We “Didn’t Like Hillary,” and Here’s Where This Has Taken Us
It’s good that Americans are starting to look back to 2016 and identifying that point in time as the one where we lost our way. (more…)
Science Is Beautiful
It could be argued that the meme here is an attack on religion, and that’s partly true. Yet what makes it so remarkable is the idea that there are no “universal truths.” That’s quite a statement, when you think about it.
There is virtually nothing that we in the 21st Century believe about our Earth-bound life forms and the universe in which we live that we held as true 400 years ago.
It’s now “known,” to take an example, that the atoms that make up your body were born from dying stars, and that this “truth” was discovered in our lifetimes. If I has asked my science teachers in high school where all this carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen came from, they would have said, “Sorry, son. We have no idea.”
To most of us, there is a sublime beauty to science and its progression, which is why it’s so horrific to watch our American society reject it as the basis for policy-making. It’s like watching someone set fire to the Mona Lisa.
The Republican Party May Have Hit a Brick Wall
I’m hoping that the election tally shown here is an indication that the American people at the right-most end of the political spectrum, even garden-variety Trump supporters, have reached their limits in terms of how much hate and stupidity they will allow themselves to absorb.
There is lots of speculation that the midterm elections are going to heavily favor Republicans. I’m not convinced.
Critical Thinking Is a Good Thing, But …..
The meme here is a fine example of how right-wing ideologies are hard to refute. I happen to believe that people who are capable of critical thinking are more likely to be progressives, but it’s impossible to disprove the theory that teachers indoctrinate their students into liberal belief systems.
This dilemma exists in, I would submit, every single arena in which left and right opinions exist.
Nonreligious people can’t prove that God doesn’t exist. Immigration rights advocates can’t prove that a border wall wouldn’t reduce crime. Pro-choicers can’t prove that an aborted fetus wouldn’t have become the scientist who cured cancer.
There is a limit here, however. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. Climate change actually is destroying the planet. Vaccinations are safe and effective. Yet Fox News can cherry-pick an “expert” in each of these fields who will refute the overwhelming scientific consensus.
And speaking of Fox News, this is why it continues to exist. There are people whose brains are “wired” to seek out right-wing thought patterns, and there are no rational arguments that will ever change their minds.
Tagged with: Critical Thinking
Public Education
This from the fellow pictured here, often called “the father of American education,” Horace Mann: Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark, all is deluge.
That’s a poetic way of expressing an idea that’s very much a part of the social discourse today, in an era in which our public schools are systematically being torn apart. A more prosaic phrasing goes like this: No one wants to live in a country surrounded by fools. It’s unpleasant, and, as Mann pointed out, it’s dangerous.
In what sense is it dangerous? Well, uneducated people tend to turn to crime more than their counterparts, but they are also less capable of changing their minds when they come across new facts. Also from Mann: Do not think of knocking out another person’s brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago.
This mental fixity is the phenomenon that gives us the modern-day Trump supporters, anti-vaxxer, etc.
Tagged with: public schools
Oath Keepers Under Pressure To Present Truth about January 6th
It makes one wonder what oaths the Oath Keepers actually pledged. Wasn’t loyalty to one another among them?
In all fairness, cooperation with prosecution in exchange for lighter sentencing is a standard aspect of American criminal justice, and he shouldn’t be reviled any more in this case than in any other, IMO.
And who knows what evidence this turd is turning over? At this point, it seems probable that there was some level of communication between the Oath Keepers and the Trump administration.
Information to that effect would be extremely valuable.
New Product Available, Offered To Morons Only
With each passing year, as the ignorance of the average American becomes ever more profound, products are being put on the market, designed to extract money from their wallets.
For $329, you can have this “meticulously designed Tempest Weather System (that) leverages powerful machine learning and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to provide the most precise, local forecast available – guaranteed. No moving parts, completely wireless, simple installation, with instant online access to weather data via free iOS and Android apps.”
So, now it appears there are people who believe that the most accurate local weather forecasts derive from data gathered in your backyard. That’s just pathetic.
Conservatives Shouldn’t Favor Coups
This seems self-evident, doesn’t it? American conservatives believe, if nothing else, that the United States is an almost holy nation, that God smiles on our endeavors, that rule of law lies at the core of what makes our nation the greatest in the world.
Well, what if it’s not that easy? What if you’re convinced that socialists rigged the election and stole it from Donald Trump? And, as the 45th president himself said, “You’ve got to go down to the Capitol and fight like hell, or you’re not going to have a country anymore.” What if you simply believe that, because that’s what the president (and your personal hero) told you?
Trump and his top lieutenants knew goddamn well that the January 6th insurrection was an attempted coup, but the rank-and-file Fox News acolyte certainly didn’t. In fact, 16 months later, the nation is still littered with Trump Won signs on its front yards.
Unfortunately, like everything else in our post-truth world, this is not a black and white issue.
Tagged with: American conservatives, God smiles on our endeavors, or you're not going to have a country anymore, our post-truth world, rank-and-file conservative Fox News acolytes, rule of law lies at the core of what makes our nation the greatest in the world, socialists rigged the election and stole it from Donald Trump, Trump and his top lieutenants knew goddamn well that the January 6th insurrection was an attempted coup, United States is an almost holy nation, You've got to go down to the Capitol and fight like hell
Human Evolution Hasn’t Stopped, But It Soon May Take a Radical Course Correction
The assertion in the meme here is true, but it raises an importation question: how well equipped is our species to deal with events that were unthinkable just 10 years ago? I’m referring to things like massive disinformation campaigns and the rejection of science, world fascism, environmental collapse, uncontrollable pandemics, and perhaps even nuclear war.
There are those believe that humankind has entered an evolutionary cul de sac, and there is substantial evidence that suggests that they may be correct.
Others believe that the world’s wealthiest people can ride out any storm, and that makes sense as well.
What seems to be unavoidable, however, is unprecedented levels of suffering for the common person.
Tagged with: environmental collapse
The Sound of Indictments
At a certain level, this is a private joke between my wife and me. She is quite frustrated by the pace of the Justice Department’s actions against the architects of the insurrection, and tells me, “Just let me know when the first indictments are unsealed.”
Of course, there is nothing really “private” about it; we can all share in the drama that is about to unfold, and the sheer joy that all decent Americans will experience in seeing the core of our democracy upheld.
