East Meets West: An Infographic Portrait

We in the West love the graphical display of information -- infographics -- an elegant way to depict complex concepts with brilliant simplicity.  We also have a longtime love affair with social psychology, some of which deals with the fascinating cultural differencesbetween Eastern and Western mentalities --  from the individualistic tendencies of the West versus the pluralism of Asian societies, to how Westerners and Easterners read the emotions of others in different ways.

Designer Yang Liu’s ingenious East Meets West infographic series tackles everything from differences in self-perception to evolution of transportation.  Born in China but living in Germany since she was 14, Liu has a unique grip of this cultural duality, and she channels it with great wit and eloquent minimalism in graphics that say so much by showing so little.  I lived in China for six years, and my experience also confirms these different perceptions.

Blue = Germany (the West) 

Red = China (the East)

Lifestyle: Independent vs. dependent

Attitude towards punctuality

Problem-solving approach

Size of the individual's ego

Perception: How Germans and 

Chinese see one another

How to stand in line

Complexity of self-expression

The evolution of transportation

over the last three decades

The volume of sound in a restaurant

Stir-Fry Cooks Come From All Woks of Life

I love philosophy, but every time I read a philosophy book, I am torn apart with frustration.  My own inclination is to a simple scientific naturalism in which knowledge is not absolute, can be amended, and "truth" is always approximate, supported by sufficient evidence/facts and reason.  Not absolute.  Not flawless.  Not unchangeable.  Knowledge is possible, as long as we understand knowledge itself to be conditional and subject to amendment, depending on further discoveries and evidence.

Metaphysical knowledge is an oxymoron.  Some statements are without meaning and, therefore, are a waste of time and effort.  So I think.  I am a skeptical materialist, a critical thinker, a non-believer.  One good friend, who held diametrically opposite views, considered that I represented everything that is currently wrong with America and the West: secular, a naturalist-based philosophy, rejecting metaphysics (and, with it, a catholic deity and its theology).  Wow!  I guess I had better start taking myself more seriously!  I had no idea I was such a menace to decent folks everywhere ...

In the end, I find myself laughing in sympathy with Woody Allen, whose comical take on all things helps lighten the tone:

"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?"

"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."

"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank."

Can One Have Too Much Moderation?

As an example to others ... and not that I care for moderation myself ... but it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to smoke more than one cigarette at a time.

-- Attributed to Mark Twain

Moderation.  Sounds like a wise thing.  Aristotle advocated it.  In general, Aristotle urged us to avoid all extremes and seek moderation in all things.  This has been an ethical guideline for much of the West for a very long time.  Even today, in an era of extremes, it seems like good advice.  So, what could be wrong with it?  Are there any exceptions?  For some people, there are ... Didn't Barry Goldwater, 1964 Presidential candidate, say that "extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice"?  That also seems reasonable at first glance, unless it implies a justification of torture, restrictions on speech, assembly, internment for certain suspicious types, etc.  But I'm sure he didn't mean that.  Not Barry.  Maybe he only meant to justify a nuclear first strike in the name of liberty ("Let's lob one into the men's room in the Kremlin").


Trivial though it may sound, it may depend on one's perspective whether something is moderate or extreme, that perhaps "moderation" is a subjective notion that sounds good at first glance but is much harder to measure than we think ... that my moderation is your extreme.  Is one piece of chocolate per day moderation, but two pieces is not?  Is one glass of wine a day moderation, but two is not?  Maybe having no wine or chocolate is better, but if so, then that is no longer moderation, is it?  How much TV a week is too much?  Some would say no TV is best, others would say that's too extreme.  Just how are we to apply moderation to our work when it demands so much of us?  Some people don't have the luxury of cutting back hours just to take time to "smell the roses."  [There's a saying that no one should ever say again!  Along with "think outside the box."]  Tell Chinese miners who are struggling to earn enough money for their families that they should work in moderation.  That's a rather pretentious bit of advice.

How do I moderately raise a family?  How do I moderately drive to work?  How do I moderately sit in a chair?  How do I moderately sleep (other than how long)?  How do I moderately snore?  Is moderation only concerned about quantity (how long I sleep, how much I eat)?  Because, if it is, then moderation is rather trivial, and if it is not, then moderation becomes almost impossible to measure and it loses meaning.

