GuidoWorld

Why Americans are so Depressed

While the US is falling in respect to its world standing in everything from standard of living, to health care to education it is expanding its world leadership in terms of depression. The US currently claims over 1% of its populace as clinically depressed and this rate is on a geometric climb. Not surprisingly the US leads the world in the dispensing of medications to help its citizens manage and control their depression.

So this begs the question, why are US citizens so depressed and why are they so prone to depression?

One of the more glib answers put by the popular media is that US citizens have too much time on their hands, and one of the by products of having a lot of free time is depression. Americans, we’re told, have too much time on their hands. People who are struggling to survive do not have enough time to think about depression. The relative wealth of the US allows its citizens the luxury of depression.

Even though there is a sliver of truth in the statement, it is highly misleading. First, most US citizens are working more than their counterparts in other industrialized nations. Most European workers can count on at least twice as many holidays and vacation days as Americans and those nations with a higher standard of living are not as depressed as Americans. Hence the too much wealth and too little work hypothesis for US depression is a little weak.

Let’s tale a look at some of the supposed psychosocial factors which are reputed to engender depression or are its tell tale signs and see how these elements may be fostered in American life.

Clinical depression is considered to be a state whereby one feels helpless and hopeless. A partial list of some of the causes or elements of depression would include the following feelings and events:  isolation, non validation, poor self-esteem, chronic deception, betrayal, biochemistry, powerlessness, feelings of inadequacy/failure, lack of interests, lack of control, chronic stress, blame and guilt.

The US has long been considered a leader in having a chronically stressful lifestyle. When I was young the fast paced life style of the US was deemed a central component in the high rate of hypertension and heart problems of its citizens. The current pace of life now makes those times look relatively sedate and rustic. Not only does the US not have as much vacation time as other industrial nations, but we also now feel a need to be on line and do work even on our off hours.

In a highly competitive based free market economy it is hard to ever feel good about time off, or that you’re not losing ground anytime you aren’t in work mode. It is definitely stressful when you feel a personal responsibility to be successful and not let the competition pass you by.

Today’s professionals such as doctors and lawyers cannot produce the lifestyle offered previous generations. Since the 60’s the number of hours needed to maintain the income, standard of living and lifestyle of these professions has risen almost yearly.

In the late 80’s I had conversations with professional friends of mine (doctors, lawyers, psychologists, pharmacists, etc.) about changes in their field and how it affected their roles as parents and bread earners. They were unanimous in their assertion that they had to work 6o hours a week to accomplish what they use to in a 40 hour week. Now, they claim they have to work well over 60 hours week to
maintain a standard of living they had at the 90’s which was still short of the standard of living they had in the 80’s.

More work and less financial benefit would logically lead to more stress which in turn could lead to depression. Having a longer work week also has one have less time for family and friends and relationships in general, and one of the hallmarks of depression is the feeling of isolation engendered by a lack of relationships or a lack of time for intimate relationships. Considering this, it should come as no surprise that these professions are high up on the list of those being diagnosed with depression.

Not only professionals but many American’s are finding themselves too busy to have much time for relationships. Often times in two income families there is little time left over after work and other responsibilities such as house cleaning, cooking, banking, shopping and the like are taken care of. Add a couple of children in the mix and one and one time becomes an endangered species.

This lack of time together makes it difficult for relationships to survive, for either you grow together or you grow apart. When people spend more time with coworkers  than spouses it is not unusual for people to have an affair with a coworker and leave their spouse.

If you than throw in the fact that both members of two worker households have financial freedom, this makes their being able to leave the relationship easier for both people. This fact is demonstrated by the nations high divorce rate, and studies show that divorce and depression often go hand in hand. Likewise, the early onset of depression in adolescents or even younger children is often sparked by the divorce of their parents.
We are often told that anyone in the US can be become wealthy and successful. This belief also spawns a counter-belief, and that is that everyone in the US should be successful. If you live in the US there is almost no valid reason to struggle or fail. If you aren’t wealthy or successful you have no one to blame but yourself. This turns the possibility of success into a responsibility for success, and makes the pressure of success a constant stressor.

The tacit statement is that only the lazy and unresourceful do not succeed in our society. Since almost everyone in our society has some redeeming or outstanding quality they have no excuse for failure. A short list of the qualities a person could use to become successful include being clever, ambitious, talented or intelligent.

Finding a person who does have one of these qualities or a synonym for one of these qualities is rare. If not talented you could at least be skillful, productive, earnest or devoted. If not creative you could be resourceful, inventive, quirky or eccentric. If not intelligent you could be knowledgeable, informed, or an expert in a very narrow field of information. To be successful in this culture all you supposedly need is to have and use any of these or a multitude of other marketable qualities.

In a society espousing this belief while having the factual reality be that more and more money is going into fewer and fewer hands it can cause feelings of failure in a large percentage of people. Our current economic downturn with its booming unemployment only exacerbates the negative feeling of self inherent in the American dream.

Add to this the fact that in most arenas of competition in our society there are far more winners than losers. In every race their is one winner and the rest are losers. For every business that succeeds there are dozens which fail. Every actor, author, athlete, musician and entrepreneur who succeeds is met by hundreds or thousands who didn’t. Even those who succeed for a time being may fail in the long run.

Societies with set caste and class systems can breed their own forms of depression, but they pale in comparison to the vast numbers of people who find our competitive structure overwhelming and depressing. A little realism would go a long way towards reducing the high percentage of depression in our society.

One of the most pervasive success myths in our culture is the advanced education myth. If you want to succeed and get a good job the saying goes, stay in school and get an advanced degree. The truth of the matter is that our society and job structure cannot support a highly educated work force. There are not millions of jobs sitting out there waiting to be filled by people with advanced degrees. In fact those with advanced degrees attempting to get into the workforce are finding it impossible to find jobs worthy of their educational qualifications.
The above discussion outlines some of the basic reasons that depression is on the rise in the US. Yet, I have yet to talk about the two most likely reasons for why the US leads the world in depression. These two aspects are fear and uncertainty. The US leads the world in the production of fear and uncertainty and the knowledge of how these mechanisms can foster and maintain a state of depression.

I would have to say that lying and deception are central and endemic to both our politics and economics.

We live in the most blatant and proud consumer society on the planet. Our roles as both voters and consumers makes it central to both businesses and governmental bodies to manage and influence us. The key to their success is their successful management of public opinion, public perception, public sentiment and consumer confidence.

In order to get elected politicians must tell us what they think we want to hear rather than what they honesty think. Even if what they are saying is basically what they believe, the very words they choose and how they frame their ideas is done for a specific purpose. Their goal is to manage and influence our perceptions more than it is to accurately convey their ideas.

Most of what they say is designed for effect rather than truth, it is about form rather than substance. Political statements are more about inciting a desired reaction or preventing an undesired reaction than expressing a specific idea. Almost every statement uttered by a politician is done with the utmost care and craftsmanship. Citizens are being handled and their perceptions and feelings are being managed. We are never treated honestly or in a direct fashion, rather we are treated as voters and consumers of their rhetoric.

The fact that it is much easier to destroy than to build, results in politicians attacking their opponents position rather than articulating their own. This results in the use of fear, anger and even hatred as being the norm as opposed to positive feelings. Everyday politicians are telling us that we should support and vote for them because their opponents are bad, evil or a threat to our way of life. Everyday our being managed and deceived to hate, fear and be angry at the other side. Each day we hear a number of people talk out about the dangers of the others and the threat they pose.

How can that not be depressing? How can associations based of fear and hatred not diminish our feelings of happiness and safety?

We openly talk about spin, and that all politicians have a hidden agenda and cannot be trusted. Poll after poll show that politicians are some of the least trusted people in  society. Yet despite this we day-to-day lives are dependent on trusting them to make important decisions on our behalf. How can that not lead to depression and/or crazy making behavior?

In the political realm we also have the corporate media complaining about the media as if the media were someone else. We are being asked to believe these people on TV and in the newspapers are telling us the truth while the media is corrupt. And in the process not consider these media people not to be the media.

Though we all know that the entire corporate media is owned by a few families who own a handful of corporations, we are asked to suspend this knowledge and think that those reporting the news are objective and not representing the views of their bosses. Again, isn’t it logical that all this deception, perceptual management and misrepresentation could lead to the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness of depression? Doesn’t it make sense that a systemic and pervasive avoidance of truth and honesty would foster depression?

