One opinion that I see every once in a while is that school bullies eventually get their due. I think the assumption is that they're more likely to end up in prison, or at least have personality issues that keep them from being accepted in the business world. I don't know if only a few people think this or many do, but it's ridiculous upon reflection. Sure, some bullies do end up in prison or with issues that keep them from getting good jobs. Most of the traits that allow people to gain a social upper hand in the school social world certainly don't do the opposite elsewhere, however. When people complain about office politics, for example, what else are they really complaining about other than that other people are using bully-style tactics.
In my job I interact with a lot of people working for a lot of different companies. As a result, I see a lot of different styles of management. Some that show up occasionally are those that integrate elements of bullying. Honestly, bullying employees to just below the threshold of what HR considers abuse can be an effective short-term motivator. I cannot be the only person who has observed this. It seems to be the basis for most executive's actions on Dilbert (but interestingly, not the pointy haired boss).
What I do not understand is the need to pretend that bullies do not succeed. Generally speaking, they do quite well. Being willing to take actions that hurt others for your own gain is very effective in most social structures, and business is no different. Sure, there are caveats to bullying your coworkers and employees, but there are caveats to behaving altruistically as well.
Certainly, this fact does not make bully tactics acceptable for those under Christ. My main hope is that we can be honest and acknowledge that bullies do not always get their just deserts in this lifetime. Some of what kids learn in school is that manipulating the system for your own gain at others' expense often works.
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Friday, November 12, 2010
fat, lazy, orange, and offensive
One of the news stories that made the rounds today was that Garfield creator Jim Davis apologized for the offensive timing of one of his strips. The punchline of the strip, which is possibly his funniest for the year, refers to "National Stupid Day." It was unfortunately released on Veterans' Day.
While Davis probably needed to issue the apology to clear things up, the question I have is who in their right mind actually thinks that Davis would intentionally insult the military. Is there a humorist of any form anywhere who actively avoids insulting anyone as much as Davis does? If anything, one of the first things that most people think of when they think of the strip Garfield is that it is inoffensive to a fault.
If there really is a significant group of people who believe that Davis was intentionally disrespectful to the military that says a lot more about society than Davis. Are people really that easily manipulated into manufactured anger? I sincerely hope not.
While Davis probably needed to issue the apology to clear things up, the question I have is who in their right mind actually thinks that Davis would intentionally insult the military. Is there a humorist of any form anywhere who actively avoids insulting anyone as much as Davis does? If anything, one of the first things that most people think of when they think of the strip Garfield is that it is inoffensive to a fault.
If there really is a significant group of people who believe that Davis was intentionally disrespectful to the military that says a lot more about society than Davis. Are people really that easily manipulated into manufactured anger? I sincerely hope not.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
what's in a word
I thought I had posted on this topic earlier but I cannot find any posts on the topic in my searches of the blog, so here it is (possibly again).
One of my friends in high school frequented the youth events for a church that neither of us attended. As a result I sometimes went along as well, but not very frequently. One night we were riding in the church van on the way back from an event, I think it was bowling, when the guy sitting next to me mentioned that he wanted to kill himself. I don't remember how we got on that topic, but my impression of the little that I knew about him led me to believe that he was partially serious, but that the main point was to find a reason not to do something so permanent. It could be that he was just pulling everyone's leg, but I have to say that he did not seem the joking type.
There is something weird that happens when you are around someone who you believe might actually be intending to kill himself or herself. Everything all of a sudden becomes about that one person and there is an edginess that everyone gets because they don't want to say or do something they would regret and be responsible for someone doing something so drastic. As would be expected, at least a few of the people in the bus felt that it was important to quickly convince him that life is worth living. This is when two of the girls in the bus started telling him that God loved him. Honestly, it sounded cliche and I think (and I thought at the time) that that was the last thing that he wanted to hear and that it was the last thing that would stop him from doing anything rash. I can't remember what specifically I said to him and I don't know that it was any better, but I remember his disappointed expression at people resorting to, "God loves you," as if he had never heard it before.
