Howard Chang is back; Small Talk

Is this Small Talk show of The Word Nerds about language? Or is it about micro-sociology? In any case, after a long hiatus, Howard Chang is back and he speaks with Dave Shepherd about small talk.

They demonstrate small talk, define small talk, indicate the goal of small talk, describe the use of small talk and analyze how it works - and sometimes won't work. Intertwined we have the usual musical bumpers and the 'rude word of the week' (gossip). For a show of this light and entertaining caliber the length - between 30 and 45 minutes - the original frequency - weekly - was just ideal. Now that the show comes out about every 3 weeks, one gets out of touch with the style and tone and has to get used all over again and again. I believe the show is as good as it ever was, it just needed to be weekly in order to maintain its cult.

Indications are, if at all, the show is going to stop, or become less frequent, rather than return to the weekly format. What a pity of a unique podcast. Maybe the Word Nerds need a larger team? Right now Dave Shepherd produces the show largely on his own, with Howard Shepherd, Howard Chang and Barbara Shepherd contributing to the content. Too much of a burden for Dave and enough to do for the rest of the Nerds. Can't they tap into the Word Nerds forum crowd? Currently there are 330 registered users and I can see some certified potential there...

Get your news elsewhere

When I studied criminology there was a standard joke (with serious intent). If somebody asked you: what would you say as a criminologist - what can be done about the ever rising crime figures? The answer was: Read another newspaper.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast features an interview with sociologist Barry Glassner, who touches exactly on the same issue. He speaks of it as the Culture of Fear, which is also the title of a book he has written. He extends the scope of aforementioned joke to the way news media and politicians communicate in general. The point staying the same: among them there is the strong tendency (not to say interest) of painting a picture of reality with exceptional dangers blown out of proportion. News media generate the kind of exposure they need and politicians whip up the support they need - so it is to say they do so out of their own interest after all.

Barry says: if only the public would have a beginning understanding of statistics. If only people could tell absolute figures from percentages. I would add: if only they could understand expressions of chances and increased chances in the right proportions.

Apart from the book he has written about the culture of fear, he has recently written a book about food, and the many misconceptions the public has about its food. The same problems with ignorance and misinformation hold. So, if you want to be freed from your fears and stop worrying about the food you eat: go get your news elsewhere.

Eugene Sutorius - Marathon Interview

In een ver verleden, in een ander leven, zo voelt het, was ik een jongetje dat besloot dat hij rechten moest studeren. Hij had nog nooit zich in recht verdiept, er nog nooit een boek over gelezen en zelfs nog nooit een jurist gesproken. Hij had een beeld van recht dat hij later afdeed als niet realistisch. Dat was toen de rechtenstudie met een valse start en een kwakkelend vervolg nog net op tijd afgerond werd dankzij de minst juridische elementen erin: filosofie en sociologie.

Het beeld dat in mijn hoofd zat en dat ik me nog goed kan herinneren en tegenwoordig als idealistisch zou beschrijven, werd nooit door enig ander jurist onder woorden gebracht. Op zijn best is dat het beeld van leken en vooral van die leken die zich door rechtvaardigheidsgevoelens laten vervullen. En zo zat mijn definitie van recht in een definitie van rechtsopvattingen op het achterste bankje van de langzaamste leerling in de klas. Tot het laatste marathoninterview.

De jurist Eugene Sutorius komt aan het woord. Gearriveerd advocaat, rechter en in alle opzichten verstandig sprekend over recht. En daar herken ik opeens de taal van die middelbare scholier die zich met dienstweigeren en kraken bezighield. Die dacht dat recht over normen ging en over rechtvaardigheid. Tot mijn stomme verbazing gaat het een uur lang over de zaken die mij toen inspireerden en op een toon die bij mijn toenmalige beleving aansluit en tegelijkertijd met een woordkeus en een evenwichtigheid die de professionele jurist in mij als correct en juist gekwalificeerd voorkomt.

