Lifeboat Ethics

If on your 18th birthday, an official from the government requested that you sign a document agreeing to obey the laws of the United States, would you sign it. The proviso would be that you have a gap year in which to decide whether or not to sign the document, and if you choose not to, you must leave the country. If you choose to leave the country, you are free to take any and all of your belongings and no one will attempt to stop you in any way (on your way out).

However, if you choose to stay in the United States, you must sign the document declaring that you will obey the laws.

If you signed the document, would you jaywalk? Would you smoke pot? Would you drink before you were 21?

What possibly justification is there for doing any of the things that before weren't considered such grave civil disobediences, but now represent contempt for a contract that you signed of your own free will?

I've been really bipolar lately. During my up phase I'm more content than happy and feel like I have a good routine going. During my down phase I'm just brimming with anger and frustration. Normally the down phase would be sadness and depression, but I guess I'm just more annoyed with the world than I am with myself.

I can't figure out exactly what's wrong right now, but something is out of place. It would be easy to blame that on the obvious absense of my roommate, but it's something else. I just have this nagging sensation that I'm not doing something I need to do, or I'm not paying attention to something I need to see.

I really wanna just punch something and then run around screaming bloody murder.

I'm hungry.

It's funny how in real life, most charitable acts are done for the selfish rewards. Some person may claim to be an altruist but they do feel good about themselves which counts as a reward.

However, what I am referring to is big name acts, such as contributions done by big businesses and governments. In the case of big businesses, it is actually illegal for a public business to knowingly waste money in such a way that would harm stockholders, and they can sue if said company does so. So when a business goes down to New Orleans, for example, and donates water bottles to everyone in the stadium, they are in fact benefitting their stockholders. How? By making a name for themselves as a charitable organization. Funny! Governments are the same way, but without the binding laws. We waste money all the time knowingly (subsidy farming).

Just thought it was funny how we call selfish acts charity in an attempt to make them popular. But the ends justifies the means, doesn't it?

You ever have one of those days. You're just going along, minding your own business, but everything keeps going wrong. Yeah, I haven't. You ever have one of those days. You're just going along, and everything just keeps falling into place, working out for the best, regardless of what you do. Yeah, I have. That's my normal day.

My life is awesome, and I mean to rub it in everyone's face when I say so. Things just work out for me. I decide to sleep in one day and class is cancelled. I haven't started my paper yet, wait, the due dait is extended. I decide not to shower, but it rains so I end up working out anyway which would have cancelled out the shower. Don't walk...Don't walk...I get to the sidewalk: Walk! Basically things are just going my way.

I once got a fortune cookie that said: "Among the lucky, you are the chosen one."

You ever get that fortune cookie?

Towards the end of the school year work piled up the way it does when you know you've had to do something but keep putting it off. Like the 30 minute presentation and 15 page paper for cosmology that I had known about since just after spring break and instead decided to start at 10:00 PM the night before, same goes for the 12 page sociology paper that had been due the friday before that which I powered through with the help of 24 oz. monster energy drink at 2:00 AM. Long story short, I got all stressed out about that stuff and was relieved to go home and get in some down time.

When I got home, for the first couple days I spent a cloudy weekend out on the island with the HMIers catching up before they drove off to california to raft all summer. That completed, it became my mission to see everyone and sort of pick up where we left off last January/December and August before that. It soon became clear that everyone was different, I was different, and picking up where we left off just didn't work. On top of that, it's hard to meet new people when you already know them. Home is certainly awkward, leaving a small void in my night life that I can't wait to replace with 307 of Sears and suite 400B of Diman.

Funny thing is, when I get back to school, everyone will be different, I'll be different, and I may just pine for the good old summer to be back.

Change is difficult, people spend all of their time in life trying to situate, it's human nature. You can't really be comfortable with a place or even begin to call it home until you've established a routine. Even the nomadic life is routine oriented, move with the seasons, continuity and township would upset the transient. I have a base desire to reestablish what I used to have, but at the same time I want to visit all of my college friends and just meet their friends and families that I don't know - to branch out. In a way I have left a good piece of myself behind from high school, you know when you're trying to figure out what you want to do for an evening and whose name comes up first in your phone book.

I'm doing spring cleaning of my friends, but every now and then I find and old notebook that I discarded a long time ago whom I should call again.

Just when you get to thinking that you should expand your group of friends because you have the kind of personality that requires many people for various activities rather than a few great people, you spend a couple hours at the gate racially profiling each other and solving riddles. No need to expand on that. Brown is awesome.

