Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Go Lockout!!
I have to selfishly admit that I hope a few more weeks of games are canceled before the NBA season starts. Being a die hard fan of the very aged Celtics team, a shorter season wouldn't hurt. With four of our five starters over 30 and considered "over the hump", not having a 82 game season would definitely help our chances. Also being an advid fan of not watching Lebron James and the Miami Heat play, it helps me sleep at night to know that LBJ lost 20 games of his career he will never get back. Other teams that could benefit from this scenario are the very old San Antonio Spurs and the reigning champs Dallas Mavericks.
More games cancelled
Last week the NBA Commissioner David Stern cancelled two more weeks of NBA games. With no end to the negotiations in sight the commissioner had no choice but to cancel the games. In my opinion I think that there will be a decision met very soon. The players originally plan was to negotiate no lower than a 52% - 48% split in revenue, but the owners want a even 50/50 split. With today being the 125th day of the lockout the players are not getting paid it is going to become difficult for the players not to crack. While the top tier players making max contracts may be able to wait out the lockout, the smaller contract players need to get paid. I foresee the NBA season starting pretty soon.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Truthiness
True Enough
As I continued reading Farhad Manjoo’s True Enough I could not help but think that it was proof that our society was inching closer and closer to a world in which fact does not matter. While their is still a vast gap between the world we live in and a world where truth is no longer real, there are some passages in True Enough that point to some alarming ideas. One passage in particular that stuck out to me was the one about “thruthiness”. Manjoo describes how in our society something that feels true becomes true, even if it lacks in facts. Through the passages about “Truthiness”, Farhad Manjoo’s book on a post-fact society point to a society growing more and more oblivious to truth.
“Truthiness” as defined by the creator of the word, Stephen Colbert, is “the quality of a thing feeling true without any evidence suggesting it actually was” (189). Colbert goes on to discuss “truthiness” in relation to the war in Iraq. He says, “If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rational for war, but doesn’t taking Saddam out feel like the right thing, right here in the gut” (189). And for most Americans at the time it did feel like the right thing to do. The government told us they were going into Iraq to stop terrorism, find Osama, and rid Saddam of weapons of mass destruction. Now, years later, with all the facts in order, it is clear that our intentions in Iraq did not include any of those three motives. We never found Saddam having any ties to Al-Qaeda, Osama was not in Iraq, and we never found evidence of nuclear weapons. So at the time invading Iraq may have felt right, but now that we think about it in retrospect, it clearly was not the truth, but we believed it anyway.
Another passage that discusses “truthiness” is the one describing Robin Raskin. Robin Raskin was a journalist who would go on the news and warn of the dangers of certain products, while simultaneously marketing other notable products that supposedly worked better. Raskin was being paid by the companies of the products that she was marketing. This is a very successful form of marketing because people do not realize she is being paid as a spokes person. Because she was a so called “journalist” people assume she knows what she is talking about and take what she says as fact. This is “truthiness” because it feels like she is telling the truth about this product, but when we think about the facts, the product she was advertising was probably no better than the one she was bashing. Our culture is starting to believe things solely because someone with authority is telling them, instead of because it is true.
Unfortunately, True Enough is a scary wake up call. We truly are living in a post fact society. “Truthiness” has taken over our perception of reality and we no longer believe things based on facts or reason. We believe things because it feels right, or because we trust the person telling us. During the bush administration it was even considered a bad thing to be part of the “reality based community” (192). One of Bush’s Officials was even quoted saying “ [The United States is] an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...and while your studying that reality--judiciously as you will--we’ll act again, creating other new realities” (192). This statement is startlingly close to the concepts in George Orwell’s 1984. If we are not careful, our post-fact reality may be headed down a similar road as the world in 1984.
As I continued reading Farhad Manjoo’s True Enough I could not help but think that it was proof that our society was inching closer and closer to a world in which fact does not matter. While their is still a vast gap between the world we live in and a world where truth is no longer real, there are some passages in True Enough that point to some alarming ideas. One passage in particular that stuck out to me was the one about “thruthiness”. Manjoo describes how in our society something that feels true becomes true, even if it lacks in facts. Through the passages about “Truthiness”, Farhad Manjoo’s book on a post-fact society point to a society growing more and more oblivious to truth.
“Truthiness” as defined by the creator of the word, Stephen Colbert, is “the quality of a thing feeling true without any evidence suggesting it actually was” (189). Colbert goes on to discuss “truthiness” in relation to the war in Iraq. He says, “If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rational for war, but doesn’t taking Saddam out feel like the right thing, right here in the gut” (189). And for most Americans at the time it did feel like the right thing to do. The government told us they were going into Iraq to stop terrorism, find Osama, and rid Saddam of weapons of mass destruction. Now, years later, with all the facts in order, it is clear that our intentions in Iraq did not include any of those three motives. We never found Saddam having any ties to Al-Qaeda, Osama was not in Iraq, and we never found evidence of nuclear weapons. So at the time invading Iraq may have felt right, but now that we think about it in retrospect, it clearly was not the truth, but we believed it anyway.
