It Wasn’t Always So Easy

Be the Change

 

We participated in a polite act of revolution this morning. Mary and I attended the “illegal” ordination of a woman as a Catholic priest. She’s our neighbor so we would be disposed to be nice about it, but more importantly, we wholeheartedly believe in the rightness of the act. God blessed it and approves, even if the church can’t get there yet.

The Power of Apology

Whether or not you are a Christian, this author’s view makes ethical sense to me. I’ve become upset many times by the views of people parroting the old propaganda about how killing those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki “saved more American lives”, “shortened the war” etc. We don’t know that. We can’t know that. Some believe it to be true. Some don’t.

Killing innocent people is not justified, and can’t be (in my view) by unprovable hypotheses about the positive effect the killers ASSUME the killings will have (or did have) upon future events. There were tens of thousands of children under age five killed in the two atomic bombings. There were hospitals in both cities that were obliterated. Even if you subscribe to the idea that Japan had ordered “every man, woman and child to fight to the death”, it seems insane to assume infants, toddlers and hospital patients could ever have been a threat.

Historians are on both sides of this issue. Some say the documentary evidence makes it crystal clear that once Russia declared war on Japan between the two bombings, Japanese high command sued for peace, believing they would get better terms from the Americans – thus making the bombing of Nagasaki completely unnecessary (i.e. mass murder). Other historians downplay the influence of Russia’s military actions on the outcome of the war with Japan.

I’m not a historical expert. I’m examining the question from a philosophical position of pacifism, one that rejects the theory of “just wars”.

The Workshop

I have admit, I haven’t followed American news much at all since being here.  It’s pretty much what shows up on my MSN homepage and Facebook feed.  But something, other than the horror that is the presidential campaigns for both parties, caught my eye the last few days.  Not from a lot of people, not the headline by far, but just enough to sadden me once again at the state of the American Church.

A few of my friends have posted at how appalled they are that President Obama dared to apologize to the people of Japan for dropping the atomic bomb on them in WWII.  They point to how it saved hundreds if not thousands of lives which would have been lost in battle.  They argue that Japan deserved it after attacking Pearl Harbor.  They shout that in war, you do what you have to do and make no…

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Protests, Incitement, and You: A Primer

Since I’m not an attorney, my opinion about Trump not suffering a loss of “free speech” even when protested, is unqualified. Here’s a more qualified explanation of what is and isn’t covered by the First Amendment, for the enlightenment of general readers.

The Hipcrime Vocab

First, a disclaimer. Although your Mulligan is an attorney licensed to practice in the district courts of the United States, nothing in here should be taken as legal advise, and is presented for educational purposes only.

Second, we need to talk about candidate speeches and protests. Candidates from all sides of the aisle have seen their political rallies interrupted this election season. Some of these candidates have reacted better than others.

So what are the legalities of this situation? Have a primer.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Very few people actually understand what the First Amendment and “free speech” or “free expression” mean. The first, and most important, lesson here is that the First Amendment only applies to government action. That is, no private entity, be it corporation or person, can violate your free speech rights. If your neighbor kicks you out of his backyard barbecue because your speech offends him…

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Viewing Primaries as a Sale

It’s an interesting primary season in the USA. There’s nothing unique about it if you have a decent education in our history, or world history. But people want their own lives to be momentous and unique, and they will cling to that illusion in the face of a mountain of evidence to the contrary. That’s the problem with logic. It doesn’t provide as much adrenaline as emotion does. Trade, the process of buying and selling, is what emotionally engages most people.

I’m an odd duck, by my nature, training, and experience. When I complete an exam and end up with superior diagnostic views of a difficult patient, the doctor and I trade “high fives”. I get the same rush as if my home team won the Super Bowl. But before and during the actual exam, I’m in a logical headspace, calculating radiation dosage, distance, part thickness, tissue composition and photographic factors needed to produce the best images. Because I’m hyper-focused on the math and science, things like a wounded patient’s cries, or the wiggliness of a five year old with pneumonia don’t distract me. I do the job. It’s a kind of meditation exercise.

I tend to employ similar methods when I vote. I do research, read and watch interviews, carefully go over candidate web sites, trying to extract facts from the sales pitches. I’m not immune to appeals to my emotions, but they had better be smart, backed by facts, and honest. When candidates employ half-truths, I hold the behavior against them, like a grudge. I don’t like feeling like I got “sold” a candidate. I want it to be my unfettered choice to support or oppose them. But I think I’m atypical. I believe most people enjoy it when candidates give them attention. And it affects their vote choices.

Political campaigns are not run like scientific professions. They try to employ some science, internal polling, demographic strategies and such, but most of the money and effort go into persuasion, marketing, branding and affirmations of allegiance – all ways to appeal to emotion. In sales, this is the IQPC Model: Intro, Qualify, Pitch and Close. These are “Four Steps to a Sale” practiced by millions each day. There are other versions of this concept, but this is the one I learned working in retail sales many years ago:

1.) INTRO – You manage and control the first impression, greet the customer (voter) warmly with a word or two about yourself, establishing your desire to be helpful while inviting them to engage further.

