Category Archives: Society
What do you do when you realize that society is an insane asylum, and the inmates are the keepers? If reasonable people were running the place, maybe there would be some hope, but as it is we seem to be gleefully accelerating straight towards a cliff. One maniac in particular seems to be stomping on the gas pedal and no one seems able to grab the wheel.
How do we navigate a world so out of touch with the rational (let alone the truthful)? Our collective heads are so far up the collective asses of our brand loyalties that all conversation is muffled by all the shit in our mouths. There is no real dialog, let alone a dialectic.
And I can’t stop running that line from Hamlet in my head.
Continue reading
2 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Clinton for President, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, evil, good, GOP, Hamlet, Hillary Clinton, HRC, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, social mores, stupid, stupid people, stupid stupid stupid, stupid TV, stupidity, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Society
When it comes to doctors (or nurses), lawyers, airplane pilots, the people who prepare and serve us food, the people who design and build our houses, the people who design and build our TV, cars, or cell phones, we naturally expect them to be well-trained and very good at what they do.
Of course we do. We avail ourselves to these things because we trust the experience and ability of those workers to do their job reliably, accurately, and correctly.
So why is it that, when it comes to politics, so many are so unwilling to listen to those who clearly know what they’re talking about?
Continue reading
1 Comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Clinton for President, Clinton-Trump debate, Clintonville, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, evil, good, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Mordor, politicians, Republican Party, Sauron, social change, social issues, social media, social mores, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Society
This post’s well-known title could apply to my Minnesota Twins (who lost their 100th game yesterday), but even someone who’s been a close observer only six years knows better than to have great expectations of the team these days.
It might also apply to the pending NASA news conference about Europa. Many of us are hoping for something along the lines of a mysterious monolith and staying away, but rumor has it that the Hubble telescope spotted the long-absent water geysers. (They were observed years ago, but never since.) ((Update: The rumors were correct!))
But, while those are expectations, considering what’s taking over about a dozen TV networks tonight — what’s been long awaited by so many — the post’s title absolutely refers to the first Presidential debate.
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Clinton for President, Clinton-Trump debate, debate, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, emotional mind, George W. Bush, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, Idiocracy, Jimmy Fallon, Michelle Obama, politicians, President Obama, Republican Party, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Society
I’ve been considering this business of sports figures kneeling during the national anthem…
My initial reaction was, “WTF?” But after a bit of thought, I decided I was more, “Meh, whatever.” It seemed mostly to be going on in football along with some other sports I really couldn’t care less about
(And, full disclosure, I have a definite antipathy towards the NFL; do not like them at all.)
But then I realized that this was both important and right. Civil disobedience is the very quintessence of necessary but painful social change.
We’re noticing. We’re talking about it. This is where it starts, if it is starts anywhere at all.
Yesterday I read a New York Times article¹, apparently a regular thing they do highlighting the best comments of the week on their social media platform.
The first one was interesting, a lady blamed not being shot after being stopped by the police on being white. But it was the second one that really, really grabbed me. It says perfectly what I’ve been searching to say about the taking a knee thing:
Rioting and angry protest … “Why can’t you just peacefully protest?”
Kneeling peacefully … “No, not like that.”
~Darius Ensey (on Facebook)
Exactly. Nail; hammer; head! I can’t think of a better way to put it.
Because here’s the awful thing: When you’re black, sometimes there’s just no winning.
So maybe we should all take a knee and keep talking about this. Hell, maybe we could even do something about it.
Ya think?
[1] I’m a White Lady. Perhaps That Is Why I Am Not Dead., By Lela Moore and Lindsey Underwood, September 24, 2016.
3 Comments | tags: #BLM, athletes, Black Lives Matter, kneeling, protest, social change, social issues, sports | posted in Society
Well, that didn’t take long!
Multiple news sources have reported on a two-year microbiology study out of Rutgers University (Is the five-second rule real?). The upshot is: Yes, of course it’s not real.
What strikes me is that anyone actually thought it was real. We (meaning pretty much everyone I ever associated with) always understood it as a bit of obvious irony, a self-serving excuse for eating fallen food. If asked, I would have said one would have to be a real idiot to think it was real.
