Glenn Beck's Question And My Answer

[Josh Cryer]

MSimon,

Generally. Education is wasted on most people and not necessary for others.

Exhibits your mindset there, fully.

I would quote Eben Moglen here:

Until now, the most important reality and fundamental injustice in every human society was their wastage of human brains. The answer to “How many of the Einsteins who ever existed were permitted to learn physics?” is “almost none.”

Your job as a government employee is to say "Thank you sir" and "Yes Ma'am" and give a sincere smile when you do.

Indeed. But as a respectable individual, I say "thank you sir," and "yes ma'am" to people on the street. Really, the internet does not exhibit who I am. I heard you talking on the Space Show, your responses were very similar to your writing style. I'm not that way in real life. I keep my opinions to myself and am non-combative in general.

And why do you think the Tea Party folks are happy with THAT name? You might want to look up Boston Tea Party for a clue.

Yes, they're traitors, some of them are even secessionists.

Or think of why the US Military gets the highest rating of any similar group in America (compare them to politicians say).

Because most people don't actually have to work with the military on a daily basis. That's my job as a subcontractor with the military (ie, tax payers pay my paycheck).

BTW I was once part of the servant class. It is an honorable occupation if done in the correct spirit.

It is not when those around you have opinions diametrically opposed to your own, and you have to hear daily about homosexuals committing sodomy (though in much more colorful language which I won't use here), about young ladies making health care choices (whores having abortions), about our African American president being unsuitable for office (again, language I don't think the censor filter would even allow).

God forbid I even mention what I think about the science of global warming or evolution. I'd lose my job in a heart beat.

If you are insulted by the Tea Party folks you aren't doing your job right.

I am insulted by the "Tea Party folks" because they're ignorant, hateful, evil people. Period. When I grew up I was taught to keep politics out of work, and to be good to others. As I have aged I have found that this mindset is an exception, not a rule.

[MSimon]

Yes, they're traitors, some of them are even secessionists.

Which gives you some significant customer feedback. Wise to heed it.

BTW there are probably not any budding Einsteins in America who go without an education.

I got mine from libraries and free magazines. With the internet the odds of an Einstein not getting educated are probably zero.

In America talent is scouted. People are always on the look out for smart kids.

BTW my mate teaches a class of very slow kids. We talk about it all the time. Her take is that for whatever reason the kids are not motivated. Teaching the unmotivated is useless. She has one kid who is excellent in video games but refuses to learn math. We discuss what could be done (ideally and within the limits of the system) all the time.

One of the worst things in our school system is the fact that vocational education is cut and college prep is now for all. Here is the problem with that:

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.” — John W. Gardner, Saturday Evening Post, December 1, 1962

And we know about the shoddiness in Climate Science.

Hide The Decline

[MSimon]

I am insulted by the "Tea Party folks" because they're ignorant, hateful, evil people. Period. When I grew up I was taught to keep politics out of work, and to be good to others. As I have aged I have found that this mindset is an exception, not a rule.

A good rule. Perhaps the Tea Party folk are annoyed because the government now intrudes in every facet of life.

Smaller less intrusive government is my answer. Which Is why I'm a Tea Party person.

Governments do not usually pay attention to popular discontent at their peril.

I mean really. Light bulbs? Toilets? Motor efficiency? And that is just at the Federal level. California is insane. Fortunately people can go to other states. A million a year are leaving California. When the insanity goes nation wide?

And traitors ind secessionists? How about the State of Kentucky:

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/200 ... amendment/

Or Tennessee:

http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2009/0 ... asses.html

Or Wyoming:

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/200 ... esolution/

You are not paying attention Josh. It is not just a radical fringe.

[seedload]

It is not when those around you have opinions diametrically opposed to your own, and you have to hear daily about homosexuals committing sodomy (though in much more colorful language which I won't use here), about young ladies making health care choices (whores having abortions), about our African American president being unsuitable for office (again, language I don't think the censor filter would even allow).

If this is really daily and continuous like you say, then you have a serious problem where you work. I don't know your personal circumstance, but that is some really messed up stuff. I can say that I have worked in a lot of different environments and never have I seen anything like you are describing. Since I don't know you, or your circumstance, I can't really comment on what you should do.

Me, I would tell the people to stop talking this way around me, then I would report it if they don't, then I would quit. Work is work, rasism, sexism, and homophobia should not be tolerated in the work place.

But, this is easy for me to say since I am able to get another job without much effort.

Good Luck, seriously. What you are talking about is wrong.

