Let’s start broadly. As worldviews go, there are many. Worldviews are often religious in nature but can be religion-free as well. Every person in the world, by default, thinks that their worldview is the best. This often implies that other worldviews are inferior and/or a threat to your own. There are a few courses of action that a person could take at this point. I’ll first discuss the two that have probably been most common throughout history – extermination and conversion.

Extermination – one simple way to deal with those who you consider inferior and threatening is to eliminate them. This has been a very common technique throughout history and several extreme branches of modern religions still believe this is the best way to deal with those of opposing worldviews. I believe most modern thinkers would realize that this strategy is neither practical (on a global scale) nor moral.

Conversion – another very common way to deal with opposing worldviews. I think this is the most common modern method of dealing with opposing worldviews. However, few people are any good at it and nobody in history has yet been able to convert everybody, and I don’t think that anyone will ever achieve universal conversion. So then, what to do with the unconverted? Often, in history, failures at conversion lead to extermination.

So, I think everyone reading this post would agree that extermination, as a means of dealing with opposing worldviews, is off the table. Which leaves conversion, which, I hope we can all admit, will never be successful to the degree that everyone hopes it will (i.e. complete conversion of everyone else). Which leaves the question, as mentioned above, what to do about the unconverted? I’ll now go into three possible approaches to this problem.

Isolation – you can simply ignore the unconverted. Groups of people like the Amish, Hutterites, and the FLDS, for example, use this strategy. They create small isolated colonies and maintain minimal contact with anyone outside of their communities. These communities, despite being fairly peaceful, have their flaws and I think most people today would argue that the benefits of intergroup contact far outweigh the benefits of isolation. Isolation might work (kind of) for a few, small groups but it would never work on a large scale, especially with today’s global community. Look at North Korea, for example. Near-complete isolation, utterly unsustainable. It’s only a matter of time until the country starves itself out of existence. (Although, you could also make the case that North Korea is most interested in exterminating everyone else but they prudently choose not to try, and opt for isolation instead).

Intolerant Coexistence – this strategy implies an underlying desire for extermination or complete conversion that is tempered by the begrudged acknowledgment that it is prudent, in today’s society, not to attempt to accomplish those goals. Basically, a person using this strategy is always wishing that opposing worldviews didn’t exist or that they would change to their own worldview. It encourages a whole bunch of negative behavior – for example, segregation, racism and other discrimination, hateful speech and behavior, institutionalized inequality and so on. They never achieve the kind of success they desire and, so, live in a state of perpetual frustration. The only way to be happy is for their worldview to have the upper hand. This strategy is a recipe for frustration, disappointment and anger and, unchecked, could easily devolve into extermination behavior.

Tolerant Coexistence – This would mean living with and among people of different worldviews with everyone allowing everyone else the privilege of living their worldview insofar as doing so does not infringe on the ability of anyone else to do the same. No one tries to kill anyone else because of their beliefs and if reasonable efforts at conversion fail, so be it, others are allowed not to convert. As the title of this post states, I find this to be the most preferable strategy but it would require a few things of us. It would require that we admit to ourselves that many opposing worldviews exist and they always will. People would have to lighten up on their beliefs about salvation hinging on how many people you convert or how many non-believers you kill (This would be a tough one for some groups, admittedly). It does not require that anyone believe that other worldviews are “right” or desirable, only that others have just as much right to think as they do as you do to think as you do.

I realize, that if a person truly believes that they have paradise waiting for them if they kill a few heathens then my appeal for tolerant coexistence will have little effect on them. My appeal is really intended for everyone who is less fanatical than that.

In conclusion, if extermination is morally wrong, complete conversion is unrealistic, isolation is ineffective and self-harming, and intolerant coexistence is just plain unpleasant, it seems logically to follow that the most people could be the most happy if we lighten up a little and mutually agree to tolerantly coexist.

So, I would say I had a fairly unique and easy first semester. Unique, because my advisor was not physically present at the university, nor will she be until next fall. She is on some unanticipated leave so that she can oversee the implementation of one of her projects. Good for her, interesting for me. It means that it can be challenging getting in touch with her on a regular basis.

It also means that I don’t have any ongoing research projects of hers to latch on to in order to get my feet wet and get some experience. This, in turn, creates another challenge for me. The social psychology program puts a lot less emphasis on coursework and more emphasis on research, so I’m expected to conduct a research project my first year and have results to report at the end of the year. So I’m starting to feel the pressure to get something going.

That said, my coursework was very light. I had only three courses and only one of them (my statistics course) had any exams. And I’m pretty sure I did well. Light coursework meant that I had lots of time to read social psychology literature and I love what I’m learning. I’m thinking of starting another blog where I discuss the research I read about. Apparently, it’s a fairly common thing for grad students to do.

