from the hippo's mouth
I was blessed with a another great moment in the history of conversation during my last trip and I thought it was worth mentioning now after all the dust has settled. The gist of the conversation: Americans have such a high life expectancy because we are physically superior and mentally tougher than other cultures in the world. This conversation continued on and the facts were coming fast and furious - Asians live longer only because of diet, but it makes them small. Europeans live longer because of superior genes, and Africans and South Americans don't have a low life expectancy because they live in war zones that are riddled with disease. These are the kinds of facts that I love to hear from someone when I am bored because ONE, I am usually ready to kill myself from all the stagnation and I need something to stir my pot, and TWO, because I think it's important for people to challenge the way we think about things just so we don't get to complacent in our own assessments. Perhaps there are more wars in Brazil than we are being told about and that is really lowering the Latin American life expectancy. You don't really know, do you? All I have to go on is what the media tells me so perhaps there is some merit in what this guy is telling me now.
The delicate issues surrounding fact based arguments or stories is that there is really no way to truly know if they are factual or not. If the information is not readily available for you to assess, then how can you know for sure what you're hearing is a load of crap or if it's the gospel truth? For years the world was flat and there were idiots who said it was square or round. Now we know it's square and the idiots now are the ones who think it to be flat or round. This kind of paradigm shift is common in our history, so you can never get to comfy in one opinion if you hope to evolve. Unless, of course, the information is so obviously contrived and outrageous that you need not give it a second thought... ... Right?
When people bring up outrageous information, when do we know when to believe it or to pass it off as "reaching"? In the case of life expectancy, the person presenting the facts didn't share the information as a possibility by prefacing his comments with, "they say" or "I hear", he just flat out said it and he said it in a tone that said, "these are the facts and they are indisputable". I guess we are supposed to hear the truth in the tone of his voice and just live our lives never having to question the information we are given.
The issue of how long a particular group lives has so many variables that it's impossible to say why one group perishes quicker than another. If there was really a secret to why Americans with their high stress, sodium-lard based diets live so long, it would not be our superior mental and physical strengths getting us to the 72nd year. I would say it was medication and advances in surgery that let our crippled bodies crawl across the 70 plateau and shrivel up on 72. I'm sure without medications that the life expectancy average in America would fall to around 48. Europeans would see their 68 years fall to 55 and the South American/African average would probably not see a drop in their number at all. (war is war and insulin isn't going to help you see tomorrow if a mortar round finds you first)
The man I had this conversation with was an American and he was pretty proud of the fact that he was going to see 72 in his life time. He was a soldier, a smoker, a drinker, an avid video game player with a penchant for motorcycles, tattoos and Thai hookers. (so if he sees 72 then I guess there is hope for all of us). He was not fond of much in this life that wasn't American and I am guessing that there isn't much you could say about America that was negative that wouldn't start a fire under this guy. Thank god I didn't tell him I drove a Mazda, I'm sure that would have earned a shanking in the gut.
At some point in the conversation of just how great Americans were, we started down the path of what HE was and what HE wanted out of life. This was his answer: He was studying no less than four different kinds of Karate. He was a life long "White" magic user. He believed in UFO's, vampires, and "the force". And his favorite food was "hot" food. As in, Mexican, Thai, Indian, etc. He loved sports, women, beer and reading. He is - the very model of every school shooting gunman that has ever lived.
He is a man that DID NOT believe there was a plot by the US government to kill JFK, but he DID believe there were Aliens in Area 51. He DID NOT believe that the Iraq war was started for financial reasons, but he believes that Hilter DID start a world war to find the ark of the covenant and other religious artifacts! (I am not kidding) He is, as I think you can see by now, a true believer in the American faith based wisdom that makes it possible for us Americans to live until we are 72.
It's hard to listen to these kinds of people if you are in the wrong mood and it's even harder to NOT say anything or try to correct them when you hear an obvious error in their statistics, but in order to see where you are in the world, you need to let them go on without comment. You have to find constraint and learn to bite your tongue. You need to let them rant and rave about the colors of the world and where the lines on the map should really be drawn. You need to let them share with you all that they have seen and all they have experienced and how they put that all together to come up with the theories they are sharing with you today. It's important to them and ultimately it will be important to you. What you gain from your ability to NOT say anything will impress you.
I have had my moments where I have had to listen to darker, wilder stories. I have met more colorful people than this guy. I have spent more time deciphering information that people have shared with me than the amount of time I spent actually listening to them share it. It's almost like a virus that just can't be shaken off. Their stories stick in your head and you just can't get it out. You find yourself thinking about their comments for a long time after they have stopped trying to convince you that what they believe is the truth. ( what if there really are vampires in the military...)
