Mankind's Paralysis

[PaceAdvantage]

I witnessed it today watching of all things, a baseball game.

Barry Bonds had just hit #755, tying Hank Aaron for the all time leader in home runs. They flash to Bud Selig, commissioner of baseball, sitting in the stands as Bonds rounds the bases. Ol' Bud's range of emotions were analogous to a guy standing at a train station waiting for the 5:45 to pull in.

And that's when it hit me. We have become a nation of emotionless polls. People in highly visible public positions are now so afraid to act like individuals, to act the way their HEARTS and MINDS tell them they should act. They have become a slave to the polls. "What will the polls say about me if I clap?" "What will the polls say about me if I even show up at the stadium?" "What will the polls say about me if too many soldiers are killed in Iraq?" Take any highly visible situation (Iraq, Bonds, Katrina, 2008 presidential election, etc. etc.) and you will see this paralysis in action.

Mankind is now paralyzed as it awaits the next poll results, telling it how it should respond. It's a terribly sad and dangerous situation, in my opinion.

But back to Selig for a minute. Given his reaction to #755, why the hell did he bother to show up in the first place? I know why. He thought he could appease the polls. If he shows up and doesn't react with any emotion, then there's no way he could lose any face in any poll....smart guy that Bud.

Only problem is, I'm not a poll. I'm a human being. And to this human being, Bud Selig simply looked silly.

[46zilzal]

He realizes possibly that the record (like many others believe) is so tainted as to not get the least bit excited.

Individuality is alive and well, just getting harder to find that's all.

Watching a single baseball stadium in ONE country allows one to include all of mankind? Fairly huge jump. We don't know how Ecuador, Franz Joseph Land, New South Wales, Andorra, Northern Italy and just a few other places might react.

Do they even have polls in Swaziland or the Ivory Coast?
Lithuania needs to be polled as well.

[Tom]

Don't worry, PA....I'm still out here, with a hair-trigger brain! :p

[PaceAdvantage]

He realizes possibly that the record (like many others believe) is so tainted as to not get the least bit excited.This thread really isn't about Bonds or the home run record. I used this event as nothing but an example of a greater problem. But, in order to respond to you directly, Bonds hit his first 400 home runs while on the "thin" side. He was an incredibly talented player before any of these steroid whispers started.

Watching a single baseball stadium in ONE country allows one to include all of mankind? Fairly huge jump.Please read my post again. I used the game as an example, and I pointed out a few other instances. There are too many to list them all. Take a minute and actually read what people write before you respond. Or else you may come off looking just like Bud Selig.

[46zilzal]

Please read my post again. I used the game as an example, and I pointed out a few other instances. There are too many to list them all. Take a minute and actually read what people write before you respond. Or else you may come off looking just like Bud Selig.
Read it several times. Mankind is not represented by a baseball game or even a U.S. national poll.

Individuals abound

[PaceAdvantage]

Read it several times. Mankind is not represented by a baseball game or even a U.S. national poll.

If you read it several times, then you'd easily understand that the ballgame and the actions of Selig are but an example of mankind's paralysis, not the ultimate source.

[OTM Al]

I get it PA. Image is everything now. We have become a nation of celebutards and star f##$ers. This sort of thing really struck me after Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole. Dole went on the talk show circuit and suddenly became an engaging human being. He had personality and you could tell he no longer had to toe the party line. He would have acted like that during the race he would have gotten a few more votes I think. We seem to believe that each role in life has a certain personality which must be attached to it or you aren't really playing that role right. Our entertainment just reinforces these role types. We must fit a certain image or we are freaks....

PS Bonds hit the ball and hugged his kid. Could care less what he's done to get there. It was pretty cool.

[Greyfox]

Polls influence Public Politicians. That's how they got in office in the first place.
Mankind though is hardly paralyzed by polls, no more than the tote board
paralyzes bettors. Also, why would the troops still be present in Iraq if polls were the be all and end all?
I expressed the same emotion as Selig did when Bonds hit the home run. To do anything different would be hypocritical. He was there to honor the importance of the record, not the man who was setting it.

