Season 6, Episode 7 September 17, 2023

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! I’m you host, Bob Woodley. On this episode, we’ll hear about a 16th century political visionary any American should be able to picture in their head, Canadian anti-vaxxers, but not the ones from a couple years ago, and a meme that tries to stop you from thinking at all…..but first, (Not the Headlines!)…

The old Don Maclean song, “American Pie” tells of a marching band that refused to leave the field so the second half of a football game could begin. It’s part of a very long song that reflects on the day of a plane crash that ended the lives of several high-profile performers. Well, a band director in Alabama wasn’t postponing the beginning of the second half of a football game, as the game had already ended, but he was tased and arrested for not telling his band to stop playing. As strange as that may sound, it happened just last week at a high school football game near Birmingham. Police allege both band directors were ordered to stop playing while the police cleared out the stadium after the game ended. One band director complied, one band director kept conducting, telling his musicians to keep playing. Police say that when they attempted to arrest him, he resisted, refusing to put his hands behind his back, and pushing the officer attempting to make the arrest. It was shortly after that the officer tased the band director, ending the confrontation, as the police report put it. 

I don’t know how they do things in Alabama, but I know quit a bit about High School football and High School bands. I was once part of one of the best High School Marching bands on the eastern seaboard, and for the last eight and 4/10 seasons, I’ve done color commentary of High School football games on the radio. I have attended hundreds of high school football games. I have never seen a need for police to clear out a stadium after the game is over. Most people just leave voluntarily. After all, the game is over. The home team band will often stay and play the alma mater after the game, but the visiting team band will be headed to busses by then. The band in question was the visiting team band, so I don’t know why they stayed and played after the game was over. We haven’t heard the band director’s side of the story yet. 

The police report is readily available, and I did read it. It tells the story pretty much the same way I just did, with a little more cop-speak in it, of course. Now, the police say they were trying to get the bands to stop playing because they were attracting an audience. As good as some high school bands are, they don’t normally keep people in the seats after a football game. After all, it wasn’t a band competition, it was a football game! To many football fans, the band is just background noise while you go to the concession stand and the restroom. They don’t stay to listen to a concert of marching tunes. Maybe they were playing Metallica or Rick James, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. By the way, a conductor, given the option, will always keep conducting instead of putting his hands behind his back. That’s definitely not resisting arrest, that’s just doing his job. I was able to watch a video of the incident. Of course, it only shows the last 15 or 20 seconds of the entire confrontation, the part where the band conductor is tased. What happened before that is unknown to me, but when an officer uses his taser, you would hope it would be a reaction of self-defense. Much like a gun would be, but non-lethal. That’s not what this appeared to be. This band director was surrounded by police officers and stadium security. Suddenly, all the cops backed away, with one of them putting his hand on the band director’s back to keep him in place. That’s when the officer who tased him, an officer that was standing several feet away and was in no danger, fired the electrodes into the target. The band director was taken to the University of Alabama Birmingham hospital where he was soon discharged and booked for Disorderly conduct, Harassment and Resisting arrest. He posted bond and was released.

There seem to be two schools of thought about this incident: one is that the band director set a bad example for his students by not complying with the police, resisting arrest, and causing a disturbance that could have been avoided by simply stopping the playing of the music, and the other is that the police had no justification in asking for the music to be stopped in the first place. One could even argue that by demanding the band stop playing, the police were violating the First Amendment rights of the conductor and the players. After all, they may have been making a statement with the songs they chose to play post-game. Again, I don’t know what songs they were playing, but they may have been promoting the virtues of being a super-freak. Keep in mind that whatever your feelings are about being a super-freak are irrelevant. The band still has the freedom to encourage super-freakiness, even if the police want silence.

Oh, just in case you’re a race-baiter, and have been chomping at the bit for the skin colors of the band director and the police, hoping that they contrast, you’re out of luck here. Skin color doesn’t appear to play any role. Better luck next time, you racist. The School Superintendent release the grammatically incorrect statement, “I urge everyone not to jump to conclusions.” 

