I'm sitting in my office at home this afternoon watching TV. Not on my TV mind you and not my local stations. I'm watching local news from New Orleans and Houston while writing this post. Now there's nothing new about this and those of you who might happen across this post on the net, or are under the age of say 30, are going to say "well duh!" Well, take it from an aging guy who grew up watching 3 channels, and served as a human remote control, this is amazing.
Now, the question becomes is it good? In general I believe more information is better than less information. That said, instant information can be a double edged sword. On the upside, anybody who cares can get all the information they desire from a variety of sources previously unavailable to them. However, instant access has degraded the quality of journalism and has clearly contributed to the sensationalization of journalism. It has created the concept of "scud studs" and "hurricane heros" and with the possible exception of NPR and PBS has all but eliminated in depth reporting.
That said, am I contributing to the dilution of news? I haven't watched this much TV news in some time and if it weren't for the storm I probably wouldn't be today. Are the media simply giving us what we've asked for?
Friday, September 23, 2005
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Volunteerism
Last fall I volunteered to help out with my son's Cub Scout pack. Little did I realize that by volunteering I was to become the Cubmaster. You think after having volunteered for the Navy I'd know better.
As part of my work with the Cub Scouts over the last 9 or 10 months I've meet a lot of parents and concerned citizens. However, it has come to my attention that the leadership of all of the civic groups in my small town is the same.
Now somebody is going to tell me "yeah, it's Pareto." 80% of progress comes from 20% of doers. I know, I'm being naive and this is nothing new. It is however a curious thing that people complain about the doers but can't get off their butts to contribute. Which leads me to one of my favorite quotes:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
President Theodore Roosevelt (http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm)
As part of my work with the Cub Scouts over the last 9 or 10 months I've meet a lot of parents and concerned citizens. However, it has come to my attention that the leadership of all of the civic groups in my small town is the same.
Now somebody is going to tell me "yeah, it's Pareto." 80% of progress comes from 20% of doers. I know, I'm being naive and this is nothing new. It is however a curious thing that people complain about the doers but can't get off their butts to contribute. Which leads me to one of my favorite quotes:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
President Theodore Roosevelt (http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm)
An overhead conversation
Well, it's been many months since my last posting. I wanted to share a few things from my summer.
I had the opportunity to take my son to speech therapy a few weeks back. It was shortly after the bombings in London. We had an hour break between sessions so we went to McDonald's for some father-son bonding, and dinner. While there, two young ladies came along and sat at a table beside us. Their "conversation" went something like this:
Blonde1: Did you hear about London?
Blonde2: Yeah, are you going to the dance?
Blonde1: Yeah, did you see what she was wearing?
Blonde2: Yeah,.....
They talked for about 20 minutes on 20 topics, no one topic given any more thought than a single question. There wasn't a statement or response during the whole "conversation."
Am I getting old or is our society doomed?
Yeah, but did you see what your boss was wearing today?.......
I had the opportunity to take my son to speech therapy a few weeks back. It was shortly after the bombings in London. We had an hour break between sessions so we went to McDonald's for some father-son bonding, and dinner. While there, two young ladies came along and sat at a table beside us. Their "conversation" went something like this:
Blonde1: Did you hear about London?
Blonde2: Yeah, are you going to the dance?
Blonde1: Yeah, did you see what she was wearing?
Blonde2: Yeah,.....
They talked for about 20 minutes on 20 topics, no one topic given any more thought than a single question. There wasn't a statement or response during the whole "conversation."
Am I getting old or is our society doomed?
Yeah, but did you see what your boss was wearing today?.......
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