I am insulted by the "Tea Party folks" because they're ignorant, hateful, evil people. Period.

Period? I am not ignorant, hateful or evil. I believe in the Constitution and the principles it was founded under. That is what the tea party movement means to me.

If you want to call me evil, that is your right, a natural right recognized by the Constitution and codified in Bill of Rights. If I want to protest the government illegally taking my money, that is my right, granted to me as a citizen of the United States and equally protected by the Constitution.

When I grew up I was taught to keep politics out of work, and to be good to others. As I have aged I have found that this mindset is an exception, not a rule.

I agree with the philosophy. I learned early not to talk politics, religion, or basically anything potentially controversial at work. For the most part, I try to stick to this.

As for being good to others, I have always tried to do this. But, I am running out of patience and resources to continue to be as good to people as I used to be. My personal circumstances make this harder for me than it used to be. My government is making it even harder. And everyday, on the TV, in the network news, and from mouths of people like you, I hear how I am an 'evil' person. People like Joe Biden call me unpatriotic because I don't want to give more than I have left to give. I am running dry. I feel tired. I feel beaten down. I don't feel represented.

I don't believe what I am being sold any more. I know that Brawndo doesn't have what plants crave.

I really think you are underestimating how many of the tea party people are like me and not like the people you describe.

I really do wish you good luck and I hope your work situation improves. It really is intolerable.

[MSimon]

It is not when those around you have opinions diametrically opposed to your own, and you have to hear daily about homosexuals committing sodomy (though in much more colorful language which I won't use here), about young ladies making health care choices (whores having abortions), about our African American president being unsuitable for office (again, language I don't think the censor filter would even allow).

Dude. You going all in on that Tea Bagger stuff gives you hardly a leg to stand on.

Or did you learn that at work?

[Josh Cryer]

Dude. You going all in on that Tea Bagger stuff gives you hardly a leg to stand on.

Uh huh, I have never once insulted them or their kind in person. It would go against my upbringing.

As far as the rest of the stuff you guys have said, I am a libertarian (original kind, etc), you aren't going to get me "supporting" the government.

One last thing, seedload, you are of course right, but I come off as a very good listener, someone who isn't bothered, either visibly or audibly, by anything, so people just rant around me. It happens everywhere.

I used to work on software for embedded devices, this was in CA, very liberal place, and I had guys who would make similar trash talk about "rednecks." This annoyed me, likewise, because I have a very thick Virginian / Georgian mixture of an accent.

But nothing compared to the stuff that has come out of this increasingly polarized political environment. Stand under the sun all day moving concrete and doing construction, you'll hear all sorts of lovely commentary. And being politically correct in such an environment is bound to cause you more headache than just listening and nodding along, as if you haven't a care in the world.

[Skipjack]

Generally. Education is wasted on most people and not necessary for others

Yeah, who cares about the goims. They dont need to be educated, hu?
Honestly, with people like you, I cant see how the US would ever recover from this economic downturn. With 10% educated and the rest idiots, you wont be able to do shit.

[BenTC]

what part of the huge bundle of bad ideas that represents Progressivism did open source spawn from. as far as I know it was a bunch of coders and software types who came up with open source as a more or less collaborative technique between geeks in basements and garages.

It doesn't really matter that open source may have begun with geeks in basements and garages. It is now a powerhouse of the software industry. The poster child of open-source is the Linux operating system. IBM investing a billion dollars on Linux is really nothing to sneeze at. If you look at current contributors to Linux under the "Who paid them" heading, you can see the majority of code comes from fully paid employed positions. confirms Its no longer garage stuff. Do you wonder why capitalist coporations would give their code away for free?

It is because there is a much larger market selling widget customisation services versus selling widgets. An interesting statistic is that only about 20% of the programming done in the world is for proprietry software [disclaimer, I've trawled up from memory - no references]. The false perspective most people get is that as PC consumers, all they've seen is Microsoft and the proprietry ecosystem. However if the widgets are sold for free, but need to be maintained, and you are the expert - then that is a great business model.

Open source is not a new phenonemon. From its very inception, computer programming was originally open source. Both universities and industry formed a combined programming community where code was shared. It was a way of making sure different parts of the system could interact properly and also a way of shared learning and progressing the field. It was only when software begun to be locked up that the terms proprietry versus open source arose. The typical catch phrase is that "open source projects start from someone scratching their own itch." Often other people have the same itch. Having sunk the cost from making a program for your own needs, the incremental cost of letting other people use it is nil - particularly when others extend the software with useful features you didn't think of. Releasing your code for other people to extend allows you to benefit from them, after they have benefited from you. Conversely, if you are not marketing the software, there is no benefit to locking up the code - and the effort to market software can be enormous. Releasing the code has some very significant benefits are:

• * You draw passionate and talented people to work on the project - its a self-selecting filter
  * You don't burn money upfront on marketing - its done for free by word of mouth

If the software then becomes wildly successful, there are then several ways to make money from it.

