It has been hard for me over the past several weeks, trying to come to terms with serious cognitive dissonance. For those of you unfamiliar with this symptom, it is a condition of "a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions simultaneously". It means my appreciation of one thing, causes a contrary feeling that it must be wrong.
So when Pat Robertson who is basically the embodiment of religious fruitcake-dom comes out in favor of legalizing marijuana, I am at a loss for words and lie awake nights worrying about liking him.
As many of my readers understand, I have issues with religious "leaders" who want to inflict their deranged ideas on us. Yes, we progressive types know they are nut cases, but so many others don't! I think the whole Roman Catholic Church leadership is ready for commitment to some sort of asylum, but amazingly some people still listen to what its leadership has to say. And never mind the hypocrisy.
So for many years, I have been able to dismiss Pat Robertson with his insane comments on Haitian dealings with the devil, tornado victims not praying enough, or knowing who God will pick in the US Presidential election (but not telling us). He is clearly barking mad, bat s**t crazy as some would say.
But then he comes out in support of legalizing marijuana, not because he is a pothead (heaven forbid), but for the essentially progressive reasons of reducing prison populations and not incarcerating people for non-violent crimes. I mean... this has even been discussed in the notoriously liberal Atlantic Magazine!
What am I to think! On the one hand Pat Robertson is so clearly in profound need of some sort of medication, but on the other he spouts something that is so totally coherent and reasonable. It reminds me of a story my father told me many years ago. It probably is apocryphal, but he did work as a doctor at a "mental institution" (he met my mother there), so it is plausibly true.
The story goes like this.
A car has a flat tire outside the mental institution where my father worked. The driver gets out and, cursing all the while in frustration, begins to change the tire. He removes all the lug nuts and puts them into the hub cap behind him in the street while he struggles with the heavy tire. While he is removing the tire, another car comes breezing past and just nicks the edge of his hubcap, sending the lug nuts spinning off into the drainage ditch or wherever, unrecoverable.
The driver stands up and presses his hands to his face in frustration.
Then from behind the barred windows of the asylum, a man in hospital garb calls down to him, "Hey! You at the car!"
The driver looks up. The man behind the bars looks ominous. "What do YOU want?!" He exclaims in exasperation. "Can't you see I am in trouble here?!" He is on the verge of tears.
The man behind the bars says calmly, "Why don't you take one lug nut off each of the other 3 wheels and attach your spare tire with them? That would be good enough to get you to a gas station or service garage."
The driver is incredulous. "Oh... you're right! Oh my, I can do that! What a great idea! Thank you so much!"
The man behind the bars responds, "I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid."
Maybe that is what is happening with Pat Robertson?
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Conservative? There's a pill for that now.
Progressives like me have often stood back in awed incredulity at some things conservatives say they believe: the Earth was created 6000 years ago, guns at home will protect you from the government, a second-class status for women is God's will, President Obama is not an American, on and on. When I say "conservative" here, I am not talking about conservatives like President Eisenhower or even Ronald Reagan. I am talking about the gay-hating, gun-toting, racist, tea party, misogynist, creation-thumping conservatives. You know the ones – the "bottom line" supporters of Rick Santorum.
For so long, we thought that this was an enlightenment problem; they just needed to be dragged out of the 12th century and into the modern world by education, and all would be OK.
How wrong we were.
Even a four-year, college education only helps 62% of them, according to Rick Santorum; it didn't cure him, obviously.
Recent research conducted by Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology, shows that conservatives have fearful ideologies, "because such ideologies feature 'structure and order' that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world. Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice."
Moreover, it seems that conservatives' very brains are different. Other research done in the UK points up the fact that conservatives have larger centers of the brain associated with fear. The researchers caution that whether this is a cause or an effect is not clear. Indeed, being "born again", an experience shared by many turbo-conservatives has been linked to atrophy of the hippocampus, the "part of the brain critical to learning and memory".
