vendredi, juin 27, 2008

Why doesn't he get it?

Well, it turns out that perhaps he only "gets" information that accords with his own particular worldview.

As the authors point out in the article (see link), we reprocess information so many times that we can't always remember where we heard it.

Then we store it in our long-term memory-and it starts to seem like a fact. Whether it is, or not.

I find very few people who actually have the ability to look at an issue from both sides with any real objectivity. Or what seems like objectivity. It might be possible for us to train our brains to see the opposite point of view.

The incentive to do so would have to be really powerful.

As I've mentioned before, it is almost impossible to write an article without reflecting some bias. "Look at the kicker quote" said one of the journalist friends. That will tell you what the writer really thinks.

mardi, juin 24, 2008

No there there

I find it difficult to believe he actually said it.

Even if that what he really thinks, it was an unbelievably assisine remark to make to a reporter.

Charlie Black, one of John McCain's advisors, told a writer for Fortune that a terrorist attack would be good for the Republican running for the top office in the land this fall. Maybe this guy has missed seven years in which we couldn't capture Osama Bin-Laden in Pakistan and created a whole new group of terrorists in Iraq.

I guess Black was just being honest. And if it would be a good thing for the Republicans, what does that say about the party that has "led" us for the past seven years?

Of course, McCain disowned the comment. But it does demonstrate how scared the Republicans are-what ideas does they have to run on, if not those of fear?

lundi, juin 23, 2008

All you really need....

As I said in my comment on the last post, I'm not the type of woman to kiss and tell. In other words, I try to avoid most specifics. I admit that I am a bit of a sucker for larger than life characters, though-or guys who are quirky enough to make good column fodder.

I'm a bit of a journalistic jade, I suppose. I think most of us who spin words find material in our relationships to one extent or another.

The failure of my latest attempt to bridge the female-male gap saddens me.

I've been reflecting on how we keep looking for what we think we need. We make our lists, we embrace our prejudices, we put up the walls so that someone who doesn't satisfy our dream of the ideal man (or woman) won't sneak under our guard.

And yet we toss away, or mistreat, something unexpectedly good-because it doesn't conform to our idea of what we ought to have.

Sometimes kindness, and laughter, and kisses, should be enough.

I don't know if he would understand what I was talking about. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to explain it. I just know it didn't feel good knowing that he had already crossed the moat-and walled off the bridge.