19 Comments
Sep 8, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

It's interesting that there's smart and dumb ways to be dumb. I don't think many common people believe that we're blank slates and that intelligence isn't hereditary. That's only a view you'd obtain hanging out with educated and talented people. It's a smart way to be dumb.

I also never like the "X has been used in history in a bad way." I mean, what hasn't? The idea that people are highly malleable can also justify atrocities. Imperialism has been justified by liberalism, fascism, communism, theocracy, etc. We need to discuss ideas on their own merit.

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These are both great points. We readily acknowledge inheriting all kinds of traits from our families, including particular kinds of intelligence. This is so common in ordinary conversation that it seems weird that it’s at all controversial.

And yes, just because something has been used for evil in the past doesn’t prevent us from using it for good now.

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

Great cartoon!!!! You make a really good point about people having different interests and sometimes people just are not academically inclined. That is fine. I'm thinking about my daughter, Sophia, who is great at building things and got college degrees in theater (the technical side) and geology. She's thinking about jobs right now and part of her wants to be a carpenter. She's also interested in geology jobs. But if she pursues carpentry, what would be the value of her dad and me telling her that she needs a job that matches her college credentials? It wouldn't benefit her to be pushed to do something "more academic" if that's not what she wants. That's not quite the point you are making, but I like the idea of respecting people's choices and talents. Same as when people ask me why I became a nurse and not a doctor. Ugh. Um...because I wanted to be a nurse. Let's respect all jobs and pay people well, no matter if they're a carpenter, geologist, nurse, or doctor.

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It is wonderful that Sophia has such useful--and lucrative--skills! She will always use her education, no matter what her job is, as a critical thinker. I wish it were more permissible in our culture to choose the non academic path.

And your experience as a nurse reminds me of when I was a teacher. People would ask me if I wanted to become a principal. Hell no! I would think. They are different jobs, and I like teaching and would dislike the work that principals do. (My mom was a teacher and my dad was a principal, so I really did know something about this.) It’s the same in medicine. The work of doctors is different but not superior to the work of nurses.

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

And good, experienced nurses often teach resident doctors quite a lot.

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True! Thanks for making this point.

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

When my youngest was born with an abdominal lymphatic malformation that coincided with an inguinal hernia, a resident asked our very experienced pediatric nurse to show her how to palpate him.

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This checks out. It is often the nurses who know more about how to care for patients. I’m glad to hear that the resident valued the nurse’s wisdom! Two of my brothers-in-law are ER doctors, and they both value nurses as real experts. And nurses love them for it!

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Point about who has overseen tracking is especially salient.

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Thanks!

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

Found the en-dash, and I do know its proper usage :)

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I knew you would! Editors of the world, unite!

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

In contrast to boring Mrs. N, last night my anatomy professor donned a homemade crown of straws and tubes to illustrate the cranial arteries: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WBvgvgqtXiGAt8v16

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Sep 8, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

I can remember my own Ms. N !

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We all have them! Another Ms. N anecdote: the big drawer in her desk was completely empty except for a scissors. She had drawn an outline of the scissors in permanent marker, and the scissors always had to sit right inside the outline--in an empty drawer!

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Sep 9, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

Wow! That is a hilarious and telling detail.

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Yeah, I think she must have suffered from OCD.

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Sep 8, 2022Liked by Mari, the Happy Wanderer

Excellent article, many good points (especially the nod toward Freddie de Boer). Quite correct that correlation is not same as causation . . . but in praising Switzerland we might notice other possible relationships between it being a relatively small country with a high degree of homogeneous ethnic composition, and a very high rate of gun ownership--which all perhaps feeds into it being a high personal trust culture. If we could only have that same sort of society in the USA (well, we already have the guns). Actually, we did have this sort of society until the 60s, when it all began to fall apart as politicians and our moral superiors (and employers looking for cheap wages) decided we would be a better nation if we were all less alike and did not worry about pesky things like personal morality. I wonder if the author's background was also in a homogeneous high trust environment.

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Excellent point about Switzerland’s high-trust culture, which is truly special and exceptional. Switzerland is not ethnically homogenous, though--25 percent of the people living there are foreign, and because Switzerland takes in refugees from around the world (Ethiopia, Syria, and, most recently, Ukraine), it is more racially and religiously diverse than most people realize. One thing the Swiss do to help preserve the culture of trust is to require that all immigrants and refugees take cultural-training classes--even affluent white Americans like our family--and neighbors and businesses all expect everyone to play by the rules.

You are correct, incidentally. I grew up in Minnesota, which during my childhood was mostly Scandinavian, and which had a high-trust and public-spirited culture which was formative for me. No wonder I love Switzerland so much!

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