August 16, 2005
the binary Bastille
8/16/05
We're packing up to go to NYC for a few days, so by the time you read this, we will be 39,000 feet in the air, hopefully enjoying a smooth ride (DEAR GOD, I HATE TURBULENCE, LOVE IAN) and praying for our baby to be a good girl for the trip (DEAR LUCY, NO SCREAMING ON THE PLANE, LOVE, YOUR PARENTS). I guess you just have to be a Buddhist about plane trips with infants and the insane amount of shit you have to bring along. I will admit, however, I'm psyched to get back to New York for a few days for Fleet Week, hoops, and doing blue cocaine bumps off the belly of a transsexual hooker in the Lower East Side.
While we were sorting socks and getting the new Harry Potter onto the iPod, Lars Lucier sent me a link about today's mob scene at the Richmond International Raceway, as thousands of people almost killed each other trying to get their hands on $50 used iBooks. Men were trampled, baby strollers were destroyed, and one woman peed on herself lest she give up her place in line. 17 people were treated for heat exhaustion, and overall it was the best day for Apple Computers since Steve Jobs painted the iMac tangerine.
The crowd was predominantly minority and poor, which reminded me a little of the digital/analog metaphor I was working on a few months back: namely, this "mob scene" was on the wrong side of the binary divide, and was making sure they - and their families - had a chance at joining the ranks of the quasi-digerati.
Think about it: a 4-year-old iBook still gives you the opportunity to surf the web, buy online, research through Google, apply for jobs, find a place to live, learn word processing and typing... all (at least today in Richmond) for fifty bucks. If I were poor and couldn't afford a piece-of-shit Dell PC, you bet I'd be in that mob scene, trampling over old people to get my family a computer. Shit, I'd buy three if I had a few dimes to rub together.
The people in that hot mob knew what was at stake. It's too bad the local cops didn't, as they had to call in another squadron with riot gear. This early example is easy to ridicule ("hee hee a chick wet herself") but I wouldn't be surprised if the "digital divide" in this country didn't get more violent as the have-nots are increasingly fucked by a culture that is leaving them in the dust. This was not an act of violence, it was an act of revolution by twelve thousand disenfranchised souls, and it was a looong time coming.
Revolution? About Fooking Time.
Is it time to put all the lawyers against the wall yet? I've been looking forward to that for a *long* time.
Bud! Remember that I am a lawyer. Why all the hate towards my peeps?
Ian, I heard about this during the ride into work today. Great post! The photo says it all. You are right on about the "digital divide."
Hope your plane ride went well. And, enjoy 'Fleet Week'. I wish I could see it. Since reading your blog, I have read your book, seen Tessa's movie, and I have been turned on to Dennis McFarland's books. I just finished "A Face at the Window." What a great read! You and your extended family has talent in spades, my friend. Keep it up!
More than half of those i-books will be on e-bay this afternoon. Sad but true.
An act of resistance, no doubt. But an act of revolution by an even semi-self-conscious analog class? I dunno, man.
Sorry, Laurie. Not all lawyers deserve the hate.
It's like a lot of things.
The 95% of lawyers who *are* bloodsucking scum give the rest of you a bad name.
The problem is that these ibooks have been used by 6th graders in the Richmond school system for 4 years - tossed into backpacks, used for on-line "research", probably used as second base in a game of kickball. I'll bet they're worth about $50.
Also, while there's no doubt that there's a digital divide as not all families can own computers, 87% of youth are on-line regularly these days, including 93% of 15-17 year-olds. That's higher than I would've guessed.
interesting. first week back at work on a part-time basis (back at THAT place, yes), and it looks like the Times was scooped by CNN and ian yesterday on this story; didn't even see a summary on this one.
Hi Bud. No harm done. I just don't understand why people hate lawyers so much. I mean, who are the people that everyone turns to in times of trouble? The lawyers. I think people "hate" attorneys because when they need legal help, it is usually during a chaotic time in their lives (divorce, bankruptcy, lawsuits, etc.) The lawyers may help you declare bankruptcy or get a divorce, but they can't solve all the other baggage you have (family turmoil, loss of credit, etc), so you blame the lawyers. You gotta blame somebody! Plus, no one ever wants to pay the lawyers because they are not necessarily happy with their divorce, etc. The legal profession is the only one wherein the professionals are expected to work for free.