How can one feel anchored to themselves and others in a world of incessant manipulation and deception?

A chronic lack of self-validation is another stated element or cause of depression. How can one get validation is a society that is always treating you as an object to influence and manage? How can one get validation when reality and what we’re are being told is real doesn’t match up?

Misinformation and deception are just as predominant in our role as consumers as it is in our role as voter. Hardly a moment goes by in which we are not being coaxed or encouraged to buy something. In almost every sales pitch the benefits of our potential purchase are exaggerated and the drawbacks of not purchasing or buying a competitors product are likewise skewed.

In commerce as in politics we are forever the targets or spin, deception and manipulation. Any thing said to us has a purpose and seldom a truth. If we are being complimented is to often to help set up a sale. Likewise if we are being warned it is not so much about care and concern for our welfare as a reason or motivation to purchase the desired product.

Oftentimes people make a purchase to fill a perceived lack or void in their life, or to fit in with the group. Salesmen take advantage of this fact by trying to convince you that you need their product or it will make you happy. Many sales techniques focus on your being viewed as cool or in if you buy their product.

No matter what purchases you make there are more commercials and sales pitches coming your way.  A good consumer can never be content and satiated, and so the goal is to always have you wanting more and be dissatisfied. Isn’t the state of never feeling complete and satisfied a working definition of depression?

Being told the truth is a rare event in our roles as consumers and voters. In the rare instances when we are being told the truth, it seldom occurs without some spin or management agenda being attached to it.

When you consider how pervasive these two roles are in our daily lives you realize how rare simple honesty can be. This means is a very functional sense reality is never quite what is seems. It makes it hard for us to ever trust what we hear or the people who speak to us.  Not being able to trust others makes it difficult for us to get the type of validation we need to feel healthy and normal.

We are told we live in the freest society on the planet yet we are forever being watched and monitored. One wonders how we can rectify being the freest nation with the fact that we have the largest prison population (per capita) in the world. Again this sort of verbal contradiction with reality probably eats away at us in a not totally conscious way.

In my next post I plan on doing a more extensive exploration fear mongering plays in our nations tendency towards depression.

Before closing I would like to mention the negative role western medicine has in our feeling secure and validated. Due to how it functions the goal of western medicine seems to be to tell you something you don’t know about yourself, to surprise you. If you feel great and have no complaints they will usually run tests. Seldom do tests ever come back as perfect, whatever that means, and some recommendation or warning sign not identified.

In most cases most people by their forties are on some form of medication and on some stage of alert regarding some potential problem. This is just another off shoot of our consumer culture where we are never OK and complete. Yet, what modern medicine does is take away our ability to know ourselves or monitor our own health.   We become stupid and dependent on machines and technology to tell us what we don’t know about ourselves.

On the other hand if I go see a doctor regarding a specific complaints, and the tests see no problem, than I’m either imagining the malady or it just doesn’t exist. In either case my perceptions about myself are both unimportant and wrong. The fear of the unknown as well as not being to perceive reality accurately are precursors for depression. Our modern medical system is not very reinforcing or self validating.
The point of this post wasn’t to say that our society is the only one that promotes and fosters depression. Yet, it did strive to explore some of the reasons and characteristics which could explain why depression is so rampant in the US. In many cases stated above the US is not alone in what it does, but it may stand out by the degree and frequency in which these practices are utilized.

This post though long could have be a book. So, I ask your indulgence with the half statements and innuendo this format demanded.

Jim Guido

Politicians and Public Servants

If I were an elected official I would conduct my administration in the following manner.

I would try as much as possible to live up to the term public servant. I would incorporate practices which maximize transparency, engender actual democracy and keep the public up to date.

The first thing I would do is to have my working hours documented for all to see and hear. This could be accomplished by having my meetings, and business telephone conversations and the like taped and played on the internet and cable TV.  Hopefully this would limit the number of people such as special interest groups from attempting to influence my actions by behind the scene influence, as well as keep people informed of what I’m doing in their name.

I also would disseminate the various views on a number of important issues so the public could educate themselves on the issues. When making a decision, I would publish why I chose the solution I did and compare and contrast its merits with the other options that were available. As often as possible I would track the relative success of the decisions I’ve made and let the public know when and why a chosen policy was amended or altered due to its actual efficacy in improving the community.

In a direct democracy people would vote on issues themselves. Therefore, at times I would like to place many issues up for public vote. Citizens could vote by telephone, internet, or by voting booth.

Yet, no one wants uninformed individuals to vote on any issue. Hence, people would have to prove their knowledge before being allowed to vote on an issue.  Sufficient familiarity of the issue could be proven by answering a few questions derived from the issue papers I would have posted on the internet, cable TV, and at voting facilities.

In some cases the actual votes would decide the course of action to be taken, in other cases the vote would be taken just to get an accurate read of public opinion. In a situation whereby a number of possible courses of action were proposed we would list the percentage of vote for each proposed solution or action. This would allow us to try the second most popular plan if the initial plan wasn’t proving to be as successful as hoped.

I previously worked for a non-profit organization which attempted to help the public form and institute actions which would have a positive impact on the quality of life of those living in our community. This process involved choosing a topic that would be discussed throughout the year. The potential topics were arrived at by asking the public which areas they were most concerned about. Our community over several years chose education, housing, health care, transportation and air and water quality to name a few.

Groups of citizens would meet to discuss the chosen issue and be led by trained facilitators to come up with possible solutions. These potential solutions would be presented to the chamber of commerce, city council and all vested parties. If a solution were popular, but not immediately adopted, we would help citizens form task forces and action groups to help them keep their vision alive.

In the initial discussion circles all citizens were listened to and their feelings and concerns hopefully validated and articulated. I found that when people felt hear and understood they were more willing to try a solution which wasn’t their first choice, knowing that their solution would be back on the table if the chosen solution proved to be unsuccessful. All chosen solutions were published and their success or lack of success was followed and documented by agreed upon benchmarks and outcomes. As an example the solutions for improving local education would be evaluated by test scores, student performance, attendance and many other concrete statistics.

There is no perfect governmental structure, and there would be many flaws and complications with an open form of government which I am proposing. Yet, I do feel it is the right direction to go towards.

I would not try to win an election. If people liked my ideas and methods than they should vote for me, if they didn’t like my ideas then they shouldn’t vote for me.

Winning an election should not just be a popularity contest, but rather a decision of how we want to be governed and what type of person fits the attitude of the time. If people didn’t agree with my basic stance and my general principles, why would I want their vote, and what good can I do for people who are fundamentally opposed to my way of being in the world?

Our current format of having politicians being handled and packaged and altering how they express their ideas by the latest poll results is not working very well, and is a very insincere and dishonest means of governing.

Yet, if that’s what people want, then by all means they should continue to support the current system. Yet, if people do not want salesmanship, spin and dishonesty that they need to demand change.

The following lyrics express some of my concerns with modern politics. The songs can be heard in the music section, Mob Rule is on the Edge of Eden CD. Political Guys and Demonic Democracy are on Opportunity Lost and Demonic Democracy can be found on the Surviving Sophistry CD.

Jim Guido

Mob Rule

My life keeps reaching away from storm
But who’s that teaching a hateful scorn?
Wisdom’s flame will blow out one day
When fools keep talking their winds of decay
I wonder if they know?
What is believing if not adorned
With wreaths of feeling one’s love restored?
We need a leader today
Who leads the herd not held in its sway
I sit here waiting for you

The people’s man keeps shaking hands
Plays the crowd like a slick magician
His words of hope there is no antidote
He speaks our words so we believe him
Makes me angry, makes me sad
Makes we proud to live in this land
What we want over what we need
Seduces us into feeling free

Feeling ecstasy, popular people telling popular stories
Of comfortable change, popular people telling popular stories

In limousines and dairy queens
The cameras focus on smiling faces
What is shown is all that’s known
Along with words meant to please everybody
Seeking pleasure, needing change
The crowd’s excited just the same
The torch’s ablaze, the mob’s enraged
Self-righteous truth fuels the flame

Mob rule ain’t that true? mob rule it’s what we groom
Mob rule it’s who you know, mob rule to get control
Mob rule just step in line, mob rule and let the anger fly
Mob rule it’s how you act, mob rule now that’s a fact

What’s right is right if you got the votes
In a democratic land that called control
Mob rule we’ve been had, mob rule it’s so sad
Mob rule just one big bang, mob rule let’s wave the flag
Where have all the heroes gone like the sheriff at the courthouse
Speaking words of justice to calm an angry lynch mob?