[Jccarlton]

I am insulted by the "Tea Party folks" because they're ignorant, hateful, evil people. Period. When I grew up I was taught to keep politics out of work, and to be good to others. As I have aged I have found that this mindset is an exception, not a rule.

Then I take you have never been to a Tea Party. I have, and here's what I saw:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38193998@N ... 179759852/
That guy in the leather jacket, that's Art. I work with him. He came Over from Poland. If you want to hear colorful language about The One, talk to Art. He'll use words like socialist and criminal. But then he grew up in Communist, Soviet controlled, Poland. So what does he know? He's ignorant, hateful and evil, wanting liberty and to keep his property. Or maybe he just appreciates what we have and thinks it's important that we don't let people like Obama, Pelosi and Reid wreck it.

[KitemanSA]

Generally. Education is wasted on most people and not necessary for others

Yeah, who cares about the goims. They dont need to be educated, hu?

I am not sure you read his intent correctly. I don't see anything that implies he believes education should be withheld from anyone, do you? But let us face it, most public high school students would be better off if those who didn't want to be there, weren't there.

The American school system has a number of weeping sores. One is that most kids have no comparison between hard work and school work until it is too late. It used to be that kids got out of school during summer to work the farm (or the factory in cities). Now they get out to play; as playing is really their only option (they are not allowed to work).

If kids were actually required to work during the summer, I suspect they would be glad to be in school, and apply themselves more.

[TDPerk]

"As far as the rest of the stuff you guys have said, I am a libertarian (original kind, etc), you aren't going to get me "supporting" the government."

If you object to the notion Obama is unfit to govern...and it was knowable and to many--known--that he was unfit to govern long before his election...then you are no sort of libertarian at all. Obama is the worst President since FDR for being an federal absolutist, a statist, and well in the running for being in the top three all time worst Presidents.

"Yes, they're traitors, some of them are even secessionists."

People like Josh aren't going to get it until "flyover country" becomes "can't flyover country".

Because of the anti-aircraft.

Secession is not treason if it is done per Article V, and the states insisting the 9th and 10th amendments are in the Constitution--even to the point of arresting federal officers and using force to do it...that cannot be treason, in and of itself.

Because they are in there.

[Josh Cryer]

KitemanSA, the American school system has classrooms of 40 kids or more, who need to be put on Ritalin or other ADD drugs because of the absolute boring nature of their classroom. It is woefully underfunded. I think the internet is making things better, though, so that children have access to information that they would not have had 50 years ago.

Also, seeing kids get up at 6AM when it's 5 degrees out to go to school is more reminiscent of work than you can understand. It is, by all accounts, the worst way to learn. I support Garret Lisi-style schooling (it can apply to the lower class levels, mind you), where it is basically a community affair and everyone gets together to learn, parents included. But unfortunately our work-obsessed society doesn't allow for such a free-flowing learning experience.


TDPerk, I'm pretty sure I wasn't objecting only to the notion that Obama was unfit to govern, but the language used in the parentheses is not something I'd want to retype here. I don't think anyone is "fit to govern." I am certain most of you guys would never use the language I hear on a daily (workday) basis.

Secession is not treason if it is done per Article V

I was mostly making a jab, since "secessionists" tend to wave around the American flag (and sometimes the confederate flag) and like to claim that they're patroits while secretly wishing to become seperate from America.

[TDPerk]

"KitemanSA, the American school system has classrooms of 40 kids or more,"

False. When you repeat--or invent--falsehoods like that you really trash your credibility and make it impossible to take you seriously. The average class size in the country is about half that.

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass_2008_08.asp

"who need to be put on Ritalin or other ADD drugs because of the absolute boring nature of their classroom"

They don't need to be put on Ritalin, they need to be permitted to engage in gender and age appropriate behavior. For boys that mean a lot of hooting, hollering, and running around when they are in single digit ages, certainly younger ones.

"It is woefully underfunded."

For what we get out of it, it's drastically over-funded.

"I think the internet is making things better, though, so that children have access to information that they would not have had 50 years ago."

