Lie with confidence

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Be controversial but wrong, say it with confidence, and watch the likes and re-shares come your way. I had an Instagram video shared with me. The ‘influencer’ who posted it has over 600,000 followers and she claims to be an autoimmune specialist.

“You’ve got to see this,” she says, after saying that a man tested his blood before and after EMF (Electric and Magnetic Field) exposure. Then the clip changes to a guy looking at an image on a screen of what he claims to be red blood cells in “pretty perfect blood… I, mean these cells are absolutely amazing cells… it may even be hard actually to mess them up.”

Then they do a ‘phone test’ where the test subject sits between two cell phones, and has a third one between his legs on the chair, to test how “these EMF’s are affecting his ‘perfect blood’… Admitting that this is, “A bit of a risky game,” He then pricks his finger to draw a drop of blood after this supposed EMF exposure. They put a drop of the blood on a microscope plate and we switch views to see the screen again.

The contrast from the original image is comical. Worse yet the person is scrolling on the screen to a point that would go far beyond the edge of a drop of blood on a microscope plate. The difference in the slides is described as “A lot of inflammation. It’s all over.” After a very non-medical, exaggerated analysis, it concludes with, “None of this is good.”

When the video got to me it had 336,000 views and over 9,500 likes. And again, it was sent to me by someone who was concerned by this and wanted to share it.

We live in an era where confidence trumps competence. Be controversial and convincing and you are going to get not just attention, but believers. If I were to make a video debunking this, it wouldn’t get traction. Even scientists with large followings would likely not get 336,000 views on a debunking video.

So the inventive is huge. This influencer probably gained thousands of followers from this video. She made hundreds if not thousands of dollars from it going viral. And so it pays to put intentionally fake pseudo-scientific crap on the web. Just pick a controversial topic, lie with confidence, and watch the profits flow in. No backlash, no consequences, just greed, and incentives to continue to lie.

My fear? I see this getting worse, not better. AI will only serve to exaggerate the problem with more convincing lies that cater to wider audiences. It feels like as a society, we are actually getting dumber and social media is incentivized to make the problem exponentially worse.

Where else have we seen lying with confidence working? Everywhere from biased news outlets, to product advertising, to politics. Whether selling ideas, products, or partisanship, lying with confidence seems to gain far more traction than telling the truth.

_____

Update: After posting this, (and probably thanks to re-watching the above video a few times to get the quotes right), I opened Instagram and the first post had dramatic music and warned against wearing polyester on planes:

I took the screen shot and didn’t watch the rest of the video. People actually fall for this crap? 🤦‍♂️

YouTube removed your content

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I got an email from YouTube (links removed):

“What we found

We think your content violated our violent or graphic content policy.

Violent or graphic content that’s intended to shock or disgust viewers isn’t allowed on YouTube. This may include footage, audio, or imagery involving war, terrorist attack aftermath, or other similar scenarios. We may make limited exceptions for content with educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic context. Read policy

You can see an example around 00:01:47, although there could be other instances.

How this impacts you

We removed this content from YouTube.

What to do next

Review your content and the policy. Then you can optionally:
• Appeal if you think we got it wrong
• Edit the video and submit for another review

Learn about your resolution options.”

It was for a video on the muscular system done by my daughter in Grade 7. It’s a great video where my daughter scripted an entire song on the topic, to the beat of a French song.

I went to the spot in the video the violation claimed was graphic.

It has a clip of a hand that is indeed graphic, the skin is peeled back in an operation and the muscles and tendons are revealed, moving in a short gif file as the patient moves their fingers. That said this should NOT be a violation when there are a multitude of videos up on YouTube right now, sharing much more graphic details of the same topic.

I appealed and it was rejected. I was given a chance to appeal again, but there is nowhere to defend my reasoning within the process. So, rather than face a second and possibly final decision, I decided to complain directly to YouTube. I shared a link to my video and 4 very graphic links to videos I found by searching “hand tendon operations” inside of my YouTube app.

I can’t imagine who would have complained about this video? Furthermore, why didn’t it pass an appeal? There are so many videos that are not educational and far more graphic.

I’ll update this if and when I get a response from YouTube.

A community of learners

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Here are 4 quotes from student self reflections. I saved the most creative on for last. I absolutely love how the kid created a metaphor, but understood that it wasn’t a perfect analogy, so he updated the comparison to make it work. Very clever.

