There are times I can't help but wonder about the country in which I live...
You might be wondering why I put it that way, and the answer is actually fairly simple, though it reaches back pretty far into the history of civilization for my unease.
It happens pretty frequently that certain issues come up in the news... Especially during election campaigns, which are full of empty promises and a lot of hot air.
So where is the historical tie to this? Think back to Rome... The phrase "panem et circenses" might not mean much unless you know Latin, but you might recognize "bread and circuses."
What does this have to do with elections? Then let me ask you, "What do the so-called 'hot button issues' do?"
They galvanize people because of their emotional impact but they can also be used to mask integral problems because of that emotional impact.
Thus, bread and circuses.
In Rome, the whole idea was to keep the masses happy with cheap wheat (bread) and entertainment in the form of games in places like the Coliseum (circuses). So what does that have to do with heated or controversial issues being tossed into the ring?
Distraction. (To quote a song from "Chicago" - "Give them the old razzle dazzle!")
The whole point behind bread and circuses, and also quite likely the "hot button issues," is to keep the people focused on something other than real, tangible concerns. Basically it is creating public approval through diversion!
So what are some of the hot button issues that so rile the people as to mask integral problems within the system by keeping them fired up about something else?
There are several I can think of, though I am sure there are others to which other people would apply this status. Some of the ones I'm thinking of include abortion, gay equality/marriage, and nuclear power/green energy.
For those first two, some people protest against them based on their religion. But since the United States doesn't have, and doesn't need, a state religion, I find those arguments to be somewhat spurious.
However, such people as do use these topics to rally the religious sector to their cry don't seem to pay much attention to such historical precedent. They are so busy prating through certain catch phrases like the sanctity of marriage, pro-life and whatnot that all they hear is the roars of their faithful. I don't think any specific names are needed here from the current campaign trail.
To me, it seems these people are taking a secular event and turning it into a fanatical zealots ball.
The heat surrounding such issues as abortion, or as certain people put it, the murder of innocent unborn children... That fire blinds the people to whom the arguments are made. For when there is a fire before your eyes, why look into the shadows to see the dangers that readily lurk?
I know you are not necessarily interested in my opinion with regards to this issue, but it is almost physically impossible for a fetus that has not gestated for six months to survive outside the mother's body. So, for me, that means a child before that point is not yet an individual.
And I can't help but be quite disturbed by some of the arguments thrown out there for public consumption, especially considering that some pregnancies end naturally with miscarriages, accidents and still births. Why? Because these instances seem to be completely ignored.
Then there's the whole debate surrounding the various forms of birth control. Some religions are diametrically opposed to birth control in any form. But part of what many forms of contraception do is make the woman's uterus inhospitable to a zygote, a fertilized egg. So that could be considered a form of abortion by certain groups as noted in news last year out of Alabama regarding "personhood" legislation...
There is so very much to this issue, I could probably keep on going... But there are other points to make at this time.
Of course, the whole issue of religion in this country is another hot button issue through which people can get quite riled and even turn violent. People have used religion for centuries as a prop, or even a ruse, to get a rise out of others.
But even history shows that religions rise and fall, just as Christianity was once nothing more than a heretical cult that was not well accepted by the culture of civilization at the time.
So Christians may call me a heretic or claim that I am a member of a cult, or even insult me by proclaiming I must worship something I don't even believe in. But it is only if I rise to those goads that I give their attacks any credence.
And even in Rome, Christians were once the source of the circuses, or at least the poor bait thrown into the ring to distract the people from their pressing concerns.
So they thump their Bibles, proclaiming that such things as allowing two people of the same sex to express their love for each other are wrong. I believe that two people who love each other in that way should be allowed to be together as long as it is not incest, rape or abusive.
However, the issues that pull religion into them are among the most heated and thus the most distracting. Which is why they are the most frequently pulled cards out of the deck of potential stumping ideas. What tattered Jokers are these...
When it comes to these sorts of instances, they are so frayed from overuse, I can't help but be sometimes surprised at how vehemently people continue to rise to them. Still, if you feel that strongly about a particular issue or you prattle about it enough, I guess anyone will "rise to the occasion" in support or opposition of any idea.
Still I say that using religion and/or other hot button issues as a rallying cry is a little hypocritical, especially on such issues as abortion.
Abortion has existed for as long as civilization, if not longer. And it will continue to exist no matter what laws are passed supporting it or making it illegal.
It is a hot button issue because the people make it one, and politicians can make all the promises they want regarding it... Unfortunately for them, they can't legislate morality, no matter how much they try.
So, in my opinion, it would be better and safer to legalize such things. That way they can be regulated and monitored. Otherwise, we have people "breaking the law" to prevent an unwanted pregnancy... And we certainly don't need a resurgence in "red blanket" calls in area emergency departments.
The same could be said for something like gay marriage. Regulate it, through such things as marriage licenses, tax filings, divorce lawyers, health coverage and everything else that goes into the supposedly "sacrosanct" marriage the people who use this as a hot button issue profess to be protecting. All you have to do is look at cultural history to see how "recent" a development truly monogamous marriage is...
And don't get me going on the whole push to keep gays out of the military through the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which I was so very glad was repealed. Or on the opposition to allowing gay couples to adopt children... In short... They care enough to try! So let them!
People sure do get loud when they get riled up about some topics.
Even something like "green energy" can bring out some people that just get absolutely insane about it. Especially those people who are against it, like the ones who protested the restarting the North Anna nuclear power plant following the earthquake that rocked the region in August 2011.
I think part of this argument is just the money involved, especially regarding political campaigns and lobbies in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, it will be the people who pay in the end, not the politicians.
I'm not saying that coal power is necessarily bad, especially in a country like the U.S. where power plants are required to have all kinds of scrubbers on emissions. Most of the time, when you see a cloud coming up from a U.S. coal-fired power plant, it's nothing but water vapor thanks to improved technology.
However, I don't think hybrid and electric cars are going to really help all that much. Why? Because most of the electricity in this country still comes from fossil fuels. So if you are using an internal combustion engine car, a technology that has been around for a very long time and is somewhat better known, or an electric car, which must be plugged in and is a less well known technology, you are still using a fossil fuel.
Fossil fuels are by their very nature limited resources. We cannot use them indiscriminately and injudiciously. Do people even realize how many products they use every day that are derived from or contain ingredients from fossil fuels like petroleum? Plastics were an accidental discovery, but there are ingredients all around us including in makeup and clothing.
Fossil fuels will eventually run out, any version of them that is being used including oil sands, natural gas and coal.
So while some people will use this as a hot button issue, it's going to become an imperative, not for environmental extremists or oil barons, but for the people.
And it an expensive issue because of what it will take to reduce reliance on ALL fossil fuels and their products, but in the long run, which a lot of people appear to be ignoring for immediate comfort, something will have to be done about energy needs and meeting them.
For many so-called hot button issues, they boil down to nothing more than money. Who has it? Who is spending it? Who is spending the most for or against a particular issue?
That's what people need to be paying attention to, not the political or religious hyperbole.
I'm not even just talking about the U.S. on some of these issues. Europe and Asia are also dealing with them.
Some countries in Europe provide power for citizens through trash incinerators that have requirements similar to coal-fired power plants in this country.
And don't forget about the "Third World" countries, also known as developing countries, that are not yet regulating how their people affect the environment, from power production to water purification.
In Europe, some countries have legalized abortion and made it part of the health care system. But then again, they tend not to have rabid religious voices we have here...
The issue of gay equality is also a global one. I have seen stories out of several countries regarding it, including this recent one out of Russia.
In the end, we ourselves must make these issues into something other than triggers or switches that can be hit to get people emotional. When we are emotional, we are less rational and can thus be distracted from other matters.
These kinds of issues don't need to be emotional in public. Keep that private.
Nor do they need to be religious. You don't want to use birth control? Fine, don't use it. But please don't try to make it that women who do want to use it or need it to handle health issues can't.
The same could be said for gay marriage. You don't want homosexuals to have the right to marry? Then don't marry them. But if someone else does want to let them marry, don't make it so that person or group can't.
I feel and I hope that we will someday be able to look at issues like the ones I have discussed and others I haven't mentioned without getting so riled up. Until we do, they will continue to be hot buttons that are pounded by people trying to get a rise out of the general public for a given purpose. That could be a distraction, like the bread and circuses, or just for passion, a rallying cry at a stumping event.
I can't say I don't get upset about certain things, especially certain issues. I do, because I am a passionate person. However, I try to learn as much about the issue as I can before coming out with my own hyperbole. I like to use facts when ever possible, not buzz words.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Social Networks and Social Change
All during 2011, there were dramatic changes wrought in many regions thanks to massive protests. And it was thanks to various social media that much of this occurred.
Protests and the resulting changes they may bring about have a deep historical background. Though the people didn't have social media back during the French Revolution in 1789 or the Russian Revolution in 1917, the word still got out. For an example in this country, the Boston Tea Party was one of the best known protests near the beginning of the American Revolution in 1773.
Indeed, the colonies declaring their independence in 1776 was the first time a colony did such a thing, especially against such overwhelming odds as the impressive British military force.
There have been many protests over the centuries, as well as many coups, and untold people have lost their lives protesting a cause they hold dear. Depending on the reason for the protest, and the passion of the people involved, the word would get out through the people themselves.
These days, social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Google+ among others, provide an opportunity to get a message, just about any message, out to lots of people in a fast manner.
