Month: September 2019

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I am in shock that PC bullshit has gone this far.

Laura.jpgThe American Association for Library Service to Children has removed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from one of its awards. They’re changing the name to Children’s Literature Legacy award. Read the article Here

For those who may not know that name, this is the Author of The Little House on the Prairie series of books. You know, an American Classic. The books are considered semi-autobiographical. 

This is being done because in the books she implies Native Americans were not people, and later describes African American people as “Darkies”. 

Laura Ingalls Wider was born in 1867. The books were published between 1932 and 1943. 

Since the books are semi-autobiographical in nature, it is not surprising that they might contain some racist stereotypes. From the perspective of the author, these stereotypes would have been a normal part of her lexicon and she wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with using them.

Once again the PC police are subjecting classical literature to the standards of today. Who’s next? Mark Twain? After all, his writings speak of a black man who was a slave.

I honestly don’t see the point. Why waste the energy to rename awards? In the words of a famous politician, “What does it matter at this point anyway,”

Fahrenheit 451 6I read about stuff like this and think Fahrenheit 451,  or the book burnings of Nazi Germany.

Authors create snapshots  of their times and environment. Without those perspectives from more or less “average people” I feel we risk losing something of ourselves. This is especially concerning if we continue moving toward editing our past just because our current standards are rightfully different from those of our past.

Maybe I’m worried over nothing, in fact, were I in my twenties reading this, I’d probably give it no thought. But one benefit of age is perspective.

It’s not about looking back fondly on older times. It’s the realization that one of the best ways to mark progress is to look at where we’ve been. In that, literature gives us a view that we might otherwise not have. A first person narrative while biased, allows us to see what was normal and contrast that with what is normal, for better or worse.

NevilleC_Hitler.jpgAppeasements typically don’t work, ask Neville Chamberlain. If you don’t know who that is, look him up. He & Hitler had an interesting relationship.

This kind of renaming and whitewashing of history is nothing more than appeasement. In the long run, one incident isn’t significant, but when the appeasements add up well, Poland gets annexed.

Even if you don’t agree, give it some thought and figure out where you personally would draw the line. 

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I often read the news from places I’ve lived…

To err is humanIt’s nice seeing what’s happening in those places I remember fondly. Sometimes though I realize that those places have changed just as much as the rest of the country.  

This morning while reading a Kentucky paper, an article jumped off the page.

The article details how a simple clerical error being amplified by technology caused legal entanglements for an innocent and completely unrelated family 90 miles away.

The article is Here

This is a current example of what I mentioned in the blog post Here

What makes this example stand out are the circumstances that led to it.

Overworked employee, lack of employee retention, outdated computer systems, and the ease with which the myriad of laws and technology’s reach can ensnare anybody at anytime.

dont-think.jpgGiven the speed with which technology can propagate an error. Add the tendency for people to believe what is displayed on their computer screens without question, regardless of data to the contrary and you have a digital mess that the affected individual must correct.

The individual will have to champion their cause alone, usually because they’re fighting the “Not my job syndrome”. 

In many cases even if you manage to find an official that will acknowledge the error, they have no means to correct it.

In my previous job, I saw these kinds of errors all the time. Thankfully I had the ability to correct most of them without having to send it up to higher authority. I was one of the few who could, or cared enough to take the time. Honestly, I knew when I sent something to the higher-ups, whatever it was would fall through the cracks and never be addressed.

It’s good that Fayette county is paying for the legal fees and providing credit monitoring. But I’ll bet that 3, 5, or 10 years down the road the family will once again be fighting to clear their name. 

This is the digital trap we’re creating. I believe that it will only get worse and will eventually choke us.

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If you want to test your phone, or need someone to think you’re really important… Try this!

CellexplodeOkay, 

I goes without saying that the healthcare system in this country is broken, and broken badly.

It’s been this way for years and despite all the posturing and bullshit coming form the mouths of healthcare companies, insurers and our politicians nothing has been done to make it any better. Arguably, everything the government has done has made matters worse.

One of the things that you need to deal with after losing your job is health insurance.

You can go with COBRA which will drive you into the poor house if you have savings, and often will take the entirety of your unemployment benefits. So choosing between insurance, or food, light, heat, etc. most folks will choose to eat

The last time I was on COBRA, the cost was greater than my car payment, at the time I was paying for a BMW. In the case of the car I was receiving a tangible benefit. That was the car sitting in the garage.

This time around, COBRA was not only more than my car payment but it could have made 1/2 of another car payment. I declined to pay for something that had no tangible benefit where I’d still have to pay out of pocket for medications too.

So I reached out to a broker that I’d spoken with in the past and who had been able to connect me with insurance that was reasonably priced. He returned the call, but I missed him. I called him back and left a message, despite repeated messages I’ve left for him, he hasn’t called back. Can’t blame him I can’t imagine dealing with insurance all day every day.

So I thought to myself, “I surely can do some comparison shopping on the internet.”

BOY, WAS I COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY WRONG!

There was a site, that said plainly enough “Compare Quotes” I thought great! They asked for minimum information and I was expecting a table of dollar ranges. You know, something that said;

Rape & Fuckyou Health Partners Inc. $500 – $900 monthly

Fuckyou & Yourmother Medical Inc. $700 – $2500 monthly

Nutkicker Health $300 – $899 monthly

I thought that would get me in the ball park and I’d choose the lesser of the evils and then begin the arduous process of actually dealing with a slimy insurance broker.

As I stated earlier…

I was Wrong!

Within seconds of my asking for a comparison quote my phone blew the fuck up!

It was 7 am, I’m having my first cup of coffee and the person on the one call I answered was on Meth! The conversation started out as a barrage of nonstop questions. Then another call, and another call and another call and …

They’re still calling nonstop a full hour after I pressed that button expecting a nice chart of my options. Thank god TMobile allows me to block annoying phone numbers.

But I know that call waiting works!

It’s my fault.

I knew that putting in my phone number was a bad idea. But being one or two sips into my morning coffee, well my decision making process is compromised. It’s almost as bad as drunk computing…

I’m declining all these calls from Whacko numbers and cities, and they’re not leaving voicemails so I’m assuming that everyone of these people is some kind of scumbag.

I think I may have discovered the telephone equivalent of SWATTING. All you have to do is give your worst enemy’s phone number out to a few Healthcare quote sites and you can render their phone completely useless. I’ll bet if you were to do this at say 9:00 at night you could interrupt someone’s sexual escapades. I know it’s interrupted my morning routine.

On the plus side, now I know better, I know my phone works, and I’ve learned how to really annoy someone. 

On the down side i still haven’t gotten my quote.

I’m thinking I’ll look up the insurance provider I was with before I went to my last job, and see if I can just get a policy  similar to what I had before. It was okay, covered the basics and not too expensive.

Hope you all have a great day.