#i just really need to read an analysis about the flaws of america’s education system

[girlboysollux]

(foaming at the mouth) i need to read an essay. right now

[halfusek]

I saw your reblog of the Squid Game analysis and I was just wondering...Are you okay with communism/socialist ideologies? I mean, you're a commie/socialist yourself? Of yes, why? Don't mean to be rude or anything, it's just a genuine question

well! i think that post is pretty self explanatory? i dunno if you read it but it explains a few things that suck about capitalism that are portrayed in the show (because squid game is criticism of capitalism)

i really see myself as more of a centrist if you can even say something like that truly exist: most politicians swing to the right, what's called "the left" is usually something less right or centrist, at least from what i've observed in countries where i'm more familiar with politics

i actually had/have a pretty hard time talking about modern "communism" and socialism because i come from a country that got really traumatized by soviets and communism by extension so i've basically always associated it negatively but i try to be more open minded

i don't wanna dedicate myself to praising any sort of system, i want to be critical and see what's good or bad about each of them

i personally really dislike when people put up communism/socialism on a pedestal because from the history of my country i know very well its not perfect and in fact you can use that system for horrible terrible things too so when people don't think critically of it that makes me really worried history may repeat itself someday

(and if someone denies soviets doing anything wrong then i hope they get hit by a car </3 i've seen/heard of asinine takes like that)

also i'm not at all comfortable with using ussr imageries (even just in memes), they make me feel in similiar ways seeing nazi imageries does

like would it really be so hard for socialist to use a different flag and symbols haha people were tortured and killed and terrorized in the name of this one but whatever that's not what you're asking me about i just wanted to put it out somewhere

capitalism did help the situation in my country after it was freed from the influence of ussr so i dont and cannot think that its straight up evil

that made it also kinda hard for me for a while to be critical of capitalism and think positively of socialist ideas but i've been trying to educate myself, i talked to various people who have different views and my horizons got broader

so yes capitalism is flawed and socialism isnt perfect but it surely has a lot of good ideas that can improve our quality of life and its not like capitalism doesnt have fucked up past and well present

i take one look at america and its clear to me that it needs more socialist ideas there, like... god free healthcare just should be everywhere. period. i cant imagine being afraid to call an ambulance because of a huge bill that would come after

so i guess my position is complex haha? but yep i am okay with those and i think a lot of them are very good, its just that the image of socialism was pretty demonized because of the past

countries like the scandinavian ones implement plenty of socialist ideas and they are doing great and ive lived in one and i was amazed at how easy it is to just function as a citizen there

i'm being there a bit more honest than i should maybe but i think we should try to explain and conversate calmly about these topics, especially that i myself would get just angry at a mere mention of socialism few years ago because of the way i was raised and the politics i was mainly familiar with sooo maybe my progress on getting better with being critical of systems like that can help someone else idk

i know past me definitely would have used that instead of hearing "capitalism evil" or "communism evil" only all the time without no further (calm) elaboration lol

[vvanite]

Art Deco and TAZ Graduation

- Episode 30 "Take your Firbolg to Work Day

I know Travis probably made his choice to have the H.O.G. headquarters be designed with Art Deco for aesthetic purposes and didn't think of its function to the world of Nua BUT his choice is a really great accidental component that adds onto the world building in Nua and to one of the core problems that Graduation addresses involving the systemic nature of Nua. In this essay, I-

(And then I proceed to actually write the essay hidden below. FAIR WARNING: This is extremely long. If you want to learn about Modern Art History and how it ties into Graduation, this is your lucky day.)

This analysis/essay is going to be meta in terms of using evidence from real world events but it is needed to explain the history behind Art Deco and help us relate to the themes of Graduation. I think it’s clear to see how the systems and people in power in Graduation are influenced from the way our governments are now so I don’t think these connections are distant, rather closer together than we think.

Also, before we continue, I want to direct you to this lovely post made by a dear user and friend, Michelle/ fitzroythecreator, LINK HERE

She explains what she believes to be a core theme of graduation that I agree with and have integrated into this essay. Check it out <3

Before I can explain how Art Deco is tied into Graduation's core theme, I need to lay out definitions and context to art movements in the early 20th century. Along the way, I will make connections to the world of Nua and how real-life events in the early 20th century actually can relate to Graduation and its worldbuilding.

Let’s address what is Art Deco. Art Deco started as an art and architecture movement during the early 20th century (1900s). Most people are familiar with its aesthetics of geometric designs and influence of industrialization because of the roaring 20s era and many media influenced by it. Do you wonder why it was popularized in the US? It’s because during the great depression in the US, public buildings, more importantly federal government buildings, were commissioned to have this aesthetic thus it would have more publicity and access to the public. The H.O.G. headquarters could easily be compared to this event because it shares similar attributes of being a public government building.

With this information, it would be really interesting to imagine the timing of Graduation being set around the early 20th century. Art Deco gives us a time period to compare what kind of social events Nua could have faced similar to the real world. The modern period of the 1850s-1950s was a time when people were disinterested and scared of the changes that industrialism made in their daily lives. People were frustrated with the changes made in their lives and sought out ways to cope with the changes through escapism. In Graduation, I would argue that we see this skepticism and wariness in the characters about the changes Nua’s Socioeconomic systems made in their lives and society in general. A good example would be the student NPCs and their insistence that their hero and villain titles are just labels since they have been stripped from their original meanings. They still somewhat criticize the structure while upholding it. As the campaign progresses, we meet various characters who are very critical to Nua’s current orderly system such as Order and Gordie. In fact, despite their roles in society being vastly different, they both share the same opinions that the system is unjust as it hurts people thus there needs to be a push for change. I am not trying to label the time of Graduation to be around the 1900s, rather whatever year Graduation happens is in parallel to the events of the 1900s.

When I first heard Travis say, Art Deco, I was interested but disappointed it wasn’t Art Nouveau. My original thinking was because of Art Nouveau’s elitism of making the architecture more artistic and complex that only educated rich people can understand and less functional for the average citizen. A lot of the art displays during the art movement were held in house museums that were limited to rich eyes. I thought this reasoning made sense in terms of the H.O.G. headquarters being this elite building common people can’t comprehend. However, with continuous thought, it clicked. Art Deco fits so well.

Art Deco was meant to be a direct response to Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. (And many more but for the sake of simplicity, sticking to these two major ones) Both movements share similarities of the desire to make total works of art.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For art Nouveau in architecture, that is more on its aesthetics of stylized curving forms, thus it creates uniqueness with the architecture. For the Arts and Crafts movement in Europe, they focused on the importance of the craftsmanship and quality. The thing about the movement is that it’s heavily influenced by socialist values and the distaste for industrialism. Both art movements were diverse in style and locations globally. Because both took place internationally, there was no determined manifesto or structures for artists to adhere to. Another thing is both movements had lots of ornamentation which takes great skill and time to put into the works. By doing this, it would make the works more unique aspects to its character, however more time consuming and difficult to replicate.