Take for instance the birthday party in Germany that was supposed to be a small affair. However, the girl who was celebrating messed up on her privacy settings on Facebook, which meant the message got out to way more people than she wanted. So the police were called in when more than 1,500 people showed up! To see a YouTube video of the party run amok, click here.
In just a few short years, social media have become a daily, or even hourly, ritual for many people. These include teens, college students, young professionals, journalists and so many more. Even older people, the ones who may have once had problems even using a keyboard, are venturing into the realm of social media (by 2009, reports were coming out about more people over the age of 55 turning to Facebook).
I have already discussed some views on social media, specifically if they are helpful or harmful for news organizations.
In this instance, there are both benefits and banes, and there has been bloodshed in many areas.
Massive uprisings and resulting changes erupted first in northern Africa and the Middle East.
The "Arab Spring" as it came to be called, also known as the "Arab Awakening" as well as other similar names, began in Tunisia, which just marked the first anniversary of its change in government brought about by the protests. This first uprising actually began in mid-December 2010 following the self-immolation of a man protesting police corruption.
According to a story I found on NPR, Mohamed Bouazizi was trying to earn some money for his mother and siblings but he lacked a permit to sell goods and was "publicly humiliated" by the police.
By the time the uprising in Tunisia started to wind down, the country's government had been overthrown and it's president forced to flee.
But it didn't stop there. Protests began in other countries throughout the region including Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria and Oman.
In Egypt, social media played a huge role.
It was partially because of a social media page dedicated to an Egyptian man beaten to death by police that the protests spread and gathered momentum. And a Google executive ran the page. For more about this man, his role and the upheaval that overthrew another government, here is a a blog post on the Arab Awakening.
Perhaps the most scandalous thing that occurred during this phase of the Arab Spring was the various attempts of the Egyptian government to stop the spread of the protests by shutting off access to the Internet. The whole idea was to keep the protesters off social media! Didn't work very well though...
In Egypt, and later in Libya, the governments were overthrown. Should ongoing protests in Syria hit that sort of level, then similar may happen there as well. Indeed, Syria is well on its way to following in the footsteps of Libya where an all-out civil war erupted. Many died in that and many have also paid a high price in Syria.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of these various protests across the mainly Islamic region is the role women have played. Women in many of these cultures seem to be placed on a much lower rung of society than they are here in the United States. This includes views on marriage, clothing, property, even prayer. I saw a news report inside a mosque in which the leader of that mosque commented that women could pray, they just had to do it in a "special corner" away from the men.
I truly hope that the new rights the women are gaining in the region will not fade again! Though stories like this one I found on NPR out of Saudi Arabia show that "progress" is still limited. I feel Islamic women shouldn't have to hide themselves away and be reclusive wall flowers. They think, they feel and they should have choices in their lives. If they choose to continue living as they always have, that is different from being made to live that way.
Women in Egypt are continuing to protest because of abuse of women by military personnel. I am glad to say they are standing up for themselves. Here is a story from The Telegraph from January 8 about it.
Even today, uprisings continue to occur in several countries in the region. A lot of attention is currently focused on Syria, which has seen some of the most virulent response to those protests from the current regime. Here is a BBC video talking about the violence involved in these protests.
The Middle East is by no means settling down. In this BBC article, there are details regarding some of the protesting in Yemen. This is another situation that is still underway, so it is hard to say just what will happen.
These protests haven't been the only ones. The Occupy Wall Street protests across the United States, and even internationally, gained quite a bit of news coverage, especially concerning police actions against some of the protesters.
These protests specifically used social media to get the message out and to get more people to gather in different cities across the country.
This whole series of protests wasn't even an American idea when it first began. It actually started with a Vancouver-based company. Here's an article about how a single blog post started a wildfire, partially based on the protests occurring in Egypt.
I have to admit, I'm not really sure what the OWS protesters exact reasons were behind their gatherings. I have heard so many conflicting ideas, though I believe one of their driving forces was wrapped up with the bailouts so many huge financial organizations received that did absolutely nothing for the "little people" who really needed the help during the recession. This article from CBS talks a little about the beginnings of the movement.
There are articles out there about the demands of these protesters, including this one from CNN Money. But there are many conflicting messages, perhaps because the protests are so spread out, reaching across the entire country.
However, all of this huge movement occurred thanks to social media. I know Wikipedia isn't the best, or most reliable, resource for information, but sometimes even I will turn to it to look things up. In its article on the OWS movement, there are references to an an online specific group, Anonymous, calling for action as well as a specific Facebook page and many Twitter tags that helped spread the word.
I found it especially fascinating when similar protests broke out in Italy, England and a few other places in Europe. These protests were obviously not as well covered here in the U.S. as one might wish, but the simple fact that they did occur and that they were specifically modeled on the OWS protests drew my attention, even as the OWS protests were initially modeled on the protests of the Arab Spring.
These protests gathered in many areas, from city parks, including smaller places like Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, to in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. They even protested in front of political campaign headquarters.
It seems like many of OWS protests have been disbanded, but it may simply be that they are not in the news as much now. As far as I know, the movement is still active.
However, these are still not the last protests that occurred in the last year.
Though less covered in the U.S., there have also been protests, or at least incidents, in Latin America, Russia and China. These may develop even further as time passes, though they are again calling for changes in the status quo.
By the time 2011 came to an end, Time magazine went so far as to honor protesters by making them its Persons of the Year. Many of these protests are ongoing or the situations through which they were precipitated are still developing.
However, there are still concerns. Take a look at this article talking about how repression is expected to continue in the Middle East in 2012. Even the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has spoken up about the protests, specifically violence in Syria.
And all of this can be placed upon the shoulders of social media. It is possible these protests would have occurred either way, but I can't help but wonder if some may have failed because they didn't get enough support or enough people didn't come out to rally.
It was also though the auspices of social media that the news organizations around the world were able to get as much information about the protests as they did, from on-the-scene imagery to inside information.
However, as any social media network is set up by a person or an organization, that perforce means any information on that network will be slanted toward said individual or organization. Thus, should a news organization wish to use any of that information, it must consider that bias.
It shall be interesting to watch as these things progress into the future.
Protests and the resulting changes they may bring about have a deep historical background. Though the people didn't have social media back during the French Revolution in 1789 or the Russian Revolution in 1917, the word still got out. For an example in this country, the Boston Tea Party was one of the best known protests near the beginning of the American Revolution in 1773.
Indeed, the colonies declaring their independence in 1776 was the first time a colony did such a thing, especially against such overwhelming odds as the impressive British military force.
There have been many protests over the centuries, as well as many coups, and untold people have lost their lives protesting a cause they hold dear. Depending on the reason for the protest, and the passion of the people involved, the word would get out through the people themselves.
These days, social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Google+ among others, provide an opportunity to get a message, just about any message, out to lots of people in a fast manner.
Take for instance the birthday party in Germany that was supposed to be a small affair. However, the girl who was celebrating messed up on her privacy settings on Facebook, which meant the message got out to way more people than she wanted. So the police were called in when more than 1,500 people showed up! To see a YouTube video of the party run amok, click here.
In just a few short years, social media have become a daily, or even hourly, ritual for many people. These include teens, college students, young professionals, journalists and so many more. Even older people, the ones who may have once had problems even using a keyboard, are venturing into the realm of social media (by 2009, reports were coming out about more people over the age of 55 turning to Facebook).
I have already discussed some views on social media, specifically if they are helpful or harmful for news organizations.
In this instance, there are both benefits and banes, and there has been bloodshed in many areas.
Massive uprisings and resulting changes erupted first in northern Africa and the Middle East.
The "Arab Spring" as it came to be called, also known as the "Arab Awakening" as well as other similar names, began in Tunisia, which just marked the first anniversary of its change in government brought about by the protests. This first uprising actually began in mid-December 2010 following the self-immolation of a man protesting police corruption.
According to a story I found on NPR, Mohamed Bouazizi was trying to earn some money for his mother and siblings but he lacked a permit to sell goods and was "publicly humiliated" by the police.
By the time the uprising in Tunisia started to wind down, the country's government had been overthrown and it's president forced to flee.
But it didn't stop there. Protests began in other countries throughout the region including Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria and Oman.
In Egypt, social media played a huge role.
It was partially because of a social media page dedicated to an Egyptian man beaten to death by police that the protests spread and gathered momentum. And a Google executive ran the page. For more about this man, his role and the upheaval that overthrew another government, here is a a blog post on the Arab Awakening.
Perhaps the most scandalous thing that occurred during this phase of the Arab Spring was the various attempts of the Egyptian government to stop the spread of the protests by shutting off access to the Internet. The whole idea was to keep the protesters off social media! Didn't work very well though...
In Egypt, and later in Libya, the governments were overthrown. Should ongoing protests in Syria hit that sort of level, then similar may happen there as well. Indeed, Syria is well on its way to following in the footsteps of Libya where an all-out civil war erupted. Many died in that and many have also paid a high price in Syria.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of these various protests across the mainly Islamic region is the role women have played. Women in many of these cultures seem to be placed on a much lower rung of society than they are here in the United States. This includes views on marriage, clothing, property, even prayer. I saw a news report inside a mosque in which the leader of that mosque commented that women could pray, they just had to do it in a "special corner" away from the men.
I truly hope that the new rights the women are gaining in the region will not fade again! Though stories like this one I found on NPR out of Saudi Arabia show that "progress" is still limited. I feel Islamic women shouldn't have to hide themselves away and be reclusive wall flowers. They think, they feel and they should have choices in their lives. If they choose to continue living as they always have, that is different from being made to live that way.
Women in Egypt are continuing to protest because of abuse of women by military personnel. I am glad to say they are standing up for themselves. Here is a story from The Telegraph from January 8 about it.
