Caught Myself

I am taking a Critical Thinking class, which so far has shown me two important things:

1. There is an assumption (at least at my college) that students have a lot of trouble performing the act of Critical Thinking.
2. I am one of them.

I have performed well in tests and assessments, but I still have a lot of work to do in order to incorporate critical thinking into my life.

On one question, the teacher asked us about a politician's point of view.  We were to choose from a list of statements that supported this politician's point of view.  One of the statements was:

•   The politician believes society has a moral obligation to care for the poor.

Keeping in mind the fact that the politician in question is a devout liberal, I raised my hand and said: "Yes."  Then the teacher raised one eyebrow and asked my if I thought that the statement was only a liberal point of view.

Again, I said "yes."

Then, I was told that the statement spoke of society's obligations, not a government's obligations.

Chagrined, I was.  I jumped to an immediate conclusion that caring for the poor was only liberal belief and not a conservative one.  Furthermore, I assumed that the monikers "liberal" and "conservative" represented a concrete set of beliefs.

Reality says otherwise.  Not all liberals hold the exact same beliefs; nor do all conservatives.

My error in thinking was that I, a left-leaning independent, knew something without questioning where I received that knowledge.  In other words, why did I believe that liberals believe society has a moral obligation to tend to the poor?

This is the question  that I should have asked before I opened my mouth.  Instead of pulling away from my biases and looking at everything objectively, I let an inner sentiment drive me blindly along.  Basically, I just parroted a sound bite that I have heard and read countless times without really thinking about it.

So, I caught myself somewhat after the fact making an improper judgement and leaping to a conclusion without giving my assumptions due thought.

John Kerry Said...What?

Regarding Snowden's decision to hang out in China and Russia whilst hiding from U.S. thugs, John Kerry took a swing at irony, and struck out:

"...I wonder if while he was in either of those countries [China & Russia] he raised the question of Internet freedom since that seems to be what he champions." (emphasis mine)

Please pardon my ignorance here, but, when Snowden issued his leak, did he reveal problems regarding Internet freedom, or privacy?  I thought he was rather more of a champion of Privacy and perhaps also Democracy.

In my opinion, having the capability to listen to and record everyone's phone calls--and then taking action--sounds more like the actions of a police state than a democracy.  Follow that up with weird statements like Kerry's, and you have the makings for another Stalinist Regime.

Really, Kerry?  Internet freedom?

The USA in Decline Like the Roman Empire?

At the height of the Roman Empire, sometime early in the 2nd century, Juvenal wrote Satire X, which in part criticized the Romans' obsession with entertainment.  It was from this work that the term "bread and circuses" arose.  Juvenal essentially complained about the citizenry in his time who sought naught but entertainment and food.  Furthermore, he decried the rulers for placating to the masses.
Obviously, there is are parallels in today's world.  Humans, on the whole, tend to feed upon the things that make them happy, and we apparently have not changed in that aspect during the past 2000 years or so.  We like to eat, and so we become gluttonous and obese.  We like to be entertained, and so we fawn upon our entertainers and live vicariously through their performances.  This is in our nature and not easily conquered.

The question I had recently was this: Because we are essentially the same in nature as we were 2000 years ago, could we, the United States of America and the world's current preeminent power (both militarily and economically), be following in the footsteps of the greatest ancient empire of Rome?

I read a bit of summary data from various theories in an attempt to answer this question.  Apparently, there are literally hundreds of theories that try to explain the fall, and they fall into four general classifications:

• General all-encompassing decay
• Monocausal decay
• Catastrophic collapse
• Transformation

So far, my money is on the economic/military theories in the all-encompassing decay group.  I highly doubt a singular cause would collapse a huge empire, unless of course that catastrophe just happened to take the form of a falling asteroid. Those theories base themselves on the devastating effects of disease, environmental collapse, or lead poisoning--to name a few.  They form some valid arguments, but the critics often make more sense.

I also lean a bit toward the transformation theories, mainly because they mesh so very well with a decaying-society approach and see history as an analogous conglomeration, instead of a sharp delineation of static periods in time. In this viewpoint, Rome didn't actually fall; it merely proceeded along an inevitable course, which continues to this day.

Some may feel that the USA is currently headed toward a destiny similar to the ancient Romans, either perched upon a great precipice or rotted thoroughly from the inside.  Perhaps a few also believe that an outbreak of a devastating disease, a la World War Z or Contagion, may collapse our house-of-cards financial institutions.  One or two people I know think a citizen uprising will oust the old system and herald in the new.

It all sounds like to much noise, these doomsday theories and ill-thought threats.  Are we really headed for a calamitous disaster, or are we just riding the same old rails of inevitability?
Like ours, ancient Rome had a complex economy.  Their wealth relied on conquered territories and tax laws.  Our economy is likewise very complex, and, although we don't necessarily pillage all the lands we now conquer, some of the great drivers of our world economy derive their wealth from resources abroad.  The USA also taxes its citizenry, but one can hardly believe that today's financial realities could ever be compared to ancient Rome's.

Or, can it?

Historians Michael Rostovtzeff and Ludwig von Mises postulate an interesting cause and effect scenario in ancient Rome, eerily similar to our own.  They felt that their market led to artificially low prices of food, which affected trade in such a way that cities suffered from food shortages.  Details of Rostovtzeff's theories can be found in volumes 1 and 2 of The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire.  Overproduction of wine and olive oil led to a large surplus with little demand, as these products were inferior to those in Greece and Spain.  Again, exports fell, causing a huge trade imbalance.

