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Assumptions
Mar. 18th, 2008 11:35 amRegarding posting the Pew Study link yesterday, I had a couple of folks question the results. They and anyone else is certainly free to do so. I don't necessarily accept them 100% myself, and everyone is wise to do research and not take things at face value. This particular study had to do with governance, administration, planning, maintenance of infrastructure, personnel training, general handling of finances. It does not by any means cover everything about government or other aspects of living in a given state. My mother would never live in NH, and I would never go back to CA (where she lives), although for different reasons.
Please don't assume that because I post something, that I believe everything in the post. Some things I tend to support, other things I think are ridiculous (usually I say so), some things are for humor... Most are just to put the information out there, so take it as you will. All my friends are intelligent folks, who can read and make their own informed decisions.
***
In New England, we have a joke/story about farmers/New Englanders that goes like this:
A person points at a farmhouse and asks the farmer, "What color is that house?"
Farmer looks at the house and says "It's white, on this side..."
The farmer isn't making an assumption that the house is painted white on sides. Now that may sound silly, but at least around here, if some folks are painting a house or barn themselves, it may take a while to get the job done. And because it might take a few years, they'll sometimes start on the back/less-seen-side of the building, so that when they get to the front, they can have it looking nice and finished 'sooner'. Or they might be trying something out, like William is on one end of the barn, trying to re-create how the barn used to look when he was much younger.
It never pays to assume that someone has a particular belief about something, or that he or she feels a particular way about something, regardless of how circumspectly or how openly he or she is discussing it.
It's the same in historical research or anything else. My mother's research into the Chinese Christian experience has certainly shown that -- European missionaries who gave their Chinese compatriots credit in various projects, which other Europeans conveniently left out of reports, or the Chinese bishop who everyone thought was so great for decades, until my mother dug up the real dirt on the money-grubber, or that fact that just because someone is a Christian, a Pagan, a merchant, a priest, none of those 'facts' tells you whether or not the person is kind to others, generous with time and skills, a hard-worker, etc., or a murderer, liar, thief, etc.
***
We live in tough times, which will probably get tougher for some folks this year, with the prices of _everything_ going up -- the harp we got last year has gone up by ~$50-60, for instance, along with gas, food, shipping, and more. It's something that some people have seen coming for longer than others, and yet knowing it doesn't make it any happier a thing. Although there are some folks on the web who seem quite gleeful almost about how things are going these days, the truth is that for most of the folks that have been watching things (at least the folks _I_ know), there is no satisfaction in being right. I've read the comments on Sharon Astyk's (Casaubon's Book) journal where she's been accused of being happy about it, and those people obviously haven't read her posts in-depth. She tends to be upbeat because she wants people to keep reading and keep trying to become more capable and do community building. That doesn't mean she's cheering on the end of the world! She has posts where she rants, where she's despondent, etc. also. Never make assumptions.
For those of us who can help others, our local, national, and global economies bear looking at because if we don't then we don't know in what ways we can help. For those of us who can't help others, it bears looking at because we have to figure out the best ways to help ourselves. And for the former folks, the latter is a concern too, because we can't help anyone if we end up out on the street ourselves.
No matter which "side" of the economic equation/house you're on, it's a hard time to be living in.
And that's _one_ assumption I think I can safely make, unfortunately.
Please don't assume that because I post something, that I believe everything in the post. Some things I tend to support, other things I think are ridiculous (usually I say so), some things are for humor... Most are just to put the information out there, so take it as you will. All my friends are intelligent folks, who can read and make their own informed decisions.
***
In New England, we have a joke/story about farmers/New Englanders that goes like this:
A person points at a farmhouse and asks the farmer, "What color is that house?"
Farmer looks at the house and says "It's white, on this side..."
The farmer isn't making an assumption that the house is painted white on sides. Now that may sound silly, but at least around here, if some folks are painting a house or barn themselves, it may take a while to get the job done. And because it might take a few years, they'll sometimes start on the back/less-seen-side of the building, so that when they get to the front, they can have it looking nice and finished 'sooner'. Or they might be trying something out, like William is on one end of the barn, trying to re-create how the barn used to look when he was much younger.
It never pays to assume that someone has a particular belief about something, or that he or she feels a particular way about something, regardless of how circumspectly or how openly he or she is discussing it.
It's the same in historical research or anything else. My mother's research into the Chinese Christian experience has certainly shown that -- European missionaries who gave their Chinese compatriots credit in various projects, which other Europeans conveniently left out of reports, or the Chinese bishop who everyone thought was so great for decades, until my mother dug up the real dirt on the money-grubber, or that fact that just because someone is a Christian, a Pagan, a merchant, a priest, none of those 'facts' tells you whether or not the person is kind to others, generous with time and skills, a hard-worker, etc., or a murderer, liar, thief, etc.
***
We live in tough times, which will probably get tougher for some folks this year, with the prices of _everything_ going up -- the harp we got last year has gone up by ~$50-60, for instance, along with gas, food, shipping, and more. It's something that some people have seen coming for longer than others, and yet knowing it doesn't make it any happier a thing. Although there are some folks on the web who seem quite gleeful almost about how things are going these days, the truth is that for most of the folks that have been watching things (at least the folks _I_ know), there is no satisfaction in being right. I've read the comments on Sharon Astyk's (Casaubon's Book) journal where she's been accused of being happy about it, and those people obviously haven't read her posts in-depth. She tends to be upbeat because she wants people to keep reading and keep trying to become more capable and do community building. That doesn't mean she's cheering on the end of the world! She has posts where she rants, where she's despondent, etc. also. Never make assumptions.
For those of us who can help others, our local, national, and global economies bear looking at because if we don't then we don't know in what ways we can help. For those of us who can't help others, it bears looking at because we have to figure out the best ways to help ourselves. And for the former folks, the latter is a concern too, because we can't help anyone if we end up out on the street ourselves.
No matter which "side" of the economic equation/house you're on, it's a hard time to be living in.
And that's _one_ assumption I think I can safely make, unfortunately.
