Life in the US

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

When I went south of the border and got talking with someone who in Connecticut I was extremely surprised that schools are connected to property taxes, and that some people really want to live 500m down the street so their kid goes to a better school. Township district school boards receiving Provincial funding like here makes much more sense.

[oDDity]

That's the point pf centralisation and taxes, rather than everyone for themselves. I'm surprised the government even coughs up tax money for any education at all in the US, and doesn't expect parents to fund their own kids though junior high, but I suppose in places like you describe, that is virtually the case, the rich parents can send them to a decent school.

[Capela]

Well the problem in Europe is that they are all anciosos to implement the american system.

But thats a problem!

 

Unlike america we live under fascist systems, and they realy are afraid of the return of that.

 

What i dont get a job, next vote goes to?

[Domarius]

I have no experience of living in Ireland so I can't vouch for that. But if I climb to the top of a high mountain here I can see it in the distance and it looks like a pretty nice place.

I never knew it was so vectory and flat shaded over there!

[Maximius]

Apart from all of the government support and economic funding stuff, which I admittedly don't know any specifics about and is definitely needed,

 

My (probably oversimplified, yet still at least somewhat accurate) assumption is that most of the real problem comes down to behavior by socialization. Basically, "I need to hang with my homies to be cool", "I need to do drug X to be cool", "I need to sell drug X, to get green, to get bling, to be cool", "I need to treat the bitches like bitches to be cool", "I need to have a piece to be cool", "I need to belong to a gang to be cool (or stay alive)", "I need to be willing to bust a cap in some punk bitch who crosses my turf", etc, etc. That's part of why I say, stay indoors and help mom cook, or go to the library and do your schoolwork. Do NOT socialize with other already-lost-dirtbags, and you stand a better chance of not becoming one. Sounds simple, but honestly, if kids aren't around trouble, they're not going to get in trouble. If they weren't worried about impressing or looking tough or whatever, and were just normal kids like in areas where that pressure wasn't so high, far fewer would go bad, and that would start a cascade effect. A once bad neighborhood would instead start to look more like a 'normal' neighborhood. That's why it annoys me; to a large extent it is personal choice. I could've hung out with dirtbags (even did at some point - but nothing hardcore) and became one of them. Apparently I made the choice not to, even at a young age. If some inner city kid can stay out of trouble by learning drums or even just watching TV too much, he should.

 

 

Socialization is definitely a part of it, but that is not necessarily a voluntary process SD. Teenagers have "follow the leader" instincts at full steam, even as they reject the larger adult authority. They follow one another into trouble like ants to sugar. Its all they worry about, impressing and strutting and all. Its true they make choices, but those are choices buried inside a lot of compulsions, a storm of them. Sure, dont hang out with trouble is good advice, but in some of these places trouble finds you really really easy. Not every killer is a teenager for sure, but LOTS, LOTS are, like 12 and 14 with Glocks. The cops killed a 12 year old a few months back who had a sawed off shotgun and came running at them. Are these kids really mentally prepared to make the choices you describe, even in the best of home lifes and neighborhoods? Now throw in a street culture of machismo, respect, and might as right, and these kids are supposed to be making the right calls?

[Maximius]

ditto what thestemmer said...

 

When I went south of the border and got talking with someone who in Connecticut I was extremely surprised that schools are connected to property taxes, and that some people really want to live 500m down the street so their kid goes to a better school. Township district school boards receiving Provincial funding like here makes much more sense.

 

That's the point pf centralisation and taxes, rather than everyone for themselves. I'm surprised the government even coughs up tax money for any education at all in the US, and doesn't expect parents to fund their own kids though junior high, but I suppose in places like you describe, that is virtually the case, the rich parents can send them to a decent school.

 

 

I used to work for the Franklin Institute here in Philly as a traveling science teacher. Ive been to dozens of schools up and down the middle east coast. THe disparity in the school systems is nightmarish. I would teach in a school in north philly that was falling to bits, cause the local tax base was shit, and then go to a suburban school or a private Quaker school here in town and holy shit the difference: animal cages, fish, greenhouses, theatres, teachers that hugged students instead of treating them like prisoners, blah blah blah. Literally a mile away, utter squalor. Ive seen this in other places as well though I dont know how bad it is except in Philly. But i suspect its bad nationally, our literacy and achievement test scores are in the hopper. If anyone wants to learn more, read any of the books of John Kozol. Hes a education researcher, and he writes that schools today are as segregated and underserved as they were in the 1960s. More and more, schools are run llike prisons, with cops and searches and dogs and what the fuck. No one wants to attack root problems, spend the money, oh wait, its in Iraq or in the hands of the top1 percentile of families.

 

Heres another Philly story, just to show the level of chaos and disrepair and the attitudes that many of these people face. A friend lives in West philly told me the other day, the block across the street had a bad fire, someones BBQ went up. SO the porch is burning, and the FFs arrive to put it out. Except, the water department, in order to stop kids from playing in the hydrants cause they have no pools and no where to go and shit to do all summer, put locks on the hydrants. Locks the Fire fighters couldnt open. So the whole front of the block, connected row homes, went up, like 14 porches. No one cares, no one will be prosecuted. The local newspapers, the stuff of pure idiocy, barely covered it. Stuff like this happens fairly routinely.

 

Well the problem in Europe is that they are all anciosos to implement the american system.

But thats a problem!

 

You are correct, the desire to reduce public spending and increase private accumulation is attacking Europes and Canadas systems as well. South AMerica looks as if its trying to shake off this influence a bit though, I'd rather fight this battle in Canada myself where people actually value themselvse and their communities, instead of this bleak wasteland of finger pointing and near psychotic denials that anything could be done differently or better. Change will come, no doubt, but its going to be a hard slog here.

