Unethical Hypocrisy: Introduction

Welcome to the new update of my site. While I have been writing since my last regular posting, I haven't gotten around to publishing to the blog. I wanted to give the site an updated look, and get back into the swing of regular writing and posting, so I thought I would kick things off with a topic that is a significant irritant to me, hypocrisy.

Last spring, while taking a course in Ethics, I chose to write a paper debating whether or not hypocrisy could be seen as ethical or unethical. I came firmly down on the side that hypocrisy is always unethical in every situation. However, while writing the paper I was constrained by length limitations and was, therefore, unable to elaborate on many areas which I thought would help drive my point forward. It is now my intention to flesh out those arguments in a more complete (though perhaps less formal) fashion over the next few weeks.

To begin the discussion, I am posting the full text of my Ethics paper (with parenthetical citations) from last spring. I hope you will find it interesting, as I plan to go deeper into the nature of hypocrisy as related to politics, religion, and personal relationships. Please feel free to leave comments, and I may try to address any intellectual arguments presented in the future updates.

I hope you enjoy this short series. I will get back to my usual social blogging once school starts back up on August 16th.

One Thing Leads to Another

What a week! It definitely had its ups and downs. It started easily enough. I turned in my final paper in American Literature, then I skipped out on my reviews in my other classes. Since my grades have been good all semester I didn't really need the reviews. I worked on my final presentation in Humanities, a lecture on Colony Collapse Disorder.

Then Wednesday hit. I was dealt not one, but TWO bad pieces of news. First, I was denied acceptance to NC State due to my grades. I had known it was a little bit of a long shot, since I wasn't even close to the 3.0 GPA requirement, but it was still a disappointment. For about an hour I entertained the possibility of applying to UNC Asheville, since they only require a 2.0 GPA minimum. The problem with UNCA is that I would have to move to Asheville, and that is an extra hassle and expense that I don't want to deal with.

The second bit of bad news involved financial aid. Thanks to my failing two classes several semesters ago, and withdrawing from British Literature last semester, my course completion rate fell to 64%. Unfortunately, it needs to be at least 67% to qualify for financial aid. According to the Financial Aid Office, my completion rate will probably be back above 67% after I finish exams for this semester, but until that gets processed through the system I will have to pay for tuition and books out of my own pocket! The problem, of course, is that I am down to my last $1000 of financial aid money. And since I won't be seeing anymore money until February, I really need that money to live on. Naturally, that creates a conundrum, since if I don't use the money to pay tuition I won't receive ANY financial aid in February because I won't actually be enrolled in school! In other words, I am really over a barrel on this one.

Exams went well, though. My final presentation for Humanities was pretty good. Then, my two math exams were easy. I should make an A in Survey of Math. My American Literature exam was a killer, though. The quote identification section was easy, but we had to write two page and a half long essays with text citations. The essays were worth 30 points EACH! I'll be lucky to make a B in that class. I enjoyed American Literature, but it was definitely a challenge.

My Statistics exam is Monday, but I'm not worried. My professor gave us an Excel spreadsheet to calculate our grades, and I only need a 68 on the final to still make an A in the class. Since I never made less than a 93 on any of the tests, I should sail through easily.

Now, if I could just figure out how to get $650 by next Friday, I'd feel alot better about my life.

Have fun, and keep living life... Or some approximation thereof.

It's Beginning to Feel Not Alot Like Christmas

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. As usual, I had dinner with my uncle and his girlfriend. For some reason, things went better than in the past. That is surprising because my uncle was recently fired from his job of 15 years. Despite being concerned about what to do next, he seemed alot more at ease than usual.

One thing that helped was that we didn't talk about things we disagree about. Of course, we don't really agree on much, but there was a James Bond marathon on TV, so that held our interest. Additionally, it didn't seem like my uncle was in his usual mood of picking on me and his girlfriend, which seemed to ease my mood.

Despite things going well for Thanksgiving, or perhaps in part because of it, it just doesn't feel like the holidays. Sure, the malls have been decorated since the week before Halloween, and eggnog has made its triumphant return to the grocery store dairy cases, but it all feels like going through the motions.

The economy isn't helping matters. Right now, there is over 10% unemployment, officially, though the real percentage of unemployed is probably closer to 17%. The ones who still have jobs are holding back from spending. As a collective, the bank crisis of the last few years is teaching us to save more and rely on credit less.