In today's world, the USA also suffers from a trade imbalance.  Because so much production has moved to other nations, we cannot provide enough for ourselves and must import to satisfy demand.

Rome's emperors  increasingly depended upon their armies as the sole source of power, especially when she campaigned to acquire lands and resources far away from Italy.  Armies needed vast amounts of resources (food, weapons, vehicles) for their continued operation.  Larger armies meant the need for more money, military supplies, and food.  The emperors had no choice but to raise taxes.

The United States currently employs the largest military force in the world.  The logistics of maintenance now are different from 100 A.D., but the essentials are the same.  The US needs money, production, and supplies if it wants to keep an active military force.  Because our exports are so low, the government has no choice but to raise taxes.

Current efforts in the legislative branches, in retrospect, call for adjustments to distribution of current tax revenues, but even one-celled organisms can see that any redistribution will only delay the inevitable: higher taxes.  Furthermore, if taxes will continue to lower for our aristocracy, then the increased burden will surely fall upon the middle and lower classes.

Ancient Rome proceeded along a similar path.  Their aristocracy suffered little from taxes, and their laws gave them many avenues to increase their wealth without doing anything illegal.  Their middle class citizenry suffered the worst from taxes, and they too gravitated toward our current 99-1 income ratio.

One happy note can be gleaned, however, from history.  The Roman emperor Hadrian reformed much of Rome's economy and set it on a better footing.  We may yet see our own Hadrian take office in the future.

The fact that several similarities exist only points to our desire to predict the future.  For example, Nostradamus quatrains, while at times seeming to describe future events, could only have done so after the fact.  Any parallels between his writings and historical events were based solely on huge leaps in subjective reasoning.

So it is with ancient Rome and the United States of America.  We have taken instances from centuries of history and applied it to generalizations in current times.  Rome's changes were glacial in progress.

The more reasoned examination of today's situation would lead to a rather boring conclusion.  Change will come gradually, yet on a logical course determined by the constant flow of actions from us all.

The Roman Empire had approximately 147 emperors rule the lands, from 27 B.C. until A.D. 1432--1459 years.  That works out to an average of 10 years per emperor.  Barack Obama is our 44th president, and each of those 44 ruled for an average of 5 years (224 years as a nation divided by 44 presidents).  Clearly, our time spent as a nation--and not always the preeminent nation--pales to the amount of time ancient Rome existed.

But, if you really have to draw parallels, then we can expect taxes to rise, exports to fall, monetary value to plummet, military power to wane, emancipation of conquered lands, and one or two really outrageous presidents. Think: Caligula and Nero...

Brave, Brave Snowden

Those of you who haven't been living under rocks should know who Edward Snowden is and what he has done recently.  To suffer banal repetition, I shall briefly explain the news.

Edward Snowden leaked documents to the Guardian newspaper which described in detail how Verizon and other like companies regularly pass private information about people's communications into the hands of the NSA, without public disclosure or sufficient justification.

Public Disclosure

The government's rote response to privacy invasion is that these things are done in the name of "national security."  They are also quick to claim that the loss of a few privileges keep us safer.

My issue with these arguments is that "national security" is an abstract umbrella for continued abuse of power.  Furthermore, the "keeping us safer" argument has no true justification, because there is no concrete object, person, or event from which we need to become safer.

History shows us that the ruling classes have always had to hide their activities from public scrutiny in order to get away with their bad deeds.  The government of the United States is no different.  Acts are kept secret when they are harmful.

This is the reason we need public disclosure on all of our government's activities.  Even the dimmest of primates understands the harmful nature of lies and secrets.  So, when the government claims it does things for its citizens' interests, we have a right to be told what those things are, and we have to be given the chance of examining these things to decide whether they are or are not for our benefit.

Leaks such as the one Snowden provided do the public a great service by opening our eyes to the bad things the government does when they pull the wool over our eyes.

Sufficient Justification

The only security provided with "national security" is for the government's benefit -- not ours.  A detective following a murder case may have to listen  in on phone calls and such, but they need to be very choosy in who they monitor.  Furthermore, they need to have some evidence of mischievousness before they can violate someone's privacy.

If they say they need to listen to everybody's phone calls, then they obviously have no idea who they are looking for and no evidence that everyone's private conversations would hold any viable clues.  So it goes for the government.  Why listen to everyone's phone calls unless you have no idea how to run a proper investigation?

So, when someone blows the whistle on secret, unjustifiable activities, we the public gain a better understanding of why we distrust our government so much.  And, like the bully in the play yard that they are, our government throws a fit when we discover their nefarious activities, throwing the blame on the one person who acted in the interests of the greater good -- the public welfare.

Sure, Snowden is scared.  Who the hell wouldn't be?  Regardless of his age, he obviously weighed the consequences against the benefits and found what he thought was the correct thing to do.

As it goes, it is also the same thing that I believe was the correct thing to do: tell us what is hidden from us.  We are the public.  We are the country.  We are the United States of America, not the very few individuals who call themselves the government, because those people in the government are also citizens and as such also have the right for this knowledge.  The secrecy and lies hurt all of us.

It is a brave individual who pulls back the wool just a tiny bit, and dares the system to pull it back down.

Blind Water Crystal Experimentation

Dr. Emoto conducted a series of experiments some years back to determine whether or not a person's thoughts could guide the formation of water crystals.  I took a look at the evidence he provided, researched opinions on the matter, and came up with my own conclusion:  Emoto is just another quack.

To begin, we need to visit a site which talks about Emoto's findings: http://www.whatthebleep.com/crystals/.

