Courtesy of Justin Skinner & Conrad Schick

Welcome to Hell: A Real World Guide for Graduates

Articles /
May 11, 2007 - 12:00 AM

Congratulations, 2007 graduate!

With the $80,000 drinking binge that was your college career now in the rear-view mirror, you're looking forward to your new adult life with hope in your eyes and a freshly-printed diploma in your hand.

Unfortunately, contrary to what your self-important professors would have you believe, there isn't exactly a huge demand for people with a degree in 17th century Dutch artists in the real world. As such, you may soon find yourself trying in vain to use your diploma to paddle your way back down the shit's-creek you find yourself navigating.

Fortunately, you have us here to guide you through those confusing first few post-graduation months.

First off, let's set your mind at ease by saying that not everything in post-graduate life will be entirely new. In fact, one element thereof will likely be very familiar. Very painfully, humiliatingly familiar:
MOVING BACK TO YOUR PARENTS' HOUSE

Remember those first few difficult months at college, when you had to learn to take on newfound responsibilities? Remember how that adjustment was made easier because with it came the newfound freedom to drink at noon on a Monday and bring a different stranger home to your bed every night? Those days are over, graduate! To your parents, you'll always be their darling seven-year-old child who sometimes wets the bed and who has to get permission to have dinner with friends!

As an example of your new restrictions, look at the following two scenarios and see if you can figure out which is lamer:

Scenario 1: “Last call already? Hey (insert name of cute girl/guy you just met), why don't we head back to my place. I have some beers there, I can roll us a J. You know, just chill.”

Scenario 2: “10:30 p.m. already? Hey (insert name of cute girl/guy you just met), why don't we go back to my parents' place before they start to worry? You can just hide in the garage until they go to bed, then I can sneak you upstairs. I have a single bed with Transformers bedsheets and a whole closet full of He-Man action figures. Hey, where are you going? God, I'm lonely.”

Obviously, only scenario one has a puncher's chance of resulting in sloppy drunk sex. If scenario two actually works, you might want to reconsider the type of person you try to pick up.

Even if you do manage to impress someone with promises of surreptitious parents'-house coitus, consider the bedroom you now have. Since you left for college, your parents have undoubtedly turned your room into a repository for everything they always wished they had room for. In other words, they'll have kept the room every bit as embarrassing as it ever was, but added plenty of little hints letting you know just how much they've missed you and how happy they are to have you back at home (not much and not at all, respectively).

Why would your loving parents not want you living under their roof again? Because you haven't yet done the one simple thing that they would have most certainly expected you to do in between arriving home and having dinner that same night…
GETTING A JOB

Make no mistake, graduate, it's a difficult job market these days. It's far more different, for instance, than it was in the 1980s, when your father walked out of high school and was offered a hefty salary and the company Camaro as vice-president of Rubik's Inc. It's time to start sending off your resumes to Fortune 500 companies. Whether you apply to well-known stalwarts like IBM, Merrill Lynch and Pfizer, or up-and-comers like Starbucks, Sonic and Build-A-Bear Workshop, chances are your lack of experience will limit your chances.

You see, here's the paradox of the real world: nobody will give you a job unless you have experience, and you can't get experience unless you have a job. This Catch-22 will seem even more puzzling when you realize that almost two hundred million Americans somehow managed to get jobs, including the 18-year old shirt-folder at Hollister who neatly folded your resume up before firing it into the trash.

Unfortunately, your C+ philosophy paper on Zeno's paradoxes will not help you solve this real world dilemma. Fortunately, we can tell you the secrets to increase your likelihood of finding work.

1. You have to know somebody to become somebody. Just ask Ivanka Trump, Stephanie McMahon or George W. Bush. "But I don't know any of these people," you say. "After four years of college, the only people I know are potheads, alcoholics, and that exchange student who could belch the Russian National Anthem." Hey, it could be worse; the only person you know could be James Van Der Beek, who will sneak in through your bedroom window every night to lament the fact that Tom Cruise stole his girlfriend.