Art Deco takes response to this because critics felt like these movements were outdated for the growing industrialism happening during the early 20th century. Art Deco focuses on sleek geometric design meant to be reproduced easily thanks to industries and have more emphasis on its function rather than aesthetics. It’s meant to be functional to accommodate for the new technologies of the 20th century.

So, let’s recap, in the late 19th century, two movements, focused on the style which had no concrete structures to adhere to and had the goal to make total works of art that is reliant on itself, are then replaced by Art Deco, a movement focused on its aesthetic to be mass produced easily and have a stronger focus on the form of the architecture to serve its functions. Does Art Deco sound similar to a number of Socioeconomic systems placed in Nua?

One of the key ideals of Art Deco is Functionalism. Art Deco is one of the many architectural movements in the early 20th century that decided to focus on function rather than aesthetics. What is functionalism? It is the idea that everything works as an integrated whole and that all the different components of a larger system are designed to work together. It is orderly. Architecture in the early 20th century was designed to suit the needs of the space. For example, each element of an office buildings would be designed and organized to suit that place. This ideal is more emphasized after the Great Depression in America where architects shifted their focus on the Streamline Moderne, where they aimed to make structures practical to the demands of real life and remove the emotional aspects of expressionist art.

Travis’s little choice to pick Art Deco is tied to a core theme of Graduation of dismantling the standards and structures set in Nua. It’s so brilliant yet unintentional. I know Travis hasn’t read up on modern art history. I hope by reading through, you can spot Art Deco’s need for creating limitation to focus on the functions and how it benefits the whole system. It doesn’t allow for the emotional aspects that Art Nouveau and the Art and Crafts movements held. Nua’s system follow the same thing. Everyone has a function in the socioeconomic system that has limitations meant to exploit the work labor and functions of the individual. The system leaves no room for indivduals to have growth to create real change. That’s not a flaw of the system. The system is literally designed to be that way with its many rules and standards. It's impossible to break away from it without being punished by the system itself. You need to function within its rules and have practical skills to contribute to the system. Your independent nature is stripped away. By having Art Deco be a core aesthetic design for the H.O.G. Headquarters, Art Deco ITSELF is just another element in the architecture meant to serve its function of upholding the ideology of order that H.O.G. and the world of Nua has. This orderly system has replaced the wild world that Higglemas in episode 12 remembers.

“I remember... the world when it was wild. Not sophisticated and ordered and... bureaucratic, like it is now.”

[gumy-shark]

GUMY DOES UNNECESSARY ANALYSIS ON A BOOK HER 10 YEAR OLD SISTER MADE HER READ: THE RANT my younger sister recently finished the book Jinxed by Amy McCulloch, and she decided in her infinite ten-year-old wisdom that I would really enjoy the book. i read it cover to cover and need to tell someone other than her my thoughts bc she likes the book a lot and I don’t want to make her feel bad for liking it. so, my thoughts under the read more

First, I should explain the book’s premise. it’s sci-fi kid’s fiction, and yes, that does mean I’m being anal over children’s literature for no reason. im fully aware. i just like being nitpicky, and analyzing exactly what elements you like or dislike in a story and why is a very valuable skill to have. BUT YEAH. In this book, everyone owns a “baku,” a customizable robotic animal that is basically a cross between a smartphone and a digital home assistant. Lacey, the Main Character Girl (she is 12 btw so keep that in mind) stumbles across a damaged baku and repairs it herself. she then goes to the official Nerd School, sponsored and run by The One Big Apple-Stand-in Which Has Completely Monopolized Baku Technology (literally nobody is suspicious of this at all). however, her cat baku, Jinx, is not like the other bakus- he’s autonomous.

honestly, the story’s pretty ok. not perfect by any means, but not necessarily bad. yeah it’s cliche. yeah, there’s an unnecessary romance subplot. yeah, the group of friends is not given any sort of proper buildup to justify the friendship levels. it’s a kid’s book, and the relationship between the two main characters is decent enough (although still somewhat lacking). it’s not the story I’m annoyed with.

THE WORLDBUILDING AND TONE HOWEVER, HAVE NO EXCUSE! one look inside this book told me it had a #girlboss Let’s Get Women Into STEM! message, with healthy dashes of “kids and their cellphones” and there is neither subtlety nor any sort of reconciliation of these ideas! it should not take more than half the book before even one character expresses the thought that maybe the tech conglomerate that literally takes over and owns entire company towns all over North America, might not have everyone’s best interests at heart! even then, the corruption is alluded to be because of one singular guy, instead of, i don’t know, a flaw in the system of entire education systems being owned by one megacorp from the ground up! and let’s not even get started on the implication that asking for help makes you a worse engineer.

the worldbuilding is about as shaky as jello on a fault line, btw, bc there is 1) little if any cohesion between worldbuilding elements, 2) bootlicky exposition on already-explained topics which does not add anything at all, and 3) a corresponding lack of development into other introduced parts of the world, including but not limited to the pokemon-style baku deathmatches that middle-school children compete in and are forbidden by NDA to tell even their parents about.

furthermore (this one’s really nitpicky btw just annoying to me) despite willy wonka and the chocolate factory being directly referenced, our “Charlie” characters trust the obvious Slugworth copy, and the opposing megacorp he represents, to have their best interests at heart as well.

[metabronx]

Apprentices: Next Generation

2018-12-02, Sunday - USA: The Bronx, New York –

In The Bronx, startups partner with high schools to create a new apprenticeship model for education

Our introduction to the program happened in school. For many of us this was a totally new experience and our very first job.

This summer, 40 high school students from Bronx Academy for Software Engineering (BASE) were accepted to work at MetaBronx to develop our skills as future entrepreneurs and business owners.

MetaBronx is a startup accelerator and entrepreneurship education program that helps startup companies grow by investing in them. MetaBronx works with companies such as The Glass Files which is run by CEO Sarah Poyet.

The Glass Files is a website in which you can post stories about your family through photographs, videos and other media and connect them to History. When you enter this website you can read amazing stories and see stunning photographs that have been shared about people’s families and their History. Many times you can even relate to their stories and experiences.

“I enjoy being my own boss but it’s also very difficult… What motivates me is my grandfather’s story and the fear that if we don’t learn about History, we will repeat the mistakes of the past. It’s easy to sink into hopelessness and cynicism, but the question is do we believe in progress or not? Simple as that. That’s why History is important. It is for our own future. If there is no learning about the past how will we have a positive future?” – Sarah Poyet

An illustration by BASE Junior Carlos García inspired by the characters in this Summer’s apprenticeship program.

