Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 418 of the unpopular podcast Sneaky Dragon!
This week, things go like this: unrehearsed insanity; aphorisms; metaphor mix; laziness is the answer; judgemental; May-December romance; age of consensus; fake outrage; the ugly truth; prevaricating; judge actions, not looks; shared cultural touchstones; missed opportunity; endorsing sex; he reads it for the articles; decadence; groupies; ethics vs. morals; sexual power; anti-Puritan; fire your boss; the ocean is dangerous; wee-wee watching; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; family; for the win; lucky granny; lucky VCR; gravelly, and, finally, humble brag.
Question of the Week: What’s a way you make the world a better place?
Sub-question: What’s more important: ethics or morals?
Thanks for listening.
We didn’t mention it during the show, but we had a response to our request that a listener draw up a film poster for Nina’s inspired guesses at the plots of various so-so Disney films. Here is Louise’s poster:
Louise adds: “Nina’s version of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes could be set no earlier than 1972 as that was the year Pong debuted. Also pictured are makes of cars my family drove and the brand of shoes I wore back then.”
Thanks, Louise!
Here is a picture of the gravestone from the beginning of Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, which Dave mostly got wrong:
Dave would have been more correct to stick to the quote from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew: ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.’ But we still think Vonnegut was right!
Here is the Playboy cover cleverly transformed into a Sneaky Dragon title card way back for Episode 99:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Aaaaand yelling at the podcast “no David, you’re wrong!!” in record time. Off to a good start! *goes back to listening*
Well that got dark fast. This episode is the fastest rollercoaster yet
If I’m correct on the dark topic, I’m still thinking about it today!
And yeah, dark time of year, dark events, dark talk. We’ll be back to listing the best breakfast cereal mascots again soon.
Here’s the Salon article.
https://www.salon.com/2013/08/06/the_definition_of_insanity_is_the_most_overused_cliche_of_all_time/
I’m not sure where I was “wrong” in record time – unless it was my attempt to parse out Ian’s personal reading of “The definition of insanity is…”, which I maintain would be clearer as “The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”
On the other hand, this is not the definition of insanity anyway, but the definition of false expectations!
It’s when you kept thinking the ending to that common definition is “expecting the same results”, not the reading of it. Fortunately Ian immediately looked it up on his GIANT MONITOR
It was when Ian associated it with rehearsing! My brain couldn’t make sense of the original saying in that context. Unfortunately, the nature of the show is we must fill the air with blabber, which is contrary to how I normally think through things so you get to hear me audibly trying to work it out.
While ethics are important, I think morals come first. Ethics are the carton of eggs you end up with after your moral chicken has been laying around for a while. Ethics are externally imposed: sets of rules that relate to a profession or an institution. For example, as a writer, I feel it would be unethical of me to publish someone else’s writing without their permission. It wouldn’t necessarily be immoral as the idea of copyright is an artificial legal construct. In fact, I might feel the morally-superior thing to do is to share that writing to help make the world a better place. But if I claimed the writing as my own or tried to profit from it, that would be immoral as my personal belief system tells me it’s wrong to be a liar or a thief.
I watched Family when I was a teen. It was pretty angsty and made Kristy McNichol a huge teen star in the 70s the way that My So Called Life made Claire Danes a star in the 90s. A good movie of McNichols is Little Darlings (980) co-starring Tatum O’Neal as two girls at an upscale summer camp who make a bet to see who can lose their virginity first. Although the set-up makes it sound like a dumb teen sex comedy, the movie actually turns into a serious look about self-esteem and sexuality.
Little Darlings (1980)
I really wanted to see that film when I was younger. I think I had to settle for the MAD Magazine parody.
One of the ways I try to help others is by letting them know they’ve done something right. It’s important to let anyone know they’ve made your day better or easier. Giving good reviews and face-to-face communication if possible can make so much difference to anyone. So many seem to be offended these days and will make the time to blame and/or scold someone publicly, whether it’s in person or online…but a few kind words when deserved can go so much farther. Or is it Father further?
I think I’m all stocked up on morals and ethics for the year, but I did find a killer Black Friday Sale on scruples!!
The entire “Definition of Insanity” conversation struck a nerve with me. That phrase was the basis of letting our entire creative department go from Dr Pepper back in 2007. We were an In-House Creative agency for Dr Pepper and it was going on my 17th year with them. What we suspected was that another agency was preparing to take our place at Dr Pepper but at the same time integrate us into their team. When it happened, the exact opposite cost us all our jobs and we were all let go in a matter of two days.
I remember asking this guy, who we thought was going to hire us, exactly what had happened, and he said, Quote:
“One very important thing unfortunately to remember is that we have absolutely no obligation to hire anyone from the current staff as doing something different using the same resources and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”
End quote.
So obviously using our department of creatives going forward was insanity to him and because of this notion, we were all fired. Karma took care of this bastard years later when during a merge with another big agency it was announced during a company meeting that he had been sleeping with not one, but two executives from the other agency. Talk about morals and ethics….
David and Ian, the first question of this week is one I’ve been wanting to answer, but just hadn’t had the chance till now. For me, the thing I think is so important in making the world a better place is LISTENING. There are a lot of talkers out there, but not so many listeners… and everyone wants/needs someone to take the time to hear them. That’s something I try to do.
In this episode, Ian, you brought up the podcasting Sneaky Dragon with David, as maybe making the world a better place. And, yes, you do. The two of you together putting out this show for us, your people, is wonderful. Your humor and stories and observations are always entertaining. So many times I’ve just thought how grateful I am to have found Sneaky Dragon (through Compleatly Beatles) years ago.
Warning!!! Sob story alert: the past several months have been extremely hard for my family, weird life changes as my daughter and her husband have broken up, which affects everyone in the family, including their children. We are all adjusting, but, I’ve got to tell you, I’ve looked forward to episodes of Sneaky Dragon and Listening Party and Fansplaners like crazy since all this started! I needed the chuckles and the fun!
You do make a difference in the world, gentlemen, in many ways, I’m sure, and that includes your delightful podcasts! Thanks, as always!
Thank you Laurel, that means the world. Love to your family from both of ours!