Hans Rosling Videos

Selected TEDtalks by Hans Rosling

Stats that reshape your worldview (his first and probably my favorite)

Asia’s rise: How and When

Global Population Growth: Box by Box

The good news of the decade

The magic washing machine

Interesting Article.

The Overjustification Effect

Homelessness in America

Yesterday I went to Subway at 1AM.   Outside of Subway was a big black homeless man.  Subjectively, he looked pretty put together considering.  He asked me to buy him a soup.  I said Yes.  He then asked me to buy him a sandwich.  I didn’t.  I went into subway, picked the most calorie dense soup I could find and bought him some cookies as well.

When I got back outside, I gave him the cookies and the soup.  He said, “thank you” and then asked if I had any change so he could get a coffee.  I said no and went back to the car.  As my roommate was backing out of the parking lot, we saw him enter subway, presumably to change something or ask for something else.  My first reaction was, “wow, what an ungrateful man!”  But is that the right reaction?

To be honest, being completely impoverished makes a person needy.  They have very basic needs that are not being met.  If you are hungry, you are not necessarily thinking about being courteous , you are just thinking about getting as much food as possible.  By virtue of being needy, there is a tendency to use people to get what you need.

Furthermore, this man was a large black man who had a coat.  This is not a man who I assume gets a lot of aid from people.  He looked “ghetto” and could be seen as threatening-looking.   I feel like people were more likely to ignore this man because they were afraid.  Therefore, it makes sense that when someone is helping him, he would ask for more.  If no one is helping, you take advantage  of whoever is, because you don’t know when someone else will.

There is something called the baby-faced black CEO effect.  It is a psychology study that shows that there is a direct correlation between how successful a black CEO is and how baby-faced he (there are like 3 female CEOs. ever.) is.  Black CEOs who were more baby-faced worked at more successful companies and tended to make more money and were rated as seemingly more competent leaders.  This is the exact opposite trend of White CEOs.  The analysis written postulated that black people are considered threatening or dangerous.  Therefore, a baby-face which indicates warmth and compassion  disarms the rest of the workers and sort of distinguishes the CEO from other black people.  This is shown in the qualities of black CEOs as well.  White CEOs who were very successful tended to get angry, pound a table, be aggressive once in a while.  But black CEOs who were successful tended to be more compassionate and levelheaded and not prone to showing anger.  White CEOs with baby-faces and who acted compassionately tended to make less money.  This is not an overtly racist idea, but racism is so ingrained that it tends to showcase itself.

The idea of a threatening black man is partially exacerbated by crime and gangs and over hype of this type of violence in the media.  Therefore, it is probably much more likely for someone to stop and help a poor homeless white kid than a big black guy in South Central Los Angeles.  

The problem with capitalism and the protestant work ethic is that even when people don’t realize it they are operating under the assumption that if someone is homeless it is somehow their fault.   For a lot of people (especially white people born into privileged communities) it is hard to imagine an inability to get a job and support yourself.   But growing up poor and without opportunity is really problematic.  For the most part, poverty is not a choice.  You are born where you are born to who you are born to.  If you grew up in a poor family and your father was an alcoholic that put no emphasis on education and you have a job, but then you lose it and can’t get another, homelessness sometimes just happens.

42% of African Americans are homeless (opposed to 11% of the population at large).  California has one of the highest homeless populations.  The National Coalition for the Homeless has found that there are two trends that are adding the most to homelessness in america: Growing increase in those who live in poverty, and lack of affordable rental houses.  19% of homeless people are employed. 26% of homeless people were mentally disabled or had mental illness (as opposed to 6% of the population at large).  

Poverty and homelessness are linked.   The increase in poverty is linked to eroding work opportunities and a decline in public assistance.   The average minimum wage when adjusted for inflation was 26% less than in 1979.

