Spring has arrived.
Have you cleared your fields?
Are they ready to plant?
Have you cleared your mind?
Is it ready for new ideas – new inspiration?
A mind … like a field, needs care and rejuvenation to grow.
Is your mind clear. Is it ready to grow?
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Image by Brodie
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I can be found on Titter at @clayforsberg and Google+ at Clay Forsberg
Under Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States government provided financial aid and weapons to Osama bin Laden and the Pakistani mujahideen through Pakistan’s ISI, their intelligence service. This assistance was used to fight the Soviet Union in their invasion of Afghanistan.
Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet puppet regime, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was during this time that he became idolized by many Arabs. These camps and volunteers, became the genesis of al-Qaeda – the dreaded enemy of the United States.
Could anyone in the Reagan administration foresee the “unintended consequences” of this support to bin Laden and the Afghanis. Of course not. Unfortunately this was just another example of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” thinking that has so often haunted countries and alliances for centuries. The world is not so “black and white” as this thinking would assume.
We may be witnessing another bout of “unintended consequences ~ only right here at home.
For advocates, it made perfect sense to pursue renewed gun control legislation, especially in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. Twenty kids getting murdered, at school nonetheless, seemed the optimum backdrop for action.
As Congress began its pursuit though – things began to unravel. After four months, the only aspect of comprehensive gun reform that even made to a Democratic controlled Senate was a watered down bill for background checks.
When the dust settled, the bill was defeated, with five democratic senators voting against it. How can this be. Over 80% of the population was behind background checks, even a majority of gun owners.
But with the venom spewing NRA firmly entrenched in backside of virtually any senator or representative from the Midwest or South, it’s not surprising to understand the result.
One interesting number came out after the vote though. A number that’s was mainly overlooked by the mainstream media (what’s new). While 80% supported background checks, only 15% were truly upset that it didn’t pass. Support yes. Tepid support at best though. Contrast this with the NRA and it’s supporters. “The taking away of their guns” is paramount to them. No issue holds as much weight. I swear some would just as soon give up their kids then their guns. My next door neighbor here in Montana probably being one of them. I live around these people. There’s a fervor that’s religious.
I’m not passing judgement here. I’m just stating what I see and what I hear.
Last week the NRA held its annual meeting in Houston, Texas. Over 7,000 people attended, ready to get worked to words of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry and of course, Wayne La Pierre, grand protector of the 2nd Amendment (at least their interpretation of it).
The conspiracy theories were flung high and wide. “The government was here to take our guns away and it’s Obama’s fault. If we give one inch … it’s the start down the slippery slope. After all, Hitler took the guns away. We need guns to protect ourselves from the tyranny of the government like we had to in two and half centuries ago.” That’s why we have a 2nd Amendment (or so they say).
This flaming rhetoric was to be expected, especially with the liberals’ recent attempts to reintroduce gun control. The new president of the NRA, James Porter, came out and said, “Revenge is what’s motivating the president’s unrelenting attacks on gun owners today.” Apparently this comes from the fact that Obama was elected largely because of urban and minority support. These are the people that were pretty much the opposite of those attending the conference in Houston.
Porter was preaching to the choir, and they heard the message.
But there was something else he said that stuck me. And again, it was something that while being reported, didn’t seem to warrant more than a cursory mention. Porter, declaring from his bully pulpit; “We are in a Culture War.” Culture War, what does that mean?
Traditionally, the NRA’s focus has been to thwart any advances in gun control, if not for the their membership of gun owners; then for their financial backers, the gun manufacturers. While this is definitely still their primary focus … could they be broadening their platform in pursuit of more backing and influence?
Image by L. Sean Key
The “Culture War” comment seems to indicate this. But what part of culture is the NRA ready to go to war with. A natural ally in their pursuit of domination would be the religious right, the evangelicals. For some reason … guns and God seem to go together like, as Forest Gump so famously said – peas and carrot.
