you don't have to shave your beard to be an EMT with the VFD and I think you only have to be straight if you drive the engine... you can't show up if you have had two glasses of wine... and I would hope good judgement is used by you in all your endeavors if you are not straight... volunteer with DFD and you get paid when on the ambulance... you should never do anything you don't want your kids to do or that could stop you from doing other things you want to do... and I hate shoulds... but it is true... and as for "you can not marry an Eskimo if there is no Eskimo"... I say... "it either will or it won't".

Two at once, last one first. No, I tell my wife I love her every day. Instead, what I am talking about in Great Nations is the kind of talk we heard from George W. Bush, who, you'll remember, used to be president. When the US was attacked, he said "they hate us because of our freedom." Subsequently, he gave some rambling, badly written patriotic speech which cause me serious nausea. That kind of "we're great" crap is just crap. Show me don't tell me. He showed me crap. The second, I was kidding about the master's degree making me smarter than anyone. Didn't you recongnize the "Ask Dr. Science (trademark Duck's Breath etc.)" knock off? Anyway all sociologists look at something and see the very same thing, because of our training, and because of the drugs they gave us in graduate school, and because twice a year when we change the clocks we also change the batteries in our brain implants. It is these improvements which allow us to see things mere mortals can't. Seriously, read just two books, you're clearly a literate person and read books. Berger and Luckmann, and Peter Blau. then, tell me what you think. Finally, I was going to join the volunteer fire department but they insisted I shave my beard (to keep my face from catching fire) and be straight all the time, and frankly, I couldn't live under those constraints.

#9 Great Nations yeh, and if you love your wife you never have to say it outloud. Right?

Well, here's the thing. I am a trained observer and before becoming a TC I was alert and observant to the actions, thoughts, demeanors of people, society and environment as a necessity of survival. My frame may be limited in the textbook sense however my life experience and observations of others in my sphere of influence and I have had many spheres in my life has allowed me to have a somewhat objective, subjective and projective view at what is going on in society. Technically you are smarter than me you have an MA, I don't. Often when given the same information people come to different conclusions and do not agree on what the information means. Actually when I think about it I am just rambling here and am not coming to a precise point. I think you need to join the local volunteer fire department.

The point Sociologica made is a good one. Semioticists frequently argue that language shapes thought. By "language" we really mean the conceptual framework in which the words have meaning relative to each other. I would never question either your intelligence or your experience, I.S., and I certainly wouldn't suggest that your world view doesn't have merit, after all, you are successful in your life by any important measure. But the term "consciousness" in the marxist and marxist feminist frame is very useful here. In this context it means "lens" or "paradigm". It is a logical construct through, or more correctly, against, which one examines the object. In this instance the object is our own society, so we have reflexivity, meaning we examine ourselves as we examine our society. In one sense, as Sociolgica said, your frame is limited, you need to critical logic of sociology. Simply being a part of society doesn't make you a sociologist any more than having a brain makes you a brain surgeon. In another sense, though, I.S. is right. Our paradigm shows Sociologica and I what it does because we examine ourselves first, due the reflexivity of our study. So, yeah, I might have kind of a jaundiced view or society, and, yeah, maybe I am arrogant enough to think I know more than you do. I have Master's degree, in (social) SCIENCE! Also, don't write in word and past into the guest book because the formatting is different and it makes it seem you're writing Arabic. Spelling doesn't count here.