me to be more “ok” than a “normal person” because I am a professional.

[On a related note (this touches on a topic that will be expanded on later, but is relevant now), It feels like they don’t think about the real-life consequences of their decisions or actions on those who are most effected, their staff, this is an issue that arises in various mental health programs. As a behavioral health program, shouldn’t we also walk the walk by having a healthy and emotionally safe work environment where the staff’s mental health is cared for and considered when making policy decisions? When confronted with how me and my mental health has been affected by their actions and decisions, they were unable to admit the role they played and instead and turned it around on me and how I was not doing enough of whatever I needed to perform higher (which is such a high level of hypocrisy it makes me laugh). It sucks and is not ok that instead of being validated that what they are asking is too much for people in general, it comes down to me being the problem. It sucks that for me to get what I needed, I had to admit that I am in effect too sick or “too weak” to live up to these supposedly reasonable expectations.]

I guess all of this comes down to the fact that I feel shame in not being able to fill the expectations. I feel weak because I couldn’t hack it like I thought I could, like I thought I should be able to. There are external things that add to that shame, but it is also self-inflicted. I feel it about myself and that is the problem.

What I want you to take away from this story:

I do not want others to get caught in this trap unaware, I want you to know what to expect, to have a non-idealized vision of this work, what red flags to look out for. I want you to know that if/when you get caught in a toxic work environment and you are struggling to meet unreasonable expectations that you are not always the problem. I want you to know that it is reasonable to expect that you will struggle with some sort of mental health concern as a practitioner and that it’s necessary to talk about it, and advocate for what you need to be ok.

#self-care #theselfcaresocialworker #therapistselfcare #socialwork #socialworker #counseling #counselor #burnout #boundaries #FMLA

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