Sunday, December 27, 2015

A Lesson from Junior High


Junior high students love to be worthy of pity. I remember, as a 7th grader, having this baffling realization that we all were jostling one another for the highest, unofficial title of "most worthy of pity." I remember wondering why on earth we were doing this. Why am I doing this? The weirdest part was that we weren't seeking actual pity; as soon as someone expressed something like "wow, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I'm glad I don't have to go through that" it was no longer desirable. In high school, and even college, it became a battle to demonstrate to one another how little we slept, which, as a functional insomniac, I readily engaged in.

I didn't notice it so much among my friends at college, but I did read a recent article, written by a college student, that pointed out the pervasiveness of the "busy-ness" competition: "Oh? You think your schedule's bad? Just wait 'til you hear mine."

This trend among youth is just a trickle down effect of a Nietzschean idea that might be called the glorification of a victim. (By the way, when I say Nietzschean, I mean that Nietzsche talked about it, not that he advocated it).

Here's the thesis: Everyone wants to be considered a victim, not because we enjoy suffering, but because it is the easiest way to being considered a hero.

Implicit in the word "victim" is the idea that an individual is suffering, has endured suffering, or died because he or she suffered. The Latin word victima (from which we receive our English derivative) referred to an object used for sacrifice; usually this was an animal, though in some particularly dark circumstances it could be a human being. Generally, we use victim to mean someone who suffers: Victims of serious crimes all the way down to victims of busy schedules have, in some way, been subjected to suffering.

Heroes are a different matter. In classical Greek myth, a hero was term used for a mortal man of great ability with divine parentage--a demigod--and especially one who had benefited mankind. Heracles (also known by his Roman name, Hercules), who notably saved cities from terrible monsters, is a prime example of this. In Homer's era, it became a term used to refer to warriors as a whole (those strong men who protected the city), which we have some remnant of in our cultural term war hero. Nowadays, however, it is best preserved in the ever-popular superhero.

Heroes, like victims, certainly suffer, but they suffer on behalf of someone else (and usually to save that person, or persons, from suffering) not because they find themselves persecuted in particular. It is a different kind of suffering. Still implicit in that definition of even a comic book superhero is the idea of someone suffering so that another might not. A victim endures suffering, a hero saves a victim, or potential victim, from suffering.

These days the status of a victim and the status of a hero have become functionally the same thing. We see this in the way people talk about victims of gun violence, victims of oppression, and victims of discrimination. We talk about them as if they are heroes simply because they suffered.

I do want to clarify that victims and heroes are not mutually exclusive: the mother who lost her child because a drunk driver hit her car, who then works to ensure that the amount of drunk drivers on the road is reduced, certainly is both a victim and a hero. The boy who grew up in poverty because of poor parental choices and lives his life with intelligence, frugality, and wisdom to ensure that his children do not go through the same things is also a victim and a hero. Their suffering makes them victims, their actions to prevent others from suffering the way they did makes them heroes. The two categories are not mutually exclusive, but they are not the same thing.

I'm about to say something rather controversial and potentially offensive, and I want to preface it with this caveat: we need to remember victims; we need to recognize their suffering and deal justice where we can. We have a duty to every victim of true injustice.

Nevertheless, we should not glorify them. Why? Because we need to preserve the difference between a victim and a hero. If every victim automatically becomes a hero, then our culture is encouraging its people to accentuate their own suffering in order to be noticed. Where, then, is the encouragement to act in order to alleviate the sufferings of others? Is that the kind of culture we want to create?

To the Christians: We are told to act like Christ. He certainly suffered, but he did so willingly, and at the hands of those he intended to save. He is the ultimate hero and we are called to act like him. But the culture of glorifying victimhood in the place of heroes is killing that attempt.

So here's the conclusion: we must give justice to the victim. That is the duty of a civil society created for the protection of its citizenry's wellbeing and safety. To the hero we must give honor in order to create a civil society that encourages self-sacrifice and virtue. But we must not confuse the two, or else poor, misled junior high students all over the country will continue to believe themselves heroes simply because they feel like they're suffering.

Best wishes,
Nicole

Monday, December 21, 2015

10 Totally Subjective Facts of Dubious Verity Regarding the New Star Wars

Spoiler free, I promise.
  1. I enjoyed watching the movie, but probably won't watch it again.
  2. The plot is totally recycled from all the other movies.
  3. There are no plot twists.
  4. People who tell you there are plot twists lied, or have never seen the other movies.
  5. LENSE FLARES. OH MY WORD JJ ABRAMS. GET A NEW EFFECT.
  6. Light sabers are still cool, and still completely ridiculous weapons against blasters. Seriously; ever heard the phrase "don't bring a knife to a gun fight"? This is basically the space-age version of that saying.
  7. My automatic reaction to "May the Force be with you" is still "and with thy spirit"
  8. I would say something like the books were better, but there aren't really any books so... 
  9. Gollum.
  10. The droids are still the best part.