I don't know what happened with that guy. As I said, I didn't attend that church and he apparently rarely did either. I knew his name at the time, but I forgot it soon afterwards as I am apt to do. I have often thought back to that conversation, though. Had I been given the chance to do it over again I probably would have gotten his contact information and tried to give him more opportunity to describe what was so crappy about his life. I also have thought about how much a shame it is that, "God loves you," and the similar phrase, "God is love," are so cliched that when I hear it I don't think about what that really truly means.
There is probably no more important truth, as far as Christianity is concerned at least, than, "God is love." I think that so many people misunderstand the word love, though, that we interpret the phrase with a more superficial meaning or a just plain different meaning. I think that love in this context means a willingness to selflessly sacrifice. I think that it would be just as accurate to say, "God is sacrifice. He gave it and He demands it." This is backed up in Paul's letter to the Romans.
The reason I have been thinking about the topic of cliched words lately is that I have noticed, especially in my more recent classes, that a lot of the concepts behind the overused business buzzwords are actually quite good. I know this is a step down from talking about love and God, but it is still what got me thinking. Synergies are the abilities of groups within a company to work together in ways that their output is greater than the output of the groups individually, and they are vital for most mergers to make any rational sense. Paradigms are the mental constraints under which we think and they often disallow us from understanding the value of finding other better ways of doing what we do, and ignoring paradigm shifts usually results in the company in question going out of business. There are other cliched words that represent important concepts as well, but my point is already made. A few people at some point thought that using the buzzwords without giving the associated concepts the required respect to be effective and all we ultimately ended up with were Dilbert strips mocking synergies.
Since I don't think that anyone who reads this abuses religious or business buzzwords and cliches, this is probably written to the wrong audience. Perhaps this could be a word of warning lest anyone consider starting to use them without paying proper respect to the underlying concepts. Just say no.
One of my friends in high school frequented the youth events for a church that neither of us attended. As a result I sometimes went along as well, but not very frequently. One night we were riding in the church van on the way back from an event, I think it was bowling, when the guy sitting next to me mentioned that he wanted to kill himself. I don't remember how we got on that topic, but my impression of the little that I knew about him led me to believe that he was partially serious, but that the main point was to find a reason not to do something so permanent. It could be that he was just pulling everyone's leg, but I have to say that he did not seem the joking type.
There is something weird that happens when you are around someone who you believe might actually be intending to kill himself or herself. Everything all of a sudden becomes about that one person and there is an edginess that everyone gets because they don't want to say or do something they would regret and be responsible for someone doing something so drastic. As would be expected, at least a few of the people in the bus felt that it was important to quickly convince him that life is worth living. This is when two of the girls in the bus started telling him that God loved him. Honestly, it sounded cliche and I think (and I thought at the time) that that was the last thing that he wanted to hear and that it was the last thing that would stop him from doing anything rash. I can't remember what specifically I said to him and I don't know that it was any better, but I remember his disappointed expression at people resorting to, "God loves you," as if he had never heard it before.
I don't know what happened with that guy. As I said, I didn't attend that church and he apparently rarely did either. I knew his name at the time, but I forgot it soon afterwards as I am apt to do. I have often thought back to that conversation, though. Had I been given the chance to do it over again I probably would have gotten his contact information and tried to give him more opportunity to describe what was so crappy about his life. I also have thought about how much a shame it is that, "God loves you," and the similar phrase, "God is love," are so cliched that when I hear it I don't think about what that really truly means.
There is probably no more important truth, as far as Christianity is concerned at least, than, "God is love." I think that so many people misunderstand the word love, though, that we interpret the phrase with a more superficial meaning or a just plain different meaning. I think that love in this context means a willingness to selflessly sacrifice. I think that it would be just as accurate to say, "God is sacrifice. He gave it and He demands it." This is backed up in Paul's letter to the Romans.
"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."- Romans 5:7-8John wrote the following on our responsibilities.
"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome..."- 1 John 5:3I can only speak for myself, but if I were cynical about how cliched the phrase, "God is love," is I would take it as a breath of fresh air for someone to tell me that God is sacrifice. It's specific. It's stark. It forces a decision as to whether I am going to accept that sort of a God or not. Most importantly, that God is sacrifice is more difficult to say with the pretense that what the listener is going through isn't such a big deal.