2.) QUALIFY – Through questions, you (the seller) gain a quick understanding of the customer’s (voter’s) desires, needs and their budget. This allows the seller to separate those most likely to buy from “looky-loos” (uncommitted browsers).

3.) PITCH – The seller presents the product in a way that most closely matches the goals of the prospective buyer (determined by the qualifying questions).

4.) CLOSE – The seller asks the prospective customer to commit to the sale. Closing is the most important step, and there are different styles and methods for closes.

There are lots of ways to derail a successful sale. The seller may offer a poor INTRO, after which all efforts will be more difficult. The QUALIFY may be mismanaged by asking questions that do not provide enough information about what the customer needs, wants, and if they are willing and able to buy. The PITCH will not be persuasive if it ignores the customer’s goals, or can’t fulfill them. More sellers fail when CLOSING than at any other point in the process, because asking for the sale is harder than chatting and getting to know each other.

There are lots of ways to analyze political candidates. You can view them through the IQPC lens too, since voting is a type of transaction, a sale. Here are my short performance reviews of some recent and current presidential candidates, according to the Four Steps model:

Carly Fiorina, businessperson, former candidate for Senate

INTRO = 50/50. Good backstory that was partly deceptive.

QUALIFY = Poor. Failure to judge customer needs.

PITCH = Poor. Misjudged voters interests based on poor Q.

CLOSE = Could not close after two previous missteps

 

Ben Carson, retired Neurosurgeon

INTRO = 70/30 Excellent backstory marred by probable deception.

QUALIFY = Poor estimation of customer goals and desires

PITCH = Worst of entire field of candidates

CLOSE = Unable to close due to previous mistakes

 

Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey

I = Poor. Entered transaction with reputation as a bully/RINO

Q = 50/50 Misjudgment of customer interest in aggressive policy approach

P = 50/50 Adept in debates but off-putting behavior soured the sale

C = Passed customer off to another salesperson

 

Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas

I = 70/30 Good resume impacted by co-worker dislike

Q = 70/30 Good rapport, but over-focus on select clientele

P = 70/30 Good pitch for target clients, bad for general custom

C = Making the sale is possible, but not probable

Donald Trump, Real Estate tycoon, TV performer

I = 50/50 A mix of obvious virtues and obvious flaws

Q = 70/30 Good customer evaluation, mistreatment of browsers

P = 50/50 Oversimplification, only convincing to some

C = Best closer of any GOP candidate. Sale (nomination) likely.

Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont

I = Good intro. Consistent

Q = Good qualifying questions

P = 70/30 Overly narrow focus on some customer needs, not all

C = Possible sale, if able to broaden appeal of product.

 

Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, former Senator

I = 50/50 Lots of positives and negatives (see Trump).

Q = Encyclopedic understanding of customer needs and desires

P = 80/20 Tendency to oversell, diminishing effectiveness of message

C = Probable sale, definite if able to refine pitch

These are my perceptions, but my readers are “above average”. I know you don’t see everything exactly as I do, and I celebrate those differences. Nothing would please me more than if you offer your own opinions of how these or other candidates have done, according to the Four Steps model. (That was a quick pitch and close.)

 

Four Reasons–From A Christian Perspective–Why Kim Davis Is 100% Wrong

Source: Four Reasons–From A Christian Perspective–Why Kim Davis Is 100% Wrong

Get Used To It

This one’s from three years ago. Sometimes I can see into the future 😀

Invisible Mikey

There’s more than one way to learn acceptance and understanding, but the fastest way I know is to make friends with people who are different than you are.

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Combating Misinformation About Vaccines

I wrote this almost three years ago. This year, it’s measles, but everything in the article is just as relevant. Vaccines do not “overwhelm” the immune system. Compared to what drugs you have to take AFTER getting sick do, they are a gentle tweak that teaches your body to identify and kill viruses that otherwise can reproduce and cause great discomfort, sometimes death.

Invisible Mikey

Working in health care requires me to constantly help the doctors educate and inform those who seek treatment.  Patients are always missing the forest for the trees, focusing on some minor possibility while ignoring obvious larger causes for diseases.

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Terrorism in the Old West

The murders at the offices of Charlie Hebdo didn’t surprise me, because of an odd personal coincidence. One of the very first movies I remember affecting me deeply as a child contained a similar incident. I have replayed this act of onscreen brutality many times in my mind.  When you’re a child, you believe what you see. To me it was history, a real incident, not drama. As a result, I have understood since then that there are “bad guys” who will kill because someone prints things they disagree with.

The Butterfly Rebellion

I’m fascinated by revolutions, new idea movements, paradigm shifts and innovative attempts to alter the course of history.

Happy Interdependence Day!

