After 14 months of Utah I am finally getting around to creating my commentary blog, an "opinion" piece I hope at least some of you will find interesting.
It seems like every week or so (Watch today I will likely get writer's block by the third paragraph) I see, hear or think of something that calls to me........"hey Jim share this". Some of you have been the recipients of this drivel which arrives in the form of an email or text message. A few of you have occasionally found something interesting enough to reply, while many times I get the sense you wisely decided to label "jcr0652@gmail" spam. Either way I have felt for some time that if only I disciplined myself to be:
- Interesting
- Topical
- Witty
- Consistent
So some of you are probably still thinking.......OK but can you give me some additional "meat" to these 4 bullets because if you find "interesting" a discussion of soil dynamics and fungal infections of the Brazilian rain forest you are likely "out (and if that prose is not witty to you consider that as well). So what does interest me? What is "Topical" Let me try to frame this out in a specific way.
What I find interesting includes social, economic, demographic and religious trends, and (yikes) of course politics.
Topical means my subject matter will be stimulated by something that catches my eye. While it may be a "news" item I hope it is more often from a specific personal observation that is stimulated by a personal event, or correspondence. Goodness knows we all get bombarded by news items on TV in newspapers and blogs even Facebook.
Consistency in my mind means I will try to make sure that on days where data or information will be presented it will come from an original and hopefully unbiased source. If I use data and or a news item I will try to make sure you know it's source. However, I will NOT use fact checks. I feel that they can be biased as well. If in responding to my posts you wish use them feel free.
In an effort to be consistent yet thought provoking to the reader (no matter your political "leaning") I will attempt to utilize an approach (and I think this is critical) that recognizes that each and everyone of us looks at the world through a personal "prism". A prism we have all been "given" and or "developed" so we have a means of quickly explaining and categorizing the world around us. This we all do but the drawback is it can distort our view of the world. When we see something, read something or hear something, we use our prism to process it, and file it away as "fact". I felt this way for years, primarily through experiences in my "business life" My sense of this was recently nurtured by a Social Scientist by the name of Jonathan Haidt. His book "The Righteous Mind " is an excellent but long read.. Some of my first Blog pieces will try to give you a sense of his work but I hope at least a few of you can give reading it a shot. Otherwise any interpretation I give you will be using my own prism
I would add that his book and research pretty much centers on political polarization, certainly a "topical" subject. (Bias alert, after taking his "quiz" I had confirmation that I filter my world view through a conservative lens. This is likely not a surprise to many of you but I hope you all let us know your potential bias when and if you comment.) You can take his "quiz (and get a "tiny feel" for Haidt's work) here!
http://science.time.com/2014/01/09/your-personality-makes-your-politics/
Finally I will give you some "teaser" topics I plan to cover during the first few blog entries.
My first topic will try to give an idea of some of my own life events that may reveal something about me and why I see things the way I do. Hopefully that will help set a general tone for the blog.
After that I will likely start with a discussion centered on our tax system and as a corollary our general entitlement system....is it fair? Why is it so complex? Does it need to be Fixed or "scrapped" How can it be fixed. Initially I will focus on my own Tax experiences including specific observations from my actual Tax filings, and will also touch on my experience with "Obamacare". I hope as I experience that entitlement known as Medicare next year I can circle back to health care!
Future topics might include things like religious life in the US, families and the impact of economic and social changes, automation and the future of work, and anything else that catches my eye.
Hopefully I will post about once per week leaving time for feedback, comments and yes some disagreements. I am curious about your initial thoughts so have it.
One last comment. I am trying to invite a cross section of friends and relatives of all political stripes (all who I want to remain friends with by the way) and so if you think hearing stuff you disagree with will alienate you from me or someone who has joined us then maybe you should beg off....however, we will miss you. Be aware that despite my Conservative "score" on the Haidt test I may surprise many of you with my observations.
Hopefully we can get some great dialog going. I look forward to you joining me.
