The Skyline Newspaper

Cartoon: Created and Designed by Jonathan Smith, Sul Ross Senior

Technology And Communication: A Mixed Blessing

By David Johnson
Skyline Contributor

There is a great lie I often hear, and sometimes tell myself, that technology brings people closer together.

First the telephone and now even more so the cell phone, have enabled us to get in touch and stay in touch with people hundreds or thousands of miles away, and with ease—that is if we can’t drive there, sail there, or fly there, already. The photograph, radio, the television, culminating most grandly in the Internet, let us see and hear things from all over the world we might not have imagined otherwise enlarge our perspectives, and witness more of the world. What makes the Internet the most exceptional in this regard is that for the first time in history, ordinary people—masses of ordinary people—can communicate directly with one another and do so without censorship or effective government interference.

It’s a very attractive lie, which makes it the best kind, really, because you want to believe it so badly, there’s hardly any convincing left for it to do. The seductive half-truth in it is that technology continues to provide people freedom, but the ugly whole-truth is in what we actually do with that freedom.

When we are free to associate with anyone we want, we usually associate with people like ourselves, which makes sense. Similar people share similar interests and tastes, and what are most relationships built on if not that? But it also creates a blindness, a warping of reality, by not having anyone around to challenge our initial perceptions and impressions.

This natural process already exists, but modern technology has made it even easier and done away with the geography involved. You may be surrounded by people intending to vote for Barack Obama, but you won’t be talking to them; you’ll be on your cell phone talking to the only other Mike Gravel supporter for a hundred miles. The conversation may not deal with politics whatsoever, but the point is that it is being had by two similar-minded people who choose one another’s conversation and company, not the probably more mentally diverse physical population forced together through geographic necessity. Being in contact with people you prefer is convenient, but having to interact with people you can’t choose and don’t prefer is often more beneficial.

Multiculturalism doesn’t help this, and might even make it worse. A person comfortable in English will seek out an English person to talk to if surrounded by Spanish speakers; a Quebecois in Vancouver will be relieved to find another person there from Montreal even if he’s fluent in English (or Chinese). The comfort in the familiar is human nature, and what’s more familiar than yourself and people like you? But luxuries of technology enable us to avoid all discomfort, and that is not a good thing.

The Internet is worst of all, then, worse than everything else put together. Its freedom is wonderful, and that’s the half-truth, but the whole truth is what it does for the natural tendency to filter new information through your existing reality, which is expanded to almost obscene levels. If you’re a Republican, you’ll choose to watch FOX News over CNN, but between these two mass media outlets a certain agreement on facts still exists even where there are vastly different interpretations of the significance of those facts. If you’re a Republican on the Internet, however, the news sites, blogs, vlogs, and message boards you frequent may not even agree with their liberal counterparts on what has happened.

In some tight-knit communities, everyone reads the same books, listens to the same commentators, and absorbs almost identical information so that when some external challenge raises doubts as to the universality, self-evidence, and validity of your version of reality, all the rest in the community rush to reinforce the belief and keep the faith strong. This is partly how religions work and why going to church or being around fellow believers is so crucial to remaining in the flock, but faith in God the Transcendent is not the same as faith in Iraq Casualties the Verifiable.

Faith in the semantic lie that there have been almost four thousand U.S. military casualties in Iraq is repeated almost everywhere without mistrust. In fact, there have been over thirty thousand, and of these,  four thousand have been fatalities. In some circles this objective fact would be ludicrous or even dangerous to say, if only because the thinking is circular, any information that appears to damage the circle must be thrown out.

The statistical lie of how many Iraqi civilians have died violently since the 2003 invasion is more significant. It ranges from less than one hundred thousand according to the organization “Iraqi Body Count” to over one million according to the Opinion Research Business survey. The statistical lie is not in either number but in the nine hundred thousand people invented for or discounted from reality.

You can find similar lies about most divisive subjects, and you can find communities that take one, the other, or something in-between as divine scripture. They probably realize other people think differently, but they “know” those other people are deluded right-wing nutjobs, liberal sheep unable to think for themselves, or victims of the same vast conspiracy that perpetrated an act in the first place. A conspiracy crazy enough that only one out of every hundred thousand people will believe can’t have an organization in even the largest cities, but an online forum devoted to it can have thousands of active members. A 9/11 conspiracy theorist sees no contradiction in trusting “Loose Change” while distrusting the “Popular Mechanics” article refuting every scientific point “Loose Change” made, and none of the people he talks to do either. Thus the ideas and prejudices crystallize with complete unconsciousness, and the gulf between what is normal and what only appears normal is not even noticed.

