A couple of months ago, I posted a longish, rather dull piece about the Chicago Archdiocese revising its criteria for publicly listing which clergy have been credibly accused of abuse. I think we were all surprised - at least, I was - when, a week or two later, Jack reported that the post had somehow run afoul of the blog gods' spam guidelines and had been unpublished. We collectively scratched our heads for a day or two, and then, frankly, I forgot about it.
I was reminded of the incident this week when I read an interesting article about the so-called Twitter Files. It seems the Elon Musk regime is now sharing with favored journalists some internal Twitter correspondence showing how the former Twitter powers-that-be decided which tweets should be labeled as misleading, and which tweeters, right up to the former president of the United States, should be banned from the platform.
The article I've linked to in the previous paragraph does some in-depth reporting on the limitations and flaws of Twitter's decision-making. Besides being interesting in its own right, the piece reminded me of some of our speculation about how my sizzling (not!) post managed to be deemed unacceptable. So I revisited Jack's post and David's advice on the topic. Yesterday, I tweaked the post's content a little bit: I corrected some grammatical errors that, frankly, I should have fixed earlier; I shortened a few sentences; and I removed part of a long quote I had pasted from the Chicago archdioecesan newspaper's news story on the abuser list . Then I resubmitted the post.
And behold (as the Gospel writers say): apparently the post passes muster this time, and it's back on the site again. I was notified via email of the decision:
Hello,
We have re-evaluated the post titled "The Chicago Archdiocese now
reporting sex abuse by multiple categories of clergy" against Community
Guidelines https://blogger.com/go/content
policy. Upon review, the post has been reinstated. You may access the post at
http://newgathering.blogspot.c
om/2022/10/the-chicago-archdio cese-now-reporting.html.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
So while the mystery of how it came to be suppressed hasn't been entirely solved, it appears the tale of its exile has come to an end. I hope you're all able to sleep now.
As a former bureaucrat, I am well aware of the mysterious ways of bureaucracy, both in how and why things get done and undone.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was admitted to graduate school, one of the credentials that I had to submit was a Miller Analogies test.
DeleteThe psychology department had two admissions teams each composed of four members. On team A was a psychologist who believed that the Miller Analogies test was the greatest thing ever. On team B was a psychologist who believed that people with a high Miller Analogies score made better philosophers than psychologists. Incoming admissions folders were randomly assigned to the two teams.
I had a very high Miller Analogies score and was admitted so obviously I was screened by Team A.
Sometimes it is better we do not understand how bureaucracies work.
So I was curious and looked up the Miller Analogies test. I'm not much of a philosopher but I did take a college course in symbolic logic. Looks like that would have been helpful with the MAT.. But not sure how the MAT would have been a good predictor of how well one would do as a psychologist.
DeleteWell, you both got me curious. I took the GRE for grad school applications. I don’t think the Miller Analogies test was even accepted at Georgetown or UMaryland, the two schools that I applied to. I thought it was only used for specialized programs that I had no interest in, but not in economics programs. I was married by then so didn’t look out of the DC area. I went to Georgetown for grad school. It seems that they GRE is still the more used.
DeleteThis is what I found on Google - “ The GRE tests a wider range of skills, while the MAT tests a broader base of knowledge.” If applicants have a choice about tests then
“ The GRE has math and writing sections, and therefore, if you are weak in math or writing the MAT may be the better option. If you are strong in reading comprehension or math (which on the GRE is at the high school level) the GRE gives you opportunity to pick up some easy points.”
When I took a GRE practice test I didn’t do well on the math, which was mostly high school algebra. So I took an algebra refresher course before taking the GRE. It worked. I got high scores on both math and verbal.
For graduate school I had to submit the GRE in verbal, math, and I think in Psychology as well as the MAT.
DeleteI have always done very well in GRE type tests, routinely come out at the 99th percentile. That always amazed me since when I take them, I always feel like I am guessing. But I seem to consistently guess correctly. I once though I had what is called GRE test taking ability until I took the GRE French language exam for graduate school. I got a 42nd percentile where passing was the 40th.
The MAT questions are in the format A is to B as C is to choices D, E, F, G, or H. In order to do well you have to be very good at figuring out relationships and have wide content experience.
Some are rather "tricky." For example there is one in which the numbers in A and B are actually base 2 numbers but they don't tell you that, e.g. A "1" (Base 2) is to B "10" (base 2) as C "5" (base 10) is to D "6" (base 10) E "10" (base 10), F "15" (base 10) G "25" base (10) or H "100" (base 10). You have to figure out the choices are all base (10) and that the correct answer ironically is E "10" which looks the same as B!
On the day I took the MAT, I had a headache which was completely gone by the time I finished. I really enjoyed it.
At the end of my undergrad, I took a physics GRE. Did well but had no time for grad school. Had to make some money. I came from a working class family and had to establish some funds.
DeleteStanley, i ent through undergrad on a combination of scholarships. I didn’t apply for grad school scholarships and probably wouldn’t have won any anyway. So I worked full time in grad school. Most of my classes were held at night. It took me longer than if I had been able to go to grad school full time. My sister worked full time during her four years of law school at night. The DC area universities all offered extensive grad school options at night. I don’t know if this was true in other parts of the country but I am grateful that the schools here provided the option for grad study to full time employed students.
