Why do we let politics get in the way of doing what we need to do?

C

Clak

CAGiversary!
So we've all probably heard the reports of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job. It was recommended that they be given time to take short naps, these recommendations come from experts who understand the science of sleep. But, because of politics, we won't do that. No no, we can't have people sleeping on the job or before you know it people will be bitching about it and somehow blaming it on the traffic controllers union.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sleeping_air_traffic_controllers
"Given the body of scientific evidence, that decision clearly demonstrates that politics remain more important than public safety," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation of Alexandria, Va. "People are concerned about a political backlash if they allow controllers to have rest periods in their work shifts the same way firefighters and trauma physicians do."
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According the to the article the real issue is air traffic controllers being overworked and people in ANY field working graveyard getting insufficient sleep. Graveyard shift is always a problem because people on it frequently want to be awake during normal hours during their days off leading to a broken sleep schedule and sleep deprivation.

Also paramedics, fire fighters and trauma physicians get naps because they often 24 hour shifts and by naps they mean rest whenever they can grab it which all too often can be never. Not that any of those jobs are affected by sleep deprivation....
 
[quote name='camoor']The scientific truth is often complex and counter-intuitive. All too often, politics are about selling a simple story to simple people.[/QUOTE]

Right. Which is precisely why the GOP still likes to peddle the "cut your taxes means all good things will happen for everyone" fairy tale, even though people paying attention to all major economic indicators the last 11 years (or also the last 31) recognize that it's as close to reality as Rapunzel.

Similarly, we all know that the political narrative of "kill the teacher's unions!" is more effective than its dual counterparts:
1) regulate the fuck out of Wall Street (w/r/t state and federal revenues)
2) stop being shitty parents (w/r/t the poor quality of education)

But it's more effective to be romantic and charismatic, no matter how far from the truth, than close to the truth and pointing to the flaws of the American people.

Think of how it applies to us and our lives. Anytime a study is released that shows that video games have some risk factor associated (say, obesity) we demonize the hell out of the author, dismiss the results of the study, or acknowledge the results of the study but don't think it applies to us at all. We don't want to believe that our actions and interests contribute to negative consequences in the world.

Look at the divide in claims for austerity: both parties are pandering to their bases and calling it "class warfare." Republicans are brazen in making austerity only apply to all but the top; the Paul Ryan plan begins the dismantling of social programs we've relied on and that most people love; GOP-led states want to annihilate unions and so on, and they all want to lower the income tax rate for the wealthy, reduce or eliminate the capital gains tax, and bring the corporate tax rate to its lowest level since the Great Depression. Deprivation for some, a smorgasbord of benefits for another. Democrats, meanwhile, cite Pew Research data that show the majority of Americans want to see the current tax cuts (the Bush Tax Cuts, renewed by Obama in November) expire for the top 2% of income earners. But it's mathematically neceessary that the bulk of those wanting to see those tax hikes are not those in the 2% of the wealthiest.

The story is clear: austerity for thee, not for me. Republicans and Democrats will continue this insane, inconsistent joust through 2012 and the rest of our lives. You know, in the meantime, who won't be getting elected AT ALL? The person who stands no chance in hell of getting a plurality of the votes?

The sensible candidate who says "fuck IT, ALL Y'ALL TAXES SHOULD BE GOING UP! AND LET'S CUT SOME SHIT, TOO, STARTING WITH THE MILITARY AND CORRECTIONS SYSTEMS."

S/he won't be getting many votes at all. Look, we may love Warren "Take my taxes, please!" Buffett right now, but he's anomalous in terms of both his wealth and his willingness to provide more himself. Most people want to solve the problem without disrupting or putting at risk their own standard of living. Therefore, we prefer to be baffled with bullshit instead of dazzled by brilliance.
 
Show of hands: who here has worked an overnight shift? Let me be clear - I'm talking a scheduled thing where you did it for a long period of time. Not the occasional overnight, or even a short string of them for a few weeks, or closing/opening shifts. I'm talking months at a time, full reversal of sleep schedule, drives-you-crazy overnight shifts where your subconscious is screaming at you and your chemical equilibrium is thrown into shock stasis because you've lived your whole life with some semblance of natural, instinctual routine.
 
