Practical idealism
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethings who still have the fire in their souls to change the world for the better?
If it were still on the air, I'd recommend advertising on "Friends". All the viewers were perky, upwardly-mobile, urban viewers in their 20s and 30s.
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic,
This isn't only the America, the whole western culture seems to be infected. And it's almost understandable - but that doesn't help much. You are not trying to reach a general audience, you are trying to reach yet another special interest group. That is good (because you don't have to fight the noise on the "general audience" channel) and bad (because there is no specific media outlet for you). Identify which special interest group overlaps with your target audience - partly is enough. I have no idea, though - all world improvers I know are either married with children and have no longer a problem with going to the movies "just to be entertained", or are SWM to lazy/tired when they come home from the office. You can create the hangout and spread the word easily - but then, the biggest problem is making the leap into the real world. The "projects" that come to mind are:
- ImprovEverywhere[^] - challenging normality
- BookCrossing[^] - challenging the tit for tat mentality
Some of us walk the memory lane, others plummet into a rabbit hole
Tree in C# || Fold With Us! || sighist -- modified at 15:49 Wednesday 14th June, 2006peterchen wrote:
You can create the hangout and spread the word easily - but then, the biggest problem is making the leap into the real world.
Making the leap into the real world is easy. That's what I do. Where I'm drawing a blank is on the former - how to spread the word. If that seems easy to you, I'd love to learn from your perspective and experience. I'm just not seeing an approach. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethings who still have the fire in their souls to change the world for the better?
If it were still on the air, I'd recommend advertising on "Friends". All the viewers were perky, upwardly-mobile, urban viewers in their 20s and 30s.
:laugh: Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives.
Gosh, Chris...Things sure were different in the olden days...
Christopher Duncan wrote:
It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do.
Well, that's not strictly true... but where do we get that many Peeps?
Christopher Duncan wrote:
Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice.
Boycott "American Idol"! :D
Christopher Duncan wrote:
However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on.
Psychedelic Flash animations are still good though.
Christopher Duncan wrote:
So, in a society where this sort of thing isn't currently trendy (which means there are no common hangouts for this kind of talk), where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
I think that's the idea behind a lot of these "social networking" sites - while i might care nothing for hotrods and little dogs, i'm big into programming and waffles, and plenty of programmers and waffle aficionados are also car enthusiasts. So links get passed around, and because i generally see good things from this programmer, i follow the link he posts that he found on his Harley newsgroup, where it was posted by a skier who found it in the back of Gum Chewing Weekly left behind in an Aspen coffee shop by a cyclist who left in a huff after finding out they were out of soy milk. A true optimist would make some analogy involving cream, and how it rises to the top of milk. But i grew up on a dairy farm, and well know that a good many things rise to the top of milk faster than cream. Still, you probably get the idea...
---- Scripts i’ve known... CPhog 1.0.0.0<
Shog9 wrote:
Gosh, Chris...Things sure were different in the olden days...
Yeah, we didn't even have to worry about computers crashing because we used all those stones & chisels. :-D
Shog9 wrote:
I think that's the idea behind a lot of these "social networking" sites
That's a good point, I'm pretty unfamiliar with them. Blogging also seems to be a big thing, but I'm not sure how to get a movement happening in the blogosphere. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
There's a big part of me that would like to see things get better. I agree with much of what you're saying yet I find it very difficult to not end up being really cynical about what I see. All I've seen since I've been a kid is adult after adult in positions of leadership that did (or appeard to do) very little but spew a stream of bullshit, and no real actions. How many of our politicians, almost across the board have actually lived up to their promises? How many have acted on what they believe, and taken responsibility for their actions? Damn few, at least as I've seen it. I don't know how you would go about doing this. Maybe running for some local political office and taking real chances in how you run your campaign? What if you went to a local coffee shop that's well attended, and went to everyone there, introduced your self, shook their hand, and said lets talk about some of these issues? What about going to your local community center, churches, etc, and asking if you could speak on some of these issues? I think someone needs to do more than just write - that's too easy, and too safe. Someone needs to get out there, get in peoples faces, not in a bad way, but challenge all of us, to get up and get involved, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, the whole nine yards. Someone needs to lead, and do so with some real conviction, not the lets-take-a-USAToday-poll-and-see-what-people-want-us-to-say mentality that currently drives (or appears to drive) politics. Wish I could help you out more. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
Christopher Duncan wrote:
where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
The only viable answer at this point is Canada.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
Shog9 wrote:
Gosh, Chris...Things sure were different in the olden days...