MetaBronx and The Glass Files work together to give us new experiences and create new stories about ourselves that we can document on The Glass Files.

We have also been able to network with significant institutions that exercise lots of power such as UBS, a Swiss investment bank where we met people who work in different departments and even the COO of the company, Barry Hurewitz. While we were there we did a speed mentoring session in which we got to go around and ask the employees questions about what they do and how they got there.

UBS staff were really excited to meet us and bankers outnumbered students at this unique event.

We also went to the headquarters of the United Nations. Thanks to Juan Reyes, a senior security officer, we got an exclusive tour of the whole building. We went inside the conference rooms where world leaders talk about their issues, and we went to the garden, which is ordinarily off limits to visitors. The garden is a place where gifts given to the U.N. from other countries are displayed. It’s not everyday you see gifts from other countries like the “Sleeping Elephant” given to them by Kenya or the“Japanese Peace Bell” given to them by Japan.

BASE Sophomore Sha’nya Pereira, future leader of the world, flexes her power.

Now getting into more of what we do inside the workplace. We work in multiple groups: media production, software development, hardware, marketing, and writing.

Another artist in the group, BASE Sophomore Christian Pavia, drew artwork for the Bronx Senior Storytellers project.

The Media Production team is currently working on a project called Bronx Senior Storytellers where small groups of students go to the Mid-Bronx Senior Center and record interviews there. The seniors always welcome them with warm smiles and they always have so many stories to tell that it’s incredible. Hearing Stella Savage who was directly affected by racism, Ann DeVaughn, and how she was part of a labor union, Mary Smith and her travel from Ghana to America, and Nina Allen and how she felt about Martin Luther King Jr.’s death was inspiring; you really connect to the seniors and what they have been through.

Multiple generations of BASE students take a photo with Mary Smith, aka Mama Tech and everyone’s grandmother. Her story will be published in Families and Community on The Glass Files.

“I enjoy being an apprentice to Sarah because she’s outgoing and at the same time proper when using the editing software. She has really taught me the way of trial and error. I feel like the first 2 weeks I was gonna do nothing and I wanted to do editing. But then after the first 2 weeks I started having to work extremely hard just because it’s my passion.” – Anthony Carty

Many of us got to participate in transcribing after capturing the 2 hours of interviews we filmed with the seniors at Mid-Bronx.

The Marketing team focuses on posting stories for The Glass Files about trips, work days, and day to day experiences. They have put together a thank you letter to UBS, invitations to community members to come visit the work site on Presentation Day, and they are also posting on different social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, and Instagram. It’s nice to use other social media platforms for education purposes and not just for fun.

Miguel Sanchez of MetaBronx, Mass Ideation and The Rize talks about how what we post on social media reflects on us as individuals.

“I’ve learned how to use different social media websites and it has helped me develop social skills and how to share information more efficiently.” – Shamar Folkes

The Writing team works on the writing aspect of different projects such as a Corporate Social Responsibility document where we acted as CEOs and had to manage a group while writing it. We also helped the Media team on transcribing footage of the seniors, and the Marketing team with posting on The Glass Files. The Writing team has also been working on assignments like writing narratives of interviews with people like Stella Savage from the Mid-Bronx Senior Home and Esmarlin Fernandez, a student from BASE, and then posting it on The Glass Files.

“The writing team has been a learning experience and has taught me many skills in the aspect of writing. The corporate social responsibility document was a big project for us. I found out that writing isn’t as easy as most people think.” – Joseph Vito

Super-apprentices who have a year or more of working at MetaBronx under their belt support Sam Clegg and the Writing team with their experience.

The Software Development team brainstormed ideas to fix bugs on The Glass Files website. The team then sends that information to the senior developers to code and fix the website based on the analysis they came up with. An example of an issue we solved is a notification error that wouldn’t let you know that you’ve been invited to a Family. Those small flaws can drastically affect your experience on the website so that is what we aim to fix.

“A challenge has been finding a way to a fix a problem… I find that the information I learned here has been useful because if I get a job in coding I can use what I learned.” – Shaheed Ganie

Juniors, Seniors and recent graduates from BASE reconvened at MetaBronx this Summer to lend a hand and share their knowledge with the new Sophomore arrivals.

The Hardware team is a small group that keeps all the computer and media equipment in good working order, and helps with fixing up the building both inside and outside. The Hardware team doesn’t have a set office space, they are based in the hallway so they can rapidly get the necessary tools and go wherever their skills are needed for everyone’s work to continue smoothly.

Their biggest projects were to configure the work site’s computer network to connect all the laptops, doing partial refurbishing of one of the local file servers, upgrading the lighting and ventilation systems in the bathrooms, and building a suspended shelf in the music studio.

“My biggest challenge was coming early, from nine to two, and another problem was our supervisor being strict – but a type of strictness that i hadn’t experienced before, more productive. I also had a problem with adjusting to a new personality.” – Edryan Canario

We have learned an immense amount during our time at MetaBronx. Being in this program has helped us develop new skills. Like any new experience, we had ups and downs. In general we were all really overwhelmed working in a new environment, working with new adults that aren’t familiar to us. This job has helped us learn what to do and expect in the real world when we’ll have to go out into the workforce. We are so lucky that we have this amazing opportunity to be involved here and to work with extraordinary people!

Takhim, valedictorian BASE ’16, currently a college student at SUNY Buffalo, was one of the first students from The Bronx to become an apprentice at MetaBronx and The Glass Files. In this photo, he troubleshoots the Wi-Fi network while CTO Philip Shearer and BASE Sophomore William Madigan do maintenance on the servers.

–

Authors

Story by the Writing team: Tomi Adetunji, Joseph Vito, Christian Pavia, Esmarlin Fernandez, Edryan Canario. Media preparation by the Media production team: Anthony Carty, Jonairy Castro Audain, Ruth Mejia, managed by Alondra Flores. Event production and business development by the Marketing team: Dylan Montero-Zamora, Emely Leon, Ijay Browne, Jose Mejia, Mohammed Islam, managed by Sha’nya Pereira. Liaison between Marketing and Software teams: Shamar Folkes, Iyani Walcott. Coding and technical implementation by the Software team: Edward Yeboah, Handruliz Nova, Joshua Otto, Muhfasul Alam, Shaheed Ganie, William Susman, Yabraj Jassi, managed by Takhim Haque and Elias Gabriel. Equipment and work space made possible by the Hardware team: Abhishek Heer, Amit Dhar, Jayden Rivera, Freemen Black, William Madigan, managed by Alejandro Daniel. Special projects (the sanity team): Carlos “Slime” Garcia, Isaiah Lee, Fernando Silverio, Victor Rodriguez, Elias Alvarez. Photography by Jon Mannion and just generally everyone.