Upon first read, I thought Emoto was on to something extraordinary.  The idea of someone's thoughts controlling a natural occurrence was (and still is) a bit thrilling.  But then I collected my thoughts and proceeded with some research on my own.

One interesting analysis of Emoto's work can be found here: http://is-masaru-emoto-for-real.com/.

I leave it to the reader to peruse Setchfield's own findings, but I give you a summary of the salient points below.

There are numerous questions which need to be answered before Emoto's work can be considered truly genuine and worthy of future study.  There are some discrepancies in his work, along with a few contradictory situations.  One situation I recall is Emoto's declaration that crystal X was created in an environment at a very low temperature--one that most definitely causes water to form in columns, and not in flat patterns as Emoto shows.  He also does not reveal the entire body of his work, merely cherry-picking a few pictures that support his claims.

Yet, there are a few who tried to give Emoto's work serious consideration.  Take this whitepaper for example: http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_22_4_radin.pdf.

It certainly seems like a rational examination of effects upon the formation of water crystals.  The requisite disclaimer in the summary clearly reveals the problems with studies such as this:

"[I]n any experiment involving intention, the intentions of the investigators cannot be cleanly isolated from those of the nominal participants and this in turn constrains how one should properly interpret the results. (Radin & Lund, Effects of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation: A Triple-Blind Replication Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 22, No. 4, p 491)"

The main problem with all emotion- or thought-based experiements is that all aspects of thought cannot be measured in any sense.  What exactly is a "bad" intention?  How do intentions differ between individuals?  Are there differences in "strengths" of thought?  How can these be monitored and measured?

Emoto's and Lund's research efforts contain the same problem with a lot of debunked "research".  There are proper ways to collect data to ensure methods which replicate findings without fail.  In the scientific method, replication of findings is the first step toward a true discovery.  Replication fosters peer review and refinement.  None of this can happen with a study on effects of intention.

Finally can the beauty of objects, which was the measurement used in Lund's classification of the experiment's crystals, be etched on a scale of standards?  Beauty is purely in the eye of the beholder, therefore not objective.  Ergo, Emoto's research is only relevant in the eye of the blinded beholder.

Sugar Free Pains

I like chocolate...no...I adore chocolate.  My love for the dark pheromone-inducing nectar began when I was a wee child, and it has lasted all my life.  Doubtless, it will continue to rule my modicum of common sense until they bury me in the ground.  Over the years, my cultivated tastes quite naturally led to weight problems and, recently discovered, the onset of diabetes.  Oh, the humanity!

My foray into a diabetic life was not met with joy.  I languished for weeks, certain that I would go insane without my most favorite food.  My wife showed the utmost sympathy as I moped around the house, uttering all sorts of gibberish, by showing me the various substitutes for sugar-laden chocolate.  Slowly, I came out of my funk and realized that all was not lost.  I could eat and sometimes truly enjoy sugar-free candies.

Now, I sample just about any sugar-free confection I can find in the store.  Some, like the big-brand varieties (the ones you see around Valentine's day) taste far too sweet.  An overabundance of maltotol or sucralose does not a sugary sweet make.  Others, mostly small-shop brands, tend to cook the chocolate a bit wrong and their candy gets brittle and crystalline far too quickly.

It was during one of my lunchtime foraging campaigns in a local high-priced food store that I found a package of Asher's Sugar Free Caramels.  I thought I'd give them a try, since I also like caramel, and I was in the mood to put something sweet in my mouth.  The 4-oz package contained about 8 pieces and my initial observation concluded that the candy was in a good state--not old or crumbly.

I popped one in my mouth when I got back to the office and sat back to let it melt all over my taste buds.  The caramel, as caramel is wont to do, refused to melt quickly enough, so I began to chew it down.  Anyone who has chewed caramel knows that it is not a hard substance, but rather quite tacky and prone to stick to your teeth.

The caramel had mostly vanished into my stomach, when I suddenly bit down on something hard.  Because I have two implants, both rearmost lower molars, the crunch in my mouth was not very loud.  In fact, I began to worry, thinking something really bad happened.  I ran to the bathroom and spit out the remainder of the caramel in the sink.  Along with the tacky candy, two odd items came out: a small ball bearing, and a bit of porcelain.

The porcelain, I soon realized, was part of my right-hand crown.  The tiny round, metallic object was apparently embedded in the caramel.  I was, to say the least, quite pissed off.  The crown was less than a year old, and very expensive.  The pain I went through to get the implant makes a great horror story that I may tell some other time.  At the moment I looked at the damage in the sink, I knew I was going to spend a lot of money fixing something that should not break.

I wrote Asher's and told them of the metal in their caramel.  They were very nice, but I could never shake the resentment I felt because my tongue kept touching the oddly-shaped tooth

I went to the dentist a few days later and heard the news I expected:  The crown was chipped badly and it had to be replaced.  So, the requisite bucketload of money and pain later, I found myself with a new crown.

At least this one fit better than the last.

You've Been IE7'd

Programmers, like myself, who write code for web applications, knows only too well about the annoying differences between browsers. Rounded-edge borders?  No problem with the modern browsers.  Sizing and positioning DIV elements in web documents?  Totally awesome in Chrome, but just a bit different in IE.

However, IE7 takes the prize for the nastiest browser of all time (for programmers).

Spacing, ordering, and padding rules are different in IE7.  CSS styles have to be customized for the browser, lest you see panels half-way off the browser window or "hidden" text visible on the buttons.

Worse, IE7 will do some things very oddly.