“Factors contributing to wage declines include a steep drop in the number and bargaining power of unionized workers; erosion in the value of the minimum wage; a decline in manufacturing jobs and the corresponding expansion of lower-paying service-sector employment; globalization; and increased nonstandard work, such as temporary and part-time employment (Mishel, Bernstein, and Schmitt, 1999).” – National Coalition for the Homeless

Therefore, even people trying to pull themselves out of poverty often can’t.  Let alone the self-esteem problems that come from struggling day-to-day. We are angry at the victims who are annoying because they are in serious need vs. trying to really help reform the system.  Poverty and homelessness are not the fault of the individual, but rather a breakdown of the system. It is harder to get employed if you are a grown black man.  This is not racism, this is statistical fact.   By unitentionally still believing that it is somehow the fault of the individual  (these “failed” capitalistic  we are negating their potential.  We tend to ignore/shun the homeless instead of making a concerted effort to help our fallen neighbors.

Muhammad Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, is all about empowering poor people through small loans with low interest rates and social businesses that address a need of those in poverty and can be purchased at low prices.  However, one of his most interesting projects was empowering beggars in Bangladesh: 

“Three years ago we started an exclusive programme focusing on the beggars. None of Grameen Bank’s rules apply to them. Loans are interest-free; they can pay whatever amount they wish, whenever they wish. We gave them the idea to carry small merchandise such as snacks, toys or household items, when they went from house to house for begging. The idea worked. There are now 85,000 beggars in the program. About 5,000 of them have already stopped begging completely. Typical loan to a beggar is $12.

We encourage and support every conceivable intervention to help the poor fight out of poverty. We always advocate microcredit in addition to all other interventions, arguing that microcredit makes those interventions work better.”  – Nobel prize lectures

The homeless can be helped truly, we just need to treat them like human beings and empower them to believe in themselves and find work.  Yes, the man I met was annoying, but the fact that everyone feels annoyed and insulted instead of angered that this poor man is so hungry that he has to degrade himself by asking random college kids, is the real problem.  We have to stop thinking that poverty and homelessness is the fault of the individuals and start thinking of sustainable solutions.

Vaccines

Vaccines do not cause autism.  This has been proven again and again.  Yet the number of parents who are not vaccinating their kids is rising.   This is not just an issue of terrible parenting, this is an issue of public concern.

Our measles rate is four times what it used to be ten years ago and the CDC is reporting the highest number of pertussis cases in nearly 40 years.  We are gearing for an epidemic in this country and you can blame it on your “alternative” neighbor who believes vaccines do more harm than good.

Immunization of children is mandatory in most states.  However, exemptions for religious, medical, or personal reasons are allowed.  Sometimes all that means is a written note saying you don’t want your children to get vaccinated.

Obviously not vaccinating a child against infectious diseases puts them at risk.  However, it also puts the community at risk.
Parents who do not vaccinate their children are relying on the rest of society to be vaccinated to keep their children safe.  In third world countries, choosing to not vaccinate a child is choosing to make them susceptible to diseases that could kill them.  If the choice is between autism or death, most people would choose autism.

When enough of the population is vaccinated against a certain disease, people who cannot get vaccinated are safe.    This is because there is just not enough people who carry the disease to pass it on to people who have no immunity to the disease.  These are often the elderly, infants, and people with autoimmune disorders.  These are the people most likely to get the disease and the people also most likely to die from the disease.   

When the number of unvaccinated people rises, a disease can find new people and communities to infect.

By “preventing” autism in one child, you have killed your newborn and your grandfather.

Considering that we are going backwards in health and people are being put at risk who have nothing to with these unvaccinated children and their parent’s decisions, it is criminal to not try and stymie the growth of these preventable diseases.

In 1905, the Supreme Court ruled that we are allowed to encroach on personal liberties in respect to refusing vaccination when “the safety of the general public may demand.”
One of the main arguments against compulsory vaccination is that it goes against freedom and freedom of religion. However, by entering any social contract we are expecting our government to protect us in the best way possible. Outbreaks of infectious diseases in this country have been linked to unvaccinated children.  The majority of the community that is being vaccinated and expecting to be safe is wronged by this decision.

