My Tulsa Problem

Tulsa is the city I live in. I've lived here most of my life. Seemingly every day I have to make the choice to live here. There are plenty of reasons to leave, a few reasons to stay, and if I weren't tied to this city by relatives and property I might not be here now. I recently explained my Tulsa problem to a fellow citizen of Tulsa. The following basically describes my Tulsa problem.

I think Tulsa, in ways, is a "great lie" we like to tell ourselves. Tulsa is built way beyond itself as far as museums, homes, even downtown. Tulsa has "great" things. Downtown (even though half of it is surface parking) was designed to be the downtown of a very large important city. It's 1.4 square miles; that's huge for a metro of less than a million. And parts of our downtown represent much larger cities. We have half surface parking, but we also have the 4 largest buildings in the state (3 downtown), and a downtown that at least in height terms would put some much larger cities to shame.

Tulsa has a fantastic base to work with. I mean that very literally. We have plenty of "urban gems." However, nothing about our evolution as a city was natural. It was all built on oil wealth, sometimes more wealth than other times. It was built by philanthropists and major oil companies. Our city became "grand" because of oil. We didn't just "grow" into a city this size, we were forced into a city this size.

Generally speaking; People didn't come to Tulsa for the purpose of being in an "urban environment." People came here for opportunity, and they brought their churches and everything else with them. If it weren't for oil, they'd probably live in rural areas.

I think what that means is; we're far less urban than we're inclined to believe. We're some kind of Frontier/Urban hybrid. On the one hand, we have lots of great things. Things that great cities would envy. On the other hand, we're also loaded with some people who have never appreciated what we have, and were never inclined to make the city a better place (beyond whatever concepts they brought to this city).

Couple all of that to watered-down density, rapid expansion, the suburbanization, and ingrained segregation of the city; It will take a very long time for that 1.4 square miles of downtown to be fully used. The problem isn't the urban folk; they want it. The problem is, a very large number (if not the vast majority) couldn't care less. They're more interested in being close to jobs, schools, and housing (and staying away from crime) than urban issues. This town is fairly comfortable with being relatively xenophobic; many do not care for being "more urban."

It's frustrating, and if I think about it too much, it's depressing. If I were to say I've never thought about leaving this town on principle, I'd be lying. When leaving seems selfish and staying seems charitable; what do you do? We can all sit around and hold hands and say it's all untrue. We can say that they just need a little more "learnin". The only thing that beats that is lots and lots of time, and a ton of work. I think there will always be an undercurrent around Tulsa that says "this town is behind the times."

The "shell" of the city is great. We do have to learn how to be a city.

On Skepticism versus Faith/Belief

Belief/Faith versus Skepticism is an interesting subject to me. On an online forum I frequent, I found myself getting into the subject and describing the two in probably the simplest terms possible. In the following, the "city" I refer to is Tulsa. It's probably a rehash of something else I wrote, but here's my simple description of the nature of Faith and Skepticism.

Both Faith and Skepticism have "pitfalls". Faith is a very basic principle, but it's omnipresent. All people have Faith, of one type or another. With the city it could be Faith that the city works the way it's supposed to; or Faith that the city is somehow "good"; or Faith that the city is somehow "evil". For everyone, it's probably a combination of the three. And that Faith naturally leads to certain "actions" or "inactions".

Skepticism acts toward altering a "belief." Changing the course of "Faith". One might have Faith that the city is "all good" or "all evil". Then something happens, and that person becomes Skeptical of that belief; or that person ignores the new information and "keeps the Faith." Skepticism doesn't cause "action", it just alters the course of "Faith" thereby altering the course of "action" or "inaction."

Skepticism is a tool, Faith is the prime driver of "action". Skepticism without Faith is worthless. If everyone were Skeptics all the time, literally nothing would be done. Faith without Skepticism can lead to "wrong"-action. There are plenty of example of that.

Short Summary of 1919 Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, imposed heavy restrictions on both the future size of the German military, as well as the ability of Germany to have heavy industry. The intent was to make Germany incapable of invading any of it's neighbors.

The treaty also required Germany, the aggressor, to make excessively heavy payments to the allies. To put the payments in perspective, the Young Plan of 1929 actually reduced, and set a limit on, the amount to be paid in reparations by Germany. Under this plan, Germany would make it's last reparations payment in 1988.

Another aspect of this treaty entailed Germany losing large swaths of territory. Poland and Czechoslovakia were carved out of former Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian lands. The Rhineland (though still a part of Germany) was demilitarized. Denmark gained territories it had lost during the Schleswig Wars of the mid 1800's. All told, Germany lost approximately 12.5% of it's territory, and 6.5 million people due to the treaty. link

Responsibility and Guns

Saw this article on Tulsa World.

Here's a basic summary; a 13 year old kid accidentally fires a gun into a wall at his own home. He accidentally kills his mother. The district attorney decides to bring him up on charges of "reckless conduct with a firearm". Per the same article, his father says "I've spent seven months telling him he did nothing wrong, and now you're putting charges against him like he did something wrong."

