If I speak “POLITICALese”, am I bilingual?

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

george-orwell-political-language

There are few things more noticeable to me than when you hear a politician who sounds like he’s at a backyard barbecue. It is noticeable because it so rarely happens. Politicians speak something I call Politicalese. Yes, I made that word up. But how else does one define the differences in the language and how it is presented? In my personal revised edition of My Fair Lady…. it would be something like, Why can’t Politician be more like a Person. 😉

In news of average Joe behavior being frowned upon in politics, one can look to Tajikistan. They blocked yet another YouTube video. The third this year, but who’s counting? This one involved their President as he allegedly sang and slurred his way through a song at his son’s 2007 wedding. Now, personally, I would find myself feeling a bit closer to a person whom I thought acts just like any drunken relative we all have. But, NO. Then again, their country is a little different from ours.

So, what about our country? There is currently a campaign in Massachusetts for the Senate seat left open when John Kerry became Secretary of State. A man by the name of Gabriel Gomez—a former Navy Seal—is running against Democratic challenger Ed Markey. Ed Markey, in case you don’t know, has been in some form of office since 1973 when he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Needless to say, at 40 years, one might call him a career politician.

One the flip side of this election is Republican candidate, Mr. Gomez. He is a 47 year old former Navy Seal with an MBA from Harvard Business School. (This is not so much about HIM for office as it is about the man—as he grew up the son of Colombian immigrants, speaking Spanish before learning English and went on to be a successful private equity investor.)

On paper he is living the American dream and has—evidently—yet to learn Politicalese. So henceforth, I will call Mr. Gomez, the “Everyman”.

Everyman got into a little—let’s just call it a rookie mistake—trouble with something he said. Evidently, calling your challenger “pond scum” is frowned upon. The barbs back and forth came from an ad campaign. Evidently, Markey had a video in a commercial ad that highlighted the fact that Gomez was a spokesman for a conservative super PAC that criticized Obama’s handling of information about the death of Osama bin Laden. And, Everyman responded to a reporter, “You know I’ve got four young kids, and they’ve got to sit there and they’ve got to see an ad with their dad, who’s a SEAL, who served honorably,” he went on, “And for him to be as dirty and low, pond scum, to put me up there next to bin Laden, he’s just got to be called what he is.”

OK! Pond Scum. Hey, that’s bad? I think it’s a breath of fresh air… well figuratively, of course. But he speaks in a way—with words I understand—and naysayers are making this a big deal? Please. I want to understand the person who supposedly represents me. I do not want to feel as if every sentence is so calculated and needs some sort of approval from the Politicalese Police that by the time it comes out of someone’s mouth I am scratching my head. We should all try to remember all of those political appointee’s caught on any given open mic night, saying things FAR WORSE.

I want my government to represent ME.

Ok… I was dreaming for a moment. But good luck to all the Everyman’s out there who dare to try to change the world for us and speak a language that, at the very least, I understand and appreciate. 🙂

DDJ

Technology purging in modern times… good luck

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

social-media-crisis

We live in an amazing time. The ever evolving advancement of technology has made dating, and even marrying, something that can begin with a click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone.  People have multiple emails, as well as a plethora of social media that only begins with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.  We have cell phones, work phones, and some of us still have land line home phones. All of these make building relationships a snap.  They also make contact, nearly instantaneous.  We have the ability to tell our stories via 140 characters or less, to lengthy blogs while telling our deepest, darkest secrets to the world—or your 1000 or so closest friends. Heck, I have “words with friends” friends! We have pictures of our blissful relationships we cultivated online, as well as pictures of friends, family, pets, vacations, and my personal favorite… drinks and snacks. Everything neatly tagged so that the world can follow your every move.  Awesome.

But what happens when there is someone attached to you by all of the aforementioned and you want to well… let’s just say… excommunicate them from your life?  It used to be—depending on how far back we go—you could change a single number.   At worst, not answer, hang up and hope they don’t call back, rip up the hand written letter before opening it, throw an answering machine tape in the garbage, or simply MOVE. 😉

Things have changed.  There is a domino effect of—let’s just say—breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and it has a domino missing.  Now you are stuck. And boy oh boy, you have a lot of work to do in order to rid yourself of this unwanted appendage.  As seemingly simple as it is to bring people into your life, it is astronomically more difficult to rid yourself of them.

The daunting and exhaustive process involved was brought up to me recently by a friend, and I have to say, I am not envious.  Happy I don’t have too many social media ACTUAL friends, and pretty sure if I vanished from someone’s “timeline”, I would not necessarily be missed.  We seem to be ‘shackled’ to people we know, barely know and wish we didn’t know in  ways that Houdini would have trouble getting out of.  I am curious how people handle this new era breakup.   I am pretty much a lone wolf.  There is something to be said for that in these ‘technology on steroid’ times.

Just a little something to think about as you share your fabulous life with the world…  🙂

This prescription may cause…

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

waiting-lol1

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that a great many of you have a doctor whom you like, but your doctor has a staff you would like to strangle.  I know a little bit about this subject. I’ve managed a cardiology practice for well over 20 years.  Speaking only from personal experience, I am going to give a few tips to ingratiate yourself to the staff, make you their “favorite” patient, and in turn have the doctor put you to the top of his or her triage list of phone calls he or she doesn’t want to make.

Upon visiting a doctor for the first time, or ANY time, have with you something we in the business like to call an “insurance card”.  It would be equally helpful if you actually KNEW who your carrier is and—I don’t want to get crazy here—but what your copay is. Also, don’t put your hand out with 3 cards because you get a new one each year and never get rid of the old one… and then expect the already miffed staff to “figure it out”.  Some form of Identification would be welcome as well. I am sure this sounds insurmountable, but trust me, it isn’t.