[Sailwolf]

[QUOTE= He was there to honor the importance of the record, not the man who was setting it.[/QUOTE]

I would agree. There are too many unanswered questions regarding steriod use.

[PaceAdvantage]

Also, why would the troops still be present in Iraq if polls were the be all and end all?

Because Bush isn't up for reelection perhaps? Polls don't affect him all that much anymore.

[Good4Now]

Look around. It doesn't take long to see most people have become Comfortably Numb.
I am an outlier. I live on the edge of town and don't mix that much. I try to not watch, read or listen to news but still I know what is going on in the world, the nation and community. IT is that unavoidable.
I drive an old beater. If I have lots of errands, qwik-stop things, I use my wifes car. She works at a medical clinic to serve those struggling to live the American Dream. That's right the lower socio-economic community all cities have.
The clinic is in the community and is on the edge of the park.
When I sit in the car waiting for her to get off work I find it fascinating to watch as cars pull up. The door flies open and children come hurtling out, and take off running to go to the park. Their faces bright and smiling, their little legs going as fast as they can! They KNOW they are on their way to complete happiness on the swings, the slide, the sand box or in a game of baseball, soccer, basketball, or whatever they have a ball and enough other kids for.
I can only hope each of you still has your favorite swing or slide or teeter-totter and YOU still run to it as soon as the car stops!

P.S. Thanks for the Park. Good4Now

[ddog]

Bud has to show out of what he thought was his duty to the game as the commish.

He did not want/wish to be there at all but did it out of a sense of duty. Same thing that troops are praised(rightly so) for.

Did you hear some of Buds comments during the "tour"?

Easy to read from those that he wished the wole thing was not happenning.

I had heard the other day that Hank Aaron(the real HR king no matter how many Bonds hits) and Selig are best of friends and that Aaron had called Selig after viewing him on the Bonds tour and told him he was worried about the way he looked and not to take it so seriously as he didn't want him to end up as B.Giamatti did after the Rose ordeal.

Many claimed the uproar over that hastenned his early death.

So on this point I would commend Selig for doing his duty even though he didn't wsh to be there,clearly.

[PaceAdvantage]

So on this point I would commend Selig for doing his duty even though he didn't wsh to be there,clearly.

Then he shouldn't have been there. Grow some balls Bud....

[boxcar]

Good thread, PA! I think your observation is on the mark as this country slowly but surely moves from Capitalism/Individuality to Collectivism/Marxism -- or if this latter term offends (as if I really care) -- then Socialism which evolves into Communism. And it all begins at a very, very early age -- Pre-K! The primary function of very many public schools today has shifted from Learning to Indoctrination, e.g. global warming is Capitalism's fault., alternative lifestyles are good, safe sex is good, etc., etc Adults are also targets of brainwaishing as the Whackos on the Left are now tyring to convnce Americans that the Fairness Doctrine would be good for America -- it would be "fair", according to the Whackos' warped view of fairness.

Boxcar

[46zilzal]

No it is called informed decision making. People get the information, they decide themselves. The worst thing to do is paint fairy tales so that the youth fill in the blanks with hogwash.

The best lesson for youngsters is to question everything they hear. Make it akin to a geometry theorem: get the proof before you get the spoon fed position on everything in your life.

[Tom]

Much like the dems are doing in thier "debates."
Whoring up to anyone that will listen.

Like Barry Hussein, happy to meet with all the dirt bag dictator/murderers right off the bat, but he can't answer a simple question about would he invite Barry Bonds to the white house.

And "Hillarious Hillary" - she argues with The Breck Girl and Barry that lobbyists are Amercians, with legitimate concerns. Then she later says anyone that knows her knows she would never be swayed by lobbyists.

Hmmmmm, she will never be swayed by Americans with honest concerns, but she is happy to take thier money! ( that's that there math-a-matical stuff - the substitution theory - in practive.
If A=B and B= C, then A=C.

[Tom]

No it is called informed decision making. People get the information, they decide themselves. The worst thing to do is paint fairy tales so that the youth fill in the blanks with hogwash.



