Memorial Day and what's your reading level, or writing style?

Welcome to Memorial Day. I hope you are having a great extended weekend and sharing it with family and friends and there are good times all around.

A moment if you will though, to remember all those who have fallen trying to maintain our freedoms and our way of life. May we begin once again to remember that we only sacrifice for what is our basic human needs, in defense and no longer for oil. I so look forward, I so do hope to one day see us off that disease ridden fuel. As well as coal and gas. Thank you to all those who have perished in the wars of necessity (certainly WWI and WWII would fall under that), and perhaps more so, thank you to all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for reasons of power and ill judgement.

Also, it seems to be a national paradigm going back to before this country was founded, to even the Revolutionary War, to not properly take care of our veterans. This is a small but profound and powerful, impact filled request: Can we please do that, take care of our vets? I'm a vet, I hadn't seen battle but I'm horrified at how our vets are being treated; like trash no longer needed, to be thrown away or simply, ignored. As usual in government, if they don't know what to do, they ignore it, misdirect us in order to keep their jobs, but they do nothing.

Nothing is defined here as not doing enough when vets are left in need, with treatments when they can even get them that are poor, or completely wrong, with back logs on appointments for months or years when they needed help yesterday. Part of the issue comes from our longest wars, turning out our biggest numbers of patients, something that should have been seen at the start, and does not have the numbers of needed healthcare workers, doctors and mental health specialists. Our only recourse now is to turn these patients loose in the private sector along with the rest of America, as single payer supported patients. That being said, Vets should not have to pay for this healthcare as do the rest of us with co-pays and deductibles. I do fear their getting abused in that way. Regardless of their volunteering for battle, we pushed them into it and so, we should pay their way.

Our government is famous for waging wars, on other countries, on drugs, on women's rights, on the poor, minorities and illegal aliens. Stop waging wars and focus on this. If and when we send people to fight and die for us, people who come back damaged in taking our places for us on the battlefields that we send them to, then let's take care of them afterward; let's suffer our woes privately in how much the money hurts us to do so; let's shut the hell up about it and bleed money for them, as they have bled their own blood and suffered through the same with their battlefield compatriots. We owe them at very least, that.

Okay then, that was uplifting. Moving on....

I found an interesting little web site where you can paste in some of what you have written and it will analyze it and tell you who you write like; what famous author's style you imitate. It's called, IWriteLike.com.

Since I've been working on re-editing my book Death of Heaven, I pasted \ analyzed some passages from the chapters within it. I got various author similarity ratings, kind of as I'd expected. I have always tried hard to not write my style all the time but to choose a style that fits that story, more than myself. If and when possible. This analysis would seem to support that. Not that it's perfect, but it's kind of fun.

By the way, I should finish up the re-edit on my book this weekend and will be re-releasing it soon. Keep an eye out for it. Hell of a book, if I do say so myself. I'm working on finding other author blurbs on it. Yes I'm shooting for the sky in Clive Barker. We shall see.

Anyway, here's what I got off that author style web site.

• First from the short opening chapter, The Steppes, I got James Fenimore Cooper. 
• From, The Conqueror Worm chapter I got Stephen King. Not surprising perhaps.
• Rosebud came up with both S. King and David Foster Wallace.
• From, Harbinger and Going Home, Dan Brown. Bummer. Well, his books are enjoyable enough pulp and I would love to have his income (or even his tax return).
• Still, another part of Harbinger gave me James Joyce. Well, I'm in good company anyway.  
• A Thirst Divine gave up Bram Stoker (awesome) but another section of that chapter reverted back to King.
• Marking Time gave me Stephen King again. Hmmm... seeing a pattern here.
• From later in the book and the book's longest section, Vaughan's Theorum, I got Harry Harrison. 
• The Mea Culpa Document of London (which actually refers to a document not included in the book, but is available in another book of mine, Anthology of Evil), a short section, came up with... Dan Brown again. I did three paragraphs and all were Danny boy. Which I suppose isn't surprising considering his genre and style as this section is supposed to be a professionally written, academic document about an antique document, much like Dan writes about much of the time. 

