stupid american
On How I Didn’t Have an Ethical Dilemma
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I was thinking about a job that a friend of mine has, and how I don’t really like it. I was trying to sort out why I thought it was ethically wrong, and then I went on a little rabbit trail about how maybe it was actually morally wrong. And then I realized that I didn’t really know the difference.
So I looked it up.
In short, morals just belong to you. They depend on what you think and how you view the world. They usually don’t fluctuate easily. Ethics, on the other hand, are determine by the people you associate with–socially, nationally, whatever.
The example given on WiseGeek (yeah, I know) is that of a criminal defense lawyer. Although his moral sense may make the crime seem offensive to him, his ethical sense will drive him to defend the criminal in order to uphold the judicial system.
Okay. That seems to be the common knowledge about it. However. There’s always a however.
There seems to be some general online dissent (oh no! online dissent!) about the etymology of the words. So… I tried the “Online Etymoligical Dictionary” out. Ethics comes from the Greek, ethos, meaning “custom” or “moral character.” So that sounds societal. But it also sounds personal. Morals comes from the Latin, moralis, meaning “proper behavior in society” or from the Old French, meaning “temperment.” And that sounds societal and/or personal too. Which means that, uh, they’re pretty much the same.
You can get crazy philosophically too, and break it down into descriptive ethics, normative ethics, or metaethics. But. Let’s not. I prefer the first definition.
Suffice it to say, but the end of this whole thing, I didn’t care much about that girl’s job anyway.
Also. Yeah, I seem to have blogged. Let’s see how it goes.
Famous People Deciding Not to Be More Famous
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A little tidbit that almost sneaked (snuck?) past me in the news today:
Sanjay Gupta (you know, from CNN), who has been Obama’s main choice for surgeon general just withdrew his name from consideration. It’s not a hot seat for policy making, but with Obama’s big healthcare plans, it would be a great place for America to see a trusted face.
Gupta turned down the job, claiming he wanted to spend more time focusing on medicine and his family.
More on that from NPR if you are interested
Also, as it turns out, sneaked or snuck is just fine.
Tags: obama, sanjay gupta, surgeon general
But Not the Girl Scout Cookie
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Here’s a non-depressing fact for the day. It turns out that a “do-si-do” is called that because “dos” in French means back, and, well, if you don’t know this, you go back to back with our partner during a do-si-do.
One for the Other Thumb
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Today I learned that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best pro football franchise ever. Just kidding–I already knew that.
But there are some things I don’t really know about football. For instance, I can’t ever recognize holding unless someone tells me where to look. And I don’t know the difference between false start, encroachment and offsides. But that is easily remedied.
False Start – this is when a member of the offense moves before the snap (unless they are moving parallel to the line of scrimmage.) (Five yards)
Encroachment – this is when a member of the defense crosses the line of scrimmage and makes physical contact with a member of the offense. (Five yards)
Offsides – this can be on offense or defense, and it happens when a player is on the line of scrimmage before the snap (but if you cross, and then go back before the snap you’re okay.) (Five yards)
And this one really sucks: Pass Interference – this is when a defender illegally stops an eligible receiver from catching a forward pass. If the receiver is within five yards of the line of scrimmage, the defender can touch him, but after that, contact with the intention of stopping the catch is a penalty. If the defender accidentally touches the receiver in an attempt to catch the ball, then that’s okay. This is generally a violation committed by the defense, but there is also offensive pass interference. (NFL – Ball goes to the site of the foul, automatic first down; College – fifteen yards, automatic first down)
But um… Yay Steelers!
You Gotta Have Seoul
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What if I make all my post titles into predictable puns? Will you still read this? If you do, I probably won’t respect you.
I talked about this with North Korea, but to recap: Korea was one whole but repressed nation for over a century, until World War II ended, and Soviet forces took North Korea while the United States occupied South Korea. The idea was that this would be temporary until Korea could unite as an independent country, but as they were governed so differently, an uncrossable rift formed. (More on that from the Library of Congress if you’re interested) So that all led to the Korean War which ended in 1953, although since there was no official declaration of peace, the Korean War actually lasted over fifty years. Technically.
What marked South Korea’s development most throughout the second half of the 20th century was the development of the economy through industrial conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai. (These, when owned by a family, are called chaebol.)
Currently South Korea has the thirteenth largest economy in the world, and the third in Asia, although they are still at risk in the global economic crisis. Relations are still terrible with North Korea and the border between the two–the demilitarized zone, or DMZ–is the most heavily guarded in the world. The US has thousands of troops there, but has been moving them out.
Lee Myung-bak has held the position of President of the Republic of Korea since his election in February 2008. His main focus is on economy reforms. He popularity and support dropped drastically in the middle of last year as a result of his decision to import US beef. This was a big deal because of mad cow disease.
Mostly: Source.
Kim Jong-il
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I decided to take a break from Israel-Palestine and try to learn something about someone no one really seems to know about?
