dr.ricky online

Tag: texas

  • The blue finger of democracy

    Blue finger of democracy

    In 2005, when elections were restored to Iraq, voters marked their participation by dipping their index finger in blue ink. Texas forbade the use of mail-in ballots for elections beyond a certain set of strictures, so most are forced to vote in person at a time when COVID–19 cases are increasing at an alarming rate in the state. Poll workers heroically dressed in PPE to allow citizens to practice their fundamental right to vote. Physical contact is limited, and each voter is provided a finger condom, and an alcohol wipe to sterilize surfaces. At the very least, one only needs one finger to interact with the voting machine (I’ll note that the machine isn’t easy to reach from a wheelchair).

    Election Day is July 14, 2020 but to avoid the potential crowds spreading the virus, early voting is advisable. Early voting should be accessible from just about any of the precincts. Go vote.

  • Just that way

    Just that way

    On a hot Texas summer day for regular pick up beach volleyball, I was asked to fill in on a doubles team by someone seeking a break. My soon to be partner for this game seemed agreeable until we got onto the court, where he made his distaste for sharing the court with me clear after the second serve. He refused high fives, didn’t speak with me, and when I sought to get eye contact, he turned his back to me. During the game, if I ever performed the first contact, no matter the quality, he made it obvious that he was never going set. No, not attempting to score using an on-two strategy – the ball would be simply lofted clumsily into the opponents’ court. These acts of self sabotage were so blatant that our opponents were crying out, “Set him the ball!”.

    I did what I could to be supportive to a player intent on pretending that he didn’t depend on me — rescuing shanks, trying to cover clumsy defensive attempts, and setting him up as often as possible — even with clear disdain for my existence. I even thanked him for the game afterwards, before walking away.

    Now I have played with difficult partners before, and this situation was definitely up there. But I couldn’t puzzle out exactly why he behaved that way – was it something in my behavior? Why would he agree to play only to commit seething team suicide? I wanted to learn so that I knew how to improve. I asked some of the other guys who were on the same court what I did wrong, and just about all of them said that I did nothing wrong. At least one person sheepishly apologized for the situation, and attributed his behavior to being “very competitive”, “hating to lose”, and he’s “just that way.”
    But they all continued to play with him. With the other partners, he at least played as a team mate, so the refusal clearly directed only to me.

    While I may never know why (though many years of height discrimination has perhaps toughened me to summary rejection on the volleyball court), I did notice that despite witnessing explicitly rude behavior, he had no problem getting partners for later games. This action had no social consequence, if anything, he may have been rewarded for it. The very people witnessing this tacitly accepted the behavior.

    I see parallels between this and how women must feel when put in a sexual harassment situation. How often they must have had to put up with rude behavior, justified by “he’s just that way”, and “boys will be boys” — only to watch the very same men get promoted and empowered, sometimes it appears for the very behavior that civil society should condemn. The problem comes because of being complicit in the system. One does not speak up because some day you may want the same person on your team.

    So, what to do about this? I don’t know. I need to contemplate on it, to understand how to shift volleyball culture to mitigate this behavior, because such insecurity belies the seed from which serious hate grows.

  • Observations on Primary Elections

    Observations on Primary Elections

    Today was one of the election days in Texas. As a primer for the reader who is unfamiliar with the political set up in America, the scene is dominated by two main political parties: the Republican and the Democratic parties. And before the main elections, each party holds primary elections to install the main candidate that they are putting into the main election for each office. Although the field may have, for example, 14 potential candidates vying for the District 2 Congressional seat (9 for the Republicans, and 5 from the Democrats), by the end of the primary elections, there will be two candidates. This type of hypersimplification extends to much of American politics, even when describing issues that aren’t candidates running for office, such as resolutions or statements of principle.

    Any one voter is allowed to vote in only one of the primary races, but this only serves to narrow the field within that party. The vote to win the actual office doesn’t happen until November, and is completely separate from the primary voting. I have a friend who votes in the primary in the party he will ultimately not be supporting – and this makes sense. If one is aligned ultimately with the values of a particular party, choosing to influence the composition of the opposing party means a long term engineering of overall political values towards the compromised middle, regardless of party name.

    Texas primary election ballots both begin with statements declaring party identity

    But the system is rigged early on to foster tribalist mindsets. Instead of separating party values as an issue to be discussed, voters are asked to identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats first. This subtle language establishes tribes right away, setting up the “us vs them” attitude long before any other issues are described, and thus maintains partisanship first. This nudge is how people can be led to voting against their own best interests, as fear of tribal rejection often overrides even statements of fact. David McRaney did a particularly good podcast episode on Tribal Psychology that is worth checking out. Learning to recognize the signs of tribal separation is an important skill – humans evolved to rapidly segregate into tribes, and this urge colors almost all aspects of judgement.