The new Auto Industry Ads

Okay, no more beating up on the auto industry. Promise!

( The first ad comes from Conservative Blogger. Source of the second ad is unknown. Click on the images for better views.)

Religulous? Eh...

For some reason, the recent movie "Religulous" seems to come up often in conversations with my friends.

And, yes, I think that says something about my social circle... but I'll leave that alone for now.

But, yes, I saw it. And I got a few laughs from the cheap shots at narrow-minded, brain-dead religious fundamentalism.

Now, is it a legitimate attack on religion?

As a non-atheist... I'd have to answer that with a solid, "No."

Unfortunately, the things that made this movie an effective comedy also made it ineffective as an argument against religion.

A serious discussion would have created a discussion with religious proponents who were the most capable of intelligent discourse. And, if you asked religious leaders where the very best theological minds ccould be found, I'm sure that none of them would have suggested interviewing the guy who plays Jesus Christ at "The Holyland Experience" theme park in Orlando, Florida.

So, no. We're not on fertile intellectual ground. Funny stuff? Sure. A source of cheap laughs? Why not.

But rhetorically? It's completely ineffective.

And, yes, in the final scenes, it finally sums up what I consider the "Radical Atheist" argument.

Essentially, that religion is, ultimately an irrational source of conflict. And war.

And, because of this, "Radical Atheists" feel that they need to convince others to abandon religion.

Okay, if I were an atheist (and I'm not), this might make me feel a little more empowered and self-righteous. But will it really advance world peace?

Let's assume that the first part of the radical atheist dogma is right, and that religion creates irrational and irresolvable differences among people.

I don't quite buy into this extreme, but, yes,religion does create differences. And this gets my "amateur psychologist" going.

The fact is, psychologists have long pointed out that differences can create conflict. One of the most famous experiments simply involved dividing children into arbitrary teams.

These teams can be divided by anything. Rational, or irrational. Religion. Eye color. Tosses of a coin. It doesn't matter.

But, yes, once the separation is in place, people on the same side tend to ally themselves against the "enemy".

But radical atheists aren't promoting world peace by preventing religion from starting. Clearly, they're too late to do that.

So, their efforts end up being spent on become a "third team".

Which, in itself creates another separation.

And another source of conflict.

And, to me, that seems counterproductive.

Is there a solution to these conflicts? Psychologists do have some insight into this as well.

When you're dealing with separated teams, it's best to find goals that everyone shares.

Are there common threads between groups that can be agreed upon?

Can mixed groups be formed to solve these problems?

This, in my mind, is what will ultimately reduce conflict among groups. Including religions.

And, if radical atheists really do want to work toward the goal of reducing interreligious violence, perhaps they should spend their efforts building bridges.

And not by denigrating "delusional" folks like myself.

A New Bailout Plan for the Auto Industry

I feel bad for the victims of the Auto Industry's collapse.

But, the fact is... I don't think that the American Auto industry, as it is today, can survive. For a company to survive, they need to create a product that people want.

And, as far as buzz-worthy products? The Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky created a lot of buzz.

And that's all I can think of.

Okay, there are more people who want to buy American hybrid SUVs than the companies can supply. But, unless the companies can figure out a way to turn a profit from cars they can't produce... these products don't help the car companies' bottom lines.

And, yes, there are the American exotics. I suppose that there will always be interest in the Vipers, Ford GTs, Prowlers, and high-end Mustangs and Corvettes. But right now, they're the showpieces of the auto industry. They're not meant to be the revenue producers.

So, in the end? We've got comanies that have consistently failed to produce products that people want. And I haven't seen any "must have", drool-worthy cars in the works either. The only one that creates any interest is the Chevy Volt - and, quite frankly, I'm not convinced that it can be produced. Or that people will want to buy it once it's made.

Clearly, for an American car company to survive, it needs to innovate. To create cars that we didn't realize that we wanted - until we saw them. And, until recently, this was the American car companies' strength.

And, when there's no innovation coming from the car companies... it definitely won't be created through a government bailout.

So... how do we create innovation?

Here's my plan.

Declare GM and Chrysler dead. Let them sell their remaining inventory - I'm sure that plenty of third party companies would be happy to compete for warrantee contracts. Smart dealers would bundle them in. This will provide the dealers and distributors some time to create a "Plan B" for their financial survival.

Meanwhile, parts suppliers will have time to retool. There will still be a demand for parts. Heck, if there's still demand for "classic auto parts", there's still going to be demand for American auto parts for many years to come. Yes, eventually, businesses will have to retool... but they have time. They won't die overnight.

In the meantime? We've got a lot of car factories. And design centers.

And, if we can't find fuel innovation through the free market yet - maybe there's another way.

My proposal? Let's create a reality television show. Let the broadcasters compete over who gets to air it.

Let the management teams of GM and Chrysler have their teams. The UAW can get a team too.

After that? I'm sure there are plenty of qualified entrepreneurs who'd love to compete. If they can create a team that can realistically succeed - let 'em in.

Start with concepts. Move on to prototypes. Engineering tests for durability, safety, and feasibilility of delivering the marketing claims. Testing by auto enthusiasts. And so on.

All with the American public watching on television. And voting away the design and engineering teams that just don't get it.

The winner? They get the equipment to start the small-but-nimble innovators that can create demand for American cars.

And the losers? Heck, if they've got good ideas, I'm sure they'll pick up investors.

After all, I've seen a lot more successes from "American Idol" runner-ups than I have from winners.

Reflections

Okay. I suppose that I didn't give you folks any warning before I decided to stop the eHarmony Cracked blog.

And I've been pretty much silent since then.

So, after a couple of months have passed, what do I think about my decision to quit eHarmony?

At this point - I still feel good about it.

Don't get me wrong - eHarmony was a great tool for helping me learn how to date again. After my divorce, I needed a lot of practice. And I got it.

But, at this point, it's a distraction.

Right now, my problem isn't "dating skill". The problem is that I need to build a better social network for myself. And, unfortunately, dating women who live 2-3 hours away would prevent me from doing that.

But, yes, I do miss the online community that I've built.

And, I figured, maybe folks want to read what I have to say about other things.

So, this blog will just be a collection of my random thoughts.

I probably won't talk much about eHarmony - I think I've already said plenty. And it's hard to talk about a service that I haven't used for awhile.

Will I talk about relationships? I probably will. But I've got a lot of other things to talk about, too. And my search is only a small part of my life. So, probably not as much as many of my fans would like.

So... here it is. Just a typical personal blog of my random thoughts, rants, and ravings.

Enjoy!

P.S. Unlike eHarmony Cracked, I'm not committing to writing every day. Oh, I figure I do have a lot of things on my mind... but I won't force myself to make daily updates. If you want to keep track of when I post, may I suggest using an RSS feeder?