A defect came through a while back and completely stumped the team, until we discovered a really odd behavior in IE7 when creating and loading dates.  When an AJAX call returned with date information, all browsers, except IE7, could convert the raw data -- a number -- into a date.

Not IE7.  No, that browser somehow automatically converted the numbers into the system's default date format.  So when we were expecting a number, we were getting text.

We were IE7'd!

How to Be Blessed or even Blessed Be

People occasionally say to me "be blessed" in farewell.  I don't mind it.  I am of atheistic leaning, so I conclude that the only blessings coming my way will be in the other person's mind.  But, it is a nice gesture, and I just smile away with my lips zipped.

Well, sometimes I do say "thank you."

Now, I have only heard this incantation during the past 10 years or so.  Before then, no one said "be blessed," except when I sneezed and was told "bless you."  This rise in the "be blessed" well-wishing got me to thinking about the phrase.

Etymology is not my strong suit, but I find word and phrase origins very interesting.  A quick search via Google turns up virtually nothing about "be blessed", except for a song by that title by Yolanda Adams, published in 2005.  That could be the origin of the use of the phrase in everyday life, but that is only speculation on my part.

One thing I do notice is that the folks who use the phrase are extremely devout Christians of some ilk.  This suggests either the normal human action of familiar repetition, as if to continually reaffirm their identity to a group, or the efforts of someone or someones who want to combat the usage of another phrase:

"Blessed be"

This phrase is the de facto Wiccan greeting.  You may know these people as witches.  I came to know several witches long ago, when I immersed myself in pagan rituals looking for some meaning to life.

The Hollywood version of witches and Witchcraft is so far off base, it is pathetic.  Wiccan rituals reminded me of the Christian dogma in several ways.  Just to give two examples: (1) Whereas Christianity holds the belief that their God is one and three entities at the same time (Father, Son, & Holy Ghost), the Wiccans hold that their Goddess is one and three entities at the same time (Maiden, Mother, & Crone); (2) Christians hold several days in the year holy including Christmas and Easter, where the Wiccans likewise hold several days (sometimes the same) holy.  As examples, there are Yule and Ostara, celebrated December 21st and March 21st respectively.

One more item: "Magic" in the Wiccan idiom is nothing more than personal enlightenment.

Bill Maher, Where Art Thou?

My wife and I watch only a handful of shows on television -- all but one on the pay cable channels -- and so we make an effort to listen and discuss what we see.  I know several people who watch a lot of TV, yet do little more than laugh at the jokes and comment on the quality of the advertisements.  In other words, my wife and I are highly selective creatures of habit who make time to watch the few shows that we find interesting or entertaining.

We have watched every episode of Real Time with Bill Maher because we found the show both interesting and entertaining.  And until very recently Bill has held a fairly steady course, holding the candle (in his own way) up to the Generally Accepted Lies and Untruths in our society.  This was one of the reasons we dropped our carcasses onto the couch for 60 minutes on a night when we might have better things to do.

Last week, Bill started off the show with the obligatory special guest and quickly set the stage for a point of view that has been simmering in his head for a while.  Too bad he lost it.

Maher said quite clearly that he thought Islam teaches its devout to make war with and lay waste to the rest of the world.  Wow.  He further drove that point home during a roundtable tete-a-tete with Glenn Greenwald.

Bill said Muslims were bad.  Glenn countered with a description of destructive US foreign policies.  Bill said Muslims were bad.  Glenn said the USA was partially responsible for the anger in the region, pointing out the recent Mulsim-friendly targets and the coziness the USA has with anti-Mulsim states (like Israel).  Bill said Muslims were bad.  Glenn said other religions were bad and gave the Crusades as an example.  Bill said Muslims were bad right now and the others were bad long ago, so they don't count.

Now, Bill and I share some of the same opinions on religion, but his jingoistic "Muslims bad!" is so far from the truth, it was painful to watch Bill ignore Glenn's arguments, especially since Bill had been one of those voices who lamented the US foreign policy.

If Bill keeps this up and his shows become an Islam-bashing frenzy, he will lose us as an audience.

The Next Phishing Attack

Friends, I just had a most terrifying epiphany.  I just realized how I could be duped into surrendering my system over to nefarious criminals via a phishing attack.

Check out this doctored email:

It's a standard notice that your credit line was increased and that all things are good.  By replacing the right text with a credit card company (Chase, Discover, etc), You get an email that looks legit.  It probably would for me if it seemed to come from a valid location.

The part that says "...for account number ending with nnnn", just about any number would be fine, because I am not too sure what my card number is anymore.  After all, I use a password tool that can populate forms with credit card information automatically, and my statements are all on line (and I rarely look at them).

I don't think my habits are unique.  On a bell curve, I probably fall right in the middle.

Which means, innocent-looking text in the email--perhaps made bold or colorful--might lead me to a click-through with text like:

You can view our fraud policies by visiting our email security page.

And make sure that "email security page" contains a link.

Better yet, one might add this:

If this email was sent in error, report the issue to our Customer Service department.

And make sure that "Customer Service" contains a link.

But, those links may not work so well, especially if the link preview box in the browser says something like "http://cdfgorzinczy.ru/woeikd".  So, a really devious mind would own their own servers and have the links point to something like "https://creditcardcompany.com:9019/service".

Now, that looks totally official and it would fool the few who think they know a phishing scam when they see one, but aren't aware enough to really examine the email and run a search for "scam bla bla...".

Just wait until someone in Nigeria figures this out and spends the time and money to set something like this up.