–

Sponsors

The MetaBronx Summer 2017 program and the MetaBronx Fellows cohort were made possible by a collaboration between:

CareerCLUE, a joint program between the NYC Department of Education Office of Community Schools and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development https://cye.cityofnewyork.us/initiatives/careerclue/ https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/jobs-internships/summer-youth-employment-program-syep.page

Riverdale Country School https://www.riverdale.edu/

Bronx Academy for Software Engineering (BASE)

Here to Here https://www.heretohere.org/

DreamYard https://www.dreamyard.org/

SoBro https://www.sobro.org/

scenyc https://www.scenyc.com/

Mass Ideation https://www.massideation.com/

Ozzie Coto

[andrebooker7532]

Michael Schrage on high-impact innovation: An interview by Bob Morris

Michael Schrage is a Research Fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business and a Visiting Fellow at Imperial College's Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He examines the various roles of models, prototypes, and simulations as collaborative media for innovation risk management. Hsecurity community on cyberconflict and cybersecurity issues. He has presented workshops on design experimentation and innovation risk for businesses, organizations, and executive education programs worldwide.

Along with running summer workshops on future technologies for the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, he has served on the technical advisory committee of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. In collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Schrage helped launch a series of workshops sponsored by the Department of Defense on federal complex systems procurement. In 2007, he served as a judge for the Industrial Designers Society of America's global International Design Excellence Awards.

Michael authored the lead chapter on governance in complex systems acquisition in Organizing e has served as an advisor on innovation issues and investments to major firms, including Mars, Procter & Gamble, Google, Intel, BT, Siemens, NASDAQ, IBM, and Alcoa. In addition, Michael has advised segments of the national for a Complex World (CSIS 2009). He has been a contributor to such prestigious publications as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, strategy+business, IEEE Software, and the Design Management Journal. In his best-selling book, Serious Play: How the World's Best Companies Simulate to Innovate, published by Harvard Business School Press (2000), Schrage explores the culture, economics, and future of prototyping. His next book, Getting Beyond Ideas was published by Wiley (2010). His latest book, The Innovator's Hypothesis: How Cheap Experiments Are Worth More than Good Ideas, was published by MIT Press (2014)

Here is an excerpt from my interview of Michael.

* * *

Before discussing The Innovator’s Hypothesis, a few general questions. First, who has had the greatest influence on your personal growth? How so?

Certainly, my parents. But since adolescence and university, I would unhesitatingly say my friends and, of course, my wife. My friends and I take friendship seriously and we don’t indulge each other’s weaknesses even as we respect that no one is or should be without flaws. I like and admire my friends – and my wife – and they all give me superb perspective on what it means to try to be a good person. There’s a wonderful conversation to be had about "satisficing" and "optimizing" in this context but this isn’t the place.

The greatest impact on your professional development? How so?

These are more awkward than difficult questions because – of course – that’s not the "unit of analysis" I would use. Certainly, my time as a Washington Post journalist/columnist had an enormous impact on me. I was in my early 20s and dealing with extraordinarily powerful, extraordinarily influential, extraordinarily smart and extraordinarily competitive people in a challenging environment. But the same could be said about my fellowship at MIT’s Media Lab back when Nicholas Negroponte was running it.

I’ve always – always! – made a serious effort to learn from my professional interactions. Best case, I learned from the very best about what made them "effective" and what make them tick. At worst, I gained greater insight into myself and my limitations. I became much more sensitive to the reality that great intelligence, great influence and great competence did not necessarily correlate with good character – and vice versa.

Years ago, was there a turning point (if not an epiphany) that set you on the career course you continue to follow? Please explain.

Yes. I was collaborating with my best friend to design and build new software back in the 1980s. I slept on his couch and we worked together for a fortnight but nothing was coming out of us but frustration and bad arguments. Here we were – two really smart guys who liked and trusted each other and were committed to doing something great – but we were getting nowhere. This made no sense to us and we were both getting depressed.

Rob finally said, "Look, I know a guy – he’s a bit of a nut – but he’s come up with an interesting technology and approach to getting people to work together. We should see him." I skeptically responded, "What is he? A therapist? We’re going into couples therapy now…?"

But Rob said it wasn’t like that and so we went off to Bernie’s. Long story short: Bernie had hooked up a Mac to a Limelight projector and simply facilitated a design discussion between Rob and myself. As we talked, our conversation was made visible on a large screen. We began talking to each other through the screen; that is, the focus of or attention and communication was the shared space of our screen-based conversation. We began to move the words and phrases and then pictures and graphs. To use Bernie’s phrase, "We could see ourselves being heard…." This meeting directly led to our design document and a real breakthrough in mutual understanding and awareness. I "got" it.

This simple computer-augmented conversation had a huge impact. It was, forgive me, transformative and led directly to my first book about collaboration. I am fascinated, struck, and compelled by how technology can amplify and augment who we are and what we can do not just for ourselves but with each other. This has been central to my academic research and advisory work. I had vaguely appreciated and understood that before the conversation with Bernie but that episode crystalized/galvanized and every other kind of ‘ized’ that into an epiphany.

To what extent has your formal education been invaluable to what you have accomplished in life thus far?

Invaluable is a tricky word. Honestly, only three or four formal classes (and teachers) were truly ‘invaluable’ in my conceptual and/or intellectual development. My classes with Doanld Michie on AI; a couple of ‘history of economic thought’ seminars and workshops. A matrix algebra class.

There are only a handful of formal educational experiences I can or would point to as being integral to my professional development and effectiveness. That said, being in those environments – having opportunities for informal exchanges, projects, mentorship, apprenticeship, etc. – was imperative to success. Bluntly, most formal learning mechanisms didn’t fit with my personality, curiosity and aspirations. Fortunately – or unfortunately – I was clever enough to always do "well." But doing "well" and learning lots aren’t the same thing. I was genuinely interested not just in learning but in understanding the fundamentals and most of the subjects, courses and teachers I had in formal environments simply were unwilling or unable to provide that.

What do you know now about the business world that you wish you knew when you went to work full-time for the first time? Why?

I wish I was – or had grown up to be – more of a "people person." I never really cared that much about being liked or disliked. Don’t get me wrong. I like and enjoy people but – except for my friends and certain colleagues – I pretty much never cared if someone liked me or not. People can tell if you don’t care and this can be off-putting to many, many people.

In fairness to me, I kinda "knew" this before entering the business world but thought my energy, drive, intelligence and ability to collaborate with anyone would render the need for ‘likability’ irrelevant. Lord, was I wrong.

Of all the films that you have seen, which – in your opinion – best dramatizes important business principles? Please explain.

This is a funny question for several reasons. First, the films I truly enjoy literally have nothing to do with business and/or business principles or ‘learning.’ They’re simply great and wonderful films like Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lady Eve.