So what about all this? I don't know what I'd have had to do to come up with Clive Barker. Maybe they didn't include him in the analysis? Well, I don't know, why are you asking me? Still, it was kind of fun. It reminds me of a time before college when my friends complained that they didn't understand what the hell I was writing about half the time, in my stories with no endings (see, I was terrified to attempt endings back then). Especially one story they challenged me to write, "In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear". I promised them I'd write that at my most comfortable and then write stories that were easier to read.

Years later I ran that story through one of those grade analyzers which tells you want grade level a piece is written at and it came up grade seventeen; so the first year of Grad. Yeah, I don't know either. After that I tried hard to write at a more general audience level like newspapers and magazines do, at around 9th through 12th grades. I like to believe that today's reading levels have gone up. Average reading level in 1935 was grade 7.8. So yeah, I think it's gone up a bit.

I just read on a web site that said "The average newspaper is written at the 11th-grade level, the tolerable limit for a 9th-grade reader" and that people generally like to read about two grade levels below their ability to read. It also said that, "experts recommend writing documents intended for the general public at the 9th-grade level, health and safety information at the 5th-grade level." Okay then....

Through most of my life I have preferred to read mostly above my grade level, with a peppering of slightly lesser works for pure guilty pleasure. My grandmother used to tell me that every other book we read should be uncomfortably above our skill level. So I always did that (literally; I didn't try to do that, I followed it like gospel) while growing up and yes, I spent a lot of time not understanding, at first and wondering why I was doing it. But over time it paid off, and much of that I was later able to remember and eventually understood.

Reading levels are something to consider, both for the reader and for writers.

As writers we need to know our audience and write for them, always trying to elevate though not talk down to them. As readers it is our responsibility as it is in all communication, to understand more than we need to. In interpersonal communication some people think that it is the job of the communicator to communicate. Which is somewhat of a fallacy.

Indeed it is the job of the communicator, he or she who is speaking, not only to convey their meaning, but also to see to it that the one being communicated to, understands. That, is always not the case. There is nothing more annoying than someone who speaks over your head and then after the interaction, you are clueless as to what they just said. It's a waste of time to both the individual listening, but mostly and more likely, simply an ego trip for one of those involved; most probably, not the more ignorant one involved in the intercourse.

As for the one being communicated to, it is our job in listening, to, well... listen. But also to understand. To, THINK. Reference what is being said, store some information, remember some key words for later, in case you need to look something up; rethink it, in order to better comprehend it. A word or sentence spoken, is something that should last beyond the words spoken. Otherwise, it's just common speech which should be used for commanding and acknowledging in merely getting through the day. Other than that, speech should convey and instruct, and educate.

We've mostly lost that common way of speaking now a days. Our leisure speaking tends to be fluff mostly, about sports, or celebrities, TV shows or films. When we should be talking about science, politics, philosophy, family dynamics, life. Things that enhance our lives and culture. No doubt we all need down time and fluff has it's place. But in a world where we are supposed to "seek our bliss", to "pursue happiness", we've kind of gone off the deep end. A little ice cream is good, but a fifty gallon barrel is too much. The trouble is, our stomachs physically let us know when we've overdone it (not that you could tell from the average weight of an American, but still....). Our minds however will allow us to "eat" all the crap we could ever want, with no real warning (like weight gain or diabetes) and all we get out of it is an addiction for more and a bloated and ignorant mind (supported by the internet where there are plenty more of the same).

So look, have fun, don't get me wrong. Do have fun, just don't kill yourself, or your mind, or the rest of us, over it.

Will we be dating AI and machines some day?

Futurist Ray Kurzweil: Dating artificial intelligences could be possible within 15 years.

While building a relationship with your AI is reasonable in some ways, it does raise concerns as it could quite easily make human relationships appear at some point to be simply too much trouble, or toxic.

There was a sci fi story that I read many years ago about clone handlers on another planet. One good handler could run up to nine clones in the field, using a kind of technological telepathy, to direct the clones to mine or process product. In the off hours as many did, the protagonist frequented the company supplied brothel. 

