Like a Freaking Infirmary
It's all Mark's fault really. Over a week ago he got sick in the cold variety and then of the intestinal sort. I followed soon after, starting on Wednesday and through today (Sunday). Today was a transition from one type to the other. Sachi has seemingly skipped a step and gone directly to the intestinal sort. All this has provided us time to be home while it is cold as hell outside, and still icy.
Amusing Amos with various mindgames, working, building fires and TV have made our collective sicknesses bearable. Oh, and Netflix. In the last couple of days we watched "Thank You For Smoking" and the Enron documentary "The Smartest Guys in the Room". Both quite enjoyable in a "is this what the world has come to?" sort of way.
Thank You For Not Smoking is a satirical story about a guy who is the public face of the Big Tobacco lobby - the chief lobbyist representing the tobacco companies. I've enjoyed it much more in retrospect than during viewing time. It's a sad story about a guy who has found that he is very skilled and his finest skills are used most productively as a lobbyist for a product that kills millions of Americans. For me though, it is a story about the power of spin - a person's ability to verbally distort an issue so that appears as something different, regardless of fact. He is a master and, while I don't aspire to spin, I think there are lessons to be learned about the skill of argument and reason.
The movie started a discussion between Sachi and I about argument and she produced a book that she recently described as "the most valuable book she owns". It's called, and this is a window into Sachi's deceptively serious and nerdy world, "Current Issues and Enduring Questions - Methods and Modes of Argument" by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Indeed, it outlines the basics of argument and is mostly made up of classic arguments by famous intellectuals. Example: Steven Jay Gould on "Does Evolution Refute Creationism?"
It's not light stuff, but I find myself wanting to read more. I want to be better at productive and responsible arguement. Unfortunately, for now at least, blowing my nose seems to be my greatest and most productive and skill.
