Swedish Chef

I won't be around for approximately a week. Gotta go to Sweden and hang out with these fine, young women. Bly is attempting to join the team. 

posted by Russell @ 4:49 PM Comments : 2

Learning from experience...

“I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.”
--Arthur Hays Sulzberger

Disclaimer: Yes, recent events did prompt me to write this. But I’m not writing about any one person or any one instance. I’ve encountered these sorts of practices all over the place and I’ve probably engaged in some of them *myself* in the past. I think people described by the “Left,” “Right,” “Middle,” Christian, Atheist, Buddhist, male, female (&tc) do these things from time to time. But, I’ve noticed it more from two select groups lately.

Now, I'm not saying that an entire group of people holding a certain shared ideology engages in this same frustrating inconsistency and general whining, but I've noticed it enough now to comment on it. Do as I say, not as I do sums it up nicely. Two occurrences will be discussed herein -- 1) a large number of those people who I come into contact with purporting to be "open-minded" and "tolerant and accepting" can neither be described by, nor live up to, their self-imposed labels and 2) the same people who mock Christians for being simple and backward redneck yokel types who are incapable of defending their ideas, when confronted with an intelligent and complex argument, usually respond with accusations that the Christian is being elitist and condescending. Damned when we don't and damned when we do.

What a nice little niche they've carved out for themselves in the interest of supplying their own cognitive dissonance to deal with the massive amounts of psychic angst they must feel. Wait, I should back up here and say in plain terms what I mean so that I'm not accused of sitting in some ivory tower speaking over the heads of those poor souls who only want to be talked to as fellow human beings -- I'm saying they are able to rest their heads at night and get sound sleep because they feel superior to those they mock and deride as "close-minded" by telling themselves they live up to some ideal their ilk has identified as being goal-worthy while those they mock do not. Wait, even that's complicated and confusing for those without the luxury of a fifth grade education. Forgive me. They tell themselves they are open-minded, but it seems that the degree to which their minds are open have caused their brains to fall out and splatter on the floor. They tell themselves that their views are correct and worthwhile and if everyone would only listen carefully and patiently and really think about things, people would probably come to agree with them and everything would be better off. Let's hold hands and live out our days in our ultra-progressive wonderland!

This is easy to do as long as they are confronted by those who are as unwilling to actually defend a position as they are, but there comes a time in their lives when someone confronts them not with diatribe and blind hate speech, which they deal with quite well, but with actual thought out and logical discourse defending a position. This new creature can actually defend and give reasons, arguments, and explanations as to why they hold their views. Categorically, this new creature often shares the label of ‘Christian’ with others who do not and cannot defend their views. Or, other times, it’s those with the label ‘Skeptic’ that are derided as being “close-minded.”

They scratch their heads and mutter to themselves, "We're able to deal with this new beast -- we're educated and modern! We don't hold to these backward views and so we're obviously right." They continue, "And who do they think they are, talking to us like they're teaching a class! We're humans -- just appeal to our humanity and we'll all get along!" The time now comes to argue their point and they babble endlessly about how stupid, silly, insulting, and archaic the new beast's arguments are and they pat each other on the back and chalk up a victory for themselves without uttering one statement in defense of their position. Rather, they claim bias, attack, and hurtful ad hominems when none such has occurred. They're insulted and outraged that someone disagrees with them, all the while pointing their fingers and mocking those in disagreement as silly, close-minded, and mean; downright venomous. They invite debate and even say that through discussion we'll be better off -- but it seems the only people they want to discuss anything with are those who agree with them. It's very easy to be in the company of back-scratchers and yes-men. But, through cognitive dissonance, they are able to lie in bed and congratulate themselves as people who suffer fools patiently and listen to the opposition. They love being so tolerant, accepting, and "open-minded." The lack of introspection is baffling and offensive.

I’ve seen this in two very disparate venues. Christians offering philosophical and well thought out arguments for their belief system are often greeted by cries uttered by pop-philosophers and arm-chair atheists. These cries revolve around the idea that the Christian sits in an ivory tower and writes to obfuscate and confuse. One Latin phrase is all it takes to send these people into a whirlwind of accusations and appeals to be talked to like a fellow human being. Abandon all that book learnin’. When, not moments ago, these same people mocked and laughed at how stupid and unlearned Christians are. How very unmodern and archaic their beliefs are! How sad it is that these Christians blindly follow without thinking for themselves and without being able to form a logical argument – surely such belief is directly contradictory to the ability to logic. In this way, these people can continue to firmly push their fingers in their ears and loudly proclaim, “LALALALAAAA! Christians are stupid! Christians are mean! Christians yell and scream and say you’re going to Hell! I don’t have to listen to that – I’m above it.” They don’t have to listen to the Christians who do, in fact, engage in such hate speech and they can ignore the more thoughtful Christians who offer defense of their beliefs, moral codes, and opinions.

