Pizza Partisanship

   Pizza Partisanship


Paul Krugman, in today's (3/6) NYTimes points out that under the rhetoric of personal choice and "no nanny state," Republicans  are reaping most of the food companies' political contributions, including 99% of Pizza Hut's substantial funds.  
But without food labeling, which most Republicans oppose, how informed can personal choice be?  Meanwhile, health care costs attributed to US obesity increased by $315.8 billion in 2012, with additional costs in lost wages, decreased productivity, increased transportation, etc.

I object to NYTimes reviewer today calling calling the goshawk in Helen Macdonald's new book "vicious." There must be several words  besides anthropomorphizing to call this brand of thinking, and all of those words invidious.  When will we ever get over thinking that the natural world is no more than a reflection of us humans and our lives and our values?  I know I'm exaggerating here, but it's thinking like this that has brought this beautiful world ever closer to ruin. Goshawks kill to eat, and probably they enjoy eating, it's as simple as that. If there's any parallel, it's that we need food to eat to keep going too. Except that we've removed ourselves from the nitty-gritty of how the food comes to us and we unfairly label the animals who still gather their own food.

EBS Global Documentary_Goshawk, the Soul of the Wind Spot

Tina Fey's book Bossypants is full of wonderful one-liners that might also be true observations on life.

For instance, if you're thinking of coming to live in NYC, she suggests trying out one of its many  nail salons: "Sit in an enclosed space full of fumes and hold hands with a stranger for twenty minutes while everyone around you speaks a language you don't understand. If you enjoy this, you will enjoy the 6 train." Or the 7, or ....

Do we understand yet? A bit more.

Larissa McFarquhar's  largely sympathetic New Yorker  article (3/11/'13, p.48+)  on Aaron Swartz's suicide is worth reading; it helps solve some of the many puzzles about how Swartz thought about his life, the world, the future of the internet, and personal relationships. The article includes copious quotes from his father and many friends, posts from his blog -"Stealing is wrong.  But downloading isn't stealing." (p.56), and additional backstory - he had previously hacked Westlaw and PACER databases without consequences - and  "At M.I.T. hacking was a tradition ... rarely punished." (p.51). 

Your Brain on the Internet

Am impressed by Cathy N. Davidson's  thoughts in Now You See It (Viking, 2011) which is about learning, teaching and the Internet.

Some relevant quotes: College is a place to learn how to educate oneself rather than a place in which to be educated (p.116).  "We need to test students on how critically they think about issues of the digital age -- privacy, security or credibility (127)." On  crowdsource grading: Democratizing of who can pass judgement is digital thinking (110). "  New modes and methods are needed for "a generation of kids who, from preschool on, have been transfixed by digital media (62)."

Quotes by themselves do not do justice to her thinking about 21st century education, all the while many others are wringing their hands or floundering,

Monetizing Jesus and the God gulf

Nicholas Kristof, in contrasting the life of the Rev. John Stott to other evangelical Christians, points out that Stott was very far from the preachers who monetize Jesus in preference to emulating him.  Stott was a scholar and did good works; he has much company in those qualities among other evangelicals still living.

Humanitarian-minded folk, some Christian, contribute to the "God gulf" by ascribing the distasteful qualities they perceive in some evangelical leaders to all who believe that way.

How much more good we could accomplish if religious and secular together would overcome the "God gulf."

Kristof, Evangelicals Without Blowhards, NYTimes, 7/31, SR 11.