Then comes along this study done at Oxford University, no less, which seems to show that racist and probably other "fearful" conditions can be treated by a common medication for heart disease. Racism and sexism have already been linked to certain personality disorders associated with other conservative views, so it might well be that a whole array of conservative symptoms might be a part of a bigger but treatable condition.
Clearly we need to stop thinking of conservatism as something that more time in the classroom will ameliorate but rather as a mental health issue. Medications like those mentioned above need to be developed so that they specifically target the fears of right wingers. This way doctors can prescribe a pill to cure someone of – say – an irrational fear that President Obama is a Muslim, or that gay marriages somehow affect straight life. Maybe – with luck – a pill could even be developed to cure creationism and other extreme Old Testamentarian views!
Of course, getting these cantankerous people to take their medications for their own good (and ours) might be difficult, but a doctor's orders will carry a lot of weight. Since conservatism is so clearly a mental disorder, it should be included in the DSM IV, so that these palliative medications can be prescribed as a part of a health insurance plan. I certainly would not have a moral objection to THESE pills being covered by health insurance.
For so long, we thought that this was an enlightenment problem; they just needed to be dragged out of the 12th century and into the modern world by education, and all would be OK.
How wrong we were.
Even a four-year, college education only helps 62% of them, according to Rick Santorum; it didn't cure him, obviously.
Recent research conducted by Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology, shows that conservatives have fearful ideologies, "because such ideologies feature 'structure and order' that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world. Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice."
Moreover, it seems that conservatives' very brains are different. Other research done in the UK points up the fact that conservatives have larger centers of the brain associated with fear. The researchers caution that whether this is a cause or an effect is not clear. Indeed, being "born again", an experience shared by many turbo-conservatives has been linked to atrophy of the hippocampus, the "part of the brain critical to learning and memory".
Then comes along this study done at Oxford University, no less, which seems to show that racist and probably other "fearful" conditions can be treated by a common medication for heart disease. Racism and sexism have already been linked to certain personality disorders associated with other conservative views, so it might well be that a whole array of conservative symptoms might be a part of a bigger but treatable condition.
Clearly we need to stop thinking of conservatism as something that more time in the classroom will ameliorate but rather as a mental health issue. Medications like those mentioned above need to be developed so that they specifically target the fears of right wingers. This way doctors can prescribe a pill to cure someone of – say – an irrational fear that President Obama is a Muslim, or that gay marriages somehow affect straight life. Maybe – with luck – a pill could even be developed to cure creationism and other extreme Old Testamentarian views!
Of course, getting these cantankerous people to take their medications for their own good (and ours) might be difficult, but a doctor's orders will carry a lot of weight. Since conservatism is so clearly a mental disorder, it should be included in the DSM IV, so that these palliative medications can be prescribed as a part of a health insurance plan. I certainly would not have a moral objection to THESE pills being covered by health insurance.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Rememberance and Reflection
Rememberance
One year ago yesterday, on March 11, 2011 at 14:46 an earthquake, the most powerful ever to hit Japan, measuring an incredible 9.0, struck off the northeast coast of Japan, an earthquake so monstrous, it shifted the planet off its axis. The tectonic "snap" lifted an 8-meter column of water from the cold depths of the Pacific Ocean and hurled a towering tsunami wave at the coastline of Japan. The wall of water struck with irresistible force, overwhelming sea walls, tree barriers, schools and residences across almost 550 km of coastline. The videos of that surge remain indelible in our memories. A nuclear power plant built to withstand a tsunami of 6 meters was inundated by the surge of ocean water 15 meters high. An elementary school in Ishinomaki lost 74 pupils; 10 teachers were also killed. The students' parents, away at work, survived; some lost all their children. The highest recorded inundation reached over 38 meters (125 ft) up the hillsides.
The coastline was devastated; entire villages were washed away (check Google Earth for Ishinomaki and then scroll up or down the coast). To date, 15,848 people are confirmed dead with another 3,305 missing. An additional 6,011 were injured. To put this in an American perspective, Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in US history, killed 1,836 people, and America's population is 2.46 times as large as Japan's.
