Category: On Language

TOLERANCE

To tolerate is the same as to abide, put up with, endure, accept, stomach, and allow.  I have a difficult time abiding the word “tolerate.”  The words, “put up with”, says to me “I am going to tolerate this person or this situation.”  Notice I have differentiated between the word “tolerate” and the words “put up with.”

 

Of course this has been brought to the forefront by the proposed building of a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center property in NYC.

 

What’s the difference in the words I use?  If I have to tolerate people who are intolerant it makes me ill.  Here is the problem.  You are different from me in beliefs, appearance, and language.  You say things that I find offensive.  In my heart I know what is the right thing to do.  Therefore I will “put up with” your non-sense in the name of tolerance.

Hubris and the iPhone 4

We need more Hubris in America!

Today Apple has announced “We’re Not Pefect“, and that they will give everyone a free protective case for their iPhone 4.  Of course the reason is that the case insulates your hand from the wrap around stainless steel frame that is acting as an antenna.

Daniel Lyons of Newsweek does an excellent job of telling us how hubris has impacted Apple in his July 15 on line posting.  “Apple had this really clever idea and just couldn’t let it go. Why not put a stainless-steel frame around the phone and have that frame serve as the antenna? Jobs made a big deal out of this innovation when he introduced the phone in June, calling it “brilliant engineering” and boasting that the antenna design “has never been done before.”

Apple’s success is wrapped around Steve Jobs.  So naturally he is the ultimate holder of the Hubris Award.  He has seen his company, which he co-founded, grow to a company with a market cap of $229 Billion and earnings per share of $12.96.  Stock market ID is APPL.  IN just this past year alone shares in that company have risen from $148.63 to today’s $252.00.

Remember when he gave his demo of the new phone?  He could not access the internet.  Now this unfortunate event.  Perhaps it is a good thing there are other people like Steve Jobs.  They are the individuals who will help bring America out of its current funk.

RECONCILIATION

Life is all about reconciliation.

America’s strength is based upon reconciliation.  A synonym for reconciliation is compromise.  That is the basis for our form of government going back to Benjamin Franklin.  The first 10 amendments to the constitution were a gesture of compromise by those believing the basic document was sufficient.

Of course feuding married couples try to find reconciliation of their marital disagreements through some form of compromise.  Just enter the words “marital reconciliation” into Google and the results are significant.  Many web sites offer success stories.

Oh those jobs I accepted to put food on the table and pay the bills.  They were jobs I thought I would never take.  Higher earning Americans cannot survive on unemployment insurance for very long without impacting their savings.   

The Senate just faced a reconciliation bill on health care.  Unfortunately the Republicans want to make some political capital out of this situation.  They are more of a flag waving group than Democrats.  Apparently they do not see that they are destroying a basic tenant of our democracy.

You think English is easy???

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce the produce .

3) We must polish the Polish furniture.

4) I did not object to the object.

5) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

6) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

7) When shot at the dove, it dove into the bushes

8) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

9) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

10) If you read this far, you ought to read the rest of the On Language entries in this blog.

RACIST

In this politically correct world every word must be considered before it is spoken.  That is true even if it is spoken among friends.  The best man at my wedding is not a friend anymore as the result of his hateful remarks.  More so if you are a public speaker even in a small town.  Consider Bob Kellar, a councilman in the town of Santa Clarita at the very northern edge of the Los Angles metropolitan area along Interstate 5.  The next thing you see after passing north thorough that town are the Tehachapi Mountains.  At a rally in his town against illegal immigration he identified himself as “a proud racist.”  That was a very poor choice of words.  I am opposed to illegal immigration and also believe that English should be the official language of the United States.  I am not a racist.

This You Tube video from a “Save Our State Anti-Illegal Immigration Rally” is the damming evidence that can induce racism.  I do not believe that it was Mr. Kellar’s intention to start a war of words or the actions of others who might take his words as a call to action.

The dictionary definition of a racist is one who believes that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.  I have never said that nor did Mr. Kellar.

A Sense of Urgency

The Common Trait of Highly Productive People, Companies, and Countries is a sense of urgency.  In just the past 24 hours we have had a human tragedy in Haiti.  No one knows how many people have been killed by the earthquake that has devestated their capital city, Port- au- Prince.  The president of the United States has said that aid will be sent immediately.  CNN has already reported the sighting of American military personnel. That is an example of responding with a sense of urgency.

America’s response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor was accomplished with a sense of urgency.   Henry Paulson’s message to Congress for aid to the banking community was quickly answered with TARP.  However, America’s response to the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina did not show the same sense.   California’s serious debt problems have not been addressed with a sense of urgency.

Corporations have also had mixed responses to their predicaments.  General Motors did not apply sensible action to their faltering sales for years.  That is a company that didn’t need urgency.  All they needed was attention and they failed.  Union Carbide showed no sense of urgency in the chemical spill in Bhopal, India.

The entertainment and news industries are fast to respond.  With falling rating it didn’t take long for NBC to determine that Jay Leno’s primetime show had to move to late night or be canceled.  The making of Avatar took two years (excluding the writing).  All the networks have significant reporters in Haiti in just 24 yours.  All of them had reports on their news programs within hours of the earthquake.

We need a sense of urgency in getting our economy functioning properly.  The politicians would rather squabble.  Their behavior ought to give us the motivation to show them the door.  Unfortunately democracy does not provide a sense of urgency.

HUBRIS – Part 2

Talk show hosts on both radio and television suffer with a condition called hubris.  The definition is “exaggerated pride or self-confidence.” 

