Over the cliff: How Obama's election drove the American right insane
By John Amato and David Neiwert
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II
When I picked up this book I had no intention of reviewing it; however, once I read it, I changed my mind for one reason: being a follower of politics, I think Amato and Neiwert (two outstanding writers) have accurately chronicled the politics of this moment (May, 2011).
Of course it’s true that both writers are biased. Look at the title! And, too, both writers write from a liberal-progressive slant. Amato has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Forbes. Neiwert has been featured in the Washington Post, Alon, Seattle Magazine, and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report. Also, Neiwert does online reportage for MSNBC. What would you expect from these writers?
If you follow politics closely, and if you listen to MSNBC on a regular basis, some (not most!) of the information in this book will not be new. There are many insights and ideas that are new since both writers have access to information not readily available to political junkies and their search ranged widely as they sought to provide information for this book. It is clearly well-researched! Also, both writers closely follow (just to write a book like this!) the rantings, ravings, and lunatic assertions and assumptions of the American right. Personally, I wouldn’t waste my time. Just the mention of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Ann Coulter, Patrick Buchanan, Michael Savage, Newt Gingrich, or Charles Krauthammer (among others) is enough to turn my stomach. Although I have the same political leanings as both writers, I would not have wanted to pursue the research to write this book!
I thought that part of the paragraph on page 113 that represents Republican thinking (as well as the Koch and Coors families and FreedomWorks) pretty much sums up my problem with current politics and my issue with the right wing agenda. Their goal is “to propagandize vulnerable Americans [especially the blue collar, uneducated, and barely literate right wing!] into believing that the fault for their tough economic times lies not with conservative governance (cutting taxes to corporations and the wealthiest Americans, demolishing regulations that protect the working class) but with minorities and welfare recipients—people, they were told, who are just lazy and don’t want to work for themselves and whose laziness is enabled by liberal policies. It is, fundamentally, the practice of the politics of resentment, using cultural wedge issues to pry working-class people away from progressive politics” (p. 113).
The book is well-written (as you can tell from this quotation), to-the-point, and very well reasoned. If for no other reason than representing the way that politics have come to be in the present day, this is a valuable and worthwhile book.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2012
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The effects of technology: What we know for sure
by Richard L. Weaver II
Nobody questions the omnipresence of technological innovations. All you need to do is look around to see cell phone usage, listen to television advertisements, or watch the changes in cellphone bells and whistles in newspaper advertisements. According to one 2008 study reported at HarrisInteractive in an essay, “Cell Phone Usage Continues to Increase,” it says, “Almost nine in ten (89%) of adults have a wireless or cell phone. This represents a significant increase from 77 percent in October – December 2006 when The Harris Poll conducted a similar analysis.”
When Barack Obama became President and because of a habit developed before his ascension, he popularized and widely advertised the BlackBerry, and in a section of Newsweek (February 16, 2009), called “Technology,” online at Newsweek.com, the essay by Sharon Begley called, “Will the BlackBerry sink the presidency?,” reported on the potential effects of technology (i.e., the BlackBerry), but, in doing so, clearly identified the essential problems everyone encounters through the use of the BlackBerry and similar technologies (e.g., pop-ups, e-mail alerts, calendar reminders, and instant messages — “the most intrusive and ubiquitous pre-BlackBerry technologies,” according to her). Begley suggests there are 21 million BlackBerry users (and the number is rapidly increasing because of the President’s free promotion).
It is important to understand these problems simply because understanding is the first step in trying to overcome, compensate for, or eliminate them. Of course, you may choose your technology over having these problems (or, because you like the escape!), but at least you will be aware and sensitive. From just a cursory examination, they make good sense. Let’s call them — only for the purposes of identification — distraction/interruption, the myth of multitasking, and creative inhibition.
The distraction/interruption element isn’t guesswork. This has been widely confirmed by experts in cognitive psychology and human-machine interactions. They have labeled it “distraction overload.” Does it matter to you that you cannot focus exclusively on any thought or perception for long? Does it matter to you that you cannot work straight through to completion on anything? That’s fine, of course, if the tasks you are involved in do not require your full attention — commitment of your entire brain. As Begley notes, “How damaging an interruption is depends on when it occurs” (p. 37).
In a study led by Brian Bailey of the University of Illinois, it was discovered — again, what I would call affirmation of common sense — that (in Begley’s words), “If you answer the BlackBerry’s call at natural breakpoints, you’re much more likely to be able to take in the e-mail and then resume what you were doing without that ‘where was I? ’ brain lock’” (p. 37). But, what happens when there are no natural breakpoints?
