Profanity provides relief denied even to prayer

(BN) God Will Help You Prosper If You Ask Nicely, Says Ehrenreich: Interview

Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone. God Will Help You Prosper If You Ask Nicely, Says Ehrenreich Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Barbara Ehrenreich wants us to stop smiling and spend more time on the dark side. She has dedicated her new book, “Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America” (Metropolitan Books) to “complainers everywhere” with an order to “turn up the volume!” You’re not going to get rich because God wants to “prosper” you. You don’t need to smile through a cancer operation. Or those other modern-day trials like losing your job and your house. It’s time to stop the forced optimism and bring back a little hard-nosed empiricism. We spoke in New York at a midtown hotel. Lundborg: When did the business world adopt positive thinking? Ehrenreich: It came into the corporations beginning in the late 1980s as a way of calming people down during layoffs. You send the laid-off people to the out-placement firm, where they get pep talks on changing their attitude. The survivors need motivational speakers so they can do the work of two people. Lundborg: But it didn’t stop there? Ehrenreich: No. I thought it was something brought in cynically, but I was surprised to learn it came to be believed by the higher-up managers themselves. There was an amazing change away from rational analysis, and toward an idea that leadership meant having brilliant intuitions, charisma and almost mystical powers. Lundborg: How did it turn toxic? Fire Negative People Ehrenreich: Positive thinking became the ideology of the business world in America. You could not raise criticisms or doubts because there were policies to fire negative people, those who brought other people down with their skeptical thoughts. Lundborg: Give me an example. Ehrenreich: At Lehman Brothers, an executive named Michael Gelband went to the CEO, Richard Fuld, and said, “I think this housing thing is a bubble and we’re in big trouble if we don’t get out,” and the CEO essentially forced him to quit. All the insiders I managed to talk to said that’s universal — you can’t be the bearer of bad news. So, everybody was in this cocoon of happy thoughts. Lundborg: You say in your book the job of managers is to “soothe and flatter” those on top. That’s not new, is it? Most Lied-To Man Ehrenreich: One corporate crisis manager told me a billionaire CEO said to him, “I’m the most lied-to man in America. Nobody will tell me the truth.” And then you’re heading for big trouble. Lundborg: When did the corporate shamanic vision-quest, fire-walking weekends start? Ehrenreich: I would place the embrace of mysticism by top- level managers in the late ‘90s into the 2000s. You don’t go for a weekend to learn more about your product. Instead, you go to a sweat lodge like the people in Sedona. A lot of those people were probably paid by their companies to go. James Arthur Ray is a big name in the motivational business and a vigorous proponent of the law of attraction. Lundborg: If God wants us to be rich, why aren’t we? Ehrenreich: Maybe you’re standing in the way of the wealth He wants for you. You might be resisting the wealth. You have to open yourself to that, and also make your requests very clearly, how much you want and when you expect to get it. Lundborg: God is not a mind-reader, I take it. Ehrenreich: No, God doesn’t respond well to vague suggestions. Mega-Church Phenomenon Lundborg: “Pastorpreneurs” stripped the church of its old symbols — like Christ and the cross, so as not to frighten worshippers. How did we get to the pastor as CEO preaching the gospel of prosperity? Ehrenreich: It’s really a bummer to think about a guy dying on a cross. Positive theology goes with the mega-church phenomenon. Enterprising pastors found they could have a bigger congregation if people didn’t leave feeling bad so there was no talk about sin, or hell, just how great things will be. Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston claims 40,000 people every Sunday and millions more via television. Lundborg: The book describes your own breast-cancer experience, where you felt oppressed by the feel-good aspects of the culture. How did it become a way to blame the victim? Change Your Attitude Ehrenreich: In addition to having this disease, you’re being told that if you don’t change your attitude to a happy one, you won’t get better. I should write a book called, “I Snarled My Way Through Breast Cancer.” Lundborg: What’s the worst thing about all this forced optimism? Ehrenreich: It silences people and quells dissent. Also, there is such a lack of compassion now where you feel afraid to express a complaint about the bad things. When you’ve lost your job, you’ve lost your home, you’ve been diagnosed with a serious illness, it’s not enough to say you should have a better attitude. To buy this book in North America, click here. (Zinta Lundborg is a writer for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own. This interview was adapted from a longer conversation.) To contact the reporter on this story: Zinta Lundborg in New York zlundborg@bloomberg.net . Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone #

lost and fond

Can you remember the first time you learnt how to ride a bicycle? You probably fell off and scrapped elbows and knees many a time, and if you’re like me, getting more frustrated by the moment. Until you just go “Fuck this”, sod everything and push off strongly. Lo and behold, that was what you needed in the first place, confidence, daring and momentum.

And you’ll never need training wheels ever again.

This is how I feel right now. I’ve been in quite a few relationships - and like learning to ride a bike, I sometimes fell and got bruised, sometimes I bailed because I wasn’t confident enough, or the momentum just got all screwed up. Oftentimes, I get upset, angry and vowed never to ride the bike, and declared that walking was good enough for me.

Then, as most good things invariably are, something happened without planning, without careful orchestration, and without any warning. I met someone in the unlikeliest of places, screwed up my courage and confidence, and pushed off without looking back. I didn’t need to. I found the momentum, everything I was looking for. Things snick-snackered into place like a sliding toy puzzle, and I’ve never been happier in a long long time.

pets

You feed a dog and he looks at you in awe, thinking, “Wow, they’re feeding me. They must be Gods!”

You feed a cat and she looks at you in calm detachment, thinking, “Wow, they’re feeding me. I must be a God!”

search function

i’m never one to be considered a romantic, never would i have thought i’d find someone so in tune, so entertaining and so beautiful, in such a serendipitous circumstance at such an unlikely place. but i did.