How to Keep A Mind Alive During A Lifetime of Living and Working

Thank God it's Friday, only two more working days until Monday

-- a common saying in the US Embassy in Beijing, reflecting the toxic work atmosphere there

I am writing today from the deep recesses of unspace, from the netherworld of Unterbegone, from cold, dark, postmodern, deconstructed exile where I, along with many other non-souls, am fleeing the unfleeable, escaping the inescapable, flapping the unflappable, and inexorably heading toward the exorable untoward.

How to keep a mind alive during a lifetime of living and working, fulfilling others' demands and tasks, always on the verge of expiring?  Why even care?  Reading "War and Peace" now brings no rewards, no extra points.  Does it bring insight and enlightenment?  Would I even know if, or when, I have attained it?  I read -- literature, philosophy -- but is it just an empty exercise, another hollow "task" that I set for myself to complete?  I like to think I can still feed my "soul" and edify my mind, but maybe I really have become zombified after all.  Perhaps I should welcome it, not fight it, not "rage against the dying of the light" (so to speak) … 

A Test of Character

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

-- Abraham Lincoln

This is the point where I am supposed to say something pithy, clever, and wise … so that I, too, could be wise like the ancient sages and philosophers.  Old people in general think that, just because they are old, therefore, they are also wise.   No ... for the most part, they (we) are just old.  What can I contribute to this discussion on power vs. virtue?  I am a man without a soul who would gladly sell it, if I had one, for a few billion dollars (my alleged soul does not go cheaply), so what do I know about virtue or character?  I agree with the Beatles ... "The best things in life are free…but you can give them to the birds and bees, just give me money, that's what I want!"

Now, I am sure ole Abe is right, but only prosaically so.  We all know about corrupt leaders of autocratic governments everywhere who have used their power to let their families and close cronies amass obscene sums of money.  We always self-righteously criticize them.  But if I could be the son of one of these autocrats ... a princeling, so to speak, born with the right connections to be rich (but corrupt) … would I prefer to be poor and noble or rich and corrupt?   This is at the core of one of Socrates' dialogues on the Just Man.

Well, at least I am honest!  Just give me money, that's all I want!  At least I would have money.  As it is now, I am poor and corrupt!

Skeptical Knowing

I am a thorough-going adherent of "critical analysis/skeptical analysis"...not only as a philosophical position but also as a way of thinking in general.  In this age ... when we can get almost any kind of information on the internet, when Fox News passes itself off as a news outlet, and when election campaigns are full of propaganda rhetoric ... how do we find out the truth?  The following is an excerpt from a book review about "Blur," a book that proposes guidelines to "skeptical knowing."

Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

Excerpt from journalism.org:

From two seasoned journalists, the authors of the essential "The Elements of Journalism," comes a savvy guide for citizens who struggle to navigate our information-saturated age of viral and opinion-based "news."  Amid the hand-wringing over the death of "true journalism" in the Internet Age -- the din of bloggers, the echo chamber of Twitter, the predominance of Wikipedia -- veteran journalists and media critics Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel have written a pragmatic, serious-minded guide to navigating the twenty-first century media terrain.  Yes, old authorities are being dismantled, new ones created, and the very nature of knowledge has changed.  However, seeking the truth remains the purpose of journalism -- and the object for those who consume it.  How do we discern what is reliable?  How do we determine which facts (or whose opinions) to trust?  Blur provides a road map, or more specifically, reveals the craft that has been used in newsrooms by the very best journalists for getting at the truth.  In an age when the line between citizen and journalist is becoming increasingly unclear, Blur is a crucial guide for those who want to know what's true.

Ways of Skeptical Knowing: Six Essential Tools for Interpreting the News

1. What kind of content am I encountering?

2. Is the information complete? If not, what's missing?

3. Who or what are the sources and why should I believe them?

4. What evidence is presented and how was it tested or vetted?

5. What might be an alternative explanation or understanding?

6. Am I learning what I need?

End excerpt

These should be the questions we constantly ask.  If we disagree, we should be able to state why.  But just as important, if we agree, we also need to have sound evidence-based reasons for giving consent rather than withholding it.  We need to be thoroughgoing skeptics of the first order, and we need to challenge everything that we read or are told.  Otherwise, we surrender ourselves to the propaganda machines that perpetually strive to get us to vote, buy, support, believe..

Happiness...An Overrated Concept?

Happy?  What the heck do we mean when we wish someone is happy?  ("Hope your holiday was happy!"  "Well, at least you seem to be happier now.").  Are we cows, contentedly grazing on cud in some pasture?   Actually, some days I think maybe that wouldn't be so bad....