Premature Review of The Blinding Knife

Fans of Brent Weeks undoubtedly waited with anticipation for his latest novel: The Blinding Knife.  I certainly did.  I found his world of colors and magic very original and quite interesting.  The intrigue in the Chromeria and the world of the seven satraps lent just enough credence as powerful parallels to our own world.

His prior novels (at least the ones I've read) were great reads.  This series continues with the same non-stop page turning effort I exhibited with the other books.  Well, for me it was and continues to be non-stop Kindle-app-on-my-iPhone page tapping.  I even walk around the office with my nose to the iPhone, ignoring everything around me like I know better.  That makes for a good book, and The Blinding Knife slips easily into that category.

Sometimes, there are times when the story does something special, like a unique turn of a phrase or an excellent use of a metaphor.  This happens rarely in most of what I read.  I cannot say whether it is due to talent, effort, or consequence, but most authors ply their craft by following templates that push the reader along--cliffhangers and sudden twists of plot--rarely building something that really stops me cold and brings a wry smile to my face.

Well, Weeks pulled one off in The Blinding Knife that pushed my respect meter up several more notches.  If you haven't read the book, then stop right here and read it.  Otherwise, please continue...

[Spoiler Alert]

Gavin--the real Gavin--spends so much time imprisoned that his mind slowly and inevitably begins to crumble.  The walls of his cells are reflective, so he can see himself.  Unfortunately, he creates a persona out of the reflection and calls it the Dead Man.  Gavin becomes emaciated, weak.  The Dead Man reflection becomes the man Gavin needs to believe is not himself.  Gavin is a fighter and strong-willed.  Succumbing to the realization that he has become the thing in the mirror goes against his nature.

It reaches the point where Gavin doesn't need to see the reflection to carry on a conversation with himself.  He even argues with the Dead Man, who knows what Gavin thinks and slowly becomes the more rational individual as he continually warns Gavin about dangers and such.

This is what Weeks builds for the reader.  The Dead Man slowly emerges the more rational individual and quite nearly reaches the point of existence when Gavin creeps through the pitch-black tunnels between cells.  As he ascends farther away from the green cell, The Dead Man no longer emerges in the reflective walls, but speaks to Gavin in the dark.

When Dazen (a.k.a. Gavin!) finally kills his imprisoned brother, he walks up to the corpse and notices that the only thing reflecting back from the walls is a dead man.  Ah-ha! 

This is an excellent closure technique for the dead man metaphor.  As The Dead Man becomes more real, Gavin gets closer to his own death.  The reader also suddenly realizes that the constant reflections of The Dead Man portended his death.  Touche!

I highly recommend this book and the series.

A Success at Failure -- Analysis of Amy Tan's short story "Two Kinds"

A Success at Failure

Amy Tan, a child of Chinese immigrants, wrote the story “Two Kinds”, telling the tale of a Jing-Mei’s rebellion against her mother’s desire to change her into a prodigy.  As Jing-Mei’s mother continually tells her she does not try hard enough to succeed, the conflict between Jing-Mei and her mother escalates. Jing-Mei grows more stubborn, making every effort to resist her mother, and the relationship devolves into a standoff where mother and daughter both refuse to budge from their position.  “Two Kinds” shows the irony in Jing-Mei’s relationship with her mother; while her mother believes Jing-Mei does not try hard enough to succeed, Jing-Mei succeeds in her struggle for identity by refusing to become the person her mother wants.

The story opens with a brief synopsis of Jing-Mei’s mother’s past.  As a Chinese immigrant fleeing from war, her mother leaves behind everything: “her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls.” (Tan 206)  As a resident in America, Jing-Mei’s mother does not wallow in misery but instead looks forward to a life with limitless boundaries, honestly believing that “[y]ou could become instantly famous.” (Tan 206)  Brent tells us that Chinese immigrants view America as a true land of opportunity and that tradition demands a daughter’s obedience to her mother (1).  With a history steeped in traditional Chinese culture and a spirit of adventure, her mother decides Jing-Mei will fulfill this dream and become a child prodigy.

At first, the anticipation of riches and fame propel Jing-Mei into cooperating with her mother, persuading Jing-Mei in the belief she can attain perfection.  She imagines herself in several wonderful images, each colorful and immensely satisfying.  These dreams, however, fail to sate her dreams for perfection because “sometimes the prodigy in [her becomes] impatient” (Tan 207).  Her uncertainties fester and lead her to discover her independent spirit, laying seed to the growth of her rebelliousness and the blossoming of the thorny relationship with her mother.

Her mother’s continual push to change Jing-Mei into a prodigy fuels Jing-Mei’s inner transformation from an obedient daughter to a defiant child.  After several pitiable failures at intelligence tests, Jing-Mei sees disappointment in her mother’s face and Jing-Mei’s desire for perfection crumbles.   Stricken, she takes a close look at herself in a mirror and sees a “sad, ugly girl” (Tan 207) looking back.  Suddenly, a change takes place and a new face emerges in the mirror.   Jing-Mei sees a “girl staring back…angry, powerful.” (Tan 207)  Her metamorphosis concludes, leaving Jing-Mei bold, assertive, and angry, filled with a desire to keep her identity and resist change.  Jing-Mei acts differently after her transformation by displaying profound apathy, causing her mother to lose resolve.