play soundbite of American Pie

The state of California is finally going to do something about organized retail theft. In case you’re not aware, theft from retail stores in the Sunshine State have had devastating effects on a variety of businesses large and small. Some companies have left the state, while others try to adjust to the losses in other ways. Organized retail theft has left parts of San Francisco abandoned. Parts that were once full of local shoppers and tourists alike. Companies that didn’t leave have begun to lock up frequently stolen items. In some cases, that means everything. You have to ask an employee to unlock the display if you want to buy razor blades or diapers or toothpaste. While at the same time, you might be asking yourself how it got to the point where the Republic of California has to spend more than 267-million dollars of taxpayer money to try to stop it. How did things get so out of hand that people were able to organize a mass theft operation and carry it out without consequence? Where are the police? Were they de-funded? Are they stretched too thin to respond to real-time crimes? Are their police cars still recharging? It’s been awhile since California decriminalized retail theft, raising the limit to be considered a felony to 950 dollars. You can still get arrested for stealing goods worth less than 950 dollars, but it’s rarely enforced or prosecuted, and it’s just a misdemeanor. But if 30 people all steal less than 950 dollars worth of merchandise, that can still be more than 20-thousand dollars worth of stuff. To the prosecutor, each individual charge is not worth pursuing. To the retailer who just lost 20-thousand dollars of merchandise or more, it’s a bid deal. It’s a business model that cannot be sustained. Add to the theft the damage caused by the thieves who broke display cases and wrecked shelves and left scattered what was once organized, now needing to be replaced and repaired and restocked, and the losses are much more than the retail value of the products stolen. 

Increasing the capabilities of law enforcement is how the Governor plans to combat the problem. The 267-million dollars will be distributed among 55 local law enforcement agencies at a variety of levels district attorneys and sheriffs and police departments. One probation department will get money, too. I guess there might be a lot of repeat crimes in that area. Governor Newsom was quoted by FOX40 dot com as saying, “When shameless criminals walk out of stores with stolen goods, they’ll walk straight into jail cells.”

Let’s assume the governor means well, and has no problem spending 267-million tax dollars to solve the organized retail theft problem plaguing the state. He hands out the money to be used at the local level to do whatever needs to be done, I guess, with no guidance that I have seen, no goals to achieve, no accountability of which to speak for anyone getting the increase in funding. You may assume the desired result is a drop in retail theft, but will that solve the problem that created it in the first place? That depends on what you believe created it. Is it the lack of law enforcement, caused by a defund the police movement and the subsequent increase in police resignations and retirements, coupled with the decrease in recruiting? If these agencies are given more money, will they be able to overcome recent struggles for staffing and create a police force capable of preventing organized retail theft from destroying once-great downtown civic centers? 

Maybe not, no matter how much money you throw at it. Even if the police are better equipped, better staffed, and better trained, other variables still remain unchanged. There is still rampant homelessness in major cities. The jails are still crowded. There are still many who subscribe to the theory that the criminal is the victim. Look, I try to give everybody the benefit of the doubt until they do something to prove me wrong for trusting them. But no matter how much tax money California throws at the theft problem, if the prosecutors won’t prosecute, if the laws are made to benefit the law-breakers, if what used to be against the law is no longer against the law because it was too inconvenient to enforce it, then is doesn’t matter what powers or equipment or anything else the police have. Even if California solves the law enforcement problem from the viewpoint of the officer on the street, the revolving door of criminality will continue higher up the chain of the justice system. The police can arrest the criminals, but they can’t do anything more. It’s after the arrests where the problem lies. Giving money to the police departments is a mere gesture to give the governor there a reason to say he’s trying to support police and public safety. The truth is, the system that puts the criminals right back on the streets will still exist, the jails will still be crowded, and nothing will change except more tax dollars being spent where they won’t do any good.

Let’s go back liner

1793

The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George Washington. Ah, yes, George Washington. The father of our country. It’s fitting that he would lay the cornerstone for the building that would house one of the other two branches of our government. George knew how important it was to recognize, with a magnificent building, the place where the people would gather as representatives of their states and districts, and the people who lived there. George knew how important it was to give a voice to the people, and insure that power was given to the government by the people, and not the other way around.

1796

George Washington’s farewell address is printed across America as an open letter to the public. It was a fairly long address, but he had a lot to cover. George always said he wasn’t qualified to be President, and didn’t want to serve a second term. Ironically, he was talked into it by the two rival factions that had formed: the Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans. Leaders of both parties feared the country would be torn apart if Washington wasn’t there to keep a measure of moderation. The same people wanted him to seek a third term, which you could do at the time, but he refused. His farewell address was a kind of a road map for moving the country forward in his absence, as he really wanted to become a private citizen again after 45 years of serving what became the United States of America. The address would not only be printed in newspapers all over, but was also printed as a pamphlet. Pamphlets were the social media of the time, and like our phones, pamphlets were often carried around in shirt pockets for easy reference. There are a number of issues President Washington mentioned in his farewell address that still apply today. He warned of regionalism and misrepresentation of the different regions by others. He warned of partisanship, which was to be expected, since it was partisanship that kept him in office for a second term. He warned of foreign influence, and how important it was to avoid it. 