2. There's no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such a thing as getting someone's lunch for free for a year. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and work as an unpaid intern to get experience. There's absolutely no shame in that. Just ask your parents, in between their rumblings about how it's maybe time they started charging you rent to move back into the same crappy room you couldn't wait to move the hell out of four years ago.

3. Go where the jobs really are. If things get really desperate, you could always outsource yourself to Asia and earn 30 Malaysian ringgits per week manufacturing "Don't Mess With Texas" shot glasses. Or you could earn thousands of dollars per year teaching English in Japan even though the only Japanese word you think you know is "Pokemon". Either way, you'll probably still wind up moving back in with your parents by age 24, but at least you'll have learned the Japanese word for "Hepatitis".

4. It's time to forget the book smarts and learn some street smarts. Your Stephen Hawking textbook may have taught you that time travel is impossible, but this isn't going to help you party like it's 1999 in the real world. Ignore the books, build your own time machine and travel back to the days when jobs were falling from the sky.

5. It's pronounced " Ven-ti." During any job interview it's vital that you take the time to learn whatever you can about the company and the manager you want to work for. A few simple trips to the internet can provide a wealth of information that will help during that first interview.

Interviewer: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

You: "I see myself living in a Venti-sized house under the Space Needle."

Interviewer: "How do you expect to make that kind of money as a barista?"

You: "Well, I thought you might pay that much to avoid having these very revealing photos of you in a halter top and making out with Bruce Willis mailed to your wife."

Interviewer: "Did you photoshop my head over Lindsay Lohan? While that is inappropriate, I am short-staffed and this café's toilet isn't gonna unclog itself. You're hired!"

See? With a little time and effort, you can turn your computer science degree into a cool six bucks an hour.
HOW TO USE YOUR DEGREE

When you were in school, some degrees seemed more useful than others. But times are constantly changing, so we've provided the following uses for some of the more common degrees.

Psychology - helps you understand how living at home, with no job or girlfriend is contributing to your crushing depression.

Economics – can help you explain to your parents how the shifting economic climate means that you can neither get a job on a macro- or micro- level.

Philosophy - allows you to explain to the judge that if the prosecutor can't even prove that he exists, there's no way he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the video footage of you shop-lifting your dinner at that 7-11 gas station exists either.

English – when confronted with a crowd of people, you now know it's not “who is this Big Mac combo for?,” it's “for whom is this Big Mac combo?” This is the kind of information that will get your ass kicked by your 16-year-old co-workers who think you “talk like some kinda gaylord.”

Film - if the hottest girl at a party wants to know whether Citizen Kane has better cinematography than Little Man , you're the go-to guy. Then, as her beefy boyfriend's kicking your scrawny hipster ass, you can contemplate your predicament through the zeitgeist of post-modernism.

History of Marine Biology - this degree will likely be quite useless until the aliens invade and their only weakness turns out to be whale calls from the 1920s.

There you have it, graduate. Things may seem bleak and daunting, but given time and determination, you can eventually break into the working world, move out on your own and start counting down the years until you can retire.

Good luck, and have fun!

The URL for this story is:
http://www.cracked.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1935

If you look to yer right, you will see my music I've uploaded to MediaMaster. MM is a sort of virtual iPod on the web, so you can access your music from anywhere. I've been looking for an app like this for a while, and this one does the trick. Uploading takes a while, and I haven't uploaded all my stuff yet, but it's start.

I am giving a presentation at St. Joeys Place for the Veteran Wing inmates..er...residents this Friday. To that end I have extensively updated my Support Site and put up a new web site for the training session. The url's are:

http:///180degrees.netfirms.com (lots of links to tutorials and my Google calendar for ICR)

and

http://russell.wagner.googlepages.com (Links to the Google tool set)

The idea being, since these guys have Red Hat Linux on the Computer Room machines, and some have their own windoze pc's, a more universal and utilitarian approach to productivity apps is necessary. So I am using Google tools. You don't REQUIRE any particular OS or office app suite on your pc, the OS doesn't matter (as long as you have a web browser and an internet connex). All your data files are saved out on the net. For more on this framework see Professor Strassmann's lecture on"Data Architecture of the Future" at Google video (http://www.strassmann.com and scroll down to Google: Model for the Systems Architecture of the Future and Google: A Model for the Systems Architecture of the Future for the slide show he uses in PDF format).