The reason I have been thinking about the topic of cliched words lately is that I have noticed, especially in my more recent classes, that a lot of the concepts behind the overused business buzzwords are actually quite good. I know this is a step down from talking about love and God, but it is still what got me thinking. Synergies are the abilities of groups within a company to work together in ways that their output is greater than the output of the groups individually, and they are vital for most mergers to make any rational sense. Paradigms are the mental constraints under which we think and they often disallow us from understanding the value of finding other better ways of doing what we do, and ignoring paradigm shifts usually results in the company in question going out of business. There are other cliched words that represent important concepts as well, but my point is already made. A few people at some point thought that using the buzzwords without giving the associated concepts the required respect to be effective and all we ultimately ended up with were Dilbert strips mocking synergies.
Since I don't think that anyone who reads this abuses religious or business buzzwords and cliches, this is probably written to the wrong audience. Perhaps this could be a word of warning lest anyone consider starting to use them without paying proper respect to the underlying concepts. Just say no.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
stegosauri
From about the first to the fifth grade I was very into dinosaurs. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up during this time my response was always that I wanted to be a paleontologist. About half of the time I would have to explain what a paleontologist does. I was probably about the only kid at the time who wanted to be an archaeologist for a reason that had nothing to do with Indiana Jones.The dinosaur that I liked the most was the stegosaurus. There was no major reason for this other than I thought it was the coolest looking dinosaur. I still like the stegosaurus, if only for nostalgia's sake.
One other, albeit minor, reason to like the stegosaurus is that, while it probably minded its own business, it still had a very cool means of defending itself. I would love to have seen the stegosaurus use the spikes at the end of its tail to fend off a predator. Even the name for the spikes, the "thagomizer," is entertaining, as it originated in a Far Side comic.
My interest in dinosaurs was fading at roughly the same time that the movie Jurassic Park was released. I always viewed the dinosaurs that were portrayed very much in the Jurassic Park movies as johnny-come-latelies. As such, I have never had any love lost for raptors. They may have been incredibly efficient killers, but they still lacked cool, spiky tails.
Monday, October 22, 2007
farewell, old friend
I have always likely reclining around the living room with a blanket. Around the house, I am a lot like Linus from the Peanuts. I actually also use this blanket in bed as well. I should probably be a little embarrassed about my blanket, but I am not.
The blanket that I have used for the last seven years is a light quilt that my grandmother gave us for our wedding. It got a lot of use over the last seven years and it shows it. There are uncountable tears in the blanket and it is threadbare from use. Golden has been annoyed about me using such a worn out blanket as of late and has been letting me know that we need to throw it out. I finally relented and started breaking in a replacement blanket last night.
The new blanket may have a hard time performing up to the old standard, because the old blanket set the bar high. It won't really matter whether the new blanket is up to snuff, though, because by the time I issue a final ruling the old one will be long gone.
The blanket that I have used for the last seven years is a light quilt that my grandmother gave us for our wedding. It got a lot of use over the last seven years and it shows it. There are uncountable tears in the blanket and it is threadbare from use. Golden has been annoyed about me using such a worn out blanket as of late and has been letting me know that we need to throw it out. I finally relented and started breaking in a replacement blanket last night.
The new blanket may have a hard time performing up to the old standard, because the old blanket set the bar high. It won't really matter whether the new blanket is up to snuff, though, because by the time I issue a final ruling the old one will be long gone.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
the great pumpkin
"There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."- Linus (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)I hate conflict. I also love conflict. It just depends on what type of conflict it is.
I don't necessarily dislike discussing traditionally taboo topics like politics, religion, or even the Great Pumpkin. I don't mind arguing with someone or someone arguing with me, either. I can actually get quite a kick out of people disagreeing with me under specific circumstances. What I hate the most about conflicts is that there is often very little circumspection.
To be circumspect is to approach an issue cautiously and with an interest in all of the implications of the issue. So if someone wants to argue with me about my views about anything from the political to the spiritual, the first thing I want to know is if that person has truly attempted to understand an opposing viewpoint or at least thought through the strengths and weaknesses of his or her position. I even feel queasy when someone agrees with me on a serious issue without thinking through the implications of that position.
I know that I sometimes fail on this front as well, so I am a little hypocritical to judge on circumspection, but it is a good way for me to know whether discussing a contentious topic is likely to result in mutual understanding or frustrated shouting.