Public Serpent

You lost my trust, I feel disgust
When I think of how you must live
Your words are feeble, you speak of evil
I feel my lunch coming

You so depend that we’ll suspend
Deny all we know to be true
You smile on screen, I shout and scream
Aigh-aigh-aigh

Say what you want your time draws near
The hate that you wrought is about to come back at you
Your pampered life of strong-armed fear
The friends that you bought are about to find friends elsewhere

You herd the sheep, you bah they bleat
Starting wars with indignation
Self-righteous toad, you seek control
For you have no talents

I seek no harm, just sound the alarm
And hope that our plight’s over
I like to care, be kind and fair
But your venom has poisoned our place in the world

Say what you want your time draws near
The hate that you wrought is about to come back at you
Your pampered life of strong-armed fear
The friends that you bought are about to find friends elsewhere

Though you talk of noble causes there are hisses in your words
When you speak of love and justice, I never feel your heart
Cheaters often prosper that’s a fact of life
But their victories are so shallow for they must forever be on guard

Cryptic reasons to go to war the demons got the bomb
Sordid visions of mass destruction gives us all a shove
Our sovereign goodness we defend, all threats we’ll overcome
When public serpent bares his fangs the masses will succumb

Say what you want your time is going to come
Do what you want, you’re doomed from the start

Political Guys

Lost in the fire of yesterdays is the passion which powers reason
Now we smile at everything, treading lightly avoiding tension
Saying nothing silence is but a tool
Making friendships with bonds that have no clue

How long can we live a lie?
Shaking hands and hugging bodies
Acting like we’re close
Not knowing anything about anybody
Incorrigible lies, lie behind those eyes not blinking
Despicable smiles, convicting you while they’re gleaming

Searching long to find someone willing to drop their mask
That’s all I ask

Locked on the screen I see a smile
Quite like the others I see around me
Every word a lithograph
Every pause so well acted
No one’s thinking reporters explain it to you
The smile keeps talking never missing a cue

It’s hard to swim across the river of contradictions
It’s hard to find a smile which speaks with some distinction

Political guys, decisive roads to indecision
Political guise, leave no trails of comprehension

Searching long to find someone willing to drop their mask
That’s all I ask
Political guys, buy our freedom through corruption
Political guise, use our boys for more extortion

When innocent lives are shattered to pieces

Oh, I don’t love anyone any more
Oh, I don’t hate anyone any more

Demonic Democracy

I partied quite a lot it’s true
My wife killed a boyfriend from school
My dad tortured evil men so cruel
Thru failed businesses my wealth grew

I’ve lived a shallow life well connected well advised
Almost everything goes my way
I will sacrifice a few thousand lives
To gain your support and your praise

I’ve faith in god and so should you
We’ll kill off evil at its roots
If you question me you’re a fool
For god is right and I’m his tool

You will have to sacrifice a few basic rights
To make this land totally free
I may have to hide from you many important clues
To insure our national security

I’ve got you traumatized so afraid you’ll buy all my lies
I’ve got you running scared passing laws that give me power
There’s no limit to what I can do give to friends what I take from you
Pumping up our national pride cutting deals that give me power

I’ve got you mesmerized making war and making prisons
I’ve got you mesmerized making war and making money
Making money for me and my buddies
Making money lots and lots and lots of money

Helping Haiti

The response to the tragedy in Haiti has truly been heartwarming. It is so nice to hear of people in the US and around the globe reach out their hands to those in need.When people respond the way they have, especially during these hard economic times, it truly makes me proud to be a member of the human race.

Yet, I would like everyone to take a moment to make sure that the government and all those working on our behalf in this crisis are doing so according to our good intentions. I think it is important to understand what our government is doing in our name and with our money.

I ask you all to take a minute to learn of the political and economic history of Haiti and our (the US) relationship to Haiti.

I recently read some excellent articles about Haiti at counterpunch.com. The writers at this site have some pretty impressive educational, governmental and journalistic resumes. I encourage you to look over their recent articles on Haiti.

I also invite you to Google Haitian history and the US to learn more of our role and function in Haitian life. A good starting point may be to Google Noam Chomsky as he has been one of the most thorough historians of the US’s role in Western Hemisphere politics.

Yet, for the moment let me just say a few things which may explain why I’d like you to do some research. Again what I know is minimal and that’s why you should do your own research.

Haiti has long been a poor nation dependent on fishing and farming to survive. It would make sense that its wealthy neighbor (the US) would lend a helping hand.

Yet, after over half a century of political interventions (interference and control?) and economic programs (exploitation?) the country is worse off than it ever was. Haiti is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The farmers of the past have long ago lost their land and jobs to large foreign farming conglomerates which have grown exportable cash crops instead of basic food stuffs.  Neither the profits nor the foods have benefited the average Haitian resulting in the abject poverty and starvation of millions of people. This has resulted in out of work farmers flooding into the urban regions seeking work.

The response to this need has been to set up very low paying jobs in the clothing manufacturing trade often referred to as sweat shops. These jobs have not ended poverty but increased it as the workers still make less than $2 a day. It is hard to imagine $2 a day even covering food expenses for a person living on an island dependent on importing its basic food stuffs.

Politically our involvement in Haiti has even been more controversial and just as damaging.

I will use the following article I found on line this morning to help illustrate some of my concerns about how the US government is responding to the Haitian crisis.

About 5,000 U.S. military personnel were already assisting on the ground and from ships nearby, and four Navy ships and an additional 7,500 personnel were scheduled to arrive today, according to U.S. Southern Command.

The Navy hospital ship USS Comfort got underway this weekend; it is to arrive Wednesday. The ship, which received move orders Thursday, has 250 beds and a 550-person medical team. It was the ship’s fastest launch ever, said Steve Lucas, spokesman for Southern Command.

The military was worried that crime and looting would harm efforts.

“We are going to have to address the situation of security,” said Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, head of the U.S. task force in Haiti.

Haitian police struggled to scatter hundreds of stone-throwing looters in the city’s Vieux Marche, or Old Market. Elsewhere, amid the smoke from bonfires burning uncollected bodies, gunfire could be heard and bands of machete-wielding young men roamed the streets.

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Okay here go the red flags I see here. Last night I watched the Haitian piece on 60 Minutes. In this piece they mentioned that US military personnel plans on staying in Haiti for months.  Do we really need to have our military lead rescue and recovery efforts? After Katrina we had trouble even freeing a few national guardsmen to help with the devastation in New Orleans. Now, with even more troops being stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan were able to spare Marines and thousands of troops to lead and or monitor rebuilding efforts in Haiti, something just doesn’t add up.

Why not just beef up support for professional rescue operations such as the Red Cross rather than a military presence which did such a poor job in its humanitarian role in Iraq? Crisis assistance is a profession and dealing with people engulfed in so much medical, psychological and emotional trauma as the Haitians have, needs expert care not military intervention. If you think some military people are needed to help quell the looting and crime and emotional outbursts of people on the verge of death and starvation, well 12,000 land troops is definitely overkill.

If you look on YouTube you can find ample footage showing a number of local Haitian police patrolling the public toting machine guns over the last number of years. Poverty, starvation and police control aren’t new to these parts, the earthquake is the new element.

The USA today article is vague about how the current 5000 troops on the ground got there. In the quote “About 5,000 U.S. military personnel were already assisting on the ground and from ships nearby”, seems to imply our military presence was either already on land or in nearby ships before the earthquake. Doesn’t 5000 seem like an awful lot of troops just to have milling about Haiti? It seems to imply to me that we’ve been militarily interested in Haiti for quite awhile (again read the history).

Second, sending 7500 additional troops six or seven days after the quake seems like a missed opportunity from a crisis point. Having crisis response people arrive a week after the event seems odd in this day and age. That would be like sending snail mail correspondences instead of telephone and emails. In modern day transportation the military ship has got to be one of the slowest mediums available.