This most vocabulary infused comedy was a harsh reality check for the post modernist ideologies, but according the the blurb, that in itself, is post modern. Encouraged to question, we critically analyze post modernism, feminism, and multiculturalism. However, after we've questioned the budding ideologies and give the established hierarchy another "objective" glance, we then must question the questioner. In attempting to debunk the unfair patriarchy with absurd crack-smoking-archies, what in the end are we trying to accomplish but to establish another system that despite anyone's best efforts, will be unfair to someone and have its legitimacy questioned in turn. In an effort to avoid such a despairing spiral of horse switching, we seek the ultimate truth, which according to any modern theory, doesn't exist. Fun play though.

Probably hopelessly plagiarized, however, as it was passed on to me, I don't know where from:

Taoism
Shit happen

Confucius say
"Shit happen."

Buddhism
If shit happens, it is not really shit.

Zen Buddhism
What is the sound of shit happening?

Hinduism
This shit happened before

Islam
If shit happens, it is the will of Allah

Protestantism
Let shit happen to someone else

Catholicism
If shit happens, you deserve it

Judaism
Why does shit always happen to us?

“Oh Lord, I’m bored.”

“What is it my son? Are you not satisfied?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, the place is great, but… hmm… I don’t know.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve finished naming all the animals, what am I supposed to do now?”

“Tend to the garden.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s boring. What else is there to do around this joint?”

“I think I know what you’re getting at. I’ll get right on it.”

“Thank You, Lord.”

“My pleasure.”

The Old Man’s face was filled with warmth. His smile beamed eternal happiness and His brilliantly white beard was the source of all light. Adam was unable to look at God because of the shining hair and found that whenever he did, he would end up glowing most unpleasantly. The Old Man floated over gleefully to Adam and pointed up into the sky. Eager to receive his new gift, Adam followed God’s finger to a point in the sky and was disappointed to see nothing. While Adam was distracted, God picked up the biggest stone He could find nearby and brought it down on the beautiful man’s head. Adam fell to the ground with a thump, “Sorry my child, but I’ve run out of materials. You know, there’s only so much matter.”
God set to work opening Adam’s chest cavity. He was careful to keep Adam’s heart beating as He removed a rib out of which to fashion His new creation. As God was closing Adam up (with mud so as not to leave a scar), Adam died.

“Oh, fooey!” The young man’s death upset the lonely Old Man who needed someone to tend His garden for Him, so God breathed the breath of life into Adam and revived him. Adam slept for a day post-op as God manipulated the bone into a new person. This one, God also created in a young image of Himself, for God was a hermaphrodite. However, God did not know what to name His new creation, for He was no good with names. He decided to wake Adam and have him name it, so he brought the new being to the sleeping man and roused him.

“Boobies!” Adam’s eyes widened.

“Well, I don’t know if we can name her that.”

“Oh, You need a name for her.”

“Yes.”

“Voluptuous.”

“Too dirty.”

“Round.”

“Too obvious.”

“Concentric.”

“Too focused.”

“Betty Sue.”

“Too Southern.”

“Joe.”

“Too Northern”

“Boobies.”

“No.”

“Then her name can be Eve”

“Too… Wait, that’s perfect!”

“Penis!” Shouted the naked woman.

“Well, I never!”

The beautiful man and the beautiful woman clasped hands and ran off into the forest to frolic together naked. God smiled, knowing that He had done well. This would be the dawn of a new and wonderful era. Adam would never again be restless and the Garden of Eden would be as… fruitful… as God had always intended. He then returned to Heaven to rest, and over the next few weeks Adam and Eve busied themselves learning about each other’s bodies, but then one day they sought Him out once more.

“Oh Lord, we’re bored,” complained Adam

“What now?”

“We enjoy each other’s company, but we miss You,” added Eve.

“Eh,” the Old Man had just reached the crux of His book. “Tell you what, I’ll give you a new creation that will love you as much as I love you. Then you won’t miss Me,” God then created such a creature that would offer unhindered and never ending love. He couldn’t let Adam name it, for it was a gift, so in order to name this loving animal he decided to make an anagram of his own name. Only after rejecting Ogd, God accepted Dog has the new creature’s title. He gave Dog to the happy couple and they again frolicked while enjoying the loving company of Dog. The act of love on God’s part allowed him to return to his rest and kept the curious two busy.

God was content once more, knowing that He had done well. He returned to Heaven and rested once more. When the Old Man had finished His book, He sought out Adam and Eve so that they could dine together and catch up. When He found them they were frolicking as usual and dog was sleeping nearby. He invited them up to heaven for dinner but they declined, politely offering that they were too busy that evening. Infuriated, God returned to heaven and decided to get His revenge in another “act of love”. He created another being, this time one that would only demand love from Adam and Eve, and give nothing but disdain in return. Having to name once again, God just used an anagram of “act” and named the new animal Cat. He presented Cat to Adam and Eve, who were overjoyed to have another pet.