If there is to be an alliance between religion and the 2nd Amendment, culture would be a natural crossroads. And in the cross hairs (excuse the pun), are Hollywood, immigration, gay marriage, and abortion and birth control rights. After all, all four of these contingents voted heavily for the black man in the White House.
If indeed this alliance formally comes to fruition, the war may very well be more than just culture. Just last week the FBI said they intercepted a potential terrorist plot by a white supremacist in Minnesota. He wasn’t a Muslim. He was a down home white boy! And I doubt he’ll be the first. We can’t assume religious and anti-political zealotry is limited to Islam. Take a look at the Westboro Baptist Church, or the Posse Comitatus. They use religion to justify their paranoid, racist, bigoted, anti-government actions. And these organizations are just two or many. The number of hate groups in the United States has increased over 60% since Obama became president. Whether it’s because of his race, the economy or something else – it doesn’t diminish the fact it’s happening. America is being more intolerant … intolerant of anyone not like us.
In fact, a recent national poll of registered voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind found that 29 percent of Americans think that an armed revolution might be necessary in the next five years - in order to protect civil liberties.
And now we have the NRA and their obsession with the infamous “slippery slope,” throwing gas on the fire. It appears it didn’t take much for the Boston Marathon bombers to go sideways and cause a national “freak out.” There’s plenty homegrown terrorists who’s hate is just as strong, only much better armed … just waiting a for something to light the fuse.
Gun control advocates, especially the clowns in Washington looking for television time, can continue to go head long with blinders on ~ into the abyss. I only hope they realize they are only giving ammunition to the NRA and their brethren to further their cause.
Even if they do win, and some sort of marginally effective controls are ramrodded through Congress … their victory is only that of a battle. For the war, or as James Porter says, the “Culture War,” has yet to begin. And we have to question whether our resolve will be equal of that of our adversaries.
For every action has unintended consequences. And the question is whether we are prepared to deal with those consequences.
This post is not intended to say I’m anti-gun control. On the contrary, I’m for stringent controls. I believe the true intent of the 2nd Amendment has been trampled on by the NRA and its supports. The purpose of this piece is true bring a little pragmatism and thought into the debate. This debate is not “black or white” and whatever the actions … they will be far-reaching.
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I can be found on Titter at @clayforsberg and Google+ at Clay Forsberg
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Where are you going?
Where is your life taking you?
Are you climbing a stairway,
a stairway to nowhere?
It’s never too late to climb back down …
and climb a stairway to somewhere.
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Image by L. Sean Key
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I can be found on Titter at @clayforsberg and Google+ at Clay Forsberg
“We have a new bigotry in America. We don’t want to be around anyone who disagrees with us about anything.”~ Bill Clinton at the 2013 GLAAD Awards
We live in world of conformity. Being different, being … “not like everyone else is or like your supposed to be” - is bad. Because if you’re different, then you’re unpredictable. And most people need predictability. Their minds aren’t programmed to understand, or even accept these “outliers.”
And it seems like it’s getting worse.
In the misguided (and ineffective) effort to be globally competitive in the education world, we have sacrificed all for the pursuit of rote math and science instruction. This relentless focus has left all creative pursuits, such as art and music, nothing more than carnage in the ditch along the academic road to mediocrity. It’s like we’re programming an army of drones.
Instead of nurturing creativity, we test. Instead of teaching applicable real world problem solving, we test. And we test by filling in ovals on multiple choice tests. Easy to teach, easy to grade … and mostly irrelevant. We do this instead of nurturing art and music – disciplines proven to ignite synaptic connections, ironically the same connections used in math and science proficiency.
The march towards further standardized testing is only intensifying with the implementation of the Common Core Standards. On face, these standards don’t seem to be so bad. But digging deeper, you’ll find that the initiative is headed by David Coleman, president of the College Board. The College Board is the testing behemoth behind the SAT and all it’s siblings. Reading the signs … with its focus on math and English, Coleman’s appointment as “overlord” of American education curriculum, does not bode well for a well-rounded instructional approach.
