Tag: You’re Doing it Wrong

Cause and Effect of Anti-Bullying Laws

One of the current crusades of the social justice movement is to bully bullies. By passing anti-bullying policies, which tend to work by prohibiting free speech and expression, school administrators believe they can bully kids into not bullying kids. It’s a rather strange theory; one that doesn’t seem to be panning out:

It started as a simple look at bullying. University of Texas at Arlington criminologist Seokjin Jeong analyzed data collected from 7,000 students from all 50 states.

He thought the results would be predictable and would show that anti-bullying programs curb bullying. Instead — he found the opposite.

Jeong said it was, “A very disappointing and a very surprising thing. Our anti-bullying programs, either intervention or prevention does not work.”

The study concluded that students at schools with anti-bullying programs might actually be more likely to become a victim of bullying. It also found that students at schools with no bullying programs were less likely to become victims.

Once again we see the Law of Erisian Escalation coming into play. By imposing order in the form of anti-bullying policies school administrators have cause chaotic bullying to escalate. This stems from the fact that bullying is a societal matter, no a legal matter. Trying to solve societal matters through legal means is a recipe for failure. By definition the lawless don’t comply with the law. Passing laws to curtail the lawless is like dumping kerosene on a fire to put it out; you only make the lawless person more lawless and the problem persists (or gets worse).

Dey turk err jurbs!

There are fewer things more idiotic than claiming advances in technology will cause unemployment. But, alas, many people are stupid enough to parrot that talking point of the economic ignorance:

In the industrial revolution — and revolutions since — there was an invigoration of jobs. For instance, assembly lines for cars led to a vast infrastructure that could support mass production giving rise to everything from car dealers to road building and utility expansion into new suburban areas.

But the digital revolution is not following the same path, said Daryl Plummer, a Gartner analyst at the research firm’s Symposium ITxpo here. “What we’re seeing is a decline in the overall number of people required to do a job,” he said.

Plummer points to a company like Kodak, which once employed 130,000, versus Instagram’s 13. Gartner sees social unrest movements, similar to Occupy Wall Street, emerging again by 2014.

Through the miracle of technological advancement we now require fewer people to do most jobs. Many stages of automobile manufacturing are performed by robots. Infinite copies of documents can no be created with the click of a mouse. Letters can be transmitted instantly from one computer to the next. Auto workers, print shop employees, and postal workers are losing their jobs!

I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the number of people not employed as web developers, chip designers, chip manufacturers, infrastructure designers, infrastructure builders, flash memory designers, flash memory manufacturers, network designers, online marketers, database administrators, database programmers, system administrators, cloud infrastructure designers, cloud infrastructure implementers, data center constructors, etc., etc.

Technological advancements don’t eliminate jobs, they shift the playing field. Some skills become unnecessary while others become necessary. Sure, the invention of the light bulb put many candle makers out of work but it also created a need for light bulb manufacturers, electrical infrastructure builders, and a whole slew of other skills. Did I mention that the invention of the light bulb is what allowed our society to effectively remain active after the sun went down? As a resident of Minnesota I greatly appreciate that during the winter months when there isn’t enough sunlight to get anything of importance done.

Any one of us may be rendered irrelevant by technological advances. That doesn’t mean we’re no longer employable, it means we need to learn new skills. Just because you’re too lazy to learn a new skill doesn’t mean the entire species should be held back. If you’re bitching about technology taking your job then it’s time for you to get off of your lazy ass and learn something new. The rest of us aren’t going to stop improving peoples’ lives just because you’re too lazy to pick up a new skill. And, who knows, some day we may reach a point where everything is automated, and therefore super cheap. If that happens we can all enjoy a carefree life where we are free to follow whatever pursuits we want. Wouldn’t it be terrible if nobody had to work because everything we need became so cheap to manufacture that it could be given away for free?

Shooting at the Capitol

For a brief period yesterday every major media outlet was doing wall-to-wall coverage of the shooting at the Capitol. Everybody was speculating about the crazy gun wielding maniac who was shooting up the White House. Until, an hour or so later, it was revealed that the only shots fired were by police officers — at a woman driving a car with a small child in it. Her crime? Attempting to drive around some barricades in front of the White House. The police effectively gunned down the woman for a traffic violation (good job, guys).

But I’m not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on the situation. Shootings happen frequently in Washington DC, which is rather ironic considering the city is effectively a gun-free zone and the home turf of multiple law enforcement agencies. The only difference between this shooting and the other shootings that happen in Washington DC is that this one happened in the privileged zone. Washington DC is separated into two zones: the privileged zone where the politicians and their lobbyist hang out and the unprivileged zone where everybody else hangs out. Most of the unprivileged zone consists of projects. The media gives no thought to shootings that happen in projects.

