The March 27, 2007
PinFeed Almanack
Meliora

      - Latin adjective meaning "better"; 
      the motto of the University of Rochester at Rochester, New York, used 
      substantively (i.e. as a noun) in this context to mean "better things,"
      "always better," or, more fully, "for the pursuit of the better."
  
  ----------
  No, I didn't accidentally re-send yesterday's notice.  A couple of items
  struck me as so apropos of the 'Meliora' page that I tacked on a P.S., below.
  ----------
  
  Yesterday's Times strikes a particularly high tone in disparate opinion 
  columns.  They weren't funny (so much for 'Lighten Up'), but they were in
  the spirit of 'meliora'.
  
  In Compassionate Commercialism, an op-ed piece, Daniel Gilbert recounts 
  being touched for half-a-sawbuck some years ago, in a touristy part of 
  Giuliani's Manhattan.  Knowing he was scammed, Mr Gilbert admits to acquiring 
  a more defensive, less helpful posture toward his fellow sojourners, and feels
  personally (perhaps spiritually?) diminished by the change.  In the same 
  manner as a grifter begging for aid, Nissan's 'lost keys' ad campaign preys 
  on a helpful impulse to peddle a crass commercial pitch.  His point is well 
  made:  we become desensitized, even cynical, by every such insult that makes 
  us feel stupid for being duped.
  
  The fact that the grifter was outside the law, and Nissan within it, only adds
  to the helpless sense of cynicism; at least the grifter had the integrity 
  borne of personal risk.
  
  On the business pages, Ben Stein offers The Split-Screen State of the Union.
  The 'split' is between first- and second-class citizens, which traditionally
  has meant the 'haves' vs the 'have-nots'.  But Stein sees new, disturbing, 
  and widening splits:  between ordinary employees and investors, and the
  insiders who have access to back-dated stock options, which Stein labels 
  outright fraud; between soldiers dying in Iraq, and citizens splurging on
  economy-growing botox treatments and teeth whitening.
  
  Once again, cynicism is overwhelming, as the Secretary of the Treasury and
  the chairman of the S.E.C. negotiate with Wall Street to relieve the awful
  burden of regulatory oversight under which these Wall Street billionaires
  labor.  The argument being that regulations hinder business, reduce profits,
  slow the economry; and might (naive hope!) have a slight restraining effect
  on flagrantly unfair compensation schemes.
  
  The division is not so much between rich and poor, as between those who
  exploit, and those who don't.  Competition, in this game, is not between
  those seeking to outperform their peers to produce a better product more
  efficiently.  The goal is to entrap the unwary, victimize the naive, and
  profit from the disadvantaged.
  
  The Almanack's preferred focus is on 'qwertyness', how things become 'good
  enough'.  Conventional wisdom holds that competition will always result in
  the best being recognized and rewarded; but not always.  Politics, accident,
  deceit, and unintended consequences often get in the way.  Ben Stein and
  Daniel Gilbert urge us, as Joseph Campbell said, to 'lean toward the light'.
  
  ---------- P.S.:
  
  And in that spirit, today's (3/27) op-ed from Nicholas Kristof, and a one-liner
  from techie blogger Richie Bielak, strongly support the anti-cynical Kiva.
  
  Kiva is a web site that facilitates micro-lending, in amounts as small as $25,
  to third-world entrepreneurs, especially women.  Kiva has set a new standard
  for meliora.
  
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