The 'In' Crowd

Those of you who know me and those not new to reading "Just Blowing Smoke" have heard me talk about the fact that for many years, I basically lived out of a suitcase.  This is not because I was homeless (though it sometimes seemed that way), but because my job simply required it of me.  I've traveled to almost all of those in the Continental United States (though somehow my travels fall well short of the 57 States that the President visited during his first campaign).  I have also been to most of the Provinces in Canada (Beauty eh...), Mexico, a couple of interesting spots in South America, a few of the Scandinavian countries, and of course the ancestral home of the Higgins (O'hUig'in) clan in Ireland.

While having been in a number of places over the years however, I've never exactly been in what you would call the 'In Crowd'.  I fear that my own shyness and social awkwardness, coupled with an discomfort with crowds that's been increasing over the years, would appear to leave me little or no opportunity to gain entrance to such a social stratification.  There are other places that I've never been in (and some that I have), that I thought might be worth sharing however. 

I've never been in Cahoots for example. Apparently, it's someplace you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone else and traveling companions are in short supply these days.  I've likewise seen in Justice, but can't say that I've actually been there.  From what I'm given to understand, it's everything that it's cracked up to be (unfortunately), which hardly make it worth any effort to get there.

I've also never really been in Cognito, though I've tried often enough. I hear no one recognizes you there, which at times sounds like an immense blessing; though I suppose it could get annoying when none of the bartenders know what to serve you for a refill.   

Early in my life, I was often in Experienced, though after a while its simple charms paled for me. Sometimes now I'm in Effective, and I seem to journey there more often since I changed careers (and have gotten older, of course).  I have even been told that I have occasionally managed to be in Ept if not crossing over the border to find myself in Competent; but normally look around and find myself merely in Capable, (though only temporarily) and therefore choose not to believe in crossing borders that I never noticed.  I have even been told a few rare occasions that I was in Valuable; but know this not to be the case, as everyone knows that when you're in Valuable, that you get a job that's personally fulfilling and pays you a lot of money besides. 

I have also been given to understand that I have from time to time been in Sane, something that I find far more easily believable. While never having admitted to it, I can tell you that I know that it doesn't have an airport; and that you have to be driven there. It's easy enough to believe that I've made any number of trips there however, thanks to family, friends, former bosses, and a never-ending stream of politicians who seem to take a particular delight in transporting me and other ordinary people there. 

I have also been in Doubt on a number of occasions. It's a sad place to go and often difficult to leave once you discover you're there, so I try not to visit there any more than I have to.  I'm careful about being sad, having heard that it can leave you In Consolable; a destination that does not appear on my travel agenda, now or in the future.

I grudgingly admit, to having been in Flexible from time to time; but only when it seemed very important to me to stand firmly in place (often for reasons I barely understood).  I would like some day to go to Conclusions, and while everyone tells me that it's a pretty easy place to get to (you just jump), my early training in logic and reason seem to keep me from the journey.  Besides, my interest in any form of such strenuous physical activity these days is not what it once was.

One of the exciting places that I usually find myself is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get, as coffee simply isn't getting the job done any more.  Fortunately for me, the same bosses, jobs, and politicians seem to have no trouble getting me there as often as I would like. (OK, more than I really care for.) 

I have been told that as I continue to age, it's likely that I will someday be in Continent.  I've been unable to find it on a map, and can only assume that it's someplace like Florida that involves blue hair, white shoes, and retirement. While I understand that it's just an age thing, if it's OK with everyone, I will hold off (pun intended) on this journey for as long as I can.

In spite of all the places that I've been however, I still find myself feeling like I'm in Complete (perhaps much like this list); though I suppose that this only proves that with life, it's the journey and not the destination that counts. I often wonder with all the places I've been and all I still want to get to, if I shouldn't be renewing my Passport to have enough room for all the border-crossing stamps.  It wouldn't do to run out of spaces or let the damn thing unknowingly expire, which would leave me in Eligible instead of where I'm trying to get to.

It's been a while since I really traveled, and perhaps a little time on the road would broaden my horizons and help me to feel that I'm not spending far too these days on the border of in Adequate.  On the other hand, there's little doubt that no matter where I journey to or eventually find myself, it won't really matter.  Try as I might, I fear I will in the end remain outside of the 'In' Crowd .