The education dilemma in the United States has deteriorated to the point where hundreds of thousands high paying, intellectually stimulating jobs go unfilled. But it’s not so much because of lack of math and science … but lack of creativity and problem solving skills in math and science. These are skills that can’t be acquired when all attention is paid to short-term memorization designed around ovals and #2 pencil.
So disparate are these technology companies … a years worth of H-B1 Visas are snatched up in a mere three days. Foreign educated prospects have been schooled in real world application of the fundamentals. To these students, the fundamentals are means to an end, not the end itself – only to be forgotten in a couple of weeks.
Normal is not something you aspire for … it’s something you run away from! ~ Jodi Foster
It’s the creative people, the out-of-the-box thinkers … who are ones who push the boundaries and shatter the status quo. They tremble at the words – normal, or conventional. These are the “Weirdos.” The ones that don’t conform, the Albert Einsteins, the Steve Jobs, the Truman Capotes and the Orson Wells. These people “scare” other people. They scare the normal people, the ones who do what their parents did. The ones who are “politically correct.”
When this country has made strides and moved ahead – it’s the “Weirdos” that blazed the way for others to follow … often to much prejudice and ostracism. But we forget that those proverbial roads we often take for granted – were the result of the chances they took … and not us.
2013 GLAAD Awards
It’s easy to say to point to successes of the people I mentioned above and recognize them for their accomplishments. But what about the “Weirdos” close to us. The guy down the street with the dreadlocks. The Goth girl who always keeps to herself writing … always writing. Or even the boy next door that his teacher is “hell-bent” to get him on ADHD meds because he doesn’t sit still (through her boring detached lectures). These “Weirdos“ could be the next Bill Clinton or Jennifer Lawrence, both of which were bullied and looked at as outcasts. But too often instead of embracing them – we brand them with a Scarlett Letter.
They say, “all politics is local.” So is misunderstanding. So is prejudice. What you do to accept the “Weirdos” in your community, whether young or old, will help construct the flavor and individuality of your community.
And it’s how you nurture these nonconformists may very well influence the future of your community … the nation and even the world.
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You can find me on Twitter at @clayforsberg
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In the United States in the 1800′s, the term “free-range” was commonplace. Traditional American usage equates “free-range” with “unfenced,” and with the implication that there was no herdsman keeping livestock together or managing them in any way.
With the proliferation of fencing and the desire to keep poachers at bay, “free-range” quickly became a thing of the past. As of 2013, only Oklahoma practices this age-old tradition. But not only livestock has become “fenced in.”
Have you constructed a life constrained by limitations and the restrictions of others – constrained by fences?
Or are you living “free-range” … on your own terms, free of a herdsman?
Schools are designed around curriculum that is learned in increments. Learn one thing and then move on the next thing. One builds on the other. But what if you didn’t understand that first thing. How can you learn that second thing or the third, fourth or fifth. In many cases you don’t. And then you just fall further and further behind. And with that comes disengagement and very often dropping out of school all together.
When my daughter, Alex, was in 2nd grade – she went to school in Tiburon, just north of San Francisco. Tiburon is a very affluent area and it’s school system is considered one of the best in California.
One day I was sent a letter from the school. The letter read that the school wanted to put my daughter in a remedial reading class … since she couldn’t read! This came as a complete surprise to me. She was bright and curious and I was told in 1st grade in Irvine (where we lived the previous year), she was doing fine. She didn’t really have homework and I came from a family where my parents didn’t read to me, so I just missed it.
One day a week, Alex went to this “special” class. The expectations on the students were virtually non-existent. I was told if they learned two words a week that was good. It was all about self-confidence. After six weeks, and reading a book called, “Why Johnny Can’t Read or Write but Feels Good About Himself,” I took matters in my own hands.
Alex had more than enough intelligence to learn to read. But, it was obvious, the “whole language” approach the school was using wasn’t happening. Reading to a kid over and over again amounts to little more than maybe an interest in reading (which is great) and word memorization. But what if they run into a word they haven’t seen before.
