More Chances to Learn

There are three relatively new Web sites that provide free access to thousands of video lectures by university professors, other educators, and experts in all facets of business and academic pursuits.

1. www.ted.com
2. www.youtube.com/edu
3. www.academicearth.org

All of these are free and have something to appeal to everyone's level of interest and curiosity.

They don't lead to college credit, but still.................

Enjoy!

Trivializing Torture

In the old days, before political correctness grabbed our imaginations, we used to glibly refer to "the Chinese water torture," acting as though we somehow knew what that actually meant. We supposed it was something like the heartless dripping of a faucet, which is something we've all experienced. We also used to laugh heartily at the prospect of torture manifesting itself as imprisonment in a dark cage and being subjected to the unending, repetitive playing of "She wore an itsy-bitsy, teeney-weeney, yellow polka-dot bikini" over a tinny loudspeaker, thereby creating an earworm that would plague us long after the song itself had ceased. These tortures were, of course, more mental than physical. We would often pretend we were being tortured by our mere juxtaposition to a person or social situation we did not like. Ah, those days of torture; how elusive and implausible they were.

Now we are being asked to define torture for real---in our country, as a national security practice, as a community of diverse opinions and beliefs, and in our individual consciences. Torture asks the question: "What would shock the conscience?"

Torture is currently being animatedly discussed by everyone, but perhaps not yet very rationally or effectively, on three simultaneous levels:

1. Is it moral?

2. Is it legal?

3. Is it effective?

My opinion is that it is none of those things. What is your opinion?

Waterboarding seems to head the list of tortures being discussed and denied. It is a practice that was used to interrogate 9/11 detainees at Gitmo and prisoners in Iraq. Is waterboarding torture? Some say it is not because it doesn't cause any "lasting harm." How do we know that it doesn't cause any lasting harm? We don't.

Some say also that waterboarding is a technique that merely simulates drowning. Journalist Christopher Hitchens subjected himself to waterboarding to see what it was like. Even though his voluntary waterboarding was done under strictly supervised conditions and he had a panic button he could press when he reached a point of uncomfortability with the experience, his conclusion is that waterboarding "...is actual drowning that simulates death." That is quite a different point of view.

Sean Hannity, one of the conservative bloviators on FOX News, stated that he would happily undergo waterboarding just to prove to "the folks" that it was not torture. Thus far, there have been no reliable reports that he has made good on his boastful offer. Let's see if he ever does. He and others of his ilk continue to trivialize the seriousness of this discussion by referring to torture as "enhanced interrogation techniques."

For those who do not consider waterboarding to be torture, they should undergo it just for the hell of it to check it out.

Cotard Syndrome

Also known as Cotard delusion and nihilistic or negation delusion, Cotard syndrome is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person delusionally believes that he or she is dead or does not exist. It is named after Dr. Jules Cotard (1840-1889), a French neurologist who first described the syndrome of "negation delirium" at an 1880 lecture in Paris. It is associated with manic-depressive disorder, neurological disease, and derealization. The main character in Charlie Kaufman's movie Synecdoche, New York is named Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and his wife is Adele Lack (Catherine Keener). This syndrome also consists of mental depression and suicidal tendencies, in which the patient believes s/he has lost everything from possessions to parts of or his/her entire body, often believing that s/he has died and is a walking corpse. Attempted suicide seems to provide a challenge to the patient to test the delusion of already being dead. Cotard syndrome is usually expanded to the degree that the patient might claim that he can smell his rotting flesh and feel worms crawling through his skin. Showers or baths don't seem to help. The latter phenomenon is a recurring experience of people chronically deprived of sleep or suffering amphetamine or cocaine psychosis. Paradoxically, being "dead" often gives the patient the notion of being immortal. Other megalomelancholic ideas may be present. Many patients complain bitterly to others of the enormous hardships of being dead. One can just imagine... The etiology of Cotard delusion is so far unknown. Because tricyclic and selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants are ineffective, the treatment most often used is electroconvulsive therapy.

Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman is most noted for his screenplays for the movies Adaptation (2002), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he won an Oscar in 2005 for best original screenplay, and Synecdoche, New York (2008), on which he made his directorial debut. He was executive producer of Being John Malkovich (1999). If you are familiar with any, some, or all of these movies, you will understand that Charlie Kaufman brings a unique and sometimes confusing, but always challenging, perspective to cinema and literature. These movies are not for the faint of heart or the lame of brain. They require thinking and reflection. They are mindbending and not easily understood without some effort on the part of the viewer. And that is OK. Not everything should be so easy to understand that its audience could be third-graders.

Synecdoche, New York is certainly not easy to understand, but it's worth the effort to try to understand it. Some might say that this movie is inchoate, but I think it's a tapestry and delightfully surrealistic. It does impart incisive wisdom, and it's full of irony, puns, and neuroses. And the soundtrack is compelling, romantic, and nostalgic. Here is a YouTube link to the song that accompanies the closing credits of the film. Perhaps it will motivate you to see the movie and let your comments be known on this blog. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKQqxt7xd20

Spring 2009

This is what spring looks like in Baltimore.

Oneness and Earth Day

All things are one, but they are not the same. It is marvelous to revel in this unity while at the same time appreciating our differences.

We humans are all members of the same species, made of atoms, containing the same organs, and harboring the same basic needs and impulses, and yet our behavior and thoughts are highly individualized. Is this God manifesting in so many ways that the variety is unfathomable? If we saw ourselves as co-creators, perhaps we would (like ants and bees who operate with "one mind") be more kind to all living things.

Oneness is not sameness, but the belief in our oneness and divinity may bring us to acceptance of things as they are.

Happy Earth Day! We have another chance to practice the sacred today (and every day) because we are alive and alove.

Bullying

A respected colleague has written a timely essay on bullies and bullying, and I would like to give it space in my blog because I think it pertains not only to the work place but also to our national politics and the bullying that goes on there daily, especially on cable television "news" outlets. I invite you, as well, to share your thoughts, possible solutions, and stories about bullying and how it affects your personal psychology.

"As I was struggling to sleep, it came to me why I was so troubled by a colleague’s unprovoked outburst in a recent e-mail. It was because she represents the bully---the bully that I’ve met at every turn in my life. And, I thought, here we go again… and, frankly, I’m not in the mood. It started way back with the nuns, and thereafter in almost every job I’ve had, a bully has been part and parcel.

The bully is that person who doesn’t care what you think and won’t respect individual differences---that person who refuses to acknowledge that respectable diversity adds to the group dynamic. Instead, bullies chooses to crush everyone else into submission---submission to their ideas, their way of doing things, and their self-righteous perception of their supremacy.

With bullies, you can’t take, or explain, the high road because they don’t understand it. They interpret the high road as a sign of weakness. They can’t or won’t comprehend that they should be ashamed of themselves. Bullies are those overbearing persons that all of the nice people are forced to deal with---the ones whose bad behavior is continually excused because we feel sorry that they’re out of control. They wreck the party for the rest of us.

Think of a recipe that entails delectable spices and ingredients. If one spice is added too heavily, the dish is ruined. The bully is the person who doesn’t understand that it’s the blend of spices that makes the dish delicious and desirable. They are the heavy-handed spice that ruins the dish, that overpowers the gentle salt and black pepper that, although plainer, are necessary to have the recipe spring into a balanced creation.

I’ve always tried to take the high road, even with the bullies. But with the bullies, I’ve learned to regret it. Initially, they are conciliatory---and even in that, they are overpowering, pandering, disingenuous. It’s hard to swallow, but we do so because we are the nice people. Bullies are sometimes temporarily on good behavior because “someone” is watching, paying attention–and it isn’t God they’re playing to.

Their good behavior only lasts until the next time---and there’s always a next time. Before you know it, it’s a formula. They falter, we excuse, they falter, we excuse, and on and on ad nauseum. Eventually, their behavior is expected, anticipated, but always excused because, as we all know, that’s just how they are. Instead of forcing them to rise to our level, we each die a little by accepting their unacceptable behavior, ultimately rendering it accepted even though unwelcomed. It’s our failure, but we shoulder it by taking the high road."