Even today, uprisings continue to occur in several countries in the region. A lot of attention is currently focused on Syria, which has seen some of the most virulent response to those protests from the current regime. Here is a BBC video talking about the violence involved in these protests.
The Middle East is by no means settling down. In this BBC article, there are details regarding some of the protesting in Yemen. This is another situation that is still underway, so it is hard to say just what will happen.
These protests haven't been the only ones. The Occupy Wall Street protests across the United States, and even internationally, gained quite a bit of news coverage, especially concerning police actions against some of the protesters.
These protests specifically used social media to get the message out and to get more people to gather in different cities across the country.
This whole series of protests wasn't even an American idea when it first began. It actually started with a Vancouver-based company. Here's an article about how a single blog post started a wildfire, partially based on the protests occurring in Egypt.
I have to admit, I'm not really sure what the OWS protesters exact reasons were behind their gatherings. I have heard so many conflicting ideas, though I believe one of their driving forces was wrapped up with the bailouts so many huge financial organizations received that did absolutely nothing for the "little people" who really needed the help during the recession. This article from CBS talks a little about the beginnings of the movement.
There are articles out there about the demands of these protesters, including this one from CNN Money. But there are many conflicting messages, perhaps because the protests are so spread out, reaching across the entire country.
However, all of this huge movement occurred thanks to social media. I know Wikipedia isn't the best, or most reliable, resource for information, but sometimes even I will turn to it to look things up. In its article on the OWS movement, there are references to an an online specific group, Anonymous, calling for action as well as a specific Facebook page and many Twitter tags that helped spread the word.
I found it especially fascinating when similar protests broke out in Italy, England and a few other places in Europe. These protests were obviously not as well covered here in the U.S. as one might wish, but the simple fact that they did occur and that they were specifically modeled on the OWS protests drew my attention, even as the OWS protests were initially modeled on the protests of the Arab Spring.
These protests gathered in many areas, from city parks, including smaller places like Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, to in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. They even protested in front of political campaign headquarters.
It seems like many of OWS protests have been disbanded, but it may simply be that they are not in the news as much now. As far as I know, the movement is still active.
However, these are still not the last protests that occurred in the last year.
Though less covered in the U.S., there have also been protests, or at least incidents, in Latin America, Russia and China. These may develop even further as time passes, though they are again calling for changes in the status quo.
By the time 2011 came to an end, Time magazine went so far as to honor protesters by making them its Persons of the Year. Many of these protests are ongoing or the situations through which they were precipitated are still developing.
However, there are still concerns. Take a look at this article talking about how repression is expected to continue in the Middle East in 2012. Even the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has spoken up about the protests, specifically violence in Syria.
And all of this can be placed upon the shoulders of social media. It is possible these protests would have occurred either way, but I can't help but wonder if some may have failed because they didn't get enough support or enough people didn't come out to rally.
It was also though the auspices of social media that the news organizations around the world were able to get as much information about the protests as they did, from on-the-scene imagery to inside information.
However, as any social media network is set up by a person or an organization, that perforce means any information on that network will be slanted toward said individual or organization. Thus, should a news organization wish to use any of that information, it must consider that bias.
It shall be interesting to watch as these things progress into the future.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Horrific Homonyms
Homonyms... They're enough to make me wince because people mess them up so often. However, I can see where these mistakes come from, so I can at least empathize, as long as the writer puts in the effort to avoid using the wrong word.
Homonyms are among the very things that make the English language so hard. However, I must add that other languages have similar problems. Through my degree in French, I can think of a few examples in which a slight mispronunciation could completely alter the meaning of what you said...
There are the simple homonyms like there, their and they're or two, to and too (no, I'm not going dancing...)
But then there are lots of others that people may not even realize are homonyms.
So what is a homonym? Homonyms are words that sound or are spelled alike but have different meanings, depending on how they are used.
Homophones sound the same and may be more likely to be recognized as a homonym. Homographs are spelled the same.
Here's an example... Your car sure doesn't look hale after that hail storm moved through.
Thus hail and farewell mine faithful steed.
Off to the junkyard with thee.
For now another in thine stead
Must needs meet my needs.
Should you get caught in that said hail storm, hit the deck! And I'm not talking about a house of cards!
Hale - to be healthy, able-bodied.
Hail - well you could be saying hello to someone or calling out to them, as in to hail a cab, but most people are going to think of those hard pellets and balls of ice that can fall during thunderstorms.
Deck - a set of 52 playing cards or perhaps 78 Tarot cards. But there is also the deck of a sea-going vessel, or perhaps of a starship if you are a scifi fan. And if you don't know what that second one is, then someone might deck you!!
Like the way words change through history, some homonyms fall out of general use. Thus they become obsolete, or perhaps forgotten altogether.
Alas the tales of yore do fade
Till nothing but gibberish remains.
Once those tales round the hearth were told
For in those days, such tales were germane.
You're probably wondering about those tales of yore, the stories of yesteryear. Well, take a look at your book of fairy or folk tales.
Here's some I thought of for the holiday shopping season - Be careful or you might get mauled at the mall!
There was also plenty of fear that the weak economy would have made the big shopping week drag...
Either way, you needed to move quick to get the buy you wanted or you could wave it bye!
Please don't patronize me, or I will not patronize your establishment again.
Maybe you wouldn't mind my making a couple religious references...
In some sects, sex is a big no no. Just look at the Puritans for that one. They probably had one or two days a month in which to engage in such carnal delights. However, they most likely would not have found it a pleasure but a biblical duty.
Indeed their women were most likely chaste, and certainly not chased through the streets... Though Hester sure chased after her daughter's father, not her husband.
It's kind of hard to come up with jokes and playful phrases for all of the sets of words I found. So here's a bunch of sentences using homonyms I have collected in the past several months...
It was a lovely day on the isle when the young woman marched down the aisle.
The holy man prayed for any kind of help he could get, but all his efforts seemed wholly pointless and the roof of the building remained holey, even during the deep cold of winter, making the sanctuary almost unusable.
Singing in praise, the entire congregation prays for deliverance and peace. Meanwhile, somewhere in the world... A predator preys on innocent flesh...
Tears blurred the archaeologist's sight when she saw how the dig site had been desecrated.
The principal has to uphold her principle with regards to educating students and discipline in classrooms.
The marshall tried to marshal all the people once martial law had been declared in the city. A curfew was instated as were many other restrictions, with which the people were not happy.
The aide rendered aid as it was asked for. I hope he doesn't need a hearing aid, or he won't be as effective.
Using tacks to organize your tax information may not be a good idea...
That showed a lack of tact when he tacked that awful poster over the lovely mural.
Why would you want a hanger in the hangar? No closets.
To punish someone in olden days, that person might be wracked by pain by tightening the rack. I wonder if perhaps the person might have been a bit too obvious in ogling the lady's rack...
While the wind turned the vane on top of the house, the doctor searched in vain for a vein in his patient's arm.
Hour by hour, our work progresses apace.
Sometimes you have to reach higher in order to get that notice of hire.
The Pole leaned against the pole while being asked various questions in a poll. As long as it wasn't about magnets, he seemed fine.
I guess you could say the tree ceded its seeds as the season turned and the wind blew the little helicopter-like maple pods away.
It takes many steps from shearing to cleaning to carding and spinning to weaving and more before such a sheer cloth can be made. I hope the winds do not sheer too much, or the fragile fabric may be damaged.
You might find a mite in those nasty sheets.
You could go back for the ore, which will slow you down, or you could just grab the oars and get across the lake faster.
There is no way I would ask you how much you weigh! I know I don't like to admit to mine!
It seems such a waste to see a woman walk by who has no waist or any other curves because she practically starves herself to meet an impossible ideal of beauty. Nothing but a stick she is, with very little to even mark her as a woman!
I hope this pallet of wines I brought up for the celebration will tantalize your palette and lift your spirits.
I need to pare the pair of pears I picked up at the store.
How about an I haz Cheezburger-like reference? Oh noes! My nose knows you haz tuna!
The sole soul wandered the building all alone... Here's hoping there isn't a sole flopping on the floor because that would make the sole of that person's shoe most slick!
Or perhaps you are a Harry Potter fan? There are two sets in this one - Uh oh, someone just threw a Dungbomb! The reek is wreaking havoc as everyone's trying to get through the one door!
I must say, I peeked at the book, which piqued my interest. I wonder if the series is like a jagged mountain, peaked with plot twists hiding the conclusion until the very end!
The present seems like a good time to present the present. Or the dove dove to avoid the cat's claws. (Yes, most of these two come from an e-mail that used to circulate every now and then.)
For a more unique one, the prettiest presents seems to have a presence about them, that little something that draws the eye. I can't help but glance at them.
Do you know whether or not the weather will ruin our picnic.
The rain got his reins wet, marking a damp beginning to the young prince's reign, especially when he lost his grip.
Nay, I did not hear the horses neigh when they were disturbed.
What a bore, is there anything better to hunt than boar?
He cocked his pistol while the cock crowed to greet the morning sun. (I could certainly make a sexual reference here, but I don't think that's necessary as I'm fairly sure you can already figure out exactly what I might have written for yourself!)
He spent the morning mourning his loss, and then turned to drink to drown his sorrows.
There is naught you can do to untie that knot. Many have tried and failed. At least until Alexander who would not allow anything to stand in his way and used his sword to cut through the Gorgon's Knot.
I can't bear to see your bare rear! And I hope you don't see a bear when you get out of your tent!