To be fair, I am not really big on the holidays, anyway, since I don't have anyone to share them with. However, there is something poignant about ending each year with a familiar sense of loneliness and despair. But even that seems to be missing right now as I am filled with expectation about the prospect of being accepted to NC State. Perhaps if I am denied things will start to feel back to normal, but for now I still feel a little like an expectant father.

Have fun, and keep living life... Or some approximation thereof.

Getting Caught Up

I think I've mentioned before that this semester has been about making up for past mistakes. Well, now that the semester is finally nearing a close I am finally starting to feel like I am getting caught up.

I just made a 93 (A) on my second paper in American Literature. There is still one paper to go and the final exam, but I'm sure I will make at least a B in the class. I'm probably also on target to make an A in my other classes, as well. I am still waiting to hear back from NC State about my acceptance, but I went ahead and registered for next semester at Wake Tech, just in case. I've already taken all the required classes that I need, so next semester is just to raise my GPA. I'll take Ethics, two sociology classes, and French. Several acquaintances from school have already gotten acceptance emails from State this week, so I should hear something before too long.

Earlier this week I had my license plate confiscated because I had some longstanding fines for late renewal that I never paid. I had tried to pay them a month ago, but DMV had to make it more complicated than necessary (they needed to see some documentation that I had not brought) and I just didn't get around to returning. Well, I got it taken care of after experiencing the humiliation of having a cop take the plate off my car. The asshole had the nerve to ask me for a screwdriver to take it off! Have I mentioned that I don't really respect authority?

One thing I've learned throughout this semester is the need to attend to your priorities. In the past it was always easy for me to say something was a priority, but not apply any effort to ensure that it was accomplished (like finishing my novels). This semester I had to drastically cut down on my web surfing, blog updating, online chatting/forum posting, and get into the habit of staying on top of my reading and homework. That's not to say there hasn't been some downtime, but I never allowed it to get in the way of getting schoolwork done. Honestly, I have no idea how people work jobs and find time to make good grades.

Another thing I've noticed lately is that I really seem to thrive in a school environment. I always enjoyed high school back in the day. But, as I have been earning good grades I have noticed that my self-esteem has increased noticeably. Consequently, things don't seem to be bothering me as much as they might have in the past. I think I enjoy getting regular consistent feedback. Of course, I sometimes wonder if this leads me to coming off as an obnoxious know-it-all, but that has been a common complaint of my personality since childhood... so perhaps it's just par for the course.

Have fun and keep living life... or some approximation thereof.

Swamped

This past week has been brutal at school. I had to do an annotated bibliography for Humanities that involved TWELVE SOURCES and between a half page and a page of summary for each entry. On top of that, I've had to read two short stories for American Lit, and do Math homework and Statistics homework. This weekend I have a five page Literature paper to write, Math homework, a Statistics quiz to study for, and I still have two short papers for Humanities that I need to write that were due weeks ago!

The coming week doesn't seem like it will let up much, either. Besides the Statistics quiz, I have an Excel project and quiz for Math, I need to prepare a five minute PowerPoint presentation for Lit class, and I may have jury duty Wednesday, which will just throw everything out of whack. I wouldn't have minded jury duty so much had it come over the summer when I wasn't really busy. But during a semester when I'm struggling to make straight A's, and falling slightly short in a couple classes, it just comes as a bothersome and unnecessary distraction.

I am still hoping to get accepted to State soon, but because it is still hanging in the air whether or not my GPA will be sufficient, I am needing to register soon for another semester at Wake Tech, just in case. I have enough credits for an Associates Degree, or I will after this semester, so I am really out of classes that I want or need. I may sign up for a couple Psychology classes, but beyond that I have no clue what to take.

Seeing as I've been a little overwhelmed lately with school -- I'm not used to actually doing work -- I am a little concerned with how I will manage to cope at State when the classes are harder and the professor-to-student ratio is considerably lower. And the cost of school will be higher at State, which means financial aid won't extend as far. Unless my stocks begin to pay off quick, I may be forced to get a job, which will only push my education goals further from my reach.

Right now isn't a good time to look for a girlfriend. At the moment I don't have the time or the money to devote to dating. But lately I've been feeling a little isolated and it would be nice to fill the loneliness. As a result, I've been thinking about Ex again as a sort of self-medication. She has become my latest imaginary girlfriend, filling a space held by so many other girls before her.

Is it bad that I often seem to be walking the fine line between sanity and delusion?

Have fun and keep living life... or some approximation thereof.