Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

Political discussions generally have little value. In fact, they are usually tiresome. On one side you have knee-jerk Conservative-hating snobs and on the other side you have knee-jerk Liberal-hating flag-wavers. These two sides have more in common than they fully realize, namely they’re both convinced of their own certainty. In the words of Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

My view on politics has changed over the years such that I don’t even like talking about it. It makes me instantly uncomfortable. The only thing that matters is what you can change, and that doesn’t mean protesting abortion clinics or Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. What anyone else “thinks” or “believes” does not matter. It doesn’t matter to me, and it shouldn’t matter to you. Here’s why: Imagine two people in a political discussion, if both people agree then there’s no need for either of them to talk about it. If both people disagree with one another fundamentally, then no amount of argument is going to sway the opposing party. Politics is all about personal world-view. This is why there is so little compromise. Everyone is busying themselves with questions of abstraction and ideology. Questions of responsibility, obligation, rights, fairness, etc. Questions that have no clear objective answers. People see what they want to see, ultimately. This is why some people look at the Katrina disaster and interpret it as George Bush neglecting the poor, largely African-American population, while others look at it and blame the victims for not evacuating. You know what, sometimes bad stuff just happens. Sometimes the government is not as all-powerful as it likes to appear. Likewise, sometimes people can’t evacuate or choose not to for legitimate reasons. But instead of focusing on how to fix all the problems that comprise this new reality, many people just point fingers and throw out their opinions.

This is the main problem with modern political discussion. In this country alone, we have 270 million different and valid points of view. One for each person in this country. We are absolutely paralyzed by cause when we should be worrying about effect. An unending chorus with little to show for it.

I keep having this feeling that few people are even paying attention to what’s going on in New Orleans. A city the size of Austin is completely devastated, but daily life is going on pretty much as usual everywhere else. Yesterday, I kept trying to find news about it on broadcast television, but it was all just the usual programming. The same thing continued throughout the day. There was nothing on about it until the evening news. It seems like people don’t want to or don’t know how to think about it or acknowledge it. Have we become that isolated from one another? Why are we not mobilized into crisis mode? It keeps sounding like no one had a plan for what to do if this happened. From the governor of Louisiana to the mayor of New Orleans to the President of the United States there is a complete absence of leadership.

Nagin said the levees had given way in places to Katrina’s storm surge, including a 200-foot (60 meter) breach near the city center through which waters from Lake Pontchartrain were pouring in.

“There’s a serious leak and it’s causing the water to continue to rise,” he said. Adding to the problem were malfunctions in the system the city uses to pump out floodwaters.

There have been several articles lately about the studies showing that Americans continue to get fatter. Pushing exercise and nutrition is not going to be enough because people will usually take the path of least resistance, and right now that means getting fat because cheap food and ease is what American life is all about. What we need to do is devise creative solutions to the problem at the societal level because most of us do not have the discipline to eat healthy and stay fit on our own. We have to be tricked, encouraged, manipulated, and distracted into losing weight and staying healthy. Here are some ideas:

1. Adult playgrounds: Imagine a park filled with adult size swings, seesaws, slides, tether-ball, spring-horses, merry-go rounds, and jungle gyms. This has been a long held dream of mine. This would give people a fun physical outlet. You could even put kid-size equipment alongside to encourage family activity.
2. Rent-a-dog: I always want a dog to walk, but I don’t want to own a dog. It’s good exercise. Put animal shelters in parks and set up adoption-optional centers where people can take the homeless dogs for walks. If they’re so inclined they can even adopt the dog when they’re done, but this is strictly optional. No guilt if you don’t. Dog-renters can pay a very small fee and this will go to support the shelter. It’s a closed loop.
3. More swimming pools: I have a love / hate relationship with public pools, but we do need more of them. It’s great, fun exercise. There need to be more slides and diving boards. We also need more parks.
4. More expensive gas None of us wants to pay more for gas, but I guarantee this will result in more walking even if it’s just the less well-off who will be hoofing it. Whenever I drive down Riverside Blvd I’m amazed at the amount of foot and bike traffic, but if you consider that it’s a poor part of town it makes sense. If we could just pair this with healthier cheap food a lot of the problem will be remedied.
5. Limit liquor licenses It has become way too easy to purchase alcohol. I imagine this is due to the decline of the religio-social sphere. I think making alcohol more difficult to purchase will result in thinner waistlines. Limit the hours of availability and the number of outlets. Why have we made alcohol so easy to obtain? It is different from food and can be treated as such.
6. Voluntary fat camps You cannot get fat without eating and lack of exercise. If I fed you nothing but carrots, beans, and celery you would lose extraneous weight. What if we had places where you could stay for a while where every aspect of your physical life was rigorously controlled? In return, you would work or pay a small fee to stay. A different version of this would be a ‘trainer’ who would follow you around and tell you what you should eat. The trainer could also help you to do something physical. Maybe it could be robotic.
7. Full-service healthy meal services What if you could hire a company to prepare all of your meals catered to your unique physical needs? This is how it would work. At work and home you would have a modified refrigerator and / or pantry. The service provider would load fresh snacks and meals into your into your units once a week, and each meal / snack would be dispensed on a certain schedule. For example, when it was time for lunch the dispenser at work could send you a message and the meal would be available for heating and eating.A simpler version of this would be to have meals pre-prepared and labeled for your consumption schedule. Snacks would be controlled as well.
8. Water fountains In public areas with lots of traffic, place locations where people can easily get a drink of water. We do not do this anymore, but we should. A lot of times I just want something to drink because I’m thirsty. Make it easier and healthier for everyone to quench their thirst. These stations could be supported with advertising.

Are any of these good ideas?

This article on Finnish stoicism reminds me of that famous maxim: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Because Finns rarely talk, when they do talk, they choose their words very carefully, and what they do say is incredibly loaded. They mean absolutely every word they say. A different word here and there is significant. Finns are also understated. If they say someone is sick, they are probably dying.

Finns also listen very carefully and easily pick up subtleties and nuances. Finns put everything you say under the microscope. There’s no such thing as the throwaway line, enthusiastic exaggeration or poetic licence. I once casually mentioned I was annoyed with my husband and wanted to wring his neck. A work colleague said I had only been married a short time and I should give it a chance and think seriously before separating. I said that wasn’t what I meant. They asked if I didn’t mean it, why did I say it. Clinical Finnish logic. Gets you every time.

Finns don’t trust big talkers. Finns are suspicious of extra words and wary of passion and emotion. Finnish conversation is even and measured. Finns don’t raise their voice. This suggests Finns are gentle people. Finns are not gentle. Gentle people don’t play ice hockey. In Australia and many other countries, just-contained anger is an effective tactic in hostile negotiations. In Finland, anger, passion and emotion suggest you’re not in control. If you raise your voice, you immediately lose authority and credibility. Finns lose respect and you lose the argument.

Finns are also known for the untranslatable concept of “sisu“. Wikipedia:

“Sisu is a Finnish term that combines inner strength, determination, perseverance in the face of adversity, and a strong work ethic. There is no direct English translation, but the concept can be somewhat expressed as “tough as nails” or “hard-nosed”. To anthropologists, it is an appropriate invention for a cold northern land, fractured by thousands of lakes, and long under threat of being overwhelmed, militarily, linguistically and otherwise, by more powerful neighbours. Similar concepts exist among other cold-weather peoples, such as the Inuit and Chukchi.”