There was one sex worker he frequented more than any others until he saw no others. Eventually, he fell in love with this woman, only in the end to realize that "she" was just another clone. This was something the clone handlers found disgusting as they manipulated these every day and felt them a lower form of life, which essentially, they were.

When he found a telepathy tech unit beneath the bed, he finally came to realize that he had fallen in love with himself. He was therefore, more or less having sex with himself by proxy.

My point is that in "dating" an AI type personality, a person would basically be dating themselves. As the AI "earns you it shapes itself to fill in your needs, which would be the ultimate form of what can only be considered technological masturbation; the ultimate form of narcissism. We already have quite enough narcissism in the world, more than we need really, in government, in social environments and in interpersonal relationships.

Part of what makes us human is not that we exactly fulfill one another, but approximate it in as much as we can comfortably handle. It is in part within those differences that we find fulfillment in human relationships. Many times it is the unexpected in the relationship that endears us to someone and not in the exactitude of being complimentary to another personality. As I had posted the other day about music, it is in the "inexactitude" that the true quality and affection of human performed music comes across to us.

Yes, that could all be programmed in, but don't we need technology to bring us closer together and not further apart? We are presently already seeing human relationships, true physically close human relationships, suffering. In some countries, like Japan for instance, there is already gap growing between close intimate contact. True, there are robots now that are giving shut ins fulfillment and that is one thing, and I believe it is a good thing, but it will only speed up what I am talking about.

I just think we need to be careful about this. In my short sci fi story "Simon's Beautiful Thought", his AI does him a great service and if that is how things will go, then good, great, that is how it should work out. Our robots and technologies should aid us and not work against us, or inadvertently through artificial means, increase the distance between human beings. But if they do, where will that leave us,as individuals, or as a race of beings?

Wisdom in Business, and in Life

There is a lot of knowledge already known out in the world and through history. There is great wisdom available, you just have to look for it. Mostly you will have to find translated versions if you don't read in the original language and who translates sometimes is very important. Just translating is one thing, understanding a language in the period in which it was written is important as well as an understanding of accurate history during that period.

That being said, it's all in what you are looking to find and what you find, which may not be what is there, or may be an epiphany that others who read the same words, do not "see". One of my favorite sayings is, "Even the village idiot has his story." It means that you can find wisdom anywhere, if you pay attention. Staring at a blank wall can give you great insight, if you are prepared to "hear" it.

I've been told that knowledge with experience, is wisdom. Acquiring information, as in book learning, simply isn't enough. Experience, isn't enough either, but extremely valuable. Still, in adding to experience, book learning, you can go leaps beyond by utilizing other's experience, who have mostly likely tried the wrong ways. That being said, sometimes revisiting those wrong ways can lead you in the right direction because those others missed something. But you don't want to haphazardly just waste your time on that, either.

Wisdom is a tricky things sometimes.

When I was starting high school I asked a lot of questions. Until one day a teacher, frustrated with my constant questions finally told me I was holding back the class from moving forward and I could question him after class. He said I was asking good and relevant questions but I should give others a chance to ask them. Except that I wasn't seeing that anyone else was asking these questions. Still, I got his point.

He also said, if I would just wait and listen, to pay attention closely, I would most likely hear the answer at some point in the class, or someone else would as the question. Or, I would simply find the answer within myself before the end of the class period. He told me that I may already know they answer (to paraphrase him) if I just listened to my own interior dialog.

That may have been the greatest single piece of advice I had ever been given.

People suggest reading Art of War for business awareness and I fully agree. It gives you a template you can hone to your understanding of a compassionate way, but you do have to read it first.

Another book that I found perhaps more useful is The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli Written c. 1505, published 1515, in business endeavors. Many read his book as a very dark book but I found it useful in warning me, making me aware of things, more than how I should act toward others, and if you read it for that you are ahead of the game for those reading it to find how to abuse people in order to maintain power and rise above them.

There is another book I like on this type of book, a few really and there's others, but to be brief here's a few I'm fond of:

The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Balthasar Gracian

In a different vein and perhaps a bit more obscure but still useful, a few others....

