Incompetence and Sloppy Thinking

While giving a visitor a tour of the city yesterday I was reminded of how abandoned we have been by the federal government. I'd gotten used to seeing the many signs of Katrina but those signs could have been erased by now. Our recovery could have started promptly and been moving along rapidly. I suspect some of the delay is intentional by people who don't want poor blacks to return or who disapprove of our loose ways. I think most of it is a result of politics and incompetence. Politically, we are the victims of a perfect trifecta of failure - federal, state and city. The incompetence of the federal storm response is staggering but not surprising in light of the federal conduct of the war in Iraq or the care of wounded veterans. The Bush administration seems so fixated on political imagery and ideology that the simple pragmatism of getting the job done takes a back seat.......way back.

They have gotten away with a lot because of a lack of critical thinking on the part of the public. I'm going to return to that term, critical thinking, in the next few days. For now I want to point out that we think with words. If our language is sloppy our thinking will be too. For instance, I hear (and I confess, use) the word, "awesome" applied to everything from tennis shoes to tacos.

Here is the dictionary definition of the word, awe: "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God; in awe of great political figures."

If you find a hamburger awesome, what word do you use to describe your reaction to a great work of art? You wouldn't put a hamburger in the same category as God.

When we hear Mr Bush tell us something such as "Stay the course." we need to think critically about it. We need to ask what that means, and why. We need to think analytically and clearly. If our language and thinking are more precise, we will arrive at more accurate conclusions.

Not much is truly awesome.