Gloria Mark, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, found that average workers (in Begley’s words), spend “only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and asked to do something else. IT workers have it worse, switching attention every three minutes, on average” (p. 37).
The President has certainly raised the social and cultural cachet of the BlackBerry, and it has been nicknamed CrackBerry for good reason. It is far more seductive than any e-mail alert ever was. “The ‘I have to be reachable,’ mantra is irresistible, and it makes everyone feel not just important to others (any others) but essential to their survival. When the light comes on or the BlackBerry beeps or buzzes, people stop everything they are doing to worship at its temple.
So, the BlackBerry impairs higher cognitive functions such as decision making and problem solving. In a 2007 study by scientists at Microsoft Research and the University of Illinois, they found it takes people 15 minutes “to productively resume a challenging task when they are interrupted (Begley’s words)” (p. 38). That is the time it takes to reactivate memory and refocus cognitive resources. In the meantime, according to a scientific study in Finland in 2004, the interruption can create memory loss and decreased memory accuracy.
There is more going on, too, than interruptions. People will often claim that along with responding to their BlackBerry they can surf the Internet, listen to a conversation, watch television, respond to e-mail messages, answer letters, or engage in other projects or activities at the same time — multi-tasking. This is something else we know for sure. It cannot happen.
The key to understanding this myth is in the phrase: “Only one thing can be predominant in your attention span at any one time.” Psychologists have long known that what appears like giving partial attention to a variety of things “is actually rapid-fire switching of attention among tasks (Begley’s words)” (p. 38). Why is this an important point to understand? Because you are not, and cannot, absorb information from a variety of sources at the same time. Depending on how much is going on, you switch your attention. And depending on how important any single stimulus is, you switch slowly or rapidly. What this means is that you are going to miss some information. You cannot get all aspects of a conversation while attending to your BlackBerry. In this state of mind (when multi-tasking), “you don’t process information as fully and are not using your frontal lobe effectively” (Begley’s words), says Mary Czerwinski of Microsoft Research. The only way to resolve this is to put the BlackBerry down and listen with all your attention.
Disruptions or interruptions plus the problems created by multi-tasking are two issues about which we know for sure. A third issue is creativity. Creativity requires that the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts, and this often occurs during mental downtime even daydreaming — when problems are not commanding conscious attention. A BlackBerry commands continuous conscious attention (that, along with other technologies). In a study conducted by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, she found, in Begley’s words, “that fragmentation of attention . . . impeded creativity” (p. 38).
Whether it is the disruption or interruption that causes the problem, the quick switching between various tasks when momentary attention to one thing and then another can create information or input gaps, or the negative effect it can have on creativity, the one thing we know for certain is, technology such as BlackBerry use can have detrimental effects — sometimes serious ones. Many addicts or constant users have discovered the key: turn it off during crucial times, because it impairs concentration and can make you miss key information.
-----
At YahooAnswers, there are a number of different answers to the question, “What are some negative effects of technology on people's mental abilities?,” that should give people who rely on various forms of technology pause. At the very least, they should make you think about your choices.
Rhett Smith, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, offers a great perspective and sound advice in the essay entitled, “Affirmation: One of Technology’s Negative Effects on Your Marriage and Family.”
This is a short, enjoyable essay, “MIT Sloan study asks: Does BlackBerry equal 'CrackBerry' or career essential?,” in which the authors, Sarah Foote, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Michelle Choate, MIT Sloan School of Management, citing the work by Melissa Mazmanian, a doctoral student at the time, state, “What she has found to date is that BlackBerry use has a large impact on the workplace landscape, affecting expectations of work turnaround, employee availability, personal interactions and the increasingly rare notion of free time. Of course, like society in general, many of the people in the research study claim they have become "addicted" to using their BlackBerrys--thus the moniker ‘CrackBerry.’”
-----
Copyright March, 2009 - And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Nobody questions the omnipresence of technological innovations. All you need to do is look around to see cell phone usage, listen to television advertisements, or watch the changes in cellphone bells and whistles in newspaper advertisements. According to one 2008 study reported at HarrisInteractive
When Barack Obama became President and because of a habit developed before his ascension, he popularized and widely advertised the BlackBerry, and in a section of Newsweek (February 16, 2009), called “Technology,” online at Newsweek.com, the essay by Sharon Begley called, “Will the BlackBerry sink the presidency?,” reported on the potential effects of technology (i.e., the BlackBerry), but, in doing so, clearly identified the essential problems everyone encounters through the use of the BlackBerry and similar technologies (e.g., pop-ups, e-mail alerts, calendar reminders, and instant messages — “the most intrusive and ubiquitous pre-BlackBerry technologies,” according to her). Begley suggests there are 21 million BlackBerry users (and the number is rapidly increasing because of the President’s free promotion).