But I was thinking as I was preparing some exec ed classes, what films I could draw on to make certain points clearer or more emotionally compelling. I confess the first one that immediately leapt to mind is that wonderful scene in Walk The Line when the record producer tells the Joaquin Phoenix/Johnny Cash character that the audition was perfectly adequate but absolutely nothing special. He asks him to sing something that really, really, really matters to him….the one thing that would define him. Then, of course, Cash and his combo step up to deliver it. I thought and still think that scene is wonderful because it beautifully captures the recognition that you need people to listen to you perform and then frame your creative challenges in actionable ways. You have to give people the chance to do the right thing. You have to be willing to listen to people try to be their best.

So to come back to your original question: I think there are many good films with several great moments. But what you ask is not how I experience the movies.

From which non-business book have you learned the most valuable lessons about business? Please explain.

That question is brutally unfair: I read and have read a lot. Again, I don’t read books with the intention of applying them to business practice. But I would say that the non-fiction genre that has had the greatest impact on my business thinking and behavior has been in the history of economic thought and psychology. That is, how theories of the mind and creativity co-evolve with the history and perception of value.

In terms of fiction, as rich and compelling as I’ve found "the classics," the honest truth is that science fiction – the willingness and ability to conjure up alternate planets, life forms, cosmos, physics, etc – has proven remarkably helpful to stimulating my own business/research imagination.

Here are several of my favorite quotations to which I ask you to respond. First, from Lao-tse’s Tao Te Ching:

"Learn from the people Plan with the people Begin with what they have Build on what they know Of the best leaders When the task is accomplished The people will remark We have done it ourselves."

Yes. But what do we want empowerment to feel like? How do "the people" then "self-organize" to take the initiative in ways that traditional leaders can’t?

From Howard Aiken: "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

Not in my world. In my area, there’s an openness and willingness to play with and explore ideas. Then again, Aiken was at Harvard; I’m at MIT.

From Richard Dawkins: "Yesterday's dangerous idea is today's orthodoxy and tomorrow's cliché."

Yes – but only when people decline to revisit the fundamentals.

From Isaac Asimov: “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but 'That's odd....'”

I couldn’t agree more.

From Thomas Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”

Yes…and there’s a lot of C-suites debating hallucinatory quality instead of designing due diligence into operations.

Finally, from Peter Drucker: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

The false gods of optimization remain pervasive and persuasive. What we do – and appear to do well – gets a presumption of ‘worthiness’ that is frequently not deserved.

In one of Tom Davenport’s recent books, Judgment Calls, he and co-author Brooke Manville offer “an antidote for the Great Man theory of decision making and organizational performance”: organizational judgment. That is, “the collective capacity to make good calls and wise moves when the need for them exceeds the scope of any single leader's direct control." What do you think?

Well, I like "decision markets" and respect "wisdom of crowds" models of interaction and assessment. That said, I’ll refer back to the Lao Tse quote you cited earlier: I’m genuinely more interested in how great leaders – and great leadership teams – design for empowerment and collective insight. I want both.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Paul Schoemaker’s latest book, Brilliant Mistakes: "The key question companies need to address is not ‘Should we make mistakes?' but rather Which mistakes should we make in order to test our deeply held assumptions?'" Your response?

Yes…but isn’t this what we call "learning from feedback"?

Feedback indeed. Schoemaker's point suggests to me the importance of experimentation that serves strategic purposes. In your opinion, why do so many C-level executives seem to have such a difficult time delegating work to others?

Because they are control freaks (in denial) who all too often believe they’re the smartest people in their organizations or at least in any room they occupy.

The greatest leaders throughout history (with rare exception) were great storytellers. What do you make of that?

There’s an implicit issue here that demands unpacking. Are their stories great? Or are they great storytellers? I think you need both…but if I had the choice, I would go with the "leader" who has the great story to tell as opposed to being a great storyteller. Yes, motivation is important. But I am – in the first and final analysis – a substance guy. What is the substance – not just the style – of that great story? Is it the kind of story that people can understand, share, build upon, develop, turn into a movie or another form of narrative expression? I get scared when charisma can be confused and conflated with content.

My own opinion is that charisma resembles a pleasing, expensive fragrance. It smells good but don't drink it. Change agents, for example. Most change initiatives either fail or fall far short of original (perhaps unrealistic) expectations. More often than not, resistance is cultural in nature, the result of what James O’Toole so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.”

Here’s my question: How best to avoid or overcome such resistance?

Make discomfort a norm. That’s what the special forces do: No Easy Day. People have to learn to live with discomfort. To me, the question is – how much? We don’t want discomfort that pushes people or their productivity and creativity past the point of diminishing returns.

In recent years, there has been criticism, sometimes severe criticism of M.B.A. programs, even those offered by the most prestigious business schools. In your opinion, in which area is there the greatest need for immediate improvement? Any suggestions?

Yes.

1. Insist that people work in the real world at least two years before applying for an MBA. 2. Require MBA students to do/perform original research, not just analyze case studies and algorithms. 3. Appoint the best qualified alumni to serve as adjuncts and advisors for MBA projects 4. Use Executive MBA courses and classes to inform and inspire MBA curricula 5. Insist that graduates take and pass a test or assessment or submit a portfolio five years later to ‘keep’ their MBA credential

Yes…how best to balance investment in human capital development of clients, customers and personnel with investments in "machine learning" platforms, processes and systems?

My advice: Read my books!

* * *

Here is a direct link to the complete interview of Michael.

He cordially invites you to check out the resources at these websites:

MIT Faculty page link

The Innovator's Hypothesis/MIT Press link

Amazon link

Amazon link to Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become?

YouTube videos link

Big Think videos link

from personivt2c http://employeeengagement.ning.com/xn/detail/1986438:BlogPost:194037 via http://www.rssmix.com/

[a-memoir-of-me-blog]

imma not even proof read this....but this is a convo again, before i even met my true love

Texts to x:

idk what i was talking about....i think US and education and free education

*sent a pic from usnews.com*

“Wiener Professor of Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, believes that the last 30 years of rising American inequality can be attributed to three key factors:

The US government does ‘considerably less’ than comparable democracies to even out disposable family incomes, Jencks says. And current state and local tax policies ‘actually increase income inequality’ (in america, yeah, because people in low income areas dont use this to their advantage--future writings will make this make more sense. This is from december 2016 or january 2017...dont remember).

‘All the costs and risks of capitalism seem to be shifted largely to those who work rather than those who invest’, he said

Compounding the economic imbalance is the unlikely prospect that those at the bottom can ever improve their lot.”

