The Ethics of Driving

The Ethics of Driving

by Josh Glazer

                When people interact with each other in person, face to face, polite manners are the norm.  However, as soon as one enters a motor vehicle, all modes of Ethics fly right out the window.  It becomes a war based on jealousy, rage, and blind stupidity.  How can I get ahead of that driver?  How can I make that light?  I’m not stopping at this Stop Sign – I will just coast unless I see anoth… CRASH!

                Yes, that is exactly what I witnessed today.  People not obeying Stop Signs and going way over the speed limit around a blind curve, in suburban NJ, T-Boned each other, and I watched one flatbed tow truck as it drove off with the first car.

                What is wrong with people and their driving habits / skills?  I, myself, have had a plethora of tickets, getting pulled over, and even serious accidents!  That all comes from 20 years of aggressive driving.  Now, I driving like an old lady.  I know how bad it is to have an accident, and I would rather be patient than wreck my car.  But I see people , every day, treating their cars like this was all just a game of bumper pool!  I cannot drive anymore without a great sense of anxiety because of all the other bad and thoughtless drivers out there.

                I think it’s time to educate young people, use PSA’s to reach older people, and teach everyone how NOT to drive.  Texting, blah blah blah.  How about obeying Stop Signs?  They used to teach that in High school, but that’s something I never see ANYONE do, yet I got a ticket for it.  People double park in Handicapped spots.  I have a placard, forgot to put it up once, got a ticket, had to go to court.

                It is time to take accountability for our own actions on the road.  You are the police of your own decisions – be safe, be courteous, be considerate.  Too many accidents, too many crazy drivers.  Something needs to be done.

Why Hillary Lost

Why Hillary Lost
By Josh Glazer

Enough people just plain did not like her.  The anti-Hillary machine was at full speed, and people don't get to know the truth of things.  She should have stepped back and supported another Democrat, but her arrogance led her and the country to defeat.

Democrats are not the richest - that's the Republicans.  We can only defeat the rich by kicking them out of gov't.  It's time we did that, and did it right.

Mega Super Air Purifiers!

Mega Super Air Purifiers!
By Josh Glazer

I have Air Purifiers in virtually every room of my private residence.  They work like a fan, sucking in air and then blowing it out, passing it through a series of filters designed to catch any fine particulates or odors.  They usually are a combination of a fine mesh pre-filter, a carbon filter for odors, and a final HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter to catch particles as small as .3 microns.  I have to clean and change the filters regularly.  (I like breathing clean, relatively dust-free air.)

Now think of the fact that it has rained almost every day for the last year.  I know this to be true, because part of my side business used to be going to yard sales on the weekend and then reselling items on EBay.  However, starting around last July (2018), it has rained every weekend, ending all yard sales, and also flooding my garage twice, destroying half of my shipping boxes and merchandise.  The cleanup has taken all year, and is still a work in progress.

Where is all this rain coming from?  Why is it raining so much?

I am no climate scientist, but I think the answer is simple: we have poured pollution into our atmosphere with reckless abandon, and the many fine particulates combine with microscopic water droplets, forming clouds, and finally rain.  There is just way, way, too much, now.

What’s the solution?  What to do?!?

Why don’t we build some Billion Dollar Air Purifiers – all around the world?  With replaceable filters?  Essentially cleaning the air in the atmosphere, and then burying the discarded filters underground?  Much like how the earth’s atmosphere was naturally formed over the last few billion years – by gasses combining with organic material and then being buried underground in an oxidizing type manner (leaving our current mix of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc.).

This solution (of cleaning the air in the atmosphere with giant international air purifiers) seems so simple that I am amazed it has not been yet been at least publicly proposed or debated.  In fact, I can’t think of any publicly proposed solutions to our climate change problem – we are too busy arguing about whether the problem actually exists or not!  (Energy efficiency, aside.)