Instead of giving up, her mother decides to transform Jing-Mei into a great musician, and Jing-Mei soon finds herself taking piano lessons.  Her tutor, however, suffers from deaf ears and she takes advantage of his handicap by pretending to studiously play.  Jing-Mei succeeds with her ruse to the point where her mother brags to Jing-Mei’s Auntie Lindo about her piano playing prowess, saying: “It’s like you can’t stop her natural talent.” (Tan 209)  Soon thereafter, her mother places Jing-Mei in a talent show, whereupon Jing-Mei fails spectacularly in her performance.  Undaunted, two days later, Jing-Mei’s mother demands Jing-Mei continue to practice.  Jing-Mei realizes her mother will never relent and she decides to confront her mother in a final battle.

The tension rises and comes to a crisis point when Jing-Mei refuses to play the piano any more.  Her mother resorts to shouting in Chinese, telling Jing-Mei that she must be obedient.  In a fit of rage, Jing-Mei wishes aloud she were dead, like her deceased twin sisters, shocking her mother into silence and ultimately breaking her mother’s will.  Utterly crushed, her mother retreats from the room “like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless.”  (Tan 211)   Jing-Mei later recalls “the lid to the piano was closed, shutting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams.” (Tan 212)  Jing-Mei and her mother never speak about the argument, leaving Jing-Mei ignorant of the reasons her mother lost hope in her.

Jing-Mei never veers from her resolve, but a surprising event offers hope for forgiveness.  On Jing-Mei’s thirtieth birthday, her mother says she wants to give the piano to Jing-Mei.  She feels at that moment “a tremendous burden removed” (Tan 212).   The gift appears to Jing-Mei as a signal for reconciliation, yet her mother offers no apology or words of consolation, only repeating the phrase: “[y]ou just not trying” (Tan 212).  As a consequence, Jing-Mei leaves the piano at her mother’s house and pays a tuner to recondition it.

Closure for Jing-Mei comes shortly after her mother’s death when she makes a small discovery at the piano. Helping her father put things in order at her mother’s house, Jing-Mei sits at her piano and plays songs she once learned. She finds the score for “Pleading Child” and discovers “Perfectly Contented” on the other side of the page.  In the final words of the story, Jing-Mei realizes the song she once learned and the new one form a single song, revealing an apt metaphor of her life.

The catalyst of her insight—the two songs formed as one—illustrates an irony present throughout the story.  In the opening text, Jing-Mei’s mother believes America holds the opportunity for anything, after having lost everything in China before her immigration to Chinatown.  Jing-Mei suffers through several tests of intelligence and skill, yet she excels at none.  The irony in the mother’s beliefs compared to the reality of the lack of innate prodigal talent in Jing-Mei grows stronger with each failure.  Following a string of failures, Jing-Mei’s one success rests with her refusal to play music, the culmination of her struggle to maintain her identity.  Jing-Mei’s mother declares her daughter does not try hard enough to excel, yet Jing-Mei does excel by asserting her individuality.  The mother sees only failure from a lack of effort by Jing-Mei, but the daughter exerts every effort to fail.  Ironically, the mother fails to see how Jing-Mei’s success at failure highlights the mother’s failure at driving Jing-Mei to succeed as a prodigy, particularly when Jing-Mei fails to prove herself a genius at the piano.

The piano itself provides no contrast, but it fills two roles in the story.  Its first function as a metaphor provides Tan the opportunity to embellish her main character’s disposition.  Apart from the focal point of the majority of the arguments between Jing-Mei and her mother, the piano represents Jing-Mei.  When Jing-Mei purposely learns and plays discordant hymns during her lessons with the deaf teacher, Mr. Chong, the dissonance becomes a clever representation of the discord Jing-Mei sows.  When her mother offers the piano as a gift, the piano remains in her mother’s home, telling us Jing-Mei has yet to release herself from past events.  After her mother’s death, Jing-Mei returns to the piano only to find it richer and of higher quality than she first assumed.  When she plays two songs and realizes they form a single song, Jing-Mei reaches a clear understanding of her own life.  The pleading of one song and the contentment of the other tell us Jing-Mei sees her growth composed of a short period pleading for independence, followed by a longer period in contentment.  In this way, the piano speaks for Jing-Mei throughout the story, telling both Jing-Mei and us about Jing-Mei’s true self.

Secondly, the piano gives life to Tan’s story through the inclusion of the piano teacher, Mr. Chong, who provides both comic relief and sublime irony.  Whereas appreciation and training in music require an acute hearing ability, Chong’s deafness defeats this requirement for his job.  Jing-Mei takes advantage of his disability and pretends to eagerly learn, leading to her spectacular failure at a talent show.  Chong launches himself to his feet at the end of Jing-Mei’s recital in the talent show and applauds while the rest of the audience struggles with their reactions to the embarrassing performance.  Tan thereby says only the deaf could not hear Jing-Mei’s pleas for individuality, while everyone else fails to understand the message Jing-Mei repeatedly expresses.  Chong makes us laugh when he sways to unheard music, but his humorous antics give focus to the depth of the struggle between mother and daughter.

The tipping point in the relationship between Jing-Mei and her mother illustrates two things: the focus of their disagreement and the strength of Jing-Mei’s will.  In a fit of rage, Jing-Mei’s mother shouts her belief there are “[o]nly two kinds of daughters…Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind” (Tan 211).  The underlying message says the relationship consists of one mind that wants acquiescence and another that wants independence.  In this one sentence, the story reveals the essence of the mother-daughter relationship, the roles each play, and their extreme emotional polarity.  Jing-Mei’s retort, wishing to be dead like her sisters who perished many years prior, lands not like a bit of straw but rather like a load of bricks upon the camel’s proverbial back, irrevocably damaging their tenuous relationship.  The mother begins the battle with an intent to change a disobedient child, and subsequently submits to a stronger will, an ironic twist on her struggle to bend Jing-Mei to her wishes.