Me: shouldnt that mean that not only should we work. But invest [in things that can help us develop--ex: infrastructure companies, and all things that benefit to the public--instead of the government being a monopoly, we (markets, the people) will put in our money to companies we like that we believe will be the best for us, and just let us give money to all these companies, that will work together since theyre all gonna do the same thing and we all just want the same thing, and they can just collaborate and make the best that they can. And then we didnt have to pay taxes and not know where it is going. In a sense, investing in companies is like paying taxes, but more transparent and more control of where your money goes--which is to support a company to do x,y,z to help benefit your community and/or country]? But like….thats not taught in school because they want to keep the power limited to only a few and not the masses (the markets, the people who all gather and pool their money in all of these companies that will then go to work together and make the best thing they can make) lol. Oh america…

*pic from same thing*

“Hendren, along with Harvard economists Katz and Raj Chetty, now at Stanford Uni, looked at the lasting effects of moving children to better neighborhoods as part of Moving to Opportunity, a short-lived federal housing program from the ‘90s. Their analysis, published in May, found that the longer children are exposed to better environments, the better they do economically in the future. Whichever city or state children grow up in also radically affects whether they will move out of poverty, he said”

Me:Power of association!! And media flaunts the “low-income” area lifestyle...and they keep the cycle going! Gotta learn the system (the cycle). Exploit it. Give back to education and other welfare shit [but only let them pay if they 1. Waste our help 2. Are greedy 3. Keep fucking up more than enough times that we can afford--which i assume is where an actuary would come in--keep reading because i mention more to this with prison, media, college tuition]. BUT. I think the the biggest thing to give back is knowledge (of surroundings, their influence, give them power to empower them, let them be them and not what media makes them want to be, not what their surroundings want them to be) and the confidence and the belief that we all can come together and learn of ourselves, our difference (and explain to one another why--but it always goes down to that we are human and just want to survive) and to learn to get the power from within us already, and use that and use things we learn and use them for good. Use this and that part of what the world offers and tie them together and make it for the good of all. Knowledge of self, history, psychology, cycles is power. Power over our human. Our flaws and ego and pride.

Me: we think that public things arent ours (when they literally are--we share them--it was our taxes--so that the government can do this and make it available for us--but yeah, it has no explicit value--we paid with taxes--we will think it is not worth it and not good--but thats where people who do value this PUT THEIR OWN VALUE IN IT. then they abuse it and fuck it up for everyone and as a result….we wasted….as a result, we inflate. As a result, we fucked ourselves over. We as people in a democracy rely on one another...so stop stealing. Stop wasting. And with this mindset, then we know we are obligated to have it and it is evenly given to us (because we gave it to ourselves!) and we help not just other people, but you help yourself.

Me: however the only issue i see is that middle class people who are really trying their hardest to survive out here are definitely the ones who deserve more. (Their market is getting smaller, but they are paying more (is it because it will then add more people to middle class? But those below us dont use it to their true full advantage to educate themselves and move up from their surroundings and change their lifestyle around). And thats where middle class working people will then have to cut down on keeping their minds and bodies healthy--they overwork with unhealthy food--that makes them lose money and unhealthy--and that makes them become poorer and poorer. We ALL can do something about this. And i think that for working class middle class people, they shouldnt get health insurance benefits--but rather things to AVOID getting it, because 1) they are still getting unhealthy because they are still in the system and 2) continues for them to keep paying into these things--and instead pay to innovations in food, and making sure the planet is okay, there isnt an imbalance in one thing that can tip something and cause a famine or extreme weather or a drought or have too many certain animals and how that can throw off the whole ECOSYSTEM.) their quality is getting worse and worse because they have to settle for less (government stuff--which we give to) and they are paying more and more (...so instead of doing that....instead of getting food from this and that with harmful things on them...instead of making yourself sick, give yourself life! Ensure yourself and your health and your life...or you can make your own company and run your own self sustaining home and life and have balance--and teach others, and give to them). We cant even buy good things for a good quality life. Housing. Goods. Etc. like. Food is the BEST remedy and preventor. Get healthy food and you keep your health. Its worth spending your money on that, instead of then having to spend it on things mentioned before. Same with education and spreading knowledge and ideas and giving it all back. Because it is a chain reaction. We are all interdependent. Be smart. Be empowered. Give yourself power. Get rid of the money. Dont be afraid to let go of that bc if you dont, you are afraid of your true life. Give live and power to yourself. Get health. Make sure you are healthy. Eat healthy. Live healthy. Feed your brain healthy things. If you have to, live in a shitty area for cheap, but your environment doenst define you. What you put into yourself (that true life) is what defines you. You can define yourself.

Me: and because they get taxed so much, ppl cant afford to go to school because they are just trying to make it alive (and they get stuck in there. And they go to drugs. They go to crime. They go to temporary satisfaction. They get a girl pregnant and they cycle continues and/or gets worse.

Him: yeah but knowledge costs money a majority of the time. Education costs thousands. GOOD education reaches the hundred thousands (my reply rn: UMMMM. Doesnt matter!! That is subjective!!! Life is always the same! But it depends on the PERSON! Do you find value in something because you put your efforts in it? Someone can have a SHITTY life, but they can either learn from it, or let it USE THEM and OVERPOWER them. They are giving their circumstances the power over them, when they can take that circumstance, learn from it, gather knowledge and ideas and MAKE IT BETTER FOR THEMSELVES!)

Him: i agree we should fund our own shit (my reply rn: yeah we should, but then whatever we get...USE THE BEST OF IT, even if it is small, because you are gaining experience and knowledge and you can take it all and add it all up to make it enough for you!)

Me: like people arent making enough. So they cant rely on the government alone. They need to learn the system (aka take what they were given. Use the lessons. Take it all apart. Rebuild it to make it better for yourself...afterall...the system is there because you let them….so make the most of it...spend more money on healthy food...spend more money on books. Spend more money on travel. Spend more on living! Everythingggg is interdependent)

Him: public water fountains, parks, etc...would be so much cooler and cleaner. How would you use the system? If you dont control the system? (ummm….i have control over myself...i dont let the hate, and greed, and all those 7 sins all around me corrupt me). If you wanted to control the system (which i dont at all. I want to liberate people from their fears that they feed into them and then provide a solution to get money off of them and repeat it….we can innovate without having the extremes happen...see one flaw and fix it! Before the whole thing collapses!) you need to be the one giving the government money and that requires hundreds of millions (unless we all stop living in the grid and in the system that they made for us and be more self reliant on life sustaining things and happiness….then we dont need money...at all lol). We could have it all if all our tax dollars didnt go to war (which is the extremes that happen….but we let things keep falling and getting worse…)

Me: so then they can 1) afford to live. Not just live and make it. But to have a healthy good quality life that they can actually enjoy 2) fund a better education for kids, aka, the future of our country and our world. (so we dont get stuck in the cycle) and we need NEW ideas. Because were stuck in a patriarchal and oligarchy society (which i will write about later on about how females were actually the ones who run the world--and we still do--but it is the man who is given too much power and wants more and more and then will attack their giver and keep all of the incoming ones down) ALSO! READ MY SHIT! MY STUFF THAT I WROTE IN ENGLISH CLASS! Because I do mention that we can educate more people and improve the country in the long term. Instead of sending them to war with bad weapons and for a temporary profit that is only good for the short term and for one side. But for the long term? And the longer and wider term? It doesnt work. And it sucks for not just america, but then any other place we connect with through trade and all that other stuff and it gives us the result of having to shoot ourselves back down. Whatever we do short term, comes back in the long run in a bad way.