The freedom of the individual completely goes against the freedom of the community to be protected from harm.
It is murder by negligence and a form of child abuse.  A truly informed parent who lets a child infect a population is guilty of criminal transmission.
The problem is that many of these parents don’t truly know how many people they are putting at risk through this decision.  Therefore, it should no longer be their decision.  Immunizations should be mandatory for everyone who is not medically unable to have them.

The reemergence of diseases that haven’t been seen in this country for years is an issue of national security.  It is time for public health martial law to be introduced before grandma is suffering from polio.  

African Savages

I was talking to my roommate the other day and he was asking me about why there are no ancient African empires other than Egypt.  I was surprised.  I learned about the ancient empire of Mali and Ghana and Nubia in 7th grade.  I, however, went to experimental public schools in New York and my roommate went to a standard private school in California.  However, why does my liberal, experimental schooling have to be so out of the normal?  By choosing to ignore certain cultures and focus on America solely in a teaching of history we are not only perpetuating the idea of America as the center of the universe, but what we omit makes in a difference in what we think of other cultures.   People still think of Africans as barbarians and savage.  Instead of those terms, however, we see Africa as one continent with a cycle of desperation, poverty, and violence.

This is wrong for various reasons.  For example, all of Africa is not the same.  South Africa is a major world player.   By seeing Africa as a continent of destruction, we take an almost paternalistic view towards it.  Many NGOS do really important work in African countries; however, they are often culturally insentive and cause dependence on foreign aid.  There is no real emphasis on empowering countries to empower themselves because it almost looks like a lost cause.  However, part of this has to do with the belief that Africa as a continent hasn’t   done anything of consequence.

History is the story of the victors.  But what if what we are leaving out not only shapes how we view certain instances but also keeps certain stereotypes at play.

 

Things Fall Apart

The American Psychological Association put out a study about girls with diagnosed ADHD.   The study followed 228 girls for ten years and found that girls with ADHD were much more likely to try to commit suicide and to self-harm than their peers.  The girls were broken into girls who just had ADHD inattentive symptoms and those that had inattentive symptoms plus impulsivity and hyperactivity.  Those with just the inattentive symptoms did not score far from the control group.  However, those with the ADHD mix of a little hyperactivity and impulsivity as well were four times as likely to have tried to commit suicide.  22% of the girls with ADHD admitted to having tried to commit suicide at least once, compared to 6% of the control group, and 9% of the inattentive group.  On top of that 51% of the ADHD group admitted to a self-harming behavior like cutting, burning, etc, compared to 19% of the control group.

Adhd is a very controversial disorder.  Because of over diagnosis and abuse of prescription drugs, ADHD has a stigma attached to it.  It is a greatly misunderstood disorder.  The truth is yes not everyone can focus all the time, but that is not what ADHD is.  ADHD is the inability to shut off the environment around you to focus on whatever you are supposed to be focusing on.  It is not not being able to focus, it is focusing too much on everything.  Children with ADHD tend to act from impulse to impulse without any filter in their brain to stop them.  So if you are holding a cup and you see a toy, you accidently drop the cup to pick up the toy, spilling juice all over the floor.  A lot of people believe that ADHD is just a lack of motivation, that if the kid was motivated enough then they could do what they needed to.  However, simple tasks like organizing are hard and frustrating and the kids tend to give up very quickly. Impulsivety causes kids to blurt out things and sometimes get angry easily making social interactions hard.  Kids tend to get hyper-focused on certain things for a little and then lose interest.  

