Taking on Titan after Titan in His Address to the Nation
Bank bailout? Auto bailout? Health care reform? Education reform? Ending the Iraq war? Total security review? International diplomatic push?
Is there any major, explosively controversial issue that Obama has not promised to tackle in his “State of the Nation” address? One particularly interesting aspect of Obama’s address is that he does not shirk from criticism at all. He takes the arguments of his strongest critics, calls them out, and rebuts then. This is not what recent American Presidents, especially the last one, have done.
In many ways, it was another fireside chat. It was another “Good Morning, America.” I think the media and blogosphere has described it as both at this point. He was blunt and treated Americans as fellow stakeholders, instead of obstacles to be dealt with.
But many of the points he made were also in his speech at the Fiscal Responsibility Summit that came before this particular speech. My feelings on his chosen set of Titans—and he’s chosen almost every single one—is that Obama is over his head. (more…)
Posted on February 25th, 2009
Filed under: Politics, Society by James Wang
When We Can’t Trust our Experts
CNN recently posted an article about the head of a prominent cancer research institute issuing a warning to his faculty and staff to limit cell phone use because of potential cancer risk.
So? Does this mean that we should start limiting our cell phone use as this expert who should know best says? One of the problems in American society is that we don’t trust our experts enough. Even though we have among the best engineers, scientists, and thinkers in the world, Americans tend to give equal credence to both real experts (PhDs, researchers in the field) and individuals who simply appear with the real experts on “panel discussions” on T.V. (who range from religious fanatics to average joes who simply declared themselves experts).
However, this ridiculous fearmongering makes it almost understandable to me why Americans have this chronic mistrust of people with fancy titles and degrees. Although no other cancer institute or respectable doctor has declared anything of the sort, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman and his compatriot, Dr. Devra Lee Davis has taken it upon themselves to inform the public about the dangers of cell phones. (more…)
Posted on July 28th, 2008
Filed under: Science & Tech, Society by James Wang