Check in later for details...

This from Brian Kim's web site. If you are a recent college grad, and can actually read...

I felt obligated to write this post to let college students know what things to look out for when they graduate so they don’t get railroaded.

I will not waste your time with a long introduction, so without further ado, I present to you:

5 Things Every College Grad Should Know.

#1. A Degree Does NOT Entitle You to a Job

It’s amazing to hear recent college graduates get so worked up about not being able to find a job. Here’s their typical rant:

“I’ve worked my butt off at college. I studied every night. I got good grades. I graduated Magna Cum Laude. Why are there no jobs out there? This is a travesty! I worked my butt off and for what? So I can input data into spreadsheets at Initech? Nobody told me it would be like this. Everyone told me that if you have a degree, you’re set. What the %*%# is going on? Arrrgghhh!!!!”

First off, let me sincerely congratulate you for sticking to a major commitment and following through on it. I’m not trying to be sarcastic here. I sincerely congratulate you. I know it’s hard work and I feel for you because I know exactly what you went through.

Now here comes the tough love that you know is coming.

Just because you got a degree, it doesn’t entitle you to a six figure job, with full benefits, a one month paid vacation to a company retreat, 20 floating holidays, a corner office, and a parking spot in front of the doors with your name on it.

It’s time to get your head out of the sand.

The days where all you needed was a college degree to get a job are LONG GONE.

Deep down inside, you know it’s true.

We were all told the same lie in high school. Get into a prestigious university, get a degree, and your magic high paying job will fall squarely in your lap.

The smart people are the ones who have figured out this lie early on in college, and made sure the time they spent in school would separate them from the students who were still “asleep”.

You know exactly who these smart people are. They are the ones who took the internships, the unpaid jobs, who made network contacts, and spent their days and nights gaining valuable working experience and marketable skills.

Think back to your graduation. Remember your fellow classmates graduating with you? They too got degrees. Now, think of the thousand other graduations across the nation that occurred in the same month. They got degrees too.

What’s going to separate you from them? Why should employers hire you instead of all the other clones?

You must learn to differentiate yourself. What can you offer that these other people can’t?

It’s not enough to put your future in the hands of an educational institution. It’s time to stop blaming the world. It’s time to take personal responsibility, and to have the courage to shape your future with your own hands.

#2. Find What You Love to Do

I should’ve put this at the very top, but I wanted to address the biggest issue facing recent college grads first (job entitlement).

Let’s look at the typical path of a college graduate who has not found what they love to do.

Graduated from college -> can’t find job -> get’s low paying “temporary” job just to pay the bills -> starts to become complacent and falls into routine -> struggles to get out of routine but can’t because of accumulation of debt to finance lifestyle of escaping reality and impressing people with material possessions -> effectively becomes a slave to the job as it is needed to pay the bills-> looks foward to weekend to complain about job but does nothing and gets wasted to forget troubles-> gets depressed -> struggles to find meaning in life -> maybe gets a small promotion at temporary job by employer as an incentive not to quit -> hates waking up in the morning everyday but does it anyway to pay the bills -> makes other people’s lives miserable because his is -> rinse and repeat for 40 years -> lies on deathbed regretting life, wishing he could go back and change it all, and dies knowing that he can’t.

The time you have after college is THE TIME to find what you love to do. You are not burdened (I assume for the most part) with the heavy responsibilities of a mortgage, family, or dependents. You’ll most likely move back home or room with a buddy.

Use that time to find what you love to do. Don’t put it off. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap of getting a job just to get by and falling into a routine.

I’m not saying it’s bad to get a job just to get by, but if that is all you are doing, and if you don’t have a goal, plan, or passion, to shoot for, the future looks very bleak for you.

How do you find what you love to do? I’ve written an article on that subject that might help you out. You can read it here.

#3. Learn How to Interact With People

Learning how to interact with people is probably one of the most valuable skills you can have in your belt. This is a “street smart” skill. Sure there are books on this, but the only way you can develop this skill is by putting it into practice constantly until it becomes second nature.