In sum, I love being a student, I have a great 1st year cohort, I’m learning cool stuff and, so far, doing well at it. I’m sure it’ll start kicking my butt soon. Next semester I have more, and more difficult, courses, an extra TA assignment and the pressure to get a study done, so I’m sure I’ll be busy. I’ll try to make periodic updates like this one.

Now it’s off to San Diego and Seattle for the holidays!

Just in case I don’t blog again in the next couple of weeks,

Merry Christmas!!

The head of my program falls on the right side of this diagram (and he'll admit it, too).

It has been a very long time since I’ve puked. When I was 18, I puked twice, once as a result of the “gallon challenge” and once after I ate 8 hamburgers in an evening and then drank too much water (I basically just barfed up the water, apparently I had no room left in my stomach). But I don’t remember puking because of sickness since the first grade. So when it comes to yakking, I am pretty inexperienced.

I bring this up only because it seemed curious to me. I wonder how many other people are like me and have gone through life relatively vomit-less and who have trouble relating to those who wretch every time they get sick. There’s my gross thought-provoking tidbit for the month.

First, to be taken seriously, I feel I should address some common complaints about the OWSers.

One, that many of the protesters seem inarticulate. Agreed. But this is true for almost any protest, anywhere, including the Tea Party protesters back in the day. Any news organization can cherry pick the dumb-looking protesters out of a crowd to show on TV. Some go a step further and call the protesters “lazy hippies” or some such thing. Personal attacks on the protesters are nothing but a diversionary tactic made by those who can’t or don’t want to respond to the protesters’ legitimate concerns. This is true of both sides of the political aisle.

On that note, two, the protesters demands are not clear and specific. While I think this is less true in recent days, I will still admit that the movement has not been defined by a clear set of demands. Having said this, I believe that the general purpose of demonstrating the collective discontent with corporate corruption and economic inequality is purpose enough. Again, I think that those who dwell on this “problem” are merely diverting attention from an issue that is notoriously complex and unpleasant to deal with.

Now, why I support them.

Few people will deny that there is a problem in the U.S. with corporate corruption and economic inequality. Until now, even fewer have taken any meaningful action to resolve those problems. Most of the U.S. population, including myself, implicitly supports the status quo of corruption and inequality – by shopping at Walmart, by driving fossil-fuel powered vehicles, by craving the latest fashions, by eating at McDonalds, and by not speaking up about the problems that exist.

Corporations and people who have the skills to become rich deserve to do so. That is the essence of the American Dream and it is a beautiful thing. The problem arises when people become too concerned with profits and when money becomes too involved in politics. Jobs get sent overseas, wages decrease, products become more expensive and so on. There is ample evidence that profits among the top 1% have steadily increased for decades while the remaining 99% continue to work for the same amount of money they did in the 50s. Americans continue to put the same amount of effort into their country but receive less and less in return. This is not the mutual agreement that Americans deserve. Corporations and the ultra-wealthy are taking advantage of a social contract in which all Americans have part, whether they know it or not.

People see these problems but rarely do anything but complain from their armchairs. I fall into the armchair category. Even though I am blogging about the issue, I have done little to change it. That is why I support the Occupy Wall Street movement, because they are willing to speak up.

The ad uses classical conditioning to make its product appear more attractive. This isn’t a new technique, everyone uses it. You pair an attractive woman with a soft drink and you’ll sell more soft drinks, that kind of thing. What bugs me about the Samsung commercial is the pairings it chooses to make. It uses images of Martin Luther King, Jr., Bethany Hamilton (the one-armed surfer) and from the film Rocky to suggest that by using this new Samsung phone you somehow fall into the same category as these heroes.

I hope I’m not the only one who is slightly offended at the blatant appropriation of these heroic icons to sell a phone. I like to think that I and the people I know are smart enough to see through this kind of marketing but I’m also smart enough to realize that they use this kind of marketing because it works with a lot of people. I also know that the effects of this kind of conditioning often happen outside of our awareness. So, in addition to complaining about Samsung’s disingenuousness, I also implore my readers not to be taken in by this ridiculous form of persuasion. That is all.

The topic of this post is my job history. Maren has commented several times that I have had some very random jobs in my life and I agree. This little personal history snippet will be fun for me to recall and hopefully fun for you to read. It includes both paid and volunteer work. I may have missed some.

