Ryan's Wisdumb

There is something wrong with me.  My most recent realization of this came courtesy of the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once .  I sought it out after hearing all the buzz about how great it was.  It started OK but started to lose me about halfway through.  I gave up and turned it off before finishing, something I very, very rarely do.  It had lost my interest.  I don't get why everyone was raving about it.  This isn't the first time this has happened.  Other notable examples of movies that didn't live up to their hype for me are The Matrix , Pulp Fiction (and every other Tarantino movie) and even universally acclaimed classics like The Godfather .  Now I didn't turn any of those movies off in the middle, but I don't think they were as good as the consensus of the masses.  In some cases, I think the movies are watchable or maybe even good, just not deserving of the gushing praise being heaped on them. I typically agree with about half of the selections that ma

  A recent article in The Morning newsletter from the New York Times rekindled a smoldering ember of thought that resides in a corner of my mind.  It has never burned hot enough to inspire me to serious study on the subject, but this time it has at least motivated me enough to write about it.  The topic is growth; how our society and economy are dependent on it, why I think that is problematic, and how it can change.  My thoughts on this subject are not well formed at this time and, unusually for Wisdumb, I offer no answers, only more questions. The Times article covered the aging population of Japan and showed the chart below projecting other major economies and the world as a whole being on the brink of a rapidly aging populous. The article primarily focused on the social impacts of this aging population, in particular that Japan is running out of workers.  It posits the only solution is to bring in more immigrants.  This is what bothers me and stokes that ember in the back of my min

  You are probably wondering what I, a white dude living in America, know about discrimination.  Sadly, I know more than I wish I did.  You see, I was born with a particular trait that was destined to make my life in our society more difficult.  I have never tried to hide it and I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm proud of it in many respects, and many people around me already know this, but never, until now, have I publicly announced it.  So, here goes:  I am left-handed. Obviously, the previous paragraph was tongue-in-cheek, and I in no way intend to marginalize the struggles of anyone facing discrimination for factors beyond their control.  Rather, it is the opposite.  I like to use humor to ease the tension serious topics.  This blog post is an attempt at empathy and solidarity on my part.  I'll let the reader draw the parallels between my seemingly minor inconveniences with being left-handed and their own experience with discrimination (or maybe with discriminating) based on r