To justify the military role as being truly humanitarian and not a excuse for military aspirations the sentence regarding the hospital ship is more telling, “The Navy hospital ship USS Comfort got underway this weekend; it is to arrive Wednesday. The ship, which received move orders Thursday, has 250 beds and a 550-person medical team. It was the ship’s fastest launch ever, said Steve Lucas, spokesman for Southern Command.”

Considering the size of the tragedy 250 beds seems rather small, especially 250 beds which are arriving almost two weeks after the event. When every minute that passes could result in another preventable death, why would you send medical personnel by boat?

Think about it 12,500 military on hand while 550 medical personnel are still out at sea, as lives are hanging in the balance.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to fly in 12,500 medical personnel and boat in about 550 military personnel. In an emergency situation where time is of the essence who would dream of having designing a plan inn which your expert medical personnel arrives some 20,000 minutes after the beginning of the emergency. And this despite the fact that this was done, according to the article, in record time!

In the meantime we will have over 12,000 military personnel on the ground who instead of fighting which they are trained for, are providing medical and trauma care for one of the largest and severest tragedies of our life time.  The military might be minimizing but not denying its military purpose. The article says,”We are going to have to address the situation of security,” said Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, head of the U.S. task force in Haiti, and begins to lay the groundwork for later escalation of troop police action by the following.

“Haitian police struggled to scatter hundreds of stone-throwing looters in the city’s Vieux Marche, or Old Market. Elsewhere, amid the smoke from bonfires burning uncollected bodies, gunfire could be heard and bands of machete-wielding young men roamed the streets.”

Whether intentionally or not, this is a very artfully constructed sentence setting the stage for future escalation of police action. Hundreds of stone throwing people does not support the image of utter chaos deserving 12,500 US troops. Yet, the reference to distant gun fire does get our foot in the door. The fact is that most Haitians no matter how angry they are do not have the monetary resources for a lot of arms and firepower. The guns are either being fired by a few wealthier dissidents or by the police themselves to control rioting. Yet, in this abject poverty there isn’t a whole lot to steal. The term “bands” will probably soon became gangs and slowly morph into terrorists and resistance groups if we amp up our military role in once again “maintaining the peace” as we are doing in so many other nations around the globe.

The hate the Haitians mentality has long been part of our political ideology. The remarks by Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh are not isolated but in fact representative of much of US policy over the last half century of so. But,  don’t take my word for it, look it up.

Jim Guido

The Global Warming Debate

I’m always amazed and fascinated at how efficient US propagandists are in creating a debate which draws people away from the real issue.  At other times they simply find a way to change the focus of a movement which suits their purposes.

The women’s movement which started out as a quality of life issue, got morphed into a rather narrow personal rights and monetary issue. This subtle shift in the national discussion allowed our government and corporate structure to capitalize on the women’s movement and slowly have two pay checks equal the purchasing power and standard of living of one pay check a few decades back.

The women’s movement quickly dropped its emphasis on intimacy and personal development and traded it in for consumption and jobs which men were finding oppressive and unrewarding. Instead of freeing men and woman from oppressive roles and serfdom the women’s movement was seduced into joining men in their prison with such deceptive slogans as “you’ve come a long way baby” in a series of commercial celebrating the fact that woman could now use their new found economic life to get cancer like their workaholic husbands they felt so alienated from.

Likewise the propagandists artfully steered the American public away from their fervent opposition to our many wars treating other nations as US property, to a demand that we “support the troops”. Any words spoken against the war(s) were both a source of motivation and “support to our enemies” while undermining the “courageous” efforts of our young men and women in battle. Never mind the fact that the reasons for war were fictitious at best and more than likely morally indefensible.

When the Soviet Union fell the US became the undisputed world superpower. Despite this, the US’s involvement in military conflicts and police actions continued to escalate. Public anger with our government’s international actions and policies grew along with a reluctance to encourage our children to get involved in such military actions.

Then voila we suddenly found (created) an enemy worthy of our fear and hatred. This, of course, is terrorism and the war on terrorism. Terrorists exist no where in particular, but can and as the propagandists say, do exist everywhere.  Terrorists are  as hard to identify as they are to define.

Since terrorists sole goal is to destroy us and our way of life, it is “imperative” that we act aggressively and savagely to extinguish them before they proliferate. The propagandists have used this logic to defend our use of torture, banned substances, and unilateral and unsanctioned military action. The war on terror gives the US reason and the duty to invade any country at any time with or without that country’s permission.

So, now let’s take a look at how the “debate on global warming” is just another example of how good our government and corporate propagandists are at diverting the public’s attention away from the obvious.

The battle between environmentalists and corporate spin doctors and propagandists has been lengthy. At every turn spin doctors have found a way to change the dialogue or find a way to make the most profit out of a situation.

The ecological movement which began in the early seventies suffered a huge set back in the late seventies when an OPEC driven energy crisis and stagflation were used to outweigh all concerns regarding pollution caused by fossil fuels. Public relations departments trumpeted their new “concern for your total environment” putting fisheries next to energy plants while the smoke stack industry tried to make their toxic discharges look more environmentally friendly.

Neatly tailored industrial parks, and beach renovations were used to paint lip stick on the environmental pigs. Nuclear power plants which were not as profitable as coal based plants were phased out as a sign of corporate concern for the public health. Newer plants were able to have the toxic releases of coal plants be less visually obvious, and through the efforts of spin doctors and narrow and highly funded scientific studies industries were able to convince the public that their environment was becoming cleaner and healthier.

The debate over ecological concerns regarding the efficient and frugal use of natural resources would slowly resurface in the early eighties as the economy recovered. It was at this time that a lot of the discussion focused on the deterioration of the ozone layer and its effects on people and wildlife.

Once again corporate spin doctors did an excellent job of posing themselves as well intentioned victims of fanatics and potentially harmful idealists. They fended off attacks by environmentalists concerns regarding species extinction by forming and funding fraudulent and extreme conservation groups who were given ample TV and radio air time as they tried to halt progress in order to save a single bird (like the spotted owl).  Soon the bulk of the American public viewed ecologists and ecological activists as being goofy reactionaries disconnected from the real world.

Likewise, environmental health concerns regarding lead paint, asbestos, PCB’s etc. were posed as extreme measures tending to minor problems. Public sympathy was swayed by the expense, tediousness and inconvenience of the governments (EPA’s) clean up programs and interventions.  Once again the environmental and health concerns of ecological activists were successfully posed as being unnecessary and economically unrealistic and harmful.

The changes and concessions made by corporate America were, like always, done in a manner which increased their profits while at the same time fostering public support and sympathy. Concerns regarding the effects of ozone depletion gave rise to skin and sun screen products as well as more profitable delivery systems than the aerosol can. Highly profitable green industries began to sprout up everywhere from organic food stores to recycling industries and businesses.

The current debate on global warming is just the latest manifestation of how corporate and government spin doctors divert and win public opinion and support. The science regarding the effects of industrial pollution and practices on the environment is still in its infancy. Though much compelling information exists, its models and long term predictions are still crude. The number of variables are vast making it difficult to make any reasonable forecast for the foreseeable future.

The complexity of the situation and science makes it so easy for the spin doctors to make the global warming crowd fit the standard role of naive reactionaries who pose a threat to our economic progress and stability. By forcing scientists and activists to prove their viewpoint through specific predictions over short time frames, they are demanding the impossible, and setting up the ecologists to fail and look ridiculous.

Let’s say when psychologists first talked of the harms caused by physical abuse and torture they were scoffed at and demanded to prove their case. Early psychologists would likely say that abused children would develop many psychosocial problems including depression, increase aggression and violence, low self-esteem and inabilities to establish and maintain relationships. Those who have endured long term or severe torture would have similar social deficits and personal handicaps.

Let’s go on to say that the psychologists were demanded to give specific time frames for the manifestation of these problems to arise. They would say many things, but some psychologists would point out that the onset of many of these problems could be almost immediate.

Therefore, any spin doctor opposed to the psychologists viewpoint could easily distort and destroy the psychologists assertion. One could easily find children and even adults who have been physically abused and tortured who function and appear to be happy and productive people. By writing a few articles stating psychological theories and well documented probabilities as predictions of fact, one could sway the reading public to view the psychologists as reactionary and wrong about their assumptions and predictions of the effects of violence on human beings.

This is what is happening in the global warming debate where spin doctors are now popularizing specific dire concerns and possible scenarios of the effects of industrial pollution as specific predictions. If we do not flood in five years, or all polar bears drown than global warming doesn’t exist or at least does not pose any immanent danger.