Yeah, we didn't even have to worry about computers crashing because we used all those stones & chisels. :-D
Shog9 wrote:
I think that's the idea behind a lot of these "social networking" sites
That's a good point, I'm pretty unfamiliar with them. Blogging also seems to be a big thing, but I'm not sure how to get a movement happening in the blogosphere. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Christopher Duncan wrote:
a movement happening in the blogosphere
What you're talking about is about things that actually *matter* - that have some larger meaning in the real world. I don't think anything that "happens" in the "blogosphere" really matters, because almost all of it is just a bunch of whiny, gaseous, navel-gazing. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
and
Christopher Duncan wrote:
where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
My 2c, you can't force something useful onto people. They have to seek you out. Of course, this flies in the face of mass marketing, but think about it--a marketing campaign is lucky if 1% of the people even show interest in the product, and the reason for that is that they just happened to be wanting something like what is being marketted at the moment. The rest is all "in your face brand name recognition" so when you're walking down the grocery store isle looking for detergent, you unconsciously select the brand you saw last on TV or you consciously select it because you saw a cute ad about it. I think the thing is, seek out people first that share your views. Yes, you are joining a segmented population, just what you want to avoid. But you need the strength of like-minded individuals to cross population segments so that you're talked about and people start seeking you out. Alternatively, become a famous movie star and spout about whatever it is you believe in, and you'll instantly start a new fad. Marc Pensieve Some people believe what the bible says. Literally. At least [with Wikipedia] you have the chance to correct the wiki -- Jörgen Sigvardsson
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
Monopolize a necessity. ---------- Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. - Laurence J. Peters
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There's a big part of me that would like to see things get better. I agree with much of what you're saying yet I find it very difficult to not end up being really cynical about what I see. All I've seen since I've been a kid is adult after adult in positions of leadership that did (or appeard to do) very little but spew a stream of bullshit, and no real actions. How many of our politicians, almost across the board have actually lived up to their promises? How many have acted on what they believe, and taken responsibility for their actions? Damn few, at least as I've seen it. I don't know how you would go about doing this. Maybe running for some local political office and taking real chances in how you run your campaign? What if you went to a local coffee shop that's well attended, and went to everyone there, introduced your self, shook their hand, and said lets talk about some of these issues? What about going to your local community center, churches, etc, and asking if you could speak on some of these issues? I think someone needs to do more than just write - that's too easy, and too safe. Someone needs to get out there, get in peoples faces, not in a bad way, but challenge all of us, to get up and get involved, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, the whole nine yards. Someone needs to lead, and do so with some real conviction, not the lets-take-a-USAToday-poll-and-see-what-people-want-us-to-say mentality that currently drives (or appears to drive) politics. Wish I could help you out more. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
Jim Crafton wrote:
Wish I could help you out more.
Actually, that was all pretty well said. My aproach actively avoids both politics and religion, so running for office (or Pope) is pretty much out of the question for me. You can put the things I'm working on into practice without having to change your religion or political affiliation. I also think you're right on the money about getting in front of people. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
and
Christopher Duncan wrote:
where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
My 2c, you can't force something useful onto people. They have to seek you out. Of course, this flies in the face of mass marketing, but think about it--a marketing campaign is lucky if 1% of the people even show interest in the product, and the reason for that is that they just happened to be wanting something like what is being marketted at the moment. The rest is all "in your face brand name recognition" so when you're walking down the grocery store isle looking for detergent, you unconsciously select the brand you saw last on TV or you consciously select it because you saw a cute ad about it. I think the thing is, seek out people first that share your views. Yes, you are joining a segmented population, just what you want to avoid. But you need the strength of like-minded individuals to cross population segments so that you're talked about and people start seeking you out. Alternatively, become a famous movie star and spout about whatever it is you believe in, and you'll instantly start a new fad. Marc Pensieve Some people believe what the bible says. Literally. At least [with Wikipedia] you have the chance to correct the wiki -- Jörgen Sigvardsson
You're right about mass marketing. You can't force this kind of thing on people. The tricky part is being "discoverable" by people. They can't seek you out if they don't know you exist.