You know who I think are scum? The doctors! They charge outrageous fees, oftentimes have no bedside manner, have a God-complex, don't take the time to answer patients' questions, and make you wait in waiting rooms as though their time and their time ALONE is valuable. I can't stand those bloodsucking scum medical professionals.
funny, in a way, because its gd lawyers and frivolous lawsuits that have trashed the current state of the medical profession.
laurie...as a fellow attorney i applaud your defense of our profession (although some of it is deserved) but i will have to disagree with the hating on the medical profession.
there is alot wrong with the medical profession and no one knows that more than the doctors. next time you are at your doc ask him or her how they feel about making you wait and spending only 15 minutes with you and you will find that they would agree with you that its not right! the economics of the medical profession today is tragic and the doctors are not the enemy. i'm not a doctor, and i dont play one on tv, but have been lucky enough to find some great docs and they have told me that they are as frustrated as their patients are. i know you live in maryland too and i'm surprised that you find the docs to be scum here as i think we have some of the best docs in the nation here (at least in baltimore we do) i had the misfortune of being rather ill a few years ago and spent many a night in the hospital, the ER, and in docs offices and i believe i was well cared for and that all my docs cared for me as a person and answered my questions and (most importantly) cured me!!! and if you read surveys of why people go into medicine these days it is NOT for economic reward as it was many years ago so i think the perception of rich doctors is not as legitimate as it was years ago (i'm not saying they are poor but it's not like it was years ago when the doctor was the richest person around) anyway my point is that the docs arent really the enemy.
ps. i would suggest reading the latest series the ny times is doing on medicine - it's very interesting.
Wow Laurie! Bearing the brunt of the lawyer hate didn't sensitize you to painting with a broad brush, did it? My partner, who is a physician working in a large metropolitan hospital for far below the typical internist salary and does research on the patient-doctor relationship, would take offense! Yes, she & I both know the corporate controlled private medical establishment is in an awful mess (much of it driven by insurance companies). But, just as all lawyers are not scum, all doctors are not all out to gouge you and waste your time. Some care about the profession, the patients and the future of medicine. So much so, she will spend the rest of her life paying back the $120,000 in loans it took her to enter this evil field.
Laurie, I think people usually *do* like their own lawyers -- who they've usually hired to defend themselves from *someone else's* lawyer.
I think with lawyers -- and doctors -- it's the same thing: the practitioners take the blame, but what people really hate are the big, expensive, time-consuming, enervating systems.
In medicine, ours is one of the only "civilized" countries without a comprehensive public health care sysytem. That would be *much* less expensive, and more effective, than the current mess, but too many have been brainwashed into knee-jerk fear of "socialized medicine" for the necessary changes to be politically feasible right now.
And our litigious society, in which Jarts are banned and coffee cups have to carry warnings (CAUTION: contents may be hot!) makes life a *lot* less enjoyable for a lot of people. And don't try to tell me that the bulk of the lawsuits which make such things necessary aren't dreamed up by lawyers.
But there are many good lawyers (several in my own family), and I certainly didn't intend any offense to you personally.
BTW, who is this "Bud" person? I'm Warrior of the Woods, dammit, and if you don't stop calling me that other name, I may have to sue!
:-)
So, how do people feel about tort reform?
Yay, now I have a small bright side to my day. Given my (yawn) cube job as a financial analyst, there's no faction out there who has issues with my kind, either in seriousness or in jest! I mean, I sit around all day playing with numbers that have no impact whatsoever on the general public, so any resentment around my job only comes from me! Except maybe when I was an actuary and screwed people with higher insurance rates, but actuaries are more pitied and made fun of rather than loathed!
My sister is a 2L; I'll have to have her read the above posts to make sure she becomes a "good" lawyer.