I need reminders like this sometimes to remember what a unique learning environment the teachers have created for our students. It lifts me up to see these kinds of comments in self reflections. It reminds me that we are not just teaching kids, we are fostering a special learning community.

These all come from the ‘Student Self-Assessment of Core Competencies’ section of our recent report card. The first and last ones are from Grade 9’s and the middle two are from a Grade 11 and then a Grade 10. As a bit of background to the first one, we use scrum project management for a lot of group work at our school.

~~~

“The most important thing I have learned this term is with the French Revolution, we learned about the different social estates and how each estate was treated differently and unfairly by their king, which led to the third estate starting a revolution for better rights. With that knowledge, it gives an example of how a good scrum leader should act and how they shouldn’t act, they should be inclusive, fair and treat their group with respect and consider everyone’s opinions, while a bad scrum leader might choose to ignore their group’s input and be controlling over the project.

Some of my favourite things to do at school are the different group projects we have, with the group projects they’re mostly assigned groups so it gives me a chance to get to know my classmates and see who works best with what. When I work really hard at something, I have a better understanding and I will be able to get my work done.”

~~

“This term I am proud of my ability to take in information during lectures and lessons. I find it useful in 20th Century History, and especially Pre-calc 11. The most important thing I have learned this term is the significance in attempting to be passionate in the things you’re learning. To find interest in the things you might find boring. Some of my favourite things to do at school are talking with people and their interests and views.

When I work really hard at something, I feel accomplished and proud that I have the capacity to learn.”

~~~

“This term I am proud of how much I’ve improved in managing my time and finishing my work on schedule. I’ve become more organized and responsible with deadlines, and I’ve learned how to plan my tasks better so I don’t feel rushed at the last minute. I’ve also noticed that I can focus longer and stay “consistent” even when the workload gets heavier. The most important thing I have learned this term is that effort and patience make a big difference. Even when something feels difficult at first, I’ve realized that I can get better if I keep trying and don’t give up too soon. I’ve learned to see mistakes as part of the process instead of something negative, and that mindset has helped me improve both academically and personally. Some of my favourite things to do at school are working on hands-on projects, doing group activities, and learning through discussions instead of just notes or lectures. I enjoy collaborating with classmates, sharing ideas, and finding creative ways to solve problems together. I like lessons that are interactive and allow me to apply what I’ve learned in real ways.

When I work really hard at something, I feel proud and motivated to keep improving. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and shows me that consistent effort pays off. It reminds me that I can do more than I thought if I stay determined and keep pushing myself, even when things get challenging. Next term I would like to try challenging myself more, especially in areas I usually find hard, such as writing and analyzing. I also want to take more initiative in group work, contribute more ideas, and help others when I can. My goal is to keep growing not only in academics but also in teamwork and confidence!”

~~~

“During my first few months of Inquiry Hub, I’ve found that I’m quite proud of how many connections I’ve made already. At my old schools, it was difficult to find any friends, at all. In middle school, I thought I’d found them, but I was actually in a really toxic friendship. I think that was because I just wasn’t around my people. Here at iHub, I’ve found some really good friends, just in the first weeks!

During those weeks, however, I watched the higher grades, and tried to figure out what was going on. They didn’t act like the people I’d known at all. After a little bit, I figured it out:

(iHub) = (Normal School) – (Discrimination)

It’s not just another school, it’s another ecosystem entirely! A place where all predators were locked out, and instead of the ”’prey”’ destroying the environment with overpopulation, they create an actually self-functioning society.”

~~~

Reading comments like these reminds me why I like going to work. They remind me of the awesome students we have and the incredible team of educators who bring the best out of our students. I really love our learning community.

Do not disturb

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For almost a year now I’ve left my phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ all day. I only ever change it when I’m expecting a call. Other than that it stays muted. I have gone into my settings and set up ‘Allow Notifications’ so that, “Notifications from selected people will be allowed, all others will be silenced.”

This is a game changer for me. My phone is not the distraction it used to be. At home, I still get family notifications. At work my family, bosses, secretaries, and teachers can still get messages through. But everyone else has to wait until I look at my phone. My attention is no longer dictated by other people’s schedules and expectations to communicate with me. I don’t get distracted by spam calls and texts. I check my messages at my convenience not someone else’s.

It’s amazing how this little choice has made me more efficient and less distracted.

