Limiting Discussion

Something I heard Chomsky say struck me as so absolutely true and explains Twitter exactly.

Paraphrasing slightly:
"The beauty of forcing people to fit their ideas in between two commercials (or in 280 characters), is they can only repeat conventional thoughts."

Which Channel?

Every time I tell people they are being misled by mainstream media, they ask... "Well which channel should I watch to get the truth then?!" ...and there is the problem, there isn't one. Why do people assume that one of the cable news channels has the truth? The sad fact is you need alternative news sources, and independent journalism to have any chance of having a glimpse of reality. (Alternative Media is defined as media controlled by the public and not captured by governmental or corporate influences) Unfortunately so much misinformation is floating around, it's nearly impossible to have a truly accurate view of reality, but the closest you can come is to completely stay away from mainstream media, stay away from government spokespeople, and consume a variety of independent media sources, and get as close to source material as you can. Good night, and good luck.

Mainstream Media Has Shown Their Election Strategy

Mainstream Media has largely created Trump. They've under no uncertain terms, said how much they love him and profit from his presence. So why now is there non-stop coverage of his take-down? They see the country shifting...and they don't like it, they want someone who will champion the status quo that brings them billions. They know there is a swelling of people that realize neo-liberal philosophy and policy is largely to blame for the corrupt system we have, and rather than have that grassroots tidal wave crash down upon the system they love, they want to misdirect people to a straw-man to blame. They are running cover for soulless, corporate politicians, who believe in nothing and will sell their services to the highest bidder.

We can't let the media distract us from the REAL and SYSTEMIC problems. While Trump is horrible, he is a product of this system and without major changes to the system, another like him, or worse, is sure to come. Stop blaming, start identifying the systemic problems and creating policy that addresses core mechanisms that can correct our direction. Learn to think critically, use logic, and Bayesian probability. Inform yourselves of the history and reality in which you live. Shed all identities, be only a good person...and you will succeed in all the roles you take on. For a practical methodology you can begin today...vote EVERY time.

Religious Hegemony

Was catching an episode of Supergirl...a supposedly "woke" show that flies the flag of feminism (though not really). The bad guy is aiming an energy weapon at the ice caps that threatens to cause massive flooding and tsunamis...and what does the Martian Manhunter say..."there will be a flooding like we haven't seen since the time of Noah's Ark." Uh...there never was a time of Noah's Ark...that is a fairy tale from a bronze age book of fictional nonsense. So in addition to having to suffer through DC's ethically challenged writers...I now have to suffer through their creationist bullshit. Look, I am not a purist on using no religious language...if he had said the flood was "biblical" or something to that effect...I'd not care as much, you can make references to literature...but what you can't do is state a fictional scene as historical.

My "Best Podcast Intro" Award

The winner is "Intercepted" with Jeremy Scahill.
Hilarious intros, find it here:
https://theintercept.com/podcasts/#intercepted

Death Circus

Again, they deify a dead politician. Bush, McCain, Cummings...look, under their watch...the world went to shit, sorry. Cummings was on the Committee on Oversight and Reform (how effectively did he stop Trump's corruption) and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure...well we haven't had good oversight or reform and our transportation sucks. I'm sorry, he may have been a really nice guy, but he was not an effective elected official and should not be paraded around for this bread and circus for elites.

Governance, The Ignored Science

Scientists always make ridiculous statements they -think- are profound...like "the question is not CAN we...but SHOULD we..." blah blah. Well, if you'd study those "soft" subjects you show so much disdain for, you'd probably have an answer. We keep pretending that anything that doesn't deal with particles of the universe is not a science...and our ignorance is showing with our reckless treatment of technology and our abuse of the environment. These "ethical" questions about pollution, CRISPR and Nuclear technology, etc.; they have answers. Just because the Social Sciences have nuanced, situational, and complicated answers, doesn't mean they aren't valid. Another thing that scientists have to get over is the fact that you can make the "right" decision, and have an undesired outcome. We are always working with imperfect knowledge; obviously that does not mean we can be careless and arbitrary, but sometimes we have to act with the limited knowledge we have. Bottom line, Scientists can't keep pretending Philosophy, Law, History, Ethics, etc. are things they should not have some understanding of. We need to sort out how to organize society, how to make decisions, how to handle dangerous technologies...we must figure out the Science of Civilization before we unleash more dangerous technologies.

Power Matters

Our modern society has made everything about EGO...money is not about resources, but about status...politics is not about structuring society intelligently, but about personalities and elections...but POWER MATTERS. The Kurds are the biggest reminder; with one careless tweet tens of thousands of (from what I can tell) some of the finest people...erased by fascists. We can't keep letting psychopaths erase good people...while I was once of the opinion that you can't kill good ideas...having seen the madness of genocide, the targeting of social leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., CIA confessions to destroying leftist agendas, and McCarthyist witch-hunts...I think ideas and the people with the temperament to derive them are in real danger. Power is not just a word, and we need intelligently benevolent people to hold the VAST majority of it...we have let it sit with people who are quite frankly, morons and despots. We must stop making elections about personalities and tribes, and bring them back to intelligent conversations about sound policy, ethics, and stewardship. The bar for who gains power should have nothing to do with how much money they can raise or if they can speak in ways that are meme worthy...we are devolving into Idiocracy. I know correcting this touches many industries, from media, to education, to government itself...but we MUST try, and with everything we've got because we are almost at a point where the machine runs autonomously and into oblivion.

DC's Feminism

DC has cast 3 gorgeous lead ladies to play in their Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batwoman projects...unfortunately, they all have the same sad "girl power" ethos. Don't get me wrong, I welcome a new generation of strong women into the forefront, but using the Womens' Movement as a tool to sell your garbage shows/movies is shameless. All their projects lack character development. If you really believed in empowering women, you'd make them real people who just happened to be superheroes...instead we get this caricature of strong women and conflation of lesbianism with strength. Loving the IDEA of feminism more than showing what REAL strong women look like...serves the exact opposite effect, it makes strong women look like fiction. Look, I applaud them for casting female leads, it is absolutely a good first step, but they need to dig deeper and give young women a better vision of empowerment than lesbian supermodels who punch things.

Population

On average...EVERY SECOND, 2 people die, and 5 are born. Not bacteria nor ants, HUMANS, that live for decades each. Really think about the scale and complexity involved for that statement to be true. Then process the extreme imbalance in our death vs birth rate, and ask yourself if that's sustainable...no matter how we perform as a society.

Now, ask yourself, are those billions of people being nurtured into compassionate people, educated into intelligent/informed people, encouraged to use their talents to improve themselves and all humanity, and disciplined into being responsible stewards of our only planet...OR are they abused into being angry and desperate people, misinformed into delusional people, frenzied into destroying each other, and incentivized into a reckless, extractive mindset that pollutes and consumes the planet.