This skill will come into play when you get your first job.

Learn to make a habit of greeting people with a smile. Say “thank you, please, and I appreciate it” whenever you have the chance. These small things make a huge difference. Do not be so quick to dismiss the power of appreciation and courtesy.

Make small talk, get to know your co-workers, help them when they have a problem. Eat lunch with them. Talk about the TV shows you watch when you’re at the water cooler or about the cool blogs you visit on the net – hint hint

Learn to be positive. Make people smile when they see you coming your way.

You will find that the skill of comfortably interacting with people will help you when it comes time to promotion. This will also protect you from the next subject.

#4. Practice CYA (You Know, Cover Your - - -)

Office politics – yes, everything you’ve heard is true. Office politics DOES exist and it is NOT pretty.

When it comes to downsizing, I’ve seen employees turn on the quiet employee in the corner like a pack of wolves and whisper to the managers that he/she must go. It’s far easier to fire the loner than to fire one of the gang. That’s why you should learn how to interact with people.

When it comes to promotion with competition, work sabotage and trash talking behind the back are rampant and pretty much expected.

When it comes to personal differences between employees and managers, managers will look for the smallest excuse to fire their employees.

But even if you are the most charming employee ever, you should still CYA.

Keep ALL emails. Back them up. Have everything in writing. If a potential problem or situation comes up, document it as fully as you can. Don’t trust your memory. If someone accuses you of something so bad that it could cost you your job (I’ve seen it happen), then you can calmly pull out all the information you saved and effectively CYA. Not to mention, make the accuser look like a total idiot (I’ve seen that happen too and it is SWEET!)

#5. Build and Maintain A New Social Network

When you graduate, you’re not going to be surrounded by your classmates and dorm buddies 24/7. You’ll most likely be living with a roommate or living with your parents and the majority of your social contact will be at work, and I don’t think your workplace is going to be filled with 22 year olds.

The only people you will probably keep in touch with are your roommates and your frat buddies or any other close friends you made, but they will all be doing their own thing in different places.

Building a social network is crucial. Studies have shown that having a strong social network leads to positive mental and physical health over the course of one’s life.

So start building your social network. Don’t just stay at home and play video games and expect friends to magically show up at your doorstep.

Go join Toastmasters. Go to the parties, bars, bookstores, and lounges. One quick point though. Don’t just go these places just for the sake of making friends. Make sure you have a genuine interest in the subject of the place you are going to.

For example, if you have no intention of learning how to give speeches, don’t go to Toastmasters just to make friends. You won’t have anything in common with them because the people there want to give speeches.

Go to places where you have a genuine interest and you will meet similar people there who share your interests, which is perfect fodder for friendships.

If you go to places where there are regular meetings, it’s even easier to make friends because you see the same people who hold the same interest as you on a continual basis. Ever wonder why it was easy to make friends at school? That’s why.

If you’re apprehensive about making friends with complete strangers, let me let you in on a little secret when it comes to people and their friends.

Most people are sick and tired of their friends. We are creatures of habit. We hang out with the same people all the time, listen to the same stories, laugh at the same jokes, and complain about the same things.

Most people are bored out of their mind when it comes to their friends and they will welcome any type of change. That’s where you come in. So don’t have any fear of making friends. Save people from boredom and complacency by inserting yourself into their lives.

The biggest misconception is that everybody has all the friends they need and that they don’t need anymore. People will always need friends.

So go make friends at work. Play social sports like basketball or tennis or softball afterwards. You will find that people don’t have many opportunities to make friends after school, especially if they work 9-5. That is why you see so many friendships made at work. After all, you are spending a whole lot of time there.

There will come a time when your social network will help you get through tough times and you’ll be extremely thankful that you spent the time to make it.

I’m sure there are other things that every college grad should know, but I feel that the 5 discussed here are some of the more important ones that should be made known.

So college grads: Take personal responsibility, find what you love to do, learn how to positively interact with people, always CYA, and build a strong social network. By doing these things, you will find it to be extremely beneficial and a worthwhile investment on your part.