But happiness is overrated....What is it, anyway?  Does that mean that I am "at peace" with myself?  That I like what I'm doing or where I am?  Does it mean I have a good measure of satisfaction in life, and even though things aren't perfect, that I can still feel good?  Is happiness a state of mind (emotional) or a state of being (basic conditions must be met)?

Is happiness based on our own personal pleasure and "joy"...Epicurean in nature....or is it rooted in virtue and material conditions (wealth, health, education, etc), independent of our feelings, and therefore Aristotelian in nature?

Can we meaningfully say, "Ah, I was happy ten years ago, but I didn't know it at the time?"  If so, then maybe happiness is a result of basic conditions that are independent of our feelings.  If so, we can be happy (state of being) and sad (emotion) at the same time.

Poetry and Life

It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is there

-- William Carlos Williams

We are all busy, crazy busy.  Life has its fist around our throats and it won't let go.  So ... poetry ... I suppose I could write reams about this.  But I ask myself ... is it worth the effort to read hundreds of bad poems?  Am I really suffering because I did not read a mediocre poem?  Like my poems, for instance.  Perhaps I derive some minor personal benefit from the struggle to create a "poem," but why should anyone else read it?  And if they did, why would I think it made a difference in their lives?  I do not worship at the altar of Literature or Poetry, but I am still moved by great literature or poetry.  However, the effort to find it is daunting, and one must wade through so much that is not worth reading.

Sure, William Carlos Williams is famous, but why would his thoughts expressed in this poem be worth the trouble just because it is a poem rather than an essay or an opinion piece?  Why poetry rather than non-fiction or essays?  Is this "death" only metaphysical, "spiritual," or is it also physical? 

I don't know.  I don't have an answer.  Instead of writing something "profound," tonight I am at a loss.  Will I die miserably because of it?

Possession vs. Pursuit of Truth

The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand.

-- Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781)

I like this quote.  So did Christopher Hitchens, who put it in one of his books.  There are few people I really admire, but Hitchens is one of them.  I don't have to agree with him to admire him.  His wit, his ability to turn a phrase, his elocution, his depth of knowledge -- all this deeply impresses me.  I love his curmudgeonly take on the world!  His put-down of Mother Teresa is particularly sweet.  The whole world sees her as saintly, but he sees a despicable grasping power-hungry woman carving out an empire for herself.  Can it get any better than that?  Oh yeah, baby....


I like the quote because it emphasizes the process of learning, the love of learning, and not the final result.  Not knowledge, but the effort to know -- that is the true measure of a person.  A lifetime of learning.  I, a non-believer, compare this quote with 2 Timothy 3:7, when Paul criticizes the "false teachers" and false learning by saying: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."  This is exactly the kind of learning that Lessing (and Hitchens) emphasized and not the false claims of knowledge that surround us everywhere, be it from the pulpit, from academia, from philosophy (which I dearly love), from seers, mystics, or prophets.  Jihadists know the truth.  The Communist Party in China knows the truth.  Putin knows the truth.  The difference between Paul and Lessing is that Paul was peddling the one and only truth, and Lessing was cautioning us, from the 18th century when true religion held sway in Europe, that while truth itself is elusive, the pursuit of it is noble and is the only thing we can have for sure.


Do I have my own "truth"?  Yes -- we all do.  But I try to put it in perspective, since it will change over time as I continue my search for "truth" (or, as I prefer to say, "knowledge," since I am not so sure about "truth").

Amazon.com Humor -- Hgiyiyi

I always go to Amazon when I think about buying books.  (Ok, I also buy books there!).  Most of the time, the reviews are dry and ordinary.  However.....there are exceptions, when readers send humorous, brilliant, witty comments.  For example, there is an Amazon listing for a book called "Hgiyiyi (hgjhjh, hjhk) [Paperback]."  The author/translator is listed as "jjjj," and the narrator is also credited as "jjjjj".  The reviewers had fun with this one!

Reviewer 1:  "I enjoyed 'Hgiyiyi,' but the pacing is a bit slow.  It doesn't compare to Jjjj's earlier works, like 'Kquxiuqx,' or 'Oooeiaiai,' or even 'Nyah-Nyah Ptang.'  I think her recent successes have dulled her edge."

