Some Thoughts On The Occupy Movement

     I want to make a few comments on the Occupy Movement. I regularly find posts on my Facebook page shared by various friends. In general, I am in favour of the protests. I don't know that I'm in favour enough to join them. In Canada at least, our economy is doing fairly well, all things considered. I am, however, concerned about a democratic system that allows a majority right wing government to exist to with less than half of the popular vote. Stephen Harper's political agenda is so Americanised it is frightening. His big brother style Omnibus Crime Bill is particularly disturbing and decidedly un-Canadian.
                                                                                                                                                                       
     I feel that the timing of the movement is very good and I like that, after a slow start, it is now getting some publicity. I think that it's high time that our political leaders and the fat cats who support them were put on notice. The so called 99% are getting pissed off. The corporate elite of this country and the rest of the industrialized world have been profiting from voter and consumer apathy for far too long. I think that the Occupy Movement may just be the catalyst of something far bigger and more powerful. Our exploitative culture of excessive greed is clearly unsustainable in the face of climate change and the need for a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources.

     The movement has been criticized  for not having a clear enough agenda in its protests. I believe that this is a good thing. If the movement puts the agenda of one of its component groups ahead of the others, the only result will be a great deal of in-fighting. This is exactly what the corporate elite and their political lapdogs want. It is the classic strategy of divide and conquer. Far better to present all grievances as having equal importance and merit and let the 1% sort out which ones they'll respond to first, thus turning the strategy of divide and conquer on to them.

     A great change in economic, industrial and social philosophy is long overdue. Whether this change comes about gradually or cataclysmically is fundamentally up to the political and corporate establishment against whom these protests are levelled. This initial protest may indeed fizzle and fade with the fickle nature of public interest. Even so, the political and corporate elite ignore these protests at their peril for the next round of protests will be that much more powerful and potent. I hope that they sit up and take notice. It is always wise to initiate change before situations reach crisis levels.

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Some Thoughts On Knowledge And Faith

     I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole concept of knowledge. This came about as a result of a discussion I had a while ago on a friend's Facebook page. A friend of this friend took me to task for, in his words, "a surfeit of emotional attachment coupled with a dearth of rational examination. "

     It got me thinking. Do rationalism and faith have to exist in mutual exclusivity? I would propose that they do not. Further, I would propose that not only are they not mutually exclusive but that they are co dependent.
    
     Here is where the nitty meets the gritty. All knowledge is based on faith. For rationalism to exist precludes a faith in the absolute power of rationalism.To that extent, (faith in an absolute power) rationalism could be classed as just another religion. The only difference between a raging religious zealot and a fervent rationalist is the God that they worship.

     Here is another gem I came to realize in my musings. All knowledge is based on the vagaries of perception and context. Here is an example. A while ago, my young son was learning about measurement in school. One of his assignments was to measure a standard piece of letter sized paper. This he did with a ruler and determined that the paper was 8½" X 11". Done. Then I asked him,  "How thick is it?" "Nobody can measure that Dad." I rummaged in my drawer for my micrometer. ( I do mechanical work for a living which is often done with tight tolerances. Hence my ownership of such a tool.) "I can." We measured the thickness of the paper and determined that it was .004" or 4 one thousandths of an inch thick. Needless to say he scored a bit of a coup when he presented his homework to his teacher the next day.

     The point of that anecdote is the verification that knowledge is dependent on perception and context. My son's knowledge of the piece of paper was limited by his perception of it as a two dimensional object since he knew of no way to measure its third dimension. Further, his knowledge was limited by the context of the school assignment which required only a two dimensional measurement of the paper.

     New scientific discoveries are made almost daily which discredit or disprove conventionally accepted concepts in the human database of knowledge.

     If there is no scientific proof or rational explanation for the existence of God or a God Force, one must also accept that there is no rational explanation or scientific proof for the existence of science .Since, as previously stated both are derived from nothing more than human faith.

     Anyone who has spent time with a two year old knows that the ultimate unanswerable question is "Why?".  "What are you doing?" "Making cookies." "Why?" "Because I think homemade cookies taste better." "Why?" "Because they don't have chemicals and preservatives in them like store-bought cookies." "Store-bought cookies taste good." "Yes, but these taste better." "Why?" At this point rational scientific analysis of the situation breaks down and, without realizing it, we ask the child to make a leap of faith. " I don't know. They just do." No further explanation. "They just do." Invariably the little urchin has to take one more crack at blowing the safety valve off the steam dome...... "Why?"

     In my misspent youth, I tried to make a rational analysis of belief in some form of a higher power. Ultimately, I found that the exercise was almost as pointless as trying to analyse why homemade cookies taste better.