Imagine an earthquake and tsunami, striking the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest, killing 38,986 people, injuring 14,787, and leaving 8,130 unaccounted for. Rikuzentakata, a coastal city of 23,302 was washed off the map by the tsunami (4th picture down). 7.1% of its population was killed. This would be the equivalent of the city of Shoreline near Seattle, population 53,190, being swept away with 3,776 dead.
Fukushima Prefecture, hard hit by the tsunami, was further devastated by the nuclear disaster. Fukushima's population of 2,028,752 would put it in the same equivalent-size range as a state of around 5 million in the US (Colorado). After the nuclear accident, people were evacuated from a 20 kilometer zone and from an additional "plume affected" area. Fukushima was Japan's number one producer of peaches, and also well-known for many other agricultural and seafood products. Although only a relatively small area was directly contaminated by the nuclear plants, any product labeled "Fukushima" might as well have a skull and cross bones on it today. The prefecture's entire agricultural business, fishing industry, and every other product has fallen under deep suspicion. Even manufactured articles – household goods, auto parts – need to come with a seal of inspection for radiation. Despite agencies confirming the safety of many items, nobody outside Fukushima will buy them. Imagine Oregon (somewhat smaller relative population of 3.8 million) shut down virtually overnight with no rebound in sight. Oregon beef, dairy, forestry and fisheries products, wine, manufactured electronics, even mined products, all being shunned by the rest of the nation. What are the people who live there to do?
Recovery has been proceeding apace, resulting in a mini-boom in larger urban hubs like Sendai, but for the many small coastal towns like Rikuzentakata the disaster was an existential calamity. Its aging and declining population from a high in 1970 of about 30,000 to 23,302 before the tsunami was typical of outlying rural areas in Japan. The tsunami swept away everything in the city, forcing those who survived to move into shelters and then "temporary" housing. Houses cannot be rebuilt on the ravaged land and there is too little space on higher ground to relocate everyone. Over the past year, those who are young and have families have trickled away to find work, taking away the group who would be the city's only hope for revitalization. Across the area, the total number of people living in "temporary" housing as a result of the disaster is almost 350,000. In American terms this would be in excess of 860,000 people... a year after the disaster. Many of them will never go "home" again.
Reflection
Recollecting my own experience in driving over to the tsunami-hit areas 12 days after – two disaster researchers and loads of goods for friends in back – I am still struck by the remembered images: the hopeless, several kilometer-long lines at the gas stations, people standing bewildered in front of shuttered supermarkets, razed towns. I recollect how even on this side of Japan, unaffected by earthquake or tsunami, the shelves in the supermarkets were suddenly emptied of so many items, gasoline was rationed, and other supplies were hard to find.
We live on a precarious edge with civilization. Nature's caprice can bring us down so easily. I do not dig the dirt to plant my food. Nor do I walk a kilometer or two to collect water for my family everyday. We even flush our toilets with drinking water; we are fantastically rich.
And yet, come disaster, we face the reality of having to live without the support our society provides. The "we are all in it together" spirit is a powerful thing – share and share alike – but how close we live to the precipice when there is nothing to share. I remember the awful tragedy a year ago and reflect on my own vulnerability. I feel grateful for my fellow humans around to support me, the comfort of my own, warm house, the preciousness of clean water, hot food. Everything else pales into insignificance.
One year ago yesterday, on March 11, 2011 at 14:46 an earthquake, the most powerful ever to hit Japan, measuring an incredible 9.0, struck off the northeast coast of Japan, an earthquake so monstrous, it shifted the planet off its axis. The tectonic "snap" lifted an 8-meter column of water from the cold depths of the Pacific Ocean and hurled a towering tsunami wave at the coastline of Japan. The wall of water struck with irresistible force, overwhelming sea walls, tree barriers, schools and residences across almost 550 km of coastline. The videos of that surge remain indelible in our memories. A nuclear power plant built to withstand a tsunami of 6 meters was inundated by the surge of ocean water 15 meters high. An elementary school in Ishinomaki lost 74 pupils; 10 teachers were also killed. The students' parents, away at work, survived; some lost all their children. The highest recorded inundation reached over 38 meters (125 ft) up the hillsides.