The troupe of players trooped into the room en mass.
I don't think you can do much to mold the mold into any kind of contained shape. It's just going to spore and get absolutely everywhere!
Along the same lines of that one... The moulding was molding and had to be completely torn out of the old house. (Yes that is a variant spelling.)
No silly! I'm not looking to buy a new pair of jeans! I'm examining the genes in this strand of DNA...
I'm bored with this board game.
I like to listen to tales told at the hearth, some of which have animals with many tails.
It looks like quite a feat when a cat lands on its feet after falling off a bookshelf.
Pay you no mind to my twisting words
For my mind is twisted and twined
It will wind and wend all over the place
And who the hell knows where you'll wind up
But look not to the pitchers mound now
For this will come out of left field.
Keep in mind that this is by no means a complete list of all the homonyms in the English language. I've been bouncing a few others around, thinking of adding them to this. But I saw how long my list had gotten and I decided to leave some out... There are probably even ones associated with the ones I've used that I haven't included. So if you think of one I don't have here, feel free to add it, especially if you can use it/them in a sentence!
(This is just me being a bit geeky, not that this whole post hasn't been. But if you have never seen the Robot Chicken spoof of Schoolhouse Rock in which they talk about homonyms... Well, here you go! This link is from Meta Tube.)
Homonyms are among the very things that make the English language so hard. However, I must add that other languages have similar problems. Through my degree in French, I can think of a few examples in which a slight mispronunciation could completely alter the meaning of what you said...
There are the simple homonyms like there, their and they're or two, to and too (no, I'm not going dancing...)
But then there are lots of others that people may not even realize are homonyms.
So what is a homonym? Homonyms are words that sound or are spelled alike but have different meanings, depending on how they are used.
Homophones sound the same and may be more likely to be recognized as a homonym. Homographs are spelled the same.
Here's an example... Your car sure doesn't look hale after that hail storm moved through.
Thus hail and farewell mine faithful steed.
Off to the junkyard with thee.
For now another in thine stead
Must needs meet my needs.
Should you get caught in that said hail storm, hit the deck! And I'm not talking about a house of cards!
Hale - to be healthy, able-bodied.
Hail - well you could be saying hello to someone or calling out to them, as in to hail a cab, but most people are going to think of those hard pellets and balls of ice that can fall during thunderstorms.
Deck - a set of 52 playing cards or perhaps 78 Tarot cards. But there is also the deck of a sea-going vessel, or perhaps of a starship if you are a scifi fan. And if you don't know what that second one is, then someone might deck you!!
Like the way words change through history, some homonyms fall out of general use. Thus they become obsolete, or perhaps forgotten altogether.
Alas the tales of yore do fade
Till nothing but gibberish remains.
Once those tales round the hearth were told
For in those days, such tales were germane.
You're probably wondering about those tales of yore, the stories of yesteryear. Well, take a look at your book of fairy or folk tales.
Here's some I thought of for the holiday shopping season - Be careful or you might get mauled at the mall!
There was also plenty of fear that the weak economy would have made the big shopping week drag...
Either way, you needed to move quick to get the buy you wanted or you could wave it bye!
Please don't patronize me, or I will not patronize your establishment again.
Maybe you wouldn't mind my making a couple religious references...
In some sects, sex is a big no no. Just look at the Puritans for that one. They probably had one or two days a month in which to engage in such carnal delights. However, they most likely would not have found it a pleasure but a biblical duty.
Indeed their women were most likely chaste, and certainly not chased through the streets... Though Hester sure chased after her daughter's father, not her husband.
It's kind of hard to come up with jokes and playful phrases for all of the sets of words I found. So here's a bunch of sentences using homonyms I have collected in the past several months...
It was a lovely day on the isle when the young woman marched down the aisle.
The holy man prayed for any kind of help he could get, but all his efforts seemed wholly pointless and the roof of the building remained holey, even during the deep cold of winter, making the sanctuary almost unusable.
Singing in praise, the entire congregation prays for deliverance and peace. Meanwhile, somewhere in the world... A predator preys on innocent flesh...
Tears blurred the archaeologist's sight when she saw how the dig site had been desecrated.
The principal has to uphold her principle with regards to educating students and discipline in classrooms.
The marshall tried to marshal all the people once martial law had been declared in the city. A curfew was instated as were many other restrictions, with which the people were not happy.
The aide rendered aid as it was asked for. I hope he doesn't need a hearing aid, or he won't be as effective.
Using tacks to organize your tax information may not be a good idea...
That showed a lack of tact when he tacked that awful poster over the lovely mural.
Why would you want a hanger in the hangar? No closets.
To punish someone in olden days, that person might be wracked by pain by tightening the rack. I wonder if perhaps the person might have been a bit too obvious in ogling the lady's rack...
While the wind turned the vane on top of the house, the doctor searched in vain for a vein in his patient's arm.
Hour by hour, our work progresses apace.
Sometimes you have to reach higher in order to get that notice of hire.
The Pole leaned against the pole while being asked various questions in a poll. As long as it wasn't about magnets, he seemed fine.
I guess you could say the tree ceded its seeds as the season turned and the wind blew the little helicopter-like maple pods away.
It takes many steps from shearing to cleaning to carding and spinning to weaving and more before such a sheer cloth can be made. I hope the winds do not sheer too much, or the fragile fabric may be damaged.
You might find a mite in those nasty sheets.
You could go back for the ore, which will slow you down, or you could just grab the oars and get across the lake faster.
There is no way I would ask you how much you weigh! I know I don't like to admit to mine!
It seems such a waste to see a woman walk by who has no waist or any other curves because she practically starves herself to meet an impossible ideal of beauty. Nothing but a stick she is, with very little to even mark her as a woman!
I hope this pallet of wines I brought up for the celebration will tantalize your palette and lift your spirits.
I need to pare the pair of pears I picked up at the store.
How about an I haz Cheezburger-like reference? Oh noes! My nose knows you haz tuna!
The sole soul wandered the building all alone... Here's hoping there isn't a sole flopping on the floor because that would make the sole of that person's shoe most slick!
Or perhaps you are a Harry Potter fan? There are two sets in this one - Uh oh, someone just threw a Dungbomb! The reek is wreaking havoc as everyone's trying to get through the one door!
I must say, I peeked at the book, which piqued my interest. I wonder if the series is like a jagged mountain, peaked with plot twists hiding the conclusion until the very end!
The present seems like a good time to present the present. Or the dove dove to avoid the cat's claws. (Yes, most of these two come from an e-mail that used to circulate every now and then.)
For a more unique one, the prettiest presents seems to have a presence about them, that little something that draws the eye. I can't help but glance at them.
Do you know whether or not the weather will ruin our picnic.
The rain got his reins wet, marking a damp beginning to the young prince's reign, especially when he lost his grip.
Nay, I did not hear the horses neigh when they were disturbed.
What a bore, is there anything better to hunt than boar?
He cocked his pistol while the cock crowed to greet the morning sun. (I could certainly make a sexual reference here, but I don't think that's necessary as I'm fairly sure you can already figure out exactly what I might have written for yourself!)
He spent the morning mourning his loss, and then turned to drink to drown his sorrows.
There is naught you can do to untie that knot. Many have tried and failed. At least until Alexander who would not allow anything to stand in his way and used his sword to cut through the Gorgon's Knot.
I can't bear to see your bare rear! And I hope you don't see a bear when you get out of your tent!
The troupe of players trooped into the room en mass.
I don't think you can do much to mold the mold into any kind of contained shape. It's just going to spore and get absolutely everywhere!
Along the same lines of that one... The moulding was molding and had to be completely torn out of the old house. (Yes that is a variant spelling.)
No silly! I'm not looking to buy a new pair of jeans! I'm examining the genes in this strand of DNA...
I'm bored with this board game.
I like to listen to tales told at the hearth, some of which have animals with many tails.
It looks like quite a feat when a cat lands on its feet after falling off a bookshelf.
Pay you no mind to my twisting words
For my mind is twisted and twined
It will wind and wend all over the place
And who the hell knows where you'll wind up
But look not to the pitchers mound now
For this will come out of left field.
Keep in mind that this is by no means a complete list of all the homonyms in the English language. I've been bouncing a few others around, thinking of adding them to this. But I saw how long my list had gotten and I decided to leave some out... There are probably even ones associated with the ones I've used that I haven't included. So if you think of one I don't have here, feel free to add it, especially if you can use it/them in a sentence!
(This is just me being a bit geeky, not that this whole post hasn't been. But if you have never seen the Robot Chicken spoof of Schoolhouse Rock in which they talk about homonyms... Well, here you go! This link is from Meta Tube.)
Thursday, November 3, 2011
What Silver Spoon?
It's an old phrase used to describe people of privileged backgrounds. The kind of person who has always had everything they wanted and needed, though those two may not be the same thing.
Those are the enviable, and not so enviable, people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
They are perhaps the kind of people everyone wants to be because they don't have to worry about getting anything.
But when it comes to information, far too many people seem to think they need to be "fed" everything on a silver spoon.
I find this tendency to be quite annoying because I am a very independent woman. I don't like to rely on other people if I can avoid it. And while it isn't easy for me to do, I do know when to ask... Even if it makes me uncomfortable.
When it comes to information, if I don't know what something is or understand an idea, then I go and look it up.
Thanks to the Internet, there is plenty of information available, literally at your fingertips! You just have to be a little careful of the information you look at because sources online may not be reliable.
Despite the fact that not all the information on the Internet is reliable, it is there and easily available.