Thankfully I never have. My father did for over a decade though, and yeah, it isn't good. I've read articles citing studies that show people who work night shifts like that usually have shorter life expectancies even.
 
[quote name='Strell']Show of hands: who here has worked an overnight shift? Let me be clear - I'm talking a scheduled thing where you did it for a long period of time. Not the occasional overnight, or even a short string of them for a few weeks, or closing/opening shifts. I'm talking months at a time, full reversal of sleep schedule, drives-you-crazy overnight shifts where your subconscious is screaming at you and your chemical equilibrium is thrown into shock stasis because you've lived your whole life with some semblance of natural, instinctual routine.[/QUOTE]
I've almost always gone for the overnight shift since I'm a night owl and have been for years. But I have done the trying to stay awake in daylight hours on my days off to my own detriment.

As for the question at hand, I think the reason we let ourselves be led around by the puppeteers in Washington is akin to a sports fan rooting for their favorite team. We feel we have to support one 'team'(be it Repubs or Dems) and we want to see 'our team' win.

If it means we have to put up with bending over and taking it w/o lube in order to get that all important victory, then so be it. At least that's the way I see it.

Personally I don't support either party and I'm one of the millions of apathetic American voters. I vote "Mickey Mouse" straight across the ballot anymore cuz I can't stand the clowns each party puts out to fill these spots.
 
But they have to play the game, you see. If they had listen to the experts and let them take naps, as soon as Republicans got wind of it they'd be screaming about government waste and employees being allowed to sleep on the job, then inevitably they'd bring the union into it, which has nothing to do with it.

Frankly, this is why we can't have nice things. Because one side is always afraid of the other, nobody wants to do anything that might give the other side ammunition against them. And frankly the Democrats are the most spineless party we have, at least the Republicans do sometimes say fuck it and do what they want without regard to how it may look.

Who cares if they're sleeping on the job if it helps them work more effectively and makes flying safer?
 
My dad was an ATC in the UK, they worked 6 days on, 4 days off and the last 2 of the 6 were night shift I believe.

Never worked a graveyard shift myself.
 
[quote name='Strell']Show of hands: who here has worked an overnight shift? Let me be clear - I'm talking a scheduled thing where you did it for a long period of time. Not the occasional overnight, or even a short string of them for a few weeks, or closing/opening shifts. I'm talking months at a time, full reversal of sleep schedule, drives-you-crazy overnight shifts where your subconscious is screaming at you and your chemical equilibrium is thrown into shock stasis because you've lived your whole life with some semblance of natural, instinctual routine.[/QUOTE]

I work 12 hour night (7p - 7a) shifts three days in a row during the middle of the week and then I'm on call from 8pm Friday night to either 8pm Sunday or 8am Monday.

Before I picked up the second job on the weekends, I would stay up all day Friday to get back on a day schedule. It worked but I would always sleep in on Saturday until about 10. The worst part is that family members look at you like some lazy slob when you get up at 10 or even later.
 
I used to do overnights in the group homes during my mid twenties, it was about the only job I could manage to keep since I was working on that "music career" thing.

Yeah, it fries your brain and the only way to stay awake is massive amounts of caffeine. The things that happen in your brain when you're awake when you shouldn't be are all extremely whacky.

Really when it boils down to it, there's no reason to not let these people sleep since hard science tells us that it's a good idea. To accomplish this, maybe the shifts should be adjusted so that there's always some overlap in staff and consider the nap part of lunch break instead of part of the shift. Even if these people are salaried (which I assume is the case as opposed to hourly) then they aren't sleeping while they're at work just as you're not "eating on the job" when you take a scheduled and allowed lunch break on your salary job.
 
Another related question:

Should we cite public opinion when it comes to making policy decisions? E.g. majority want Bush tax cuts for wealth to expire, majority want public option/medicare for all, majority think we should invade iraq, etc.

Might be okay for things we agree with (like those first two above), but right now a majority of people don't think we should raise the debt ceiling.
 
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