[Ailist] Appreciation vs. Cynicism

Sat Mar 8 12:59:45 MST 2008

I am with you Sandy.  If one gets out to where people live she finds a 
neighborliness and sense of community that is not possible to see from 
within the echo chamber in intellectual circles.  Visitors from around the 
world comment that they feel more comfortable in the United States and 
Canada than anywhere else in the world because of the hospitality of the 
folks here.  People are kind, especially when someone is in need.

The thing that disturbs me is that I'd like to vote for Barack Obama because 
he does come across as a high-character gentleman and someone that comes 
from an appreciative stance.  But his wife, first saying that this is the 
first time she has ever been proud of her country, and now indicting the 
people of the country and by implication, the country itself, as defective, 
concerns me very much.

Is it possible to offer an appreciative stance for change if one has such 
disdain for the organization?  I don't think it is.

Kevin

> My heavens!  A country that is downright mean??  Guided by fear?  Frankly,
> to state that the US is guided by "cynics, sloths, and complacents" sounds
> pretty cynical to me.  This is probably one time I would ask for facts,
> please."
>
> Last week, I had occasion to be stuck on a snowy mountain in West 
> Virginia,
> caught in an unscheduled, unanticipated snow storm on Elk Mountain.  Would
> have driven a different vehicle, with different tires, if precipitation 
> had
> been forecasted.  No matter, on three separate occasions, some of those
> "cynical sloths" stopped their vehicles, trudged in the wet snow and 
> helped
> push me out so I could drive down the mountain to safety. I especially
> appreciated the 18 wheeler truck driver who stopped on his way down to 
> help.
>
> Yeah, I live near a big city, grew up on Long Island where the news was
> everyday full of some poor soul being murdered.  However, I never have 
> lost
> faith in my country, never stopped believing in the general good resident 
> in
> the generic person on the street, and certainly don't believe the US is
> downright mean!
>
> Here's another evidence that mean-ness is not everywhere.  Chatted with my
> dentist's assistant who is heading to Honduras next week on his Marine
> duty--where they spend two weeks fixing up the teeth of poor kids.  Heck 
> we
> don't even send the Marines into the ghetto to work on poor kids' teeth
> here--but it is part of the wider humanitarian mission to third world
> countries that the US does...
>
> Oh yeah, really mean.
>
> The drama of it all and it does make good press.  After all, I just spent
> ten minutes responding!!
>
> Sandy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
> [mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Lionel Boxer
> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 12:10 PM
> To: kervick at comcast.net; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
> Subject: Re: [Ailist] Appreciation vs. Cynicism
>
> Having grown up and lived in Toronto from 1957 to 1987 I tend to agree
> with Ms Obama and I think her approach is appropriate.  The great ideals
> that started out in 1776 have been lost, but they were lost well before
> Ms Obama was born.
>
> This is why AI is so important.
>
> Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
> Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
> Graduate School of Business
> What's up?: http://intergon.net/events.html
> The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw
>>>> "Kevin Kervick" <kervick at comcast.net> 09/03/08 1:39 AM >>>
>>From Michelle Obama in the New Yorker magazine:
>
> Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and
> life is
> not good: we're a divided country, we're a country that is "just
> downright
> mean," we are "guided by fear," we're a nation of cynics, sloths, and
> complacents. "We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely
>
> making it every day," she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. "Folks are
> just
> jammed up, and it's gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I'm
> young. Forty-four!"
>
> ----
>
> The conventional wisdom among some political observers is that these
> comments may be unhelpful to say out loud but they are true. My
> contention
> is they are not true and they reflect misguided and cynical all or
> nothing
> biases that are not supported by the facts.  Unfortunately there is much
>
> support for this line of thinking among liberal people, which may
> explain
> why liberals tend to be less appreciative and less happy than
> conservatives.
>
> Not much appreciative inquiry here. If Ms. Obama is going to go on a
> reality
> tirade she should get it right.  I like Barack Obama's message of hope
> as
> long as it also includes appreciation of the essential goodness of the
> United States. Could she have made her point in a more appreciative way?
>
> I have more on the Catalysts for Change blog at
> http://catalystsforchange.blogspot.com/.
>
> Kevin Kervick
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