The coastline was devastated; entire villages were washed away (check Google Earth for Ishinomaki and then scroll up or down the coast). To date, 15,848 people are confirmed dead with another 3,305 missing. An additional 6,011 were injured. To put this in an American perspective, Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in US history, killed 1,836 people, and America's population is 2.46 times as large as Japan's.
Imagine an earthquake and tsunami, striking the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest, killing 38,986 people, injuring 14,787, and leaving 8,130 unaccounted for. Rikuzentakata, a coastal city of 23,302 was washed off the map by the tsunami (4th picture down). 7.1% of its population was killed. This would be the equivalent of the city of Shoreline near Seattle, population 53,190, being swept away with 3,776 dead.
Fukushima Prefecture, hard hit by the tsunami, was further devastated by the nuclear disaster. Fukushima's population of 2,028,752 would put it in the same equivalent-size range as a state of around 5 million in the US (Colorado). After the nuclear accident, people were evacuated from a 20 kilometer zone and from an additional "plume affected" area. Fukushima was Japan's number one producer of peaches, and also well-known for many other agricultural and seafood products. Although only a relatively small area was directly contaminated by the nuclear plants, any product labeled "Fukushima" might as well have a skull and cross bones on it today. The prefecture's entire agricultural business, fishing industry, and every other product has fallen under deep suspicion. Even manufactured articles – household goods, auto parts – need to come with a seal of inspection for radiation. Despite agencies confirming the safety of many items, nobody outside Fukushima will buy them. Imagine Oregon (somewhat smaller relative population of 3.8 million) shut down virtually overnight with no rebound in sight. Oregon beef, dairy, forestry and fisheries products, wine, manufactured electronics, even mined products, all being shunned by the rest of the nation. What are the people who live there to do?
Recovery has been proceeding apace, resulting in a mini-boom in larger urban hubs like Sendai, but for the many small coastal towns like Rikuzentakata the disaster was an existential calamity. Its aging and declining population from a high in 1970 of about 30,000 to 23,302 before the tsunami was typical of outlying rural areas in Japan. The tsunami swept away everything in the city, forcing those who survived to move into shelters and then "temporary" housing. Houses cannot be rebuilt on the ravaged land and there is too little space on higher ground to relocate everyone. Over the past year, those who are young and have families have trickled away to find work, taking away the group who would be the city's only hope for revitalization. Across the area, the total number of people living in "temporary" housing as a result of the disaster is almost 350,000. In American terms this would be in excess of 860,000 people... a year after the disaster. Many of them will never go "home" again.
Reflection
Recollecting my own experience in driving over to the tsunami-hit areas 12 days after – two disaster researchers and loads of goods for friends in back – I am still struck by the remembered images: the hopeless, several kilometer-long lines at the gas stations, people standing bewildered in front of shuttered supermarkets, razed towns. I recollect how even on this side of Japan, unaffected by earthquake or tsunami, the shelves in the supermarkets were suddenly emptied of so many items, gasoline was rationed, and other supplies were hard to find.
We live on a precarious edge with civilization. Nature's caprice can bring us down so easily. I do not dig the dirt to plant my food. Nor do I walk a kilometer or two to collect water for my family everyday. We even flush our toilets with drinking water; we are fantastically rich.
And yet, come disaster, we face the reality of having to live without the support our society provides. The "we are all in it together" spirit is a powerful thing – share and share alike – but how close we live to the precipice when there is nothing to share. I remember the awful tragedy a year ago and reflect on my own vulnerability. I feel grateful for my fellow humans around to support me, the comfort of my own, warm house, the preciousness of clean water, hot food. Everything else pales into insignificance.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Save the Japanese Part 3
There is a movement here in Japan to nominate Japanese cuisine to the UNESCO World Heritage list. A noble effort indeed, but perhaps a more pressing agenda might be to place the Japanese themselves on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species! As I have posted in previous articles here and here, the Japanese are in grave danger of becoming extinct.