Think how easy it would be to form some bogus ecological body and pay them to make outrageous statements or popularize data which negates specific claims. Talk about your low hanging fruit. Think of how many pilot studies and papers are written each day. What if I were paid handsomely to find dubious studies or to find ways to interpret studies to give the impression that if such and such doesn’t happen this winter or this year than the global warming perspective is wrong.

Even though I find much of the current evidence regarding global warming somewhat compelling, to me it isn’t the point. Even if global warming isn’t happening, or at least not to the point to usher in a global disaster or ice age, it doesn’t mean that ecological concerns are myths or needless fear mongering.

The point is that dumping tons of toxic waste into our air and water on a daily basis is most likely not a good thing. It’s hard to prove that abuse is destructive to the human spirit, but its harms are well documented. Just as we could never prove smoking caused cancer, it was obvious it had a terrible track record in terms of personal health.

The debate over global warming is a spin doctors dream. It is diverting the attention  away from the obvious harms of toxic pollution and onto a debate which cannot be decided or proven. Those opposed to global warming do not have to prove that global warming isn’t happening, they only have to show the ways in which any global warming model of their choosing is wrong or inaccurate.

Jim Guido

Buying According to Need

Since the recent economic downturn it has become fashionable to complain about the obvious excesses of our consumer culture. People are being told to save money and pay off their debt. Those with excessive debt are viewed as being reckless and harmful to the stability of our nation’s economic superiority.

Not that long ago US citizens were being told that buying and borrowing were the only true ways of having our economy and way of life defeat terrorism and keep our country strong.  Almost every day we were told that 70% of our economy depended on the American consumer. Consumption was both our right and duty as patriotic Americans. Staying out of planes and out of shopping malls would bring joy to the terrorists and help them defeat the US.

Since March the stock market is on its best run in history. The Nasdaq 100 best known as the father of the dot com bubble finished 2009 as its second best year ever, with over a 50% gain. Since March it has risen over 80% the sharpest rise ever on record.

The reasons for this rise according to the financial media are simple. First, the bailouts worked and the financial crisis has been averted. Second, the recession is over and the economy is bouncing back. Third, the “resilient”  American consumer has continued to spend.

So how is that the American consumer is simultaneously paying off its debts and increasing its consumption? The rebound in consumer spending is occurring despite the fact that the employment situation continues to look bleak and wages growth is stagnant.

Though the financial media claims the recession is over, polls show that the average US citizen still feels like they are living in a recession. I’ve already covered this apparent contradiction in a post entitled Stock Market Loves Bad Economy written less than two months ago.

Today I’d like to talk about what would happen if the US consumer truly began to pay off his debt, save money and reduce his purchases.

What would your purchases look like if the bulk of your expenditures were limited to satisfying your basic needs? First of all most purchases would be restricted to food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Second a lot of semi-essentials or things that are not needed on a daily basis could be borrowed from or shared with friends.

Think of how much you could save if you pooled resources with friends. We know the economic and environmental benefits or carpooling or taking public transportation. Yet, think of how much money you could save by sharing tools such as ladders, hammers, lawn mowers, etc. that you use on a weekly, monthly or occasional basis.

When I was a child we borrowed frequently from friends and neighbors and were glad to buy some items which we knew others would borrow from us. If our neighbor had a six foot step ladder good for many tasks, we might buy an eight foot step or an extension ladder which would successfully handle other tasks. It seemed silly to clutter the garage with two ladders and duplicate resources, and was both practical and neighborly to lend and borrow tools.

If a sharing relationship ever became too inconvenient you could always buy your own duplicate item, but for the most part sharing is both economically wise and socially reinforcing. It’s nice to be helpful or of service to others and to feel part of a practical caring community.

Now, even if we didn’t share we would drastically reduce our expenditures if we bought more according to need rather than convenience.  Eating at home and preparing simple meals is both healthy and inexpensive.  Buying clothes because of practicality and usefulness rather than fashion would save many people a lot of money.

Yet, we have barely scratched the surface of how much money we could save if we became conscientious purposeful shoppers who made the majority of the purchases based on need.

The next time you go down a non-residential street or to a commercial district such as a shopping mall, think of each store in terms of need. What in the store does anyone really need? How many stores are dominated by objects that people have no need for? What percentage of stores you see do not contain a single item which you could realistically say you would ever need?

When I personally have done this exercise I find relatively few stores that actually tend to my basic needs. I find that even shopaholics have to admit that the majority of shops they know would fall into the category of inessential in their lives.

I think it is pretty safe to say that many of the shops and commercial establishments in every town would cease to exist if people reduced their purchases to meet their needs, or even slightly above their needs.

Over the last few decades the percentage of jobs related to services has risen while the percentage of factory, craftsmen, professional and skilled labor positions has decreased. The vast majority of service jobs are far less essential and need based than are the others and hints at how hard our labor market would be hit if we began to live and consume according to need.

The simple fact is our economy would fall apart if people became thoughtful consumers and lived within their means. Our society is dependent on conspicuous consumption, without it, most businesses would fail or not even exist.

In a few previous posts I have pointed out in a variety of ways how dependent our profit based system of economics is on waste. Once again I’d like to write the logic chain which I think most succinctly depicts the limits and dangers of free market capitalism:

Profit = Surplus = Excess = Waste

In this post we have just noted another way in which the above chain is true. If we lived efficiently and need based, their would be no surplus and all profit would vanish.

The fact of the matter is our economic system is dependent on flagrant consumption and wastefulness.

Sharing, being honest, kind, charitable, conscientious, frugal, safe, and contented are human characteristics and qualities which are in opposition to and a danger to our economic system.

The question is how dangerous and destructive is our economic system to our humanity? How much harm does our economic system do to our sense of pride and self-esteem?

Many think that our economic system though flawed is the best option available. Many would go on to say that we can’t live without an economic system, and that our free market economy is the best and most humane system possible.

Yet, how can this be, when living according to one’s needs would actually destroy the economy and many of man’s best qualities are in opposition to the essential competitive nature of a free market economy?

Jim Guido

If We Build It…..

In the last two posts I discussed the fact that our society is neither oriented nor structured in a way to support a highly educated work force. In this post I want to expand upon the importance and flexibility we have regarding how we design the structure and functioning of society.

We have long been aware of the effects the structure of society has on individuals. Many books, movies and social experiments have demonstrated how a society’s values are both reflected in and created by its structure.

In the movie Trading Places this theme was played out in comic excellence. In the movie two wealthy white men attempt to settle an argument whether genetic good breeding or the opportunities offered by one’s environment are more important to success. They decide to take a black street criminal (Eddie Murphy) and give him a Wall Street job and other perks and fire an up and coming white Ivy League graduate (Dan Aykroyd) to see who will win in the long run.

The bulk of the movie focuses on how both adapt to their new positions in life.  The ex-convict becomes an extremely resourceful successful businessman, and the ex-Ivy Leaguer becomes a petty thief in his struggle to survive and in response to his anger at how society is treating him.

In stories such as Black Like Me we follow the descent of a successful educated white man when he chemically alters the color of his skin so as to appear to be a black man in pre-civil rights America. Though not really black he could not help but feel the despair and internalize the hatred and prejudice lobbed his way.

Many social experiments regarding social status and power document what the above movies and books portrayed, and that is that individuals are highly influenced by the way they are viewed and treated by a society. And that a society creates personalities and stereotypes by the way the society functions and is designed.

If people are put in a roles of master and slave they will quickly adapt to these roles both externally and internally, even if they know they are play acting. The masters will soon become aggressive, righteous and ambitious while the slaves will become submissive, conniving, self-doubting and self-hating.  Yet, once taken back out of this situation and placed back into their normal lives they generally revert back to their old ways and perceptions of self, society and life.

We know that no matter what you do to a society there will be a small percentage of people who will think, act and behave in ways contrary to the society. Yet, what this also says is that we know that a vast majority of people will adapt to and live the dominant values of the culture. This is evident not only in historical instances such as Nazi Germany, but also in the long term social structure of caste systems, tribes and relatively isolated groups such as the Amish.