DeleteI hadn't heard of the Miller Analytics exam. I went to the website to see if I could take a practice test, but they charge even for the practice exams.
DeleteI took the GMAT to get into MBA school. I am not quite in Jack's league when it comes to standardized tests, but I've always done pretty well on them. Somehow, whatever nerves I experience, I manage to translate into positive, productive focus and energy. I was a better tester than a student, although by the time I was in grad school, I had matured sufficiently to do pretty well in the classroom, too.
I used to think that I'd retire sometime in my early or mid 60s (or earlier), and go back to school. Or teach; I loved teaching at community college when I was young. Now that I've reached my early 60s, it's become clear that it's in my financial interest to work into my late 60s or even until I'm 70, in order to maximize social security. Of course, my employer could end my employment tomorrow, and then I'd be a 60-something looking for a job, which traditionally hasn't been a good spot to be in. Although the NY Times article on Baby Boomer retirements which I referred to in the immigration thread suggests that people my age are pretty critical to the workforce these days - but that may be more along the lines of tending bar or waiting tables, rather than whatever it is I get paid to do these days. (It's actually not very arcane: I run a group of project managers who do IT infrastructure and software development projects.)
Another off- topic comment. I mentioned previously that one of our sons and his family went to Viêt Nam for the holidays. Some Americans get frightened by right wing conspiracy theories that if we had universal health care the country would be automatically turned into a horrible communist nation overnight, and will soon be standing in long lines to buy bread and giving up access to our consumer society’s toys. Viêt Nam is one of the five officially communist countries in the world. Right now they are in Ho Chi Minh city, formerly known as Saigon. He sent a photo of a statue of Ho in a big square. Behind the statue is a row of shop windows with names like Cartier, Tiffany’s, Burberry etc and on the other side, framing the statue, is a Rolls Royce dealership. He also sent a photo of a hotel called Rex Saigon Hotel. The flags included a the hammer and sickle, flanked on both sides by several large display windows labeled with interlocked Cs (Coco Chanel.) and large Chanel in script. .I wish I could post the photos!
ReplyDeleteLOL, sounds like for being communists, they like some aspects of capitalism. Wouldn't think too many people there could afford Tiffany's or Rolls Royce.
DeleteWell, I hope that beside the glitzy stuff, they actually HAVE universal health care.
DeleteLol! Stanley, so do I. Perhaps I shouldn’t assume that a communist country provides all the social safety nets. I might have to Google that.
DeleteBecause of the war, I'm a little weirded out about the idea of traveling to Vietnam. I guess Germany and Japan got over World War II, in fairly short order, to start trading with us. I wonder if it's weird for them, too?
DeleteAbout people still being weirded out long after a war, we went to Hawaii to celebrate our 40th anniversary ( now ten years in the rear view mirror, time flies!). Anyway one place we went was Pearl Harbor. At least half the people there appeared to be Asian. Keep in mind that 80% of people who live in Hawaii have some Japanese ancestry , and it's a very popular vacation destination for Japanese people. Everyone was very somber and quiet at the Pearl Harbor memorial; appropriate to the location. So everyone is over the war, right? Well not quite. When we got home we were comparing notes with people who had also been there in the past. They expressed anger about the Japanese tourists because it was "our" memorial. I'd say both nations had reasons for regret about things that happened in the war, and somber silence was the best response at the memorial. And everywhere else on our trip people were just having fun, which is the reason they came there.
DeleteAnne, at a family wedding last year, I ran into a guy who was a contractor who built structures for private kindergartens in Viet Nam. He's a caucasian American. So things didn't turn out either like Uncle Ho expected or the American anticommunists feared. Turns out rather boring and mundane. All those American and Vietnamese casualties. For what? I would love to hear what the aging Commie vets who fought so doggedly think about how things turned out, Coco Chanel and all.
ReplyDeleteStanley, the Viêt Nam of today is clearly not what was expected when we pulled out in the 70s. I think that a lot of people expected China - as it was then - or North Korea- as it is now- or maybe Cuba.
ReplyDeleteJim, I have found following our son’s family trip a bit weird. When I see photos taken in Hanoi, or Haiphong, or Quang Tri i hear a voice in my head that sounds like Dan Rather or someone saying “Fighting was fierce in Quang Tri province today….”. When we first met his wife’s family after they got engaged our son warned us to avoid any mention of the war. The pain of living through the atrocities, of losing family and friends, and the fear that drove them to escape in a small boat not knowing where they would end up, or if they would even survive the ocean voyage was trauma that few ever experience unless they have experienced war as soldiers or lived in a country that was caught in fighting.The deaths, the destruction, the permanent injuries suffered by their soldiers and ours - none of it was worth it, no matter that the country is now rich enough to support Rolls Royce dealerships.
But our daughter in law’s family love Viêt Nam. They would never move back there but I am happy that they can visit. And that they can go to mass while there - not legal until the 1990s.
Anne, we are very good with weapons engineering (I helped) and military prowess. But Americans are horrible at understanding other cultures and their histories. And the "commie" scare word was enough to goad us into irrationality. Perhaps the slightest knowledge of China's thousand year conflict with Viet Nam might have kept us from such stupidity.
ReplyDelete