For a parent of a kid with ADHD it can be really annoying and scary because you never know if your kid is going to be OK.  The disorder comes down to a biological lack of control which is really hard for people who don’t have the disorder to understand because they can control their impulses to a better degree.  Medication like Adderall which is one of the main sources of anti-ADHD fervor work differently in the mind of a kid with ADHD.  Stimulants calm kids down, making it easier for them to focus on the here and now.
ADHD is not a pretty disorder.  It is not feminine disorder. Kids have trouble keeping routines which sometimes involve routine hygiene, organization is very hard, and kids tend to seem sloppy and unkept.  This is hard for boys with the disorder, but not socially antithetically to their supposed role in life.  Therein lies the problem.  ADHD is often seen as a male disorder and so boys are diagnosed and given help much more often than girls.  

Girls also tend to show symptoms in different ways.  Girls who are impulsive and hyperactive tend to be the “chatty cathys” of the class.  Furthermore, social norms are more strict and important to girls, so many girls with ADHD struggle to hide their symptoms and work harder to fit in to society and school.  If girls are diagnosed it is often much later and they don’t get the support they need.  As the pressures of school and life and responsibility get greater as girls grow older they tend to fail more and internalize these failures.  Males with ADHD tend to act out more and externalize their failure while girls tend to internalize and destroy their self-esteem.  Dealing with undiagnosed ADHD can lead to anxiety and depression.  As girls get older they tend to be engaged in riskier behavior such as binge drinking, underage sex, and drugs.  If this wasn’t a real disorder than the numbers would be the same between the girls without adhd and the girls with it.  

The reason I am bringing this up is that this is a real health concern.  When an entire group of people are slipping through the cracks so much so that their attempted suicide rate is comparable to the army’s, there is a real problem.  Since these numbers do not hold true with guys with ADHD, it is also not a symptom of ADHD.  Frankly it is a societal problem.  These girls feel alone and they feel like failures.  They don’t feel like there is a place for their kind of functioning in the world.   ADHD can be helped.

`Furthermore, many individuals with ADHD tend to amazingly successful, because the same risk-taking, social-bility, and creativity that comes with ADHD makes great leaders.    It is suspected that Albert Einstein had ADHD.  For males, the ADHD symptoms tend to decrease with age and time making them more able to function as they get older.  However, because so many women internalize and are not referred for treatment, their symptoms tend to exacerbated with puberty hormones and with the other disorders they develop when coping alone with ADHD.  This can impede the functioning of their lives and destroy their potential and considering that some of our greatest thinkers had ADHD (suspected) it is important this potential.  Yes, some people are misdiagnosed and abuse the system for medication, but the amount of people who do not get the help they need is a much greater concern.

The truth of the matter is we do live in an overmedicated society of quick fixes, however as long as we live in this society that manages to make this group of people feel so ostracized they want to take their own life, we have to realize how we are truly treating mental illnesses.

 

The Lone Bagel in Lalaland

I am not Lena Dunham.  Nor do I look like her.  For those of you who don’t know who I am talking about.

This is Lena Dunham:

This is me:

See.  Nothing.  What we both have in common is Judaism.  A very specific look.  Not many people in Los Angeles have that look.  Being both ethnic and white is a weird feeling.  My art friends come up to me and ask to take my picture because I am a fetish.  But in New York, I am one in a million Jewish faces.   Even the Jews here don’t look Jewish.  The real issue is not that everyone thinks I look like Lena Dunham but rather what that says about the community.  It is like saying an Asian girl looks like Lucy Lui even though she very much doesn’t.

 Jewish people as a group (except for orthodox Jews, who are a whole other bag of tricks) tend to fight for the underdog.  May that be through labor movements, social causes, etc.  The main lawyer for the anti-apartheid movement was even a Jew.  Even though Jews are Caucasian we tend to take up an ethnic white position and be treated as such.  I say that we are the ultimate model minority because we do run basically everything.  The really interesting thing to me, though, is not that people are intentionally ethnicist, but by grouping us together it assumes lack of knowledge of the real group.  And though most people will argue that we have assimilated into the mainstream, I have yet to see a Jew as the real face of something.  Years ago, it was such a big deal that JFK was a catholic.  