Doing hard things

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My workouts have stagnated a bit recently. I’m doing the minimum, but the good news is that I’m still showing up. Yesterday I did my first interval training in about 3 or 4 weeks. I want to do it weekly, but I haven’t made it part of my routine yet.

The reason I haven’t made interval training part of my regular schedule yet is embarrassingly simple: It’s really hard. The purpose of doing intervals is to maintain and improve my Max VO2 levels. To increase Max VO2, I need to not only do intervals, but do them at a very physically taxing level. That’s hard to do when just showing up is a challenge for me right now. But yesterday was a day off work and so I used the day as an opportunity to get an interval workout in.

I did a warm-up then eight 1-minute sprints. My sets are actually 1:15 hard and 1:10 easy, because it takes about 13 seconds to get my treadmill from my easy recovery speed to full sprint and I want the sprint to be a full minute. It’s not fun, but it’s much easier than the Norwegian Protocol which is four 4-minute sprints with 3-minute rest intervals. And I think that’s going to be my ticket to get back into regular intervals. When a task is hard to do, break it down into something more manageable. I can talk myself into 1-minute sprints even when I’m not feeling fully motivated… four 4-minute sprints feels like torture right now.

Through all this I’ve still been very consistent with my zone 2 training, but I think even that has not been ideal. I’m not sure how effective I’ve been because I haven’t been tracking my heart rate and so I’m not certain if I’m getting and staying in the zone. That’s changing this month, when I buy myself a Garmond watch, then I’ll really be able to track my cardio workout progress. I’m hoping the extra data will help motivate me to push myself.

When consistently doing hard things, maintaining motivation is important. I’ve become a master at showing up. My dedication to my workout habit is unwavering. Last year I did 326 workouts, and I’m on schedule to be around that total this year. I know how to show up! But if I were to rank myself on an intensity scale, this year would be much lower than last year. So my focus is to finish the year hard and strong. And I’m fortunate that I’ll have the tools to help track this. It benefits no one to lie to myself about how hard I’m working, and so the extra data the watch will give me will both inform me, and keep me honest about my progress.

The ego and the way

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Intelligence is blind to ignorance. While it is true that the smarter you get, the more likely you are to realize how little you know; It is also true that the smarter you get, the less likely you are to listen to opinions and ideas which you do not agree with. You easily dismiss opposing views, you do not challenge the ideas as much as you challenge the intelligence of those that share them.

Imagine an upside down bell curve. On the X-axis is level of intelligence, on the Y-axis is knowledge of your intelligence.

I think both extremely intelligent and unintelligent people are aware of where they are on the scale, but most people are in the middle. They are somewhat intelligent, and yet blissfully unaware of where they are on the scale. They don’t know what they don’t know, and so they think they are more intelligent than they are. Their knowledge of their intelligence does not match their actual intelligence. I think here, where most people live on the scale, their egos get in the way. Not too many people think, “I am dumber than most people think,” while many would consider, “I’m smarter than people give me credit for.”

And so most people in the world think they are smarter than they are. For that reason, their political, scientific, economic, technical, social, and cultural perspectives are ‘correct’. For the same egotistical reasons, the views of others that oppose them are perceived as less intelligent. I fear that sometimes I too may be guilty here.

And so we live in a world we’re people are egotistically unaware of their lack of intelligence. Crazy conspiracies fool them. Legitimate conspiracies are dismissed. Intelligent sounding pseudoscience convinces them while counterintuitive facts and evidence get easily dismissed. They are smart enough to think they are smart, while scoring high enough on the Dunning-Kruger scale to be easily fooled. Smart enough to do their own research, but not intelligent enough to evaluate that research with intellectual rigour.

And so egos grow with intelligence, and in turn intelligence wanes when the ego interferes with the wisdom that should come with intelligence. Meanwhile, the best and the brightest, the ones who are truly both intelligent and wise, they know just how little they still know. They give up trying to convince the ones who let ego cloud intelligence.

They find themselves lonely, uninterested in bickering over opinions that dismiss and alter facts to win petty arguments. They are labeled as the crazy ones. Their wisdom ignored; they are helpless to bypass the egos and support intelligent growth. Because for most of the world the ego gets in the way.

Fall appreciation

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Fall in Vancouver is usually defined by rain. Pouring, ever present rain with a gloomy sky, often unable to see where exactly the sun is. You can sometimes go days without seeing the sun for more than 10 minutes. Not this year.

