My life as a generalist has left me knowing a little bit about many things and not too much about any thing. As an opinionated non-expert I feel justified in musing about whatever bothers, thrills, puzzles, or amuses me. Anyway, the three parts of the title have excited one or more of those categories so it's time to muse.
Greed - We're born greedy. As babies we demand food and attention without regard to the needs, opinions, or activities of those around us. At this stage of life greed is our survival mechanism and is thus 'good'. But if that infant greed is allowed to grow unchecked along with the body and mind, if it is always accepted, then does the fully formed adult have no moral compass that points to the wrongness of it? Is that the case with people who value their own wealth to the exclusion of all else?
Women - If we look back through history - not so much what we read in books but more what we know of our own history and our friends' - we can see that gender roles generally fall out this way: The male works to provide food and shelter while the female runs the family organizationally, managing food, finances, and care of its members. Why then, with those essential skills in the purview of women, are men running governments and businesses? It seems strange to me that the very people that make day-to-day life run smoothly are not being asked to run countries, are in fact discouraged, in many cases violently, from those roles. Men have pretty much fucked up the planet, socially, financially, and politically. Women need to take over to see if they can salvage it. What can I do to help?
Lists on Facebook - It seems like every facet of our existence can be put in a numbered list. Some of the lists are ordered, that is there is a first place, second place, ... while others are simply numbered to let us know when we've exhausted the list - e.g. 50 ways to leave you lover. Facebook has taken the idea of lists to a level of annoyance and, in my opinion, absurdity - 8 Reasons Children of the 1970's Should All Be Dead - is just one example. I suspect that soon someone will come up with a list of 25 things that should never be listed.
Time to feed the cats. Until we meet again folks.
Greed - We're born greedy. As babies we demand food and attention without regard to the needs, opinions, or activities of those around us. At this stage of life greed is our survival mechanism and is thus 'good'. But if that infant greed is allowed to grow unchecked along with the body and mind, if it is always accepted, then does the fully formed adult have no moral compass that points to the wrongness of it? Is that the case with people who value their own wealth to the exclusion of all else?
Women - If we look back through history - not so much what we read in books but more what we know of our own history and our friends' - we can see that gender roles generally fall out this way: The male works to provide food and shelter while the female runs the family organizationally, managing food, finances, and care of its members. Why then, with those essential skills in the purview of women, are men running governments and businesses? It seems strange to me that the very people that make day-to-day life run smoothly are not being asked to run countries, are in fact discouraged, in many cases violently, from those roles. Men have pretty much fucked up the planet, socially, financially, and politically. Women need to take over to see if they can salvage it. What can I do to help?
Lists on Facebook - It seems like every facet of our existence can be put in a numbered list. Some of the lists are ordered, that is there is a first place, second place, ... while others are simply numbered to let us know when we've exhausted the list - e.g. 50 ways to leave you lover. Facebook has taken the idea of lists to a level of annoyance and, in my opinion, absurdity - 8 Reasons Children of the 1970's Should All Be Dead - is just one example. I suspect that soon someone will come up with a list of 25 things that should never be listed.
Time to feed the cats. Until we meet again folks.
perfectly good subjects for musing, tom. i think greed sorts out its own (or maybe i just don't know any of the worst offenders), but i'm totally with you on Nos. 2 and 3. am happy to volunteer for 2 - just gimme a country. : ) and as for 3, i scroll past any kind of a list with great speed!
ReplyDeleteHey, as a direct response marketing-o-phile, I'm seriously offended that you'd credit FB for the popularity of the Top 10 (or 25 or 50) List. This has been around way longer than FB simply because humans LOVE lists.
ReplyDeleteIt's just good copy, dude. :)
I'd love to know just who or what inspired the greed musings.