The polarization in their relationship remains static, but Jing-Mei continues to grow.  When she returns to the piano after her mother’s death, Jing-Mei experiences a revelation.  The music she plays forms a contrast both in their names—“Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented”—and in their composition—one short and slow, the other fast and long.  The two contrasting songs reveal how far Jing-Mei matures.   They create a subtle extension of the theme via the changing state of Jing-Mei’s life, showing us “her childhood self and her grown-up self represent ‘two halves’ of the same person.” (Brent 3)  As a child, Jing-Mei pleads with her mother to let her become her own person; as an adult, Jing-Mei finds contentment in her individuality.  She realizes the struggle with her mother forged the serenity she feels in her life.

In summary, the wealth of contrasting images and events lends support to the irony in Jing-Mei’s mother’s mistaken beliefs.  She thinks Jing-Mei does not try to be the best she can; yet Jing-Mei works with all her might to be the best individual she is.  The mother holds to her conviction of Jing-Mei’s failures, but she fails to see her daughter’s success at finding and being true to herself.  In a broader context, Tan says our tendencies to mold our children into our ideal image of success often works against the universal struggle to find one’s identity.  Television, powerful advertising, clever marketing, and the myriad opinions of everyone we know swirl around us in a cacophony of conflicting messages, often drowning our pleas for time and space to get to know ourselves and find contentment in being what we are and not what someone else wants us to be.

Works Cited

Tan, Amy.  “Two Kinds”.  Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing.  Longman.  Boston.  10^th ed. 

Brent, Liz. "Overview of 'Two Kinds'." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Apr. 2012. Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420031606&v=2.1&u=tel_a_tbr&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

A Struggle in Spirit -- A Critical Analysis of Isben's Play "A Doll's House"

In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House played for the first time at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark, its content shocked several people, and critics found themselves polarized on their evaluation of Ibsen’s literary genius.  Because women during that period in history were socially regarded as less intelligent beings and incapable of any deep understanding, Ibsen’s portrayal of an unconventional wife generated several points of contention.  Some critics failed to see the play for what lay underneath, and not what it showed.  The play, by using the characters as representatives of society and class, says women have both an outward struggle against a patriarchal society and, in their fight for equality and independence, an inward struggle with themselves against the denigrating meme of male gender superiority expressed in society. 

The prevailing perception males held of their own superiority led a literary critic of that time to say Nora, the main character, “does a thing that one of the lower animals would not do,” (Scott) which was the unmentionable act of leaving her children.  Not only does this critic fail to hear the underlying message, he reveals exactly how low women were held in men’s regard.  The play anticipates this critical sentiment when the husband in the play, Torvald, tells his wife that she does not “understand how to act on [her] own responsibility,” (III. 137) clearly expressing a perceived lack of intelligence. In this fashion, the play reveals middle class society mores could not accept a thinking wife.

In addition, Ibsen tells us that women sat at the root of superstitious fears.  Torvald and Nora talk about Krogstad’s past fraudulent indiscretions near the end of the first act.  Torvald sums up the common belief in women’s evil nature when he says: “[a]lmost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.” (I. 59)   Perhaps, in an age where superstition explained many things, women may have accepted such beliefs without question.  These sentiments, however, clash with the ideals of feminism.  A Doll’s House reveals the social mores of that time and shows the depth to which women’s status had fallen.

The play reinforces this broad theme by providing several allegories to the world at large.  Nora, who first appears flighty and senseless, strikes the pose of the acquiescing female plaything—the ideal woman in the Victorian era’s eye.  Torvald, who refers to Nora as a “songbird” (I. 55) or “squirrel” (I. 4), demeans his wife and thus stands for the male populace who perform this same act bolstering feelings of superiority.  Nora’s friend Christine enters as a messenger of promise, revealing the treasure of freedom and release women all over the world seek.  Torvald’s reaction to Nora’s decision to leave the marriage marches in lockstep with men’s reactions to women’s demands for equality: “Can you not understand your place in your own home?  Have you not a reliable guide in such matters?” (III.145)  His words in the last act mirror the Victorian expectations of the roles played in a marriage, in society, and everywhere.

The men in the play, via Isben’s uncanny symbolism, itemize several facets of the male-dominated society.  Torvald conducts himself as a proper gentleman keeping his wife in check and managing his business in the study.  The expectations of the family in the Victorian era follow suit to this description.  Not only does the majority of art and literature at that time project well-balanced mannerisms, but the populace in the main expected this sort of display in everyday life.  No wonder Nora expends a great deal of effort to keep her illegal act secret.  Torvald displays in a dramatic change in character after discovering Nora’s fraud because his perception of reality finally relents to a message of truth.  When he nearly exhausts himself, Torvald claims: “it must appear as if everything between us were just as before—but naturally only in the eyes of the world.” (III. 135)  The gentleman shows us he both knows what society expects and what the culture of propriety hides from itself, yet appearances and deception also need support.

Rank, the doctor, symbolizes the rationalization used during those years to support society’s attitudes.  Philosophical and scientific circles built reasons in support of male dominance.  There existed at that time strong philosophical arguments for the separation of the genders. A great deal of thought pointed toward the belief in men acting as the active and more intelligent agents, as opposed to the passive and therefore subservient women. (Lee)  Rank supports this belief by the simple fact that he exists both as a male and a doctor.  Yet, this character suffers from indiscretions in a prior generation, succumbing to consumption and expecting certain death in the near future.  Here, Isben says, so will the old thought patterns of imagined superiority and dominance perish as new truths consume old myths.

