I have the biggest jumble of ideas in my head right now. First of all, I really want to post about my class, but am so afraid one of the other women in it will somehow find my blog and i'll just end up pissing someone off. Secondly, we watched this video in the class, and it had an idea in it that I'm keen to discuss. And lastly, I was reading Fables of the Reconstruction, a blog I enjoy very much, and came across some ideas about 9/11 and terrorism that were really interesting. I think, actually, that I'll make this a really long entry and address all the points as well as I can.
- Class: I had my first class today and I'm not really worried about it anymore. It was really sad for me to realize that I'd be twiddling my thumbs, bored out of my mind for a lot of the class time. I just don't need lessons on how to navigate around the web. And there are a couple women in the class who are simply not intelligent. I believe one of my doodles was of a box of rocks, if that means anything to you. And it's not that I consider myself better than those people, because they're in that class to learn, and that's a good thing, it's just that I have a really hard time sitting through 20 minutes of questions about something that is easy for me. I could say so many not-nice things about some of these people, but it would serve no purpose. I would just be illustrating the point of this whole thing, which is that I'm frustrated already. Most of the women are nice, and quite a few of them have professed their love of books, but most of them are older (4 in their 50's and 1 even in her 60's), but age isn't the problem. The 60 year old lady, who is so sweet, knows more about computers than two of the teenagers. Two or three of these women don't know how to do anything; a couple are very proficient, like me. And frankly, a few are just not smart. One asked if she had to use email, because she didn't know how. The class is web-enhanced. All assignments are to be turned in online. Yeah, you kinda need to use email. Anyway, right now I'm gritting my teeth and hoping my other class is better. That's all I can say right now, without sounding awful.
- The Video: discussed the idea of paradigms. Basically, a paradigm is a problem solving method. But here's an illustration: the narrator was talking about paradigm shifts, and he used music as a way. The paradigm started with the walkman, then shifted to the discman, and now shifts to the Mp3 player. Except he showed an Mp3 player that had a memory card. In 2002, he showed an Mp3 player with a memory card. Do those even exist? Because the only portable music device that really matters is an iPod, and if for some reason you think I'm wrong, it's only because you don't have an iPod. Anyway, it was very hard for me to pay attention to this man after that because holy crap, it had a memory card. Anyway, paradigm shifting etc etc, made me think of those people out there who still support Bush. Frankly, the paradigm has shifted, and Bush isn't shifting with it. Which brings me to.....
- Fables of the Reconstruction: The guy who runs this blog made some awesome points in his post today. The part I was interested in was the part about Bush preventing terror. Look, this guy can do nothing to prevent terror. Al Queda hasn't attacked in the US again, but it doesn't mean they won't, and it doesn't mean they won't if Bush gets re-elected. They're not refraining from attacking because we're so powerful and we've done so much to stop them. Frankly, I think we're being done enough damage by the "insurgents" in Iraq (and I'm not above thinking that Al Queda doesn't notice this; however, all this stuff about them wanting to influence the election is horseshit, because I'm of the opinion al Queda would be for Bush. Let's be honest, he hasn't exactly done much damage to the infrastructure, has he? And he didn't catch Osama. But that is a whole 'nother can of worms.). And I don't really consider them terrorists. They're using bad methods, but aren't they really just the resistance to occupation that most occupied countries face? Wouldn't you resist if the US was occupied? And don't say it's different, because you know what? It isn't. Our military is occupying their country to bring them democracy. It can't work in a society organized on principles of inequality, which is what so many of those Middle Eastern societies are. It won't work, and whenever we leave, I think we'll see that it's true.
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