The point of this discussion is that people’s actions, morals and goals are highly influenced by the structure of their society. People generally are the moral and behavioral products of the culture. The larger portion of the populace is the incarnation of the basic values of the culture. Ambitious competitive cultures create ambitious competitive people, where reflective and kind cultures create cautious and introspective individuals.

A recent study on testosterone puts an interesting spin on the above point.  The standard belief was to equate testosterone with male aggression, raise testosterone levels and you will increase aggression and violence. Yet, the results of raising testosterone levels in various organisms proved otherwise.

What was found was that in animals with simple physiologies and social structures there was the expected rise in aggression. Yet, in complex organisms in complex societies raised levels of testosterone caused raised levels in which the animal sought social status. How the animal expressed his testosterone varied according to the values and activities which resulted in social status. High levels of testosterone could result in anything from increased desire to dance, build, create, invent, parent or teach as well as win, battle or control. The deciding factor was in the status goal of the society and not indigenous to and specific personality type.

If these studies do indeed to prove true it just shows another way in which people are inherently geared towards adapting to the values of the culture they are living in. Yet, even without such biochemical validation it is easy to see how people’s character types, values and vocations are highly influenced by the culture they live in.

In many American Indian cultures men strove to be wise and always sought better ways to adapt to and show respect to nature. They desired to consensus build and live life according to the cycles of nature. Their animistic beliefs stimulated them to emulate the positive qualities of many animals, birds and even the spirits contained in mountains and trees.

A society structured in a way which rewarded and recognized health and kindness would create many healthy and kind individuals. Sure, no matter how healthy one’s diet and lifestyle, there will always be sickly people who die young. Improvements, in a culture’s diet, health care and lifestyle are customarily reflected in a rise in the average life expectancy.

The US is a competitive, economically driven empire where one attains status and success though ambition, guile and determination. Aggression, power and control are often the quickest and surest means of acquiring social status and success.

When people point to the high ideals of the US they are speaking of words and not so much of how the US behaves or functions. We may speak of the importance of honesty and tell our children to share. Yet, status and success in the US is more often accomplished through guile, spin, deception, manipulation and salesmanship than truth and honesty. Likewise hoarding, taking, bilking and exploiting are the tools of the successful rather than sharing and empathy.

It is absurd to think that our society could not be run and designed in a different manner. Anyone who thinks that industrial capitalism is the only or best social system is definitely blind to history and cultural anthropology. There were many empires before the US and most of them were not capitalistic in nature or function.

It is more accurate to say that the design of our society creates our morals and values, rather than the other way around. It is very difficult for individuals to maintain and live their morals and values which are in opposition to the society in which they live. In most cases people will either adapt their actions to the morals of the society at large, even if internally they wish otherwise. This is evident in the number of US citizens who support the war policies of our government despite the fact the majority of US citizens are opposed to war in general and our current wars in particular.

A great exercise is to try and view our society from the perspective of an anthropologist. What according to our laws, actions and daily habits are our most dominant values and mores? What do we train our children to become, and how do we treat our contemporaries? What do we reward, recognize and foster in our culture? Is this what you would foster if you had a choice?

The fact is we have great flexibility in choosing our society’s design and function? Saying otherwise, is escaping responsibility and selling ourselves short. Of course, those in power want the status quo, and want us to believe that this is the best option currently available.

Many relationships and marriages have found through therapy that small changes in the structure and habits of a relationship can have profound positive effects on the health and happiness of a family. Subtle changes in habit, attitude and structure can replace anxiety, pain and even depression with appreciation, contentment and joy.

The changes in our social structure need not be that dramatic. Subtle changes in how we do things and what we reward could result in incredible growth in personal satisfaction. Statistics indicate that our society fosters depression, anxiety, fear and apathy more than joy, personal satisfaction, and connection to others.

Many of my posts have and will deal with issues of social design and personal satisfaction.  My songs and books, which can be found by clicking onto the music and words tabs, are also geared towards these social concepts. They are offered here for free, because that is my value. Many, of course, will think their quality poor due to their being offered for free. That is their value.

I invite you to decide for yourself. I would love to hear your reactions.

United in Compassion

Jim Guido

The Great American Education Hoax: Part 2

In the previous post I discussed how statistics show that American’s are not as educated as we are led to believe. In the US less than 70% of students who enter elementary school end up with a high school diploma. In this post we will try to see how a practical, logical analysis of the role of education in modern society contradicts what we are being told regarding its importance and benefits.

American’s are being told that today’s competitive marketplace demands that citizens who want to “get ahead in the world” need at minimum a college degree and most likely an advanced degree. We are bombarded with the message that American workers are the most skilled in the world and the fast pace of American commerce and technological advancement demand higher education.

Let’s take a s look at how honest this sentiment and appraisal of the role and benefit of education is for the general public. First we’ll look at the economic and practical benefits of advanced degrees for the professional career traditional college track and then will look at the economic and practical benefits of higher education for the vocational trade workers.

The problem with the advanced degree equals financial wealth and security promise is that it contradicts both historical economic trends and the laws of supply and demand so dear to our system of capitalism. Our society shows no signs of wanting or becoming a society able to financially support a highly educated populace.

During the last two economic downturns the term over qualified was used to explain the reason why many highly credentialed potential workers were unemployed or having to accept low paying jobs outside of their field. Though this problem is less talked about it is more prevalent than ever.  The structure and composition of our work force shows no indication or ability to become a professional career dominated  system.

We currently do not have millions or even tens of thousands of jobs sitting fallow waiting for advanced degree applicants to fill those positions. Likewise we are not waiting for more Phd’s and masters level graduates to hit the work force before we create such positions. The reality of the situation is advanced degree graduates are finding it increasingly difficult  to find jobs fitting their educational status at all, let alone in their field of interest.

Since the early 60’s there has been a steady trend of a higher concentration of wealth going to a smaller and smaller percentage of people. This trend shows no signs of abating and in fact is gaining momentum. The prospects for wealth and job security for those of us acquiring an advanced educational degree is on the wane even if the percentage of people receiving advanced degrees were not to increase.

Advances in technology and informational technology will continue to erode the importance and need for a number of advanced degree professionals. I’ll just give two quick examples to support the point.

One is the number of medical procedures that will be best or only performed or executed by robotics and machines is only going to expand. The demands regarding accuracy and sensitivity for most recent and projected medical procedures far exceed the capabilities of human surgeons and medical practitioners.

Second, computers and information systems are far more capable of researching and organizing information. Researchers in all fields of the professional world including CPA’s and lawyers are becoming increasingly dependent on information technology to do the bulk of their work for them. The technology if not a direct threat to make their jobs totally obsolete at least will drastically decrease the number of professionals needed in each field.

A constant complaint I’ve heard these last 30 years from students functioning at all levels of educational competency is that education has nothing to do with the real world, that they will never use the majority of what they are being taught. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard a student ask, “why should I learn this?”, or “When am I ever going to use this when I’m working?”

In many ways students are correct in assuming that their jobs will never require their knowing how solve a quadratic equation, know the periodic table,  or be able to identify the structure of the judicial system of Maori Indians.  Likewise understanding the various forms of poetic meter, or the major river systems of South America will seldom get them a job or make them available for a job promotion.

Yet, what is gained through our general education system is more abstract and logic based. The information is not important in itself but it is helping a student develop important practical skills and abilities. Some of which include problem solving, logic, critical thinking, pattern recognition, empathy and understanding, perspective and analysis just to name a few.

Much of the benefits of a well rounded education has to do with providing students with tools, skills and abilities that will help them be successful in all levels of life. Not   just at the work place, but interpersonal relations, parenting, and dealing with the increasing complexity of life in the modern world.

This shows a general benefit of education, but does not directly negate the students concern that most of their education does not directly apply to the career of job they will spend the majority of their adult life doing.

This brings us to the core of the push for advanced degrees, and its accompanying rational that many do not succeed in today’s work world because they are undereducated and unsatisfactorily credentialed. The solution as always whether you’re a computer technician or a health care professional is that your job security and pay scale are dependent on advanced degrees.

Let’s take a look at one of the central messages of education proponents who state that the sophistication and complexity of the high tech world makes a college education imperative, and once you get a degree in technology your career path is secure.

No one can argue that technological disciplines of all kinds are in a perpetual state of rapid growth. Yet, this fact both supports the need for a degree and limits the benefits of a technology based education.