Marc Clifton wrote:
Alternatively, become a famous movie star and spout about whatever it is you believe in, and you'll instantly start a new fad.
Hey, if this means I could date cute young starlets, I think you may be onto something here. :-D Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
Monopolize a necessity. ---------- Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. - Laurence J. Peters
Can that still be done? I thought it had all been out-sourced to China. :) ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
Why stop there? If you are looking for a diverse audience...
Christopher Duncan wrote:
where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
There is a very diverse crowd at my local branch (Capital Communicators[^]) of Toastmasters International[^].
Scottish Developers events: * .NET debugging, tracing and instrumentation by Duncan Edwards Jones and Code Coverage in .NET by Craig Murphy * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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Shog9 wrote:
Gosh, Chris...Things sure were different in the olden days...
Yeah, we didn't even have to worry about computers crashing because we used all those stones & chisels. :-D
Shog9 wrote:
I think that's the idea behind a lot of these "social networking" sites
That's a good point, I'm pretty unfamiliar with them. Blogging also seems to be a big thing, but I'm not sure how to get a movement happening in the blogosphere. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
so is your point that there is a lot of unhappiness here? Because I can tell you right now that I'm pretty happy. Pretty much everyone I know is pretty happy. Where exactly does the 'dark and dismal' stuff come from? I can understand if you are a serious left winger that life in America might not be all that great but other than that, what's there to complain about?
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience?
Why stop there? If you are looking for a diverse audience...
Christopher Duncan wrote:
where does one go to share ideas and make a difference?
There is a very diverse crowd at my local branch (Capital Communicators[^]) of Toastmasters International[^].
Scottish Developers events: * .NET debugging, tracing and instrumentation by Duncan Edwards Jones and Code Coverage in .NET by Craig Murphy * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Mmmm... Toast...
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so is your point that there is a lot of unhappiness here? Because I can tell you right now that I'm pretty happy. Pretty much everyone I know is pretty happy. Where exactly does the 'dark and dismal' stuff come from? I can understand if you are a serious left winger that life in America might not be all that great but other than that, what's there to complain about?
Share prices took a bit of a dive in the last couple of days due to fears that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates in the face of rising inflation. So strong is the power of the US Federal Reserve that the mere possibility and speculation of a rise in US interest rates has wiped around ~10% off the FTSE 100 index in the last month.
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Given that my perspective spans many decades at this point, I remember a time when American society was fascinated with the pursuit of higher ideals, and people on the streets sought out a more benevolent and fun atmosphere in their lives. It was cool and trendy to be happy, fun loving, silly, a bit irreverent. It was by no means a perfect period in our history, and a lot of the idealism was hopelessly naive and unrealistic. Nonetheless, people wanted to be positive and happy, not angry, edgy and fatalistic, and that was reflected in our culture as a whole. I'm not content to accept the current pop culture "dark and dismal" assessment of the future and present. I think to a large degree you pretty much find what you look for in life. Not surprisingly, I prefer to look for something better, and I usually find it. I think American culture has become morose, apathetic, cynical and pessimistic, which isn’t likely to bring about anything beneficial to those who think that way. I just don't think that's the way it has to be. So, in my writing and speaking, I've decided to do something about it. And here's where I could really use some insights, particularly from those of you who are under 40. It's my personal conviction that pretty much anyone would be interested in things that would lead to a happier and more enjoyable life, they just don’t know where to look or what to do. I also suspect that many in these last couple of generations aren't wild about the whole "dark and dismal" thing. I think we can be far greater than what we are, both as individuals and as a society, and I have specific ideas on how to do just that. Not 60s / 70s, hippie dippie, "all you need is love, yeah, yeah, yeah" platitudes that sound great but don't work in the real world. Practical stuff that anyone can put into practice. The problem is reaching the people. These days, all media, including the Internet, is massively segmented. My intention is to reach a broad range of people, because I think most folks really wish things could be better. However, there are no "everyone" radio stations to do interviews on, no "everyone" magazines to write for, or "everyone" web sites to hang out on. It’s all special interest groups who only want to talk about that one thing. In our current society, there aren’t much in the way of special interest groups for what I’m trying to do. That stuff faded out with the hippies. How then does one go about getting something useful in front of a diverse American audience? And especially those 20 and 30 somethin
