“I Do My Own Research.” No You Don’t
A reader sent me the meme here.
What he appears not to understand is that people without scientific training are incapable of performing scientific research. Most hairdressers and swimming instructors are fine people, but the very highest they’ll be able to reach, in any given arena of science, is to comprehend the prevalent theories of the day.
If they go online and read about things like climate change and the pandemic and reach a conclusion that is at odds from the scientists, they are not in disagreement; they are simply incorrect.
There are two independent factors that make this universally true.
The first is the scientific method itself, with its hypotheses, experiments, data collection, analyses, and conclusions, followed by rigorous peer review, culminating in rejection, modification, or acceptance. That has no resemblance to any process of which this reader is capable.
The other is cognitive bias. I would ask the reader mentioned above to be honest with himself: Is he completely objective in what websites he selects? Is he interested in learning, or in corroborating what he already believes? I think we both know the answer.
We really do have a twisted notion of what it means to want our fellows to be healthy.
Not all of our discussions on climate change need to be dark, humorless, and overly academic.
This quote here reminds me of a time when I was running my marketing services agency. I had many personal assistants through the decades, but my favorite one called me, in tears, one morning at home shortly before I left for the office. Through her spasmodic whimpering she explained that a pet, a rabbit of all things, had died and that she couldn’t muster herself to come into work.
Considering the events of the past two years, few of us have high hopes for 2022.
My wife just asked me, “Why isn’t the justice department moving against these brazen criminals who are defying congressional subpoenas?” to which I replied, “I have no more insight into this than you or the other +/- hundred million Americans who are asking that very question.” 
Scientists hope the omicron variant of COVID-19 takes us to the point of herd immunity and becomes a manageable, albeit permanent, feature of human society, like the flu.
Seems like a good time to remind Americans that socialism and capitalism do not exist in their pure form anywhere on this planet.
We all understand that good people outnumber bad people by many orders of magnitude. Sadly, that’s not the issue that’s going to serve as the make/break point in determining the outcome of human civilization.
The concept of a “national divorce” is brand new, and people equate it with civil war. I get that, but divorce can be amicable; it doesn’t have to be acrimonious. And trust me, if there were a way to get all Trump supporters to form a new country and secede from the union, I don’t think a single tear would be shed.
