The Anger of Compassion

Tiggers and Eeyores, Messiahs and Jihadists: Check Your Premises

Randy Pausch says you should let your kids paint on the walls. I agree. Derren Brown wants you to watch what you accept as true. I agree with that, too. And Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders claims that violence is encouraged by Muslim clerics and that pro-violence verses are to be found in the Qur'an. I agree with that as well.

Wilders, of course, is the Dutch parliamentarian whose short film Fitna has only recently been released. For now, you can view it here. I say "for now," because the thing has been hosted and removed, hither and yon, ever since its recent release. There have been, apparently, some concerns about threats and violence. Who would have thought? Note, too, that even the Wikipedia entry for the film doesn't contain a link to it.

This blog sports an image containing the words "No Burka on Free Speech." That means no as in none, nada, zip, zilch. If you are offended by what someone is saying, then don't listen to him. If you pursue violent means to silence him, then you are in the wrong. Period. Whatever your motivation, you are now the one deserving of punishment. If you don't like hearing Muhammad (or Jesus, or anyone else) mocked or insulted, go somewhere else. I strongly encourage everyone reading these lines to watch Fitna, and to verify for yourselves whether or not whether Wilders makes his case.

Derren Brown is a British illusionist and close-up magician. I am quite an admirer of his and I enjoy his act immensely. You can read more about him here, but there's a particular reason I'm including mention of Mr. Brown in this post.

One of his projects was called The Messiah. In it, he flew to America (he is not well known here) and, assuming numerous names and guises, presented himself as a psychic, as someone who could convert people to Christianity with one touch, as the inventor of a machine able to capture and store people's dreams, as an alien abductee with abnormal powers of medical diagnosis, and as a man able to receive messages from the dead. In each case, he presented himself to those claiming expertise in that particular field, and sought public endorsements from them. In each case, he maintains, he has no such powers, only tricks. The eight-part, one-hour program from 2005 can be seen here.

Let me state up front that I am a fan and admirer of Derren Brown: I've ordered one of his books and I plan to buy DVDs of his various television shows. But that's not the point: you needn't be a fan of his in order to benefit from his message, which is that you must, must, must examine everything you accept as true.

"Check your premises," anyone?

If Derren Brown can put himself in position to pose as a Messiah, then others can, too. Brown was doing it for entertainment, for effect (to brilliant effect, in my view). What reasons might others have? One answer: power over others. Two Senators running for President right now -- John McCain and Barack Obama -- appear to be running for the office of Messiah themselves, McCain with his exhortations that Americans should serve causes larger than themselves and Obama with his own claim that such a cause could be, conceivably, himself. One of these men, Gentle Readers, may well be inaugurated next January -- because millions of American voters believe their nonsense. They do not want you to check your premises. Nor theirs.

Both men, by the way, also believe in burkas on free speech.

So we should check our premises, yes, and examine that which is claimed to be true. Garbage in, garbage out, as the computer scientists have been telling us for decades. Which leads me to Randy Pausch, a professor of computer sciences at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He's the one who says that you should let your kids paint the walls. As a favor to him. And he's right.

Oh, not with vegetables. Get real. But his advice resonated with me, because when my family moved into Casa Anger of Compassion in 2001, my son painted his room. Green. I resisted, at first, but I relented. My parents never would have allowed me to do something like that. I'm glad I did.

Randy Pausch is not a child development expert or child psychologist or guidance counselor. He's a teacher -- his field is computer sciences, specifically interfaces and virtual reality. He was part of creating the ALICE project, some of the attractions at Disney, and developments in virtual reality. But he's sure as hell right about letting your kids paint their walls. It's all about encouraging them to be Tiggers rather than Eeyores.

Randy Pausch gave a lecture at Carnegie-Mellon last September, part of what used to be called the "Last Lecture" series. In other words, if you knew you were dying, what would you want to say to your students and to your colleagues? To date, various versions of this lecture have been viewed or downloaded over six million times.

And with damn good reason. His lecture, with the theme of pursuing your childhood dreams, is outstanding. It is well paced, funny, insightful, and emotionally gripping, especially given that Randy Pausch is dying. He's younger than I am, but he's in the advanced stages of pancreatic cancer and, as he says, he knows how this movie's going to end.

You need to decide, he tells us, and early on, whether you're going to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. He's a Tigger and wants his own kids to be Tiggers, too. He refuses to be morose and makes no apologies for that. And if you have any herbal remedies, he says -- stay away from him.

The Last Lecture can be seen here, as well as another talk, given a month later at the University of Virginia, on time management. Fans of Stephen Covey or of David Allen will enjoy this one. An abbreviated version of the Last Lecture was delivered on Oprah Winfrey's show and can be seen here.

I recommend both versions of the Last Lecture, the long (original) one and the abbreviated (Oprah) version. They differ, but they're both excellent. Be prepared to shed tears, though, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Check your premises. Be careful of what you accept as true. And respect the right of others to believe, and to say, what they want.

And thanks to Geert Wilders and to Derren Brown for saying what needed to be said. Thanks, too, to Randy Pausch, for reminding us that the kids should be allowed to paint the walls.

And yes, Randy, I let my kid paint the walls of his room green. Did it before I ever heard of you, but...you know what? Go ahead, consider it a favor to you anyway. As a favor to me.

(Hat tip on Randy Pausch: Gus Van Horn)

Posted by Craig Ceely at April 2, 2008 08:56 PM