The Art of Peace by O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba
The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) by Miyamoto Musashi

And the more esoteric....

Zen Essence The Science of Freedom Translated by Thomas Cleary
[Another is Rational Zen The Mind of Dogen Zenji by the same]
I Ching The Book of Change Translated by Thomas Cleary

The Tibetan Book of the Dead 

New Musical Artist - Amanda Dewell

Amanda "Cat" Dewell, remember that name.

Live It Outloud! is a Ted Brown Music outreach program and a Rock Music Summer School out of Tacoma, WA. My sister's husband Joe Wilson is deep into running it, or helping run it. I'm not quite sure how that works out and it's pretty unimportant for our purposes here today.

I wrote about this last year and the year before when I went to their final concerts. It's about sixty miles for me to get there so that says something. Not a real long trip but more than popping down to the local theater. And it was great fun just to hang out and see everyone, too.

That first concert assured that I would see the second one, and so I did. I'll be there again, next time, too. I had a great time and the kids and their bands were very entertaining. Some of them unbelievably professional for their age and a few bands about ready to be touring. What is important here are the kids and how positively this is affecting them.

This is an awesome project!

Joe has been very pleased with the talents of these kids and those who excel in the program. Particularly one exceptional individual that I would like to point out here. I met her briefly at the first and second concert and she is very sweet and still quite young. Which makes her talent, all the more amazing. 

Perhaps I'll just let Joe talk about her in his own words:

"Years 2011, 2012, 2013 - Amanda Dewell AKA Cat Dewell. Available on Amazon and YouTube.

"Amanda came to us, an 11 yr old seemingly very shy girl, dressed like a rocker, (with the added dimension of also dressing in “Hello Kitty” Pj’s and slippers at times) and surprised everyone with a rendition of “Misery” by Paramore the first year.

"2012’s concert saw her play the cello and perform “Broken”. The audience appeared fixated on this young girl who wrote lyrics and melody to a song orchestrated with Jonathan Irwin. The appeal of that song got the attention of Mark Simmons at Pacific Studios, members of the Vicci Martinez band and a recording session was born. That song was subsequently made into a simple video that garnered 8000+ views in 6 months.

"Surprised at the reaction a decision was made to finish an EP, “Notes From the Out Crowd” and was released on iTunes, Amazon and all the other digital services the 1st of April. She was contacted by a lawyer in Seattle who worked for Nirvana and all the rest of the grunge scene at Sub-Pop Records during her 16 year tenure.

"She is looking into sync- licensing some of Amanda’s work for Television, Film and other venues. We’re learning how all this works and are privileged to have Amanda help us on this journey that will help other musicians in the program, past and present, find a way to get their music heard. Amanda will finish her album this summer with a release date in September."

And so, congrats to Cat! Congrats to Joe and the others behind the scenes!
Check her out and keep watching....

UPDATE 8/9/2015 - Cat's new CD should be available sometime in September 2015.

Writing Resources and my new Phone App

Okay, enough of my ruminating and complaining about political stuff. Now, back to entertainment, fiction writing, marketing, and my new phone app - The Murdock Society phone app.

First off, writing resources.

I get a lot of emails everyday, mostly writing oriented things that I've subscribed too, various informational sites, some political, some humor, many merely updates on my web sites, blog, Linkedin, Facebook pages, or yes, even MySpace.

What the heck, while we're on the topic and just in case it's useful to anyone though mostly writers I'm sure, here's a list of many of the sites I get regular updates from or on. Most of these are daily, but some are weekly. I won't list all the sites or those specific to me as user, just the ones related to me as writer.

I'll skip user oriented and purchaser things like Amazon Kindle, ABE.com, Alibris.com, and marketing stuff like AdSense, etc., as there's a lot of all that. Going down my Outlook email list here's what I found.

There may be one or two I'm not frequenting much but I thought I'd mention them anyway in case someone might find them useful. I also have a Writer's Resource page here on Murdockinations.com with my personal writer's list just for me to keep in mind and find easily when I want them. I thought others might find them useful so they are available (and yes I should probably clean that up some).