Lou Dobbs quit his job on CNN to pursue “new opportunities.”  He seems like Mr. Bluster to me (remember Howdy Doody?).  Despite his denials, I believe he was terminated.  Sudden departures are the result of a firing (recently that was the situation for the studio boss at Disney).  Chris Matthews on MSNBC has the bad habit of not letting his guests speak after asking them a question.  Why does he bother having guests when he believes he knows all the answers?  Sean Hannity speaks with authority on all subjects.  He rarely has guests who will offer any opinion that differs with his pre-conceived ideas. 

Most of the radio talk show hosts are no better than these three.  A special comment about Mark Levin is appropriate.  He is always angry at the world and tells everyone listening that he knows all and any one who disagrees with him is a fool or a “left wing liberal.”

There have been others that suffered with hubris.  George W. Bush comes to mind as the president who never made a mistake.  Al Gore’s views on global warning appear to have taken on a life of their own.

Some well known entertainers are also suffering from hubris.  Some of the deceased entertainers as well.  The names Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Frank Sinatra come to mind.

Clearly Bernie Madoff, Maurice ‘”Hank” Greenberg former the former CEO of AIG, and General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner are just three of the many “titans” of business that suffered with this same disease.

The solution?  Come to my house and you will learn how “average people” live.  Stand in line at the EDD and you will know the meaning of unemployment.  Ride a bus or subway in any city and watch the people riding in that vehicle.

Negative Nabobs Live On

The President and the Democratic Party find themselves in a “no win” position in the world of politics now.  The party of “no” is growing more extreme every day.  The Republican Party has become the party of “negative nabobs.”

A little history is appropriate here.  

-It was President George W. Bush’s Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, who rushed his proposal to give $700 Billion to the financial industry without any strings because it was believed that the nation was about to come to a grinding halt.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     -It was President George W. Bush who formulated the Bush Doctrine of preemptive military strikes that took the country into Iraq and neglected the situation in Afghanistan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -It was the Bush administration that ignored the warnings about the Katrina hurricane.

Now, just 10 months after entering office president Barack Obama is supposed to have solved all of America’s problems.  Look at what has happened.

-3.5% GDP growth is artificial.  It’s all the result of government programs.  Are those the programs that the GOP said would not work?  Isn’t the point of the programs to stimulate the economy?                                                                                                                                                                                                   -Medical costs are rising at about 10% annually.  The cost of insurance and care is taking at least 15% of American earnings.  Obama proposes a Federally run insurance plan and the GOP says no but offers no alternatives.                                                                                                                                -The war in Afghanistan is going badly and the president is considering a new strategy.  The former VP, Dick Cheney, calls the president’s evaluation “dithering” and the GOP faithful applaud.                                                                                                                                                                                                       -Swine Flu vaccine has been quickly developed and the news media is scornful of medical lab care in assuring a quality product is produced.                                                                                                             -Improved relations with nations that have historically been our allies and reduced tensions with other nations has been a hallmark of Obama’s presidency.  It is scorned by the GOP.  Their answer is let’s fight.   Rush Limbaugh hopes the “president fails.”  

Unfortunately Democrats are not willing to grant Republican successes.  It’s the negativity of the minority party that ought to be condemned.  It is rarely about what is good for America.  The last time we all came together was the week after 9-11.  We all need to ignore the nabobs of negativism.

DEPLORABLE

President Barack Obama calls the shooting of a Michigan anti-abortion activist “deplorable.”  That is not a word that everyone understands.  If anything it is too mild a word to use when discussing a murder.  That is the word Mr. Obama is quoted as using in an AP report.

Words like Appalling, Unacceptable, and Shocking are more appropriate to an act of violence.  The problem is the president’s use of words like “deplorable.”  Afraid to upset anyone and everyone he chooses his words so carefully that he does not impart what he really means.  How could he not have used the words  Unpardonable or Unforgivable to describe his feelings?  He should have said, “The killing of anyone is appalling and shocking.”

The answer is obvious.  Our president is afraid he will alienate part of the electorate.  That is the reason he carefully chooses his words in his speeches about health care, the Afghanistan War, or any other topic.  Mr. Obama is first and foremost a politician.  He obviously understands the value of diplomacy.  In this instance he does not want to alienate anyone in the abortion debate so he used this mediocre word that does not connote the seriousness of the actions of an accused killer.

In his campaign for president Barack Obama used the words “change you can believe in” and “the time for change is now.”  That was great use of rhetoric speech.  He just never defined his vision of change.  A majority of Americans bought his pitch.  The results are awful and that is the same as deplorable.

HUBRIS

From Wikpedia ,“In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often associated with a lack of humility, not always with the lack of knowledge. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow…”

This word is used to describe persons of power who thought they could do what ever they wanted without facing consequences but in the end they did experience a humiliating punishment.  Politicians are the most common people to be defined as suffering hubris.  Some corporate heads have faced the same fate.

The most well known political names suffering hubris are former President Bill Clinton, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Nevada Senator John Ensign, and today South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.  There are so many others that the names would probably fill a page.  Cheating, lying, adultery, etc. is not limited to one political party.  Furthermore this kind of behavior is not new.  Past presidents John F. Kennedy, Eisenhower, FDR, and Andrew Jackson are all known to have had sexual dalliances.

Richard Wagoner, the former General Motors CEO, is the best example of a corporate head who thought he could do no wrong.  Merrill Lynch’s Stan O’Neal, Fannie Mae’s Franklin Raines all left there positions in disgrace.  After three weeks of mounting criticism of his $140 million compensation package, Richard A. Grasso, the chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, resigned. 

What we learn from this is that occasionally that even the misbehaving mighty can fall.  They just can’t see it coming.