This is probably an example of the neurotic behavior that I am currently trying to address. Right now probably the easiest way to get me worked up is to just state a strong opinion that uses stereotypes or that belittles rather than addresses any opposing rationale. After that, I will almost definitely not be my normal, calm Bruce Banner self.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
new point of view
"I cried because I had no door until I met a man who had no cubicle."- Dilbert (The Joy of Work)A week and a half ago everyone in my portion of the office moved from one side to the other as part of a move to reduce the physical size of our office. The only problem was that a few things on the new side of the office were not complete, including the planned recarpet of the office that I was supposed to move into.
I was able to work out of an empty makeshift cubicle for a week, and completely move into my new office on Friday. I had been given the option of being in a cubicle near the people on my team or in this interior office, so it is partially my fault that I had to be in limbo for a while.
I am currently torn as to whether my current situation is better or worse than before. The bad part about my move is that the view from my desk is not nearly what it was before (see pictures below) and my office was so in demand before that it was previously used for storage. After a day in my office, though, I am not feeling cut off from anyone else because people visit on the way to and from the bathroom, and there is something indescribably enjoyable about being in a semi-private closed-in workspace.
View From Previous Cubicle:
View From Current Office:
Even if there are drawbacks, I have definitely worked in a lot worse locations. Plus, I should not complain if I have my very own door.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
saturday afternoon tv
It has always seemed to me that the day and time when I am most likely to have spare time and the freedom to use it, the worst programming is on television. I am referring to Saturday in the afternoon. Even when I was younger I had a hard time getting up early on Saturday mornings. I would sometimes get up for a cartoon I really liked (Garfield and Friends, for example), but I did not consistently get up early on Saturdays. If I had nothing to do on a particular Saturday it was always a little disappointing if I slept through the cartoons in the morning, because the afternoon programming was wretched.
Now it takes a lot more than a Garfield cartoon to get me out of bed on a Saturday morning. I still have a similar problem with Saturday afternoon programming, though. The majority of programming that I can find is sports that I have no interest in watching (college anything, golf, tennis, racing, bowling, etc), westerns, old movies that I am not interested in, reruns of shows I may have been interested in but I have already seen, or cartoons. I would have liked to have the cartoons in the afternoon when I was younger, but I guess them's the breaks.
So, this afternoon as I was looking for something to relax me as a postponed my homework and other household chores, I flipped through the channels. Nothing I wanted to watch was on, so I did what I normally did. I watched a rerun. On Saturday afternoon there is no point in being picky.
Now it takes a lot more than a Garfield cartoon to get me out of bed on a Saturday morning. I still have a similar problem with Saturday afternoon programming, though. The majority of programming that I can find is sports that I have no interest in watching (college anything, golf, tennis, racing, bowling, etc), westerns, old movies that I am not interested in, reruns of shows I may have been interested in but I have already seen, or cartoons. I would have liked to have the cartoons in the afternoon when I was younger, but I guess them's the breaks.
So, this afternoon as I was looking for something to relax me as a postponed my homework and other household chores, I flipped through the channels. Nothing I wanted to watch was on, so I did what I normally did. I watched a rerun. On Saturday afternoon there is no point in being picky.
Monday, August 28, 2006
the lovable loser
I don't really enjoy most perfect characters. I am sure there are exceptions, but I typically am happier reading or watching a story about someone who does not really have it going on. Those characters are more genuine and funny than the perfect characters, and as a bonus they don't tend to fall into the fantasy category that I dissed a few months ago.
The best lovable losers are the ones who have problems with the opposite sex. I appreciate the male ones the most, so I have an appreciation for Arthur Dent (Hitchhiker's Guide), as well as Dilbert and Jon Arbuckle. The characters serve as a perfect reminder that a majority of us really don't have any clue what the other sex is thinking or feeling. The lovable losers just do a worse job of hiding it than most of the rest of us. That's what is so lovable about them.
The problem that I have with these characters is that the authors cannot leave well enough alone. In the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide Arthur ends up with a girl he should have never ended up with. Dilbert has been in and out of relationships. Now even Jon Arbuckle, the guy who couldn't get a date with a female baboon unless her date to the prom stood her up, and even then only if he wore a paper bag over his head, is in a serious relationship with Liz, the veterinarian who all too recently couldn't stand him. Sure, she is dealing with amnesia, but still...