And the nation continues it's rightward drift. That's no coincidence. The more informed you are, the more likely you are to know in your bones that the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

"Also, seeing kids get up at 6AM when it's 5 degrees out to go to school is more reminiscent of work than you can understand."

Yeah, no one here has any understanding, or can have. None of us ever walked to school uphill both ways

"It is, by all accounts, the worst way to learn. I support Garret Lisi-style schooling (it can apply to the lower class levels, mind you), where it is basically a community affair and everyone gets together to learn, parents included. But unfortunately our work-obsessed society doesn't allow for such a free-flowing learning experience."

Yeah. Heaven forbid people need to pay bills, or that they get paid.

That vast sucking sound is your credibility being destroyed--by you--as fast as any sense of goodwill on the part of your witnesses can generate it.

"but the language used in the parentheses is not something I'd want to retype here."

Yeah no one's ever heard of people acting crudely towards the people robbing them and their children blind for decades to come.

"I'm pretty sure I wasn't objecting only to the notion that Obama was unfit to govern"

Do you mean to say your ARE objecting to the notion Obama is unfit to govern?

"I am certain most of you guys would never use the language I hear on a daily (workday) basis."

I don't use it and I don't think like what I imagine you're hearing--but for all the damage they do I don't sweat it either. I expect human nature to change not at all, and societies to change glacially. The only rapid changes I'd like to see in government is to revert to what we already know works better than what we are moving towards know.

That means the entirety of the Democrat Party national agenda as it is distinguished from what the Constitution allows needs to go down the tubes, both what they are proposing to do to us know and what they have done to us in the past.

[Jccarlton]

KitemanSA, the American school system has classrooms of 40 kids or more, who need to be put on Ritalin or other ADD drugs because of the absolute boring nature of their classroom. It is woefully underfunded. I think the internet is making things better, though, so that children have access to information that they would not have had 50 years ago.

Also, seeing kids get up at 6AM when it's 5 degrees out to go to school is more reminiscent of work than you can understand. It is, by all accounts, the worst way to learn. I support Garret Lisi-style schooling (it can apply to the lower class levels, mind you), where it is basically a community affair and everyone gets together to learn, parents included. But unfortunately our work-obsessed society doesn't allow for such a free-flowing learning experience.


TDPerk, I'm pretty sure I wasn't objecting only to the notion that Obama was unfit to govern, but the language used in the parentheses is not something I'd want to retype here. I don't think anyone is "fit to govern." I am certain most of you guys would never use the language I hear on a daily (workday) basis.

Secession is not treason if it is done per Article V

I was mostly making a jab, since "secessionists" tend to wave around the American flag (and sometimes the confederate flag) and like to claim that they're patroits while secretly wishing to become seperate from America.

You know, Josh, I'm not buying your tales of abuse and harassment. Now I have worked for small companies, large companies and a government research lab. The sort of thing you describe does happen in a small company with a few people. In a large companies and the government this sort of thing, it has been made very clear to me, is not tolerated. I have sat through the kind of "training" and lectures that make it very clear that screwing around the way your coworkers are will lead to their termination and possibly arrest and legal action. In fact it was made very clear to me when I was working in Jlab that there were people in the gov't just waiting to jump on something like the sort of thing you are talking about. Having a guy lecture us about sexual harassment by telling his war stories and seeing the glee on his face as he told how he ruined people's lives is one of the most chilling things I have ever experienced. If your supervisor hasn't put a lid on the things you are talking about he is an idiot.

[Skipjack]

I am not sure you read his intent correctly.

I sure read his intend correctly, but you might have missread mine.
I said, "Dont need" as in "dont have to". I did not say "must not".
"Dont need to " is very clearly what he means when says:

not necessary for others

most public high school students would be better off if those who didn't want to be there, weren't there.

Probably, but then maybe it would just be better to be tough with certain elements at school and in general life, that disrespect the law...

If kids were actually required to work during the summer, I suspect they would be glad to be in school, and apply themselves more.

Here in Austria it is still common for high school students to work in summer. I did. My parents insisted on it "to solidify my character". It did not hurt me, but it did not make me appreciate school more either
That said, I do not disagree with you here. The biggest problem is that those kids that suck and missbehave at school dont really work in summer either. Unless you count selling drugs and being in a gang as work.

If you want to hear colorful language about The One, talk to Art.

The polish are famous for their foul mouth about everyone anywhere. They are also famous for wanting everything for themselves and taking things that dont belong to them... pretty frequently.