Diverse or Divisive?

So I’m sitting in a training class today, offsite while a hundred things are going on at work. ( After all, when the boss recommends a class, you attend it.)  It is not a bad class; it’s a leadership training course, and I rightfully admit that I could learn some things in the class.    The facilitator is part Anthony Robbins, part raconteur, part instructor.  He gets an A for effort, presentation, and content…

…well, at least for the first six hours of his content.

Understand that everyone in this class is at least in their mid-30s, and only one of the students was new to management.  All races, both sexes, and most creeds were represented.  We came from public and private corporations, and government and not-for-profit entities.  In the reality of life, we looked like America. Not that that should matter in a leadership class, in my opinion, but it did in that seventh hour.

During a forty-five minute period, this excellent, commanding instructor decided to use the time to preach about diversity.  He approached practically every minority student to ask them if they were familiar with diversity problems, and that they were aware this is “still a white man’s world”. (The instructor is a white male in his sixties, btw.)  With each student he asked, you could feel the tension increase, and the students hesitate just a little longer before answering his questions.  One of these gals, who sat directly in front of me, had a relatively open posture for most of the day.  As the questioning went on, her posture closed up, and she spent most of the remaining hour in a prayer-like position, with her hands folded and close to her mouth.

I don’t know what point the instructor was trying to drive home.  Before his spiel, we were all managers trying to learn how to become better leaders.  After his talk, we were camps of black and white people.  I think no differently of the students who were made to answer his questions, but I have sympathy for them.  They were placed into a compromising position by someone they trusted.  It was not pretty, and it tarnished the good intentions of the instructor.  Something about the path to hell comes to mind….

He made plenty of good points about diversity that did not have to make an issue of race.  He could have stopped there, but he didn’t.  He should have.

Tomorrow is another day.  Let’s see if he messes up again.

A Simple Thought

If you’ve watched any of the weekend or night time sporting events that have been on TV lately, you have no doubt seen the smoking inhibitor commercial.  You know the one.  They say, “Giving up smoking sucks; but we make it suck less”.  I think the commercial is crass, and I go back and forth trying to decide if it is within the bounds of good taste or not.

The businessman in me, however, says it’s a great commercial. I have never picked up a cigarette or cigar in my life.  I’ve frequented smokey bars and restaurants, and have dealt with the smell of smoke on busses and in the work place.  (Yes, you Gen-Y-ers, it was once acceptable to smoke at your desk at the office.)   I remember the commercial, very clearly.  It works.  Simplicity wins.  Even us non-smokers recall the commercial and the brand.

If simplicity works, and the “smoking sucks” mantra has caught on, why hasn’t anyone applied it to politics yet?  Probably because all the pols are looking for just the right message for just the right demographic.  Hence, their nuanced approach to creating mob mentality is falling short.  (See, that’s the problem with political pundits proclaiming to understand business…they don’t!)

I have a better way:

A Toast to the Dying Newspapers

An ode to newspapers:

Oh, how I wish
you could ply your trade well.
You might stick around for a while.

Oh, how I wish
your paper would sell
if you reported more substance, less style.

“We don’t know what to do!”
You lament and you fret.
The new media has joined the fray.

It’s doing your job,
It prods and it vets,
And that’s why you’re going away.

Yes, the latest IOTW candidate is none other than the L.A. Times.  Seems they can’t cover the Chicago Tea Parties because they don’t qualify for coverage, no matter how many people attend.

And they wonder why their subscription rates drop like the stock market after Obama opens his mouth.  Fools.

Support your local tea parties.  A buddy told me that he can’t renew Atlas Shrugged from the library because demand is so high.  People want to know; now only if some smart newspaper would actually cover the story….

I support the Chicago Tea Party movement.  The story needs to be told.

Capitalism, not Capitol-ism

Click here to learn more about the Tea Parties.

Boo!

Boo!

Did I scare you?  No?

Boo!

How about that time? No?

What if I told you that I thought it appropriate for kids to use knives to cut their food?  Would that be okay?  Or would that scare you?

Or if a college student was cutting food with a knife, right in front of you?  Would that scare you?

Boo!

How about now?  Did that one scare you?

What if I said that conceal carry could actually stop deranged psychopaths from murdering people?  Would you, at the time I mentioned it to you in casual conversation, be fearful for your life?

If so, you need help.  Just like this chick.

And to think, the student was told to present an argument.  And the chick was afraid.

BOO!