In the references below, I'll offer links related to myself as much as possible (hey, why not?), but you can just go to the site and click on their home page if you're more interested in that site for yourself.

Here we go:

• Amazon (book sales), KDP (ebook sales)
• ACX (audiobooks)
• Audible.com (audiobook sales)
• American Screenwriters Assoc.
• Boulevard Magazine
• Church of the Pure Purple - an absurdest "religion" - see also the Facebook groups 1, 2 (1 is for those who think 2 is a religious thing, it's not, it makes fun of it) - this is an organization about people rather than not people, as focus. About advancing ourselves to be the best we can be with the newest information possible. More a humanist and futurist organization really.
• Createspace
• Creative World Awards
• ebooks.com
• Facebook
• Goodreads
• Horror Writers Assoc.
• IndieGoGo
• IndiesUnlimited
• Indietribe
• IndieWriteNet
• International Screenwriters Assoc.
• JuntoBoxFilms
• JZMurdock.com - my web site
• Klout
• Library Thing
• Linkedin
• Literary Marketplace
• Literature Network Forums
• Murdockinations.com - my blog
• MUTT Online
• MySpace
• PageOneLit
• Pearltrees
• Pinterest
• Project Greenlight
• ScreenplayCoverage
• ScreenWritersWorld
• ScreenwritingCommunity
• SellingYourScreenplay
• Shelfari
• Smashwords
• Stage32
• Storiad
• TalentVille
• Twitter
• UrbanDictionary - I have one word in there - Purpleism
• Wattpad
• WritersNet
• WritersRelief
• WritersShack
• YouTube
• Zilyon Publishing
• ZombieFans

While going through my daily email routine, some emails I quickly scan through, some I mostly ignore and mark read and move on. But one caught my attention the other day.

It was from a company called, Conduit.

So now, about the phone app.

Conduit makes it easy for you to create your own cell phone app. When I noticed it, at first, moved on; but I kept coming back to it over the rest of the day. Finally, I just went to the site and one thing led to another and, I created my own phone app. I'd heard that authors were doing this, so it seemed reasonable to check it out.

And, it's kind of cool. Here it is, Murdock Society phone app.

It wasn't that hard to do, either. A little intimidating at first, like so much of this stuff is, but you just have to push through that. And so I did. Once I was done, it took a couple of days but it was reviewed, accepted and pushed out to Amazon for iPhone and Android (I have a Droid MAXX so that was good for me).

To initially do this was free but there are various forms of payment that walk you up the ladder to more and more accessibility to the public. For now, I'm just biding my time getting used to it. Then I may choose to pay and see how it works out.

Since we are now nearly finished with the re-edit of my book, Death of Heaven (video trailer), I thought this would be a good time to set something like this app up. For now, it's just seems kind of cool to have. Later, it just may turn out to be a useful, if not profitable app. Time obviously, will tell.

Thanks for you time, I hope you found something useful.
Cheers!

Today as Conservatives National Shame Day

I believe from now it would be appropriate for the first work day Monday after Easter Sunday to be, Conservatives National Shame Day. At least until things have been worked back into their proper place and our country brought back up to its once again, deservedly respectful position as world leader.

Why? Because of what Conservative's mishandling of our country has led us all into. We've all head their craziness, their attempts at limiting voters who would vote against them, disrespect for women's rights long ago established, attempts to make corporations equal to citizens, and it just goes insanely on and on....

If you're not at least somewhat ashamed of the following information, then maybe you are one of those with whom our problem lay. We have a rather idealized view of how great we are and we have indeed done great things; but you can't rest on your laurels forever. That's how you eventually fail as a leader. That's how your country eventually falls. And now we have. We have fallen in the ranks of world leader categories.

The new Report on Social Progress from The Social Progress Imperative, is led by one of the most highly quoted experts in his field in the World, Michael E. Porter, Professor at Harvard Business School. His group has taken a look at the world and found the US severely lacking in so many things.

We are overall #16 in the world on social progress. NUMBER 16!

