Essential

Must-reads from the Bubbler

Changing the way we talk about politics

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. “ – Eleanor Roosevelt Normally, I’m not one for quotes. However, this one was pointed out to me as I was walking through a local grade school. It articulated something I had concluded about two years earlier. As long as I’ve been following politics, people have been talking about the President like they knew him personally. They would assign motives to every statement and assign credit for very complicated laws or regulations that were vetted by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It was about that time…

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Doing the jobs humans won’t do

In the past week, I’ve run across a few articles about how robot caregivers are making a huge difference in the lives of our senior citizens. Facilities in Japan and Germany are using the robots to interact with the elderly. The robots challenge senior citizens with memory games and bring food and drinks to residents. Any why not? One look at a sidewalk, restaurant, bus, or shopping mall will show you that we’ve already lost the ability to look each other in the eye and hold a normal conversation. The best of friends will sit at a table and…

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Celebrate similarity

In 2002, during a performance of “Anna Stesia”, Prince said, “‘We should champion our diversity…’ Ha!” “We should champion our similarities. We should meet on a higher level. Instead of looking at white, black… rich, poor… young, old… Differences. Differences. ‘Diversity.’ Let’s meet somewhere higher.” You can’t get through a week without seeing a “celebrate diversity” sign or hearing someone talking about the importance of diversity. It’s never made any sense to me. Why aren’t we celebrating the things we have in common? The things that unite us? People keep trying to break us down into groups: white, black,…

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Don’t consider the source

Consider the content of what is being said. Considering the source is one of the greatest wedges dividing our society. It allows us to avoid the merits of an idea by destroying the reputation of the source. Instead of stopping and considering the idea or information being shared, people are becoming way too quick to dismiss what they’re hearing because of who’s saying it. Think what you want of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton (just to pick two examples), but there’s a reason they say the things they say and do the things they do. (And you’re not them,…

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