Shameless Self Promotion, Holiday Style

Hope you're having a good season. We sure are, with my husband's parents here and his brother coming tomorrow. It's fun to be so busy. But it's murder on getting anything done. SO, here are some of the posts I've written during the holidays about...the holidays. Good times.

1. The History of Christmas and Its Traditions at Personal Dividends
2. What Do You Want Your Children to Get This Holiday Season? at Personal Finance Corner
3. Reducing Financial Stress During the Holidays at Money Ning
4. Advantages of Holiday Shopping with Credit Cards at Moolanomy
5. Tips for Holiday Tipping at Peak Personal Finance
6. Investors Looking Ahead to the Santa Claus Rally at Banks.com

What Happened to Civility in Political Discourse?

Today I am preparing a Sunday School lesson about good citizenship. And I came across a great quote from President Hinckley, which immediately made me think about the tone of so-called political discourse in this country:

“Civility is the root of the word civilization. It carries with it the essence of courtesy and politeness and consideration of others. How very much of it we have lost in our contemporary society. The lack of it is seen in the endless barrage of faultfinding and criticism spewed forth by media columnists and commentators…Talk show hosts become rich and famous by snarling at callers and heckling guests. All of this speaks of anything but refinement. It speaks of anything but courtesy. It speaks of anything but civility. Rather, it speaks of rudeness and crudeness, and an utter insensitivity to the feelings and rights of others” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, pages 131-132).

But, of course, as we found during the last election, civility, eloquence and education are qualities deserving of derision -- signs of the "elite." It's really too bad that pundits on both sides of any issue so often stoop to personal attacks. But I'm especially sad that one of these pundits is himself LDS, and someone who once publicly professed great admiration for the man he claimed to follow as a prophet. (Hint: I'm talking about Glenn Beck, who recently lowered the bar in political "discourse" with flat out falsities and outrageous remarks designed solely for the purpose of stirring up controversy and bringing more money for him, rather than facts and concern about actual political debate and providing reliable and useful information for his droves of followers.)

It's a sad state affairs when bombastic attempts at money-making take precedence over actual political debate. Yes, these pundits are well within in their rights, and they are obviously very savvy businesspeople. It's just too bad that so many of us think that these attacks are true debate, when they are often laced with falsehoods and deliberately distract from the true policy issues on the table. Rousing people to irrational and uncivil anger with untrue information and emotional appeals, rather than facts, is profitable for pundits, but it is detrimental to society, since it creates an electorate that is incoherently angry, mostly impotent and woefully uneducated when it comes to the actual issues.

I Will Never Understand High School Basketball Coaching

Last night I went to a high school basketball game to watch my cousin play. It's been nearly 10 years since I watched my brother play while home on break from college. I don't know. Maybe it has been 10 years. Whatever. Well, last night I watched the basketball coach pull the guy that had just made two three pointers, and the fast short kid who was great at moving the ball up the court and assisting, replacing them with two barely mediocre players that didn't actually do anything while they were in there (and it was a reasonably close game at this point). I was once again transported into the wonderful world of high school basketball out west.

You know that world. In this magical world, it's not who wins or loses. It's who plays in the game. Many high school basketball coaches would rather lose with the "right" kids in the game, than win with the "wrong" kids playing. We actually felt like cheering when one kid, who was in most of the game throwing up threes but making only one, finally fouled out. He was a black hole, and constantly careening out of control whenever he dribbled the ball, but the coach refused to bench him. Ah, the politics of small town athletics.

Anyway, I had a good time watching my cousin who managed two buckets and proved that he is probably the best defensive player on the team. We're going to go to his town next week to watch a home game. It should be even more fun when we're sitting with the home crowd.