First of all, no general technological education of any type, will rarely prepare you for a specific job in the field of technology. The skills and specific processes needed for each job is changing so rapidly that any education you receive will be outdated in a very short time. Since so many jobs involve skills and knowledge that are so specific to that job alone, learning on the job is far more beneficial than learning in a general classroom.

Advances in automation, robotics, information technology, and artificial intelligence are occurring at a mind numbing speed. Many technologies are claiming a new generation level of advancement as quick as every few months. In such an environment how much staying power or relevance does a degree have?

Most advances in automation, robotics, information technology, and artificial intelligence reduce the need for human workers. These technologies often reduce the need for workers and a job force and therefore a degree in these fields will not necessarily improve job security or result in a lucrative career.

The fact of the matter is that more and more jobs are becoming unnecessary and unprofitable. Machines work for free and never need to sleep or have off time. The competitive nature of capitalism always goes towards maximizing profits and lowering overhead.  In the modern world of technology and information, human labor is seldom the means to maximizing profit.

Robots and machines do tasks, learn new processes and work at optimum levels far better than humans.

Professionals such as doctors and lawyers have been keeping up with advances in their field by reading journals and getting additional training for decades.  Now any technologically based worker must do the same. There is no degree which will end education, and most education has to occur on the job because of the specialty of information and skills indigenous solely to that task.

Yet, no amount of education is going to allow humans to perform many jobs at the quality of robots and automation. Robots will become increasingly superior to human workers in doing precision work, repetitive work demanding identical duplication, and the ability to quickly identify and solve problems.

Robots, likewise will be unparalleled in their ability to identify flaws and variances of quality in materials, their ability to monitor and fix other machines, and not get bored with tedious work or vigilance.

The promises of wealth and job security being heralded by the media is true for a few industries. These industries include banking and education.

The watering down of public education has made a high school diploma almost no better than being a drop out, and therefore, made a college diploma almost mandatory to get any job above minimum wage.  This means that our free public education is worthless and forces those with economic ambition to have to pay for the education they need to make a well paying job even a possibility.

College and private educations have become these expensive and necessary toll booths giving a potential worker hope for a decent future on the road of life. Those who are yet employed or underemployed often have to borrow money to pay for their education.

Over the last few decades it has been the educational and lending institutions and not students which have benefitted most by the perceived need for higher education. The costs of higher education have skyrocket as well as the net worth of colleges and universities during this time period. Likewise the percentage of students graduating with significant amounts of debt has exploded.

The only real obstacle to expanding wealth for lending and private and higher education institutions has been bad investing. Isn’t it ironic that the standard advertising tag line for most higher educational institutions is something along the lines of “investing in your future”. It probably would be more accurate to say “investing in our future”.

As is the case in many aspects of our society, deception and sales techniques dominate the messages we receive. Honesty and integrity, like human labor, are not the best means of maximizing one’s profit potential. Therefore, in a profit based system of economic competition honesty and integrity will have little value.

In general deception sells more than truth. So what do you expect from a society whose primary goal is economic expansion through the maximizing of profit?

Now remembering that my friend might be a real education.

Jim Guido

The Great American Education Hoax

Last week I was talking to a clinician friend of mine who is the director of a local alternative school. During the conversation I mentioned how high our local drop out rate was. She felt I was exaggerating and doubted my numbers. So, we googled it and saw that my numbers were correct.

Most statistics out there are in agreement. In the US less than two thirds of its children get a high school diploma. This means that over three in ten kids in the US do not graduate high school. Think about that a minute. Three of ten kids in your, or who were in your child’s kindergarten class will/did not get a diploma.

The media generally reports the yearly drop out rate which has stayed between 4 and 6 percent. So, the average person is led to believe that only 5 or 6% of students drop out and conclude that 90% or so of students graduate.

Yet, the reality is that 5% are dropping out per year. The accumulative result of which is that somewhere between 30 and 40% of students will be lost before high school graduation.
Below is the significant numbers posted by the Alliance for Excellent Education for the State of North Carolina.

Graduation Gaps and Inequities
Graduates
Graduates 63%

There are significant graduation gaps among student subgroups. To help close these harmful achievment gaps and raise graduation rates for all students, graduation rates must be disaggregated for both reporting and accountability purposes.
North Carolina’s Graduation Gap

All Students 63%
Asian          74%
White        70%
Hispanic   50%
African American   45%
Native American     44%

Estimated 4-year Graduation Rate
*Figures calculated prior to rounding. All graduation rates are for the school year 2005–06. For access to sources and notes please visit http://www.all4ed.org/publication_materi…. © July 2009 by the Alliance for Excellent Education

If you go to the web site below you will see an interesting national map of graduation rates for all states.

 http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/ind…

When you read the history of the public school system and the writing’s of many of its founders you find that public education was designed to be more often about indoctrination into the political/economic world of US society than about maximizing the intellectual possibilities and skill base of each citizen.

Many early social psychologists sympathized with governmental architects concerns that a truly democratic system could breed social instability. Public education was seen as a means to mold public opinion and create civic pride in the status quo while making future voters more dependent on the state.

In the early years the American public education system was able to attract and cultivate the best minds while fostering a strong sense of patriotism and national pride. These were the heady years of industrialization, empire building and invention.

Yet, the more successful the US became at becoming the reigning superpower the less the need for finding the best minds amongst the rabble. Instead they could reserve the quality aspect of American education system for the privileged few. This allowed the main focus of US public schools to become indoctrination and public control and less on unfolding the intellectual capabilities of the majority of children.

I have witnessed first hand the dilution of the American education system. The slow ingress of increasing chaos of the classrooms and the lowering of standards of academic performance.

In the late seventies and early eighties I worked in special education class rooms for both day programs and residential treatment facilities. Many of these kids came to us illiterate and with below average IQ’s. Despite these hurdles our children flourished in our school. We averaged 9 months of academic growth for every 3 to 4 months of class time.

A sizable portion of the students I worked with during that same time were average to above average students who came to us because of emotional psychological issues and not due to poor academic performance.

In the late nineties I returned to public schools for awhile and have spent the bulk of this decade back in special ed. dominated classrooms.

Though I have taught all subjects, math is my forte. I can assert with no doubt the skill level of kids I worked with in special ed. in the 70’s is higher than the average student in today’s standard level classroom.

The computational and reading skills of a child being promoted to the fourth grade now is inferior to the skills of the kids who were promoted in the 70’s. Pretty much the same can be said for each grade level.

The basic skills of our children are eroding as are the expectations. This can not be an accident or be explained away by changes in our society. For ever reason I can find that society makes learning more difficult, I can find five or six that could make learning easier and more productive.

The watered down American public education system now takes sixteen years to accomplish what it used to in twelve. The skills demanded of a student to get their high school diploma in today’s public school system is roughly equivalent to about a freshman level of the 1980’s.

The GED tests which students can now use as a high school education equivalency test is not even at the eighth grade level that I was familiar with in the late 70’s.

We are being told the truth by our educational system and government when they say that our child’s high school diploma does not open them up to the same jobs and opportunities that a high school diploma did for us when we graduated. They go on to say that today’s college diploma carries the same impact as yesterday’s high school diploma. It now takes a post graduate degree to avail yourself to the opportunities that were previously available to a college graduate. These are all true statements. In fact, they are understatements.

Today’s college graduate is probably available for less than a high school graduate of the 70’s. And even a post graduate degree does not assure you that you will get a job and pay of a standard similar to a basic college degree  in decades past.

Yet, what is deceptive about these statements is the reason why they are true. We are told that today’s workers need more skills and intellectual ability and knowledge than previous generations.

We are led to believe that the fast pace of technological progress and the increasing speed and complexity of the work place is demanding similar growth in our educational knowledge and performance.

Yet, for the most part this is just all out fictitious propaganda.

In my next post I’ll explore the fallacies of the above view and the possible reasons we are being asked to believe in the false hood of the need and benefits of a post graduate degree. I will also shed some light on the likely goals of the architects of the modern public education system, at least according to their actions.

Jim Guido

Sex and Intimacy

The following are some excerpts from the chapter entitled Sex and Intimacy from my book Exploring Intimacy. You can read the entire chapter and book by clicking on the words tab above.

Marriage continues to exist because it represents the ideal of two people living together who mutually support, share and love each other. A marriage is not just a contract, but a vehicle for intimacy.

The most private possession a person owns is their body.