It is important to understand these problems simply because understanding is the first step in trying to overcome, compensate for, or eliminate them. Of course, you may choose your technology over having these problems (or, because you like the escape!), but at least you will be aware and sensitive. From just a cursory examination, they make good sense. Let’s call them — only for the purposes of identification — distraction/interruption, the myth of multitasking, and creative inhibition.
The distraction/interruption element isn’t guesswork. This has been widely confirmed by experts in cognitive psychology and human-machine interactions. They have labeled it “distraction overload.” Does it matter to you that you cannot focus exclusively on any thought or perception for long? Does it matter to you that you cannot work straight through to completion on anything? That’s fine, of course, if the tasks you are involved in do not require your full attention — commitment of your entire brain. As Begley notes, “How damaging an interruption is depends on when it occurs” (p. 37).
In a study led by Brian Bailey of the University of Illinois, it was discovered — again, what I would call affirmation of common sense — that (in Begley’s words), “If you answer the BlackBerry’s call at natural breakpoints, you’re much more likely to be able to take in the e-mail and then resume what you were doing without that ‘where was I? ’ brain lock’” (p. 37). But, what happens when there are no natural breakpoints?
Gloria Mark, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, found that average workers (in Begley’s words), spend “only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and asked to do something else. IT workers have it worse, switching attention every three minutes, on average” (p. 37).
The President has certainly raised the social and cultural cachet of the BlackBerry, and it has been nicknamed CrackBerry for good reason. It is far more seductive than any e-mail alert ever was. “The ‘I have to be reachable,’ mantra is irresistible, and it makes everyone feel not just important to others (any others) but essential to their survival. When the light comes on or the BlackBerry beeps or buzzes, people stop everything they are doing to worship at its temple.
So, the BlackBerry impairs higher cognitive functions such as decision making and problem solving. In a 2007 study by scientists at Microsoft Research and the University of Illinois, they found it takes people 15 minutes “to productively resume a challenging task when they are interrupted (Begley’s words)” (p. 38). That is the time it takes to reactivate memory and refocus cognitive resources. In the meantime, according to a scientific study in Finland in 2004, the interruption can create memory loss and decreased memory accuracy.
There is more going on, too, than interruptions. People will often claim that along with responding to their BlackBerry they can surf the Internet, listen to a conversation, watch television, respond to e-mail messages, answer letters, or engage in other projects or activities at the same time — multi-tasking. This is something else we know for sure. It cannot happen.
The key to understanding this myth is in the phrase: “Only one thing can be predominant in your attention span at any one time.” Psychologists have long known that what appears like giving partial attention to a variety of things “is actually rapid-fire switching of attention among tasks (Begley’s words)” (p. 38). Why is this an important point to understand? Because you are not, and cannot, absorb information from a variety of sources at the same time. Depending on how much is going on, you switch your attention. And depending on how important any single stimulus is, you switch slowly or rapidly. What this means is that you are going to miss some information. You cannot get all aspects of a conversation while attending to your BlackBerry. In this state of mind (when multi-tasking), “you don’t process information as fully and are not using your frontal lobe effectively” (Begley’s words), says Mary Czerwinski of Microsoft Research. The only way to resolve this is to put the BlackBerry down and listen with all your attention.
Disruptions or interruptions plus the problems created by multi-tasking are two issues about which we know for sure. A third issue is creativity. Creativity requires that the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts, and this often occurs during mental downtime even daydreaming — when problems are not commanding conscious attention. A BlackBerry commands continuous conscious attention (that, along with other technologies). In a study conducted by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, she found, in Begley’s words, “that fragmentation of attention . . . impeded creativity” (p. 38).
Whether it is the disruption or interruption that causes the problem, the quick switching between various tasks when momentary attention to one thing and then another can create information or input gaps, or the negative effect it can have on creativity, the one thing we know for certain is, technology such as BlackBerry use can have detrimental effects — sometimes serious ones. Many addicts or constant users have discovered the key: turn it off during crucial times, because it impairs concentration and can make you miss key information.
-----
At YahooAnswers, there are a number of different answers to the question, “What are some negative effects of technology on people's mental abilities?,” that should give people who rely on various forms of technology pause. At the very least, they should make you think about your choices.
Rhett Smith, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, offers a great perspective and sound advice in the essay entitled, “Affirmation: One of Technology’s Negative Effects on Your Marriage and Family.”
