The Evil PC

Most people, some secretly some not, seem to want to be thought of as
an interesting person - or at least not boring. But have you ever told
someone they are interesting? I have and I always find the hesitant
reaction part curious and part sad.

Interesting is one of those words that Political Correctness has
ruined. Not quite as extreme a case as “special” but
“interesting” has still become a loaded word open to positive
or negative interpretation by the audience. I think this is both
unfortunate and illustrative.

The idea of Political Correctness was to make the use of negative words
shameful and therefore inhibit the spread of negative opinions. While
I’m sure the idea still has its adherents I think it has mostly
descended to a target of scorn. People have negative thoughts about
other people. If I have to call someone “interesting” instead of
“weird” all this does is cause confusion when I actual think
someone/something is interesting.

People are hard enough to understand without adding a layer of polite
(?) obfuscation to the language.

The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

I liked this collection of essays a lot. It’s divided into three
sections. The first section deals with context. It explains where the
author is coming from and I think that it is important as it gives the
reader some idea of the author’s perspective on the rest of the ideas
in the book.

The second section is more oriented to biography with reflection on
specific experiences of the author and is also interesting but it is the
third section that makes the book. And more importantly it accomplishes
this without the usual egotism of an autobiography.

The essays of the third section deal with broader society and ideas.
The ideas expressed are made more powerful by the first two sections not
because the author has established his intellectual credentials but
because he has established his life credentials.

I’m not going to claim that there are great revelations or anything
exceptionally controversial in the essays but for anyone who is
curious about what other people think, this book is a wise way to pass
226 pages.

Of bears and bees

It didn't take long for the bee experiment to take a turn for the worse. The sweet delicious smell of hunny has attracted a bear. We haven't actually seen the bear but something big enough to cary off a 60 pound box of brood and tough enough to sit there and eat it among a swarm of bees has destroyed one of our hives.

We reported it to the government but they didn't deem very interested so now we're electric fence shopping. I assume that in the old pioneer days I would have just got a rifle and killed the bear carving out another little piece of wilderness for humanity but today we must learn to live with our predators. The joys of the 21st century.

Now I'm not for the wholesale slaughter of animals or pro-extinction but from all accounts Ontario is maggoty with black bears. I guess it's like the seal problem and we need to find a commercial use for their carcasses to appease the people living downtown who will never see a sign of either one outside of a trip to the zoo?