Sleep is like taking the express train to your destination, only sometimes you’re too excited over getting there and slumber escapes you.

When you get there, you don’t want to leave but sleep tugs on your eyelids with the persistence of a child. You’re too psyched over the next stop, and sleep eludes you like luck on a winning streak.

Routes

It’s really great to meet someone who’s on the same page as you are.

Another year older, another road taken.

I seem to have really defined myself over the past 3 years, and for the most part of it, it really had to do with studying in Australia, discovering a knack for something I never thought I had, and solidifying a true sense of self.

Fuck, I’m really missing Sydney right now.

I was asked one night, how i dealt with loneliness; how do I manage to always be solitary and do without human company. I think I’ve managed a pretty independent life since I was young, and I’ve always preferred my own thoughts and company even at that young age than making friends and socialising.

In primary school I found most of my peers tiresome and their issues inconsequential. I spent most of my time reading the Dune novels and couldn’t find anyone else to talk to. Sure I had friends then, but conversations always seem to be on autopilot and uninvolving.

I grew up as a latch-key kid. I was introduced to my first computer when I was five by my granddad. Of course we didn’t own one, but I was enthralled by it. It eventually became quite an obsession during my teenage years and I painstakingly learnt the arcane arts of programming. Again, solitary pursuits and I shunned the team sports that were bandied about amongst my friends.

The most physically demanding sport that I enjoy would be rock climbing. Even there, I chose bouldering, which you could do solo, over aided climbing, which you had to have a partner to belay you.

It’s quite tiring to have get someone to understand me completely. I really relish conversations that appeal to my interests (who doesn’t?) but it’s exceedingly difficult to find a counter-party to share the various topics (and they are varied) I have in mind.

Most of the time, I’m coasting and not really engaging.

I’m the kinda person who would be most suited for a long space voyage. Unfortunately, I’m not smart, or American, enough to be strapped atop a thousand tons of oxidative fuels and head for the stars.

Ruminations of a reluctant insomniac

I am unable to sleep.

The incessant ticking of the Ikea wall clock provides no hypnotic effect, neither does ten milligrams of Temazepam coursing through my blood. Although to be fair, the clock’s internals are Made in China, and I’m past the estimated half-life of the drug.

I have recently finished the last exam for my Bachelor’s, and I am a contributor to the economic statistic of unemployment. On top of that, i will be leaving a country that allows me to put a suit on without going into hyperthermia.

I like my suits.

On the other hand, i will be returning to good food. That’s all I can say about my birth country - good food. Notice I did not call it “home”. I never felt at home anywhere. A nomad by nature. Perhaps that is why I have never really hung on to ideas or friends as hard as I should have. A case of fierce independence and attention-deficit disorder.

Back to my insomnia. It is a good time to think. It is a bad idea, since the doctor advises me to relax after taking the pills. But questions spring up, cheekily. Things like:

The Great Sphinx and the Parthenon are examples of engineering feats that astound us even today. Going forward a thousand years, what will be the 21st century’s puzzle to the future? What are we building that will endure the ages, that will provide a clue to our elegantly crude ways of life.

Is it easier to earn more money, or to disemburse oneself of the concept of money as worthiness?

I wish that I could have someone to discuss these with.

It’s 0115. I started this blog a few years back at 0344.

I recently came across a 2-year mountaineering training course. I would drop everything if i could afford the course expenses (~35,000 usd). The idea of getting away from all this. It’s tempting.

American Psycho.

Watch it.

Are the numbers telling you the whole story?

Reading channelnewsasia this morning, I saw the following headline:

“Average income of low-wage workers up over past two years”

Ever sceptical of Singapore’s news - they do have the lowest press freedom index (144th out of 173), I read on with curiosity

“In a progress report on low-wage workers, those who earned a monthly wage of S$1,200 in 2006 saw their salary go up to S$1,310 last year. “

Doing a little math

1310/1200 =1.09167 , an increase of roughly 9.17%

Wow, that’s great news right? However, they neglected to mention if this was a REAL or NOMINAL increase in wages. I’m assuming it’s nominal values, since they did not make even a squeak about inflation.

A quick pop over to Singapore’s national statistics website, and I managed to pull up the consumer price index (CPI) for 2006 to 2008 (how convenient!).

Scanning the PDF, I found that they even broke the CPI down into income groups. Comparing apples to apples, I took numbers from the “Lowest 20%” income group.

Rebasing CPI changes, using 2006 as base year (following the news article’s timeframe), I find that from 2006 to 2008, the CPI change for the lowest 20% income group was…

2006 to 2007 -> change of +2.0%
2007 to 2008 -> change of +7.4%
2006 to 2008 -> 100*1.02*1.074 = 109.548, or a change of +9.548%

So while CPI (an indicator of costs) has risen by 9.548% for the lowest income group, their wages have only increased by 9.17%. *Real* wages have actually decreased by 0.378%!

Now, I’m hardly one to shout about a 0.4% change (4cents per $1000), but the news report seems to imply that wages have increased by 9% without mentioning anything about inflationary costs, hence painting a rosier picture than it is in reality.

Hardly something to crow about is it?

i dreamt that a bunch of friends and I were trapped in a decrepit old house. there was a room which looked deserted, but after opening the door, and peering inquisitively inside the safe haven, a figure burst out and roared, scaring the shit out of me.

That made me wonder. How cool is the brain! It has, for lack of a better analogy, a story-processing center and an experiential center that are completely disassociated. What I mean is, if it’s my dream, I should know what’s coming up, since well, it’s what I’m thinking. But I don’t! Leading the the shocking conclusion at the end. There’s some mental disconnect between me spinning the yarn, and me living the yarn. Impressive.

Perhaps it could be due to the sleeping pill I took last night. That’s also pretty cool stuff.