[Macsen]

I never knew it was so vectory and flat shaded over there!

Didn't you hear the Tom Jones classic, the Green Green Flat Shaded Vectors of Home?

[SneaksieDave]

Not every killer is a teenager for sure, but LOTS, LOTS are, like 12 and 14 with Glocks. The cops killed a 12 year old a few months back who had a sawed off shotgun and came running at them.

Yeah, that's definitely different from the 'trouble' I saw as a kid, so my perspectives on it are admittedly limited. Sheesh, what a place. Makes me sick that such crap exists. I don't even know what to suggest, because saying 'nuke it' probably wouldn't go over very well.

 

put locks on the hydrants. Locks the Fire fighters couldnt open. So the whole front of the block, connected row homes, went up, like 14 porches. No one cares, no one will be prosecuted. The local newspapers, the stuff of pure idiocy, barely covered it.

Yep, I did see that (I believe, or at least a story very similar recently) on the news, and it seems they did neglect to mention that part. Fox Philly, where everyone's always smiling about what a wonderful city it is!

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

The reason selective/limited breeding will/should not be implemented to a large extent in the future is because procreation is for many people a somewhat spiritual experience, that is a big part of their meaning of life, especially for females, and older males.

[Maximius]

Yeah, that's definitely different from the 'trouble' I saw as a kid, so my perspectives on it are admittedly limited. Sheesh, what a place. Makes me sick that such crap exists. I don't even know what to suggest, because saying 'nuke it' probably wouldn't go over very well.

Yep, I did see that (I believe, or at least a story very similar recently) on the news, and it seems they did neglect to mention that part. Fox Philly, where everyone's always smiling about what a wonderful city it is!

 

I'd like to ram a stake through that fucking Oreo Cookie Dave Huddleston and that robot drone sidekick of his, Miss Pasty Face.(These are Phillys Fox news anchors.) One night, my girl had them on so we could mock them, and they announced they had a report about a new plan to tackle the cities violence. I listened up, this was only a few weeks after the robbery.

 

When they came back from the break, they gave the story. Heres the big plan. This guy is putting on a two man play at local high schools to try and dissuade the kids from violence. A play. To stop kids from shooting one another. I flipped out, started screaming at the TV, calling them idiots and stuff. Who would even dare run such a story? Who really thinks its making a difference?

[Macsen]

LOL, I once had to do a pretty similar story to that, about a play being performed in schools about arson. The obvious first question was "Aren't you just encouraging them?"

[demagogue]

Haha, that reminds me of a school musical where the resident pyro kept spraying the guy next to him with hairspray every five minutes or so, and the guy would absent-mindedly shoo him away every time, mumbling "stop it" a few times, as he watched the musical. And finally, after about 10 squirts, maybe 40 minutes into the show, he lights his lighter and touches the guy's arm so that it explodes in burst of flame ... Whoosh! And the guy stands up and starts screaming and batting himself to put out the flames (which he did quickly; he wasn't hurt). But the whole audience and the actors on stage, who completely broke out of character, everybody turned to the burst and watched, dumbfounded, agape, shocked, as the guy kept screaming for a little while. The whole thing came to a grinding halt as everyone looked at him in shock, and this light-hearted musical just couldn't really recover. It was something of a farce watching the actors try to get back into character.

 

It was wrong on so many levels that of course it was hard not to find the situation hilarious, especially as he kept screaming well after he put out the tiny flames. It's just something you should NEVER do or see at a high school musical. Man, good times.

 

Ok, that had nothing to do with nothing ... I just had to tell the story after that cue, I guess. Maybe chalk it up as a comment on the reprehensible fixation of our culture on shock-value. For shame!

Edited May 12, 2007 by demagogue

[Macsen]

I once managed to set myself alight with some deodorant and a lighter - accidentally!

 

Also a few months ago I stood too close to a heater and my Crocs shoes melted into my feet, which I didn't realise was happening until I smelt them smelting.

[Crispy]

the actors on stage, who completely broke out of character

Psh. Amateurs.

 

IMO the correct thing to do in that situation, as an actor, is to pause the play (since the audience's attention is obviously distracted) until the situation is resolved - but stay in character and ignore it until the problem goes away. It's not the actors' jobs to do anything about it - if anyone, it's up to the support staff (usually teachers, in a high school) to solve the problem.

 

Of course I can see how it would be hard to fully regain the audience's attention after that! But by at least staying in character, you minimise the damage done to the theatrical illusion. Damage control is about all you can hope for in that case.

[Vadrosaul]

Dude, Damage control?? It's a school play.

[Crispy]

According to my old drama teachers, that's no excuse.

 

Yeah, we took it pretty seriously. (Yes, I'm a drama nerd. Bite me.) In our defence, we were pretty damn good because of it. This particular high school* didn't just have parents coming to see its plays; it had regular paying customers as well.

 

It's nice to be able to take semi-professional pride in what you do, even if it is "just a school play".

 

(*When I say "high school", I actually mean "college", but not "college" as in the US sense. Here, it just means Years 11 and 12. What the US calls "college", we call "university". Confused yet?)

[Macsen]

Or rather you should try to work those unforseen incidents into the play somehow. "O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention!" *pupil bursts into flame and screams* "Tut, man, one fire burns out another’s burning, One pain is lessened by another’s anguish."

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

USA = 1984 anybody? Just a funny article.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...28/IN244190.DTL

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

I had no intention to steer this discussion towards Orwell, but as I was clearing out my 2,504 bookmarks collected over the past 4 years I found this one, from two years ago. Freedom is DRM Slavery.

[Domarius]

Didn't you hear the Tom Jones classic, the Green Green Flat Shaded Vectors of Home?

Hahah

 

I bet they make for some killer bob-sledding.