Depression, Part I

A Word on Depression: The Rocky Road to Closure
by George A. Miu

Depression. It emerges from the depths of the mind, latching on to our memories and eventually infesting our present with an outlook that is pessimistic and skewed, never truly permitting us to operate with the efficiency we had always taken for granted.

As depression is becoming more and more prevalent, we have a whole host of doctors, professors and distinguished misters who tell us that the problem evolves from chemical imbalances in the brain. Being a veteran of the mental war that is depression, I find that I disagree with this assessment. If depression was, indeed, a chemical anomaly with no external causes, its rates would never rise or dip beyond a negligible point – namely, the percentage of brains in which the aforementioned anomaly is likely.

My experiences indicate otherwise, at least insofar as I am able to decipher them. Depression is first and foremost a disorder that must be associated with sentiment, as opposed to concrete physiological function. The order runs thus:

One. Genesis: We are traumatized.

Two. Dormancy: We live with the trauma that has not been fully processed.

Three. Trigger: We undergo an experience in which we realize that we are affected deeply by the initial trauma.

Four. Depression: We spiral downwards because we automatically identify all situations in which the previous trauma, as well as the “Trigger”, obstruct us from operating.

Okay. So I’m no psychologist. I know next to nothing about the intricacies of the brain. But I know well enough that a suspended brain can never be in a state of depression, no matter what its chemical composition tells us about it. For the disorder to occur, sentiment is requisite. Yes – there are chemical imbalances that are observed in individuals suffering from depression; these are natural side-effects of sentiment, not primary causes. I did not become depressed because my brain went gaga, but rather because I met my “Trigger”. Only then did my mind go haywire.

I urge all readers who are depressed: Do not look at your condition as a medical calculation to be solved. Look at it as a human calculation that needs to be resolved. Don’t regard yourself as a finite-combination puzzle. Instead, seek out closure so that you can learn to live with your perception of the past, your understanding of the present and your vision for the future. Then, decide on a reasonable way to treat it – more on this in Part II, I promise.

On a closing note, I would like to reason as to why I believe that counseling is necessary for depression treatment, while medication is not. Consider this analogy: sufficient pain medication for a ruptured appendix will cure all symptomatic elements therein. It will make even the most agonized human being believe they will be okay. But it does not eliminate the origin of the potentially-lethal condition. Similarly, medication may cure the chemical imbalance and shift the overall outlook towards the more positive end of the spectrum. Yet, it fails to address the reason it happened in the first-place: an intrinsic dissatisfaction. Of course, medication may be recommended, or even necessary, given the precise nature and gravity of depression. Nevertheless, careful introspection is the only way that a natural catharsis can come into existence.

Part II is on its way tomorrow.

15 Reasons Why the Recession Happened

15 Reasons Why the Recession Happened
by Neal R. Karski

A little bitter, a little sweet. Enjoy.

1. Eminem’s CDs stopped selling.

2. Lil Wayne’s sales and popularity went up… then he went to jail. Let’s not forget Miley.

3. Jersey Shore. Can’t explain what exactly happened there, but it did affect the economy.

4. Apple, and no, not the one at your local fruit market.

5. Welfare and employment played chess. Welfare won.

6. Facebook came out with the policy that does not permit any one to have more than 5000 friends. (Sad face)

7. Lots of homes; not enough landlords.

8. Chat Roulette?!?!

9. Tuitions rose up; IQs did not.

10. The big corporates took nice vacation trips and claimed that Santa did not visit the house on Christmas Eve with tax payers’ money.

11. The biggest “donations” went to the government funds.

12. Savings account and 401ks became unpopular.

13. What is a small business?

14. Kim Kardashian went shopping.

15. Business cycles… life.

Changes in the Music Industry over the Last 50 Years

How the Tune Changes – 50 Years of Music in Retrospect
by George A. Miu

The year is 1960. The Beatles are playing in some dodgy Hamburg nightclub without a clue of their impending worldwide success. Elvis is off making dreadful movies in Hollywood. Buddy Holly is not yet cold in his grave. Vietnam hasn’t started. The Summer of Love is unthinkable at this point.

