One reason I have hope for the future of politics, and then again, don't.

It's pretty simple: video games.  If you cast a look around the video gaming world, you quickly notice that since the internet became accessible at gaming-quality speeds, the most popular games quickly became those in which gamers interact--and the more interaction there is, the more popular the game is likely to be.  I would point to the success of games such as Eve and WoW as evidence here, but it's on Facebook & Google+ and every other social networking tool in existence.

There are a few obvious reasons why interactive gaming is successful & popular.  First, as a "replayable" gaming experience, nothing replaces interacting with humans in terms of unpredictability, creativity, and excitement; and how could it?  Interacting with random selections from a pool of (literally) millions of people will always create a more exciting, original experience than interacting with one gaming programmer's planned scenario.  Second, interactive games provide a social platform--something to "do" with another person, something to discuss, something to brag about, and a community of like-minded people to participate in.  Third, interactive games provide an alternative to mundane life, where success is far less complex an achievement and the cost of failure is greatly reduced--allowing measurable growth along a defined skill set in a context that is visible and respected by your peers.  --Hang on, I'm getting to politics.

In this environment, leadership is far, far more linked to personal capability, applicable skill sets, and cleverness than it is in the real world.  Real-world leadership is muddied by a host of things that are basically irrelevant--sex appeal, pre-existing financial or networking advantages, personal popularity, first impressions, and the brute length of time represented by a real-world career.  Certainly some of these things play into gaming leadership, but in my experience these irrelevant advantages or disadvantages are greatly muted in a gaming environment.  This makes gaming a much more brutal testing ground for leaders--but it also encourages leaders and teaches valuable lessons in an environment where leadership cannot rely on false advantages.

Quickly you can see where this applies to the world of politics, which is so reliant on leadership in the course of campaigning--and then serving--in elected office.  Being able to maneuver a complex organization, having the cleverness to outwit an opponent in a test of true political power--these are lessons that are honed almost universally (albeit indirectly) in the interactive gaming environment.  Learning when to argue, when to compromise, how to manipulate strangers--these are the indirect skills being taught by the modern gaming environment.

Why this gives me hope: our future politicians will come from the ranks of kids who grew up being taught leadership by experience, in an arena where they won't rely on real-world advantages.  This will encourage people with real capability to pursue leadership when they may not have done so before, and will teach even those already inclined towards political leadership to rely on a different skill set than previous generations.

Why it doesn't: the above may not be a good thing.

News snippet

"Apr 20, 2011 – The well-known fitness photographer, who is awaiting trial on a host of child molestation charges, has married his alleged victim."

Wait, I--wait.  Now he's the legal guardian and representative.  Does he get to be both plaintiff and defendant now?  Because--that's just--wow.  Hooray, court systems!

Thought conversations

A brief sojourn through my head:

(Scene: I have just toasted my pop tarts in the work kitchen and am traveling back to my cubicle.  A coworker passes me in the hallway, and I smile a greeting.  She assesses my breakfast unsmilingly and continues past without acknowledging my friendly approach.  The following dialog takes place in my head in the next twenty feet.)

Grim Coworker: We don't smile here.  We're professionals, not emoticons.  Smiling is for...for...yellow people.
EEO Director: ...Yellow people?

boring

the problem with me blogging at this point in my life is that i have nothing to blog about. as in, my day consists of work stuff (nobody likes anybody who talks about work, unless you're a musician, athlete, or politician--so basically, in entertainment) and starcraft. that, and feeding the cats, talking to the cats, fighting with the cats for dominance of my chair & computer desk, and watching the cats kill the flood of crickets that creep under my front door, which unfortunately does not have a tight seal underneath.

as a sidebar, i would like to comment that i just imagined setting up my cats and various pieces of furniture in the guise of a tower-defense game killing the crickets. this amused me. however, nobody likes people to talk about their cats, or kids, or retirements, either. ergo, i'm still at a zero for things to discuss.

i'll bastardize a joke from like, three months ago. goes like this. well, wasn't really a joke, but someone was talking and i made a funny--and what else do you call it? situational joke, perhaps--still a joke. holy crap, let me tell it.

so i told this guy at work, whose name is Kenny, about seeing a bear in the woods one time. as a way of relating, he told me about a friend of his who also saw a bear and tried to run from it. and apparently his friend got away because, according to Kenny, his friend ran downhill and bears can only run uphill. except Kenny's phraseology was that bears can only "go" uphill. which led me to interrupt and say, "if bears can only go uphill, why aren't they all at the top of hills? i feel like that would be a problem." and i made a little hill motion with my hands with little bear legs running around in circles at the top.

that's it. that's all i've got. that was about three months ago. never come back to this terrible blog, i only say one funny thing every three months.

the only habits i've ever formed

so, i have astonishingly little capability for establishing a routine.  forming habits like exercising, performing household chores, blogging, that sort of thing?--not unless i find them absolutely necessary or enjoyable.  oh, i'll obsess and rage about something for a week, maybe make a schedule and blah blah blah...but it'll all fall apart.  the only consistent habit i've managed to form is avoiding habits.

(sidebar: when i live alone, it gets worse.  this past weekend i forgot to eat--seriously, on sunday i started getting hungry and thought, "huh, that's funny, i can't remember any meals yeste--ohhhh.")

this has not been easy for my mother or my wife to accept.  not out of control; they both see many positive habits from which i could doubtless benefit if only i'd be habitual enough to form them.  alas & alack, it shall never be.

at least i thought so, until i met my match.

it turns out the stupid cats and their stupid yelling and their stupid cat pee and their stupid cat CATTINESS turned me into a mindless, driven robot.  i feed them every morning, i feed them every evening, i clean out their litter box like a blind slave--in short, they accomplished in under a month what i've been successfully avoiding from every woman in the past 26 years.  touche, feline pests.  but i'll outlive you--and then...!