God smiled, knowing that he had indeed done well. From then on, when Adam and Eve decided they were too good for God, Cat put them in their place, and when they were in need of God’s love, Dog provided all that they could ever want.

I was going to post the transcript of the 3 hour conversation I had about racism with a friend, but I managed to delete it.

Summarized: White people are on top of society. Non-whites have to deal with this fact every day and are forced to either conform to the white societal culture at the loss of themselves or draw a line between themselves and society because integration is not plausible in most circumstances. This design was designed by whites long ago but little to no effort has been made to reverse it because the only ones with the power to are reaping the benefits of the system.

My arrogant and cold response: White people aren't all as blind as we seem. The racist people will eventually die, only time will change the problem, because no self-respecting adult will change their mind. The only solution is to teach the children that we are all equal and to take interest in other cultures. There is no short term solution.

React.

I've noticed so far through college, as many returning students have told me over the year, that you get a lot less work than in high school. Now, more than ever, am I damning myself with this principle. Regardless of how much reading a teacher assigns (which I NEVER do) or how terrible my problem sets are, I manage to only do work of thursdays. This week, I decided to break this habit by starting my work on wednesday:

8:00 I go upstairs to find people so that we can start the physics problem set
8:03 No one wants to start this early
8:04 I start playing video games
9:30 We begin to watch episodes of scrubs
10:45 We go to the gate for snacks
11:45 We begin playing video games again
1:00 I go back to my room with my binder and textbook

Thursday (keep in mind the problem set is due Friday at 9:00 AM):

8:00 I go upstairs to find people so that we can start the physics problem set
9:00 I finish playing video games
9:05 I start the physics
9:30 Finished with the first problem, we play more video games
10:30 Go to the gate for snacks
11:00 I start the homework up again
12:00 I have one more problem, so I go back to my room to finish it
12:01 The problem rocks me and I begin to stare and the computer and go online
2:00 I start the problem again and get help from someone downstairs (they're more motivated down there)
2:30 I go back upstairs to transitively pass on the help
2:31 I join them watchings episodes of scrubs
3:45 Fuck, I just watched a lot of TV
9:15 I wake up, class started at 9:00, FUCK, I run

These are a bunch of tests that sociologists have people take so as to create an accurate index of their personality. After each of the numbered sentences, patients specify whether they strongly agree, agree, can't really decide, disagree, or strongly disagree (that kind of survey is called a likert index). Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers to calibrate the results, but the research is at the end of the index is interesting to read through. We didn't do this in class, but we've talked about them when discussing clinical studies, I thought they were interesting enough to share.


Mattering Index

The following questionnaire consists of a series of statements that measure your assessment of your relations with other people. When you respond to these statements, please do not focus on specific others in your lives; rather, try to focus on other people in general. Think of the entire collection of other people who populate your everyday life, and respond to each statement in terms of whether it accurately describes your relations with others as a general rule. Do not spend too much time on any one statement; your first reaction is probably most accurate.


1. Quite a few people look to me for advice on issues of importance.

2. Most people do not seem to notice when I come or when I go.

3. I am not someone people turn to when they need something.

4. People tend to rely on me for support.

5. In social gatherings, no one recognizes me.

6. People do not care what happens to me.

7. There are people in my life who react to what happens to me in the same way they would if it had happened to them.

8. Sometimes when I am with others, I feel almost as if I were invisible.

9. My successes are a source of pride to people in my life.

10. When people need help, they come to me.

11. I have noticed that people will sometimes inconvenience themselves to help me.

12. If the truth be known, no one really needs me.

13. People are usually aware of my presence.

14. When I have a problem, people usually don't want to hear about it.

15. For whatever reason, it is hard for me to get other people's attention.

16. Whatever else may happen, people do not ignore me.

17. For better or worse, people generally know when I am around.

18. Much of the time, other people are indifferent to my needs.

19. There are people in my life who care enough about me to criticize me when I need it.

20. Often people trust me with things that are important to them.

21. No one would notice if one day I just disappeared.

22. There is no one who really takes pride in my accomplishments.

23. People count on me to be there for them in times of need.

24. People tend not to remember my name.


Here are some results of research on mattering. Compared to those high in mattering, those who believe that they do not matter are more likely to:
1. have low self-esteem;
2. think seriously about suicide;
3. engage in binge drinking;
4. do violence to other family members.