As someone before said this is happenning not only in US, but in the rest of the world as well. I couldn't name a nation right now that became 'happier' in the last decades. IMO the problem is not that people have just become 'dark and dismal', but they were brought into this situation by the society. An example from my country: my parents have big problems with money. They just got about enough to have a minimal living. Only what's strictly necessary. My father after retirement is earning less than me (I am working for over two years now). I remember when I was little life was more fun, my parents didn't have so much worries. Now they're just struggling to get the money for the next day. And in this situation are most people from Romania. You don't have time now to take a break, relax and enjoy life. How can you be happy? Another example. And you probably have felt this better. I remember reading some code written about 10 years ago. Do you remember the very funny comments written as comments or the funny error messages? That was a time where programming was fun, people were more relax and of course better paid. What has happen over the years? Well, the companies decided that they need to minimize the costs of production and pressure their employers to produce more. So outsourcing was born, activity reports were introduced, pressure was put on employees and basically stress testing the wholde process. People are now so stressed with work, doing overtime and working on weekends to meet the imposed deadlines that when they finally have some time to relax they figure out that they have no money to enjoy a vacation somewhere. This is what live has become. It's constantly getting harder to live a happy life. Of course a good attitude could do you a lot, but most people need food for that. my 2c regards, Mircea Many people spend their life going to sleep when they’re not sleepy and waking up while they still are.
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peterchen wrote:
You can create the hangout and spread the word easily - but then, the biggest problem is making the leap into the real world.
Making the leap into the real world is easy. That's what I do. Where I'm drawing a blank is on the former - how to spread the word. If that seems easy to you, I'd love to learn from your perspective and experience. I'm just not seeing an approach. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Not to make a wrong impression - I *think* it's easy to reach a specific "interest group" people over the internet. A few years ago, a germnan cannibal found someone who wanted to be eaten over the internet - so how hard can it be? Corinna sells two books probably mostly to people that know her over the internet. But I never did, these are just ideas. 1. Do you have a place (a.ka. website) to go? Identify clear, simple goals ("looking for people who want to...", so the right people stay), add a no-signup guestbook/comment board (that's easier than a forum requiring registration), and show that you really *do* change something. (Maybe that's just me, but I think most of the people you are looking for feel isolated, and not able to really change something) 2. Put a link into your sig with a catchy phrase on every public post you *normally* frequent, be it codeproject or mothers against moulinex forums. 3. Now the hard part - identifying communities that (a) interst you and (b) have a higher-than-average percentage of the people you are looking for. I draw a blank here (as soon as it gets practical :( ) Hang out there, have your sig there of course, and if you are not a total stranger anymore, why not post a "tangential" topic? I vividly remember someone posting here about his community work.
Some of us walk the memory lane, others plummet into a rabbit hole
Tree in C# || Fold With Us! || sighist -
peterchen wrote:
You can create the hangout and spread the word easily - but then, the biggest problem is making the leap into the real world.
Making the leap into the real world is easy. That's what I do. Where I'm drawing a blank is on the former - how to spread the word. If that seems easy to you, I'd love to learn from your perspective and experience. I'm just not seeing an approach. Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Funny, I thought "Practical Idealism" is quite catchy, but the .com[^] is already taken
Some of us walk the memory lane, others plummet into a rabbit hole
Tree in C# || Fold With Us! || sighist