Confessions of a Web Designer


The brain loves immediate cause-and-effect processes. To act with a specific purpose, and immediately see that purposed result creates an almost addictive reward. Web design, I think, is in certain instances the most satisfying version of this instantaneous reward process, and in others is the most frustrating.

For example, in my web design efforts, I've updated a page on the back end of the site and within seconds, see my changes on the refreshed page.

I've also totally and irrevocably broken a website by a seemingly innocent line of code.

So I undo my changes.

And it's still broken.

I grit my teeth and try something new. Which doesn't work.

So I try a different thing.

Still nothing.

Again and again and again for hours I try things, none of which restore my lost site.

Finally, I redo the initial (and most logical) fix that I'd tried when I had first discovered the break. And sometimes it works.

Sometimes I end up doing the same thing over and over again and then, randomly, it'll work.

There was a specific instance where my employer wanted a simple change to a piece of media on the site. Now, media tends to be a bit more complicated, because there are generally three connections that need to be made in order for the correct image to be displayed, but it's still usually pretty simple. But not in this case! I removed the original image, uploaded the new one, and linked it to the page and the whole site crashed. To this day I don't know what I did. All I know is that I had a couple mini heart attacks and several massive panic attacks on my friend's dorm room floor. It took me four hours to rebuild the crashed site; I didn't lose everything, but a good deal of the structure went down.

To be entirely fair, it was almost certainly 100% user error. I'm not trained in computer science and much of what I know is self-taught using the "sink or swim" method (maybe in this case, it's "sync or swim" ... no? Not funny? Okay... I'll stop). It was still frustrating beyond belief.

One of my favorite things about being a web designer is that I know how much effort goes into certain pages. I have a particular page on my website that took me hours. It's really simple, unassuming, and non-abrasive, but I know how much work that took me. Looking at it still brings me a sense of satisfaction.

Then there are those moments when you're trying to use your site as a user, for once, and not as a developer.

I work for my school's marketing department, and part of that means that I manage certain school-affiliated websites. One of these hosts student summaries of great books written throughout history. Usually, I test the site for functionality; I haven't really looked at adding certain (perhaps obvious) features. Well, not until recently.

I was talking over coffee with a friend about a book she had received as an early Christmas present. Neither of us had read it, but I recognized it from this site, so I pulled it up and looked for the entry about this book. At this point, I realized that the website didn't have a search function. I repeat: an archival website doesn't have a search bar. What kind of IDIOT designed that?!

Oh.

Right.

That would be me.

Oops.

Tomorrow morning, guess what's first on the agenda? Yep: I'm adding a search bar.

To sum up: This web designer has a great job and an incredible lack of common sense! Hurray!

Merry Christmas, my friends.
Best wishes,
Nicole

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

13 Totally Subjective but Definitely True Facts about the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack


  1. Howard Shore composed the whole thing for both the Lord of the Rings proper and the Hobbit movies.
  2. Howard Shore is a freaking boss.
  3. The soundtrack is the only good thing about the Hobbit movies (well, that and the scene between Bilbo and Gollum. BUT THAT'S IT)
  4. "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum" is an excellent track for running because it makes you feel like you're being chased by a Balrog.
  5. Don't EVER set "A Knife in the Dark" as your alarm unless you want to wake up with a scare approximately equivalent to chugging a gallon of energy drinks.
  6. "Breaking of the Fellowship" is the easiest way to make an LoTR fan cry.
  7. Yes, you can read the books to this soundtrack and it might actually make them better.
  8. HOWARD FREAKING SHORE.
  9. Don't study to these. Or do study to them. I don't know. Sometimes they're great and motivating, and sometimes I get caught up in the beauty of it all and ten minutes later I realize I've been staring at the same page, reading the same paragraph, digesting none of it.
  10. When my boss wanted background music (a last minute request) for one of his business presentations during the audience participation bit, I may or may not have played a couple of the lesser known LoTR songs.
  11. "Concerning Hobbits" really is the most fun to play on the violin.
  12. When the orchestra stops suddenly and the lone violin floats over the top in the middle of "A Storm is Coming" I get goosebumps every time.
  13. This completes the perfect trifecta: Lord of the Rings is my favorite book series. Lord of the Rings (EXCLUDING THE HOBBIT) is my favorite movie series. Lord of the Rings is my favorite music.


Best wishes,
Nicole Pendragon