To really work, this must be an international effort.  The idea is simple, but the implementation, undeniably complex.  However, I would argue under the strongest terms that SOMETHING must be done about the pollution in our atmosphere, and what it is doing to our planet (and us).  I propose that we clean the air with giant purifiers, and then bury the used filters underground.  This would clean the air, and also keep the air relatively clean while we figure out better solutions.  Anyone got a better idea?

Don’t Judge On Me

Don’t Judge On Me
By Josh Glazer

    People have the ability to almost instantaneously judge another person just by viewing them for a split second.  This was a necessary tool for early evolving groups of Homo Sapiens, who had to know whether a stranger was a friend or foe, as quickly as possible.  Those who were most able to judge the fastest were the ones more likely to survive (i.e. Natural Selection).

    Here in the 21st century, however, we have moved way past our early basic evolutionary survival needs.  We have language, literature, philosophy, science, culture, globalization – judging another person on the merits of a split second evolved reflex instinct is not ethically valid anymore.  It is simply not a luxury that a person can morally have –  to judge someone else without fully understanding that person.

    I will only give one example – myself.  I have noticed on Facebook, in this semi-anonymous virtual world, that people sometimes seem angry and hurtful for no apparent reason.  But I had an idea this morning.  It is possible, and this is just a theory, but maybe some people look at me and say, ‘Why is this person bitching about this or that?  They are white, tall, intelligent, etc.’  Some people may even envy these characteristics, and be existentially offended that I am dissatisfied, for whatever reason.  Solution: take out your anger on me by posting some obviously ridiculous offensive or meaningless garbage.

    This would be an erroneous judgment.  To begin with, I don’t think you can know another person fully without: 1) Living inside their head, which is impossible.  Or, 2) Totally understanding human psychology, biology, evolution, etc.  You would also need to talk to the person at length and take in all knowledge about them, as an individual.  Then, after you have acquired and analyzed all of that information, in the light of all the knowledge we have about human beings, the cosmos, life, etc.  Then, you can make a partially valid judgment.  But again, without “Walking in another’s shoes”, you can never make a totally valid decision regarding another person.

    People assume they know other people and themselves well enough that they can go around offending and harming people, taking out their own aggression on people they view as easy targets.  I know that I have been an easy target my whole life.  And people DO take out their anger and envy on me.  I have some news, though – Everyone is upset about something.  No one is totally happy.  Everyone wishes they were someone else or had some other feature that they don’t already have.  So I think one should reserve their judgment, and not take out their anger on other people from simple frustration with their own life.  You probably only know about 1% of the information you think you do.

Alcohol on College Campuses

Alcohol on College Campuses
By Josh Glazer

    Alcohol has been a major presence at colleges & Universities for at least the last 50 – 75 years.  It is accepted, even promoted, as a way of obtaining social adulthood through drunken relations with peers.  I would argue that even University Administrations have been actively supporting the practice of binge drinking by not doing anything about it –  until very recently.

    Alcohol is one of the most destructive drugs known to man.  As a Philosophy Professor, I have read countless papers about how dangerous alcohol is compared to Marijuana, usually in the form of an argument towards the legalization of weed.  My point is simple: alcohol is dangerous, and costs thousands of lives, yearly.  And yet you can end up in jail for possession of Marijuana, which has killed NOBODY.  At least, not directly!

    Another example might serve to illustrate the lack of logic regarding normative alcohol policy.  The USA Government allowed Pharmaceutical corporations, as well as independent MDs, to distribute countless amounts of opioids in the form of Oxycontin and the like, and then suddenly decided, after they made enough money, to cut off the supply with no national institution to deal with the obvious aftermath of widespread opioid addiction.  Now, we have MILLIONS of Americans who have turned to Heroin to fulfill their previous addiction to legal opioid pain pills, which they now cannot obtain. 