In the spirit of full disclosure (or blame), I must give full credit for the subject of this post to an email sent to me by my sister, Kathy Richardson.  While I did not plagiarize it directly, I did manage to creatively pilfer a couple of the terms, as well as the general concept.   Quite frankly, the material so struck me that I couldn't help but use it as the basis for expansion and further twisting.  

Besides, my Irish Twin is about to experience that dreaded time of the year more commonly known as a Birthday, which will place her for a month and a half at the same level of decrepitude as this humble scribbler.  Oh sure, getting the Senior discount at the local grocery store takes away some part of the sting, but after calling me 'old' for the last 10-1/2 months, she now finds herself stuck with the very number she so insulted me with.  Perhaps pointing this out to the few twisted souls who read this efforts will in some way recompense her for the abuse I have suffered, and for bringing this material to me.

Blenglish

I was spending the last couple of nights reading blog postings and comments while traveling. (Actually I spend far too much time doing that most nights, and some of them are actually on this blog.) While comments on "Just Blowing Smoke" seem to run to smaller strings and therefore fairly normal grammar and sentence structure, the same cannot be said for many of the other sites that I normally visit. 

As I have commented before here, there seems to be a direct relationship between the length of the comment string and the likelihood that those commenting will stray beyond the confines of the King's English, that capitalization will crop up in the most unlikely of places, and that a string of mostly personal vitriol will begin to pour forth anonymously. 

Some of this is simple texting abbreviation like: IMHO (In My Humble Opinion), or my personal favorite ROTFLMAO (Rolling On The Floor, Laughing My Ass Off). Others are actually quite clever attempts to make a point through sarcastic misspelling (Mi Amigo at the "Hooda Thunkit Therapy Blog", as you could probably guess from the title, is a master of this.) Some are simply so interested in pouring forth an almost obscene level of acrimony that they forget to check spelling, grammar, or common sense and common decency. 

There are those however, that have taken this process to an almost incomprehensible level. In their honor, I too am going to take advantage of the my own limited creative abilities and use them to coin a new word: "Blenglish". Of course, this word is a combination of "Blog" (already slang for the original term web log) and the language that it occasionally makes fleeting contact with, English. It includes both the clever and not so clever screen names that anyone with access to a computer keyboard can and seems to revel in hiding behind, all of the texting abbreviations that I have to have my children explain to me, and the random form of capitalization and punctuation that becomes a greater part showing emotion and emphasis while blogging. 

It is neither a positive nor negative descriptive term, but instead is merely one that attempts to label (as we human beings do far too often) a form of behavior and a method of communication becoming more and more a part of our world. So I want you to remember this day well. Years from now when "Blenglish" is finally entered into the Merriam Webster dictionary to formally become a part of the vernacular, you can say that you were there when the word was first conceived of. 
 
... have a great weekend

I'm A Liberal

I am a liberal, and what's more, I'm in pretty good company. No I am not on medication, drinking the Kool Aid, nor has the world flipped on its axis. Neither have I been invited to the Kennedy compound for a global warming summit with Al Gore or an economic summit with Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, and Barney Frank. What has in fact happened is that I have decided that words after all, do mean things. 

You see Liberalism (or more accurately defined these days, Classical Liberalism), had it's birth in the Age of Enlightenment and is a philosophy that stresses individual liberty and a limited government. Taken in great part from the works of such writers John Locke, David Hume, and Voltaire it exhorts the concepts of equality of opportunity (not outcome as today's Liberals would like to believe), property rights, and equal rights under the law. 

It's no surprise therefore that I say that I'm in pretty good company when say that I am such a Liberal. Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Adams, James Madison, and the rest of the Founding Fathers were all such Liberals in their time. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are in fact based on such thinking. 

In turn, it was the Conservatives of the time who believed in a strong central government, sought government control of prices and wages, and were against the very concept of independence and the American Revolution. So what happened? How did what the Founding Fathers believed become the liberalism that we see today? 