Recently, I have encountered a number of folks MUCH younger than me, and I am shocked at how science - phobic these kids are. I'm not talking about not caring for the sciences, or being indifferent, but people who actually believe that science is EVIL. "Oh, I'm a people person" or "Russ, I'm in the people business" or "science is just too hard, besides I'm going to be a social worker/therapist/massage therapist/model/actress-actor/politician/lawyer" blah blah blah. This is complete and utter rubbish!

I contend that if you are going to exist in the material world (and I don't personally know anyone who doesn't), or be in the so-called "people business" you had better by God figure what the people are up to, what they do, and how the universe around you works, or you will be in a world of SHIT! Science teaches us much more than facts and figures, it teaches us how to plan, think analytically (I hate the term "critical thinking"...it is meaningless) and better utilize our human resources. That's right, HUMAN resources.

Now, it's not my intention to turn everyone into Nobel Prize winners, or robots. Just be able to read about the latest discovery of a black hole, or dark matter by the Hubble in the news, and know what the hell the writer is TALKING ABOUT DAMMIT! That takes minimal effort. So, in my regard for the future of humanity (yes Virginia, I do care..really) I propose a course for all you"touchy feelies" out there with your philosophy degrees about to be gob-smacked by the harsh realities of a world you are gravely ill-prepared for.

Here it is:

One 16 week semester. Science for Dummies

Module One (4 weeks)- BASIC mathematics (not arithmetic-I have to assume SOME things, like you learned how to count in the first grade). Algebra, geometry, analytic geometry and functions of X and Limits of X. You should have learned this in 8th grade by the way. No trigonometry.

Module Two (4 weeks)- Chemistry. Basic chemistry, Organic chemistry, a 4 day practical lab, then polymers/plastics and basic chemical manufacturing process.

Module Three (4 weeks)- Biology. Cell biology, photosynthesis/animal metabolism, DNA/genetics, BASIC microbiology and natural selection theory/animal speciation , ecology No religious services for the environmental whackamos ( I will leave the evolution debate to the fanatic idiots).

Module Four (4 weeks)- Physics. I saved this until last because a science virgin really needs a warm-up period. But there is nothing really hard here. Newton (Laws of Motion/gravitation), thermodynamics (heat), Electromagnetism, then a mild overview of quantum physics, relativity and cosmology.

That's it. And to make things even more painless, I'll make it a pass/fail course, with no grades.

Of course, it will never work because the social deconstructionist lunatics that run the teachers unions want you to be a moron, in order to better serve the state once they get their insane socialist workers paradise installed after the revolution.

But I feel better now

russell

Eve's Finest Hour
Hi all-
I have uploaded the entire East Seventh Center Volunteer Training Video on YouTube! This was Eve’s project, but of course I provided the hardware, editing and even the scoring. Below is the link for Part 5 (the Finale), but if you click on the “more from this user” link to the right of the display, you will get all 5 parts.

Eve should be very proud of this first attempt, and now I have made it available anytime she needs to ref it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yecTroV6ILE

Yes, it’s true, I finally did it!

After weeks of frustration, I finally got my HP 5440 printer to work with the PIII Laptop (the IBM ThinkPad). I was thrilled...but wait, there’s more! I made the printer a network share, and now I can print from my Compaq PIIII laptop (thanks again Jim), via my home wireless network, from anywhere in the apt. Fantastic! As you may or may not know, a Macintosh computer cannot print to a Windows net share printer, unless that printer is a Postscript (Adobe’s standard publishing page description language) printer. I Googled around the internet and found some open source drivers that emulate postscript drivers for the Mac OS. No problem! I installed said drivers on my Mac laptop and viola! Now I can print, via the wireless network, to the HP 5440, from anywhere in the apt!

Bottom line is this--> The old PIII is now my:
Web Server
File server
Print Server

For every computer in the house. Yea ME!!!