Our bodies are the closest thing to us, because in them is the origination of all our experience. All we feel, think and perceive takes place in our minds and through our skin and senses. Sharing our bodies with another is sharing our experience at the exact moment it happens.

Sex is not just a symbolic way of demonstrating how open we are to each other, it is letting someone into our most private world and letting them have an impact on our every sensation.

Our bodies harbor our individuality and there is no more intimate thing to share with another than what makes us unique.

Making love is not just stimulating our bodies, it is activating and fulfilling our drive towards intimacy.

Maintaining a rewarding and fulfilling sexual relationship is dependent on a couple’s ability to stay intimate with each other.

Anger in relationships is often caused when our desire for union is denied, and the feeling of love is attained when our desire for intimacy and union is successful met.

A desire for and commitment to day-to-day intimacy is the most sure way insuring a life partnership stays fresh and fulfilling. People grow and change and unless both members of a relationship express their needs and take an interest in their partners evolving needs any union can weaken or stagnate.

Instead of just following our heart or marrying the first person we fall in love with we are asked to  ot only recognize but form and maintain intimate relationships.

Intimacy is a skill developed and refined like any other, through practice and constant evaluation.

Only through open communication and intimate knowledge of another can we be reasonably assured that the relationship will endure.

Finding a life partner is a matter of selection and not preordained from the heavens. The success of a relationship depends on the amount and the way we invest ourselves into the relationship, and not on whether we violated some universal law by marrying the wrong partner.

A life partnership which is aware and sensitive to the power of affection and sexual fulfillment is more likely to flourish throughout the years than one that ignores or takes sex for granted.

The trick of sustaining a lifelong relationship is not based on goals such as marrying the most attractive or compatible person you will ever meet, but rather finding a partner with whom you can be intimate for the rest of your life.

Beauty is only skin deep in a relationship not devoted to intimacy. In a relationship built on intimacy attractiveness involves every aspect of the person’s personality and character. Their body not just  a visual object but a vehicle for joy and intimacy.

Whatever the reason for our partner’s decrease in appeal, it is through intimacy that it must be restored.

Sexual confidence is probably the most important quality for an enduring lover to possess. A person who thrives on sexual intimacy is bound to be attractive to their partner, for such a person yearns to please and be pleased by their partner.

All couples need to find their own individual mix of sex and affection which fulfills their needs.

Only through physical exploration and intimate conversation can one ascertain the sexual differences of a couple and how these differences impact their view of love and intimacy.

Knowing your mate’s sexuality before marriage is very important, for even though many sexual preferences can be negotiated or a mutually satisfying compromise can be found, major differences in sexual appetites are almost impossible to overcome. If you like to make love every day and your partner desires to make love once a week, it will be difficult for this gap to be successfully bridged while leaving both people sexually content and emotionally united.

Sometimes the differences in sexual appetites are bridged when the couple reveals and expresses what sex means to them. Often the greater understanding and appreciation gained thorugh such a discussion is enough to get the couple’s appetites more in line with each other.

Each time we make love we have an opportunity to explore and unfold all of our senses, to push the boundaries of physical pleasure and sensual unity a step further. The amount of care and attention we can give to every single sensation and feeling is amplified during love making. Our imagination can be used to assist us in feeling an expressing the intensity of the moment. We can create moods, accent body stimulations, and transform the most simple sensation into a spiritual moment through imagination.

Our imagination is a key participant in intimate love making. Through our imagination we arouse our emotions and desires by acknowledging the importance our partner plays in our life, and in its enjoyment. Our imagination allows us to empathize and even anticipate what our partner is feeling, allowing us an opportunity to maximize the intensity of their pleasure.

One can use their imagination during love making to enhance or create a mood whose goal is increased pleasure and intimacy, or one can use their imagination to deceive, alter or even replace the event taking place.

Sharing of any type is vacant in the romantic hero. The pristine world of the heroine is left intact, she need not grow, of change, or even truly live and share a world with a man. She is spared the tragic life of the real and allowed to live in the unrealistic world of romance.

Intimacy should not have to conform to romance, but romance should conform to intimacy. Romance not tethered to intimacy can become harmful and delusionary.

Both romance and imagination can be effective tools to avoid the reality of a relationship, and therefore, instead of fostering intimacy can actually be used to prevent or weaken intimacy.

I hope these excerpts inspire to read the entire chapter and book. Enjoy.

Jim Guido

Intimate Nuggets

The following are excerpts from my book Exploring Intimacy which you can read by clicking on the words tab above.

From the chapter Defining Intimacy

Becoming intimate with something means to gain a familiarity with a desired object, to become more at home with it.

Any object or activity which gives us joy or attracts our attention provides our life with a basic amount of intimacy.

Though it is true that intimacy can be gleaned from even the most mundane experiences, this does not imply that all forms of intimacy have the same value. Many activities and things we become closer to, and more intimate with, provide us with greater satisfaction than others.

In regards to our own skills and talents we are often unappreciative of what we have accomplished and instead focus  on what we are currently incapable of achieving or attaining.

The drive for intimacy is in itself a need, but very often in our lives it is a need overshadowed by social responsibilities, expectations and obligations.

A certain amount of selfishness is needed for a person to get their needs met and a person meeting their needs will generally be a happier one.

Only through honest reflection on one’s wants and needs can an individual accurately assess if a perceived lack in their life is authentic or imagined.

Those who strive for and demand perfection are ruling out growth and feelings of intimacy to arise in their life. Expecting life to be perfect is not only unrealistic, but contrary to one’s experience of intimacy and happiness.

Without a proper sense of priorities in our life, it is impossible to maximize the amount of intimacy we derive from our life experiences.

When choosing which things to focus on and cultivate in our lives we should look for those things which provide us with the deepest sense of satisfaction.

Intimacy, like love, can become sterile or distorted. The difference is that also incorporates the ability to rectify itself.

Meaning comes from understanding, to “stand under” something, while ignorance comes from ignoring something.

And from the chapter Intimate Relationships

The desire to get more familiar with, to get closer to, is at the heart of almost every relationship we pursue and sustain in our lives.

Love and intimacy are very similar desires in both motivation and structure. Love is mainly an emotional response and state where intimacy encompasses the entire human spirit.

The aspects of love which intimacy shares is its desire to feel close and connected to the object of desire. Where they part company is that love is often blind or unconditional, while intimacy is always moving with its eyes wide open.

The desire to be love or be intimate with people is not enough, we also need to be selective. A person unaware of his real needs will often choose the wrong person to woo or love.

Initial attractions,  no matter how strong, are not enough to sustain a life long relationship without further growth and development.

One should not marry in the hope of finding fulfillment, but should consider marriage after they are actively engaged in a fulfilling and intimate relationship.

When an individual chooses a life partner without knowing themselves and their needs.or their partners needs, they are leaving the success of their relationship totally up to chance.

The flourishing of a long term relationship is greatly assisted when a firm common ground exists between a couple. When two people see the world through similar eyes, speak the same language, share like interests, and their basic needs make sense to each other, they are in a good position to maintain a fulfilling relationship.

The quality of what one communicates is more important than the quantity.

An intimate human being shares and expresses the very desires and needs which make up their existence. Though they often verbalize their thoughts and feelings creating a mutual history, they also take time to reflect on themselves and their friends. An intimate person takes as much joy in quietly learning about life as they do in revealing themselves to their partner.

Friendship is a very important aspect of intimacy. Friends give us the common language and vision it takes to feel close, to feel satisfied and fulfilled. Friends validate all the meaning we find in life, and give us the impetus to dig deeper.

Additional friendships are not inherently a danger to an intimate relationship but rather a source of stimulation providing more things for the life long partnership to share.

In an intimate relationship, both the quality and quantity of time spent together is important. No matter how intensely you share, an intimate relationship will have trouble surviving if each week you only have a few moments alone together.

Ideally, having children should be an expression of the love you feel for your spouse, and the intimacy you share. The tragedy is that all too often people have children as an attempt to find intimacy or save a marriage.

When our needs are not being met through our spouse we should not look to begin a family as a solution. A baby born to bring a couple together is a dangerous experiment. Seldom does the birth of a child create intimacy in a previously troubled relationship. More often than not only makes a troubled relationship more strained and intolerable.

For more on these topics I encourage you to read Exploring Intimacy.

Jim Guido