Krogstad represents society’s will in its demand for women to fulfill their implicitly-understood contract of their subservience to men.  The bond Nora secures begins with fraud and exists as the means to expose the consequence of the greater fraud of the imagined bondage to men: Nora’s lack of true happiness in the marriage.  The bond itself, however, morphs into a non-existent threat when Krogstad transforms into someone more forgiving and less frigid.  In opposition to Torvald, who fervently attempts to maintain a false appearance, Krogstad changes into the more realistic man after Chrisitne convinces him to accept her back into his house.  Krogstad as the reformed man shows us how a better understanding of society’s inequalities, especially with the enlightened mature woman, holds the key to a gentle reconciliation and a hopeful future.  The threat of punishment in breaking a contract to society fades with men’s willingness to engage in a new beginning.

The fresh start ultimately requires a better perception of women, and Isben informs his audience how they must come to this understanding.  Via a complex metaphor, the women in the play embody both the emotive opposite to men and a spiritual connection to the world.  While Nora portrays current circumstances, Christine represents the future; Nora moves from subservience to autonomy, but Christine maneuvers back toward reconciliation.  Since Nora has yet to discover herself and Christine had earlier done so, Nora represents the very young woman and Christine the older and wiser one.  In support, Isben makes a note of Nora’s stasis and Christine’s decade-long growth saying: “You are a child, Nora.” (I. 22)  The duality of the female spirit lives as two opposite forces, a veritable yin and yang of the soul.

One reviewer appropriately remarks that “[C]hristine reflects the opposite of Nora,” (Metzger), but the allegory proceeds one step further with the inclusion of Anne the maid.  Anne fills the role of mother, revealed when Nora asks Anne to take care for the children and when Christine tells us that Anne was “a good mother to [her] when [she] was little.” (II. 64)  The aspects of the ancient, revered goddess come together with Nora, Anne, and Christine playing the roles of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.  Although pagan in nature, the sacred goddess exists as a powerful mystical icon. (Husain)  Isben takes this philosophical image and uses the three women in the play to epitomize his reverence of womanhood.  Beneath the veneer of a problematic marriage, and under obvious metaphors for women’s rights, A Doll’s House says the portrayal of women in society runs opposite to their profound and sacred nature.

With such grand symbols in play, the theme of the drama expands outward from the literal action of Nora leaving her husband and family.  The harsh social structure of the Victorian era comes alive through both the male characters’ prejudices and the spiritual journeying of the women:  law versus spirit. A Doll’s House brings together this universal struggle and the women’s rights movement through the simple and easily-understandable concept of family.  Perhaps, as George Bernard Shaw said of the play, Nora’s final act likewise ended another act in the great play of human history.  A more likely conclusion comes from the layering of the play’s symbolism: women struggle in spirit and find themselves opposed by well-established conventions in society, while another struggle for men, namely for their emotional maturity, plays just as significant a role in the fight for gender equality and independence.  As the fight for women’s rights around the world commenced in earnest during this time, Ibsen’s play provided a harsh wake-up call for theater-goers everywhere.  The women’s rights movement benefited in part from A Doll’s House, yet the struggle continues to this day as women still battle social traditions for an equal share in life.  Contemporary thoughts and values regarding the sexes have yet to reach their conclusion, progressed only partially since the opening of Isben’s play.

Works Cited

Ibsen, Henrik.  A Doll’s House. Google Books. Plain Label Books.  n.d.  Web.  17 Mar. 2012.

Scott, Clement. "Review of 'A Doll's House." The Theatre 14.79 (July 1889): 19-22. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Paula Kepos. Vol. 37. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.

Metzger, Sheri. "An overview of A Doll's House." Drama for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.

Shaw, Bernard. "A Doll's House Again." The Saturday Review 83.2168 (15 May 1897): 539-541. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon K. Hall. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. Literature Resource Center.  Web.  26 Mar. 2012.

Lee, Elizabeth. “Victorian Theories of Sex and Sexuality”. The Victorian Web. N.p. 1996.  Web.  28 Mar. 2012

Husain, Shahrukh. The Goddess: Power, Sexuality, and the Feminine Divine.  Google Books.  UofM Press.  18 Feb. 2003.  Web.  31 Mar. 2012.

First Day Of My Public Speaking Class

I have been doing absolutely nothing with my academic career for well nigh 30 years now.  Well, to be exact, I have taken a class here and there, but I have not committed myself to a firm goal of obtaining a degree from an accredited college.  That has changed recently.

I now attend the University of Memphis in good ol' Memphis, Tennessee.  I work full time, so I cannot do the on-campus thing like so many young students do.  Instead, I take one online and one off-site campus class per semester...minimum.

One of my classes is a public speaking class, meant to break young minds into the world of...well, public speaking.  That is, the rules and procedures which make one a better public speaker and thus more articulate in every conversation.

So, the book suggests I keep a diary.  Here it is.

Unfortunately, I must put a lot of my gaming on hold, as Oblivion tends to suck the life out of one when fully engaged.  I can't wait for the DT's.

Meanwhile, my thoughts currently surround the first day of my Public Speaking class.  It was good.  We did the standard exercise of talking with a neighbor and then presenting them by standing in front of the class and moving that pie hole in a more useful manner than stuffing it with sugars and fats.  Plus, I got to learn a bit about the other students.  Quite a diverse group.  I think I will enjoy this semester.

Oh, and the book emphasizes the technique of Finding Your Voice.  I'm old enough to think I know what that is, but I am ready to forget all I've learned and start anew.  I wonder what my "voice" might be.