Questions NO one who works with doctors wants to hear:

“Is the doctor here yet?”

“Is he running on time?”

“How long will I be?

“I know I don’t have an appointment, but I was in the neighborhood. Think I can be seen?”

In a crowded doctor’s office, I find it best to befriend the front desk people.  An example of a reasonable question would be, “how many patients are ahead of me?”  And NEVER even try that last one–EVER.  Though my office has a plethora of amazing magazines, none greater than 3 months old, presume yours does not.  Bring something to occupy your time that is SILENT.  There is the possibility, however incredibly LIKELY, that you will be there for a while.  😉

If possible, so as to not be a block away when you think of another question, write them down and bring them with you.  NOT a hundred of them on index cards, but the pertinent and important ones.  I dare say a little common sense will be required here.  Also, it is probably best to NOT start a sentence with “I read on line….”  Even if you did, the doctors I know aren’t very fond of the self treating patient who knows better.

When calling your now befriended office staff, keep up the good work.  Leave a clear and concise message, a phone number where you can actually be reached, and… this is key… if you do not hear back from your beloved physician in a reasonable amount of time, it is perfectly fine to call back. (Do NOT wait 3 weeks and call back angry and ready to rip heads off. I am afraid that tactic is counterproductive.) There is hardly the need to be nasty about it to the staff.  A simple, I have not heard back yet, preferably with an upbeat tone and minus the demonizing of the staff.  It’s not as if the doctor tried to call and had his hands lopped off by their underpaid staff. (That is just a guess.)

Notice the signs.  Not the signs from the heavens above, but the actual, physical signs that say things like, no cell phones, no eating, if you have any demographic changes, please tell the receptionist, copay expected at time of visit, please have identification.  Crazy, insane things like that.   Trust me, there ARE signs.  And much like those from heaven above, they are mostly ignored.

When dealing with the front office staff, remember that they are the first line of defense. They whisper their opinions to the physician that you are about to see. It would be in your best interest to befriend them from the get-go.  As things stand now, even as computerized as we have become, you will encounter humans.  The human element in any situation is going to make some determining factors.  Again, since I speak only from PERSONAL experience, I can say with very little doubt that all will go much more smoothly when there is a calm and friendly relationship with the STAFF.  It trickles UP to the physician and then across to the patient.

Office protocols differ from office to office, and that lag time in a cold lonely room can be exasperating.  I personally have wandered out in my gown to see if the lights were on or had everyone just left me there.  Still there is a more or LESS obnoxious way to handle that scenario.  Mostly, I realize that I have not been forgotten, I have been waylaid while the doctor is off seeing someone else or on a call with a physician… or something completely irrelevant to your care completely.  (Not an excuse, but an explanation—also not how I run my office.) If need be, peek out and NICELY make sure they haven’t forgotten you as they chatter amongst themselves doing absolutely nothing. Barking like a rabid dog will again, not make a good impression.  Remember, you aren’t wearing clothes.

In any case, my philosophy is go there expecting the worst and hoping for the best in both your time spent, and even your prognosis. I suppose my point is, you are likely to get the grand and royal treatment if you start off on the right foot and not bite the hand that can leave you in a freezing room, naked for a really long time, and drop you to the bottom of the call back list somewhere after your doctor’s malpractice insurance agent.  🙂

DDJ

Come out, Come out, wherever you are… oh wait don’t, the wicked witch is still here.

Posted on by Red (aka:DDJ)

come out tweet

To come out or not to come out, that is the question. NBA star, Jason Collins came out. I was, in my own office, where a secretary has gay relatives, incensed at her response. She felt it’s “no ones business, children shouldn’t ‘see’ it, and why do they have to tell people”. Wow.  I was actually shocked. Not that she said or felt these things, but that it actually bothered me. I explained as best as I could, since I am straight that being in the public eye or not, having to keep that secret is an immeasurable and exhausting hardship that no one should endure.

Here I am about to anger a great deal of people.  Their narrow minded beliefs are not my problem.  I consider to myself to be a conservative. I believe in a smaller government, less entitlements, stronger family values, extremism on curbing our illegal immigration problem, and for whatever it’s worth, my continuing right—2nd amendment or not—to go to the range and shoot targets with a Smith and Wesson.   On the political social note, I do not fit the bill.  I know this for a couple of reasons—irrelevant to his story.  Therefore, it is a conundrum when trying to pigeon hole me into a political classification.  That being said, here lies today’s MASSIVE and hypocritical foolishness.

Former NFL star LeRoy Butler was to speak to a Church children’s congregation that, as a decent person, he would not name. This because of a TWEET–“Congrats to Jason Collins”.  THAT was it. He was told he could redeem himself by removing the tweet, ask for God’s forgiveness, and apologize and they would allow him—yes, allow him—to address the children on BULLYING—of all things. Major props to LeRoy Butler for respectfully refusing this ultimatum.  “I told the Pastor, blame it on my mom because my mom brought me up to love everybody,” he said.

I realize, as do most, that we depend upon words written either hundreds or thousands of years ago. I, for one, am a big fan our U.S. Constitution.  However, this is the world we live in. I stand by the THESE words, that we are all entitled to “ Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.   And the church, of all entities, should not shun a man who came to discuss one of the most important problems of our children today—bullying—because of his open heart for another human being.  He added later, on his twitter account—“Also my mom says the message is bigger anyway, by the way I was raised in the church, and attend 3 to 4 times a month”.

 I will not say who my fool is here, I think you know.