Skip to main content

On being Proud

I get the feeling that people have lost the ability to distinguish between what they feel and what they say to express said feelings. Creates headlines from silly to outright dangerous.

Most recently a large Fortune 100 CEO declared to the world media that 'he is proud to be gay'.  Now to paraphrase Seinfeld- while there is nothing wrong with that- it does beg the question of how someone can be proud of a natural accident?  Accident in two parts - that he 'is' and that he is 'gay'.

Proud is sometimes defined as - feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities.  Being gay is - as one can surmise neither an achievement nor a quality.  It is an accident of nature as much as being straight is.  Nothing of it - that would be straight forward thinking.  Which if you are so inclined could under circumstances make you feel gay or happy.

Another confusion that goes into such declarations is around the idea of coming 'out' to say this.  Frankly this CEO runs a company to make smart phones whereby he could simply twit, blog or email all on a smart phone while staying indoors.  No need to come anywhere...

I don't see a lot of coming and goings on other declarations except perhaps when the English queens or princesses reproduce and the world waits with some sort of breath to hear the outcome ..  some paid lackey comes out of the palace to announce this accident.   Another event is when smoke comes out of a chimney to announce if the Catholics have a new leader.

Going back to pontificate on the topic of Pride - lions have one but that too can be ill founded if there is no meat to be had.

Another sample of misplaced pride is when people claim they are proud of their home team typically associated with a sports franchise.  Why is the citizenry proud?  What did they do other than spend exorbitant sums to be entertained at an organized sporting event?  If the team wins against another how does that make the city they represent proud?

Maybe gay but not proud.





Comments

  1. RajendraNovember 1, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    pride is mostly misplaced anyway, or mis-directed- not at the miss, but the mister.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...
Post a Comment
Read more