Another lesson to be learned from this story is how quickly the media jumps to completely wrong conclusions. First we heard there was an exchange of gunfire. Some began speculating about the “assault weapons” the suspect was using. Later we learned that the police were the only ones sending fast moving pieces of lead into the air. There was also whispers about this being a terrorist attack. Later we learned that it was a woman, driving a car, with a child inside. Some terrorist. My point is this: when a story first breaks nobody has any details so you should assume that nobody knows what the hell they’re talking about. Don’t believe anything reported within the first hours of a major incident. Everything being reported initially is bullshit based on speculation. The only thing the media is doing by reporting on a situation right away is attempting to drum up ratings (and Odin knows they need those ratings).

By Shuttering Silk Road the Government Helped Escalate Violent Crime

As mentioned earlier today, the state has finally shuttered the online “black” market hidden service known as Silk Road. In so doing the state has also helped escalate violent crime. How? By shuttering one of the most effective ways of reducing violent crime: a hidden service that allowed individuals to buy illicit substances without physical interaction.

Due to its illegal nature the drug market is ripe with violence. The more virtuous tend to avoid manufacturing, selling, or buy verboten drugs because they would rather not get on the wrong side of the state. This leaves individuals who, for the most part, have few quarrels with using violence. Since the more violent make up a bulk of the manufacturers and sellers of verboten drugs prospective buyers end up having to deal with nefarious individuals.

Silk Road offered protection for manufacturers, buyers, and sellers. By maintaining each person’s anonymity, Silk Road allowed otherwise scared manufacturers and sellers to enter the market. With the veil of anonymity in place the threat of state violence is reduced. Furthermore, since manufacturers and sellers don’t know who each other are they cannot use violence in an attempt to establish a monopoly. Buyers, also enjoying the layer of anonymity between themselves and their suppliers, didn’t have to physically go to pick up the drugs, which reduced their potential exposure to both state and seller violence. By raising a barrier between the identities of manufacturers, buys, sellers, and the state Silk Road stood a good chance of making the illegal drug market a much safer place.

By shutting Silk Road down the state actually helped violence proliferate. This is why I never take the claim that the state is necessary to protect the people. Everything it does seems to revolve around increasing the amount of violence in our society.

At Least the ATF is Consistent

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) have a track record of losing things. For several years the ATF has been “losing” firearm across the Mexico border and now the agency has lost 420 million cigarettes:

The US agency tasked with stopping illegal tobacco trafficking lost track of 420 million cigarettes purchased in undercover operations, justice department auditors have found.

In addition, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) made $162m (£100m) selling tobacco undercover, it found.

To those who want to grant the ATF more power so it can further control firearms I ask you this: How is an agency that can’t even keep track of cigarettes supposed to effectively control firearms? Furthermore, I must point out that it is unlikely that anybody within the ATF will be punished for this loss. Once again we must acknowledge that the state fails to punish wrongdoers within its ranks and that make government jobs attractive to the irresponsible. Putting irresponsible people in positions of power is always a recipe for disaster.

McCain’s Senility

There are times when I feel bad for John McCain. While he is a bloodthirsty war monger I still wouldn’t wish senility on anybody. In a Code War-esque maneuver, John McCain decided to retaliate against the letter submitted to the New York Times by Vladamir Putin’s public relations people. How did McCain go about his retaliatory strike? By having his public relations people submit a letter to Pravada, Russia’s state new paper… during the Cold War:

Sen. John McCain, a man of his word, published his editorial — a stirring defense of the rights to free speech, dissent and political expression — in Russia’s Pravda, just like he said he would.

One small problem: As people are now finally pointing out, this isn’t the famous Pravda. After the Soviet Union was made to collapse, its official propaganda organ was sold off and eventually closed. There is no more “Pravda,” omnipresent national newspaper in which the Kremlin disseminates the party line to the oppressed masses. There is now Pravda, the struggling, thrice-weekly organ of the remains of the Communist Party, and Pravda.ru, a sensationalistic online-only news site few people in Russia take seriously.

Being such a war hawk you would think McCain would keep up on world affairs. While Putin had his people submit a letter to what is probably the most famous newspaper in our country, McCain had his people submit his letter to a failing newspaper that nobody seems to be reading. That has to be embarrassing.

What Makes Me Laugh

The day before yesterday, if you talked to many members of the gun rights community, you would have learned that Starbucks sell some of the best damned coffee this side of Sagittarius A*. In addition to absolutely banging coffee you would have also learned about Starbucks’ excellent selection of delectable pastries. You would wonder why anybody would bother going to the obviously inferior likes of Dunn Brothers or Caribou Coffee when they could have excellence from a company that has always been rabid supporter of right to keep and bear arms!

