This is an interesting perspective others might appreciate:
I'd like to relate an incident that happened some years ago that
colors how I feel about the Governor's casino proposal.
I used to teach Junior High School mathematics. At some point --
it must have been the late '70's or early '80's -- yet another
one of these chain letter schemes hit this state and for a short
time was wildly popular. And to counter the inevitable criticism
that this was a pyramid scheme, the chain letter was marketed as
"not a pyramid but a circle" -- the "Circle of Gold", because it
would supposedly never end, but keep going around and around. I
never heard anyone say what this really could possibly mean, but
I heard any number of people repeat this.
It was indeed very popular. For a few weeks the teachers' room
conversation was dominated by people who had bought into this,
sold copies to their acquaintances, and were awaiting the big
payoff. And then a few weeks later, all of a sudden, no one
spoke about it any more. It was like it had never happened.
But when it first started up, lots of people were talking about
it, including the students. And so I thought, "This is a
teachable moment." I took one of my 8th grade classes and we
spent one class period talking about the "Circle of Gold" and how
it worked. They were all really excited about it. (And junior
high school students invariably mirror their parents' opinions
about matters such as this.)
We worked out together in class how long it would take for every
person in the world to be sold one of these chain letters. I
don't remember the details, but it wasn't a very long time. And
then I asked them what would happen next.
I thought the argument was pretty convincing. But to my
students, it wasn't. They were perfectly able to perform the
computation and draw the inevitable conclusion. But it had no
effect whatever on what they thought. They were blinded by the
idea that they or their parents were going to get immensely
wealthy. The only critical comment I managed to elicit was
toward the end of the class, when one student said, "Well, you
know, someone could cheat and move their name up toward the top
of the list." And another student immediately said, "Yeah,
that's what my mother did." (Seventh and eighth-graders are
remarkable in this way; what comes in their head comes right out
their mouth.)
For generations now the Republicans have been bad-mouthing
government and public employees, and telling everyone that
taxation is theft. And we as Democrats really haven't taken this
attack very seriously. So Governor Patrick could not even get a
bill through to repeal an ancient tax loophole given to the
telephone companies years ago and long since outdated. I think
he gave up awfully easily on this one. What we need in this
state -- in the whole country, really -- is a discussion on
taxation and government. And I for one worked for and voted for
Deval Patrick hoping that he would lead the kind of movement that
could make discussions like that happen. But instead we see
people jumping on the casino bandwagon because of the cynical
view that discussion of taxation is just off the table and
there's nothing we can do about it. And if that cynical view is
really so powerful, then what are we left with? One fairy tale
or another, I guess. And so now some people are deciding that
casinos are a source of wealth, rather than a drain on productive
labor. Maybe they'll get rich. Or maybe the state will get
rich. Or maybe both. In any event, it's free money.
That experience I had trying to teach about the "Circle of Gold"
wasn't a great moment for me as a teacher. But I did take
something away from it. And I think I see some of the same
psychology in play right now. And I don't like it now any more
than I did then.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Just to be clear: I don't think that the cynical view is actually
so powerful. I think it only seems powerful because it's so
rarely challenged. I think Deval was absolutely on target when
at the Democratic state nominating convention he urged us to put
down our cynicism. I think we *can* change the political climate
and frame the political discussion in a productive way. But we
have to try; we have to work at it.
--Carl O.
I'd like to relate an incident that happened some years ago that
colors how I feel about the Governor's casino proposal.
I used to teach Junior High School mathematics. At some point --
it must have been the late '70's or early '80's -- yet another
one of these chain letter schemes hit this state and for a short
time was wildly popular. And to counter the inevitable criticism
that this was a pyramid scheme, the chain letter was marketed as
"not a pyramid but a circle" -- the "Circle of Gold", because it
would supposedly never end, but keep going around and around. I
never heard anyone say what this really could possibly mean, but
I heard any number of people repeat this.
It was indeed very popular. For a few weeks the teachers' room
conversation was dominated by people who had bought into this,
sold copies to their acquaintances, and were awaiting the big
payoff. And then a few weeks later, all of a sudden, no one
spoke about it any more. It was like it had never happened.
But when it first started up, lots of people were talking about
it, including the students. And so I thought, "This is a
teachable moment." I took one of my 8th grade classes and we
spent one class period talking about the "Circle of Gold" and how
it worked. They were all really excited about it. (And junior
high school students invariably mirror their parents' opinions
about matters such as this.)
We worked out together in class how long it would take for every
person in the world to be sold one of these chain letters. I
don't remember the details, but it wasn't a very long time. And
then I asked them what would happen next.
I thought the argument was pretty convincing. But to my
students, it wasn't. They were perfectly able to perform the
computation and draw the inevitable conclusion. But it had no
effect whatever on what they thought. They were blinded by the
idea that they or their parents were going to get immensely
wealthy. The only critical comment I managed to elicit was
toward the end of the class, when one student said, "Well, you
know, someone could cheat and move their name up toward the top
of the list." And another student immediately said, "Yeah,
that's what my mother did." (Seventh and eighth-graders are
remarkable in this way; what comes in their head comes right out
their mouth.)
For generations now the Republicans have been bad-mouthing
government and public employees, and telling everyone that
taxation is theft. And we as Democrats really haven't taken this
attack very seriously. So Governor Patrick could not even get a
bill through to repeal an ancient tax loophole given to the
telephone companies years ago and long since outdated. I think
he gave up awfully easily on this one. What we need in this
state -- in the whole country, really -- is a discussion on
taxation and government. And I for one worked for and voted for
Deval Patrick hoping that he would lead the kind of movement that
could make discussions like that happen. But instead we see
people jumping on the casino bandwagon because of the cynical
view that discussion of taxation is just off the table and
there's nothing we can do about it. And if that cynical view is
really so powerful, then what are we left with? One fairy tale
or another, I guess. And so now some people are deciding that
casinos are a source of wealth, rather than a drain on productive
labor. Maybe they'll get rich. Or maybe the state will get
rich. Or maybe both. In any event, it's free money.
That experience I had trying to teach about the "Circle of Gold"
wasn't a great moment for me as a teacher. But I did take
something away from it. And I think I see some of the same
psychology in play right now. And I don't like it now any more
than I did then.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
Just to be clear: I don't think that the cynical view is actually
so powerful. I think it only seems powerful because it's so
rarely challenged. I think Deval was absolutely on target when
at the Democratic state nominating convention he urged us to put
down our cynicism. I think we *can* change the political climate
and frame the political discussion in a productive way. But we
have to try; we have to work at it.
--Carl O.
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