I am laying the blame for this on conservatives and Republicans, on their extremists mostly and those others for following them; or worse, for allowing them to lead; for the cowardly actions of their groups who are bulwarks of greed while arguing all along how compassionate they are and laying the fix for everything at the door of increasing their own personal wealth and that of corporations (who should not be considered "people" by the way). Democrats are to blame some too for not finding ways to push those conservative groups off our national political stage after those groups have consistently done so much damage to our country in the name of "progress"; when really it was about moving all the money to the top of the tier for personal and corporate gain.

Consider that just after America at #16 on the list comes Belgium, Slovenia and Estonia. Awesome! So we're better on social progress than Slovenia. Feeling proud yet? Rather, feel ashamed. Shouldn't we be over #1 New Zealand, or at least above #10 Australia, or Germany at #12, UK at #13, Japan at #14, or Ireland at #15. But no, we're #16 in the world.

We are #23 on Access to Information and Communications. This one I've known about for a while and it annoys me every time I think about it. Mobile Telephone Subscriptions put us at #83 behind the THREE tied for #1, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Russia. Even Jamaica beat us out at #82 and we are only one ahead of Latvia. Latvia!

If you've ever, even in good service areas, had a call not go through due to network over-saturation because the cell phone companies aren't keeping up to the demand, then you know what this is referring to; but it's more than that. It's also about how many places have little or no cell service. I've heard people who were backpacking in remote places around the world and were stunned to find how much better cell service was in those to countries where they had so little else to boast about. Not to mention the countries who get new technologies faster than we do here in America, the so called, "Greatest Country in the World."

We all should know now that we pay more than anyone and get less bang for the buck on Health and Wellness where we are #70; where we have so many who have no healthcare at all because they have to choose between bread and a doctor visit. At least we should know about that by now; and again, we should feel ashamed. Yes, those who can afford our healthcare can get very good healthcare, world class care in fact, but when put up against all those who cannot, we don't shine quite so well.

But we have intangibles right? Like Access to Basic Knowledge (things like enrollment in primary school) with Japan at #1, New Zealand at #2 and Norway at #3. Yet we're ranked #39! With Cuba (CUBA!) ahead of us at #35 and Georgia (the country not the US State, you know them as the people Russia attacked a while back before the current incursions to another sovereign nation by hitting Ukraine's Crimea), who are at #42.

Primary School Enrollment shows China at #1, Japan at #2, Iran at #3 (IRAN?), but the US is ranked at #77! Nicaragua at #78 and Iraq at #79. Feeling ashamed, YET? Okay, then hang on. Also consider our rather high drop out rates in secondary schools.

Consider, Freedom of the Press. We have to be top there, right? But no, we're ranked #21. Are you starting to not care that we're number one yet? Starting to devalue us to let yourself feel better, rationalizing, just thinking about ranking us as over others as our call to our greatness? If so, that's what we have been doing for far too long. Rationalizing our decline. Stop it!

You should be pushing in your mind for us being NUMBER ONE in as many things if not all, as is possible. Or at least for us to be in the top ten of everything. But see?  See how insidious that is? Because that's simply doing it again, rationalizing our decline. Why CAN'T we be number one all across the board? What the hell is going on? What has happened to us as a people? Could it be the corporations who have their finger up the nose of government, leading them along, have consistently beat us down decade after decade, taking not only our pay from us but our dignity; and rationalizing our self esteem until we should no longer have any at all (hey, chin up, we're not quite there YET, we have a few minutes before it's all over).

One word sums it all up that is killing us as a nation, and I'd argue that is: conservatism.

Look, it's got to go. Yes, we need some as a balance to getting out of control with too much progressiveness, but too much isn't none at all. Conservatism has gotten out of control and we need to not just start reigning it in, but simply reign it in. Now. ASAP.

We need to start looking at ourselves honestly and objectively. We need to stop talking so much about how wonderful we are and start being wonderful again, before we simply aren't anymore. We can get our status back so that when we brag, we are accurate. I'd actually argue we shouldn't be bragging, but then we have that status as braggart Americans to uphold that so many love so much (doing it, not listening to it, people around the world are pretty sick of our attitude, not our country, but our demeanor in many cases). Our status now is more of a general concept. If you try to get too articulate about it, it all quickly starts to fall apart. Just pull out this new report and your argument for greatness is dead in the water.

