Ok, I’m at work, so bear that in mind as you read my sentences and their source (this ain’t my casual reading):

Marketing will get you to the dance. Once you’re at the dance, you have to do your own dancing. Marketing generates leads, makes the phone ring, causes people ask[sic] for your product.

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days by James Levinson & Al Lautenslager

As for tagging five people, I’ll stick to my normal rule. If you read this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged. Leave a comment when you’re done and I’ll link to your post.

Also participating: Lee from Digital Nicotine

Professionals exist as a result of specialization, and specialization is very foundation of human civilization. At one point in history, small clans of humans (or human-like creatures) more or less each doing all that was required to keep themselves alive (though among the members of the clans there was most assuredly specialization taking place, even then). As these groups became bigger, one can imagine that one human said to another something like “I’ve noticed that you’re really good at making clothing, and I’m a better hunter. How about I bring you some meat from the hunt and you stay here and make me a shirt?” (ok, so major over-simplification, but you get the point). Fast-forward a few million years and, as a direct result of specialization, we have cars, houses, medicine, computers and the internet (among infinite other things).

I said in the previous post that, because it’s impossible to train for every situation we might possibly find ourselves in, we must instead train to recognize our options in the moment and select the best one. Sometimes that best option actually is to leave it to the professionals. If there is a trashcan fire in my house, I’ll probably try to deal with it myself; if I wake up and my wall is engulfed in flames, I’m getting myself, and anything else that’s alive, out of the house and calling the firefighters. If I stayed in there, I might be able to have some effect on the fire, but I’d be far more likely to die than to have any significant effect. In that case, leaving it to the professionals IS helping myself. In the same way, if the firefighters need a brochure/poster/website/etc. designed, they’d be helping themselves by calling me (or some other graphic artist) to do it for them. Sure, they could fire up MS Word and throw something together themselves, but it wouldn’t be nearly as attractive or effective as if they simply “left it to the professionals.”

Helping yourself means evaluating a situation, recognizing your options, and choosing the one (or more) that is the most effective solution to the problem. Sometimes that means leaving it to the professionals. We limit ourselves when we take that option out of the equation, assuming it to be “lazy.” Helping yourself sometimes means knowing when it’s time to get help from someone else.

Now, this may be just a little bit of “those lazy liberals won’t do anything to help themselves” nonsense conservatives just like to spout to each other so they can sit around patting themselves on the back. That’s sorta how it reads but, given his reasonableness over at Aunt B.’s, I’ll assume that wasn’t the actual intention of his post. If he really believes that “DON’T BOTHER TO DO ANYTHING TO HELP YOURSELF” is the thrust of the argument against campus carry policy, then I think he’s really missed the point.

If someone were to burst into my office right now with a weapon and the clear intent to use it, I wouldn’t “step away, call the professionals, and hope for the best.” I would call the professionals if I could manage so that they could be on their way, but with my martial arts background, I’d also be doing what I know it takes to disarm and disable the intruder. Could I get shot? Sure I could, but then unless there’s been some new technological advancement I’m unaware of, carrying a gun doesn’t make you bulletproof either. The point is, it’s a false dichotomy to suggest that your only choices are to carry a gun or do nothing at all.

The trap Madrocketscientist has fallen into is becoming so fixated on his own position that he’s blinded himself to other options (Sound familiar? It should, it’s the same issue that has led to the “dissent is treason” argument that the Republican Party has relied on so heavily for the last seven years.). My option has the benefit of never misfiring, and never getting left at home (not to mention that when the professionals do arrive, it’ll be much easier for them to determine who is the “good guy” and who is the “bad guy”). Of course it also has the potential disadvantage of requiring me to get a little closer to the shooter. Another option that might be even better if the situation allowed for it, would be to get everybody barricaded in the conference room where we could easily get out of the trajectory of any bullets fired through the door and therefore, safely wait for the police to arrive. All options have risks and benefits, and which one is right for the moment won’t always be the same. But if we allow ourselves to become so sure that the “right” option looks one specific way, then when another, better option for dealing with a problem presents itself in the moment, we won’t recognize it and will miss out. And just for the record, that applies to alot more in life than this issue.

I agree with Madrocketscientist’s assertion that it’s wise to train to be able to help ourselves, but since we can’t train for every situation we might find ourselves in, it might be even wiser to train ourselves to recognize multiple solutions in the moment. Without that ability, we’ll be helpless 99% of the time.

John Cloud would be better to be shocked that only 82% of gay students can go to school free of being physically attacked than to be relieved that “only” 18% suffer that fate.

“It appears to be kind of a personal thing between these two students,” he [police spokesman David Keith] said Tuesday. “Some kind of beef.”

or

Police have not alleged a motive for the shooting, but said there appeared to have been “bad blood” between the teens.

Or, at best,

Investigators have not released a motive for the shooting. [Joel] Lovstedt [E.O. Green Junior High School Principal] says that King was often the subject of teasing. He had been targeted by bullies in the past. Students say the victim was often picked on for the way he dressed.

Only one media source sees fit to mention the most obvious motive for the crime.

Some students said the victim, whose name was not disclosed, sometimes wore makeup and feminine jewelry and had declared himself gay. They said he was frequently taunted by other boys and had been involved in an argument with the alleged shooter, an eighth-grader who also was not named, and others Monday.

It’s general knowledge around the school that he was regularly picked on for being gay, yet only one media source thought that might be a relevant fact to bring up after he was murdered by a classmate. Why the cover-up? I’m tempted to think, it’s because the soccer moms (and news readers) out there don’t like to be made to realize that their kids are noticing when they slap those “Marriage=1 Man + 1 Woman” bumper stickers on their minivans and SUVs. Anti-gay bigotry is not “bad blood,” it’s not “some kind of beef” and it’s certainly not “a personal thing between these two students.” It’s bigger than that, and this shooting is just the symptom of it. It’s easier for a certain segment of the population if this is nothing more than “a personal thing between these two students” because then there’s nothing they could have done. They can go about their lives guilt-free, never stopping to consider the message they are sending to their kids whenever they take an opportunity to demonize gay people. Eighth-graders don’t develop murder-provoking hatred on their own. It has to be taught to them, either intentionally or otherwise.

And it’s taught to them when adults utter sentiments like that of abc7.com commenter tabby789 (click the third news link above and scroll down):

well i do belive every one certainly have the right of speach and to presant them selves as they see their own slfe.. but to encourage the dressing and the high hills was a bit much, this poor boy had a rough life and for the school to continue to encourage this young person to but him self on the line day in and day out was also wrong. the bulliy that did the crime should of never played god to correct this young boy but there are more people for the blame.[sic] (emphasis mine)

According to tabby, the only real problem here is who “corrected” the boy. And the real blame goes to the folks who encouraged the boy to be himself.

As an aside, any idea who Jocelyn Salinas is? She’s not mentioned in any of the articles yet all but one of them use her photo as the story visual.