Beginning with the earliest job:

• Budget Foods, Clinton, B.C. – Shelf-stocker, sweeper/mopper (duration: 1 year)
• Ultrasave Gas (I think that’s what it was called), Clinton, B.C. – cashier (several months)
• Precision Cartridge, Magrath, AB – Data entry (a month or two)
• Morton Ranch, Del Bonita, AB – Ranch helper (I didn’t do much, but I got paid when I did)
• Pretzelmaker/Little Monk Pretzels, Burnaby, B.C. – Pretzel maker (about a year and a half)
• ASC Automotive Styling Center, Burnaby, B.C. – driver (a few months)
• Landscaping for Mr. Fred George, Chilliwack, B.C. (a month)
• Turkey barn cleaning, Chilliwack, B.C. (1 week)
• Litescape Landscape Lighting, Chilliwack, B.C. – Cold calling (a couple months)
• Union Station Foundation, Pasadena, CA – volunteer with homeless (6 months)
• Window Gang, Houston, TX – window cleaner (9 months)
• Formidable Foundations, Edmonton, AB – cribbing (4 months)
• Canwest Properties, Edmonton, AB – maintenance helper (2 months)
• BJM Painting, Edmonton, AB – Residential painter (2 months)
• Edmonton Distress Line, Edmonton, AB – volunteer (9 months)
• Catholic Social Services, Edmonton, AB – volunteer (1 year)
• Liberty Security, Edmonton, AB – door to door salesman (2 months)
• Rescom Landscaping, Edmonton, AB (2 months)
• Barnes & Noble, San Diego, CA (4 months)
• New Alternatives Inc, San Diego, CA – residential foster care (2 years)
• Sharp Mesa Vista Psychiatric Hospital, San Diego, CA – volunteer (6 months)
• No Child Left Behind, San Diego, CA – In-home Tutor (4 months)
• UCSD OCD Research Clinic, San Diego, CA – Research Assistant (4 months)
• National Children’s Study, San Diego, CA – household interviewer (9 months)
• University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ – Teaching Assistant (current)

This year's Oscar-winner

So, I’ve been kind of addicted to documentaries lately. And I thought it would be interesting to put together a list of those I’ve seen in the last month or so. Each of them might end up inspiring a post of their own, but for now I’ll just list them with a brief description.

Exit Through the Gift Shop – Oscar-nominated film by famous street artist Banksy. Tells the story of an eccentric man who wanted to document street art and ends up being an accidental sensation.

Waiting For Superman – Award-winning film about the sorry state of the education system and the obstacles to reform. Very thought-provoking.

Capitalism: A Love Story – Michael Moore documentary about the ills of capitalism. Although some good points are raised, the treatment was a little too biased for my liking.

Restrepo – Oscar-nominated film that follows one platoon’s year-long deployment in Afghanistan and the brotherhood and sadness that comes with it.

The Cove – Oscar-winning film that documents a group of activists who infiltrate a secretive, dolphin-slaughtering operation in Japan.

National Geographic: Inside North Korea – An American reporter accompanies a humanitarian eye-doctor to North Korea and documents, as much as possible, the North Korean way of life. Very fascinating, and disturbing.

Which Way Home - Oscar-nominated film about Latin American children who attempt the long and dangerous journey to the United States in order to be with family members they haven’t seen in years. This one was really heart-breaking for me.

March of the Penguins – Oscar-winning film about the life of penguins. Great film. So crazy that they live where they do.

Waste Land - Oscar-nominated film about a Brazilian artist who creates art from junk and tries to better the lives of the people who work at the largest landfill in the world.

Inside Job – Oscar-winning film about the 2008 financial crisis. Made me mad. Good film, though.

Maxed Out - Pre-2008-economic-crisis film about Americans’ unhealthy reliance on credit. Made me want to get rid of all my credit cards. But not really.

Anyway, for any of you who still read my blog, I hope you find this as exciting as I do. Hooray!

So, I just found that I’m accepted to the University of Arizona (the U of A of the U.S., coincidentally). This is a huge relief in so many ways. And after my visit to Tucson to interview and see the campus, I’m actually quite excited about the prospect of going there for graduate school. It’s a great program, with great faculty. My potential graduate advisor is pretty awesome and reminds me of my undergraduate honors advisor. Tucson has some good personality, everyone says it’s better than Phoenix (even people from Phoenix). I even met a guy who had lived in both San Diego and Tucson and he said he preferred Tucson. I don’t know if I believe him on that one but I’ll give it a go. The only downside I see is the insane summer weather. We’ll see how I handle that.

As for my progress with other schools, I feel more comfortable sharing it now that I have one sure thing. I have received rejections from UCSD and University of Colorado, Boulder. I have an interview at City University of New York this coming week. And University of Kansas put me on their alternate list, which means if enough people don’t accept their admissions offers I could get in there, too. And I’m still waiting to hear from the other eight schools. Wish me luck!