There is nothing worse however, than a braggart who has no leg to stand on. Or a has been, who is spouting how great they once were, when everyone in the room knows they are a has been. It's, pathetic. And our mindset isn't one of our being a pathetic entity in the world.

We're the US of A dammit! Let's get back to being who we know we are. We need to stop talking brave and acting like cowards in these areas. Because we're not cowards. Not at all! We have just let the cowardly speak too much on our behalf (making us, what?). They have taken over too much of our political system, repeatedly invoked fear in us over economics and pulled all the wrong strings in order to get us back on the right path. They have done this so much we don't even see it anymore when it happens.

The first thing we need to start with is putting conservatives in the back seat where they belong. Where they can cry out their warnings about how we are being too progressive, even when we are not, and not let them govern us anymore on the things we all know that we need to be doing. We need conservatives as a check on our progress. They mean well, but are too frequently deluded of late. But to let them run things is a huge mistake and we're now seeing the disservice they have done to us.

Let's get back to being the leaders of the world in all the right ways and not just in bullying the world with our military. Like our drone strikes which again have killed ten Al Qaeda on Saturday last (4/19/14) in Yemen, but also took out three civilians and so we have probably just spawned another thirty new terrorists, ten for each civilian killed. Let's put our money where it needs to be on the things we truly need. Let's do it because it's the right thing to do.

Because, it's who we are.

Three Counters to the Extreme Conservative Mindset

There are three major elements to be aware of in debating the conservative mindset:

• The "Closed Minded" concept
• Specificity vs Generalities
• Jumping Forms of Logic

Now to be fair it's not just conservatives who can have this mindset but also extreme liberals or religious mindsets, too.

If you keep getting into debates (or worse, bickering types of arguments), with people who maintain the extreme conservative mindset, you may find you are getting nowhere with either them. Or their argument is against what seems to be perfectly rational and something settled long ago. Or something that has been proven by perhaps even the majority of scientists in the entire world but is for no apparent reason currently controversial.

What's going on there? Are you feeling frustrated? Part of the problem is, people's tactics have changed therefore, we need to update the meanings of some of the trap words they are using. Words that once meant one thing to all of us, but now are being used against us, in a very different way; thus at times, trapping us in our own arguments.

One tactic they like is to say that it is you how has a closed mind, which let's face it, is pretty irritating. But, just laugh about it when you noticed it. As long as you have made the due diligence to have an informed opinion, that is. And to have an opinion on something means that you have closed your mind (for now) on that topic, by definition. So just tell them that a closed mind means that it can be opened, not that it is locked closed as usually, that would be them, not you. Right?

Don't let people try to mistake confidence for arrogance. Sometimes they will say that you are being arrogant in your solidarity on your opinion, cuz after all, gravity exists, and the Earth has been around longer than 6,0000 years. Look, it's okay to seem a bit arrogant at times when you are either that good, or that correct. It is never okay to be arrogant however, or to seem so when you simply don't deserve that arrogance. See, people who are very good, can seem arrogant to others who are not. It'st that feeling that "you are so much better than me, that you have to be extremely humble around me so I don't feel bad." Hogwash. That's your issue. They are that good, so you be a little humble around them as you're in the presence of  greatness; again, if they truly are that great.

There's an awful lot of people around now a days projecting that kind of arrogance when they have absolutely no right to do so. Like a lot of Americans, when they visit other countries. Okay, maybe America is that great of a country, but it's very likely that you had nothing whatsoever to do with that. I mean, died in any wars lately? Cured cancer? Won in the Olympics?

Anyway, when you know or you are really that good at something, it can seem like you arrogance to others. Or you can feel irritated or annoyed by those others for wasting your time on things, especially as an a priori consideration; where they do not, or can not see that it is due to something they are lacking; like skill, or knowledge.