OK, I'm disgusted...again. When I was a kid (I sound like my Dad, I know) we actually learned stuff in school. When was your last science class? That “earth sciences” class in 8th grade? Your “health” class in college? COLLEGE! HEALTH! ? ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

I came across this little gem this a.m.:

Scientific literacy: Americans lead but could do better
Submitted by Vidura Panditaratne on Sat, 2007-02-17 16:44.Africa | Americas | Sci | United States | News

Americans are more scientifically literate than Europeans or Japanese, but 70 percent of them cannot understand the New York Times science section, according to Michigan State University researcher.

Participating in an American Association for the Advancement of Science symposium, titled "Science Literacy and Pseudoscience," MSU’s Jon Miller said that Americans, while slightly ahead of their European counterparts when it comes to scientific knowledge, still have a long way to go.

"A slightly higher proportion of American adults qualify as scientifically literate than European or Japanese adults, but the truth is that no major industrial nation in the world today has a sufficient number of scientifically literate adults," he said. "We should take no pride in a finding that 70 percent of Americans cannot read and understand the science section of the New York Times."

Approximately 28 percent of American adults currently qualify as scientifically literate, an increase from around 10 percent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to Miller’s research.

A professor in political science, Miller said one reason for the Americans’ slim lead is that the United States is the only major nation in the world that requires its college students to take general science courses.

"Although university science faculties have often viewed general education requirements with disdain," he said, "analyses indicate that the courses promote civic scientific literacy among U.S. adults despite the disappointing performance of American high school students in international testing."

Adding to the United States’ relatively good showing is Americans’ use of informal science education resources, such as science magazines, news magazines, science museums and the Internet.

Why is it important to have a population wise in the ways of science? Miller listed several reasons, including the need for a more sophisticated work force; a need for more scientifically literate consumers, especially when it comes to purchasing electronics; and, equally as important, a scientifically literate electorate who can help shape public policy.

"Over recent decades, the number of public policy controversies that require some scientific or technical knowledge for effective participation has been increasing," he said. "Any number of issues, including the siting of nuclear power plants, nuclear waste disposal facilities, and the use of embryonic stem cells in biomedical research point to the need for an informed citizenry in the formulation of public policy."

To be classified as "scientifically literate," Miller said one must be able to understand approximately 20 of 31 scientific concepts and terms similar to those that would be found in articles that appear in the New York Times weekly science section and in an episode of the PBS program "NOVA."

What are the 31 concepts???

Some of the questions:

Provide a correct open-ended definition of a molecule

Provide a correct open-ended definition of DNA

Disagree that “Antibiotics kills viruses as well as bacteria”

Disagree that “Lasers work by focusing sound waves”
Agree that “Electrons are smaller than atoms”

Indicate that the Earth goes around the Sun once each year through a pair of closed-ended questions

Disagree that “The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs”

Disagree that “All radioactivity is man-made”

Indicate that light travels faster than sound

Disagree that “Radioactive milk can be made safe by boiling it”

Agree that “The continents on which we live have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move in the future”
Agree that “The center of the Earth is very hot”

Guys, I’m sorry, and I’m not holding myself out as some kind of genius (even though I am), but I knew the answers to all these questions when I was 9 YEARS OLD!!! Not only that, but the last 2 generations of kids don't seem to know SHIT about -

1. General economic principles, especially how capitalism works viz-a-viz socialism and fascism and
2. How their own government works, how a bill becomes law, the role of the 3 branches of government and how they check on each other and
3. Practical military and statecraft necessity and yet more, and possibly worst of all
4. NO ( and I mean NONE) knowledge of history of any kind. They are taught Asian folklore and African fairy tales and vague insipid generalities about so-called "Hispanic" culture (does ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE HELL THAT IS? I have a PhD in Economic History and I don't have a clue) and nothing about Europe, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, etc.

What all this points up to is a general institutionalized rejection (bordering on mindless hatred) of Western (i.e., European, Christian white guy) civilization.

The end is truly near, and I'm just waiting for the bus

Frame or Be Framed
Signum sine tinnitu--by Guy Kawasaki2/14/07 8:00 AMGuyKawasaki Evangelism, Marketing, and Sales, Pitching, Presenting, and Speaking
George Lakoff is a professor at U.C. Berkeley Linguistics Department. He’s written a book called Don’t Think of an Elephant His message in this interview concerns how Republicans appear to be good “framers” and Democrats are lousy ones. Here are two questions from the interview:
Question: How does language influence the terms of political debate?