Over the course of a weekend, I created a set of fifty phonics blends cards – like flash cards. I tried to think of every blend imaginable, depicted it in a word, and then a sentence on each card. After all – how would someone know the pronunciation of “tion” or “cial.” It make no sense. I thought if my daughter learned the blends then she could decipher the words … and in turn, read.
The next Monday I pulled Alex out of the “that special class,” much to the disconcert of her teacher and the principal. I actually had to sign a release. But within one month of using the the flash cards, Alexandria Forsberg was reading one grade ahead of the class!
Photo by L. Sean Key
With school budgets being just another target of austerity efforts, there’s little that can be done for those for that fall behind. Some creative and hard-working teachers put in extra hours or develop “ad hoc” tutoring programs with other students. But this is by far the exception … not the rule. And unfortunately this extra help is often done years too late, in middle or high school.
Parents need to realize the way schools operate today may not be the way they did when they attended them. I assumed “come hell or high water” my kid was going to be taught to read in school. If I was told that the instruction I provided was an equal part of the “grand scheme,” then I would have approached Alex’s education in a different way. Rather than just augment it with real world knowledge, nurturing her creativity and establishing a desire in her to always be a learner - I would have included the basics.
Unfortunately, not all parents can do nor have the time to do what I did. I worked at home, which helped a lot. But regardless, this doesn’t absolve a parents from the responsibility to take control of their child’s education. Whatever resources they can’t provide directly, they have to find access to. This is where friends, neighbors and community comes in.
This extended network of instruction and mentoring can be informal or better yet – be organized. Change your perspective or orientation. Rather than relying on the schools, view them as a supplement, as extra instruction. I know this seems backward, but what’s the alternative … mediocrity, or worse yet failure?
We can’t assume theat public education and the schools are magically going to get better either. It’s been thirty years since the report, “A Nation at Risk,” chastised American public education and demanded improvement. Reform after reform, test after test, have come and gone. And all for nothing. Our national education rankings have actually declined during this period, rather than improved. Our government is incapable at looking past politics and partisanship to actually make anything better for the future of our children. And by the systematic destruction of the social services safety net – the worse is yet to come. As business becomes more technically and intellectually advanced, their future workforce become less.
There is no easy solution other than awareness, diligence, and most of all – resourcefulness.
After all … what other choice do you have. Your children didn’t ask to be put here.
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You can find me on Twitter at @clayforsberg
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In 1876 Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and innovator, invented dynamite. At the time he was attempting to invent a substance to replace nitroglycerin, an unstable compound that killed his younger brother in a factory incident. While his intentions were good – or should I say noble, the unintended consequences were far-reaching, and not so good. To his credit, he attempted to redeem himself by creating and funding the Nobel Peace prizes.
While Ted Turner didn’t invent dynamite, nor cause the carnage the results from it … his actions may be every bit as detrimental to the American (and in some ways the world’s) societal and political landscape.
On Monday, April 15 – in the hours following what will forever be known as the Marathon Bombing, the New York Post reported casualties from the terrorism to be at least fifteen and a Saudi nationalist was being held at a Boston hospital suspected of the crime. CNN also reported an arrest had been made. It turned out only three died and no suspect was being held anywhere.
On Wednesday, April 17 – the small town of West, Texas, twenty miles north of Waco, witnessed the devastation of a massive fertilizer plant explosion. Later in the day, CNN reported the death toll to be fifty, with possibilities of more as the rumble is removed. Five days later and the majority of recovery efforts completed; the actual number of fatalities stands at fourteen … not fifty.
In the weeks leading up to the Marathon Bombing, every major media outlet covered the impending doom to come from a nuclear attack by North Korea. Anyone, and everyone who had even a remote knowledge of the situation was trotted out in front of the cameras to pontificate. Then came Boston … and it was as if the North Korean threat had vanished in a puff of smoke, a non-nuclear one at that.