You mind should only be closed for the time being on any topic, but not entirely closed overall. A permanently closed mind which never updates with new information can actually be quite deadly and the Darwin Awards are full of those types; just as Darwinian selection eliminates those from the gene pools. As long as you have sought the necessary knowledge and found a conclusion, at that point you close your mind on that topic so that you can now progress and take a stand and get things done. The thing about a closed mind is, it can be opened again when new information arrives.

Many forms of belief do not have closed minds, a good thing up to a point but not necessarily. Frequently they require (or desire) a sealed mind. A very different critter from a merely closed mind.

Science requires one to find the best information and synthesize it appropriately along with verification and a conclusion and thus consider for now, that it is a closed topic; so you can do work and progress to a yet newer truth.

Religion generally wants a sealed mind once the basics are put into place. Makes sense as once God gave His word, well, that should be it, right? Except that hasn't panned out very well over time. If it truly is God's word, well, he's been wrong a lot. Another considering is humankind progresses and so God's word needs to be updated from time to time. But he doesn't update it and yet if he tries, religions around the world will fight against it, because after all, the religion is right and unchangeable. Because, it's God's word.

And yeah, I know....

Though some are more reasonable than others, all really seem to want a mind sealed to anything to detract from their teachings and thereby, "shake the faith". Though I would argue that if you can shake faith, it's a defective form of faith and should be updated, which is not readily acceptable for obvious reasons.

Some people will say that science is faulty because it does change and what was once true, is no longer considered valid when replaced by updated information. But our best efforts are always to find a truth and update it with new information as it becomes available; thereby keeping us updated with the best available information.

So when someone tries to shoot down your beliefs that religion leaves much to be desired, relax. A lot of the issue that traps you, are just the traps that have been developed against scientific thinking for thousands of years.

For example, if someone tries to convince me that there is a vacuum in the room we are in and yet I'm breathing air quite easily, I may disagree with them and tell them that, as I know they are incorrect. If they persist I will not go against them on it at that point, as it is obviously not true and if they can't see that, there is really little I can do about it. I'm not going to perpetuate an argument or make up names for my position as I have no position, it is just something that... is. That is the trap they pull you into and then you find you are in a never ending cycle of argumentation with them. They are now wasting your time, and money, and in some cases our nation's money; our money.

There are a growing number of people who take up incorrect positions on things that are obvious, and in many cases obvious to most people as well as experts; and yet they persist on their disagreement and delusions out of mere ego, philosophy, or more frequently, theology.

All I'm saying is, you need to stop going about arguing as you would have done, historically. Things are changing, they have changed. We all have to be aware of this and stop handling it as we have always done. We need to break the cycle of finding new ways to continue believing in things that we have long since proven incorrect. We need to leave those people behind who can't keep up and after a while they will simply disappear through attrition and evolution.

Another issue in arguing with these types of people is the disparity in specificity within the argument. Frequently in arguments (debates that is and hopefully you see the difference) the two or more parties debating are on different planes of the same argument. One may be arguing a broader point and the other may be arguing a more specific, narrow point. When that happens you will seldom resolve the issue and more likely both walk away frustrated.

Finally, this is also true when someone skips logic from one form to another; sometimes within the same sentence. This is an issue either with people who are ignorant about forms of logic (which happens all the time), or those who are more highly skilled in logic, know exactly what they are doing and use it as a tool of obfuscation.

Please understand, this isn't meant to fix all this, but to make it obvious because I suspect once you know about this it will all become much easier and that was really my only content in saying all this. If not to help get around some of the blatant obfuscations on the part of those who are trying to spew nonsense into the mainstream.

So you see, you don't have to walk away frustrated with these kinds of arguments. Merely see what is going on. To just be aware of things kinds of things is a huge benefit and a useful tool to use in order to further spread genuine knowledge and start on the road where this form of behavior goes into the useless bin where all useless forms of thought need to go, along with all those winners of the Darwin Awards.

Of course you can always use something like Snopes.com too and for those who claim that to be a conspiracy you can use A Guide to Arguing With a Snopes-Denier on them....

Cheers!