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| Prague, Czech Republic |
Ah...Prague. It's a great place. Kelly and I have spent almost a week here. To me, Prague represents the best of all the big cities we've been to yet. It has social, open squares and good food like Italy and Croatia, incredible architecture like Vienna, good looking people like Italy, and a bustling energy like Rome. Also, Prague is cheaper than all of the comparable cities above. I am sure it used to be ridiculously cheap, whereas now it is cheaper, but not ridiculously so. Most people speak at least some English. I haven't learned a word of Czech yet, and haven't had a problem.
Kelly and I have crossed the Charles Bridge (the most famous bridge in Prague) many times. I probably should have been appreciating it, but it was so crowded that I motored through it. I have noticed that whenever I am surrounded by hoardes of people moving in different directions, my achievement chromosome is triggered and I must get to my destination very fast. It is the same trigger that has me speed up to and pass a driver in front of me on the freeway, only to then realize I really didn't want to go much faster than he was once I'm facing down a wide open road. See the kind of eye-opening self-knowledge that travel provides?
Anyway, during an out-of-character stop along the bridge during one of our crossings, Kelly and I took a scenic picture and then watched a dixieland jazz band that was playing. I surveyed the crowd that had gathered to watch, which formed a horseshoe around the band. Sure enough, right on cue the swing dancers emerged. Let me explain the history behind this embarrassing phenomenon. Swing dancing made a comeback and gained massive popularity around 1996 after the movie Swingers came out. Everyone and their partner took a series of swing dancing classes, and enjoyed showing them off at the plethora of swing dancing clubs, hotel ballrooms during swing dancing nights, and wedding receptions when the DJ played the token set of swing songs when even he couldn't stand the onslaught of 70's disco, and decided to break up the monotony of yet another transition from "Play That Funky Music White Boy" straight into "YMCA" and "Brickhouse" (I challenge anyone to attend one DJed wedding or company party where all three of these songs are not played). This lasted for quite a while, until, like any fad, swing dancing started dying off. Sure, there are still places to swing dance if you're really into it, but it's no longer super cool like it was, and therefore the opportunity to display skills learned in class are few and far between. This brings me back to the Charles Bridge in 2004, where two couples (the only ones dancing) were swing dancing to dixieland music. This is the music they play at Disneyland...those barbershop quartet looking guys with their stripes and hats and old timey musical instruments. It's great music. It's not great music, however, for swing dancing. As the video I took will show (when I arrive home), there are few things as embarrassing as watching a man do that little swing jiggle beat with his arms to dixieland jazz. The funniest part of all was that it made me laugh, but it made Kelly angry. She was ready to tackle them, she was so annoyed that they were plugging their square dance into an obviously round musical hole just to show off. In her defense, these guys weren't adapting a few swing concepts to allow them to dance to another form of music. No, they were performing "swing only" moves, such as when the one guy flipped the girl over his head. I call on Kofi Annan to declare a state of world emergency, and force the opening of a token number of swing clubs in every city to prevent this kind of atrocity in the future.
I haven't mentioned it in several posts, but the weather has gotten cooler. This is due to a natural transition from Summer to Autumn, but also because we're traveling northward. Vienna got downright cold during a couple of overcast days. The cooler weather is a welcome respite from what has otherwise been constant heat. And in three weeks when we head to India, we'll probably be dreaming about the scorching yet non-inferno temperatures of Venice in August.
Unfortunately, Kelly got sick a few days back and now I caught it. It's just a scratchy throat, slightly uneasy stomach, and tiredness. But the tiredness has killed my ability (and motivation) to do anything requiring physical exertion, including walking. So I've killed a few days I could have been sucking the marrow out of Prague, but what can you do?
We saw the Prague Castle. It was neat, but I quickly tired of it. At the time I thought it was because we have seen so many amazing churches and castle-type stuff that I've become numb to it (which is somewhat true), but now I think it was largely because aforementioned tiredness was already in effect, making everything seem like too much effort. The highlight for me was the storehouse showing all the old armor and weapons. It felt like the kind of place you would go to buy armor and weapons, as I've done countless times during all the computer role playing games I've played. They had full sets of chain mail, plate mail, helmets with scary faces drawn on them. Very cool.
We also saw the local torture museum, which was similar to the one I saw in Balboa Park (which I think is still there). Just like before, the museum displayed devices that caused immeasurable suffering. I can't wrap my mind around the wisdom of the day, which was the belief that the way to get a witch to confess she was a witch was to torture her until either she confessed and was executed, or until she was dead from the actual torture. If she confessed: "See, she was a witch." If she didn't, I guess the logic was either: "That's one stubborn witch" or "Oops....next!" To me, the cruelty is less mystifying than the logic employed. Even though we don't like to acknowledge it, humans can be (especially back then as well as now if the situation is right) unbelievably cruel. How is a belief system like this able to spread? That question is phrased rhetorically, but I think I have an answer: fear and the positive test bias. Fear provides the motivation, the positive test bias provides the justification.
For those not in the know, the positive test bias is a known, measurable human bias: people tend to seek out, notice and remember evidence that supports a belief they hold, but ignore, forget, or downplay evidence that refutes it. People do this because the former strokes the ego (i.e. do it again) while the latter creates a dissonance which is uncomfortable (i.e. avoid that). I believe the lack of a full understanding and acceptance of this bias (resulting from a lack of education about it, discussion of it, and surrender to it) has led to many cruelties, bad situations, and inaccurate conclusions.
Most recently, it caused a war in Iraq. You're going to have a hard time convincing me that the conclusion that Iraq had WMD's would have been reached if those in charge had not started from the assumption that we needed to invade Iraq, then set out to find evidence supporting their belief. You're going to have a hard time convincing me, ironically, because of the positive test bias.
Most people would like to think their beliefs are carefully calculated conclusions based on an unbiased analysis of their life's experience (wouldn't they, or is that just me?), but the truth is that many more times than we'll acknowledge, our beliefs come first, and the data to support them are filled in afterward. Unfortunately, fear seems to fuel some false beliefs that are simply heinous. The list is huge: racial discrimination, hatred of other religions/cultures, non-acceptance of homosexuality, and of course, the witch hunt. All are forged out of fears - largely fears of the unknown and unfamiliar. Once fear seduces someone into a false belief, the positive test bias awakens to gather all the evidence and none of the counterevidence he or she could ever need. I really feel the confirmation bias (as it's also called) is largely responsible for keeping in place a huge percentage of false beliefs - beliefs that large numbers of people hold that, without the bias, would be dismissed as ridiculous.
By the way, for those who think all that barbaric, medievil cruelty is behind us, they're currently torturing young child witches in Congo. Good times.
Kelly and I will leave the day after tomorrow, and have decided to go to Berlin next. Due to great timing, we are going to be able to meet up with my Uncle Rick and Aunt Carol for dinner, who will be in Berlin when we're there. After that it's up to Sweden, down to Denmark, then out of Frankfurt to Bombay. Must regain strength.
