Underground Man

I saw a link to Kristof’s article yesterday from an education blog I read and it’s just so, so infuriatingly stupid and terrible.  One of the most intellectually lazy things I have ever seen (link to the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11kristof.html?ref=todayspaper).

The problems:

1. As he mentions IN HIS OWN ARTICLE, the program he is dreaming up ALREADY EXISTS, and is called WorldTeach (it just doesn’t have government funding).

2. His clever title, “Teach for the World,” is a) very similar to WorldTeach and b) very similar to Teach For All, an organization that is Teach For America but for various countries (not staffed by Americans, but by people in each of those countries), which comes up when you Google “global teach for america,” which Dan Obus works for, and which basically is dedicated to doing the nice things for developing countries that Kristof would want.  Oh wait, except…

3. NOWHERE IN THE ARTICLE DOES KRISTOF MENTION HOW THIS WOULD HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.  Here’s a typical sentiment: “The impact of time in the developing world is evident in the work of Abigail Falik, who was transformed by a summer in a Nicaraguan village when she was 16.”  Good for freaking Abigail Falik.  Why should the government pay for her to have a life experience?

4. Kristof has a really funny idea of what the word “demand” means.  He says “Peace Corps and Teach for America represent the best ethic of public service. But at a time when those programs can’t meet the demand from young people seeking to give back, we need a new initiative: Teach for the World.”  Later on in the article, he says one of the problems with WorldTeach is that the “volunteers” have to pay to do this service, the difference in the program he’s proposing being that, because it’s funded by the government, nobody would have to pay for it, and therefore more people would go.  So by “demand” he means “demand (for an enriching life experience that benefits the Americans, not necessarily the people in developing countries) if the price were zero.”  By that definition, nothing in the entire world that costs money is meeting demand.  The supply of pizza is not meeting “the demand from young people,” because if it were free, young people would eat more pizza.

I could actually go on, as there are plenty of other disasters in this article (”I would bet that those people who know how to say doorknob in Farsi almost invariably oppose a military strike on Iran.”), but I do have other things to do today.

I find that when someone writes about something I actually know a little bit about, it’s incredibly illuminating (and usually infuriating), because I can call that person out, and then realize concretely that everything else they’re doing is just so much hand-waving.

Also, for the record, my mom, who emails me multiple New York Times articles every day, and not in a disparaging way, also hated this article.

I know Jim has some stuff to say about this.

NYPD Officer claims pressure to make arrests

“Our primary job is not to help anybody, our primary job is not to assist anybody, our primary job is to get those numbers and come back with them?” said Officer Polanco.

 That about sums it up.

Does this article surprise anyone? Is this precinct an isolated case? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Putting aside the moral argument regarding state law enforecement, why aren’t more people moved by the entirely predictable effects of the system?  I’m constantly told, “Cops have to exist, otherwise who’s gonna protect anyone? Free riders, market failure, Q.E.D.”  But what about the cops? Why are these objections never applied to them? If your key assumption is that Bill won’t play nice when he lacks any incentive to do so, why does that assumption disappear for Bob? As this article demonstrates, it shouldn’t.

Long Island law would ban sale of drinking games to minors

“I am not one who would typically advocate for regulation of our free market, but this is simply common sense,” said Cilmi.

“Our children’s lives are at risk.”

When you hear someone swearing fealty to “our free market,” grab your gun with one hand and your wallet with the other. When you hear someone telling you it’s “for the children,” start shooting.

Regarding the United States men’s hockey team’s Olympic run, the press have been throwing around the word “miracle,” and making comparisons to the 1980 Lake Placid tournament, in which the US team upset the Soviet Union to win. I think this is rather unfair of us implicitly to compare our neighbors in Canada with the Soviet Union. I rather view last Sunday’s contest as a very fine exhibition of a fierce but ultimately fraternal rivalry. Sure, some Canadians stand ever prepared to disparage America—but they learned that from…Americans. Congratulations, friends.

Marginal Devolution

This is from Eric S. Raymond, chiefly known as a computer programmer and open-source advocate. Raymond is an anarchist and his rhetorical style is characteristically asshole-ish, but of course he is right on the mark here and kudos to him for making comments that can and should be appreciated by persons outside the cult.

The article talks about two of his friends who’ve recently lost their jobs, and the government’s perverse reaction to employment and how particularly threatens the marginally employable.

Well, I don’t feel like getting in to it right now, but this line I think relates to the kinds of things that pick-up artist bloggers and the men’s rights bloggers are talking about: “They’re decent, honest, unambitious men who have never wanted anything but steady work, a normal life, and a hobby or two.” If you added “children” to their list of humble desires, things would look even bleaker for these two men.

Plan Would Let Students Start College After 10th Grade

Yes. I’ve been saying this for years.