George Washington didn’t write his farewell address. Although it mostly came out of his brain, James Madison wrote the first draft, which was originally supposed to be used four years earlier. By the end of Washington’s second term, Alexander Hamilton helped amend the address for delivery to the public.

1854

Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea. See, the Russians have been fighting over Crimea for a long time. They most recently took control of it in 2014. Today, Ukrainian forces are trying to take it back again.

1885

Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination. Armed forces were brought in to stop the mobs from damaging property, mostly of pharmacies that sold vaccines and the private residences of those who were responsible for administering the shots and administrating the programs. Even the police headquarters was attacked. The anti-vaxxers were mostly French who didn’t trust the English. It was the English who developed the vaccine. When French families say their children dying, they accused the English of poisoning them. Sound familiar? During Covid-19, Canadian truck drivers didn’t want to get vaccinated, either. There were no riots, though. Just a lot of trucks blocking traffic and supporters bringing them food and drinks. The Canadian government didn’t have to resort to bringing in armed troops this time. No, they just froze the bank accounts of the protesters. 

Maybe you believe in vaccinations, maybe you don’t. But either way, the move toward digital currency should make you more suspicious than a vaccine. 

1897

The “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial is published in the New York Sun. The reason for the editorial is because young Virginia wrote to the paper and asked. She was 8 years old, and some of her friends didn’t believe in Santa anymore. Virginia wanted the truth, so she wrote to the paper. She felt confident that the newspaper would be honest with her. In response to the letter, an editorial was written by an, at that time, anonymous author to explain how Santa was real. It had to be an editorial, of course, because it wasn’t actual news. It has since become what may be the most re-printed editorial in the history of media. The New York Sun reprinted it Regularly until it ceased publication in 1950. It’s actually very enjoyable to read. I won’t recite if for you here, but it nudges Virginia in the direction of Santa as an idea rather than a tactile being. Whether or not the New York Sun lied to Virginia is for you to decide.

1927

The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air. So, almost a hundred years ago. If you’re not familiar with the Columbia Broadcasting System, it’s more commonly known as CBS. If you’re a Directv customer, you haven’t seen it in almost a year.

1938

The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people. Climate change! Said nobody.

1939

The Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw begins transmitting. He had a good six-year run telling the people of England and the United States about Nazi successes and how many ships the sank and how many planes they shot down in an effort to demoralize Nazi enemies. Early in World War II, London wasn’t keen on listing all it’s failures, so they used Lord Haw-Haw’s broadcasts to try to determine what may have happened, knowing a lot of it was propaganda. But he spoke English with a high-society British accent. The British army eventually caught up with him in Hamburg, then this week in 1945, Lord Haw Haw, now know to be a man called William Joyce, is sentenced to death in London.

1947

The United States Air Force becomes an independent branch of the United States armed forces. And the Army’s still mad about it! I was in the Air Force for about five years, but worked for the Army for much of that time. So, I had to learn Air Force ways of doing things, and Army ways of doing things. I preferred the Air Force ways, and often did what I could to mock the Army ways. That made inspections interesting. I once wore rabbit fur bedroom slippers to a uniform inspection. The sergeant pretended he didn’t see them. One time, an Army Sergeant Major was inspecting my room, and ran his finger across the dust cover of my turntable, which was dusty. When the sergeant major showed me his finger, covered in dust, I simply replied, “It’s called a dust cover for a reason, Sergeant!” I once had an Army major look at my shoes during an inspection and say, “Where’d you get those shoes, Airman?” I must admit they didn’t look very good. It had been a while since I had an army guy polish them for me. I looked down at them, then looked at the Major and said, “Stole ‘em from a dead Nazi, Sir!” I could hear other people in the formation start to snicker, and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. He gave me two hours to report back to him with polished shoes. I just went and bought a new pair. I was due anyway. That was in Berlin in 1985. I still have the shoes I bought that day.