Since the creation of CNN in Atlanta in 1980 by Ted Turner, twenty-four hour coverage has become ubiquitous, it’s everywhere … all the time. When Turner shared his idea of a twenty-four hour a day news network, he was scoffed by his peers; “What are you going fill twenty-fours a day with! There isn’t enough news.” Turner believed there was, and of course around the world there is. There’s things of importance, things that we should all be informed of happening all the time. In theory, the benefits of a network like CNN are enormous. The more the public is informed, the better off we all will be – especially concerning situations oversees in countries we know little if nothing about. In practice however, it turns out this is not the case.
In 1996, as a political counter balance to what was seen as the liberal leaning views of CNN, Rupert Murdoch launched the conservative Fox News with Roger Ailes at the helm – former media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. The same year NBC upped the anty with MSNBC. As conservative as Fox was, MSNBC was liberal and progressive.
While CNN lays claim to be “The Most Trusted Name In News,” the siblings it spawned claim only to ignite their bases with their endless rhetoric backing up their philosophical views. While this unbiased reporting is bad enough, it’s the endless repetition of the same stories “over and over and over” again that really does the damage. As the advertising icon David Ogilvy used say; “It doesn’t matter what you say … if you say enough times, they’ll believe it.” This repetition sets the agenda of we, the viewing public, is to deem important and a priority, no matter what the slant. It leaves little time or attention to be allocated to other worthy subjects and issues.
And this repetitive over simplification of our world does stop with CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Being no longer the only game in town; the traditional network news departments followed suit. It’s hard to believe that the only thing of importance in the world during the course of the last week is the Marathon Bombing. If you were an alien from Mars and just landed … you’d think so. And on top of it, facts seems to have little use in reporting anymore, as the above examples demonstrate. As long as there is a source, any source – the story is worthy of being published. After after, isn’t the first one out with “scoop” what matters, no matter the validity.
The networks’ rationalization of this policy is; “This is what our viewing public wants.” Well how can they want anything else if they don’t even know about it! Walter Cronkite is probably rolling over in his grave, digging at the roof of his coffin in attempt to get out and knock some sense into this current generation of so-called journalists.
So began the dumbing down and polarizing of America. And we have Ted Turner to thank for it.
Never in modern times has America been so polarized, with each side (but especially the conservatives) appearing incapable of achieving middle ground or compromising. The right reinforce their ideologies by falling in “lock step” with Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter of Fox. While the left won’t miss an episode of Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz (at least they canned him).
We see the result of this in Congress. Nothing gets accomplished. Nothing! The good of the country be damned. The only thing that matters is to further the ideology. I feel like we all jumped into a time machine a drifted back seven hundred years ago to the fifteenth century, the time before the advent of logical thought.
Not in decades have we had such an uninformed public. The majority fall for the unabated lies being spewed endlessly by Super Pacs and special interest groups. The media, both cable and network report what’s being said, with complete disregard on whether it’s the truth or not. This is especially the case when politicians are allowed airtime.
A few of the citizenry ignore this Tower of Babel babble and search the internet and beyond for news and opinions existing on both sides of the ideological fence to make up their own minds. But these people are few. And unfortunately, decisions in government are made for the benefit the special interests as they manipulate the “great uninformed” to follow the tune of their Pied Piper flute.
I’m not saying I endorse one ideological stance over another, even though I do. That’s not the purpose of this piece. Normally I try to propose a solution, a call to action. But today … I don’t have one. I believe I’m probably preaching to the choir. If you’re reading this than you’re probably one of the few I described in the previous paragraph. You’re already there.
William King, the father of the co-operative movement, advised people not to cut themselves off from society, but to create a society within society.
All I can say is too keep striving for knowledge. The more informed we are, the better our defenses are to keep the effects of the propaganda at bay. And we must band together in our communities; and as William King said …
“We must create societies within society.”
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I can be found on Twitter at @clayforsberg
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