All of the signs are bad and looking worse.
What can be done to turn these trends around and save the Japanese from extinction? It's a desperate situation. If nothing is done, someone will be turning out the lights in vast areas of Japan in as little as 40 years.
Some agencies and individuals are trying to reverse this decline.
As I posted recently, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) are doing their bit to encourage marriage. Baseball teams, private businesses, and even local governments have tried to get involved in konkatsu, promoting marriage. Of course, yours truly has tried to do his part, as you can read in the links above.
Despite these efforts the trend is bleak.
And then I read that the National Police Agency (NPA) is cracking down on marriages with foreigners, calling some of them "bogus" and suggesting that they may be "creating the infrastructure for a host of other criminal activities". "Other" criminal activities!
Are they kidding me?
This is no time to be cracking down on marriage! It's like poaching pandas! They should be encouraging this. These marriages could set a good example for other Japanese. A Japanese is getting married in these connections after all; how bad can that be?
Other steps must be taken to reverse these discouraging trends. While I have been active in promoting ideas in this regard (see links above), this is no time to rest on my laurels. I need to keep pushing for new and cutting edge concepts to reverse this course.
Fortunately, I keep abreast of scientific discoveries and happened upon this important information about women's eggs.
You CAN make tiny omelets out of them after all!
Ha! Ha! Just kidding ladies.
No, the research being done reveals that contrary to popular belief, women are not born with a finite number of eggs, but retain the stem cells to produce them throughout their lives. Men also can continue to produce viable sperm until a very advanced age, but the problem seems to be in the "housing" for these reproductive cells. You know... their bodies.
Putting this in easy-to-understand, layman's terms, imagine you are an egg stem cell. At first the up-market neighborhood where you live is lively, growing and full of energy. Naturally, you want to send new eggs out into this welcoming world to find their way and blossom to a better tomorrow. The new sperm models are out too!
But then, as time passes, the old neighborhood starts to fall into decline. Most of the neighbors are cranky, old coots and even some of the nearby houses turn into crack dens. Leering, geezer sperms prowl the streets looking for trouble. Would you want to send your innocent eggs out into a world like this? Of course not. So you plop down on the sofa with the windows barred and watch TV all day in your night gown.
What you don't realize, however, is that withdrawing like this is the very reason for the general decline in the neighborhood!
The same applies to sperm stem cells. After a period of feeling young, dapper and full of oats, they suddenly wake up from their priapic fantasies and see how much their neighborhood has gone downhill. Even the eggs they see hanging around are past their best-by dates. Depressed, they simply give up and wallow in binge drinking and sleeping on the floor with dogs. With dogs!
So scientists want to provide "incentives" for you – the egg or sperm stem cell – to get up off your fat butt, clean up and start sending eggs or sperm out into the world to unite against the challenges you may experience there!
This could reverse many of the symptoms of menopause or – since the experiments are done in mice – "mouseopause" as those forever funny scientists call it. Similar work can be done on men as well. Aging mice have basically been made young again with this cutting edge technology!
The Japanese government needs to get cracking. Along with developing housing for the evacuees from the tsunami and nuclear power plant accident, it also must work on stimulating the "housing" for the poor, reproductive stem cells. Certain proteins have proven to be successful in this effort, so Japan needs to take dramatic steps in these cutting-edge fields. Let's face it, the percentage of people over the age of 65 in Japan is already close to one in four! These people are just farting around, soaking up national resources, and playing golf. Golf! They cannot be allowed to simply go to pasture. No! They need to do their part to help save the Japanese as well. Only by recruiting the "housing challenged" and "stimulating" them to do their part, can Japan expect to see a reversal in its inexorable population decline.