1950

Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe. Canada has had similar forest fires this summer, almost 75 years later. Smoke from the fires spread south into the United States, including where I live. I’m surrounded by mountains, none of which I could see because of the smoke that had drifted south. I don’t know what they blamed the 1950 fires on, but this time, it’s because of climate change, and the only way to fix it is to drive coal-powered cars.

1973

Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Ah, yes. Back in 1973, there were men and there were women. Today, we couldn’t have a battle of the sexes without double elimination because of all the extra categories. In case you’re not sure, Billie Jean King was the woman and Bobby Riggs was the man. The woman beat the man in 1973. In 2023, it’s likely a woman would win, but she’d probably have a penis.

1985

Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music. Yes, long before there was rap music and it’s lyrics about bitches and hoes, rock music was a target of congressional hearings. It took until 1985, when Al Gore’s wife Tipper bought an album by Prince, not exactly a rock musician, and found it to have objectionable lyrics. Because her husband was a Senator, it became a federal concern. In response, three musicians testified before congress, including the late Frank Zappa, perhaps the most avant-guard musician ever, the very tall and make-up-wearing Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister, and perhaps the most surprising of all, the Rocky Mountain mad-man of rock and roll, John Denver. It was a show trial to rival the Salem witch hunts that resulted in warning labels being placed on record albums. Today, the same people who were so shocked at the lyrics of a Prince record are the same people who want books with descriptions of sex acts to be available in grade-school libraries.

Phone and email liner

I recently read a meme about overthinking on social media. And it immediately made me overthink it. Not because I habitually overthink things, but because it seemed to insist that overthinking was bad; that overthinking was some kind of mental illness. Allow me to read it to you, and then we’ll examine it more closely. In large, bold type, it says, “Maybe you overthink so much because:” and then it lists six bullet points. The bullet points are as follows 1). You didn’t grow up in a safe environment 2). You took on adult duties way too early in life 3). You got hurt no matter how hard you try 4). You were harshly judged for making mistakes 5). You had to figure out everything on your own and 6). You were made to feel you aren’t good enough. 

I’m going to approach this from the perspective that just about all of us have accused ourselves of overthinking something. The truth is, if it’s worth thinking about, it’s worth overthinking about. But there are times when a simple decision becomes elusive. It may be from self-doubt or it may be from some other factor. If you agonize over a coin toss, maybe you do overthink too much, but most of us are capable of giving each individual subject the proper amount of attention. One glaring exception would be the daily challenge of what to have for dinner, a decision that can sometimes become agonizingly complex. 

By now you might be thinking, “Hey, Bob. It sounds like you’re overthinking the meme about overthinking.” And I am! Because overthinking is not a bad thing! This meme wants to convince you that it is! It lists six negative reasons for overthinking, none of which can be directly related to overthinking. Now, there are negative types of overthinking, such as when you constantly worry about things you can’t control, or always imagining the worst possible outcome and never imagining a solution, but the meme in question doesn’t differentiate. It wants you to believe that all overthinking is a bad thing. It insists you believe so with the first bullet point, “You didn’t grow up in a safe environment.” First of all, kids don’t know if they’re growing up in a safe environment in the same way they don’t know if they’re growing up in a clean environment. All these bullet points are so broad in scope that anybody can imagine themselves being included. Like number 2, “You took on adult duties way too early in life.” Well, everybody has a different idea as to what that might be. Unless you appointed Emperor at the age of two, you were probably given responsibilities commensurate with your age and abilities. Maybe I’m old school, but….wait. Actually, yes, I’m definitely old school, but when I was a kid, it was a priveledge to get responsibilities. My parents were divorced and I would come home from school before my mom got home from work, so I would make sure there was a fire in the furnace when I got home, and make sure my little sister was home with me. Those were responsibilities normally held by an adult, but I didn’t consider them duties. I looked at them as an increased level of trust. Not a negative thing at all. But if taking on adult duties wat too early in life means financially supporting your whole family at the age of 12, then overthinking isn’t going to be a problem for you. You’re more likely to consider it an asset.

The third bullet point for why you overthink so much is “You get hurt no matter how hard you try.” Hurt by what? Hurt how? What are you trying? If you keep trying and you keep getting hurt, that’s not because of overthinking, it’s because you’re not thinking with a clear mind. It’s because you refuse to acknowledge what you learned the first time you tried, and the second time you tried. You’re not overthinking it, you’re underthinking it.

