12:01 a.m. - 2004-04-16
Duas Tantum and Rhettorical Questions
Cognitive dissonance. That's been the theme of my days lately dear diary. What's that? According to a theory in psychology by Festering it is when one's beliefs or expectations about what is real don't jive with what one experiences or witnesses. A simple example. The person who believes the world will end tomorrow. They give away all their earthly possessions (not necessarily a bad thing) and attachments, burn their bridges and then wait to take that walk to glory. Tomorrow and then the next day and the next arrive with the world still spinning on it's merry little way. So now what? Recheck the prophecy or the calculations. Take responsibility for the change in the divine plan and either declare one's self the saviour or decide you failed the deity by not realizing it was your job to set off the atom bombs? Look at your beliefs and rethink them? Why would one do that when those beliefs have got you to where you are today - ummmm well right, where one is the today after that tomorrow you were prophecying.
My "fluctuations in the force, Luke" (Obi Wan Kenobi) aren't that dramatic. Just the "am I looking in a fun house mirror" or the "normal kind", and then "oh wait it's the looking glass, Alice!" "Go ask Alice, When She's ten feet tall" (White Rabbit). I've always thought that Lewis Carroll was trying to find a clever, subversive way to explain the emerging theory of quantum mechanics to children without out frightening the lights out of their parents. Frightened parents tend to attack the source of their discomfort, don't you know. And no I have not ingested any magic mushrooms. I'm just playing with my beliefs about "reality" right now trying to get the kaleidoscope to show me the "true" picture. Oddly enough my book called "Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind" by F David Peat, which I purchased in 1988, but haven't been able to find for the past couple of years, showed up on my stereo yesterday. Think that's a sign, dear diary? Maybe it predicts a paradigm shift. Oh I know, its' the solar eclipse thing on Monday. Last one in the last degrees of Aries was in April 1996. Uh huh, I remember what happened that time.
Anyway back to specifics. First up, when I was working on some election tasks last Saturday, I needed to photocopy an e-mail I'd sent through Outlook Express on the Elections Canada PC. I kept getting this "debug" message coming up and the print command would be cancelled. If I clicked "yes" I kept finding my PC opening "Miscellaneous Files - Microsoft Development Environment...." and a particular portion of the software coding was shown as in error. In two projects that I worked on in my other life, that kind of thing happened while working on an in-house database and the outcomes were not nice, not at all. In those cases I did a "print screen" of the stuff on the monitor and sent it off to the programmer/tech support staff for further action. That being my experience with "reality" I did the same this time. Sent the word document off to the Elections Canada tech staff and waited for further instructions. Got a phone call Tuesday morning "Turn off the debug feature in your internet options". Say what? Next day there is a news story about microsoft sending out four security patches due to a breach in their coding that allows hackers to "take over or browse through information on one's PC through the OS or through Outlook Express". OK fine.
Next reality check was this article in the Seattle newspaper. School_discipline. There is an uproar there about how black students have been treated in the classroom, particularly with respect to discipline. I couldn't believe what I was reading as the article mentioned several incidents where in-school security guards did such things as hand-cuff students, even in elementary school. At the same time there is a big row going on in Calgary between the family of a disabled child in elementary school who was disciplined by being placed in a "Box-like" enclosure in his classroom because he was being "disruptive". The parents have filed a complaint with the human rights commission and there is a lot of public concern about a child being treated this way as expressed in Letters to the Editor in our newspapers. I watched that one unfold, rather than reacting, because I didn't think we were getting all the details. I don't think a child should be humiliated like that in front of their classmates ever, but I also don't believe that teaching staff or other students should be in a situation that puts them at physical risk or where there is constant disruption of the learning environment either. Having spent several years as a volunteer in my six sons classrooms from kindergarten (ECS) to high school the balance is very difficult to find sometimes. The method was what was disturbing and that was enough of a disturbance in the "force" for me to contemplate. The Seattle article just floored me. My perception of the US is that, for the most part, it has wrestled it's civil rights demons down to a well, more "civil" level of behaviour. It brought a comment from one of my co-workers who is black into a whole different perspective for me. We were talking about our greatest fears one day and they said that their's was being arrested. Since I know this person to be of unimpeachable character I just sat there looking puzzled. The words "racial profiling" came between us and I couldn't understand the depth of their concern. There have been some very serious problems in a couple of our major cities in Eastern Canada, but even there I couldn't envision this person ever being mistaken for a "bad guy" because of their colour. Now I think I get it, but I really wish I didn't. Makes me sick to my stomach. I sent the article to one of my old school pals who is a school principal to see if if maybe I was misreading or over-reacting. Given her response I don't think so.
Other "reality checks"? The Dalai Lama thing, a fire bombing of a Hebrew elementary school library complete with Nazi slogans and symbols in Montreal, and this article today about the true costs of Canadian medicare for the next few decades. Big_Lies. According to economists the program AS IT IS NOW will not bankrupt the provinces or the Federal government as long as our economy stays stable. The "bogeyman" predictions that have been the norm by our provincial government were consciously jigged to be catastrophic by simply not factoring in cost of living and inflation variables. For example, telling someone in 1975 that homes selling for $30,000 then would be selling for $250,000 in 2004 even though they were now 30 years older would have been incomprehensible to fathom given wages of the day. Even factoring in two major economic "busts" in Calgary in between then and now doesn't change the current market prices. And what is our provincial government doing to address the crisis they have attempted to create in the public's minds. Well, they've slashed budgets, described the resulting loss of lives as "culling the herd", sold off public buildings for a song to their friends and families and sneakily broken our Canada Health Act legislation to open private for profit clinics. The latest is a facial surgery service here in my own community. It is still under construction, but I was told about it by the owner when I approached him at the construction site to see if the property would have some rental space available for an Election Office. And then there are the latest stories that expand on my concerns about the pollution and taxation evasion that large corporations are inflicting on all residents of North America. Air and Tax_Evasion at the expense of the people who make up their workforce, customers and neighbours. I thought we had made some progress since the '60's, but for heaven's sake, too many of our contemporaries have become the people we protested about. "Duas tantum rex anxius optat, panem et circenses." (Juvenal). To dupe the masses give them bread and circuses.
Ok so on the positive side. The garbage collectors picked up all our bags not just the five allowed. Thank you, thank you. It snowed the day after my essay on the "heat wave" acouple of days ago. 12 cm/5" - about the maximum height we are now allowed to let our grass grow according to the new by-law. Wonder if that applies to snow accumulation too. No going back to "seasonal temperatures until next week but lots of moisture which is great for the farming community and for gardeners everywhere. I booked a meeting for the political contacts for next week and even got a $100 discount on the room at the hotel I'll be using. Called up a printing place and got a discount on some printer supplies I need. Got some government type business of a personal nature completed. Our local hockey team is one up in the quarter finals for the Stanley Cup playoffs which means my guys are very mellow. I feel better and I can talk again (lost my voice Sunday to Tuesday). Guess there are things to be thankful for after all. "I'll think about that (other stuff) tomorrow" Scarlett O'Hara.
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