You’re the latest IOTW candidate.  Grow up!  I’d tell you to grow a pair, but I’d need to tell all the male wimps to do that first.  And I just don’t have enough time over the remainder of my life to do that.

Freedom of Speech on a College Campus

IOTW candidate #3, week of 2/16/2009

The title sounds like a painting more than a blog post. But this next candidate is a “professor” at a college. It’s a good thing he is open minded, tolerant, and accepting of other person’s viewpoints, just like he probably preaches to his students.

Of course, the story was reported by the media, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is true any more.  I could turn around just as easily and nominate the plaintiff if he is found to be, um, “less than honest”.

Underpaid? Really?

I have a co-worker who has an in-law who teaches in a significantly sized school district in the area.  You know, one of those districts that is always asking for more money, that whines about how poorly their teachers have it, how underpaid they are?  That says their technology is not state-of-the-art.

My co-worker friend rails against public school teachers, and I believe she has good reason.  The in-law has been teaching in public schools for about eighteen years.  Her salary, which at one time was able to be located here, is over $70k.  Starting salaries, which were also available at the same link, are $40k and above, which is more than many entry-level computer programming positions today.

And to top it all off, class size is not the problem your beloved union representatives make it out to be.  Why?  Because some union contracts provide per-pay bonuses to teachers for every student over the optimal number of students.  For the local school district, “optimal” is defined as twenty-eight students; hence, this instructor earns additional wages per pay for classes that hold more than twenty-eight students. You’d figure they would get a couple extra bucks per pay, right?  I mean, how difficult is it to go from twenty-eight to thirty students in a class?

The teachers union sees otherwise.  This in-law earns an extra $100 per student, per pay for every student above the “optimal” class size.  This in-law also earns other bonuses for covering classes outside their area of expertise and other such nonsense.

Oh, and did I tell you she’s a third grade teacher?

So, for all you pro-union folks out there, next time an industry ships off the U.S. continent, remember these little facts.  The unions, while they were needed and had their place in an earlier time, are now nothing but millstones around the neck of business and society.

This particular school district, and the teachers union, are my Idiots of the Week.

Deviant Standard Deviants

Wow, this has been a great week for idiots.  Maybe I should declare it “The Week of the Idiot”.

Where do I start?

With the “corrupt politicians being corrupt politicians” in Cuyahoga County, home of Cleveland, OH?  And we wonder why our county can’t get anything done.  Proof positive the buddy system still works well in local politics.  The local yokels turn over their local politicians about as often as senators choose not to run for re-election.  If these guys don’t go to jail, they will probably be re-elected.

With the Chinese, who are monitoring and limiting the rights of visitors in their hotel rooms during the Olympics, or with the American media and companies that are complying with the mandate?  (How do you say “Chinese dhimmi” in Arabic?)

With our beloved “how low can you go” Congress?  You know, starring the “most ethical Congress…ever!” people – led by that mover and shaker of all things San Fran, Nancy Pelosi.  Also starring second-fiddle Republicans.  The country agrees we have a problem with energy.  The citizens want something done about it.  And Congress agreed…the Dems agreed they should go home for summer break, and most Repubs did the same.  Only a small handful chose to stick around to “debate” how to solve the energy crisis.  (Too little, too late in my opinion; this was mostly for show.  So what if it energizes the 40+ Republican Congressmen who participated; where were the others, and how will they communicate this to their base?)

Or with the new distributor of the “Standard Deviants” educational series, Goldhill Educational.  If you don’t get the Standard Deviants on PBS (we do not), they have many excellent videos for education.  They are entertaining, funny, and highly educational.  Just ask my eleven and six year old children, who ask to watch these made-for-high-schoolers videos, and are learning a lot from them.  Well, something has happened with the ability to get these videos.  Goldhill had a “we’re dumping our VHS videos” sale, and we decided to buy nine of the titles.  They were free; we only had to pay the $13 in shipping.

Here we are, almost six weeks later, and no videos.  We tried to look for a contact number; none can be found.  The web site’s FAQ section has been pared down to almost nothing.  Three e-mails to customer support and two e-mails to the webmaster have gone unanswered.  This is not promising.  And I want my $13 back if they really aren’t going to ship the videos.  Crooks!

Because of the sheer impact to my children’s education, I should give the Idiot of the Week award to Goldhill Education.  However, that’s small potatoes compared to the jump in my energy bills and gasoline prices.  Here’s to you, Congress, for thirty years of bad policies (Dems) and wimpiness (Repubs), putting the American people in the position they are in.  You certainly know how to destroy an economy and a nation.