Only in America

Only in America
Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire

Only in America
Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Only in America
Can a kid who's washin' cars
Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars

Only in America
Could a dream like this come true
Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Only in America (poor boy like me)
Only in America (only in America)
Only in America (only in America)
Only in America (only in America)
Only in America (only in America)
Only in America

Jay and The Americans

My Google tracking post generated a pretty low "view" count and 2 comments.  It did however, generate a couple of Holy Shit phone calls from a few Stowe friends.  A few remarks included how do you find time to do this "stuff" (The actual word rhymes with "Trap").  Anyway this post like others coagulated from last weeks mention of Facebook, some mindless news listening, and a post from a year ago.  While my "Faithful and Obedient Companion" suspects I simply have too much time idle on my hands   Idle  time allows us to hear something that joggles a thought or a past idea.  This week was no exception.

While doing some chores I switched between some TV and online info about the "Facebook" privacy issue and my last post.  I was struck by two commentators comments about Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress.  Frankly I had not followed  proceedings at all but my attention perked up on a comment made by a Senator from Alaska to Zuckerberg.  He apparently was posturing (Duh they are all "posturing" which is why watching a congressional hearing is not very enlightening) and commented to Zuckerberg about becoming a Billionaire.  His statement "Only in America huh Mr. Zuckerberg?" (or something to that effect) left Zuckerberg looking bewildered and confused.  He  frankly did not get what the heck the comment was all about but  BOOM I sure did! So where did my mind go...to my blog post on Affirmative Action where I made a similar comment about "Wayne Moody".You see that "myth" is an integral part of my world view.  My brain then wheeled to an old Jay and the Americans song, shown above.

The two commentator's reactions were from polar opposite political angles.

The conservative commentator , basically commented that Zuckerberg and most of his generation simply did not Fathom what the term "only in America" implies.  (Zuckerberg and my kids for that matter  obviously are unfamiliar with Jay and the Americans song and frankly neither commentator brought it up either. but it is a myth I grew up with).  The conservative commentator's  feeling was that the basic  "concept" of what America was and always has been about has been lost on an entire Generation of me too'rs.  The Liberal commentator on the other hand felt  that this was and always a  "false" myth anyway, which was why Zuckerberg probably seemed so confused. 

I was struck by one grand convergence that occurred between these two opposing views when both commented that Mark Zuckerberg could hardly be cited for pulling himself up by his "bootstraps" .  After all he is as Harvard Elite as you can get....not like he became a Billionaire by working his ass off at a car wash or mowing lawns.   

As a conservative thinker, the myth versus reality issue made by both commentaries kind of saddened me. 

If you actually look at our President's backgrounds, for example,virtually all of them went to College. You would also find that  1/3 are undergraduates of Ivy League Schools and if you add in Post Graduate studies (i.e. Law Schools) you can crank that number up to to about 60%.  Toss in Military Academies, and one can see that the chance for a 'poor boy to become President" (Lincoln? Nixon?, Obama? (although he he did go to Columbia) the reality does not appear to match much of the myth.  So much for Zuckerberg's "confusion".  This world view is but one perspective.

However, I think the ideal that you can be anything you want to be is  myth worth fighting for.  Jay and The "Americans" really idealized that storyline.  Myths define a society and they help to shape it's worldview.   In today's efforts to remake our society we are losing our myths and replacing them with cynicism.  I am not to excited about living in a myth free cynical world.  Myth's are the glue that hold a culture together and when we jettison them we lose some of the vital fabric that keeps  us "together".

One thing that is not a "myth" in my mind is the incredible experience in Barbara's family history.  Her Maternal Grandfather was a young Greek lad who at age 14 ran away by jumping a ship to "America land of opportunity"(his family never knew where he went and actually thought he was dead!).  He proceeded to work his way across America (talk about the undocumented!), ending  up in San Francisco right before the Great Earthquake. Family legend has it that he had a dream to leave the city days before it hit!  He eventually went to Indiana where he married a girl whose mother was a member of the DAR.  After they married and had a few kids, including my Mother-in Law, he took his family back to Greece.  When he showed back up at his village with his family, his relatives thought he was a ghost!