For an example, I saw a comment on an online story a while back that kind of irritated me. The story was about HOV lanes in Northern Virginia. The person's comment was basically a demand for information on what HOV lanes are. Actually it was more of an accusation that the news outlet wasn't providing enough information.
I am old enough to know what HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) and HOT (high-occupancy traffic) lanes are, though they have existed for almost twice the number of years I have been around. And with just a few quick key strokes, I was able to look up even more information than I could possible want to know about HOV/HOT lanes.
I personally believe that it is better to seek out information for yourself rather than sit around and prat that I don't know what something is because people won't tell me.
I see a word I don't know... A good old dictionary will help solve that. And if my old hard copy of the dictionary doesn't have the word (which does sometimes happen, especially since language changes - see my last post - and words come into the language or drop out), there are quite a few online dictionaries you can use.
I see a topic I don't know much about... A quick Google search will probably bring up lots of resources about that topic, which I can then peruse at my leisure.
For an example of one of these, anyone who has seen the special collector's edition of James Cameron's Avatar will have seen the scene in which Jake talks about the Hallelujah Mountains and what holds them up. He says Grace told him it was a MagLev Effect.
Now I had an inkling of what that might be, but I wanted to check. So I looked up Magnetic Levitation, because that was what I thought it was. Turns out I was right, but I still looked it up!
No one told me to do so. I did it on my own for my own personal edification.
Why am I making a point about all this?
The ease of access to information is one part of my point.
But the other part is that these kinds of comments are being made on online stories. That means who ever is posting those kind of comments is using a computer, a modem, a browser... This means that person has almost instant access to a whole lot of information.
So posting something that in essence is accusing a news organization of not posting enough information is kind of silly, don't you think?
Information is readily available. You don't need to have it fed to you. Look things up for yourself and draw your own conclusions based on what you learn.
There are many points of view you can select. Please try not to limit yourself to only things that make you feel comfortable. Comfort can be misleading and change is rarely comfortable.
Those are the enviable, and not so enviable, people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
They are perhaps the kind of people everyone wants to be because they don't have to worry about getting anything.
But when it comes to information, far too many people seem to think they need to be "fed" everything on a silver spoon.
I find this tendency to be quite annoying because I am a very independent woman. I don't like to rely on other people if I can avoid it. And while it isn't easy for me to do, I do know when to ask... Even if it makes me uncomfortable.
When it comes to information, if I don't know what something is or understand an idea, then I go and look it up.
Thanks to the Internet, there is plenty of information available, literally at your fingertips! You just have to be a little careful of the information you look at because sources online may not be reliable.
Despite the fact that not all the information on the Internet is reliable, it is there and easily available.
For an example, I saw a comment on an online story a while back that kind of irritated me. The story was about HOV lanes in Northern Virginia. The person's comment was basically a demand for information on what HOV lanes are. Actually it was more of an accusation that the news outlet wasn't providing enough information.
I am old enough to know what HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) and HOT (high-occupancy traffic) lanes are, though they have existed for almost twice the number of years I have been around. And with just a few quick key strokes, I was able to look up even more information than I could possible want to know about HOV/HOT lanes.
I personally believe that it is better to seek out information for yourself rather than sit around and prat that I don't know what something is because people won't tell me.
I see a word I don't know... A good old dictionary will help solve that. And if my old hard copy of the dictionary doesn't have the word (which does sometimes happen, especially since language changes - see my last post - and words come into the language or drop out), there are quite a few online dictionaries you can use.
I see a topic I don't know much about... A quick Google search will probably bring up lots of resources about that topic, which I can then peruse at my leisure.
For an example of one of these, anyone who has seen the special collector's edition of James Cameron's Avatar will have seen the scene in which Jake talks about the Hallelujah Mountains and what holds them up. He says Grace told him it was a MagLev Effect.
Now I had an inkling of what that might be, but I wanted to check. So I looked up Magnetic Levitation, because that was what I thought it was. Turns out I was right, but I still looked it up!
No one told me to do so. I did it on my own for my own personal edification.
Why am I making a point about all this?
The ease of access to information is one part of my point.
But the other part is that these kinds of comments are being made on online stories. That means who ever is posting those kind of comments is using a computer, a modem, a browser... This means that person has almost instant access to a whole lot of information.
So posting something that in essence is accusing a news organization of not posting enough information is kind of silly, don't you think?
Information is readily available. You don't need to have it fed to you. Look things up for yourself and draw your own conclusions based on what you learn.
There are many points of view you can select. Please try not to limit yourself to only things that make you feel comfortable. Comfort can be misleading and change is rarely comfortable.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Changing Language
Well, we'll have a gay old time with this one! And no I'm not talking about the modern meaning of the word "gay," which can be used as a derogatory term for a homosexual man. I'm reaching back to the early 1900s with this one, when the word "gay" meant happy, joyful or a good time.
As time passes, the meanings of words can change dramatically. Some seem to no longer have connections at all with what the original word meant.
For example, the word easel, in it's original Dutch derivative, meant donkey. These days, an easel is best recognized at something upon which a painter places a canvas.
For a related example, the word ass. That also meant donkey, and still can. It can also mean a fool or an overbearing jerk. However, this term also has various sexual connotations in modern language ranging from a person's rear end or derrière to an actual sexual act.
The same can be said of the word faggot. An older version of the word faggot involves wood used in fireplaces. Or if you want to go back even further, head over to ancient Rome when senators would carry a faggot over their shoulders to identify their status. (The symbol continues today though many people won't recognize it. Just look at a dime.)
Over time, it changed to a term that again is derogatory of homosexuality, specifically men. And the shortened version of the word, fag, is also what a cigarette can be called in Europe.
I remember when I was in the play "The Rivals" that I discussed in my post on malapropisms, there was a character by the name of Mr. Fag. Because of the connotations of that word, the director changed the name to Mr. Bragg.
Even though that play was written so long ago, the changes in language since then made a name uncomfortable to use. Such may be the fate of words we use today in some future we won't see.
This is by far not the first time I have personally noted a change in definition from era to era, age to age. Language is not stagnate and since evolution is a part of life, it is fitting that language also changes and adapts as times passes.
Except for ones like Latin, which is considered a "dead" language because it hasn't changed in a very long time.
Sometimes terms come into being as a fad, a slang.
For example, how many people recognize the word "gnarly" by it's meaning from the 1980s? According to Urban Dictionary (a site I find completely fascinating), it's a slang term for something extreme, with both negative and positive connotations. In the past, and in the rare instance it is used today, gnarly means something twisted or difficult to achieve.
Few people will say "That's gnarly, man!" these days, but you might stumble over a gnarly root.
How about a nice step back in time now...
In one of Shakespeare's plays (I believe "Othello"), there is a reference to a tail that's not talking about something hanging down behind... Indeed, it's something that tends to hang down in front. At least it hangs until something works it up anyway, though I saw a news report that when it's up, it's actually relaxed.
Either way, that really puts a whole new twist on having your tail tucked between your legs when you think of drag queens.
Though, it's still something that can be wagged... OK enough with the sexual innuendos on that one...
What one word means today may not necessarily be what it will mean in the future or what it meant in the past.
Why would I bother making a point about this? Because I happen to adore reading Shakespeare and words in his plays have meanings for the people of his day that many people of this day and age wouldn't recognize or would interpret differently.
So the things we write today may one day come under the interpretation of future readers who may struggle with it. Why? Without knowing the context of the words as we use them now, such people will not understand what we are talking about and it may even make them reluctant to use the word.
It's all relative, though it's not Albert Einstein.
We relate to the words we use in everyday speech, like cool and phat. They may become part of the general language, as words like tweet and blog have in recent years. Or they may fade away, the passing fad that loses its panache as people overuse or grow bored with it.
Makes me think of the many uses of the F-word, which is also a perfect example of how language has changed. It has gone from a word meaning to strike to one with various meanings including sexual ones as well as emotional ones. If you wish, here is a link to a video on YouTube about this word. It really is an audio file to which someone added the video, but that's OK. And remember, since this is about the F-word, it does contain adult language.
All of a sudden, I can't help but think of the episode of "Family Guy" in which Stewie travels to the future. He spray paints something on the wall that he thinks is derogatory, but because of a person winning an election, the meaning of the word had changed and it was no longer derogatory. (I believe the episode was "Bango Was His Name, Oh!" However, I am not sure.)
Here is a video from a lecture by Steven Pinker. In this he is talking about how language is acquired and how it changes as we mature. For parents who want their children to learn another language, they might want to consider using the new language by kindergarten, or even earlier, because of how they learn it. Like me beginning to learn French with the Muzzy videos when I was three.
Then there are the phrases, like "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" or "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Like individual words, these phrases come and go through history. There was one day I responded to a comment from an older co-worker with the latter of those two phrases. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I looked it up and showed him the meaning of the phrase.
That incident really surprised me at the time, though I guess it shouldn't have. It was a phrase I grew up hearing, and I thought he would know what it meant, in that you don't want to seem rude and closely examine a gift, be it an easy day at work or a financial windfall.
So, I goofed on that one and had to haul out a book I like to flip through from time to time that has the history of words and phrases. My copy is currently in storage so I can't give you the exact title, but I believe it is "The QBP Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins." There are several editions of this book, and I am not sure what edition I have, or even if this is indeed the book I have!
Either way, keep this in mind when you are reading something from a different time. The tongue-in-cheek commentary, the subtle jokes or even the blatant jabs may not mean now what once they did.
I'm not trying to be a Jack about this (that's another Shakespeare reference for you), but I feel it is important for people to see just how much change, and chance, play a role in our lives, in our culture, in the very language we speak and write.