Reviewer 2:  "When I first read 'Hgiyiyi (hgjhjh, hjhk),' I told myself that I was too much of a man to cry.  Not to spoil anything, but the part about wwyzwthg is the saddest thing I've ever read in fiction or non-fiction.  A must read for all fans of Jjjj or sppliyu."

And then, incredibly, there seems to be a comment from "jjjj" herself -- translated:

"I habe been vbery happi tou sea you all likedd mi laste bok.

Iu yyytard nbetdg uythf kijsghhh nbhhger mloihj Hgiyiyi (hgjhjh, hjhk)

I egre with mostt of yours opinios, bi it goot or bat

Iu fterrzu mouliot popiimmm plooog ettte kooullu.

Let mme reffer tou myy Blok when I pfinich writing my first note

uhufy Iu vuyqsyu iozeubo huyiezfg Blok yezuev gdttte muosgd tte jdfddk.

Beste Regardst

GHJdsub hhghsdfd

jjjj"

---

Big and Powerful

"To be big!  To be powerful!  This is and always has been the longing of those who are little or feel they are little."

-- Alfred Adler

Power always has been seen as a compensating factor, aggrandizing those who wield it.  In our pop psych world, we often think that smallish people need power to compensate for a lack of size.  Napoleon is the first to come to mind.  Do we also know about diminutive bosses who are abusive?  

I think we tend to overlook Adler's second half of this...those who "feel" they are little.  This could include most of us at some point in our lives.  I know when I ran a car rental agency in Las Vegas, many years ago, that I got great joy one day telling a slacking employee who called in sick once too often to get better but don't ever come back.

Now, that can be seen as good management, but also as an abuse of power, depending on your perspective.  Power is not only with bosses and managers.  When I was a public transit bus-driver (again, many years ago), I left many late-arriving passengers in the dust because they came too late to get on my bus, and my excuse was that next time maybe they will show up on time.  Yes, I was a time Nazi, and it felt so-o-oo good!!  

Ok, so I am small inside.  Aren't we all, to some extent?  Don't we all want to "stick it to the Man" somehow, someday, in any way that lets us, to compensate for our own lack of power, our own "littleness"?  Sure, I think so.

Today's Lesson Is How to Puke

There are various puking methods.  When President Bush puked all over the Japanese Prime Minister, he set the standard for classy public puking that simply will go unmatched for decades...years, even.  But if you have to publicly puke, it is best to do it in a crowded room, a restaurant, perhaps, or a party where everyone knows you and will be sure to spread the word throughout the twitter network like wildfire.  If you can, puke on the host/hostess, or your friend's wife or husband.  Best, of course, is to puke on the head of the adorable little tyke who has been stealing the show and toddling around in the middle of the room to everyone's oohs and ahhs.


Most of us will try to make a run for the bathroom.  Experienced pukers will already have mapped its location and how to get there, and they will have made a preliminary visit to check it out.  When actually puking in the toilet (though you could puke in the sink or on the floor), be sure to crouch down.  Best is to kneel down, with your puke face right in the bowl, making sure that no puke particles actually splatter on you.  After all, you will want to return to the gaiety later on and greet friends, coworkers, and strangers with your puke breath.  If you are lucky, you will have popped several blood vessels in your face as you puke out your guts, leaving red splotches all over your puke face.


Puking is an art form, and one must practice it in order to become quite good.  Anyone can throw up, but it takes a real artist to puke.

A Curmudgeon's Guide to 2011

Advice That I Don't Want To Take
A Curmudgeon's Guide to 2011


At the start of every year, someone writes an article on the 100 tips that will make this the best year of your life.  Well, here are some "bright" ideas that really bug me!  Why?  Because this list has no imagination!  No interest!  It's so-o-o boring!  And not even right!


I won't bore you with the entire list of 100 tips, so here are just a few that really get my goat.  (And why is something always getting my goat?  I don't even have a goat!  Why doesn't it get something of value, instead, like my money or my books?  What is it with goats, anyway?)


Crappy Tips for 2011:


Know that you have a mission.  What?  Fly over Berlin and bomb the hell out of everyone?  Convert all heathens to GaGaism?  Promote US foreign policy?  That's my job.  But what is my "mission"?  Really...are we that zealous?  Does a toilet paper manufacturer have a mission?  Isn't it just about making and selling toilet paper?  I hope its managers aren't trying to craft its "mission."