All of the signs are bad and looking worse.
- Japan's population is in decline, likely to fall to 1950s levels in only 40 years, never mind 90 years from now.
- Japanese young people don't want to get married. (complete report from the Japanese government here – in Japanese)
- Japanese young people are not even that interested in sex.
What can be done to turn these trends around and save the Japanese from extinction? It's a desperate situation. If nothing is done, someone will be turning out the lights in vast areas of Japan in as little as 40 years.
Some agencies and individuals are trying to reverse this decline.
As I posted recently, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) are doing their bit to encourage marriage. Baseball teams, private businesses, and even local governments have tried to get involved in konkatsu, promoting marriage. Of course, yours truly has tried to do his part, as you can read in the links above.
Despite these efforts the trend is bleak.
And then I read that the National Police Agency (NPA) is cracking down on marriages with foreigners, calling some of them "bogus" and suggesting that they may be "creating the infrastructure for a host of other criminal activities". "Other" criminal activities!
Are they kidding me?
This is no time to be cracking down on marriage! It's like poaching pandas! They should be encouraging this. These marriages could set a good example for other Japanese. A Japanese is getting married in these connections after all; how bad can that be?
Other steps must be taken to reverse these discouraging trends. While I have been active in promoting ideas in this regard (see links above), this is no time to rest on my laurels. I need to keep pushing for new and cutting edge concepts to reverse this course.
Fortunately, I keep abreast of scientific discoveries and happened upon this important information about women's eggs.
You CAN make tiny omelets out of them after all!
Ha! Ha! Just kidding ladies.
No, the research being done reveals that contrary to popular belief, women are not born with a finite number of eggs, but retain the stem cells to produce them throughout their lives. Men also can continue to produce viable sperm until a very advanced age, but the problem seems to be in the "housing" for these reproductive cells. You know... their bodies.
Putting this in easy-to-understand, layman's terms, imagine you are an egg stem cell. At first the up-market neighborhood where you live is lively, growing and full of energy. Naturally, you want to send new eggs out into this welcoming world to find their way and blossom to a better tomorrow. The new sperm models are out too!
But then, as time passes, the old neighborhood starts to fall into decline. Most of the neighbors are cranky, old coots and even some of the nearby houses turn into crack dens. Leering, geezer sperms prowl the streets looking for trouble. Would you want to send your innocent eggs out into a world like this? Of course not. So you plop down on the sofa with the windows barred and watch TV all day in your night gown.
What you don't realize, however, is that withdrawing like this is the very reason for the general decline in the neighborhood!
The same applies to sperm stem cells. After a period of feeling young, dapper and full of oats, they suddenly wake up from their priapic fantasies and see how much their neighborhood has gone downhill. Even the eggs they see hanging around are past their best-by dates. Depressed, they simply give up and wallow in binge drinking and sleeping on the floor with dogs. With dogs!
So scientists want to provide "incentives" for you – the egg or sperm stem cell – to get up off your fat butt, clean up and start sending eggs or sperm out into the world to unite against the challenges you may experience there!
This could reverse many of the symptoms of menopause or – since the experiments are done in mice – "mouseopause" as those forever funny scientists call it. Similar work can be done on men as well. Aging mice have basically been made young again with this cutting edge technology!
The Japanese government needs to get cracking. Along with developing housing for the evacuees from the tsunami and nuclear power plant accident, it also must work on stimulating the "housing" for the poor, reproductive stem cells. Certain proteins have proven to be successful in this effort, so Japan needs to take dramatic steps in these cutting-edge fields. Let's face it, the percentage of people over the age of 65 in Japan is already close to one in four! These people are just farting around, soaking up national resources, and playing golf. Golf! They cannot be allowed to simply go to pasture. No! They need to do their part to help save the Japanese as well. Only by recruiting the "housing challenged" and "stimulating" them to do their part, can Japan expect to see a reversal in its inexorable population decline.
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