Ok, now that we're all caught up:

There's the old "he's 13 thing", where some people don't like to prosecute a 13 year old. I found the uproar slightly ironic since many seem to want this 13 white male free of charges, while it's seemingly perfectly fine that a 14 year old black girl could be in prison for life. Sure the circumstances of each case are slightly different but if we aren't going to prosecute a bunch of kids, we should probably make a rule saying exactly that.

Making things even slightly more odd, the 13 year old kid is actually getting a break. If I, being 37 years old, accidentally fired a weapon through my wall and killed someone, not only would I be brought up on charges of "reckless conduct with a firearm", I'd also be charged with "Negligent Homicide" or "Manslaughter." Possibly even "3rd Degree Murder" if intent to fire that weapon could be proven. I'd likely serve some hard time for that. If they find this kid guilty of "reckless conduct", his father will pay a fine. There might even be some counseling involved.

The third thing that caught my attention here, was the father's assertion that his child "did nothing wrong." Perhaps that is the problem in the first place. Perhaps this child was fully aware that if he accidentally discharged a firearm in his own garage, daddy would come to his rescue. The best thing this father can do is shut up, pay the price, and try his best to put his family back together.

I'm not advocating the prosecution of a 13 year old. In this age, and in the state of Oklahoma, prosecuting a kid is nothing new. It's a sad story, and I feel for all those involved and everyone that knows them. However, someone should be taking responsibility here; either the 13 year old kid, or his father. They'll both paying for the rest of their life in ways, but there is also an unfortunate criminal aspect to this. Time to pay up, and move on.

Mission Accomplished

I managed to give up my World of Warcraft account two days ago. Withdrawal symptoms have been minimized; thanks to a self-imposed marathon of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica.

After watching all of BSG including webisodes up to the present day, I'm done making predictions. There have been too many twists and storylines. Should be a good final season.

Adoph Hitler on Skepticism

Lately, I've been fascinated with World War II. It's a fleeting obsession for me I suppose, something catches my attention and I'm stuck there for a while; analyzing technological advances, catastrophic collapses, political discourse, or tactics. Could be anything really, the period from 1918 to 1945 is filled with events that are hard to fathom, many of which are documented in film.

My latest foray into the war has revolved around Hitler's seemingly strong grip on the German people. I haven't been so much into the technical aspects of his rise, rather I've been interested in sort of philosophical/political questions. How did he convince people to vote for him? How did he maintain power despite his policies? Why do the German people seem so complicit in the Holocaust?

There are certainly different aspects to each of those questions. It basically boils down to Hitler learning the art of presentation, to having a true iron grip on the population, and to keeping the dirty details as secretive as possible. People make their living writing about these things. There is, however, one philosophical thread that seems to run through all of these questions; a lack of skepticism.

All people by nature are to some degree both skeptics and believers. It's the believing person that make the world work whether it's believing in an investment, or believing in the potential of another person, or believing that a motion will produce the same results as last time. It's the skeptical person that keeps the believer from going in an unacceptable direction. It's the skeptic that wonders "are they burning bodies?" It's the believer that says "there is so much ash, they must be powering something"; the alternative being unbelievable.

In a skeptical world, nothing would work. People would always question, and never get into action. There were many assassination attempts on Hitler, each one of those attempts were made by both a person skeptical of Hitler's ability to correct himself, and a person believing they had to do something about it. One person; a skeptic turned into a believer. It took that spark, that skepticism, to cause that alternative belief.

In the late twenties there was a catastrophic economic collapse nearly world-wide. Germany had many political factions offering utopia, and many ex-military angry about the end of World War I. The citizenry of Germany desperately wanted to believe that their state could once again move onto the international stage; proud and economically strong. The gains of the twenties melted away, and Germany was primed for Hitler's rise to power.

From the perspective of a German citizen, Hitler made Germany work. He grew the military and created huge public works projects. The aim was to get Germany out of The Depression, and in large part he succeeded. He was exactly the type of person that many Germans wanted.

To many Germans, Hitler's antisemitism was understandable. Many believed the rhetoric involving Communism and Judaism. Many believed Germany's defeat was caused by the "insidious nature" of Communism. Those same citizens also believed the films showing prisoners at Dachau exercising; apparently well fed. From a loyal citizen's perspective, "How could this great man do anything wrong?"

The German people wanted to believe. It's not an exclusively German story; it's how people work. The tougher it gets, the more people start reaching to believe in something. That's the lesson of Hitler: Adolph Hitler may have been only a historical footnote, if there had been a few more skeptics.

Good Morning

Yes, morning, I've decide to start a blog. Why, I don't know. I'm feeling reflective, contemplative, optimistic, and more than likely; sleep deprived.

It's about 4:40 AM here, I manage a small apartment complex which allows me to play too many video games and sleep at odd hours most of the time. World of Warcraft has been a serious time consumer for me; I'll soon be giving that account and all my game discs away. I have some nephews that will absolutely love me for it.

I'm not sure what I would have to say. I have written before, in a collegiate essay kind of way, but I've never really had much confidence in the way I write. I have a comedian's "scatter-brain", can't seem to stay on one thought for long, I seem to be overly aware of everything in my immediate surroundings and my mind bounces from idea to idea. I like the way Chris Rock put it in a documentary I saw recently. He said something to the effect of, "If ignorance is bliss, what is the opposite? It's hell." Something like that.