This election a Mormon ran against Obama and no one batted an eyelash.  Mormons are an even smaller representative of what the population at large is and yet, he gained enough popularity to run.  Just because Mormonism, even though a WEIRD sect of Christianity, is still a branch of Christianity.  Jews are still too ethnic to be really integrated completely in the power system.  For example, the majority of Americans believe that Hollywood is trying to out their values on everyone.  8 out of 11 top executives of Hollywood companies are Jewish.  “Jews run the entertainment business” is a well-known stereotype. By the transitive property. Since Jews run the entertainment business and Hollywood is trying to destroy our values….

 Don’t get me wrong, as minorities go, we are like the liaison from completely Aryan people to the minority and lower classes, but still it is hard not to feel out of place here.  Everyone I have dated has had a “thing” for Jewish people even they themselves were not Jewish.  Which is a thing that you say when you are in a position of power.  They have the luxury to imagine what life would be like if they had cultural traditions that come from years of oppression.  The New York Jew is Elaine and Jerry Seinfield. Not Bar Rafeali and Madonna.  And then there is the nose job thing.  If Jews felt completely accepted in this culture, they would not feel the need to completely change their looks physically to look less so.  People often tell me that “I look Jewish.”   I don’t go up to people and go, “wow, you look so white.”  

And just like other minorities, our group is subject to certain stereotypes, though they aren’t terrible.  NOT ALL JEWS ARE FUNNY (though many are).  Jews, Poles, and Itals were the first to get integrated into mainstream society even though we were all considered a different “undesirable” race, but it takes forever to truly get integrated to the point that people will stop saying I look like Lena Dunham.  The differences in skin color make other minorities more prominent and more stigmatized, but whether it is societal put-on, or self put-on Jews for the most part identify more as ethnic.

The problem with rape in the 21st century.

I am usually one to stand by womankind no matter what, but there has been a particular issue that has been causing me some trauma.  That is the issue of rape.   It has become somewhat harder to prosecute in our generation.   Rape is not as simple as the 1988 movie, “The Accused” where she is gang raped at a bar.  Most rapes are date rapes, first of all.   Second of all, alcohol is usually involved to a big degree.  I am not saying this makes it any better, because no one should be taken advantage of.  The real problem is when the girl is blackout and the guy is really really drunk.  Or drugs are somewhat involved.  Many people when they are blackout do crazy things.   If you do not know a person well, it is sometimes hard to be able to tell when they are too drunk to consent.   Therefore, it becomes a “he said” “she said” thing.   This is not to say that the pain is not real for the women that this happen to. just that it makes it much more complicated.

 It is not a guy’s responsibility to know a women’s reactions to alcohol, but it is not fair for women to have to be completely on guard because certain men can’t control themselves.  At the end of the day, I think it adds to the shame and the guilt the women feel, and many cases that should be reported, are not.  It is a problem that has to be fixed on both sides.  It can lead to a culture of mistrust, where women can’t trust men to be respectful and that is not ideal.   However, one of the main things about being drunk is losing one’s inhibitions, and it is easier for guys to be horny and not realize they are taking advantage.  The line between what is ok and what is not has become very blurred and I think it is has led to a lot of myths of false reporting from vindictive women.   

The Cheating Problem

When I was 12 years old, I took a test.  My test score allowed me to go to one of the best schools in the nation.  But are tests the best way to test for intelligence?  Or are they markers of a different type of intelligence, an intelligence that leaves people willing and able to cheat.

The easiest argument for cheating is that schools like Stuyvesant or Harvard are competitive and kids will do anything to get ahead.  There is more pressure in these types of schools because everyone is intelligent so kids will do anything to outshine other kids.  However, I think the real issue comes down to the admission process itself.  These tests say a lot more about the type of kid that does well on them than many people will admit.