The forth reason you over think so much is because you were harshly judged for making mistakes. This is just another way of trying to convince you that you shouldn’t be subject to any kind of criticism. It’s trying to tell you that anyone who corrects you is infecting you with a mental disease called overthinking. Granted, sometime people can be overly harsh when a subordinate makes a mistake. If you make a mistake that costs your company money, you could get a brow-beating from your boss. But the term “harshly judged” is subjective, and gives anyone who wants to use it as an excuse permission to do so. The fifth reason you overthink so much is because you had to figure out everything on your own. The bottom line is that none of us have ever been able to figure our everything on our own. It may feel that way sometimes, but we all get input from other sources that help us learn. None of us have had to figure out everything on our own. And the last reason you overthink so much is because you were made to feel you aren’t good enough. 

Isn’t that exactly what this meme is trying to make you believe? That being an overthinker somehow makes you inferior? The meme wants you to think back to people who made you feel you weren’t good enough while not noticing the meme itself is making you feel that way right now.

I’ve only been able to trace the meme back to some guy in Illinois who doesn’t seem to have an agenda, so I’m guessing he didn’t write it. But whoever did write it definitely has an agenda. They want you to believe that overthinking is some kind of mental disorder. They want you to believe that thoroughly examining a topic, any topic, is somehow wrong. That if you think too much, you’re doing it wrong. That if you ask questions, it’s because of some childhood trauma you didn’t realize you had until now. This meme was designed to make you come to a quick conclusion, without looking deeper into the subject matter. This meme was designed to create a knee-jerk reaction, so that the most recent opinion you hear is the one you accept. Don’t overthink it! We’ll tell you what to believe. Overthinking is a mental disorder! All we need is a yes or a no. It’s senseless for you to consider another opinion. The only reason you think about things is because you were abused as a child. Now that you’ve read this meme, you can stop overthinking, or thinking at all, because the only reason you were thinking in the first place is because you were able to use the stove at age nine. Yes, even though you thought it was great to be able to use the stove at age nine, we’re here to tell you that you took on an adult responsibility too early, and now it’s made you an overthinker, which is an obvious mental disorder, as has been demonstrated by the meme with the six bullet points. Unless you ask the Cleveland Clinic, which says there is no such thing as a mental disorder called Overthinking. The Cleveland Clinic does say that overthinking often focuses on the negative, and when it does, that can turn into other problems like anxiety or depression. Perhaps you’re thinking about how much you hate your job, and then you start thinking about money and then you start thinking about losing your job and it turn into a vicious cycle of thought without any benefit. One way to deal with it, according to the Clinic’s website, is to distract yourself from thinking about hypotheticals and focus on solving actual problems that have a conclusion. Overthinking isn’t a disease, but perhaps a detour on the way from point A to point B.

Overthinking can often lead to ideas that would never have been thought of without the extra attention. Overthinking is why companies large and small have brain-storming sessions to try to find new ideas and solutions to problems. Now, if you’re agonizing over whether to call heads or tails on a coin flip, you might have a problem, but you won’t find a doctor who’s gonna call it overthinking. If you’re constantly thinking about doom and gloom, get help from a professional. If you’re constantly thinking about ways to improve life, create new entertainment, make people’s lives easier, or if you’re thinking happy thoughts, keep at it! Overthink away! Don’t be afraid to overthink things. It just might lead to an epiphany. You might come up with a new way to solve a problem. In any case, don’t believe a meme that tells you overthinking can only be the result of past discrepancies. Don’t be fooled into thinking the first answer is the correct one. Don’t be afraid to look more closely at a subject. You might come to a different conclusion than the one on the surface, or the one the media told you to believe. What’s more, you might discover something the media overlooked or ignored.

If it weren’t for overthinking, we might still be in the dark ages. I’m sure overthinking had a direct result on many of great human accomplishments. Landing a man on the moon certainly wasn’t done by underthinking!

Overthinking is not the result of tragedy. It’s the result of pursuit. It’s a byproduct of exploration. It’s the willingness to learn more and maybe see something from another angle. Some of the greatest thinkers in human history, like Socrates and Aristotle and Kant and Watts, didn’t become that way without overthinking. Give your brain the credit it deserves! Don’t let anyone tell you to use it less! Put that noggin of yours to work and overthink something! You’ll not only learn more about the subject, but you’ll learn more about yourself, too.

The Listening Tube is written and produce by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! Subscribe today. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.