Kim Jong-il (or Jong Il) is the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He steers clear of the media, and many rumors about his lucidity and health have circulated, but here is what I know for sure.
He is referred to as “Great Leader” or “Dear Leader” by North Koreans, and was named successor to his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1980. It was 11 years after that when he first assumed a position of real power, controlling the armed forces.
Kim Jong-il assumed his position of supreme power when his father died in 1994. In 1998 the Supreme Peoples’ Assembly declared his position the highest office of state.
But the fun stuff is all the rumors. He has been called a playboy, a hypochondriac, and… a movie buff? On a more serious note, he is accused of being linked to some serious terrorist action. But the best one is that there are people who believe that he died in 2003 of a diabetic attack and that impostors have been negotiating in his stead for the past five years.
But don’t let all that throw you off. Madeleine Albright who met with him said he was well-informed and on top of his brief, if not always logical in his arguments.
Tomorrow: North Korea, nuclear policy, and humanitarian issues.
As always, I must thank the ever-faithful BBC News, some other non-American medium(haha), and Wikipedia just for being there.
Fun fact of the day: gastronomyis the science of good eating, practiced by gastromonists or, more commonly, gastronomes. Um, Kim Jong-il is one.
Gaza for Dummies Day 2: Hamas
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Well, Biz, good luck finding a neutral source.
Okay, Hamas is an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement” (translation deleted.) Currently they have had control of the Palestinian National Authority which has governed Palestinian territories (like, surprise, Gaza Strip) since 2006.
You know, I think this calls for a bulleted list, cause who doesn’t love a bulleted list?
- Hamas does not recognize the state of Israel
- They have carried out multiple terrorist attacks against Israeli through suicide bombing and short-range missiles
- They lead humanitarian efforts within Palestinian territory building schools and hospitals and attempting to aid the community socially and religiously
- Their goals include making Palestine a wholly Islamist state and completely removing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- They have an estimated budget of about $70-mil a year (funded in large part by Iran, but also through some Muslim charitable organizations around the world)
- Hamas has over a thousand active members, and several times that in supporters and sympathizers
- “According to Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, in late 2006 Hamas still enjoyed public backing, though most Palestinians also wanted to see a negotiated settlement with Israel” (that’s directly copied, link and all)
I built this all around information from the Council on Foreign Relations site and, to a lesser degree, this somewhat dated BBC Profile.
PS – Vocab word of the day = intifada, meaning uprising or rebellion, coined in1985 and specifically referring to Palestinian rebellions against Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza.
Tomorrow: Events leading up to today’s situation in Gaza (I think…)
NOTE: There is now a Gaza for Dummies page – which attempts to put all of these posts into some semblance of order
Tags: gaza, hamas, intifada, israel, palestine
Tetrameter
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I always think that the prefix “tetra” should mean three. I think it’s the “t.” But, no, it doesn’t. It means four. Like how their are four blocks in every Tetris piece.
So iambic tetrameter then, I iambic pentameter, minus a foot.
Crash course for anyone who ever reads this and needs a crash course(?): A poetic foot or measure is a unit of syllables with a particular pattern. Most commonly known is the iamb, which is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. duh-DUM. Iambic pentameter, then, is five of those in one line. duh-DUM duh-DUM duh-DUM duh-DUM duh-DUM. And my new fact for the day is that iambic tetrameter is one duh-DUM fewer.
Trochaic tetrameter is the exact opposite of iambic, in that it is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.
When I was in eleventh grade we studied ballads written with alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter (that one, obviously, being three.)
Iambic tetrameter: She Walks in Beauty, Like the Night by Lord Byron
Iambic pentameter: Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare (Really any sonnet or play works–except some chunks of Midsummer Night’s Dream–but I’ve loved this one since My So-Called Life used it.)
Iambic tetrameter/trimeter: Death by Emily Dickinson
Trochaic tetrameter: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (worst middle name ever)
All in all, knowing this stuff is virtually useless (unless you’re an English teacher like me, or a poet – not like me at all.) But still, it’s kind of good back-pocket information. It makes me feel better to know it. Like being able to name all the Supreme Court justices.
And a break from politics – probably a good idea, at least once a week.
Starting Off Easy
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I’ve been reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s great, but don’t read it unless you like going, “Man, that is so weird.”
Whatever. The point is that usually when I read, I rely on context clues, cause I have my eighth grade English skills in tact like that. So I had no problem with “politburo” when I came across it.
But context clues never give you the whole story. I spent years believing “immaculate” meant “big.” (It usually works until you start to think about the immaculate conception.)
But as it turns out, a politburo is “the principal policy-making and executive committee of a Communist party” or an abbreviation of “political bureau.” (I thought it was just one guy.)
Check it out, though, while the word was coined in 1925 in Russian (politbyuro), it’s still very much alive, in China for example.
(Big ups to m-w.com and wikipedia – today’s was an easy one)
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