This year we’ve had a glorious fall. We’ve had beautiful sunny days, and more often than not, even when rain has been forecasted it has not been as much or for as long as expected. The extra sunlight has warmed my soul, and so have the fall colours.

Usually by now there is hardly a leaf on the deciduous trees, but the number of trees that still have vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and pinks is surprising. Any time that we still have fall colours lasting almost two weeks into November, it’s worth mentioning!

Winter is on its way, the leaves will fall, the rain will come… this is inevitable. Still, it feels wonderful to have this unusual bout of pleasant fall weather, and beautiful fall colours, for a little longer than we normally do.

Fuelling my disillusionment

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A few months ago I wrote the following in response to a LinkedIn post, and then saved it in my drafts. The problem is, I didn’t copy the link to the original post properly. Furthermore, if I recall, it didn’t really answer the question that was posed. It was tangentially connected but not completely on topic.

I’ve edited my comment slightly, and I want to share it since I’m wonder if ‘it’s just me’ feeling this way?

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It’s the doing more with less that fuels my disillusionment.

  • Greater and often unrealistic expectations of parents and universities.
  • Greater student social-emotional as well as educational needs.
  • Greater demands to prevent litigation (more documentation, more protection of data, more health & safety requirements… all ‘necessary’, but time consuming.)
  • Greater demands and expectations from the Ministry of Education, and Worksafe BC.
  • Greater costs – pay hikes, heating costs, perishable supplies. Even with no cuts to education, less money gets to the classroom.
    I could go on. I’ve watched my role shift from educational leader to middle manager of an educational machine. I feel like a shield trying to redirect and manage the above impacts away from teachers so that they, rather than we, can do great things with kids.

Still an important role but a lot less personally rewarding.

Am I the only principal feeling this?

Follow our journey

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Dave Sands and I are finally sharing our goal scheduled for next August. We are going to ‘Everest the Crunch’. What does that mean? Mount Everest is 8,849 meters high. The path we take when we walk up the Coquitlam Crunch, a local walk that traverses a power line up the Westwood Plateau area of Coquitlam, is 243 meters. To ‘Everest the Crunch’ we will go up the Coquitlam Crunch 37 times in 48 hours.

I’ve written a number of times about doing the Coquitlam Crunch with Dave… and there is going to be more shared as we get closer to our Everesting day. Dave will be starting this trek on his 60th birthday, I’ll be close to my 59th birthday. We have both been on health kicks which have put us in fantastic shape, and we’ve started training.

Today we did 3 trips up the crunch and 2 trips down, which took us 2 hours and 12 minutes. The training sessions will get longer in the coming months. When we Everest the Crunch, we’ll only be going up. We will be seeking support from family and friends to help drive us down so we don’t have to jockey our 2 cars up and down the hill between our upward climbs. We will also invite people to join us a lap or two.

All that and more details to come. For now it would be great to have people follow us on Instagram as we document our journeys, both from now until next August, and especially during our 2-day challenge. Please follow EverestTheCrunch on Instagram.

And the adventures begin…

The struggle is real

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Today I wanted to quit. I’ve procrastinated for over an hour and a half, and my morning routine will be incomplete. Doubt kept circulating in my head. I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say. It’s been six plus years of writing every day… maybe today it ends. Done.

Well, the fact that these words are written here says that I beat today’s demons. That said, it feels painfully cliche to write about how hard it is sometimes to write. Trite.

It’s a day to remember that if every day was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing. A day to remember that it’s not every day that we can do our best work, and in fact 50% of those days will be our worst 50%. You can’t do better than that on average, the math doesn’t math.

My fingers are moving, words are appearing before me, constructed from thoughts in my head, and another Daily-Ink will be published. I didn’t quit. I also didn’t add any real qualitative value, but I didn’t quit.

Tomorrow will be easier. I say that rather unconvincingly, but with honest hope. Sometimes the blank screen is daunting, and painful to look at. It’s a prison wall more than a screen. Today was one of those days. I’ve scaled the wall, not step by step but word by word, flowing better now because the page is no longer blank. The prison break was successful.

But am I really free? Is my choice to write daily an opportunity for artistic expression, or is it a life sentence? Today it feels like the latter. When that feeling comes more than 50% of the time, I will need to consider freeing myself, but for now I’ll keep writing.

Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.