For this post, I found Google Books and The Free Dictionary to be quite useful...
I also found a blog posted by Ed West, on "The Telegraph" (August 23, 2011), to be interesting as it addressed a very similar topic... Here is a link to that post if you would like to read it.
As time passes, the meanings of words can change dramatically. Some seem to no longer have connections at all with what the original word meant.
For example, the word easel, in it's original Dutch derivative, meant donkey. These days, an easel is best recognized at something upon which a painter places a canvas.
For a related example, the word ass. That also meant donkey, and still can. It can also mean a fool or an overbearing jerk. However, this term also has various sexual connotations in modern language ranging from a person's rear end or derrière to an actual sexual act.
The same can be said of the word faggot. An older version of the word faggot involves wood used in fireplaces. Or if you want to go back even further, head over to ancient Rome when senators would carry a faggot over their shoulders to identify their status. (The symbol continues today though many people won't recognize it. Just look at a dime.)
Over time, it changed to a term that again is derogatory of homosexuality, specifically men. And the shortened version of the word, fag, is also what a cigarette can be called in Europe.
I remember when I was in the play "The Rivals" that I discussed in my post on malapropisms, there was a character by the name of Mr. Fag. Because of the connotations of that word, the director changed the name to Mr. Bragg.
Even though that play was written so long ago, the changes in language since then made a name uncomfortable to use. Such may be the fate of words we use today in some future we won't see.
This is by far not the first time I have personally noted a change in definition from era to era, age to age. Language is not stagnate and since evolution is a part of life, it is fitting that language also changes and adapts as times passes.
Except for ones like Latin, which is considered a "dead" language because it hasn't changed in a very long time.
Sometimes terms come into being as a fad, a slang.
For example, how many people recognize the word "gnarly" by it's meaning from the 1980s? According to Urban Dictionary (a site I find completely fascinating), it's a slang term for something extreme, with both negative and positive connotations. In the past, and in the rare instance it is used today, gnarly means something twisted or difficult to achieve.
Few people will say "That's gnarly, man!" these days, but you might stumble over a gnarly root.
How about a nice step back in time now...
In one of Shakespeare's plays (I believe "Othello"), there is a reference to a tail that's not talking about something hanging down behind... Indeed, it's something that tends to hang down in front. At least it hangs until something works it up anyway, though I saw a news report that when it's up, it's actually relaxed.
Either way, that really puts a whole new twist on having your tail tucked between your legs when you think of drag queens.
Though, it's still something that can be wagged... OK enough with the sexual innuendos on that one...
What one word means today may not necessarily be what it will mean in the future or what it meant in the past.
Why would I bother making a point about this? Because I happen to adore reading Shakespeare and words in his plays have meanings for the people of his day that many people of this day and age wouldn't recognize or would interpret differently.
So the things we write today may one day come under the interpretation of future readers who may struggle with it. Why? Without knowing the context of the words as we use them now, such people will not understand what we are talking about and it may even make them reluctant to use the word.
It's all relative, though it's not Albert Einstein.
We relate to the words we use in everyday speech, like cool and phat. They may become part of the general language, as words like tweet and blog have in recent years. Or they may fade away, the passing fad that loses its panache as people overuse or grow bored with it.
Makes me think of the many uses of the F-word, which is also a perfect example of how language has changed. It has gone from a word meaning to strike to one with various meanings including sexual ones as well as emotional ones. If you wish, here is a link to a video on YouTube about this word. It really is an audio file to which someone added the video, but that's OK. And remember, since this is about the F-word, it does contain adult language.
All of a sudden, I can't help but think of the episode of "Family Guy" in which Stewie travels to the future. He spray paints something on the wall that he thinks is derogatory, but because of a person winning an election, the meaning of the word had changed and it was no longer derogatory. (I believe the episode was "Bango Was His Name, Oh!" However, I am not sure.)
Here is a video from a lecture by Steven Pinker. In this he is talking about how language is acquired and how it changes as we mature. For parents who want their children to learn another language, they might want to consider using the new language by kindergarten, or even earlier, because of how they learn it. Like me beginning to learn French with the Muzzy videos when I was three.
Then there are the phrases, like "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" or "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Like individual words, these phrases come and go through history. There was one day I responded to a comment from an older co-worker with the latter of those two phrases. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I looked it up and showed him the meaning of the phrase.
That incident really surprised me at the time, though I guess it shouldn't have. It was a phrase I grew up hearing, and I thought he would know what it meant, in that you don't want to seem rude and closely examine a gift, be it an easy day at work or a financial windfall.
So, I goofed on that one and had to haul out a book I like to flip through from time to time that has the history of words and phrases. My copy is currently in storage so I can't give you the exact title, but I believe it is "The QBP Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins." There are several editions of this book, and I am not sure what edition I have, or even if this is indeed the book I have!
Either way, keep this in mind when you are reading something from a different time. The tongue-in-cheek commentary, the subtle jokes or even the blatant jabs may not mean now what once they did.
I'm not trying to be a Jack about this (that's another Shakespeare reference for you), but I feel it is important for people to see just how much change, and chance, play a role in our lives, in our culture, in the very language we speak and write.
For this post, I found Google Books and The Free Dictionary to be quite useful...
I also found a blog posted by Ed West, on "The Telegraph" (August 23, 2011), to be interesting as it addressed a very similar topic... Here is a link to that post if you would like to read it.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Ten Years Later...
It's hard for me to grasp the simple fact that ten years have already passed since that day.
And I am certainly no Alexandre Dumas, reuniting four friends decades after they met in otherwise haphazard circumstances over various affairs of honor.
It seems that every generation has its date to remember. For example, the day Princess Diana died. Or the day the United States of America declared itself independent of its British origins, except in law books.
My mother and father could remember exactly where they were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and I know I will never forget the morning of September 11, 2001.
I was expecting another normal day of classes, working for my undergraduate degrees at the University of Missouri - Columbia. How wrong I was, and how complacent.
I remember I was trying to be very quiet because my then roommate had been up late the night before. I had no wish to disturb her and was preparing for my day when the phone scared me.
I lunged to grab it before it could ring again, in the hope of allowing my roommate more time to sleep. Since I had not been expecting a call of any sort, I was terribly surprised to hear my mother's voice, full of stress, ordering me to turn on the television.
I asked her why, and she only repeated that I needed to turn on the TV and that we were under attack.
So I obeyed.
And then I screamed.
To this day, I cannot stand to watch much of the video from that morning. It haunts me.
Much of the rest of that day passed in a blur. I remember bits and pieces, though overall there is a sense of terrible pain.
I remember my cry brought several people running from various corners of the floor in Laws Hall, and I'm sure I was fairly hysterical. I think perhaps my outburst was the first notion many in the International House had that anything was wrong.
I managed to pull myself together to some degree and get on to my class at the School of Journalism. Only, when I got there, it was to learn class had been canceled and everyone was sitting in the large lab with the news playing on the projector screen.
That was the first time I met Greeley Kyle, whose class I would be taking the next semester. I was sitting there crying and he handed me some tissues.
At that point, I had no idea I had family in the burning Towers of the World Trade Center. Though I had heard of the strike at the Pentagon, I did not know my godfather had been there.
See how ignorant I was? Perhaps how naïve.
What a way for those scales to be torn from my eyes.
Some days I almost wish I could be blind once more, innocent again.
I knew such events were possible, having seen the earlier attack on the WTC and also the bombing in Oklahoma City as well as others. But this event, this tragedy, went beyond anything I think most could imagine because of the scale of it as well as the use of planes.
I saw the Towers fall, as did so many others across the country. And I simply sat there, wondering to myself, did I actually see the buildings collapse or will the smoke clear and show it still standing?
It was like a waking nightmare, a terrible vision with color, sound, fury and rage. Sometimes it seems as though that nightmare has never ended. Like the dust of the Towers' collapse has yet to clear. Where is the silver lining? If ever one existed, we needed it.
When ever I see The Tower card in my Dragon Tarot deck, I think of that sight, I remember the sound of it and the stunned silence afterward.
I recall seeing the special reports being made by people covered in the dust of destruction and wondering if they were going to get a chance to change. Would they be able to get the dust off their clothes even as they couldn't get it out of their minds and hearts?
My parents had the television on for about 48 hours straight, waiting to hear the latest, to know what was next. I'm sure many homes and places were like that in those first days. And my mother collected articles, magazines and other written artifacts, which she still has.
To this day, the holes where those buildings stood resound with the echoes of the lives lost that morning. I visited Ground Zero in 2007 and I fancy that perhaps I could hear those echoes, ringing across time, as the screams of the High Ones rang out in "Elf Quest" to the ears of a sensitive child who was the first of his people to hear the cries that had yet to occur.
The cries of the people trapped in the buildings as they tumbled to the ground below.
I think those echoes will perhaps linger there for all time, or at least as long as any are alive who witnessed that day.
Perhaps there will come a day when people wonder why we remember 9/11, much as some younger people today wonder why their elders stop and remember 12/7/1941. Or maybe it will become like Guy Fawkes Day in England, November 5.
So much has happened since then, much of which has unfortunately contained bloodshed and violence, and I'm sure more will happen in the future.
But the eventual result is not based on that day itself. It is instead based on the actions that followed.
I remember the scandal that arose from anchors and reporters wearing flag lapel pins. I remember the fuss when some places would not allow such pins to be worn.
I remember being chastised for wearing a plain black ribbon on my lapel while reporting in Jefferson City for part of my class. However, I also remember the apology I was later tendered for that chastisement because I had been wearing only a plain black ribbon, not a flag.