THE SELF-ESTEEM INDEX (Rosenberg, 1965)

Directions: For each item, circle the number that most closely corresponds to your reaction. Be candid in your response! Sum up the scores on each item to yield your Self-Esteem total score. The higher your score, the higher your level of self-esteem.


1. On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.

2. At times, I think I am no good at all.

3. I feel that I have a number of good qualities.

4. I am able to do things as well as most people.

5. I feel that I do not have much to be proud of.

6. I certainly feel useless at times.

7. I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others.

8. I wish I could have more respect for myself.

9. All in all, I am inclined to think that I am a failure.

10. I take a positive attitude toward myself.

Here are some results of research on Self-Esteem. Compared to those with high self-esteem, low self-esteem people are more likely to:

1. be chronically depressed;
2. have an unstable self-concept;
3. feel vulnerable to criticism;
4. be submissive to the will of others;
5. avoid participating in social activities;
6. have low educational aspirations/expectations;
7. avoid risks.

Further, antecedents to variations in self-esteem are many. Compared to those with high self-esteem, low self-esteem people are more likely to have the following background characteristics:

1. low socioeconomic status (in adulthood only);
2. a dissonant social context (live in an environment in which they are a distinct minority; includes racial contexts, religious contexts, and status contexts);
3. a broken family;
4. a failure to matter to others;
5. a close relationship to parents (especially fathers);
6. unattractive physical appearance.



THE REVISED SELF-MONITORING INDEX (Snyder, 1987)

Directions: For each item, circle the number that most closely corresponds to your reaction. Be candid in your response! Sum up the scores on each item to yield your Self-Monitoring total score. The higher your score, the higher your level of self-monitoring.


1. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people.

2. At parties and social gatherings, I do not attempt to do or say things that others will like.

3. I can only argue for ideas which I already believe.

4. I can make impromptu speeches even on topics about which I have no information.

5. I guess I put on a show to impress or entertain others.

6. I would probably make a good actor.

7. In a group of people I am rarely the center of attention.

8. In a different situation and with different people, I often act like very different persons.

9. I am not particularly good at making people like me.

10. I’m not always the person I appear to be.

11. I would not change my opinions (or the way I do things) in order to please someone or win their favor.

12. I have considered being an entertainer.

13. I have never been good at games like charades or improvisational acting.

14. I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different situations.

15. At a party I let others keep the jokes and stories going.

16. I feel a bit awkward in company and do not show up quite as well as I should.

17. I can look anyone in the eye and tell a lie with a straight face (if for a right end).

18. I may deceive people by being friendly when I really dislike them.


Here are some results of research on Self-Monitoring. Compared to low self-monitors, high self-monitors are more likely to:
1. control the pace of conversations with others;
2. prefer highly structured interactions;
3. practice audience segregation in their self-presentations;
4. prefer physical characteristics to personality traits in selecting a romantic partner;
5. prefer occupations that call on them to portray clearly defined roles;
6. become depressed because of threats to self-presentation rather than threats to self-concept stability;
7. date more partners and stay with each partner for a shorter period of time.

Given your level of self-monitoring, how does your everyday behavior compare with the results of this research?

I just finished my 10 hours of physics homework. Albeit, I did it in one day when I had the week to do it, but that's just the kind of work ethic I've got.

My physics teacher sang "My humps" in class during lecture to get our attention.

So, my sociology is class is awesome. The first half of class was just intro bull shit cause it was the first day of class (yes, we start this late, eat it northwestern), but the second half of class. Oh, the second half of class. We took a Social Awareness Inventory. I'll provide the questions and my answers as follows.

1. Our internal cognitive processes are actually social phenomena (I dont even know what that means).
False

2. A community is a collection of people in which conflicts have been successfully resolved.
False

3. The only reason that altruism occurs is the personal "feeling good" that comes from helping others. (note the only)
False

4. A person's self concept is least stable during adolescence, rather than during childhood or adulthood.
True

5. It is better to be ignored than to be hated.
Über False

6. You have to like someone in order to be in love with him or her.
False

7. A person cannot have too much self esteem.
True

8. Obnoxious and nice people are continually repelled by each other.
False (I have nice friends)

9. Most people, when facing a threatening environment, will want to be with others.
True

10. The more attractive the woman, the more a man will try to make a date with her.
True

We then continued to spend the rest of class discussing the answers. Now this ain't to pansy ass sociology class, there are right answers, except to 7 and 10. 7 depends on your definition of self esteem, and 10 depends on the man's self esteem. And out of a 150 something class, I managed to talk thrice, cause I'm just that fucking pushy. As far as I know now, my answers to 3, 4, and 5 are right. We have yet to go over the others. But imagine how much fun talking about this shit is. Sociology is definitely an amazing class.