I haven't spoken to this guy in over a week. It was only one conversation and yet I am still thinking about all the weird shit he shared with me. War torn South America.... Superior genetics of Europe... Vampires... The force... It just floats in your head and makes it impossible for me to enjoy much else. I need someone to come along with a better more colorful, more entertaining story to wipe this out of my noodle. I need to hunt this bastard down and stake him in the heart for doing this to me. (is that what you do to bad white magicians or is it holy water?)
The delicate issues surrounding fact based arguments or stories is that there is really no way to truly know if they are factual or not. If the information is not readily available for you to assess, then how can you know for sure what you're hearing is a load of crap or if it's the gospel truth? For years the world was flat and there were idiots who said it was square or round. Now we know it's square and the idiots now are the ones who think it to be flat or round. This kind of paradigm shift is common in our history, so you can never get to comfy in one opinion if you hope to evolve. Unless, of course, the information is so obviously contrived and outrageous that you need not give it a second thought... ... Right?
When people bring up outrageous information, when do we know when to believe it or to pass it off as "reaching"? In the case of life expectancy, the person presenting the facts didn't share the information as a possibility by prefacing his comments with, "they say" or "I hear", he just flat out said it and he said it in a tone that said, "these are the facts and they are indisputable". I guess we are supposed to hear the truth in the tone of his voice and just live our lives never having to question the information we are given.
The issue of how long a particular group lives has so many variables that it's impossible to say why one group perishes quicker than another. If there was really a secret to why Americans with their high stress, sodium-lard based diets live so long, it would not be our superior mental and physical strengths getting us to the 72nd year. I would say it was medication and advances in surgery that let our crippled bodies crawl across the 70 plateau and shrivel up on 72. I'm sure without medications that the life expectancy average in America would fall to around 48. Europeans would see their 68 years fall to 55 and the South American/African average would probably not see a drop in their number at all. (war is war and insulin isn't going to help you see tomorrow if a mortar round finds you first)
The man I had this conversation with was an American and he was pretty proud of the fact that he was going to see 72 in his life time. He was a soldier, a smoker, a drinker, an avid video game player with a penchant for motorcycles, tattoos and Thai hookers. (so if he sees 72 then I guess there is hope for all of us). He was not fond of much in this life that wasn't American and I am guessing that there isn't much you could say about America that was negative that wouldn't start a fire under this guy. Thank god I didn't tell him I drove a Mazda, I'm sure that would have earned a shanking in the gut.
At some point in the conversation of just how great Americans were, we started down the path of what HE was and what HE wanted out of life. This was his answer: He was studying no less than four different kinds of Karate. He was a life long "White" magic user. He believed in UFO's, vampires, and "the force". And his favorite food was "hot" food. As in, Mexican, Thai, Indian, etc. He loved sports, women, beer and reading. He is - the very model of every school shooting gunman that has ever lived.
He is a man that DID NOT believe there was a plot by the US government to kill JFK, but he DID believe there were Aliens in Area 51. He DID NOT believe that the Iraq war was started for financial reasons, but he believes that Hilter DID start a world war to find the ark of the covenant and other religious artifacts! (I am not kidding) He is, as I think you can see by now, a true believer in the American faith based wisdom that makes it possible for us Americans to live until we are 72.
It's hard to listen to these kinds of people if you are in the wrong mood and it's even harder to NOT say anything or try to correct them when you hear an obvious error in their statistics, but in order to see where you are in the world, you need to let them go on without comment. You have to find constraint and learn to bite your tongue. You need to let them rant and rave about the colors of the world and where the lines on the map should really be drawn. You need to let them share with you all that they have seen and all they have experienced and how they put that all together to come up with the theories they are sharing with you today. It's important to them and ultimately it will be important to you. What you gain from your ability to NOT say anything will impress you.
I have had my moments where I have had to listen to darker, wilder stories. I have met more colorful people than this guy. I have spent more time deciphering information that people have shared with me than the amount of time I spent actually listening to them share it. It's almost like a virus that just can't be shaken off. Their stories stick in your head and you just can't get it out. You find yourself thinking about their comments for a long time after they have stopped trying to convince you that what they believe is the truth. ( what if there really are vampires in the military...)
I haven't spoken to this guy in over a week. It was only one conversation and yet I am still thinking about all the weird shit he shared with me. War torn South America.... Superior genetics of Europe... Vampires... The force... It just floats in your head and makes it impossible for me to enjoy much else. I need someone to come along with a better more colorful, more entertaining story to wipe this out of my noodle. I need to hunt this bastard down and stake him in the heart for doing this to me. (is that what you do to bad white magicians or is it holy water?)
posted by Daniel Loomis | 8:48 AM
<< Home