Game Changers
Jun. 2nd, 2010 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aseFirst, who wants to read cover letters? Hit me in comments and I will send you a cover letter and resume for critique. There's several positions I'm applying for, and I have a nasty suspicion I need to rip apart and redo my applications to better showcase my awesome. Hence my lousy mood for the rest of this post.
I haven't had a lot to say about the BP Gulf oil disaster, because what can you say to the Post's interactive map showing literally tons and barrels of destruction slicking the Gulf? This is making the Exxon Valdez spill look like small potatoes: already economically depressed Gulf communities are going to get hit again by a completely different once-in-a-lifetime disaster. What are you supposed to do? If I were a different person, ditching San Francisco to scrape the oil off the beaches might sound like a worthy use of my time and talents. I think I would do better to avoid the sticky Gulf summer and get a job here: my ability to generate income and redirect it to unemployment / job retraining, environmental and other organizations is worth more than a summer of me trying to hold back the sea.
I had a whole rant that boils down to, "please never speak to me about Amanda Palmer's inability to Get It (whatever It may be this week) ever again." Some individuals - I'd go so far as to say, a non-negligible minority of humanity - aren't going to understand why people are throwing fits until they've been in the "discriminated against" category. I see no point in getting my blood pressure up about their lack of imagination and/or empathy. There was a part two about my utter loathing of Katy Perry, but then I decided to take my own advice. Perry is on the "dive for the FM tuner" list for a reason.
I guess the positive spin would be to ask, "so how do you change people's minds?" I'm thinking of a certain former teacher of mine: we found each other on facebook, and then I found out she's anti-vaccination. How does one get past the desire to either retreat and never speak of this again, or the equal-and-opposite desire beat in the other person's head with their incredible failure of critical thinking? The important thing is persuading the other person to change their mind, not to prove I'm right and they're wrong. ("Even if," the little voice on my shoulder says, "that's totally true." Can it, little voice: you are not helping.)
I haven't had a lot to say about the BP Gulf oil disaster, because what can you say to the Post's interactive map showing literally tons and barrels of destruction slicking the Gulf? This is making the Exxon Valdez spill look like small potatoes: already economically depressed Gulf communities are going to get hit again by a completely different once-in-a-lifetime disaster. What are you supposed to do? If I were a different person, ditching San Francisco to scrape the oil off the beaches might sound like a worthy use of my time and talents. I think I would do better to avoid the sticky Gulf summer and get a job here: my ability to generate income and redirect it to unemployment / job retraining, environmental and other organizations is worth more than a summer of me trying to hold back the sea.
I had a whole rant that boils down to, "please never speak to me about Amanda Palmer's inability to Get It (whatever It may be this week) ever again." Some individuals - I'd go so far as to say, a non-negligible minority of humanity - aren't going to understand why people are throwing fits until they've been in the "discriminated against" category. I see no point in getting my blood pressure up about their lack of imagination and/or empathy. There was a part two about my utter loathing of Katy Perry, but then I decided to take my own advice. Perry is on the "dive for the FM tuner" list for a reason.
I guess the positive spin would be to ask, "so how do you change people's minds?" I'm thinking of a certain former teacher of mine: we found each other on facebook, and then I found out she's anti-vaccination. How does one get past the desire to either retreat and never speak of this again, or the equal-and-opposite desire beat in the other person's head with their incredible failure of critical thinking? The important thing is persuading the other person to change their mind, not to prove I'm right and they're wrong. ("Even if," the little voice on my shoulder says, "that's totally true." Can it, little voice: you are not helping.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-03 03:35 pm (UTC)