The storyline does not end here.  Once in Greece they became trapped, you see in those days since he never became an American citizen it was assumed his DAR wife gave up her citizenship when she married a Greek Citizen.  They could not just come back!   For her first schooling my mother-in-law attended Greek schools in a tiny Greek village.  He could not bring his family back until Barbara's aunt became 12 years old and they came back on her citizenship (since she was born in America).   Eventually, the entire family had to come back through Ellis Island as immigrants-even the American born kids.  Eventually Barbara's Grandfather became a citizen and it was the proudest day of his life.

One can have many views on today's immigration debate but honestly that  is not the purpose of this post.  All I know is that for millions of people like Barb's grandfather, "America land of opportunity" was certainly not just a "Myth".

Postings will likely not resume until Barbara and I return from a trip to visit several Blog Followers in the Sunshine State, next Saturday, and we have friends (formerly from Stowe, now Coloradans) skiing with us  Monday and Tuesday.

Until then 

Adieu.

PS as a bonus today an appropriate U-tube video..enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWrCRPldVZk

  

 I

Life "Online" Big Brother is always watching!

Recently Facebook has come under fire for it's sharing of user data, in connection with the 2016 elections.  While the issue has surfaced in connection with the "Never"Trump movement (in my humble opinion), I would remind readers that the prior Presidents 2012 campaign also utilized Facebook Datas part of it's campaign. However, at the time that was considered "Brilliant".  While there may be differences in how the data was obtained the bottom line is virtually all our online activity is subject to surveillance and likely "mined" in ways we cannot imagine.  Every time you use Google search your activity is stored to purportedly assist in identifying your search preferences etc.  I have watched a few "news"pieces recently outlining how even if you shut off tracking in your cell phone Google (android) and I am sure Apple follows your every move.  

I have kidded my Faithful and Obedient companion about her Facebook account being monitored.  Self righteously I remind her that I never liked Facebook because I suspected they utilize such personal data in monitoring and identifying her "community" of friends.  However, she in turn cannot believe that I fell in love with a feature in Google called "timeline".  A few years back (when we were in Salt Lake City) I decided to set up the ability to have Google share with me their record of everywhere I have been with my cellphone.  Let me give you an example:

I looked at my Timeline for July 16th and 17th 2016  (why because I recalled our visit to Stowe at that time and searched for the day John and I made a particular stop) and here is what Google stored for me:

1.  I slept the night of the 15th at fellow blog reader John and Tish's house in Stowe Vermont.

2.  At  9:42 am I drove (with John but Google does not "know that") to The Lamoille County Fish and Game Club-a shooting range, a distance of 20.1 miles.

3.  We left the range at 2:40 PM and went to have a beer at the Lost Nation Brewpub in Morrisville Vermont.

4.  We left at 3:49 and stopped at Shaws Market in Stowe vermont at 3:59 PM and left at 4:14 PM

5.  We returned to John and Tish's at 4:34 PM.  We stayed there the rest of the day.

6.  We remained at John and Tish's until we drove to our friends Peter and Wendy Jones for Lunch on July 17th at at 10:57 am

7.  We stopped at Stowe Country Club for a Drink (I assume) after leaving Peter and Wendy's at 2:04 PM.  I cannot remember who we met there!

8.  Back to John and Tish's where we stayed until 5:22 PM

9.  We then drove to Blog followers Steve and Debbie Clark's where we had dinner and drank until 11:22 PM at which time we drove back to John and Tish's at 11:39 PM


Now I ask could Google mining such data assume:

I like to shoot guns?

I like Beer (it tracks every bar I go in for that matter)?

Who my circle of friends are in Stowe Vermont?

Now aside from how creepy this particular exercise is, I ask that you keep in mind one thing-that I may actually be better off "knowing" specifically what Google already "knows" about me?  Why? Because I am convinced that everyone of us who has a cell phone is under similar surveillance by "big data" and frankly it is something we should all be concerned about.  At any rate I have told my faithful and obedient companion that she can always find out where I have been just by checking my "Timeline". 

Unless of course I leave my phone at home!

I welcome any thoughts my readers may have on this issue after all Google knows when I visited everyone of you last! 

Until next time

Adieu