As a lawyer and the daughter of a retired pediatrician, I guess it is just best to say you shouldn't judge your professional by his/her profession. When I was 15, my dad was sued by a money grubbing plaintiff for a medmal case. He spent his life helping children, many whose folks could not pay their bills. His lawsuit (eventually settled) along with rising insurance costs ruined his taste for helping others. Believe it or not, that is why I chose to become a lawyer - to help people like my dad who have been wrongly sued. I don't defend doctors though, but my office does not do any ambulance chasing. We are all of the opinion that legal advertising has been one of the blemishes of the profession. Please just don't lump us all in one bunch.
Gosh. I was spouting off at doctors partially in jest. Sorry if my poor attempt at humor offended some. I'm sorry! Sorry! Warrior -- look what you made me do! : )
And I do admire doctors. Especially the ones who helped me birth my baby and those that are helping my mom fight cancer. I was trying to draw a parallel between docs and lawyers. Each profession serves a similar purpose (helping people), yet the doctors seem to be held on a pedestal and no one complains about paying the doctors . . . while it has become culturally acceptable to trash the lawyers.
I think I will STFU for now. I wonder how Ian's flight to NYC went?
As another lawyer who reads this blog I take some exception but not completely to the hate showered on our profession.
Our defense.
Lawyers are responsible for fighting for our freedom of speech, freedom of and from religion, freedom to gather, and freedom to vote. Lawyers have won the right to equal education, a woman's right to chose and in some cases, the right to die. Lawyers have fought for every single right we enjoy in this country and have done so thoughtfully and for all the right reasons. Lawyers serve on countless committees and volunteer their services to the homeless, battered women, immigrants, farmers, churches, the poor and the abandoned. We defend countless people who are accused of crimes and fight to release those people who have been wrongfull imprisoned. Lawyers have done more than their fair share to make this country great and continue to do so every single day.
The rebuttal.
We are trained to advocate and fight for our clients regardless of the case. While we may encourage our clients to plea or settle a case, we are sworn to represent their interest vigorously and to the best of our ability. As a consequence many of use, myself included, lose sight of our sense of fair play and rightness. Often it is a matter of survival for the lawyer and for the client due to the ferocity and ethical behaviour of the opposition. In addition, we have allowed profession to be used by a greedy and lustful society. Everyone bitches about lawyers right up until they get rear-ended by a lady in an eighty thousand dollar Mercedes.... then... they go see "Johnny 'the Hammer' Smith" and ask for three million dollars in "damages"... Herein lies the dilemma. Do we blame the lawyer for taking the case? Do we blame the person who feels they have been damaged? Do we blame the bitch talking on her cell phone while driving? Everyone has their opinion but the reality is the problem is not so difficult to resolve. So here is how to fix the problem...
1. Lawyers - stop taking bullshit cases. If the person isn't really injuried, kick them out of your office. Stop advertising to get these fake as scam artist to come into your office.
2. People suing - No one owes you anything! You do not deserve to be rich! "Stuff" is not going to make you happy / better looking / healthy / etc. You are entitled for some compensation if you have been injuried but the amount is actually very minuscule... get over it.
3. People getting sued. If you hurt someone, pay them. Be responsible for your actions. If you didn't hurt someone, fight to death and pursue the plaintiff for costs of litigation.
4. Insurance companies - You are satan and no lawyer can defeat you. You are ruining America and the world.In the end the litigation craze is a result of our get rich quick dream in this country. Complacency with our life? Happiness in a two bedroom? Feeling good about being lower middle class? Probably not.... We have to have the "bling". Until our culture stops glorifying being rich and starts worshipping being honorable, noble and perhaps not so rich, this vicious cycle will continue.
Wish I had more time to be make this a bit more articulate but I have to get back to fucking over the world.
amen.
Tregen-awesome post; I am bringing it into my ethics class today--it is every bit as articulate as it should be, and the passion is loud and clear. thank you.
Gosh.
It's amazing that so much good came from my stumbling home at closing time, reading Ian's blog, and then typing the first thing that popped into my head.
I should do that more often. :-)