Language always comes with what is called “framing.” Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework. If you have something like “revolt,” that implies a population that is being ruled unfairly, or assumes it is being ruled unfairly, and that they are throwing off their rulers, which would be considered a good thing. That’s a frame.

If you then add the word “voter” in front of “revolt,” you get a metaphorical meaning saying that the voters are the oppressed people, the governor is the oppressive ruler, that they have ousted him and this is a good thing and all things are good now. All of that comes up when you see a headline like “voter revolt”—something that most people read and never notice. But these things can be affected by reporters and very often, by the campaign people themselves.

Question: Do any of the Democratic Presidential candidates grasp the importance of framing?

None. They don’t get it at all. But they’re in a funny position. The framing changes that have to be made are long-term changes. The conservatives understood this in 1973. By 1980 they had a candidate, Ronald Reagan, who could take all this stuff and run with it. The progressives don’t have a candidate now who understands these things and can talk about them. And in order for a candidate to be able to talk about them, the ideas have to be out there. You have to be able to reference them in a sound bite. Other people have to put these ideas into the public domain, not politicians. The question is, How do you get these ideas out there? There are all kinds of ways, and one of the things the Rockridge Institute is looking at is talking to advocacy groups, which could do this very well. They have more of a budget, they’re spread all over the place, and they have access to the media.

Right now the Democratic Party is into marketing. They pick a number of issues like prescription drugs and Social Security and ask which ones sell best across the spectrum, and they run on those issues. They have no moral perspective, no general values, no identity. People vote their identity, they don’t just vote on the issues, and Democrats don’t understand that. Look at Schwarzenegger, who says nothing about the issues. The Democrats ask, How could anyone vote for this guy? They did because he put forth an identity. Voters knew who he is.

This isn’t a political blog (not that my saying this is going to affect the comments but you already know that I believe in open commenting). My goal is to draw lessons from linguistics and apply them to business because it is a very useful marketing technique. For example, “a music-listeners revolt” would imply that record companies are unfairly ruling people who listen to music. This beats the heck out of “piracy,” and the company who provides “relief” for this oppression is logically a hero.

contextcontent
Again, Eve is a latent genius!
She sez -
While I agree that handouts are not the answer, but a problem (which I
knew prior ot this year), I do belive that certain people, because of
circumstance, history, etc do not have the skills, know-how, or
motivation to go out there and get somethign for themselves. they do
have a personal responsibility fault there, but their struggle goes
much deeper than perhaps you or I...but its all very complicated. I do
see where youre coming from...maybe having nothing would be motivation
to go get SOMETHING, but maybe it would just deepen a cycle of despair
or disillusionment...no idea over here...
anyway, im not at the center today, im reading up on soccer coaching and drills.
Talk toyou soon
Eve

On 7/22/06, russ wrote:
> EVE -
> Your insight is startling for one so young. The intercine warfare between
> various special interests (yes social sector groups have special interests
> too!) over budgets is nothing short of criminal. There is indeed a distinct
> lack of co-ordination/collaboration between activities with common focus
> that dilutes the overall effort. Business concern have this problem too, and
> it comes down to eliminating “turf” battles. The ONLY way I have seen work
> in this area is the intervention of a clearly charismatic leader in a
> particular area, that can rally the differing, divergent activities into one
> force, concentrated on a single goal. Unfortunately, this leads to a
> “cult-of-personality” situation. The problem, alas, is an all to human one.
>
> Because of your experience at e7center, you have seen first hand the effects
> of a demographic existing “so far into the problem they don’t know they have
> a problem” -itis. Again, an all to human condition, but I heard some thing
> (believe it or nor, on NPR) about an engineer whose company makes a manually
> operated irrigation pump, that can be repaired with no tools. The
> interviewer made the comment “why don’t you get Bill and Melinda Gates to
> buy a million of them and give them away?”. I laughed when I heard the guys
> answer, because it would have been my answer...”If you give something away,
> people just hang around waiting for the next handout. If you make them BUY
> it, they understand that they OWN it, and will USE IT.” Capitalism to the
> rescue again.
>
> How do you motivate the un-motivatable? If they KNOW the next handout is
> just around the corner, how do you get people to ACT? You see EVE, this is
> why life (real LIFE) involves Struggle. When you have to get out there and
> scratch, you appreciate what you have. Now. I’m not totally Darwinian here,
> but being compassionate does NOT mean giving away everything to those who
> have nothing. You destroy both parties when you do that. You cannot make
> everybody equal by making them equally miserable.
>
> Anyway, take your time with the lessons learned survey; I have a meeting
> with the small business center Tuesday abut getting some funding for a
> center of excellence for non-profits. I sent you and K my rough draft
> proposal, so look at that and get your feedback to me your soonest.