I wasn't wearing that ribbon out of a sense of country pride, but in mourning for the lives so needlessly taken, on the planes and on the ground. The lives cut short in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
History will remember that day for the pain it engendered, but it will also remember that day for the war that followed. A war that is still being fought today, ten years later, in the land where the attacks were supposedly planned.
Honestly, I doubt we will ever know the truth of the plans behind that day, where they were formulated and who was really involved.
To my mind, some of the things that occurred in the aftermath, such as the Patriot Act and the violence and prejudice against all Muslims in America, were far too hastily undertaken.
Unfortunately, such was the state of this country that something had to be done, or at least there needed to be an appearance that something was being done. A hollow comfort it turned out to be, and one I think we may regret for years.
It was days later I learned my godfather was in the Pentagon, and that he most likely would have been in the section of the building hit. I also eventually learned of two cousins who had been in the Towers.
Luckily, all three escaped.
I don't know what my stance would be if any of them had been lost among the many who were.
I know one of those cousins is still suffering from that day because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He and many others will perhaps suffer the rest of their lives.
Eventually, the pain will dim and the scars fade. However, I find them still too raw to look back with equanimity yet on that day and the years since.
The fear still lingers, and the resulting hate. It is quite possible those too will linger, beneath the surface, waiting to erupt once again like a persistent boil.
I hope that someday there can be peace. But I know that will not happen as long as people point at each other and proclaim the differences, rave that someone or a group is evil/tainted/wrong for believing or living differently.
For I feel that is exactly what led to this day, a day I will never forget.
Ten years may have passed, but some things are slow to heal. Chasms were rift that day, and bridges across them have yet to be sturdily built. For now, they remain flimsy things, built from straws, bubblegum and faint hope.
Perhaps these canyons can be bridged and perhaps they cannot. I cannot say, nor would I want to try. It will take the continuing work of many to do so. For many years and many people, a step at a time, away from pain and loss and suffering...
I look back and hope that I will never see anything like September 11, 2001 ever again.
Remembering 9/11 with National Geographic on Facebook.
And I am certainly no Alexandre Dumas, reuniting four friends decades after they met in otherwise haphazard circumstances over various affairs of honor.
It seems that every generation has its date to remember. For example, the day Princess Diana died. Or the day the United States of America declared itself independent of its British origins, except in law books.
My mother and father could remember exactly where they were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and I know I will never forget the morning of September 11, 2001.
I was expecting another normal day of classes, working for my undergraduate degrees at the University of Missouri - Columbia. How wrong I was, and how complacent.
I remember I was trying to be very quiet because my then roommate had been up late the night before. I had no wish to disturb her and was preparing for my day when the phone scared me.
I lunged to grab it before it could ring again, in the hope of allowing my roommate more time to sleep. Since I had not been expecting a call of any sort, I was terribly surprised to hear my mother's voice, full of stress, ordering me to turn on the television.
I asked her why, and she only repeated that I needed to turn on the TV and that we were under attack.
So I obeyed.
And then I screamed.
To this day, I cannot stand to watch much of the video from that morning. It haunts me.
Much of the rest of that day passed in a blur. I remember bits and pieces, though overall there is a sense of terrible pain.
I remember my cry brought several people running from various corners of the floor in Laws Hall, and I'm sure I was fairly hysterical. I think perhaps my outburst was the first notion many in the International House had that anything was wrong.
I managed to pull myself together to some degree and get on to my class at the School of Journalism. Only, when I got there, it was to learn class had been canceled and everyone was sitting in the large lab with the news playing on the projector screen.
That was the first time I met Greeley Kyle, whose class I would be taking the next semester. I was sitting there crying and he handed me some tissues.
At that point, I had no idea I had family in the burning Towers of the World Trade Center. Though I had heard of the strike at the Pentagon, I did not know my godfather had been there.
See how ignorant I was? Perhaps how naïve.
What a way for those scales to be torn from my eyes.
Some days I almost wish I could be blind once more, innocent again.
I knew such events were possible, having seen the earlier attack on the WTC and also the bombing in Oklahoma City as well as others. But this event, this tragedy, went beyond anything I think most could imagine because of the scale of it as well as the use of planes.
I saw the Towers fall, as did so many others across the country. And I simply sat there, wondering to myself, did I actually see the buildings collapse or will the smoke clear and show it still standing?
It was like a waking nightmare, a terrible vision with color, sound, fury and rage. Sometimes it seems as though that nightmare has never ended. Like the dust of the Towers' collapse has yet to clear. Where is the silver lining? If ever one existed, we needed it.
When ever I see The Tower card in my Dragon Tarot deck, I think of that sight, I remember the sound of it and the stunned silence afterward.
I recall seeing the special reports being made by people covered in the dust of destruction and wondering if they were going to get a chance to change. Would they be able to get the dust off their clothes even as they couldn't get it out of their minds and hearts?
My parents had the television on for about 48 hours straight, waiting to hear the latest, to know what was next. I'm sure many homes and places were like that in those first days. And my mother collected articles, magazines and other written artifacts, which she still has.
To this day, the holes where those buildings stood resound with the echoes of the lives lost that morning. I visited Ground Zero in 2007 and I fancy that perhaps I could hear those echoes, ringing across time, as the screams of the High Ones rang out in "Elf Quest" to the ears of a sensitive child who was the first of his people to hear the cries that had yet to occur.
The cries of the people trapped in the buildings as they tumbled to the ground below.
I think those echoes will perhaps linger there for all time, or at least as long as any are alive who witnessed that day.
Perhaps there will come a day when people wonder why we remember 9/11, much as some younger people today wonder why their elders stop and remember 12/7/1941. Or maybe it will become like Guy Fawkes Day in England, November 5.
So much has happened since then, much of which has unfortunately contained bloodshed and violence, and I'm sure more will happen in the future.
But the eventual result is not based on that day itself. It is instead based on the actions that followed.
I remember the scandal that arose from anchors and reporters wearing flag lapel pins. I remember the fuss when some places would not allow such pins to be worn.
I remember being chastised for wearing a plain black ribbon on my lapel while reporting in Jefferson City for part of my class. However, I also remember the apology I was later tendered for that chastisement because I had been wearing only a plain black ribbon, not a flag.
I wasn't wearing that ribbon out of a sense of country pride, but in mourning for the lives so needlessly taken, on the planes and on the ground. The lives cut short in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
History will remember that day for the pain it engendered, but it will also remember that day for the war that followed. A war that is still being fought today, ten years later, in the land where the attacks were supposedly planned.
Honestly, I doubt we will ever know the truth of the plans behind that day, where they were formulated and who was really involved.
To my mind, some of the things that occurred in the aftermath, such as the Patriot Act and the violence and prejudice against all Muslims in America, were far too hastily undertaken.
Unfortunately, such was the state of this country that something had to be done, or at least there needed to be an appearance that something was being done. A hollow comfort it turned out to be, and one I think we may regret for years.
It was days later I learned my godfather was in the Pentagon, and that he most likely would have been in the section of the building hit. I also eventually learned of two cousins who had been in the Towers.
Luckily, all three escaped.
I don't know what my stance would be if any of them had been lost among the many who were.
I know one of those cousins is still suffering from that day because of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He and many others will perhaps suffer the rest of their lives.
Eventually, the pain will dim and the scars fade. However, I find them still too raw to look back with equanimity yet on that day and the years since.
The fear still lingers, and the resulting hate. It is quite possible those too will linger, beneath the surface, waiting to erupt once again like a persistent boil.
I hope that someday there can be peace. But I know that will not happen as long as people point at each other and proclaim the differences, rave that someone or a group is evil/tainted/wrong for believing or living differently.
For I feel that is exactly what led to this day, a day I will never forget.
Ten years may have passed, but some things are slow to heal. Chasms were rift that day, and bridges across them have yet to be sturdily built. For now, they remain flimsy things, built from straws, bubblegum and faint hope.
Perhaps these canyons can be bridged and perhaps they cannot. I cannot say, nor would I want to try. It will take the continuing work of many to do so. For many years and many people, a step at a time, away from pain and loss and suffering...
I look back and hope that I will never see anything like September 11, 2001 ever again.
Remembering 9/11 with National Geographic on Facebook.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Polling the Populace...
No this isn't one of those random phone calls from some anonymous person who wants to ask you a series of questions on some topic or about a person... The good old "Can I ask you about this issue?" or the "What do you think of this person's decisions?" or the classic "Have you decided who you're going to vote for?"
Definitely not. Usually I don't answer the caller's questions. I simply tell them I'm not interested, it's none of their business and/or please take me off your calling list.
The polls I'm talking about here are the ones where a news outlet asks viewers or readers one specific question on a certain topic.
This can be done on the organization's Webpage or on a social media page like Facebook.
When it's an actual poll, you want the question to be fairly simple, something with a yes/no/maybe or agree/disagree/neutral sort of answer.
Something people need to remember is that polls posed by a news organization are not scientific, unless it's done in association with a research center like Pew or Gallup. Even then, I probably wouldn't count them as all that reliable.
Most news polls are not somebody wearing a lab coat gathering data from a massive sampling of the population to reach some conclusion about a medicine or an idea of how the wind is blowing with regards to a given issue.
Not at all. These kinds of polls often have a very low response rate because it is not only voluntary, but the person looking to respond must seek out the question to answer it. That means going to the news organization's Webpage or social media page in order to vote.