The year is 2010. The Beatles are still selling million of records, even though they haven’t played a show in more than 40 years. The anniversary of Buddy’s passing still brings out mourners each year. Even Elvis’s movies are loved (which is a remarkable thing, indeed). And the music industry grosses billions upon billions of dollars – kids from LA to Vladivostok are singing Ke$ha’s new song, or googling Eminem. What in the world happened in this last half-century to catalyze such a shift in the importance of music?

Well, for starters, musicians upped the ante. The Beatles broke up in 1970; they played their last concert in 1966. History thus tells us that one of the greatest bands of all time did not perform live for over a third of its immensely productive career. I mean – Vanilla Ice still goes on tour with the same tired song time and again; why couldn’t the Beatles get it together on stage? Anyway – the point here is that, by playing more shows and doing a tour with every new album, modern artists enter the public consciousness a lot more easily.

Also, artists are increasingly built to target a specific audience; for example – Justin Bieber for the tweens, Michael Bublé for the modern Sinatra-lovers and the late, great Johnny Cash for the all-around hard-assed. They then cross-over into general audiences, but always have a specific fanbase, as opposed to the more willy-nilly marketing tactics of ages past.

Similarly, people are more responsive to music. Cliques begin forming around artistic tastes more than anything, and this, in turn, spreads the appeal of various genres to perceptive by-standers.

These three factors weighed in heavily from the 70’s onwards, and created memorable musical movements whose impact is still widely felt today. It also set the stage for technology to come to the rescue – from iPods to iTunes, music is now easy to obtain and to listen to. No more mammoth gramophones, bulky walkmen and chunky CD players. A laptop and small portable device are all you need to access pretty much all the music anyone would ever want.

All of these developments, and many more, contributed to the radical transformation that the music industry has undergone in the past fifty years. I have to wonder, now – what will the next five decades bring?

Relationships and Dating in the US

The Game
by Neal R. Karski

The subject of relationships in the United States is one that I find very interesting and worth exploring in depth. Having lived in Europe, in the Southeastern and Midwestern parts of the US, I happened to acquire a lot of knowledge about the way in which social associations develop and fall apart. This knowledge was derived from a variety of unique experiences of my own and others in my surroundings, as well as the keen observations I’ve managed to store and ponder in my mind.

Let’s begin.

Relationships, whether it be a commitment between a girlfriend and a boyfriend or a friendship between two people, are what I like to call The Game. The Game implies that the process of dating [which used to be referred to as “courting”] has now become much more complex and at times perplexing for either or both parties involved. The simplicity-and-value ridden system of rules that guides the couples in their endeavors exerts a very unstable groundwork. *Think of the quote by Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers about dating. Social media certainly doesn’t make it any less difficult to maintain good relations with a friend or a significant other. Every day, we’re exposed to stories, movies and TV shows that display unfruitful relationships and compulsive issues that can impact our perception and even diminish hope.

Originally, I planned to compare the situation of the matter which I’m addressing in terms of the United States and Europe, but I will postpone this analysis in a form of a future post.

The Game is my own personal theory and does not constitute for the views of anyone but mine. Therefore, imagine yourself on a date with a beautiful or handsome person that you are pursuing. Great locations and meal choices, interesting and ongoing conversation, plus there is a positive tension. Now, be careful – Red Tape [or more closely known as Bureaucracy] kicks in when you haven’t realized it. Multiple complications arise at different corners, you or the other person is not capable of accepting something they do not approve of, this is going too fast, feelings, physical attraction, should I impress him [or her], where will this connection go, am I ready? Houston, we have a problem – the field of gravity is a bit “shaky.” Now, instead of pinpointing the significant values of the potential or existing relationship, we’re focused on what can be possibly wrong? Disvalues, not values, play the major role in this movie.

And we see that not every casual dating couple ends up together. Not every relationship [by all means] is a fairy tale we see in the movies – the good ‘ole “Hey-Climax-Rough Times-Love” kind of event flow. Pause for a second and think… Maybe we, ourselves, make dating and the relationships we have to complex and over think the meaning behind why we are here with this person and not another. Who knows… for some this way may be preferable.

Today’s Reality: Game Over.

