Ruining the World

I think email forwards, regardless of their content, have done more harm to the world than they have good.

How’s that for a thesis statement?

Today I got an email from a girl in one of my sociology classes. The subject read, “Fwd: Stay Home, Mr. President.” Apparently, if President Bush stays home from the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, China will have no choice but to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in Darfur. If Bush does attend, it will send the message that we don’t care — or that we support the genocide. Is it just me, or is that a little bit of a non sequitur?

I’m sure that we could find a reason to stay home from the Olympics almost every year. I thought the point of the Olympics, though, was to celebrate skilled athletes from around the globe and (although we don’t focus on this) to bring nations together? So…boycotting the opening ceremonies doesn’t really seem like it’s the best choice in the long run. And besides, what guarantee do we have that China is going to comply with what the American president wants? Honestly…

Anyway, then there are forwards that perpetuate horribly sappy church talks (the one about the ears, the one about the room full of crosses, the one about the filing cabinets of sin, Footprints, the one about the bird, the one about the bridge, this one about the heart that almost made me puke), forwards that give misinformation (the one about the Koran), and forwards that are so blatantly offensive that I don’t even know what to do about them (this one).

I’m going to end the post now because having to look up all those links for you guys was too much to handle. I have to go dry my eyes…

(Yeah, right. Don’t you guys know me at all? Blfrurioaiorrrruerhgh, I think I’m going to be sick from all that sappiness!)

An Amusing(?) Anecdote

I am sure I am not the only person in the world that gets these emails. You know the ones that I mean. They are usually about some family relation, and are supposed to teach us some uber-valuable lesson that would have been impossible for us to learn unless we got that very email. I have put a copy of a story from an email forward from an old mission buddy of mine.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and
didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, ‘How is your friend Audrey doing?’

She replied, ‘Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.’

Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.’

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ‘That’s a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!’

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to the Republican party.’

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between Republican and Democrat – I’m all ears.

So there are several reasons that I take issue with this kind of story. First, it is very obvious that this story is about as factual as Battlefield Earth. This whole thing probably never actually happened. The story was made up to simply prove a point. I am all about learning from personal experiences, and I will readily admit that well-written literature can be very convincing, but this kind of email forward is neither well-written, or true, and so it loses all persuasive ability for me.

The second issue that I have with this type of argument is that it takes a complex issue, in this case the difference between democratic and republican parties, and makes it into something where there is only one choice. I don’t know much about politics, but I am sure that the democratic party is not all about the redistribution of wealth through higher taxes, and I am sure that the republican party stands for more than just letting people hold onto their wealth. If the parties were different in only one regard, then there would be no need for political or presidential debates to discuss different standpoints on issues. You can be a democrat that supports lower taxes, and you can be a republican that supports government aid programs. Isn’t it our responsibility to make sure that everybody has a chance to get an education? I think that programs that support people that are making an honest effort are to be commended, not deplored.

Third, the story makes extreme assumptions. Not only does the author ignore important issues to simplify a complicated argument, but the analogy drawn between the hard working student and the party girl is very polarizing. You read the story and are left with only one option, to agree. You are made to think, “Well, she deserves those grades because she worked hard!” But there are flaws with the underlying assumptions for the argument. The argument assumes that everybody that works hard gets good grades, and that everybody with good grades works hard. It then equates grades to wealth. If everybody that worked hard was wealthy, then we would not having the term “working poor,” and if everybody that was wealthy worked hard, then Paris Hilton wouldn’t be wealthy.

I could go on about this for days (just ask Roni), but I think you get where I am going here. This email doesn’t make me want to run out and join the GOP, it makes me glad I am associated with no particular party. Then again, maybe that is just my college education polluting my way of thinking.

The Ultimate Disappointment

You know something is important when both the Romgi and I write a blog about it.

Little Caesar’s is known for having a $5 Hot-n-Ready pizza. You’re right if you expect that this is a pizza just barely worth the $5. Besides the fact that it’s sitting under a heat lamp, the cheese has a slightly strange coloring to it and the crust isn’t much to speak of. But, for $5, you can’t really expect much.

Or can you? Utah has a great chain called 5Buck Pizza, and yes, they are known for having a medium super-premium (eh?) pizza for five bucks, all toppings free. And they make it fresh when you order, take only 15 minutes to have it ready, and can cook a pretty decent pizza. We immediately switched to 5Buck Pizza for all our I-don’t-want-to-cook-and-don’t-feel-like-fast-food needs.

But then. With the price of corn going up (ethanol), it costs more to feed cows (they get corn), so milk — and therefore cheese — is getting more expensive. That meant that this past summer 5Buck Pizza changed their menu. A medium pizza was $5 with one topping, and $6 with unlimited toppings. Still, not a bad deal. But then. They changed their prices again…medium one-topping was $6, medium super-premium (I guess they mean unlimited toppings) was $7, and large was $9. Honestly, we were ok with paying $7 for what we thought was a good pizza. And every time we bought a pizza it came with a coupon for a large super-premium for $7. Why get a medium when you can get the large for the same price? Sounds like good reasoning to me.

We actually have bought a $7 large pizza in the past month. I think it was when we got our car back from the shop and could finally leave the house again. It came with another coupon, which I stuck on the fridge. As far as we were aware, all was well and good in the world of 5Buck Pizza.

BUT THEN. I called tonight to order and told them I had a coupon for a large for $7. The guy on the phone told me to wait a minute. I could hear him turn to his coworkers and ask if they still accept that coupon; they said to ask if it had an expiration date. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t, and it never has. I told him that, and he let me know that those coupons are no longer valid, as they started using new coupons about five weeks ago.

Since it’s their company and their coupons, I suppose technically they can stop accepting whatever coupons they want whenever they want. But it seems underhanded, seeing as we got that coupon within the last five weeks. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t place and order and I don’t think we’ll be using 5Buck Pizza from now on.

What a disappointment.