Jobs-Part 1: Automation

Whatever happened to all the elevator operators, telephone switchboard operators, cabbage pickers and tollbooth collectors? These and many thousands of other jobs have been eliminated by automation technology. On the bright side, we can now directly dial almost any phone in the world and not have to worry about watching our seconds on long distance calls. But, these are jobs, for you and your neighbors, that will never come back.

Our losing so many jobs to machines is not the end of the world or the end of work, but it is traumatic. The changing nature of work (and availability of jobs) will create some economic challenges. You see senior citizens sacking groceries when they would rather be holding their grandbabies or nursing their bunions. You see college graduates assembling grease-burgers (hold the ketchup) when they would rather be building their families and paying off their student loans.

We’ve gone through this before. Whatever happened to tanners, weavers, cobblers, and blacksmiths? Those were the days of craftsmen, apprentices, and hand-carved ornamentation on furniture. You could tell who had made a piece by the personal touches in its design. You took care of what you owned because you knew that years of experience, hours of labor and, sometimes, sweat and blood went into its production.

Speech: Superman is a Liberal

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In the United States, there are two major political parties that spring from two very different general inclinations. Both of these dispositions offer some benefits. They serve important and legitimate purposes for individuals and the American citizenry as a whole. However, these impulses work best in balance. 

That is also to say that both conservatives and liberals (at their radical extremes) are damaging. This country works best when all sides work to find a middle way – a balanced common ground that produces the greatest possible common good while still allowing the greatest possible individual liberty.

The terms liberty and freedom should not be misapplied. The privilege of personal choice cannot be separated from the obligation to public responsibility. Personal beliefs cannot be forced upon unwilling others. Internal thoughts and values are private. External acts are subject to limitations within a community.We defend personal liberties and freedoms up to the point that they tread on the personal liberties and freedoms of others. In this way, we create communities of common good and protect justice for all.

If You Care, You Should Speak Up

"If you care, make some noise. Keep on making a ruckus. Cry from the housetops. March in the streets. Write letters to the editor. Money can buy change. Power can force change. But, the most beneficial and reliable changes come slowly from the persistent upraised union of many voices." David Satterlee

The Power of Human Development at All Levels

"We must be open to continual growth and development as individuals, communities and societies. Our shared ability to accept changing situations and create new responses is our greatest survival resource."
~ David Satterlee

Fergus Scores Again

Fergus Scores Again

A Fergus Johnson story of gender relations
[Published in Life Will Surprise You in the End: Short Stories by David Satterlee (2014)]

What brings us together so urgently in times of tragedy or triumph?

[Note: Contains sensual imagery and non-explicit accounts of sexual activity.]

 

Fergus Johnson’s steady girlfriend, whom we need not name, was upset with him about something and refused to come to the big game. Fergus was afraid that this would distract him from performing at his best. Nonetheless, Fergus scored the winning goal of the final soccer game that season. Emotions ran high as his friends and fans flooded onto the field. His teammates were elated at their victory and continued to celebrate in the dressing room. Shortly afterward, still flushed with the thrill of success and a sense of unbounded power, Fergus found that several girls were enthusiastically waiting for him at the stadium exit.

A girl named Cathy left the group, ran to him, and jumped into his startled embrace. She felt like she was floating as she melted into his strength; her feet were actually six inches off the ground as he held her. Fergus had seen Cathy around. He had been watching her and she knew it. Cathy was infatuated with Fergus as well, which he was now discovering. He was aroused by the swell of her breasts pressed into his ribs, the smell of her hair, his grasp of her rump as he lowered her to the ground, the pulse of pheromones wafting in the air, and the surge of oxytocin coursing in his blood. Cathy was feeling pretty good as well.

They stood together looking at each other and

Essay: Moral dilemmas of World War II

Information and comments on the essay:

Moral dilemmas of World War II

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKc0VhTnU5azlZeDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Moral dilemmas of World War II

World War II had an entirely different character than The Great War. Advancing technology continued to increase the destructive power of armies and their ability to project that power, often in sudden and unexpected ways. World War II became alarmingly dangerous. The determination to definitively end this war posed a great many strategic and morally equivocal choices.

World War I followed centuries of colonialism and national consolidation. At that point, a bunch of bully-boys were ready and anxious to play king-of-the-mountain. Some of them played very rough and everybody got hurt. For the most part, they came away determined to play nicer in the future. Most of the world believed that they had learned the lessons of full-out nationalism.

As things worked out, social conventions (and faltering economics) had developed to the point that colonies could attempt (and usually gain) independence. World War II played out the end to large-scale overt military conquest when a pair of hard-core bad boys

Essay: A personal transformation that shocks my family

Gave up #Religion

Information and comments on the essay:

A personal transformation that shocks my family

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKdjE4dk5wX2s0QVk/edit?usp=sharing

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

A personal transformation that shocks my family

MOST OF YOU DON'T KNOW that my political participation and the tone of my writing is particularly shocking for those who know the deeply conservative evangelical fundamentalist Christian faith in which I was raised.

I was taught to be radically non-political, with the certainty that God is Love and Satan is the false god exercising power over all governments of men and all other religious beliefs. We understood that only Christ's Kingdom could restore humanity to peace, security, and the approval of God.

I deliberately married a woman with these same beliefs and we taught them to our children. I also taught these things inside the congregation and to the public. As my certainty weakened, my family, faith, work, and physical and mental health all unraveled together. Having survived the loss of all that, I pretty-much started from scratch.

It's been over ten years and I'm still fragile but somewhat better now, thank you. Under stress, I have Tourette ticks; I hoot, moo, and chirp. Thankfully,