ozarque (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ozarque) wrote,@ 2007-12-21 08:27:00 |
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Politics; unexpected fascination; afternote....
This is one of those days when I am so swamped with work that I don't even know where to begin; I've got a stack of clerical and accounts stuff to slog through, I have a stack of correspondence to tend to that can't be done by e-mail, I have an Annual Meeting [and its minutes] this afternoon, I have a long list of Christmas preparation tasks that can't be put off any longer [including really serious dusting and polishing]... It's hectic at my house today. I got up this morning, therefore, thinking that I'd use my scheduled LiveJournal time to respond to as many of your comments for the "Politics; unexpected fascination" post as I could.
But as I read through the thread again I realized that in almost every case a response would be superfluous. Your comments have either been separate discussions of your own, with no need for me to add anything, or they've been interesting and careful answers to my questions that can be summed up like this:
Q:"Am I the only one who finds this presidential primary campaign surreal?"
A: "No -- you have company."
Q: "Is my perception that the whole thing is bizarre -- and bizarrely fascinating -- just a sign of an aging mind?"
A: "No -- it really is bizarre, and bizarrely fascinating."
I think -- with one exception -- that the appropriate thing for me to do is to thank you sincerely for all those comments, and for sharing your opinions and perceptions and memories with me, and then get started on all that offline work I have to do. The one exception is:
1950democrat commented:
"You've talked about giving advice ... I would like to see some advice about how to give advice to a generation that didn't see what happened to McGovern in 1972, and even some who don't seem to know what the Clintons did in the 90s. I know you've spoken against giving unsolicited advice, but in the Iowa primary debates I don't know how to talk without either being in advice mode or making fun of the younger generation, seeing them as clueless."
I'm sorry; I really do believe that giving advice to representatives of the younger generations is a waste of time and energy unless they have come to you voluntarily and said something along the lines of "Have you ever seen a mess like this before?" and "Do you have any advice on how to deal with a mess like this?" If youngsters are asking you that sort of question, I congratulate you, and I encourage you to seize the opportunity, keeping in mind the younger generations' strong preference for answers that are brief, concise, and to the point.
If a younger person is literally on fire, I think it's appropriate to say "You might want to lie down and roll yourself up in the rug to put that fire out," and chances are good that saying that will turn out to have been a useful thing to do -- but that, in my experience, is where it ends.
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Nonfiction online: "How Verbal Self-Defense Works" at http://people.howstuffworks.com/vsd.h
This is one of those days when I am so swamped with work that I don't even know where to begin; I've got a stack of clerical and accounts stuff to slog through, I have a stack of correspondence to tend to that can't be done by e-mail, I have an Annual Meeting [and its minutes] this afternoon, I have a long list of Christmas preparation tasks that can't be put off any longer [including really serious dusting and polishing]... It's hectic at my house today. I got up this morning, therefore, thinking that I'd use my scheduled LiveJournal time to respond to as many of your comments for the "Politics; unexpected fascination" post as I could.
But as I read through the thread again I realized that in almost every case a response would be superfluous. Your comments have either been separate discussions of your own, with no need for me to add anything, or they've been interesting and careful answers to my questions that can be summed up like this:
Q:"Am I the only one who finds this presidential primary campaign surreal?"
A: "No -- you have company."
Q: "Is my perception that the whole thing is bizarre -- and bizarrely fascinating -- just a sign of an aging mind?"
A: "No -- it really is bizarre, and bizarrely fascinating."
I think -- with one exception -- that the appropriate thing for me to do is to thank you sincerely for all those comments, and for sharing your opinions and perceptions and memories with me, and then get started on all that offline work I have to do. The one exception is:
1950democrat commented:"You've talked about giving advice ... I would like to see some advice about how to give advice to a generation that didn't see what happened to McGovern in 1972, and even some who don't seem to know what the Clintons did in the 90s. I know you've spoken against giving unsolicited advice, but in the Iowa primary debates I don't know how to talk without either being in advice mode or making fun of the younger generation, seeing them as clueless."
I'm sorry; I really do believe that giving advice to representatives of the younger generations is a waste of time and energy unless they have come to you voluntarily and said something along the lines of "Have you ever seen a mess like this before?" and "Do you have any advice on how to deal with a mess like this?" If youngsters are asking you that sort of question, I congratulate you, and I encourage you to seize the opportunity, keeping in mind the younger generations' strong preference for answers that are brief, concise, and to the point.
If a younger person is literally on fire, I think it's appropriate to say "You might want to lie down and roll yourself up in the rug to put that fire out," and chances are good that saying that will turn out to have been a useful thing to do -- but that, in my experience, is where it ends.
==================
Nonfiction online: "How Verbal Self-Defense Works" at http://people.howstuffworks.com/vsd.h