Unfortunately, this is not what is happening public (lib) schools - they are teaching the kids what to think, not how to think.

[46zilzal]

Unfortunately, this is not what is happening public (lib) schools - they are teaching the kids what to think, not how to think.
Thinking for oneself requires a lot of self motivation. Started for me luckily in the 2nd grade when I was told birds only hopped and that what I observed as their walking was a figment of my imagination. Even at that age I took the instructor to the window and asked "Am I supposed to believe you or my own eyes?"

Everything you don't care for gets the label of lib...You really need a thesarus to expand your vocabulary.

[Tom]

Not at all - it is lib teachers doing the brainwashing.
I have a synonym for lib, but PA won't let me use it!:rolleyes:

[boxcar]

No it is called informed decision making. People get the information, they decide themselves

When the brainwashing begins at young, tender ages, methinks the [young] people are too immature to "decide [for] themselves". :rolleyes:

Boxcar

[ddog]

SO YOU would decide for them?
I think not sir.
And you don't think your implied sentiment is exactly that of a Marxist state?

How very quaint, but none the less tiresome.

Oh and by the way, have you never seen/heard any right-wing kooks?

Your commentary would carry a tad more substance if you had.
I apologize in advance if I missed them as I have not done an exhaustive search of your postings here.

I didn't take Pa's original posting as a left-right thing to begin with.

I have to suspect that some on what you seem to consider the right, but based on your previous postings that I have seen here, I would consider on the corporate-center left are driven by polls as well?

Finally, this whole safe sex thing has been a real laugh line to me.
kids-teens have always at some point( i feel safe in saying) had sex.

So you would be in favor of unsafe sex given it seems to be natural desire?

Should information on new threats/diseases be hidden away and we hope the just say no is enough?

Face it man, the world can be a dangerous place and knowledge, even information really doesn't have a side, it's what you do with it.

Really, get off the talking point-polled responses and into the real world man.

[Tom]

As the caveman said, "Uh, WHAT?"

What the heck are you talking about?
I re-read all the post and do not see where yours come from.

[Secretariat]

Unfortunately, this is not what is happening public (lib) schools - they are teaching the kids what to think, not how to think.

Tom,

I agree, but I would call it public (conservative) schools. After all Bush dictated "what" would be taught in the No Child Left Behind dictate.

Teachers now teach toward passage of a federal test for continued funding.

So it is the administration that is dictating "what" to think, not "how to think. Just wanted to clear that up.

[Tom]

Oh Sec, the libs have already found ways to cheat and by-pass NCLB and how to make it like they are doing a fine job while they fail to teach kids anything. The crap being rammed down our kids throats by lib-tenured dipsticks is appaling. No doubt about it, it is a liberal educational system. The dogma of the left is waht is being passed of as schooling.
Just look a hcap - he is what, in 5th grade now and see how he is?:D

[46zilzal]

When the brainwashing begins at young, tender ages, methinks the [young] people are too immature to "decide [for] themselves".



Maybe the ones who do not have a strong parental example of being an individual.

[hcap]

Oh Sec, the libs have already found ways to cheat and by-pass NCLB and how to make it like they are doing a fine job while they fail to teach kids anything. The crap being rammed down our kids throats by lib-tenured dipsticks is appaling. No doubt about it, it is a liberal educational system. The dogma of the left is waht is being passed of as schooling.
Just look a hcap - he is what, in 5th grade now and see how he is?:D
Damn Libs. Just don't know when to stand tall and show some backbone......

http://www.bartcop.com/mccain_bush-hug-713122-1.jpg

[ddog]

If you want to hear somone who gets most of "it" check out Gingrich at the Natl.PressClub on cspan.

Man when we can get him in the W.H.!

[ddog]

Tom

I thinjk (hope) you are a little more nimble-minded than that!
Back to Box post 14.
who would decide then ......
I think everything else flows from that post.

still no reply ,,, of course no obligation to if you are not up to it, any right -wing whackos out there he may need to critique from time to time.

You do have a certain "talent" for branding any others though.
A real talent. Hard-won i expect.

Congrats.

[Tom]

OK, if you say so.