In filtering information about any subject in this way, by selecting individualized media over mass media, what you’re doing is separating yourself from most people. You may have grown closer to someone in Alabama, but you’re already alike, and meanwhile you don’t even know the name of the person across the hall or down the street. On the off-chance you do know your neighbors, you probably don’t enjoy their company as much as your more systematically-selected friends, and in any case, all social needs can be met without them. All of this is now normal, of course, and getting more normal all the time.

We can join hands and minds from Dallas to Delhi, from Dublin to Dubai, but in the end we are left further separated from those at our elbows than all the miles and oceans in the world ever did, or could,  before.

Gumming up the Works for Pesky Gophers

Steve Lang
News And Publications

Someone way back recommended putting chewing gum in the hole...and...well...they hand up dieing.” – Ron, posted in Mountain Gardener
 
I left my harp in San Frank’s Disco....

...and my traps in Minnesota.

Nope, combining the parody of a Tony Bennett song and the truth did not solve my backyard gopher problem.

Neither has smoke bombs, BB guns, a legion of curious cats, or a hunting dog.

I passed on a battery-charged vibrating metal rod alleged to drive the rodents away, but a similar device worked great for harvesting nightcrawlers, and that may be a possibility if I ever go fishing again.

Poison may have worked, but for insurance, I used chewing gum – before viewing the web posting printed above.

Although another posting indicated that Juicy Fruit, still wrapped in the foil, worked best, I took some local advice and tried Spearmint.

Results are pending, so I am not sure if gum drives gophers to distraction and makes them leave the vicinity; if they swallow it and become incontinent; if they choke; or if they are caught chewing in class and forced to spend hours each day after school scraping wads of ABC (already been chewed) flavors off the undersides and backs of desks and furniture, making them so busy they do not have time to dig further tunnels and mounds in my back yard.

I just want them gone. While waiting for the gum to work, I called on an oft-consulted sage who suggests a myriad of more humane departures: Dr. Seuss, author of “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now.”

It worked for columnist Art Buchwald, who changed the principal’s name to “Richard M. Nixon.” and printed the column on July 30, 1974. Nixon resigned nine days later.

According to Dr. Seuss, this warning to Pocket T. Gopher:

“The time has come.

The time has come.

The time is now.  Just go.

Go.

GO!

I don’t care how.

You can go by foot.

You can go by cow.

Pocket T. Gopher, will you please go now!

You can go on skates.

You can go on skis.

You can go in a hat.

But please go. Please!

I don’t care.

You can go by bike

You can go on a Zike-Bike if you like.

If you like you can go in an old blue shoe.

Just go, go, GO!

Please do, do, DO!

Pocket T. Gopher, I don’t care how

Pocket T. Gopher, will you please GO NOW!”

In many more and various ways Pocket T., like Marvin K. and Richard M. is urged to depart, including lion’s tail, stilts, fish, Crunk-Car, mail, Zumble-Zay, balloon, broomstick, camel in a bureau drawer, Bumble-Boat, jet, Ga-Zoom with a boom!

“Pocket T. Gopher! I don’t care HOW!

Pocket T. Gopher! Will you please GO NOW!

I said GO and GO I meant...

The time had come.

So...Pocket WENT.”

But just in case, I’m willing to try Juicy Fruit on the next round.

Steve Lang knows that gopher feet, like chewing gum, lose flavor on the bedpost overnight.

Spring Break Guidelines

Nurse John Hughes
Guest Columnist

It’s that time, the long awaited Spring break is at hand. Many see this as their peer duty of careless partying. Sound exciting?

As a past fair weather pilot of small single engine airplanes, I recall the exhilarating feeling whenever the wheels departed terra firma and all the worldly hassles fell below. Did this mean rules could be ignored? Only if one’s desire was to join genetically with a crumpled airframe. A prerequisite to the enjoyment of future flight necessitated a safe landing. This was accomplished by being aware of the aircraft’s limits, a preflight plan, avoiding potential dangers and staying in control.