Another passage that discusses “truthiness” is the one describing Robin Raskin. Robin Raskin was a journalist who would go on the news and warn of the dangers of certain products, while simultaneously marketing other notable products that supposedly worked better. Raskin was being paid by the companies of the products that she was marketing. This is a very successful form of marketing because people do not realize she is being paid as a spokes person. Because she was a so called “journalist” people assume she knows what she is talking about and take what she says as fact. This is “truthiness” because it feels like she is telling the truth about this product, but when we think about the facts, the product she was advertising was probably no better than the one she was bashing. Our culture is starting to believe things solely because someone with authority is telling them, instead of because it is true.
Unfortunately, True Enough is a scary wake up call. We truly are living in a post fact society. “Truthiness” has taken over our perception of reality and we no longer believe things based on facts or reason. We believe things because it feels right, or because we trust the person telling us. During the bush administration it was even considered a bad thing to be part of the “reality based community” (192). One of Bush’s Officials was even quoted saying “ [The United States is] an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality...and while your studying that reality--judiciously as you will--we’ll act again, creating other new realities” (192). This statement is startlingly close to the concepts in George Orwell’s 1984. If we are not careful, our post-fact reality may be headed down a similar road as the world in 1984.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Maybe a little Biased?
First of all, I consider myself pretty liberal. Both my parents are democrats, iv been raised in a liberal house, and i plan on voting for Obama in the next election. However, in the first 40 pages of our reading in particular, I have found True Enough to be somewhat biased. I think it is clear that Farhad Manjoo is a democrat, and I feel as if her political views shape some of her theories. While I am not doubting the lack of evidence the Swift Boat Veterans had, I think she exaggerated a little bit. I find it hard to believe these guys pulled all this out of their a**. They must of had some sort of real evidence against John Kerry. My Dad used to be good friends with John Kerry. "Used to" being the key word. After hearing what happened from my Dad, I have heard a first hand account of how Kerry may not be the most honest guy. I don't mean to be bashing Kerry but all I am saying is that the Swift Boat Veterans may have had more behind their story than Majoo was willing to admit. I think that Majoo's political views make her automatically dismiss the Veterans views and automatically believe Kerry. I realize I have no real evidence to back my opinion, this is just sort of the vibe i m getting so far.
P.S. My Dad voted for Kerry in '04
P.S. My Dad voted for Kerry in '04
true enouph: 9/11 conspiracy
One of the passages in the reading that stood out to me the most was that of the 9/11 conspiracy. Phillip Jayhan believes that the attacks on September eleventh were without a doubt orchestrated by the American Government. He claims that there is proof that shows that Flight 175 had a missile attached to the bottom of it. When I first started reading this I found myself getting angry. How could someone honestly dispute what happened that day. But as I kept reading i let my curiosity take me to YouTube, and i watched a few videos explaining some theories. I have to admit that after watching a few videos, there is some footage of the crashes that seems a little bit shady. While there is some evidence that may point to a conspiracy, I am certain there was not one. Some theories also say that there was no planes at all, instead the towers were shot down by cruise missiles that resemble planes. These theories angered me the most. My neighbors fiance was on one of those planes. If there were no planes than what happened to the hundreds of passengers. This whole thing left me very frustrated and this is a classic example of people using "selective perception" in order to believe what they want to believe.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
True Enouph
I thought the first twenty five pages of True Enough was very interesting. In particular, i really liked the section on the John Kerry election. I vaguely remember that election but I do recall some controversy regarding John Kerry's Purple Heart. I had no idea that it had become such a controversial topic in that election and it is amazing that those veterans were able to convince people he was a fraud with little to no evidence. I also found the first twenty five pages interesting because of how the media portrays the truth. The media can literally convince people what ever they want, and depending on what news channel you follow you will believe different truths. It is amazing how easily we forget how much the truth can be twisted. Sounds a little like 1984?
Derick Rose considering playing in Europe
Yet another high profile NBA player is considering heading over seas if the current lockout continues. Derick Rose announced yesterday that he will strongly take into consideration playing in Europe this year if the NBA season does not happen. "If it does (cancel the season), yes, I am taking into consideration that I might be going overseas but I don't know where," (http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/7028494/chicago-bulls-derrick-rose-lockout-unnecessary-go-overseas) According to ESPN.com Rose has had at least one contract offer from a team overseas. Rose was also quoted "There's no reason why billionaires and millionaires should be arguing about money. There's other things in this world that we should be arguing about, but money shouldn't be the problem." Derick Rose is one of the most respected players in the NBA and as last seasons MVP, the NBA could not afford to lose him overseas.
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