This is a short, enjoyable essay, “MIT Sloan study asks: Does BlackBerry equal 'CrackBerry' or career essential?,” in which the authors, Sarah Foote, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Michelle Choate, MIT Sloan School of Management, citing the work by Melissa Mazmanian, a doctoral student at the time, state, “What she has found to date is that BlackBerry use has a large impact on the workplace landscape, affecting expectations of work turnaround, employee availability, personal interactions and the increasingly rare notion of free time. Of course, like society in general, many of the people in the research study claim they have become "addicted" to using their BlackBerrys--thus the moniker ‘CrackBerry.’”
-----
Copyright March, 2009 - And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
And Then Some News
We have a question for you: And Then Some Publishing, LLC is continuing to write scripts for a variety of videos. Our web sites discuss the themes: 1) public speaking, 2) self-improvement, 3) And Then Some., and 4) relationships. Related to one of these themes, what topic would you like to see covered in one our new videos? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think.
Thursday’s essay, “The effects of technology: What we know for sure,” is an essay that focuses on how technology affects us — especially our use of the BlackBerry. Yes, it was stimulated by President Barack Obama’s use, but the findings (what we know for sure) come from researchers and scientists. Knowing the effects technology can have is just the first step in doing something about it (if you want to) — and that is what Thursday’s essay is all about.
Share your link. Have you written anything on the effects of technology? How about material on how the BlackBerry (or similar technology) has affected your life? Have you noticed the effects of technology in the lives of others? Are you willing to share your opinions and observations? Share your link with us. We’ll post it and move traffic in your direction. And, a big “thank you,” in advance, from AndThenSomeWorks.com, for sharing your link.
Click here to LINK your And Then Some story
Thursday's And Then Some Essay preview
The effects of technology: What we know for sure
by Richard L. Weaver II
Excerpt:
Disruptions or interruptions plus the problems created by multi-tasking are two issues about which we know for sure. A third issue is creativity. Creativity requires that the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts, and this often occurs during mental downtime even daydreaming — when problems are not commanding conscious attention. A BlackBerry commands continuous conscious attention (that, along with other technologies). In a study conducted by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, she found, in Begley’s words, “that fragmentation of attention . . . impeded creativity” (p. 38).
And Then Some Works - see you THURSDAY!!
Thursday’s essay, “The effects of technology: What we know for sure,” is an essay that focuses on how technology affects us — especially our use of the BlackBerry. Yes, it was stimulated by President Barack Obama’s use, but the findings (what we know for sure) come from researchers and scientists. Knowing the effects technology can have is just the first step in doing something about it (if you want to) — and that is what Thursday’s essay is all about.
Share your link. Have you written anything on the effects of technology? How about material on how the BlackBerry (or similar technology) has affected your life? Have you noticed the effects of technology in the lives of others? Are you willing to share your opinions and observations? Share your link with us. We’ll post it and move traffic in your direction. And, a big “thank you,” in advance, from AndThenSomeWorks.com, for sharing your link.
Click here to LINK your And Then Some story
Thursday's And Then Some Essay preview
The effects of technology: What we know for sure
by Richard L. Weaver II
Excerpt:
Disruptions or interruptions plus the problems created by multi-tasking are two issues about which we know for sure. A third issue is creativity. Creativity requires that the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts, and this often occurs during mental downtime even daydreaming — when problems are not commanding conscious attention. A BlackBerry commands continuous conscious attention (that, along with other technologies). In a study conducted by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, she found, in Begley’s words, “that fragmentation of attention . . . impeded creativity” (p. 38).
And Then Some Works - see you THURSDAY!!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
And Then Some News
With the presidential primary campaign (in Ohio) in full swing, the purpose of the Saturday essay is to extol the virtues of speech. Using the rhetoric of Barack Obama as an example, the essay discusses the power of speech and how easily people can be inspired by rhetoric that has no substance.Share your And Then Some Story about the power of speech. Who are the speakers who have inspired you and why? Was there a particular speech situation when you were completely affected by a speaker’s rhetoric? Have you ever given a speech that totally captivated listeners and motivated you to greater accomplishments? See the specifics about sharing your And Then Some Story in the section that follows the excerpt below.
Saturday Essay - February 16, 2008
A Testament to the Power of Speech
by Richard L. Weaver II
Excerpt:
It is a principle I have taught for over thirty years. It is basic to speech-communication courses, and it is essential to understanding what should be the foundation of public-speaking effectiveness. In judging the success of a public-speaking effort, you must look at the substance — support, evidence, and ideas — of the speech, not just the delivery. Delivery is merely a vehicle for conveying the substance. When I learned to put delivery in its proper perspective, it was within the context of Plato’s attack on rhetoric as “mere cookery.”
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