What the Hobby Lobby Ruling Means

(Picked this up via stephtheawesome on tumblr.)

Here’s another link to this popular meme: https://twitter.com/bakerbk/status/483642132750553090

Seeing Red

Redhawk logo designed by Eric Wahlquist

I have lately had the privilege of simultaneously seeing both a big and small town way to resolve controversy over the name of a sports team.

A Life of Integrity

“I like to say I’m more conservative than Goldwater. He just wanted to turn the clock back to when there was no income tax. I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.”

— Pete Seeger

Mandela

SORRY FOLKS! I’m too busy in re-certification classes to write, but I can still read at study breaks. I found this simple statement breathtaking.

Donal

A few days ago, Eric L Wattree, a regular on dagblog, posted about why he thought Barack Obama will be remembered as a great president. In the comments there ensued a discussion of who were the greatest presidents, whether Obama, Clinton, Reagan, or Carter will be remembered as great or ordinary, and what determines greatness in office.

With the death of Nelson Mandela, I couldn’t help wondering what an American president would have had to endure and accomplish to be considered in the same breath with Mandela.

Suppose Frederick Douglass, after escaping torture by the slavebreaker at Mt Misery, didn’t safely escape to the North in 1838. Suppose he had non-violently protested against the slavery condoned by the US government, then later organized attacks on US government targets. Suppose instead of being executed he had been imprisoned for almost three decades. Suppose he had led the antislavery movement from within…

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“The Obamacare Bait And Switch”: America’s Beloved Health Insurance Industry Demonstrates Why We Needed Reform All Along

Note from Mikey —

Regular readers here know how much I enjoy getting to the reality underneath the smoke and bs of news stories. This writer, a health care provider, is also a great “deconstruction worker”.

mykeystrokes.com

So here’s my advice: If you’re somebody who’s smoking hot about the Big Lie of the Affordable Care Act — you know, how President Obama told everybody that if they liked their current health insurance policy they could keep it — do yourself a favor. Avoid the county fair midway.

Because if you go, you’re apt to encounter a quick-handed scoundrel running a shell game, and that boy will take your money. Doubtless Obama should have said almosteverybody could keep their current plan, or that 95 percent could, but he apparently found that too, um, subtle for the campaign trail.

So now old Mitt “47-percent” Romney gets to call him a liar.

But while your attention’s fixed on the president’s “mendacity,” and “paternalism,” to quote one characteristically overwrought scribe, America’s beloved health insurance industry is demonstrating exactly why we needed reform all along. Certain companies are taking advantage of…

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Deflection and Projection

In this article, “Wyrd Smythe” explains some key aspects of how we achieve our points of view. I admire his ability to simplify these concepts, and present them in an entertaining fashion.

Logos con carne

In his 1982 book, Megatrends, John Naisbitt famously wrote, “We are drowning in information, but we are starved for knowledge.” What was true 30 years ago is true today at a level that is both jaw-dropping and mind-numbing. The interweb highway speeds past at a breath-taking pace; yesterday vanishes rapidly behind while tomorrow constantly barrels down on us. The sheer volume of traffic (meaning both ‘lots of’ and ‘very loud’) can be overwhelming.

I’d like to take the topics from last Thursday and Friday to a new level and talk about how we find knowledge and truth amid all that information. In a world filled with opinion and conflicting assertions, how do we tell fair from foul? When facts and expertise compete with ideology and status quo, how do we pick among them?

This is about ways to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Letter 12: October 12, 2013

(Note from Mikey —)

I’m tired of reading the opinions of people who think the shutdown “doesn’t really matter”, or (God forgive them) believe it’s a good thing for members of Congress to refuse to govern and continue to get paid FOR NOT DOING THEIR WORK – ON PURPOSE !!! Here’s someone who feels more like I do about it.

A Scientist's Response to the Government Shut Down

Dear Congressman,

 

Unfortunately for me, I have to keep writing these emails because talks have once again stalled in Washington.  However, there have been a few uplifting stories from the shutdown.  Some businesses in the D.C. area are giving out discounted or free items to furloughed workers.  Unfortunately for you, you’ll be asked to pay double the retail price.  The Ku Klux Klan had scheduled a rally on Oct. 5th at Gettysburg National Military Park, however that was cancelled due to the park being closed.  So, thank you for preventing hate speech, even though some of your colleagues have been equating the Affordable Care Act to the Fugitive Slave Act or Nazi Appeasement.  However, more scientific projects are being cancelled by the day; and in this email, I’d like to turn your attention to Antarctica.  Please, turn your body to the South as you read this, as it will…

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The Micro and Macro of Spending

The day after my birthday was my afternoon off.  Mary and I were together, enjoying each other’s company and trying to make responsible spending decisions.

Irrationalities

I’ve been hearing a lack of reason in the current debate over how to deal with our violent culture, including through gun control.  I can’t go very deep with this subject, because the flaws in these arguments are so obvious, but I still feel the need to give some simple reactions.