    Alcohol is a dangerous drug that should not be prevalent during one’s college years.  It’s detrimental effects have been obvious to me, personally, and the peer pressure involved made things much worse.  A person is still developing and learning while in college – over indulging in alcohol as a routine rite of passage seems almost silly, in hindsight. 

Recently, however, some fraternities have chosen to have a ‘dry’ rush, inviting students to pledge, while not offering alcohol at their official rush activities.  After personally viewing the aftermath of such a policy, the lack of drinking, peer pressure, and dangerous drunken hijinks, were noticeable to a high degree.  It fostered a much greater level of community, and is a model for how colleges should be in the future: a place to learn and form relationships - without the specter of alcohol constantly looming in the background.

    In conclusion, alcohol is just as dangerous and deadly a drug as any other, legal or illegal, and its almost total social acceptance can only be explained as an accident of history.  Some Universities have finally begun to realize that alcohol should not be a basic part of the college curriculum, and are actively enforcing that idea.  Other organizations are following their lead and cracking down on alcohol abuse within their own ranks.  I think this is a positive goal to head towards, and I hope that in the future, alcohol use and promotion will be dramatically reduced on college campuses, nationwide.

Gardeners (or Leaf Blowers & Global Warming)

Gardeners
By Josh Glazer

Almost every lawn in America is tended year round by legions of ‘gardeners’ who use countless numbers of leaf blowers, polluting the air, with constant noise pollution, and a huge use of fuel.

I believe rakes were invented for just such a purpose, and should be substituted for leaf blowers on account of their all around environmental pollution and waste of natural fuels.

Additionally, the use of leaf blowers has become overly used and even abused.  Even the simplest job seems to ‘require’ the use of a leaf blower, when a small amount of leg work is all that is need, with a smart plan of how to do the needed job.

Furthermore, gardening itself, as a profession, is a blue collar field.  By definition, a job of manual labor.  Using hundreds of thousands of leaf blowers is not an acceptable social solution to a simple needed job / service of ‘gardening / landscaping’.  A rake, some tarps, and some plastic containers would save an ENOURMOUS amount of fuel, and reduce air and noise pollution 50%, at least in the suburbs.

Thus, I propose a ban or strong regulation on the use of leaf blowers and other non-necessary fuel powered ‘gardening’ tools.  Lawn mowers, also, are a problem to be dealt with, in the near future, but are not nearly as abused. 

One last point: Of every pundit that blabs about pollution, what percentage have gardeners taking care of their lawns with leaf blowers?  Is it possible that every single person in the media is a complete hypocrite?  According to the history of intellectuals – Yes.

FakeBook

FakeBook

By Josh Glazer

                So far I’ve spent two years on Facebook, accruing about 50 ‘friends’.  In all that time, I have never had a single real conversation with any of them.  Whether through ‘Messenger’ or otherwise, it was always a game of showmanship – look at my life.  Look at how many ‘friends’ I have.  It’s an evil competitive social game that is destroying the network of our society.

                To begin with, labeling people as ‘Friends’ on Facebook is an improper usage of that word.  I am pretty sure a friend is someone who cares about you, talks with you, listens, etc.  But on Facebook, a ‘Friend’ is an icon of a virtual persona created by an individual based on their own choice of events and information.  There is no real friendship there.  For people like me, who would rather have ‘Real’ friends, Facebook is insulting and depressing.  I don’t believe any of you are really friends.  It’s all a phony game.

                I disabled my account recently because someone I knew when I was 14, a girl I had a HUGE crush on, but who stopped talking to me at some point, friend requested me.  I tried to message them.  I even posted on their timeline – and they DELETED it, with zero response.  Finally, I said I was disabling my account, and they responded.  What a joke.  I disabled my account that day.

                Facebook is not real, and using the word ‘Friend’ anywhere in its lingo is immoral / unethical.  It creates more depression and anxiety in this world, and we have more than enough already.  Facebook and other social media sites should be boycotted, and real relationships between people should come back.  Smartphones and Facebook are destroying the social relationships that make up our culture.