The Realm of Romance
by George A. Miu

Everyone is looking for that special someone. Even after finding a good enough partner for the long haul, we continually assess and reassess one another in terms of compatibility, emotional security, physical attraction factors and a plethora of other categories.

In the USA, as far as I can tell, there are two major stages in this process: that of dating (i.e. being on the lookout for a romantic partner) and that of marriage/life partnerships (i.e. making the commitment to be with someone for the rest of one’s life, barring certain circumstances). Various individuals progress through these at various points at different speeds, or maybe even not at all. The important thing is that we have carefully defined social patterns that indicate, both to ourselves and to our significant others, certain levels of development in a relationship. For example, it is considered taboo to talk about, say, children’s names, on a first date.

What distinguishes modern times from ages past, however, is that the average childbearing age has risen by almost six years over the past three decades. This trend affects our romantic endeavors, as progressively fewer people are prepared to start families at young ages, thus lengthening the dating stage in the above process. In theory, this should mean that there are fewer divorces, since the maturity levels increase at the time of marriage. Yet, this is clearly not so, seeing as the divorce rate revolves around the 50 percent mark in the USA.

We can conclude that something is broken in the realm of romance. The way I see it, the major culprit is the modern job competitiveness. Most people have to go to college to make a good living, and that is no easy feat. It puts off having a family until at least 22-23 years of age. I mean, they call it a Bachelor’s Degree for a reason, people. Furthermore, the instability that follows graduation creates an unsuitable environment for a young family.

Women, too, are a resurgent and critical force in these times. Increasing numbers are postponing motherhood in order to pursue careers – and who can blame them? So, by the time we are ripe for matrimony, the social and economic stress levels are so high that disagreements are liable to take place between spouses, leading to our elevated divorce rates.

Don’t get me wrong: I’d be chuffed to the bollocks if everything could revert back to the old-fashioned ideal American family. But doing so would be causing a great disservice to our economy, to women and, ultimately, to our free will to pursue whatever we so choose. There is no quick fix to whatever is broken in the romantic world. It’s simply a necessary consequence of the times.

The Rise of Developing Economies in the Globalized World

The New World
by Neal R. Karski

The world today looks nothing like it did it two hundred, hundred or even fifty years ago. The times of imperialism appear to be almost over, and many nations on the other side of the globe are not ruled by their occupants via means of frigid treatment and limited freedom. Yes, the business influences and viewpoints have spread around the world and a vast amount of entrepreneurs traveled to foreign lands to pursue their ideas. Earth has now become a mix up, where the melting pot explodes with booming [previously underdeveloped] economies. The reality is at the horizon; no nation can dominate solely and for the entirety of contemporary history.

There are a few notions that I believe one should take into account to analyze and comprehend this phenomenon…

United States depression has paved path for other economies to show their potential. With the decreasing value of the dollar and the failure of finance corporates in the wealthiest nation, others, like China, have stepped up their game to utilize their investments and contribute to their technological, educational and commercial growth.

The population size of the countries with developing economies has allowed them to implement the mass production systems with low labor wages. These systems, initially, were closely similar to the ones of the United States, yet enhanced by the many more able hands willing to work and live in lower and less adaptable standards. Sometimes business takes an unjust advantage of the necessity of survival… but each nation has its own way of leveling the economy.

The world is flat – A.K.A. Globalization. Yes, the pun was intended to suggest to you the book by Thomas L. Friedman, who through excellent language and descriptive story telling shared his theory on today’s competitive world and its very narrow room for coincidence in the economic trends. The battle field has now widened, connected its many corners via technology, and opened doors for nations like Brazil and India who struggled to truly put themselves on the map of economic decision makers in the global stock markets. We all used to say… “Well Russia will never catch up” or “China makes good Nikes, but that’s about it”.

The reality is, the competition is not only within the U.S. now. It’s global. And many economists have predicted that it’s their turn… the round of rising developing economies.

God Bless.

Rise or Fall? Developing Economies and the Notion of Globalization
by George A. Miu

Look around you. I’m willing to bet all my readers that there is an object that is inscribed “Made in China” within ten feet of you. Even if you do like to buy American. Well, I guess China isn’t a developing economy any longer, but this doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of goods floating around that are made in third-world countries and sold cheaply over here.