I don't know why things have turned around for Jon, but I have three theories.
The best lovable losers are the ones who have problems with the opposite sex. I appreciate the male ones the most, so I have an appreciation for Arthur Dent (Hitchhiker's Guide), as well as Dilbert and Jon Arbuckle. The characters serve as a perfect reminder that a majority of us really don't have any clue what the other sex is thinking or feeling. The lovable losers just do a worse job of hiding it than most of the rest of us. That's what is so lovable about them.
The problem that I have with these characters is that the authors cannot leave well enough alone. In the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide Arthur ends up with a girl he should have never ended up with. Dilbert has been in and out of relationships. Now even Jon Arbuckle, the guy who couldn't get a date with a female baboon unless her date to the prom stood her up, and even then only if he wore a paper bag over his head, is in a serious relationship with Liz, the veterinarian who all too recently couldn't stand him. Sure, she is dealing with amnesia, but still...
I don't know why things have turned around for Jon, but I have three theories.
- Jim Davis needed to make the comic strip align better with the movies.
- Jim Davis had run out of "single Jon" material, so he decided to try his hand at "relationship Jon."
- Jim Davis wanted to get some free publicity like what Cathy Guisewite got when her main character (who had been a female lovable loser) tied the knot.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
the mad literalist
In a FoxTrot comic strip a while back Jason Fox referred to himself as the mad literalist. Since I am often very literal in my humor, I have gotten in the habit of calling myself a mad literalist. In the past I had noticed that people who laugh at literalisms tend to be logical thinkers. Because of this I have been pretty comfortable with this part of my personality.
This weekend Golden and I watched The Ringer with Johnny Knoxville. It is not the most brainy movie out there, but it was entertaining. The idea is that the main character is put in a position where he has no choice but to act like he is a highly functioning, developmentally disabled person to win the pentathalon in the Special Olympics. When I first heard about the movie I thought it would be in poor taste. It may have been, but it was created with the assistance and under the endorsement of the Special Olympics, so it was actually a rather positive movie.
In one scene, though, the main character is made the fool when he asks if he can have the ketchup. "Yes, you can," replies one of the special olympians and everyone at the table laughs as the ketchup is not passed. This got me to thinking. That is a line I have used. I guess literalistic humor is also appreciated by special olympians. It must be a right brain, left brain thing.
This weekend Golden and I watched The Ringer with Johnny Knoxville. It is not the most brainy movie out there, but it was entertaining. The idea is that the main character is put in a position where he has no choice but to act like he is a highly functioning, developmentally disabled person to win the pentathalon in the Special Olympics. When I first heard about the movie I thought it would be in poor taste. It may have been, but it was created with the assistance and under the endorsement of the Special Olympics, so it was actually a rather positive movie.
In one scene, though, the main character is made the fool when he asks if he can have the ketchup. "Yes, you can," replies one of the special olympians and everyone at the table laughs as the ketchup is not passed. This got me to thinking. That is a line I have used. I guess literalistic humor is also appreciated by special olympians. It must be a right brain, left brain thing.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
it's a gift
- Random Bargain Bin CD: $3.00
- Musical socks: $9.99
- Chia pet: $15.99
- Embroidered sweater: $34.49
- Gourmet snack basket: $57.95
- The look on their faces when they open your gift and see that you don't have a clue what they really wanted: Priceless
It seems that a lot of things that people would never spend the money on for themselves are popular purchases come this time of year. Why would a person buy themed boxers if it weren't an act of desperation? There should be a better way of going about this.
The people who have to buy for me must be especially frustrated. Each year I put the same things on my wish list: Some C.S. Lewis book I don't yet have, any book of comics (Dilbert, Far Side, etc) I don't yet have, and any XBox game I don't yet have. I don't know how to make a better list. I don't really look around at what I might want to have at other times of the year because I don't like to be tempted to spend money. When this time of year comes around, I don't know what I want to put on a list.
Golden completed the last of the family gift buying yesterday, so I am happy we won't have to resort to buying musical socks this year. If we forgot anyone, I hope that person likes chia pets.
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