This same mindset helps when headed to the party. Don’t exceed your body’s limit when drinking. Make a plan to alternate between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Planning should also include how to avoid unwanted advances and having a safe ride home. Go and enjoy, but be aware of lurking threats such as finding yourself on the receiving end of a wacky-haze or challenged with heavy drinking.

When faced by weather like this, the best and most survivable option is to do a 180 and get out. What ever your plan is, don’t drink to get drunk. Stay in control. Those who choose to ignore all caution will eventually find their granite cloud. My advice is to land safely by staying legal and sane.

After all, there are future parties to attend.      

The Skyline Mailbox

Dear Editor,

During the March 4 primary, I went home with the aspiration of voting for the candidate I favored.  Upon my arrival at the polling station, I would realize that my home county is a one-party system and that the party of my candidate, as well as any other party or independent candidacy, has no place there. 

It is amazing how I happen to live in a state dominated by one political party while simultaneously living in the one county which completely forbids said party.  After a lifetime of supporting my community and defending it from the most contemptuous remarks (most from fellow citizens), I now feel great shame towards it as well. 

I’ve spent years trying to understand why my home community was dwindling in business and population.  Now it is clear that those who left must have experienced the same disappointment I recently have: they believed that they had no representation in a ‘People’s County.”  I certainly don’t want to live in a community where one’s party affiliation and vote are pre-decided before reaching the polling station.  If I did, I would go live in China.

I can’t say for certain whether it is ingenious manipulation or just incompetence, but I now understand that, just like new businesses, my community does not want me in it.

So, while some people believe that the vote is as insignificant as or less important than playing “Guitar Hero,” I believe that it is the most sacred right any citizen of any civilized nation can possess.  No governing body, national or local, will steal mine away so long as I live.  Amen.

Anonymous

Dear Editor,

Great column by Adam Cuellar in last week’s Skyline concerning professional sports.

The only point that I would take issue with him is this: “Previously regarded as the most deserved and liked pitcher in modern baseball, Clemens has also felt the wrath of fans across the nation.”

Clemens was liked by the fans of the teams he played for. But fans of the teams that he played against generally despised him. Met fans hated him for beaning Piazza in  the head and throwing pieces of a broken bat at him during the 2000 World Series.

Red Sox fans hated him for engineering his trade to the Yankees from the Blue Jays and Yankee fans hated him for beaning Derek Jeter when he pitched for the Blue Jays, but loved him when he helped the Yankees win a couple more World Series rings.

Which leads me to my point: When it comes to cheating in sports, fans have always been and will always be the biggest part of the problem.

How many San Francisco Giants fans voiced their displeasure when Barry Bonds was initially accused of using performance enhancing drugs (PED’s)? As long as he was hitting home runs and helping the Giants win, Giants fans didn’t care.

Sammy Sosa was caught corking his bat when he played for the Chicago Cubs in 2005. What kind of reaction did he get from Cubs fans at Wrigley Field when he finished serving his ‘paid’ suspension? He got a standing ovation. (Sorry, Dr. Sheehan.)

Lawrence Phillips was a star running back for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Late one night in 1995, he pulled an ex girlfriend down a flight of stairs, punched her and caused her serious harm before being restrained by another teammate.

Was he kicked off the team? No. He was suspended. Did Nebraska fans rise up in outrage when he finished serving his suspension? No, they gave him; you guessed it, a standing ovation.

The examples are everywhere in every sport. Ranger fans didn’t care about Kenny Rogers being caught on tape assaulting a cameraman as long as he could pitch every fifth day and help the Rangers win at least one game in a home stand.

Michael Irvin messing around with drugs and topless dancers didn’t get him condemned by Cowboy fans living in the Bible Belt as long as he was catching touchdown passes and helping the ‘Boys win super bowl rings.

The leaking of Jason Giambi’s grand jury testimony during which he admitted taking PED’s while he denied it publicly doesn’t bother Yankee fans as long as he continues to hit home runs and help the Yankees get to playoffs year after year.

The most unforgivable thing an athlete can ever do, whether they be professional or collegiate, is lose.

And if an athlete cheats, the only ones who really care are the fans of, and maybe the players on, the opposing team.

When it comes to cheating in sports, the biggest issue is the hypocrisy of the fans who will pay their hard earned money to watch the games regardless of what the players do.

Sad but true.

Again, great column.
 
 Billy Branch