Such is the nature of a global economy. Some are buying, others are selling, and everyone is doing something or other. Now, consider this:

A “developing economy” makes a certain product, whatever it may be. If this product is sold for profit on another continent, most of the extra dollars that are made are kept by the big corporations. A little goes through to the workers and the factory. Most developing countries deal with at least one of the following two problems: political instability and high levels of poverty.

The little money that the workers do earn is by no means enough to elevate them above the poverty with which most factory workers contend. Since vast numbers are employed in this field, especially if the country is a big “producer” of certain goods, the poverty level is not helped by this mercantile trade pattern. Indeed, the only ones who become “rich” are the owners and the political elite…

…which brings us to the concept of political instability. In dictatorships, or strict systems of government under which most third-world countries operate, the government’s money comes from abroad and by virtue of the upper-classes who want to maintain their privileged status. Therefore, feeding money into factories and such will only help bolster a government that does not permit the wealth to be evenly distributed in proportion to the individual’s value in terms of productivity. Hence, the political instability is renewed, as the majority of the populace will feel cheated by their leaders.

On the other hand, building factories and boosting production is how all countries must develop; oftentimes, this is a painful process in which the human sacrifices are astounding. Remember that China, the world’s largest producer of … anything … is now considered a powerhouse in economic terms, whereas in the not-too-distant past they, too, were deemed to be a “poor country”. This shift may have occurred due to the globalized economy, or a variety of other reasons (which will be the topic of another post).

The question here is this: ought we to permit a global economy to occasionally run riot against the interests of untold millions, for the benefit of fewer millions, in the hope that all will turn out well? Or is it not worth it? If not, what alternatives do we have that are even remotely plausible, considering the oft-selfish nature of human beings? And why does this feel like 20 questions?

Linguistics in America

Today, we feature just one article, written by George A. Miu, who possesses a wide range of knowledge specifically related to the topic. Enjoy.

The Fluency Problem in Our Schools, and a Proposed Solution
by George A. Miu

I have been very fortunate in life; I have been thrown into long-term situations that necessitated speedy assimilation of a given language: first, it was English, then Arabic, and then French. My native Romanian tongue, also, has had to be employed at various times. I will not go so far as to say that I am fluent in all four, but I have a passable understanding of the spoken language first and foremost.

Upon arriving in the US, I enrolled in French classes at my high school, and found that I was more advanced than the rest of my class. This was not because of some amazing talent I had for the language, but rather because of the way in which it was taught to me. I was, intellectually speaking, no more advanced than any of my classmates; yet, I found the course we were all enrolled in to be rather trivial.

I often reflect upon these times, and my thought has yielded fruit! America suffers from what I like to call a “fluency problem”. All of my colleagues in the aforementioned high school class had approximately the same reading and writing skills. However, they lacked the necessary comfort in actually speaking French. This is because, from the onset of their education, they were taught to conjugate verbs and memorize sometimes-absurd lists of words. Our classes were always split into four sections: reading, writing, listening and speaking, with an emphasis on the first two.

This is unique to the United States. In my British school, all language courses were focused on acquiring fluency in speaking first, and then in writing and reading. Of course, if one looks at ordinary human development, we learn to speak in sentences long before we can write them or read them. I believe that it is advantageous to employ the same sort of pedagogical philosophy in approaching second and third languages, too. In my experience, a five-minute oral exam does more for my vocabulary and understanding of the language than a fifty minute written exam.

I propose that the approach to foreign languages in our schools be changed to incorporate a greater focus on speaking and listening, rather than reading and writing. In this way, for example, a two-year student of a given language can commence writing the sentences they already speak in and subsequently learn the nuances at an accelerated pace.

We live in a multi-lingual environment, both here and abroad. If we can write our requests better than we can speak them, solving problems becomes a theoretical task done on paper. Since this is not the way of the world, I suggest that we develop a system whereby human tendencies are given higher regard.

Only when this is done will Americans be regarded as more than uni-lingual creatures, forever stranded when abroad.