The other venue at which I’ve noticed such goings-on is a forum discussing paranormality and skepticism. The Skeptics are often treated as their Christian counterparts in terms of finger pointing and labeling as “close-minded.” They offer arguments and examples as to why psychics aren’t really talking to dead folks (for example) and are called mean, rude, and hateful for their trouble. By believing them to be mean, those who purport to have evidence of paranormal activities can disregard the Skeptics’ logic and discussions.

Ad lapidem fallacies are often used by these people in order to assert that they don’t have to listen to or entertain an argument with a reply because it is absurd and false, obviously. They never do show how it is absurd or how it is false. They make the claim and hope no one notices that they haven’t backed it up. Ad hominem fallacies are used to assert that they don’t have to entertain arguments from Group X because we all know members of group X are mean and ignorant. “Christians’ arguments should be ignored because they think I’m going to hell, they think I’m immoral, they think I’m evil. You can’t know or comment on abortion because you’re not a woman. You can’t talk about sex because you’re a repressed Christian.” On and on the merry-go-round spins.

Oops, there was Latin in that last paragraph. There I go showing off and being elitist.

People, pick up your brains, shove them back in your skulls and try to practice what you preach, what you require of other people. Stop hiding behind claims of personal attacks when faced with differing viewpoints. My point of view is not an attack on you. Own up to the fact that you either can’t or won’t defend your positions. Either do that or actually live up to your claims that you want and enjoy actual debate, because I’ve learned from experience that you don’t actually want the discussion you claim to love – you just want to be able to go to sleep at night telling yourself how progressive you are. How super you are for living up to the lofty ideals your in-group has identified as being worthwhile. You say you want discussion and debate, but when confronted you run and hide and throw yourself a pity-party.

You cut off all the microphones. You take your ball and go home. You create yourself in the image of a martyr. You get that smug satisfaction that you’re still right and you’ve done everything in order to ensure that you’re not blind like those stupid, stupid Others. When, in actuality, you’re hiding under the sheets at home wearing a tin-foil hat.

posted by Russell @ 2:59 PM Comments : 5

Apathetic Bitches...

Did any of you go to Project Implicit and do some of the tests? If not, DO IT. If so, feel free to share some of your outcomes.

Turns out I have a strong bias for the mountains over the beach -- something I knew, but it's nice to have implicit validation. My ego and id are at peace on that one.

posted by Russell @ 3:13 PM Comments : 5

Tapping the Subconscious Keg

Project Implicit uses the Implicit Association Task (IAT) to test for biases and inherent personal preferences for one group over another. Often, these groups are well-known targets of racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, or controversial subject matter. Some of the tasks will tell you if you prefer "straight" to "gay," "white" to "black," and even "hip hop" to "classical" music. It's pretty quick and fun.

I used the IAT in my research a few years ago until I abandoned it for a more straight forward reaction time test -- the lexical decision task. What I study is more nuanced than implicit biases so getting any kind of significant differences in my research was difficult using the IAT. The potential discrepancies produced when using the words and pictures Project Implicit uses are probably much easier to analyze and have much greater effect sizes, making the IAT appropriate.

You should all go and sign up for the research portion. It's fun and you might learn something about yourself.

So far I've learned that I have little to no preference for "Jews" over "Muslims," I have little to no preference for "Hip-hop" over "Classical" music, and I have a slightly stronger association between "black faces and weapons" than "white faces and weapons."

Take the test yourself and see what I mean.

posted by Russell @ 4:54 PM Comments : 1

A vague approximation of me living in South Park. 

Via Eponymous.

Do yourself (hehehe) here.

posted by Russell @ 2:32 PM Comments : 0

Nooooooo...

R.I.P. Mitch. Mitch Hedberg is dead. I feel fortunate that I saw him do his thing on stage once in Atlanta. Much the same way I feel fortunate for seeing Lewis Grizzard in Augusta before he died.

posted by Russell @ 9:13 AM Comments : 1