systemic racism in standardized testing

more evidence that separating people statistically by race reinforces racism, in far more serious ways than its results could ever make up for.

This is intuitively obvious, but some people are just too thick.

Ron Paul, political outsider, shakes up prez. race

Ron Paul's giving the mainstream a shake-up; is he too much of an outsider to make a difference? will he split the republican vote? or the Democrat vote?? He's not just saying what people want to hear, he's saying what people believe, what real American Conservatives believe but mainstream news won't report.

Plus, both his names are monosyllabic first names.

the biggest mistake ever

I'm reading this book, The Metaphysical Club, which has a totally pretentious title but is just about American History, and I'm thinking about the French Revolution and how it was totally f*d, esp. after seeing Simon Schama's The Power of Art on PBS about the painting "the death of marat" and I came to a terrible hypothesis.

What if the American Revolution is responsible for the hundreds of bloody, miserable, terrible failed revolutions which have swept Europe and the third world during this century? Have we, by not loudly clarifying what actually happened in our own history, tacitly provided the groundwork for bloodshed and terror?

What did happen here that was right? Why have other cultures failed, even ones outwardly more civilized and culturally accomplished than ourselves, such as France? The crucial distinction is that Americans were defending an existing civilization against arbitrary rule. Ours was a formality, a political revolution. The French sought to reform their society, it was a cultural revolution. The French were destroying an existing civilization to set up a new one. It tore them to shreds and a lesser people wouldn't have survived- in fact, less cohesive civilizations everywhere have not.

A revolution has never created a free and just society. that world must exist, however repressed, and must be strong and resilient enough to withstand the shock of war and the ensuing power-grab that is inevitable in the wake of overthrows and depositions. A revolution can only free the underlying society - often when that is not strong enough, something much more terrible is unleashed.

We are at fault for not sharing this information that we are so close to- and it is never said; maybe we are too close to it to see. But our laziness has inspired not only the French, but countless (well I'm not going to count them, at least) revolutions in the name of 'freedom' and 'the people'. Unfortunately, almost all have been the French model, a revolution to spontaneously generate a fair and just society, I do not know of an instance of a vibrant and strong existing society throwing off its oppressors - maybe Iran? but they seem a little delusional lately...

It all comes down to the fundamental building block of society- trust, between neighbors, friends, colleagues, strangers - our revolution was to defend that trust, cultural revolutions break it in order to remake them in some ideal way. The most eminent intellectuals and philosophers or strongest political leaders and orators will never be able to create that trust, it is made every day by you and me.

the lives of men, cont'd

How many people are out there, wandering around, maybe far away or maybe just a mile or two, that you rarely see and yet are so important to you? There are probably a dozen people out in the world that I continue to count as my best friends, people I value the most but maybe haven't seen in years - but if I saw them tomorrow it would be like no time had passed. The obstacles between us - oceans or busy schedules - do not lessen the bond between us; I am sure it's true both ways. This is something, it seems, particular to the lives of men, and a lot of girls have a hard time with. I wish I could explain that, even if we don't hang out every week, or talk about every detail of our lives, you still mean as much to me as the day we left. I hope that's true of you, too.

So, basically, don't worry if I don't like to talk on the phone.

the right to privacy?

What is this right to privacy, and where did it come from? I ask non-rhetorically. At what point did this arise? Maybe a reaction to the shock & shame of realizing what we had done re: Japanese internment? Or, what? In a democratic society, assuming individuals are free, where no God is allowed judgment over another's followers and no despotic organization dictates our actions and rations our opinions, who is to judge? Perhaps this mantra is the fruition of the hippie generation's "don't judge' attitude, as well as their willingness to obscure the truth as long as it attains what they feel is a greater good. No founding father obsessed over the right to privacy, and I speculate that no upstanding Athenean ever did either - although I wonder about the state of the idea in the hedonism of the rotten & crumbling late Roman Empire, I suspect they were a bit more concerned about it as well.

So, what are all these people hiding? Why demand this "right" that hasn't got much historical root, or even social justification? If an act must be kept private, either those that might see it could be rightfully suspected of using the knowledge of that act in an immoral way (blackmail, etc), or the act itself is immoral. Boomers don't believe they have ever done anything immoral, so the first condition must be the guilty party.

Im my humble opinion, this obsession with privacy represents an abandonment of civic life, of democratic and free discussion, a statement that one's neighbors' opinions have no bearing on one's own- a contradiction of democracy itself.

If you are so just, why not share your justice as an example to your fellow citizens?

to clarify....

just to clarify.... i cited my dad's youth as a contrast to my own & not to hold him up as an example of the bmw/mcmansion type. He's an enormously creative mind whose depth & breadth (& generosity & patience,- things that bear directly on our relationship!) I don't think I have ever encountered in annother, and I doubt I ever will.