The rain let up enough yesterday for me to venture out to Bagel Bob’s for 55¢ bagels. That price is only on Mondays from 4 – 7. So yes, I travel from the Bronx to Greenwich Village for half-priced bagels. I follow that with a stop at the Trader Joe’s in the neighborhood. I’m not saying this is ration; I’m saying I do it. For the rest of this week I’ll enjoy my breakfast more. It’s how my Jewish genes express themselves.
When I make an excursion there’s always at least one selfish person to complain about. Yesterday it was the guy leaving Trader Joe’s directly ahead of me. He paid for his items, pushed the cart with his groceries almost to the door that leads to the anteroom, and abandoned it right in front of and blocking the door. He couldn’t be bothered to go another five feet where an employee was taking carts to the cart corral at the entrance. That employee had to make a special trip to pick up this one guy’s cart or nobody else would be able to leave.
Some people learn the wrong lesson from this kind of things. They’ll say things like, “I hate people,” or “People are selfish.” Ridiculous, this says nothing about humanity. It’s one person out of the hundreds in the store. The lesson is that most people behave reasonably but those that don’t can really screw things up for the rest of us.
There are lies, damn lies, and anecdotes. If you understand statistics, you can trust statistics. They only fool the ignorant. Anecdotes have almost no value. There are seven billion people in the world, you can find at least one example of anything happening if you look for it.
Somebody found a graffiti covered subway car and the New York Post, a sad excuse for a newspaper, published its picture and used it to say how the City is going to hell. A friend of mine posted the article and said how the City is back where it was in the 70s. In the 70s most of the subway cars looked like that. I never see it now. There was just this one. Only an idiot would think that’s the same as the 70s. My friend is not an idiot but he apparently thinks his friends are stupid enough to be swayed by it.
Don’t do things like that. Don’t take an unusual circumstance and use it to make a general argument. If some Republican candidate for town council says that women shouldn’t have the vote and slavery wasn’t such a bad thing that’s not enough to condemn the entire party. Their policies on voting rights, civil rights, abortion, sexual orientation, women’s rights, and the environment should provide enough ammunition. There’s no need for deceptive arguments when you are right. Leave those for the people that are wrong.
Now on to something more pleasant, Hadestown’s success at the Tony Awards. My Facebook feed is inundated with people singing its praises. I was debating whether I should personally write to Anaïs. I feared she might be overwhelmed with people writing her. On the other hand I felt like Dar in The Babysitter; “I can’t wait to give her the card! I can’t wait to give her the card!” So I gave her the card, or rather I emailed her. I kept it short and said that I had no expectation of her actually reading it as she must have gotten 150,000 other emails. She wrote me back the same day. I’m sure she did get 150,000 other emails. I find her not just taking the time but finding the time to respond as impressive as writing Hadestown. It’s a miracle of time management. I could never do it. I couldn’t write Hadestown either. See they are equivalent achievements. Perhaps this shouldn’t directly follow me complaining about fallacious arguments.
It’s noon. I should eat my breakfast, taylorhameggandcheese on a bagel! Then I’ll watch the Met-Yankee game. They are playing a day/night doubleheader. Tonight I’m off to John Platt’s On Your Radar. I hope to see you there.
Wise Madness 