Growing Culture of Video Games

The Transformation of Video Games and their Impact on the Society
by Neal R. Karski

Video games… ever since the 1990s when the early phenomenons appeared on the markets across the world this phenomenon has gained increasing popularity as the producers improved their quality and realistic nature. Twenty years later, video game platforms and consoles are present in hundreds of thousands of domestic and commercial locations across the globe where users can interact with each other, compete and enhance their skills with online experience. This form of entertainment, initially most utilized by younger generations, has now grown into a field of all ages… we can say that as the world has become more liberalized, so has the interest in playing hits such as Call of Duty or FIFA.

One may say… “Video games have given me a chance to escape reality without leaving my household,” another may reason “There are so many things I want to do in my life, but I don’t have the finances or opportunities to – video games are those opportunities”. Whether you agree or not, that happens to be your own opinion. That is exactly the purpose of video games: to satisfy one’s own personal needs of entertainment, excitement, leisure, past times, social gathering with friends, etc. It is meant to give one, as the individual owner and user of the video game platform, the options, the choices, the personal freedom to venture into different worlds and different occupations.

Now let’s briefly discuss the impact of video games on the society… The controversies in the 90s revolved around the censorship of brutality, language, sexual content and such related material displayed via the means of digital graphics. And it is possible that many of these concerns were quite legitimate, as studies have shown that video games did effect the youth in many negative ways. Some countered these arguments stating that video games were an actual and significant source of learning and knowledge of the world [regardless whether it was the “real” world or not]. Opinions on this issue vary to this day. More importantly, I believe that video games have really transformed the perception we have of our surroundings, i.e. the world around us. Through the median of visual and practical utilization of controllers and online characters / players, we’ve somehow become part of the world of video games, and vice versa. It is safe to assume that there are people who have even detached themselves from the psychological reality, and began to lose the comprehension or rather the separation of the two entities.

There is lot more to say on this topic, but for now, this thought has come to an end… George and I certainly would not mind to receive your thoughts…

God Bless

Video Gaming – Pastime or Obsession?
by George A. Miu

Every other week, it seems, we are bombarded with news of a new “revolutionary” console that will forever change the way we enjoy gaming. Of course, most of these are little hand-held gadgets that no person over the age of ten, or below the limits of 20/20 vision, can possibly enjoy. Nevertheless, the hoopla surrounding the PS3, Xbox and Wii appears to have been justified when considering the return that investing in one has yielded in terms of sheer enjoyment. The PC, arguably the world’s forgotten console, has evolved magnificently, too, now being able to run increasingly complex and realistic games.

However, in a seldom anticipated move, gaming has teamed up with the Internet and created a phenomenon that, some argue, can lead to considerable deterioration in our social patterns – online gaming. MMORPGs (Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars appear to have substantial addictive powers that affect millions of gamers worldwide. Every-so-often, reports come out of Asia, Europe and the US pertaining to “gamer deaths” due to exhaustion and a general neglect of hygiene caused by deep obsessions that people develop with their online characters.

It may seem laughable to many of us that people sacrifice their real lives in favor of what, in its most basic, is the ephemeral, illusory representation of chunks of codes designed by programmers. I was privy to the sobering facts my freshman year of college, when a good friend and neighbor told me of having had to “quit” Runescape (an online game) due to a bona fide addiction. Another neighbor developed a similar infatuation with World of Warcraft; his grades suffered, as did his social life.

I remember my dad and I playing Lemmings and Tetris in the mid-to-late 1990s. We never became fixated with it to such a great degree, but then again, games were so much less immersive back then, that it comes as no real surprise. As we advanced in age, we kept up with these habits, never spending more time than was healthy in front of the PC screen. We both know people that fell into the trap of personal neglect, and we deem it to be an easy mistake to make, especially in this day and age when necessities are often satisfied axiomatically.

But let’s remember something here, people. Games are good so long as they provide a temporary escape; the more realistic, the better. But when they constitute a mistaken elimination of the responsibilities that human beings have towards society, video games become a force of evil, rather than one of good.

So when Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft come up with another miracle that will change reality forever, one ought to pause for a moment and think on what kind of change these new inventions precipitate.