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 RED & BLUE COUNTRIES

NEWSWEEK (2009) 9/14

BEGLEY/29

PINK BRAIN/BLUE BRAIN

A new book by Lise Elliot meticulously goes through thousands of studies on sex differences. She notes that biological findings are few or overstated and that parents role cast their daughters and sons into big differences that are big problems later in life.

I have been through this battle in the classroom. The first was innate superiority of males.

The second debate was the brain and the blank slate and that women and men were essentially the same. The third debate was of biological reductionism of the Reagan era. The fourth was the evolutionary psychological emphasis on bio difference, but gender learning. This should become the fifth. How much are women and men a like? This is especially true in which the changes in gender roles have taken place. This position almost returns us to the blank slate argument although that premise is dead.

Elliot maintains that changes are generally determined throughout life through learning and labeling. If her case proves valid and holds up, one may still see that males must deal with some horrible obsessive sex drive imagery most of their life and that women must face biochemical changes in menstruation.

It may be that if this holds up, the little variances among the two are still magnified because of both culture and biology. Women generally are smaller and they and some smaller males learn to deal with people in similar ways. However, larger males and some females work directly with others. For those most part, smaller means COY and larger means RUT.

After all of this, I can not see how the biochemical does not impact the sexes and that even so,

opportunities for women will continue to increase. Further, in straight on the street open aggression, larger males will probably dominate. Beyond that when institutionalized stratification kicks in, sex role variances may diminish.

If this position retains validity, one can see that sex role exaggeration is harmful. Further, that in the long run, females and males are not the same, but very similar.

RACE DISCRIMINATION

BRONSON AND MERRYMAN 52-60.

Even babies at 6 months see racial differences. This goes on throughout life. Children see racial differences. This of course incorporates culture. However, race ultimately is

part of the family discussion. By high school, the desegregated high school is segregated.

It appears that most everyone has a friend of another race, but that most of the time is spent with one’s own race and ethnic group. The cafeteria is not an even mix. Most groups have their own group and the most desegregated area is where the athletes eat their lunch. Even which door a person enters becomes racialized.

However, that is the snap shot now. In the years to come with the colorizing of the country, we may not find differences.

TIME (2009) 9/23

OUT OF WORK

RAMO/ 26-32

We are now just at the cusp of beginning to grow again. However the new normal may be a lot less full time jobs that we remembered years ago. Globalization, radical free trade,

NAFTA, outsourcing, can shrink the number of people who have what was called a 

full time job. One may have a series of part time jobs put together. For the Labor Department, if you have 32 hours of 3 part time jobs you are fully employed.  Or you have a 6 month contract to work at a certain industry or service company. All of this has been a long time coming. The Great Recession just magnifies it. If you want a job, you now must research it. Look for longevity and stability.

All this means that a Mcmansion can have 3 to 5 families living in it. The kids don’t leave home. Or, the basement has been fixed up and has been rented. Little houses with space making interiors may also be affordable for 1 or two families.

THE RESPONSIBILITY REVOLUTION

STENGEL

More people are spending more responsibly than in the past. Not only that, but they are saving money. Capitalism is changing. So will life style. The Great Recession will last a long time. It was caused by deregulation and the ability to make and rate loans that were

hard to understand and were questionable.

WHAT IS GOING ON INSIDE YOUR DOG’S MIND?

ZIMMER 66-70

From the latest research, this is about dogs. Over the years, there has been a selective process in reproduction of many dogs, but not all. There are some mean ones and their biology plus socialization encourages us to reach for pepper gas and or run.

However, the majority of dogs become our kids. When they die, we bury them in the backyard or we keep their ashes in our home. When a dog dies, it is like losing a child.

So have we learned? Dogs are not the smartest animals, but they are the most socially sophisticated. Their social skills are well like humans. If you point to food under one

non-transparent cup and not another cup that is just like it, they get the message. When you continue to point but to the cup without food they go to the non-food cup.

Now comes some secrets, when you come home, they are excited to see you, but would also like it if you vomited some food for them to eat. They go through enormous and incredible gestures to get your attention and keep it. The easiest to hustle gets the most attention. When they go in the house, they see you and they go through the motions of looking guilty. Don’t believe it. They feel bad that they got caught. Now it is time to figure out how to avoid the worst punishment. They run or crawl to the easiest person to hustle.

In other words, they are teaching you new tricks all the time so that they can become

the leader of the pack. When you are at work, they are sleeping or playing with a toy.

They will watch television with you as long as you take them outside ten to fifteen

times a day.

In the end, they are the boss, but they want you to think that you are..

THE WEEK (2009) 9/18

FALK/ 7

RED AND BLUE AMERICA

With the continuing divisions and hostility in the USA, why don’t we just separate. So there would be the Union of States (Obamaland) and the Confederacy (Limbaughland.)

Now you know this is not going to work, but well…let’s play with this.

CONFEDERACY OF STATES

It includes:

Border states, Deep South, Texas, Southwest to Utah and Arizona. Federal tax would be about 10%. State and local would vary. There would be a flat tax, poll tax, private schools, no Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Unemployment or funds for research and development. Official religion would be  Fundamentalist Christianity. Gays and person of color would be slowly out migrated.

UNION OF STATES

The Union, would be from New England, Great Lakes, Plains, Mountain, West Coast, Colorado, and Nevada,. Federal tax would be about 40%. State and local would vary. Domestically, you get Sweden lite.  Overtures are made to unite with Canada.

This hopefully would be a Velvet Revolution and Division. In the Confederacy, there would be more changes and questions about how much counties have compared to each state as well as what currencies(s) would be used.

Then there would be some issue of diplomacy and international relations. The Conferates wanted to break so many years ago. The fight was first over the secession and then the use of slavery. Those would be resolved. On balance, it would be a lot cheaper to build a business in the Confederacy. Thus, the Union would have to reconsider what would be involved in the costs to attract business. On the other hand, many professionals that live in the south may head north. Both countries may borrow from the other about ideas dealing with domestic tranquility, social governance, and production output.

It could a long time and  be a real nightmare. Can’t we all get along? Maybe.

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

JACOBS, A. J.

There is a new therapy that asks the patient to only be completely honest. That means that you say what you are feeling at that moment. If you don’t wan to go to work, you go to work, but tell your boss that you hate the job. There are numerous examples of lies that we say that still will get us supposedly to heaven. You sure smell today! I would like to have sex with you some time this afternoon. Well, the author took the therapy, but soon found that he was a social isolate. Who would want to like him? Further, others started throwing things back at him.