Thus, only the most passionate people or the ones who really feel strongly about the topic of the question will go through that effort. For a lot of such polls on smaller market station Websites, 200 responses is a lot!
So a lot of these questions are about things that get people's ire up: abortion, gay marriage, the economy, debt, etc.
News organizations want to know what local people think about a given issue, so they ask a question.
However, because of the low response rate, these kinds of things are about as reliable as a broken gyroscope.
Only those who are genuinely interested in, or very passionate about the topic, will respond and they will most likely be very much for or against a given issue, especially when dealing with ones that cause such powerful responses as gay marriage or abortion.
These "hot button" issues are called that because of the vehemence with which people respond to them. And they have very vocal sides, for and against.
Like the more scientific polls, there are limitations to what kind of information can be gathered through such questions. The wording is one of the most important factors because the question may roil people's opinions, depending on the words used to ask it.
Something simple like "Are you for or against gay marriage?" may or may not get much of a response. It's pretty straight forward with responses limited to for, against and undecided.
But if you reword the question, you might get flack for it. Even writing it "Do you support gay marriage?" can completely change the kind of response a poll can get. While the choices would be yes, no or undecided, the simple fact that it's asking if you "support" something may mean the response will be slanted.
People may read the second version of the question to mean that the organization itself supports the issue involved. That may anger people and send more to vote, but it may also backlash in that people won't vote at all. They may also call or e-mail to complain.
There are some less scrupulous pollsters out there who seem to specifically word questions to get a certain answer.
There was even a political cartoon about that a while back, when George W. Bush was still in office, showing a poll taker asking questions at a person's door. The potential answers were Bush as president or some very weird, very extreme and nasty scenario. That's an outlier as an example, but they do seem to want certain answers, which is why I rarely take polls, especially political ones.
So the questions have to be very carefully worded to aim for that journalistic ideal: objectivity. No matter how impossible that ideal is to reach.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to write these questions in such a way that they do not show any slant on the part of the news organization?
From experience... It's nuts!
Even when you spend a long time working on the wording, it's still possible people will respond to it negatively based on a presumed bias. This may not be a fault of the poll at all, but a fault of the story to which the poll to tied.
To continue with the potential poll involving gay marriage, say the story is talking about a state that has just voted to allow it. Then ask the poll. Because of the story, potential voters may assume the news organization supports gay marriage because it's asking the question with a story in support of it.
I know that sounds somewhat confusing, but some decisions made by people are confusing and not even made consciously. It just clicks somewhere in the mind. Explainable or not, people may react and vote with their guts, not their conscious minds.
Sometimes questions asked by a news organization involve how a person would handle a given situation. Think of the sometimes controversial show "What Would You Do?" That's basically what it's doing.
The show creates a situation in which people who don't know the scenario is fake must decide how to react. They can take action, do nothing, wait until they feel safe enough to do something or any other number of potential reactions.
While it may not be necessarily good to compare this show to a poll, it is in essence a poll of emotions. Will people be mad enough, brave enough, crazy enough to do something to fix a given situation?
And they often pick things that are bound to get at least a few people's gorge, such as polygamy, child abuse, drunk driving, racism and many others.
Like the unconscious connection between the news organization's question and support for a controversial issue, it all plays on the emotions of the potential voter or actor. And emotions have never been called rational.
In these kinds of situations, and especially when asking a question on social media, you will get opinions.
On occasion, a news organization will want to run some of those comments, in print or on air. However, the organization has to be careful in doing so.
It has happened when someone will actually take offense at having his or her comment used without "asking permission" first, even if the comment is positive. However, the news organization will most likely respond that the person made the comment in a public forum (on the organization's Website or Facebook page), which means it can be used without specifically contacting the commentator and asking permission.
Or perhaps a viewer posted a very long, in-depth comment that is too much for the entirety to be republished. So the news organization will use part of it. This may result in complaints of taking something out of context by the person who made the comment.
Commentators, like people who vote in the polls, tend to be very passionate about a topic, and if they feel they have been slighted in any way, they will react just as quickly to protect themselves from any "taint," even if that taint is only perceived.
All in all, when you hear about a poll and a news organization, you simply cannot take that poll to be a cross-section of the general population. Only those who feel they have to respond will do so, which will probably slant the results in one direction or another.
It all depends on the poll, the topic, the wording, the passion of the responders.
In the end, a poll is a slice of the whole. Just not a perfect slice.
Definitely not. Usually I don't answer the caller's questions. I simply tell them I'm not interested, it's none of their business and/or please take me off your calling list.
The polls I'm talking about here are the ones where a news outlet asks viewers or readers one specific question on a certain topic.
This can be done on the organization's Webpage or on a social media page like Facebook.
When it's an actual poll, you want the question to be fairly simple, something with a yes/no/maybe or agree/disagree/neutral sort of answer.
Something people need to remember is that polls posed by a news organization are not scientific, unless it's done in association with a research center like Pew or Gallup. Even then, I probably wouldn't count them as all that reliable.
Most news polls are not somebody wearing a lab coat gathering data from a massive sampling of the population to reach some conclusion about a medicine or an idea of how the wind is blowing with regards to a given issue.
Not at all. These kinds of polls often have a very low response rate because it is not only voluntary, but the person looking to respond must seek out the question to answer it. That means going to the news organization's Webpage or social media page in order to vote.
Thus, only the most passionate people or the ones who really feel strongly about the topic of the question will go through that effort. For a lot of such polls on smaller market station Websites, 200 responses is a lot!
So a lot of these questions are about things that get people's ire up: abortion, gay marriage, the economy, debt, etc.
News organizations want to know what local people think about a given issue, so they ask a question.
However, because of the low response rate, these kinds of things are about as reliable as a broken gyroscope.
Only those who are genuinely interested in, or very passionate about the topic, will respond and they will most likely be very much for or against a given issue, especially when dealing with ones that cause such powerful responses as gay marriage or abortion.
These "hot button" issues are called that because of the vehemence with which people respond to them. And they have very vocal sides, for and against.
Like the more scientific polls, there are limitations to what kind of information can be gathered through such questions. The wording is one of the most important factors because the question may roil people's opinions, depending on the words used to ask it.
Something simple like "Are you for or against gay marriage?" may or may not get much of a response. It's pretty straight forward with responses limited to for, against and undecided.
But if you reword the question, you might get flack for it. Even writing it "Do you support gay marriage?" can completely change the kind of response a poll can get. While the choices would be yes, no or undecided, the simple fact that it's asking if you "support" something may mean the response will be slanted.
People may read the second version of the question to mean that the organization itself supports the issue involved. That may anger people and send more to vote, but it may also backlash in that people won't vote at all. They may also call or e-mail to complain.
There are some less scrupulous pollsters out there who seem to specifically word questions to get a certain answer.
There was even a political cartoon about that a while back, when George W. Bush was still in office, showing a poll taker asking questions at a person's door. The potential answers were Bush as president or some very weird, very extreme and nasty scenario. That's an outlier as an example, but they do seem to want certain answers, which is why I rarely take polls, especially political ones.
So the questions have to be very carefully worded to aim for that journalistic ideal: objectivity. No matter how impossible that ideal is to reach.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to write these questions in such a way that they do not show any slant on the part of the news organization?
From experience... It's nuts!
Even when you spend a long time working on the wording, it's still possible people will respond to it negatively based on a presumed bias. This may not be a fault of the poll at all, but a fault of the story to which the poll to tied.
To continue with the potential poll involving gay marriage, say the story is talking about a state that has just voted to allow it. Then ask the poll. Because of the story, potential voters may assume the news organization supports gay marriage because it's asking the question with a story in support of it.
I know that sounds somewhat confusing, but some decisions made by people are confusing and not even made consciously. It just clicks somewhere in the mind. Explainable or not, people may react and vote with their guts, not their conscious minds.
Sometimes questions asked by a news organization involve how a person would handle a given situation. Think of the sometimes controversial show "What Would You Do?" That's basically what it's doing.
The show creates a situation in which people who don't know the scenario is fake must decide how to react. They can take action, do nothing, wait until they feel safe enough to do something or any other number of potential reactions.
While it may not be necessarily good to compare this show to a poll, it is in essence a poll of emotions. Will people be mad enough, brave enough, crazy enough to do something to fix a given situation?
And they often pick things that are bound to get at least a few people's gorge, such as polygamy, child abuse, drunk driving, racism and many others.
Like the unconscious connection between the news organization's question and support for a controversial issue, it all plays on the emotions of the potential voter or actor. And emotions have never been called rational.
In these kinds of situations, and especially when asking a question on social media, you will get opinions.
On occasion, a news organization will want to run some of those comments, in print or on air. However, the organization has to be careful in doing so.
It has happened when someone will actually take offense at having his or her comment used without "asking permission" first, even if the comment is positive. However, the news organization will most likely respond that the person made the comment in a public forum (on the organization's Website or Facebook page), which means it can be used without specifically contacting the commentator and asking permission.
Or perhaps a viewer posted a very long, in-depth comment that is too much for the entirety to be republished. So the news organization will use part of it. This may result in complaints of taking something out of context by the person who made the comment.
Commentators, like people who vote in the polls, tend to be very passionate about a topic, and if they feel they have been slighted in any way, they will react just as quickly to protect themselves from any "taint," even if that taint is only perceived.
All in all, when you hear about a poll and a news organization, you simply cannot take that poll to be a cross-section of the general population. Only those who feel they have to respond will do so, which will probably slant the results in one direction or another.
It all depends on the poll, the topic, the wording, the passion of the responders.
In the end, a poll is a slice of the whole. Just not a perfect slice.
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