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Oct 27, 2006
what company do you keep?
I love answering polls on the telephone. All sorts of polls. Come dinnertime and the phone will ring and it is someone saying "Can I just ask you a few questions? It will take just two minutes." For some reason I cannot resist. Usually the poll is about something mundane like what cereal I prefer or what kind of charities I donate to with boring questionairres. I feel as though I am having some sort of influence on the marketplace; of products and of ideas.
NOTE: I do not get these pollsters often. Just a few times a year.
Tonight I answered the phone and it is a polster. She wants to ask me a few questions. No problem, go ahead.
This was a pretty serious poll. It was about the state of security of the world. She asked me about the Iraq war increasing or decreasing the level of security. She asked me about workd keaders being dangerous or not. All sorts of questions that you could discuss with someone for hours and not come to a conclusion on any of them, yet I had to answer about 10 of these questions in one word sentences with 3 seconds to think about it. As a matter of fact, I now realize that your true opinions might be easier to get to when you have to be brief quickly. More so than when you have plenty of time to pontificate and play devils advocate...
Anyway, thinking back afterwards about the questions and my answers, I find it ironic that George Bush is lumped into categories with people like Ahmadinejad, Bin Laden and Kim (the North Korean guy).
And by the way, based on the way the questions were worded and the choices I had for answers, George Bush turns out to be just as dangerous to world security as the North Korean guy.
One more thing - they always want to know about you at the end of the questions. They need to know the demographics I guess. they ask how old I am and am I male or female, where I live, etc.. On equestion always irks me. They always ask, "What kind of Jew are you? Hiloni? Traditional? Haredi? Dati Leumi?"
I always answer, "Just a simple Jew".
They usually get confused and refuse to accept that. They insist on putting me into a category. I always insist and say, "Just a Jew".
NOTE: I do not get these pollsters often. Just a few times a year.
Tonight I answered the phone and it is a polster. She wants to ask me a few questions. No problem, go ahead.
This was a pretty serious poll. It was about the state of security of the world. She asked me about the Iraq war increasing or decreasing the level of security. She asked me about workd keaders being dangerous or not. All sorts of questions that you could discuss with someone for hours and not come to a conclusion on any of them, yet I had to answer about 10 of these questions in one word sentences with 3 seconds to think about it. As a matter of fact, I now realize that your true opinions might be easier to get to when you have to be brief quickly. More so than when you have plenty of time to pontificate and play devils advocate...
Anyway, thinking back afterwards about the questions and my answers, I find it ironic that George Bush is lumped into categories with people like Ahmadinejad, Bin Laden and Kim (the North Korean guy).
And by the way, based on the way the questions were worded and the choices I had for answers, George Bush turns out to be just as dangerous to world security as the North Korean guy.
One more thing - they always want to know about you at the end of the questions. They need to know the demographics I guess. they ask how old I am and am I male or female, where I live, etc.. On equestion always irks me. They always ask, "What kind of Jew are you? Hiloni? Traditional? Haredi? Dati Leumi?"
I always answer, "Just a simple Jew".
They usually get confused and refuse to accept that. They insist on putting me into a category. I always insist and say, "Just a Jew".
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"And by the way, based on the way the questions were worded and the choices I had for answers, George Bush turns out to be just as dangerous to world security as the North Korean guy."
ReplyDeleteand
"they insist on putting me into a catagory."
so you're ok with answering specifically worded questions which are limited in choice and narrowly slot others into a catagory but won't allow yourself the same?
You misunedrstood me. They did not ask me "Who are George Bush's buddies?" or "With whom does Dubya run" or "Is W a fundamentalist religous whatever" or is he a x y or z".
ReplyDeleteThey asked questions like Has the war in iraq increased the level of safety in the world or decreased? Has George Bush made the world more dangerous or less? How much of a real threat do you think Ahmadinejad is, very mediocre, or not really? How Dangerous Kim Jung Il? How dangerous Al Qaeda? How dangerous Bush?
Afterwards I was thinkign about the grouping of the questions and it seemed funny the way their questions and my answers seem to put Bush in a similar category as Ahmadinejad, Il and Al Qaeda...
sholom - I deleted your comment because of the foul language. It was inappropriate. I am willing to listen to any and every opinion on the face of the earth but it has to be presented appropriately, not in a vulgar way.
ReplyDeleteWhile I deleted your comment, I have nothing against you and I even put your blog in my blogroll and would be happy to have you comment again and as often as you can, just with a sense of appropriateness.
That's understandable. Your post inspired me to write poetically, hence the nature of my response. I tend to speak and write in an extremely vulgar manner, as I very much enjoy pushing people's buttons and challenging their thought processes. The comment itself is not lost to oblivion, as I reposted it on my own blog.
ReplyDeletethey lie. it always takes more than 2 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAri - they do lie and it does take more than two minutes....
ReplyDeleteSholom - that is fine and I have enjoyed reading yours... but I do not want that here..
טקטיקל אופס - שרתי משחק - העלאת תמונות - סטלה זון - קאונטר סטרייק - שרתי משחק
ReplyDelete