{"id":440,"date":"2008-05-14T12:51:06","date_gmt":"2008-05-14T19:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/?p=440"},"modified":"2008-05-27T00:22:13","modified_gmt":"2008-05-27T07:22:13","slug":"what-am-i-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"What am I thinking!?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, Shinnfans. I know what you\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re wondering. I know because I subtly implanted the question in your minds using the title of this blog post. You want to know what I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m thinking. If this was a play, here\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s how the dialogue would pan out:<\/p>\n<p><strong>You<\/strong> (internally, maybe even a fleeting thought): \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cAndrew hasn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t been writing much lately. All he\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s been doing is posting images and stupid little videos with internet babble or pictures that move too fast to be seen well.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me (Andrew)<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cHuh. Good point.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d (Hangs mouth open, looking kind of dumb. Realizes audience is watching and quickly snaps into a brow-furrowing, hard-thinking expression.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>You<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cCome on, why don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t you get right on that, do some thinking and reading, create some meaningful content, and give us something to either chew on, disagree with, or totally walk away from because it would require us to think too much.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me (Andrew)<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cUm, I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m kind of busy right now.  Can I do that later?\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d (For a moment, that dumb look comes back.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>You<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cNo, we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re a demanding internet audience with short attention spans. If you don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t post good content at least once a day, we stop visiting. In fact, even this is getting kind of long. Can you wrap it up, please?\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cOkay, how about a compromise? Can I tell you what I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m reading so you know what\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s coming down the pike?\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>You<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cHurry it up. Half of us stopped reading before your last line. The rest of us thought the phrase was, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153What\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s coming down the pipe.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me<\/strong>: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cYou thought wrong, and I get to say so because it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s my blog. Pike in that usage refers to the old term for a road. Here\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s my recent reading list, with comments:\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d &lt;\/imaginary meta dialogue&gt;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mexifornia: A State of Becoming<\/strong> <em>by Victor Davis Hanson<\/em>. Really riveting reading. Tackles the question of how to approach illegal Mexican immigration. Heavily criticizes what Hanson terms <em>the race industry<\/em>. Hanson is a classicist, a professor at Fresno State, and a guy who grew up on a family farm in Selma, California, where he still lives.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inside Today\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Mormonism<\/strong> <em>by Richard Abanes.<\/em> A little boring, this volume delves into the claims of Mormonism in pretty technical detail. I suppose the level of technical detail is necessary for the book to be authoritative.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In The Name of God<\/strong>: <strong>Understanding the Mindset of Terrorism<\/strong> <em>by Timothy Demy and Gary P. Stewart.<\/em> I just started this, and it seems like a pretty generic American defense of the War On Terror \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u017e\u00c2\u00a2 and The Justness of Our Cause (also tm). Honestly, it takes a lot to impress me these days in a book about terrorism. I read the (dry) 9\/11 Commission Report cover-to-cover. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve just started this, so it might end up better than it started. If it does, I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ll let you know. Both authors are military chaplains, and one (Timothy Demy) is an officer with whom I served in the Coast Guard.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9\/11<\/strong> <em>by Lawrence Wright<\/em>. Speaking of impressive (see previous paragraph), this book blows me away. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m listening to the audio book form, but it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a great tome on the long history of Al Qaeda\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s major players and the conditions (both personal and political) that gave rise to the organization. Reading this book feels like taking a Master\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s-level course in Middle Eastern politics. I briefly considered buying a copy on Amazon.com and sending it to the CIA. Our government needs the level of understanding displayed in this book. The research is thorough and extensive, while the retelling of the story seems journalistic in nature with very little editorial content and a refreshing lack of a discernible agenda. I highly recommend this book.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Just for fun, here are some past posts that cover my reactions to several dimensions of the subject of terrorism:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=161\" target=\"_blank\">Terrorism in Munich and New York<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=169\" target=\"_blank\">On Developments in International Politics, Unexpected<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=204\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Literary Look-Ahead<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=210\" target=\"_blank\">The Humans Behind the 9\/11 Attack<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=240\" target=\"_blank\">In Honor of Memorial Day: How We Make Military Public Policy Decisions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=287\" target=\"_blank\">Moral Failure and National Security<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"..\/?p=35\" target=\"_blank\">9\/11: Living in the Shadow of a Day<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, Shinnfans. I know what you\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re wondering. I know because I subtly implanted the question in your minds using the title of this blog post. You want to know what I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m thinking. If this was a play, here\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s how the dialogue would pan out: You (internally, maybe even a fleeting thought): \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cAndrew hasn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t been writing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/?p=440\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What am I thinking!?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,18,13,15,10,4],"tags":[145,146,343,39,341],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-report","category-culture","category-humor","category-misc","category-philosophy","category-politics","tag-book-reports","tag-dialogue","tag-humor","tag-terrorism","tag-thoughts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdZlL-76","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andrewandlisa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}