Surround yourself with people who are on the same page.  How about surround yourself with people who don't use tired cliches?  Unless you always think in tired cliches.  Then, of course, by all means, let's have all of you "on the same page." Naturally, we don't want to hear contrarian ideas, especially when we are the managers in charge and our ideas smell so sweet.


Seek out mentors who can inspire your path.  Unless they are all on the same page.  Then how can they inspire me?  Oh, I get it...my own ideas that I already know will inspire me...


Clarify what your skills are worth.  Ummmm...ok...a million dollars an hour.  Now what?  So much for this great tip.


Reinvent yourself.  What a bunch of hooey!  What am I now?  Ah, I know, a brilliant heretical iconoclast who despises bureaucracies.  Well, just how is that going to help me now?  And how much of this "reinvention" is nothing more than hyperbole feeding my overinflated ego?


Think of yourself as a corporation.  Right!  Where are my subsidies, my corporate tax preferences, my golden parachute fat annual bonuses for my CEO (namely, me)?


Eliminate distractions.  Ok.  I quit my job!  That's my biggest distraction.  Now what?  Any more bright ideas?


Grow your focus.  Grow?  I grow a beard.  Does he mean I should expand my company's range of products?  Expand my sphere of responsibility?  Then, dammit, say it!!  Don't hide behind meaningless metaphors that pass for everyday business speech!


Under-promise and over-deliver.  Oh, this is good.  Ok.  I promise to show up for work sometime tomorrow.  You will, of course, be grateful for anything else and think I am a whiz.  I don't need this kind of insipid advice.


Take a leap of faith.  This is also tossed out in the same breath as "plan carefully and in detail."  Ok, so I carefully plan to take a leap of faith.  Does this mean that, in fact, I haven't planned in detail well enough?


Keep your plans to yourself.  Exactly how is my "on the same page" team supposed to know what I want?  Don't I get to tell someone, like my assistants, what I have in mind?  Isn't that part of being a manager?


Take time to smell the roses.  Oh, gawd, hep me!  Hep me!!  Now we are smelling roses, too?  Can it get any more ordinary and conventional and cliche-ridden than this?


Be a leader.  Sure, as long as I keep my plans to myself and don't tell anyone what I want to do.


Be authentic.  Puke!!  What the hell does this mean?  Authentic!  A buzz-word from the 60s that has absolutely no meaning.  I once questioned a person's poorly framed ideas, and he was hurt because I had challenged his "authenticity."  I guess this means I can say any drivel I want because it's mine, and tomorrow I can change it completely.  Or not...because I have no idea what this means but I am "authentic."


Remember that you are the creator of your destiny.  Aha...except when I am working for a corporation, have a mortgage, car payments, and a family to raise.  Then I am working for the Man and the Bank and they are in charge.  I am not in Bali working on the great American novel, that's for sure.  So much for my destiny.  What a bunch of empty hooey!


Apply more passion to everything that you do.  In other words, work your butt off even more than you do now and don't expect to be rewarded for it.


Define your vision.  Sure.  I am a bureaucrat...I have a vision?  Ok, no war.  Peace.  Love.  Good luck with that, asshole.


Remember that perseverance is king.  But you also tell me to know my limits.  Does this mean to persevere up to my limits and then quit?


Think outside the box.  I wondered how long it would be before we came to this one.  Let me say this...anyone who says "think outside the box" clearly does not!  They are not original or creative.  They are repetitive, lame, and unimaginative.


Don't follow the herd.  Ok.  Hey, where are all the people who are not following the herd, because I want to follow them.


Carve out your own niche.  Aha....sure.  Hey, Ambassador, I want a niche.  "But, you have a job description, and you are the environmenal officer."  Yeah, I know that, but I want a niche.  Can I also do leap frog contests?


Trust your instincts.  Uh huh.  Ok, I guess I will be going home at 2 PM every day from now on.


Know your worth.  Like I said...about a million dollars an hour.  So, what now?


Follow your bliss.  I hate this one!  What a stupid piece of advice.  My bliss is lying on the couch all day engaged in non-stop reading.  How is that going to help me earn a living or be a better "employee"?  Most of the people in the world are doing jobs they don't really like, because that's how it is.  Oh, I'm unemployed, and you have a job washing dishes?  I'm sorry, but that's not really my bliss.  Do you have an opening for a movie star?


Remember that failure is not a option.  Oh, right.  Unless I am also supposed to know my limitations, and also learn how to walk away when in doubt.  So which is it?