Him: and there hasnt been a new system of eons. Capitalisn, facism, democracy, and communism is the best humanity has been able to do. Yeaeh we can do a lot more than 50% of our taxes going to us lol

Me: Communism will stop growth. And its just not in our human nature (or any nature). Because we need incentives….we need to work for an unknown set up and set it up (the bar) for ourselves and see where we go from there. We need to not just know what we get and/or dont get out of x,y,z….but its what drives us and what makes us take risks to then go to our highest point

Him: hmmm. The incentive in communism arguably could be that you want the best for everyone (MY SIDE NOTE...or they just want everyone to just be their puppets and set everything up in their way….which is close to dictatorship and totalitarianism and extreme authoritarianism….). Like you dont want anyone to be homeless so you give up your mansion for an average sized home so that maybe 10 more people can have average sized houses who never had a house. (or….we all can be given all these things….like set with all the greatest and biggest things ever...but if we dont put in the effort and the time….then that will just become smaller and smaller and we lose our own value that is already within us…..)

Me: Yeah but that wouldnt be fair if we all get the same and one does wayyyy more than someone else and they get the same. (thats like someone who is a sinner, but the more someone wastes and the more they do this and that….then it will be more repentance they need….which is imo, something that would be a good college structure. Get a set salary, and if the teacher passes x amount then they get a raise from the people who set it. However, if a student still decides to fail...then they must pay back for what the professor may have been given the raise for….or they can just pay for what they failed bc the teacher had a set tuition and gave their best to teach these kids and not let them put the knowledge to waste...it would teach kids to really apply what they are learning in the time they are given and be smarter and choose smarter, etc….because they dont want to work for x amount of time just to repay the teacher….or….students can get a stipend for their efforts and continuous good grades...which could also act as a positive praise….like there is a negative punishment where they take something someone likes to punish them….or they give them something they dont like….which is suffering something in some form). Human nature doesnt work that way. We need to change the mindset and let people think like this: do your best. Educate yourself. Empower yourself. Dont let the bad 1% of the 1% fuck u up. Try to get involved. Voice out your opinion correctly and strong and respectively and still listen to other opinions and then put that one together and then you can make a good and/or maybe better deal. And spread it

Him: but then its not fair that most people have to be at the bottom for others to be successful

Me: (ummm….started from the bottom….duhhh lol. Its the effort!). No..because we will be educated and school would be available. And tbh. We ALL have the tools we need to succeed. And yes...it will be harder for others because they started at the bottom and/or they were oppressed (and again it goes to their perseverance and their risk taking and how they calculate this and that and knowing what they want and why..because every view that is higher than where they were is always better than the one below….so never really have expectations. But go in increments of getting it done….because then you will be happy you got there, and be happy you have more than what you previously had and then you can use all that you used before, like the leftovers, and then add more to that from where you are now and then how you can get even higher...kinda like exponential growth). But they need to use the tools more resourcefully. Like yo. We got the internet. That has everything on there and it connects people and knowledge and thats just expansion waiting to happen...and the reward feeling will be beyond them. Theyll be super happy. Share and spread how. Their stories of success and it will inspire people. And thats why people think education is being wasted and not as valued as it should be anymore (because a lot do waste it and its because they are just another cycle…) people dont use it to their best advantage and they dont realize how advantageous it is, so it only SEEMS like it is getting people nowhere. AND on top of that (culture), there is a lot of entertainment and superficial things out there that distract them. And entertainment takes the education process out. I reallllyyyyy think education and learning in general is great. And i do think that entertainment can be cut down lol. Like idk. Raise prices for those things and make people get pushed out of that due to the fact they will waste mad money and time on it and not get anything in return. I actually want to be an educator. But not the typical one. Just empower people and put emphasis on autonomy and using resources out there to their best ability and even get creative about it. Emphasis on self education, reading, thinking deeper, questioning underlying things, learning outside of school, connecting things and how things affect what and who and why and how and where it all starts and what the time was and repeat that. How to actually improve things and do research and develop our own thoughts and stuff, instead of just rioting and protesting and boycotting and strikes. Instead of when there is a problem, dont fight with nothing….go make something. Because again…..that damage will be reflected in our own tax money….so really take these things and use them to make it better...i think knowledge and questioning everything you THINK you know...and wonder if it is rlly you or just what THEY want you to think (which is what DJ Khaled is trying to tell us)

*sends pic from usanews.com*

“‘Its definitely been a strategy’ to justify starving government resources, which in turn weakens it and makes it less attractive as a tool to accomplish big things, said Skocopol. ‘In an everybody-for-themselves situation, it is the better-educated and the wealthy who can protect themselves’”.

The middle paragraph tho. They already have a huge privilege to be in school. I have the internet and books too so i can even further my knowledge. However, that is not accessible to everyone. And they will be left behind and isnt it a constitutional thing that we ALL have the liberty to use things to achieve our pursuit of happiness?

[irenenorth]

New Post has been published on Irene North

New Post has been published on http://www.irenenorth.com/writings/2017/05/health-care-benefits-the-rich-takes-from-the-poor/

Health care benefits the rich, takes from the poor

For nearly a decade, Republicans complained the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, had been shoved down their throats. They said it was passed too quickly and no one had time to read the bill. On Thursday, May 4, the Republicans in the House of Representatives did the same thing, throwing the entire health care system into chaos.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 217-213. It is a $300 billion tax cut for the richest 2 percent of Americans. It is not health care reform.

After the vote, Senator Bernie Sanders said:

“The bill that Republicans passed today is an absolute disaster. It really has nothing to do with health care. It has everything to do with an enormous shift of wealth from working people to the richest Americans. This bill would throw 24 million people off of health insurance – including thousands of Vermonters – cut Medicaid by $880 billion, defund Planned Parenthood and substantially increase premiums on older Americans. Meanwhile, it would provide a $300 billion tax break to the top 2 percent and hundreds of billions more to the big drug and insurance companies that are ripping off the American people. Our job now is to rally millions of Americans against this cruel bill to make sure that it does not pass the Senate. Instead of throwing tens of millions of people off of health insurance, we must guarantee health care as a right to all.”

