fun fun fun fun fun fun (bad publicity is still publicity: even if you don't like it or think it's bull; if you're talking about it, then you're promoting it)
My signature has become nothing more than a parody of cursive; it's just a scrawl now. I can still read neatly-penned cursive and maybe legibly write with it, but it's just not something I find worth bothering with. I prefer my nearly type-set printed hand writing.
In all things use the appropriate tool? If certain people respond best to fear and aggression, then that's what you use to get through to them. Other people respond better to other methods; in which cases you should use those other methods. But fear and aggression are base emotions and getting over them takes practice, and perhaps intelligence. The media loves base emotions for the same reason: more people are attracted to those than anything 'bland'. Make them afraid and they'll herd themselves to wherever they can get away from what's making them afraid. Or perhaps they'll just attack it. Or try to have sex with it...
If it were easier to train people to be more thoughtful (in the sense of intelligent forethought, etc) we wouldn't be seeing so much of these base emotions being used as the means. But there are a lot of 'stupid' people in this world. I wish I could say I'm above those base emotions, but I'm not. Sometimes a good jolt of fear is what it takes to motivate me. I wish things were better, but perhaps the future will show us the better and humans won't have to be whipped like chattel.
Well, aside from the misinterpretation of what a 'chemical' is, this sounds like an interesting challenge to a toy company. Create a toy chemistry set which uses physical principals, tap water, and air to teach little kids about chemistry. No dyes of any sort (aside from the stuff in the plastic, right? ), no powders (and sand could get in their eyes, so that's out), no sharp corners, no heavy weights, no small parts, etc. But fun, educational, and surprisingly innovative. I don't know if this set is all that in the least, but it at least sounds like a good idea.
If we really wanted to improve the mapping systems, we should throw away 2d maps in favor of globe based maps, leaving the 'cardinal directions' as the relative statements they are. We would still have to content with having static points of reference from which to derive coordinates, but it would make 2d projections a lot more accurate. All this being via a computer, of course.
If it were easier to train people to be more thoughtful (in the sense of intelligent forethought, etc) we wouldn't be seeing so much of these base emotions being used as the means. But there are a lot of 'stupid' people in this world. I wish I could say I'm above those base emotions, but I'm not. Sometimes a good jolt of fear is what it takes to motivate me. I wish things were better, but perhaps the future will show us the better and humans won't have to be whipped like chattel.