Heb ik dan toch de juiste studie gedaan? Voer voor een stevige heroverweging.

The Writing Show - Off the Structure

Anthony Williams wrote the novel Scales about a man who wakes up with scales all over his body and his consequent adventures. My immediate association was with Kafka's Die Verwandlung, but this is a SciFi novel about a man who discovers his own supernatural abilities and finds he needs to save the world from super potent threat. But that is not what the interview Paula B has with him on The Writing Show is all about.

The show is about structure and although Williams seems very apt at writing structurally, the odd thing about Scales is that the story developed out of a dream he had had and that had him freely associating and laboring on the story without any structure until it was nearly half finished. That is why this episode is called organic writing.

Nevertheless, the show maintains structure and structure is more central in the conversation. I was struck by this beginning nevertheless. I wondered whether maybe Williams succeeded so well by working without a structure, because he is so used to it otherwise. He must have internalized structures so that he could leave them as a back burner. If so, then this method may not work at all for intuitive persons like myself.

For me in turn, trusting the intuition, ti would be a good alternative to try working in a very structured way for a change. Food for investigation. Good show. Thank you Paula. And thank you Anthony.

SRR Cybersexuality

The trigger to this latest interview on Shrinkrapradio is the book Cyber Rules: What You Really Need to Know About the Internet; Ground rules for kids and their families in the new digital environment by Dr. Joanie Gillispie. (Her website seems to be under construction; but this is her official link) This title serves as a good representation for what is discussed on the show.

There is a nice comparison Dr. Gillispie makes for what you would grant your kid on line. You wouldn't give him or her the car keys unless you have made sure the kid is up to driving the car, both as far as skills are needed, as well as the level of responsibility at stake. She points out all the reasons why cyber presence in general and cyber sexuality are tricky. To throw some of the quickly: the internet allows for impulsive behavior, anonymity and a full blown etiquette for the net is yet to develop. The bottom line seems to be, that whatever net activity and exposure to questionable content is not going to hurt, in the eyes of Gillispie, unless the behavior is sought compulsively. Hence, kids must be helped and educated with the internet and then they will be up to it.

Splendid, I think it is very valuable advice that Joanie Gillispie offers, but there are two thoughts pressing on me, that do not seem to be addressed entirely. One is that she lies a certain natural and normal burden with the parent and other educators that, I fear, they still may not be up to. It ranges from the car keys metaphor, right down to the bottom-line that kids must be helped to become mature net users. The point is, that many of those parents and educators are far from mature net users themselves and probably never are going to be. From the get go, they are not as internet savvy as the children they are supposed to help. So, they cannot evaluate whether the kids are ready for the keys.

That brings me to the second point. The book as well as the interview concentrates on kids and sexuality of the web, but not only kids have yet to learn deal with sexuality on the web. I do not take it for granted, mature grown-ups, by virtue of being mature, can deal with sexuality on the web just like that. Besides, cyber presence is more than just about sexuality. It is about all aspects of social interaction.

All of this is not to say the podcast is bad. Quite to the contrary. At its worst it seems a bit too limited to me. And what we need, both for the book as for the show is a follow-up that takes on grown-ups just as much as kids and takes on all web interaction, not just the sexual stuff.

Coming up: Dr. Dave interviews Dr. Gillispie on Wise Counsel.

Wise Counsel on borderline

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) when described on the show initially had me thinking that it could cover nearly everybody who is feeling unhappy. Fortunately the interview clears all that up, step by step, bit by bit. All in all I think this is a great issue of Wise Counsel for psycho therapy practitioners. As a layman, I had a bit of trouble keeping up with the jargon.

The interviewee, John Clarkin, is nevertheless going to great lengths opening up the field. He lays out the definition of BPD and summarizes the symptoms. The major part of the conversation is about the treatment. Clarkin has come up with a standardized and tested treatment that has promising results. In spite of insufficient funding results are had, not just in his local New York, but also in Canada and various places in Europe.