Well… can’t say I’m surprised.
Continue reading
9 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, basket of deplorables, Clinton for President, complete idiots, deplorables, idiots, James Gleick, stupid, stupid people, stupid stupid stupid, stupidity, time travel, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Science, Society
The 1991 movie Grand Canyon, which I wrote about recently, in large part is about how insane life has become. In the 25 years since, the insanity has grown. Perhaps most are so focused on just getting through their life or are so taken up by the distractions and toys of modern living, that they never stop to realize just how really crazy the world has gotten.
I don’t mean the apocalyptic reality presented by TV news, or by the GOP; I mean the sheer insanity of how we go about our business these days, what we accept as “the way things are.”
I mean what we’ve come to accept as normal.
Continue reading
8 Comments | tags: Best Buy, crazy life, crazy town, crooks, die die die spammers, die horribly spammers, die painfully spammers, die spammers, Hope Solo, insanity, normal, normality, thieves, vanish from the earth spammers, what is normal | posted in Politics, Society
When did we change? When did we decide that torture was an okay idea? When did we begin to so tolerate the very presence of nationalism, racism, and gender politics? When did we decide to so forsake the values that defined us as a nation?
Why do we think popular or successful means — even defines — what is right? Why do we cling to clearly false beliefs rather than accepting demonstrated facts? Why do we confuse what we like with what is good?
Where is our moral high ground, the set of values espoused by the founders of the USA and which, until recently, have largely been at the center of our national identity. Where is one of the most important questions of all: Is it the right thing?
What is wrong with us that an obviously unqualified raging narcissistic reality TV show star has even a chance of being elected President of the country? How can we possibly be this foolish? What makes anyone think he can even begin to deliver?
Who will we elect, someone who — like her or not — is clearly qualified to run the country, or an ignorant human monster surfing a wave of hate, fear, and angry frustration? Perhaps more importantly, who are we as a people?
Who do we want to be?
Which way will we turn? Towards the Dark Side? Or towards the light?
∇
Leave a comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, Clinton for President, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Opinion, Politics, Society
It’s one of those days you remember better than any birthday or wedding. Those were planned; these hit you suddenly, stunning your mind, breaking your heart. “The shuttle blew up!” “The Towers fell!”
The impact was even greater if you saw it happen in real-time. If you watched the shuttle launches. If you caught the breaking news before the second tower was hit. Saw the second plane, realized at that moment, “This is no accident!”
Even if you saw it after, you saw it; saw it as an attack.
Continue reading
5 Comments | tags: 9-11, Earth, emotional mind, human mind, humanity, making movies, media, moon, rational mind, rational thought, Sun, Venus, war movies | posted in Life, Politics, Society, TV
Foam: Lots of little bubbles. In this case, a dump of various news items that caught my eye but which didn’t — for whatever reason — fit into the previous bubbles. (Or which I just forgot to include.)
Truth be told, I’m actually getting a little bored with these bubble posts of news items. But I’d accumulated so many of them by the time I got the idea that it’s taken some effort to flush the queue. And it has been nice that other writers, and other events, have been making my points for me.
And now I’m down to the foam at the bottom of the glass…
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: carbon, Comedy Central, consciousness, Facebook, Gawker, human consciousness, human mind, Immanuel Kant, Joan Didion, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Nick Ut, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, Samantha Bee, The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, Trevor Noah | posted in Brain Bubble, Society
I’ve said in the past that all the crazy and stupid in the world doesn’t make me bitter so much as bemused (which is not at all the same as amused). Lately, as the stakes seem higher and the ought-is gap ever wider, I have to admit to a fair degree of bitterness. It just doesn’t have to be this bad, and often I can’t really grasp why it is.
I read my news feed and am struck by the juxtaposition of items describing the tragedies of life so many experience daily with… handwringing over Taylor Swift’s latest romantic breakup.
Ah, the flotsam and jetsam of modern humanity…
Continue reading
18 Comments | tags: Burning Man, Candy Crush, Clint Eastwood, fads, Harambe, internet, interweb, National Parks, Pokemon Go | posted in Brain Bubble, Society
Logos con carne 