Chewing Gum Communism

So I am back in the classroom on campus. I always need chewing gum to keep my breath fresh and it always keeps me awake. Chewing gum is almost a necessity. AND, most people love it.

There is an interesting occurrence with gum. When you take it out of your bag, your pocket, or your purse you are granting all those around you access to gum as well. Most people will ask for a piece; a request you can never deny. It is also often a situation where a courteous offer of gum is expected. However, gum does cost money. But everyone treats it like chewing gum is a community item. So, what about a 12 pack of soft drinks? Are those community items too?

Ignorange is Bliss

Hello friends, let me say it is a pleasure to make my debut on the “D & J” blog. For those wondering, my name is Chad and I live in Los Angeles. Shameless Plug: My debut album is dropping in a few weeks. Buy it. Ok, onto the good stuff...

This post will deal with when it is responsible or necessary to tell someone they are wrong. Let me begin with an example...

There is a guy named Joe who plays some cover songs on his guitar. He plays the song wrong, but thinks that he is playing them correctly. Furthermore, most people know that he is playing them wrong. But Joe gets great pleasure out of playing them the way he is. What does the bystander do? Fight for truth and tell the old man he is wrong? Or bite his tongue and let classics like “If You Could Only See” by Tonic be destroyed by Joe?

This is obviously a silly example, but what about with heavier subject matter? I remember discussing this question in a class at school in a case study about an elderly man who went in to the hospital with stomach pains. After exploratory surgery, they discovered the man had an infection in his ovaries – yes you read that correctly. They dug up a bit of his history and found out that he was born with both testicles and ovaries. His family decided to raise his as a boy and never told him the truth. Now years later, the doctor is forced to decide between telling the truth – telling this man that he was possibly a girl for his whole life and potentially creating some emotional and mental baggage – or ignoring the fact and releasing the man from the hospital with a false diagnosis.

I have searched on-line for this case study and could not find it, so sorry about that. Perhaps there are other cases of gender identity and confusion that this argument might apply to. But regardless of the truth of the story, the point is still valid – Is it always the responsible thing to tell the truth when ignorance might possibly be bliss? Let the discussion begin.

Absence

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Meaning: The lack of something increases the desire for it.


Is this true? I'm taking a planned week off. I shall return next Monday early in the day. Please comment on the above question.