Give a F

Their strategy is brilliant.  They know our system well.  Our system is designed to be far more efficient at blocking things than it is at accomplishing things.  Elect enough blockers into office, and those who would change things to stop plutocratic power are thwarted.

Brilliant.  It can only be thwarted if people turn out to vote, especially in a non-presidential election year.  Will the distracted stay distracted?  Will the discouraged stay discouraged?  Will the apathetic stay apathetic?  Will the ignorant stay ignorant?  Stay tuned!

Something to remember about not voting or being ill-informed when voting: In a country of “don’t give a f,” the zealots and the devious win.

In Form

If Americans continue to get “informed” about political candidates from 30 second to 1 minute ads in the month up to the election, they will continue to vote on emotion and distortion, and not from reasoned fact and careful consideration.

The political scientist in me looks at the data and says the odds are against good sense prevailing in the 2014 elections.  That I should not work myself up and cause more stress, expend time and energy when there is none to spare, or risk more friendships and other relationships.

Then I look at my daughter, and know there’s no letting myself off the hook.

Even if failure comes, and malevolence, ignorance, delusion, fear, selfishness, evasion, and escapism prevail yet again, I must be able to look at her and say I REALLY did what I could toward something different.

And know that, when enough individuals are determined like that, change becomes possible.

Emotional Traps For The Unwary

“Remember America’s Heritage” was the name of the group soliciting money from me as a veteran to help fight what they were SUPPOSEDLY enraged about.

It was the kind of emotional crap that we fall for too often.

“Obama is giving billions to illegal aliens while veterans die from lack of care” was their grab phrase. I wonder how many “patriots” opened up their wallets for that claptrap.

As if the VA mess was a creation of one government body, one party, or one man, and as if it wasn’t many administrations—and, to be more accurate—many mal-appropriating Congresses.  And as if it was this administration that solely sets policies. 

And that doesn’t even address the factual misrepresentations.

The clever but sleazy money vipers couch themselves in the words of patriotism, and cloak their organizations in similar verbiage. 

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” Samuel Johnson said, and little has changed since his day.

From The Mouth of a Former Babe

My son: “Dad, you write a lot of complex stuff.  Seems to me a lot of problems are simply because there are a lot of old white people scared of changes.”

Hmm. Will think on that one.

Some Words For Literacy

Our reading of lengthy works is at an 80 year low. 80 years ago, those considered educated had a vocabulary of 42,000 words.  Today one is considered educated with a vocabulary of 8,000 words. 

Does that mean we communicate more clearly today, with little “unnecessary” verbiage?  Or does it mean we have more difficulty communicating complex subjects and so do not delve into them?  And one could easily surmise that not reading lengthy works and stunted vocabularies become intertwined, self-degenerative, ever-decreasing concentric circles. 

"Con! Con!"

Wait, that’s not what Kirk meant when he said that in Star Trek II? :)

Neo-cons.  They believed their own simplistic drivel, neither seeking nor caring to truly know about the world.  They saw the world through narrow eyes, and refused to accept contradicting evidence, even as it mounted.  They are testament about why America shouldn’t ever turn things over again to their myopic, delusional, self-centered, unexamining asses.  Certainly we shouldn’t listen to them, about the same sector of the world that they screwed up so royally.

Or maybe they were conning, pun intended, from the very first, intent only on enriching themselves and their friends, and driving the govt into weakness and unable to oppose them.

Either way, that the American corporate media still showcases them serves as ample evidence of who actually controls what.  An alien outsider would comment that no rational people not in servitude to another class would give credence to the discredited.  

Paying For The Lack Of Attention

A society too busy, too overscheduled, too hyper-involved, with too much personal burden and too little communal support, is ripe for manipulation.  By those who know that time cannot or will not be spent in gathering real information, in reflection, in calm discussion.  Who does that serve?