If you are a Trump and/or Republican supporter, you were conned. You now have a hard, and difficult, lesson to learn. For two years, I’ve been patient when speaking to you. I’m sick and tired of heartless bastards who don’t want to help their fellow man.

You are going to lose your health care because you didn’t want to take the time learn how the ACA works, nor did you appreciate its benefits and protections. Rather than fixing and improving the flawed ACA, Republicans are dismantling it, returning America to a time when medical bankruptcy was common and tens of thousands died each year because they could not afford care. Republicans who still believe this won’t affect them will not receive any sympathy when it happens to them.

You are uneducated. You consistently vote against your own interests. Voting for people who told you they were going to take away your health care is only one drop in the ocean of lies you have believed. They don’t care about you.

To the family with the autistic child who said their child would always be taken care of. I told you so.

To the family with the child with cerebral palsy who said they weren’t racist and Trump was going to make sure their child would have health coverage and special education classes, I told you so.

To the cancer survivors. You now have a pre-existing condition and the ACHA won’t cover you. I told you so.

Political Commentator Robert Reich also commented

“America has the only healthcare system in the world designed to avoid sick people. Private for-profit health insurers do whatever they can to insure groups of healthy people, because that’s where the profits are. They also make every effort to avoid sick people, because that’s where the costs are.

“The Affordable Care Act puts healthy and sick people into the same insurance pool. But under the Republican bill that just passed the House, healthy people will no longer be subsidizing sick people.

“Healthy people will be in their own insurance pool. Sick people will be grouped with other sick people in their own high-risk pool – which will result in such high premiums, co-payments, and deductibles that many if not most won’t be able to afford the cost.”

Tom Edsall’s column in the New York Times explains why it is unlikely Trump supporters will listen. They don’t respond to evidence. They respond to emotion. Trump and the Republicans know how to manipulate those emotions so the people they harm will still point their fingers and place the blame on the liberals.

Fox News has been quick to jump on that bandwagon, stating that health care for people with pre-existing conditions is a luxury.

According to CBS News, the top 11 states with the highest percentage of people that have pre-existing conditions all voted for President Trump. In Louisiana, 30 percent of people under the age of 65 have a pre-existing condition.

Larry Levitt, of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, says the bill “does not automatically eliminate coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.”

“What this bill would do is unleash debates in 50 state capitals around the country about whether people with pre-existing conditions should really be covered and protected,” he said.

The AHCA also eliminates the 10 essential benefits of Obamacare – outpatient care, emergency room trips, in-hospital care, pregnancy, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse disorder services, prescription drugs, rehabilitative and habilitative services, lab tests, preventive services, and pediatric services.

If you’re a man and you don’t want to pay for pregnancy, maternity and newborn care because you’ll never use it. Yeah, you did. Your children had this care. Your wife had this care. You were once a baby. Your mother made sure you had the best start in life and now you want to wave a big “fuck you” to anyone else who’d like the same thing you had.

Anyone still curious why erectile dysfunction is covered in Trumpcare/AHCA but sexual asslt, rape, C-sections & postpartum depression r not? pic.twitter.com/jlpdDNF0HS

— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) May 5, 2017

The MacArthur Meadows Amendment allows states to opt out of some essential health benefits requirements as well as the requirement that insurers not charge more for people with pre-existing conditions.

The bill’s MacArthur Meadows Amendment would allow states to permit insurance companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. Bizarrely, the term “pre-existing condition” applies to sexual assault, postpartum depression, C-sections, and victims of domestic violence…

Ironically, the Amendment itself states, “Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting health insurance issuers to discriminate in rates for health insurance coverage by gender.”

Who is going to report a rape or sexual assault if it means you’ll later be denied vital medical care?

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said he is considering opting the state out.

The Upton Amendment, sets $8 billion aside for high risk pools. CNN cited the national average of Americans with pre-existing conditions is 27 percent. There are nearly 325 million Americans. 27 percent * 325 million = 87.75 million. That’s $91.17 or, split over five years as the bill proposes, is $18.23 per year. That’s what the House of Representatives has set aside to help out people with pre-existing conditions.

That’s enough for a bottle of Tylenol to take the edge off the pain of being screwed over by your government and your fellow man who supports this bill.

Defenders of this garbage believe in the philosophy that you failed as a human being by being sick. They say you should live a healthy lifestyle, practice preventative health and save using HSAs while contributing to a catastrophic plan. Again, they place the blame squarely on the sick person.

None of this is going to prevent you from a faulty liver or genetic kidney defect. It’s not going keep you from getting MS, lupus, asthma or a long list of other conditions, many of which can kill you without proper treatment.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said Trump “will own every preventable death.”

“It represents fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and even newborn babies with heart diseases or cancers that are too costly to treat without affordable insurance,” he said.

Perez also slammed the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill for exempting members of Congress and their staffs from losing the healthcare bill’s popular provisions.

“As if this attack on ordinary Americans weren’t reprehensible enough, Republicans in Congress might keep ObamaCare’s best protections for themselves and their staffers, as they rip them away from their own constituents.”

Paul Ryan said in 2009 about how the ACA was passed. The AHCA has held no hearings, there have been no studies, the CBO analysis is not complete and the text of the bill was only circulated 16 hours before voting. So who actually read the bill?

https://youtu.be/3mtZ60AvDQY#t=8m04s

Thomas Garrett, admitted on MSNBC he had not read the bill and his staff in his office read all the parts of the bill. Joe Barton said nobody really knows how much the bill was going to cost.

Is the ACA perfect? No, but it has a 65 percent approval rating and can be improved. The Republicans refused to do that, instead, voting for health care plans that will be unaffordable.

The GOP took health bill that had the approval of 17 percent of the American people, went back to the drawing board, and made it even worse.

— Al Franken (@alfranken) May 5, 2017

Our society is broken. We no longer have empathy for and are not willing to help our fellow man. It is literally killing us. Our life expectancy is decreasing, projected to be on par with Mexico by 2030. We lead shorter, less healthy lives than people in other high-income countries.

I’m still of the belief that no matter how ignorant and hateful you are, I will continue looking out for you and for the betterment of society. The basic necessities should never have to be a choice between food and medication.

That means as a childless American, I pay taxes so others are educated. I pay taxes so I can be assured the police and fire departments are there when/if I need them. I pay taxes for the ACA so people poorer and sicker than me don’t die. I pay taxes so a child doesn’t go hungry. This is my participation in civilized society.

If we continue down this backward path, our nation will crumble. No one can predict what their health is going to be like. We ought to be lifting one another up and making sure everyone is taken care of rather than living by the motto, “I’ve got mine, so screw you.”

Take a good look at the Republicans who voted for this bill. They are the real death panel. Hold them accountable.

If you want to learn more, follow this link to more articles or check out this list of things that weren’t widely reported in the media.