The answer, once again is that words mean things. While Classical Liberalism believed in those principles previously outlined, there is another kind of Liberalism, Social Liberalism. Social Liberalism believes in heavier taxation and more government control of the economy. European Social Liberals of today in fact shows more of a tendency towards Socialism or even Communism than the more pure form of the philosophy. As language often does, the original meaning of words becomes gradually changed over time (some would say even perverted). Those with the loudest or most strident voices eventually decide what words will mean (much as the winners of a war write the history). 

In the 19th and early 20th century, and especially during the Depression this led to a change in liberalism; especially in how it related to economic theory. It is here that the theories of John Maynard Keynes took root, in what classical liberals would say was a misguided attempt to get the government more involved with the economy to redress what Keynes felt was an inequality of wealth. It was this philosophy, taking hold in the policies of FDR's New Deal, that formed the basis of today's liberal thinking. Over time, those in power simply took over the meaning of the language, leaving the term Conservative for those seeking to maintain at least the status quo, and who rejected the type of change that these new Liberals were making.  

Time and History march on, and labels stick; but I take the position (as I said in the beginning of this posting) that words can and must have meaning. I believe that true liberal thinking (Classical Liberal thinking) is still of value in today's society. As I consequence, I proudly proclaim that I am indeed a Liberal. 

The Value of Democracy

This being an election year, we are confronted once again by candidates for office standing before a microphone and talking about Values; or more specifically, either "Family Values" or "American Values". No one seems to want to define exactly what these values are or why we should want them to have them, but they want to make sure that you understand that they believe in them. 

Now you may think that such discussions and debates have been going on forever in politics, but this is actually a fairly recent development. Historian Gertrude Himmelfarb (yes, that's her real name) tells us that it began in 1983 in England when Margaret Thatcher embraced the accusation that she favored Victorian Values. She of course won that election, and doomed the rest of history through her success. The doom that Prime Minister condemned us to was visited upon us by conceding the use of the word Value in the discussion, when in fact what she favored was Victorian Virtues. Words do mean things after all, and Value does not have the correct meaning in this regard. In fact, the closest that the dictionary comes is: ... something (as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable Virtue on the other hand, means something entirely different:

... a commendable quality or trait
... a particular moral excellence  

A Value, while something that may be even considered desirable, is something that has no judgment attached to it for the individual or for society. In fact, anything can be a value regardless of where it fits on the moral compass. For example, Greed, Avarice, and Selfishness can be said to be values, but I think we can agree that none of these traits are something to be aspired to. 

Both Thomas Jefferson and Stalin had a set of values, but I suspect that few would judge the values of these two men to be of equal worth. A Virtue, on the other hand, is something that should be weighed by the judgment of the individual and of society. Traits like Self-sufficiency, Charity, and Self-sacrifice are things that we can all agree are not only values, but worthy aspirations. They are the inspirations upon which the United States was founded, the qualities that we admire greatly in our Founding Fathers, and the traits that we celebrate in great leaders and individuals down through history. 

We have likewise taken some of the meaning out of another word that is key in this discussion, Democracy. We have taken any moral or ethical judgment out of this word when using it as an adjective (especially in defining the afore mentioned Values). In our haste to remain what we choose to call democratic in our judgments of Values we have allowed ourselves to establish a moral relativity on the subject, where every Value is equal in the eyes of society. In this egalitarian paradise, we have not only eliminated Evil from our frame of reference; but any notion of Good as well. In an act of almost national cowardice, we have allowed a moral equivalency to prevent us from calling anything Right or Wrong, Good or Bad, Virtuous or Evil. If all Values are viewed as equal in the eyes of this democratic society, then there can in fact be no Good and Evil. 

It's time to re-establish the concept of Virtues vs Values in the political discussion and in America as a whole. It's time that we make some kind of a judgment on the range of values and decide what it is that we believe in, and what inspires us. We also need our candidates to step away from the concept of non-judgmental Values of recent history and tell us what Virtues that they aspire to for themselves, and for the country. 

Now they say that in writing, brevity is a virtue (It is also the sole of wit and the essence of lingerie), so I should probably wind this up. The next time you hear a candidate talk about "Family Values" or "American Values" however, I would challenge you to substitute Virtues in its place. Then listen to the rest of what that candidate says and judge for yourself whether the principles they are talking about are something that the country should aspire to. Ask yourself carefully whether these Values are indeed Virtues.