The Stuyvesant test, or the SHSAT, is modeled after the SAT.  It is 150 minutes long and broken into a math and logical reasoning.  20,000 students all over New York City take the test and only the top 800 scorers get into Stuyvesant.  Kaplan and the Princeton Review offer test prep courses for the test.  Following questions on racial fairness, the New York Board of Education began offering free test prep courses in disadvantaged neighborhoods.  

 

These test prep courses teach kids the method of the test.  Kids learn to understand the tricks that are being put on the test.  The test, therefore, is not really a marker of straight intelligence, but rather a marker of industriousness.  Can you out think the test makers?

What does this mean?

There are two methods of testtaking.   The first is knowing everything about a subject.  But the second way is knowing what kind of answers a test or a testmaker is looking for.   Doing really well on most tests requires a mixture of these two methods because even if you know everything about a subject, if you can’t frame it appropriately you can’t get a good grade.

The SHSAT and other standardized tests tend to emphasize the second method of test-taking more than the first.  Especially with the rise of test prep courses.   Therefore, the majority of Stuyvesant kids are the type of kids who can use reason and logic to get what they want.  The goal is to differentiate yourself from everyone else around you so you can get into a good college, get a good job, have a good life, etc.  The test is teaching that if you know a way to get an answer without knowing a word or math symbol, you should use it.  Cut corners to achieve your goals.   Is it such an extraordinary leap that kids who are good at using logic to get the answers they want are also going to use logic to do better on subjects than they should?

In the 1980s, when my brother took this test there were no prep courses, therefore the type of kid that Stuyvesant got was not necessarily so biased towards good test takers.   However, because of the capitalization of the test, kids who wouldn’t necessarily have gotten in before are able to naturally edge out smart kids who did not study so don’t have this same drive.

If we, as a country, were suddenly so worried about ethics then basing intelligence on tests that are easy to outmaneuver is not the best way of achieving this.  How is writing a test answer on your hand before a test that different from taking a Kaplan course to get a better SAT score?  They both give the individual an unfair advantage over other test takers, but they are both the easiest way to achieve the goal of this “perfect life.”

 

So before we are so quick to judge these cheating kids, it might be important to step back and look at what kind of values we are emphasizing for our children.

The Case for Compulsory Voting

 A lot of people have been arguing about the legitimacy of the electoral college.  However, I think our voting problems stem even deeper and require a radical solution: Mandatory voting.

The problem with voting nowadays is that everyone is not truly enfranchised.
How can we have representative democracy, if everyone doesn’t vote?

A lot of the money and time spent in political campaigns is spent on trying to get people to get out and vote.  However, if we had compulsory voting systems the elections could be more issue -based.

Many people are disenfranchised for various reasons as a political ploy but if voting was mandatory than everyone would have a say.

You can claim true legitimacy over the people if everyone has voted.  You are giving power to the poor instead of excluding them.  Just because we are a capitalist country does not give us the right to find underhanded ways to disenfranchise.

For poor hard-working Americans, it is hard to take a day off work to go to the voting booths.   Especially on a random Tuesday in November.  Countries that have compulsory voting tend to have voting on Saturday or Sunday which gives people the time to go to the booths.

On paper, compulsory voting looks antithetical to freedom and the freedom of speech, however, you don’t have to vote.  You just have to show up.   It is like jury duty.   And if, as a collective we want to ensure the most fair and legitimate method of electing leaders that truly represent the people, than this is an important step.

Compulsory voting makes the populace make a choice which is are we going to let special interests and those with the most money control how the elections go, or are we going to take control?

Our country continues to be a country of elites, whether it be the old aristocracy or the moneyed interests now (corporations as people, Alexis De Toqueville, Democracy in America).

Compulsory voting is the surest way to ensure a true democracy and make sure everyone has a say.
Using “freedom” as an argument is an argument of fear.

We joined into a society to be most effectively governed by a representative of our peers and it can’t be this way if it is not truly representative of our peers.