My friend Eve is very young and naive, but she is clever and is trying to be a complete person. She will succeed. She just completed a HELLISH tour of duty for an unnamed social sector activity, and this is what I told her highness -
Eve -

Well, your long national nightmare is finally over...congratulation. Now the real hell begins. I have attached a document I have found very useful in the past, and I hope you do too. It is a Lessons Learned Survey. I first started using these in the military, as it is useful to review an operation to see where you messed up, and to see how you can improve. Toyota and other companies that practice Six Sigma, Total Quality Management or Kaizen-based management use something very similar to improve the way they do things, and explicitly learn from their mistakes.

Socrates said that "an unexamined life is not worth living", and I too believe this. The exercise of reviewing what you did at e7center may seem trivial, and even silly and pointless, but if you do it (after taking a few days off, of course) I think you will find it useful, as I have.

Some tips - Don't do this all at once... Let it flow out more or less naturally, over 2 or 3 weeks. Put it away for awhile, then get it back out. When you are "done", keep it somewhere for safe keeping. Review it from time to time and fill out a new one every once in a while.

Print the thing out, then fill it in. Don't do it on the PC. What I do is scribble on separate sheets of paper, with the appropriate numbering for the exercises.

Share it with someone...Keith would be a good choice. Write down the feedback. There is something about the act of committing thought to paper that is clarifying in the deed. Lou Reed wrote that "Between thought and expression lies a lifetime", so take advantage of the opportunity to improve by using this simple tool. I really believe you will find it a truly spiritual experience.

russell

WIDGET HELL

OK, OK, desktop widets on the Mac are truly AWESOME, but the issue is"how can you remember to use them. Example: I use the widget for writing in this blog, so I can access it easily... problem being, oyu have to invoke your widgets to display in order to get to the thing. IOW, you have to remember to do it. More on this later, here comes my 11 o'clock appt...

big deal

well, my foray into working for social sector orgs has blown up in my face...these people REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING to help themselves. They are sooo co-dependant on the gov't sugar tit, that any attempt by an "outsider" (i.e., someone who is not an LCSW) to help is considered ruthless explotation by the "evil capitalist runnig dog imperialists". AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!

Getting a social services consulting deal off the ground is HARD MAN!! I ma a terrible marketing advertising guy... I hate asking people to pass the salt at a dinner party, much less asking these snot-nosed punk social workers for some of their precious time to pitch my expertise. Yeah, I'm getting some serious resentment issues...

Today i formalized the most recent start-up of mine, S3D. My goal (based on hard won personal experiance) is to set up a consultancy that wiil transfer standard "best practices" used in the private sector to the social sector. This will NOT be easy, as the people working in the social services area (in general) have a level of "snarkyness" that borders on pure bitchery.

The most difficult barrier to mitigate (I don't see overcoming it, like Ceaser) is the "Not invented here" attitude of these people. Usually when i approch them with this idea of using real-world processes and procedures to enhance thier activity, I get the standard "dagger eyes" with a comment something ike "so you don't think i know what I'm doing huh?" "well FUCK YOU BUDDY!!"
Well, it's something to do

russell

context is content. without a framework, everything is gibberish.