[lit-ideas] Re: T'AINT FUNNY, MCGEE

From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "lit-ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:11:06 -0500
> [Original Message]
> From: Steve Chilson <stevechilson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 12/9/2006 3:57:02 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: T'AINT FUNNY, MCGEE
>
> On Sat, 9 Dec 2006 00:04:48 -0500, "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> said:
> > Industrialized nations are in the process now of making super babies. 
>
> Yeah tell that to the birth rate in industrialised nations.

> It's called honing, isn't it?
>

Industrialized nations want quality, or perhaps "quality", not quantity. 
Quality is a modified version of I think it was Pascal who spoke six
languages by the age three or something along those lines.   The kid
becomes a vessel for accomplishments, not unlike Jonbennet Ramsey.  He
disappears. He's there to make the parents proud and that's it.  It's a
very painful place for a child to be.  It's been known for years that
anorexic girls are high achievers.   Pascal (if I have the philosopher
right) had a breakdown at some early point in his life.  High achievers
tend to be driven people, basically empty on the inside, feeling never
quite good enough, always earning love and acceptance.  When one is
hurting, it's easy to hurt others, i.e., not behave very morally.  By
definition honing is done to something that's imperfect.  Kids today don't
grow up.  They're honed because they're not good enough as is.

As far as simple, yes, it's simple to raise happy, secure people.  Is it
easy?  No, unless one was lucky enough to himself have had a secure adult
for a parent.  Most people aren't lucky, including Dubya.  His father was
POTUS, but he was a lousy dad.  To turn the world around without a magic
wand it would take several generations of actively teaching parenting.  I
would wage that if people knew what real parenting involved, a lot of them
wouldn't have kids.  

For Julie, just wondering what parts you don't agree with from that other
post?

For David, no surprise that the Man on the Clapham doesn't believe in
global warming.  Joe Average is not usually neck to neck with scientists,
who say global warming is very much a reality today, and that it's too late
to stop it.  All we can do is slow it down.  One of the hazards of
democracy, which is it's basically mob rule.  People are so uninformed it's
beyond sad, and what little information they do get, they get from oil
companies, cigarette companies, car companies.  I've stopped worrying about
it.  Like with Iraq, when it blows up and is really, really obvious is when
Joe Average will get the message, and then they'll vote the rascals out
again.  BTW, I read actually back in the 1980's in the Wall Street Journal
that it's not the farts but the burps that are methane laden.  I remember
it because I wrote the company newsletter at the time and I did a cute
little story on it (summarized the article).  Maybe the WSJ editors
preferred talking about burps than farts.   About that same time I also did
a story (also probably from the WSJ) on gopher oil, growing oil laden
plants.  Looks like we're still growing those plants, not much has changed.



------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
[lit-ideas] Re: T'AINT FUNNY, MCGEE

Other related posts:
