RATIONALIZATION

The power of the mind to rationalize behavior is amazing. When psychologists looked at the German guards who were mistreating Jews during the holocaust, they were amazed to discover that these men went home at night to a family and were loving parents to their children and good husbands to their wives. Yet, during the day they were participating in the beating and torture of prisoners.

Studies found that they were able to compartmentalize their behavior because they did not believe the prisoners were fully human. Their concept of Jews as being a lower class of human being and not deserving the same respect as themselves allowed them to live dual lives. This is an extreme example, of course, but I have to ask myself, “Am I rationalizing my behavior in the same way?” Is there any group of people that I look at as less valued than my own group? If so, then I am opening myself up to the possibility that I am compartmentalizing my life in the same way as the German guards.

Some of the groups I struggle to see as fully deserving are the homeless, those who are disabled, skinheads, and even Democrats (just kidding). But it doesn’t stop there. Do I compartmentalize the small things? Perhaps I am telling myself that “just once” won’t hurt anything. It could be cheating on taxes. After all, the government won’t miss it. It could be shoplifting. The store has all the money it needs. Besides, I deserve it.

Perhaps the answer is to stop rationalizing behavior altogether. Call a spade a spade. Call a human a human. I think Jesus was the best example of someone who valued every human life and contemplated the effects of every decision. I found an example of rationalization in the book I reviewed earlier. Here is the quote:

A few night later, another one of the mujahidin told a story that had taken place as the Soviets were retreating from Afghanistan. Just before dawn, he had snuck up on one of the Najibullah’s garrisons and launched a grenade through a window. But just as the grenade left his hand, he heard a voice from inside call out “Allahu akbar!” It was time for the sunrise salat.
Seconds later, the grenade exploded, killing everyone inside. At first, the man said, he was worried. He was troubled by the fact that he had killed Muslims during prayer. So troubled, in fact, that he sought out a highly respected scholar of the Kur’an. The scholar reassured him. “Brother,” he said, “you are fighting under the flag of Islam. They are fighting under the flag of infidels. In the end, God will decide.”

I don’t go to a mujahidin, because I am not a Muslim. However, do I seek out philosophies that justify my lifestyle choices? Do I choose my religion to justify my lifestyle, or do I conform my lifestyle to the Truth?

WRITING SKILLS

Have you ever thought what the world would be like without adjectives? Good adjectives thrust graphic visual pictures accompanied by raw emotion into your mind. When the intended result is obtained, the reader is left wasted and raw, or perhaps elated, or maybe hungry. The writer, meanwhile, is watching with the barest hint of a smirk creeping across his face, content in the knowledge that once again the power of the written word has reached across time and space to pierce and influence malleable hearts and minds.

Sometimes an adjective will not suffice, and so the writer inserts a word picture. I have read books that make me physically sick because of the overuse of word pictures. They can be a substitute for good writing.
And then, of course, there is just bad writing. Here is an example I found:

“I never would have guessed that Grandma would have brought a severed head back from the 7-11, which was reasonable, because she never did.”

Two of my favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, an imaginative writer, and Thomas Sowell, an economics scholar. Of course Sowell doesn’t use many adjectives, because academic writing doesn’t require it. It would be strange to talk about a “liver-lipped theory of economics.”

More on authors later. Who are your favorites, and why?

BOOK REVIEW

Inside the Jihad
My Life with Al Qaeda

What kind of Muslim can end up as a spy for both France and Britain? Omar Nasiri (not his real name, of course) was born in Morocco and raised in Belgium. His exposure to Western civilization and its freedoms gave him a unique perspective and the ability to step out of his Islamic pattern of thinking. He was an outsider in Belgium, and when he finally returned in his teen years to Morocco, he was not accepted by his peers there either, and so was basically an outcast in both societies. Being a spy fitted his personality, because from what I can tell in reading this book, he was a borderline sociopath. He loved his mother, but that’s about it. It was primarily greed that led him down the spy path, along with his loathing of the violence preached by the jihadists. He completed military training in an Afghan terrorist camp. I was fascinated by all the lies he had to tell to protect his cover, and then had to keep it all straight. Most of the time his lying did not involve any advance planning. It is difficult to put this book down. I recommend it for when you are called to jury duty, or some similar situation.

HOW DOES A WIFE CONVINCE HER HUSBAND TO LIKE PINEAPPLE?

This question has recently been asked of me, and I have given it a lot of thought. Others questions would have been more simple, like “How do I find a new job?” or “What is the answer to life’s deepest mystery?” The obvious answers are, “Get off your duff” and “42.” However, when it comes to changing a person’s culinary preferences, it is much more complicated.
Since it is a difficult question, it needs a mathematical answer. We begin by identifying several factors. O= outcome, which is for the husband to enjoy pineapple. D= desire, for the wife’s desire to see the goal happen. E= effort, for the effort the wife exerts in attempting to achieve the goal. M= motivation, for the actual tools used to motivate the husband. In addition, we also need to factor in 300, which represents the speed of light; 300,000,000 meters per second. With this information, we can logically write our equation as follows:

O= EM divided by D times 300

All that remains is to identify and implement each unit in the equation. For example, we already know O, and we know D. They are both measured in units of passion, and therefore cancel each other out if they are of equal intensity. 300,000,000 is the universal constant. E is simply the effort to accomplish the task. It is measured in joules. That leaves M, which can take many forms. It might be a new corvette. It might be something as simple as a favorite meal offered as a trade. It might even be something in the martial relationship. Whatever it is, M is the key which solves the equation. Now here is a valuable tip:
If M is persuasive enough, the husband could end up crawling on his belly across the floor exclaiming his love of not only eating pineapple, but also a desire of being immersed in a swimming pool containing giant pineapple rings.

One last comment: Other life issues can be inserted into this formula. Have fun!

A VISIT TO THE DENTIST

I had a revelation today while sitting at the dentist’s office. I was staring up at the ceiling with my eyes half closed. Soft music wafted out of the speaker directly above me. The technician was gently and carefully scraping along my gum line. I could hear the soothing sound of a high speed drill coming from the next room. I was having difficulty not falling asleep. And then it came to me! Why not make a CD with soft music accompanied by the occasional whir of a dental drill? You could even throw in a well-timed moan once in a while! My mind started to spin with the marketing possibilities. I could contact psychologists and get mailing lists of patients with dentist phobias! They could listen to my CD while going to sleep at night and at the same time would be making true progress in their battle to conquer a fear that had plagued them since childhood. (Not to mention the cavities begging to be filled in thousands of phobic mouths.) Everyone knows, of course, that if you have a fear of going to the dentist, you are only scratching the surface of what is really wrong with you. Most people who fear the dentist are also constantly looking over their shoulder. After all, if the dental profession cannot be trusted, no one can. For example, what does the pharmacist do behind that counter? Did you ever wonder why they won’t let you watch? Don’t ask. Tim Conway started it all with his dental skit. That skit did for dentistry what Bambi did for hunting. Anyway, what a marketing opportunity it could be. If you agree, send me $20. I only need a thousand people to join.

SMALL DECISIONS

Lately I've been thinking about the cascading effect of small decisions. This month's edition of Discovery magazine has an interesting article. In 1783 a volcano in Iceland erupted, killing 9,000 on the island. But that wasn't all. The resulting cooling that year in the Northern hemisphere affected crops and weather patterns. In Japan alone, one million died from famine. The Nile valley lost one sixth of its population. There had not been a colder Summer for 500 years.
Small decisions are like that. Daydreaming at a stop sign might have either positive or negative consequences, depending on the situation. An unkind word can prevent the start of a life-long friendship. A pattern of repetitive behavior, such as saving just a little money, can result in wealth. There is a lesson here. I may think that what I choose to do today doesn't matter. The reality is that a small decision can have a lifetime of consequences. I have a responsibility before God to make wise choices.

WHITTAKER CHAMBERS

Spring is a good time for a good book. I recommend Witness by Whittaker Chambers. This book gives you a glimpse of the intellectual climate in the U.S. prior to WWII. Good intellectuals of that day took a serious look at Communism, and many embraced it. Chambers embraced it, and this book traces his eventual repudiation of it; his years as a Time Magazine editor, and his participation in the then famous Hiss-Chambers Case which electrified the nation. There are many individuals of the past I would like to sit down with and have a long talk. Chambers is one of those.