     Back to the toddler; "Do you believe In God?" "Yes." "Why?" "I don't know. I just do. And by the way..... homemade cookies taste better too!"


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First Attempt At A Blog

     I am fairly new to current technology. Last summer I purchased my first digital camera. With it, I took pictures of the short vacation I took with my son. I also did a series of fall colour photos. I enjoyed this new approach to photography, making prints at the Kodak Picture Kiosk found at our local drugstore. In what seems like another lifetime, I was a photographer using conventional 35mm and medium format film technology. I was amazed at the quality which could be achieved with an eighty-nine dollar camera purchased at the local Canadian Tire Store.                                                                                                                                                                                 At Christmas I completed my leap into the 21st century with the acquisition of laptop computers for me and my son. I connected with the internet and learned the addictive compulsions of Facebook and Gmail. I also had a place to download and play with my pictures. I have been toying with the idea of writing a blog for some time and, while out for a walk the other day, decided to try my hand at it. I trust that anyone reading this in the realm of cyberspace will be forgiving in their critique or commentary with the realization that this is a first attempt .      

      For my birthday this year, i decided that I wanted another digital camera. What I wanted was a compact digital camera with a conventional viewfinder. As previously stated, I am an old school photographer and about the only thing that I dislike about digital photography is the business of holding the camera ten inches away from my face to look at the lcd screen. It is a lot more difficult to hold a camera steady that way. I was taught to always hold a camera close to your body with elbows tucked in to form a sort of human tripod. The steadier the camera, the sharper the picture.

     My budget would not allow the purchase of a sophisticated dslr camera and, with much research and window shopping on the net, I found that the only company making a compact point and shoot with a conventional viewfinder is Canon. (For you photo hounds out there it is the Canon Powershot A1200.)  From the Canon website I linked to a local photographic retailer. A quick phone call to a pleasant young lady at the store confirmed that, while they didn't have that model in stock, they had it on order and where expecting two of them that afternoon. Thus the plans for my birthday were set. My son and I would go out to dinner at a restaurant near the camera shop and then pop over to get my gift. Simple. 

     Dinner was nice and, when we got to the camera shop,  I found that to my dismay, I had forgotten to write down the model number of the camera I wanted. I tried to describe it to the clerk. (I refuse to call him a salesperson.) He assured me repeatedly that no one made a compact camera with a viewfinder. I repeatedly told him that Canon did make such a camera and that I was talking to a young lady this morning who told me that they would have two of them in stock. The clerk told me that he had never heard of such a camera and was sure they didn't stock them. He then took his limited product knowledge to go serve another customer. I was about to leave the store but took a quick scan of the showcase before I left. There, at the very front of the showcase, were the two cameras that the first salesperson had said would be there! I waited patiently while the clerk finished dazzling the other customer with his charm and brilliance and pointed to the cameras in the showcase. I asked him if I could look at one as I was pretty sure it was the camera I wanted. He unpacked one and put some batteries into it so we could try it out. He was somewhat chagrined as I put the camera to my eye and pointed out the viewfinder. I told him that I would take one and as he was about to pack the camera back in it's box, I told him that I would take the one that was still boxed up. I suggested that since he had store batteries in the first one, he should keep it as a store demo model. Perhaps he could learn about it in his spare time. I politely declined the offers of a case and the extended warranty and left with my purchase.

 

     I suppose that the reason I wanted to relate this story is to make a point of how technology has changed things. Instead of making photographic images on film. I now use pixels. What used to take me hours in a darkroom, I can now do in minutes on a computer. Though far from being a tech savvy person, I could do my homework and walk into a store knowing more about the product I want and about the store's inventory than the clerk behind the counter. I had been to the manufacturer's website. I had checked out the product's spec. sheet. I had even taken a virtual tour of the camera! I guess that what caught me off guard was that in this "information age" how little actual knowledge that the clerk had. I spent a good chunk of my life working in camera shops in the days of film. I know that the number one rule is that you don't argue with a customer. If he thinks you have it in stock, check your inventory. If you don't know about a product he wants, check the catalogue. (Or nowadays check the manufacturer's website.) If you don't have it in stock, offer to order it for him or show him a comparable product. If you don't know about something, admit you don't know but offer to find out and then do it. Things may have changed, but the basic rules of good customer service are still the same.

 

    My plan B was to simply order the camera from Canon's E store.The price was the same and they offered free shipping. I would have had to wait a day or two for delivery but that is a minor concern. Maybe things have changed. Maybe the way I do business should change too.

 

 

                                                                          ...more later