Somehow Starbucks managed to change everything it did overnight. Now asking many members of the gun rights community about Starbucks will lead you to learn about its absolutely shitty coffee. You may wonder exactly how shitty Starbucks’ coffee is. Fear not because you will be told that you need only imagine the worse coffee you’ve ever had and multiply its shittiness by infinity + 1. But don’t worry because these friendly advice givers will gladly point you to the local Super America, which they will note has way better coffee for a fraction of the price. You will also be warned about the dry, flavorless concoctions that Starbucks tries to pass off as pastries. Fortunately Super America sells pastries. They may be three day old pastries but, according to the gun rights activists I’ve talked to today, they still taste way better than Starbucks’ pastries.

Seriously guys, this shit is hilarious. I haven’t seen this many opinions change this quickly since Orson Scott Card announced his hatred of homosexuality.

You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

Poor old Harry Reid, he seems to have become confused once again. During some debate on some energy bill Mr. Reid decided to call supposed members of the Tea Party anarchists:

Reid (D-Nev.) said Tea Party Republicans are preventing progress on an energy efficiency bill by offering amendments on ObamaCare and other unrelated issues.

“We’re diverted totally from what this bill is about. Why? Because the anarchists have taken over,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate.

“People who don’t believe in government — and that’s what the Tea Party is all about — are winning, and that’s a shame.”

This isn’t the first time Mr. Reid has made this mistake. Between May or this year and now he still hasn’t picked up a dictionary to find out what the word “anarchist” actually means. The word is a combination of the greek ἀν- (an-), meaning without, and ἀρχός (archos), meaning leader or ruler. Therefore, an anarchist is somebody who opposes rulers, not just a person who disagree with your political ideology. Members of Congress create decrees and use force against anybody who disobeys. That’s what a ruler is, somebody who attempts to make you obey his or her commands through the threat of force.

Don’t get me wrong, the fact that my political philosophy is used as an insult in Washington DC pleases me. It lets me know that I’m on the right path.

9/11 Continues to Cost Us

12 years ago two planes crashed into two towers and killed a lot of people. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, which was far less damaging since the wing that was struck was under construction and therefore unoccupied. But the carnage didn’t stop there. In an ironic twist the very agency that was supposedly created to protect Americans from another terrorist attack, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), has made flying so miserable that people now opt to drive shorter distances. Since driving is exponentially more dangerous than flying the country now suffers an additional 500 automobile-related deaths per year:

The inconvenience of extra passenger screening and added costs at airports after 9/11 cause many short-haul passengers to drive to their destination instead, and, since airline travel is far safer than car travel, this has led to an increase of 500 U.S. traffic fatalities per year. Using DHS-mandated value of statistical life at $6.5 million, this equates to a loss of $3.2 billion per year, or $32 billion over the period 2002 to 2011 (Blalock et al. 2007).

To put that number in perspective it has been 12 years since the 9/11 attacks. During that span of time approximately 6,000 people have died in automobile-related accidents that may be alive today if it wasn’t for the draconian policies put into place by the TSA. The 9/11 attacks killed a total of 2,753 people. Since the 9/11 attacks the policies put into place by the federal government have managed to kill over twice as many people as the attacks themselves. That’s not even counting the number of deaths that have occurred because of the wars started using the 9/11 attacks as a justification.

The terrorists won. A handful of people using box cutters and knives were able to bring the mighty United States to its knees.

Another Reason Why the GOP is a Joke

There’s no two ways to put this, the Republican Party (GOP) is dying. Actually, the GOP is already dead, it’s advocates simply don’t know it yet. I think the major turning point for the GOP was when it began to embrace religious fanaticism. We live in a post-Enlightenment world, religion doesn’t count for what it once did, and anybody trying to implement religious laws in the Western world is in for a bad time. Not satisfied with merely adopting religious zealotry, the GOP has also gone out of its way to adopt some of the most ironic politicians. Take Tony Sutton, the former chair of the Minnesota Republican Party. The GOP constantly advertises itself as the party of fiscal responsibility so one can only laugh when the chair of the Minnesota Party files for bankruptcy:

A hard-charging former state Republican Party chairman whose constant refrain to DFLers and even GOP lawmakers was “live within your means” has declared personal bankruptcy, the latest twist in one of the most dramatic political downfalls in recent state history.

At the height of his power, Tony Sutton demanded that Republican legislators oppose all tax increases and keep state spending strictly in line with revenue. Few realized it at the time, but the GOP’s finances under Sutton’s management were a shambles, and the same scenario was playing out in his personal life.

Sutton and his wife, Bridget Sutton, an Inver Grove Heights school board member and former Republican operative, say they owe $2.1 million, including $70,000 of credit card debt, $20,000 in federal student loans, unpaid state and federal taxes, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsecured personal loans to cover business expenses. At the time they filed, the Suttons had no life or health insurance.

If this was an isolated incident it wouldn’t be a big deal but it seems GOP politicians are constantly getting caught in situations where they practice what they preach against. There’s no hope for a party when it’s higher ups aren’t ideologically consistent. Any plan that involves the Republican Party should be abandoned and a plan B put into action.