Demoralizing

I could not say it better.

Wounded psyche?

What we believe

***Catholics in specific and Christians in general you are hereby offered a trigger warning. I highly recommend you go find a cute cat video or football highlight video to watch. Seriously, you won't like it.***

I had been thinking about the things we believe or profess to believe. We most certainly includes me.

While rolling ideas around the old brainpan, I suddenly had a mental picture which I wanted to share.

I assert that, if asked, almost every woman and most men (regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof) would agree with the statement at the top of the image. However, when we are faced with the ultimate example of a power differential, what do we believe?

Let's consider this. We have a young lady (we would likely consider her a girl by today's standards) who is living a very basic existence with little or no education at a time when the average person didn't understand the world was round and thought diseases were caused by demons or the displeasure of the gods. Thus, with all due respect to Mary, we can safely assume she was not a sophisticate or a scholar. In fact, if she'd been the most sophisticated educated woman in the world, how much would she have understood about the world at that time? 

Now things get really dicey. A member of the 'holy trinity' visits her and tells her he will impregnate her and that her child will be special in all the world. 

I suggest nobody in her right mind would argue that Mary had the ability to give informed consent. Well, except for those inculcated to believe in this particular canon.

Obviously, I understand that the believer will clap back with some version of, "it's God and he can do as he wishes" or "God works in mysterious ways" etc. 
And, no, I do not expect to change their minds. 

My intent is to challenge thoughts/beliefs. Why? Because challenging beliefs is how we evolve superior beliefs. Therefore, my retort is simple. Those who hold these beliefs are welcome to continue. That said, according to my calculation, they are holding their fellow humans to a higher standard than their deity. 

The Right Question

Most days my assumption is, we are not even asking the right questions. So, one reasonably wonders, what is the right question? The right question is WTF? On what do I base that seemingly cavalier assertion? I'm so glad you asked (click): Historical Population

Is it any wonder that I claim Climate Change isn't at the bottom of the Modern Ills Pyramid. Oh sure, it is hugely important and anything we can do to blunt its effects is likely worth doing. That said, we are still whistling-past-the-graveyard unless we also confront the facts about over population. The same is true for many of our other problems. They all trace back to this basic fact; too many humans are vying for the same finite resources of this planet.

Concurrent with that sad fact, is the little situation we have with many our fellow humans failing to move forward out of their bronze age belief systems to face the reality of the twenty first century. I know, that sounded rather harsh. But keep in mind, if the predictions of our best minds are even close to accurate, the near future will be way harsher. So, by all means, (my beloved believers) keep the endearing traditions that warm the heart and bind people to their ancestors but, for the love of Cthulu, lose the other, less helpful, baggage. 

It is clear to any reasonable human willing to absorb the facts that we can not persist in procreating like the earth had infinite space and resources. 

Can you help poor Polly?

Somewhere out there is a third year poli-sci major looking over the current political/societal landscape and despairing. She feels her name is not really important but let’s call her Polly. Anyway, Polly is considering whether to drop out and go to work as a costumed cartoon character for Disney World, or worse yet, staying in school but switching her major to MBA. Lord knows I don’t need to tell you, dear reader, these are two of the last things the world needs more of at this dark moment.

Polly’s hopes for the future are hanging by a mere thread. Her one simple wish is a gazillion shares on this meme. More than anything, Polly hopes the name Humpty-Trumpty catches on. The prospect of millions of people around the world thinking of America’s forty fifth president as Humpty-Trumpy is like a beacon of hope to Polly and so many others like her. Can we really afford to extinguish the one bright shining thought to which they so desperately cling?

If you would like to support this effort, please share this post. If you won’t do it for poor Polly, do it for the “Polly” in your life.

Brennan says straight out what we need to hear

I can not really add to this-

Click for interview with Brennan

Maybe we could learn something, ay?

I am sure all these points are contributing factors. However, I would argue, the most important prerequisite for this outcome was the fact that Canadians have a societal-level sense of unity. That is, they recognize the value of their fellow citizens. They realize that by sticking together and ensuring that others do not fall through the cracks, there will be enough for everyone and everyone will do better.

For fifty points, this is in sharp contrast to what country? Here are some hints. 

In this other, once great, country, they have devolved into a self possessed culture where each one feels entitled to grab the most for themselves. They tend to justify this behavior with an outdated, prejudicial, and mean-spirited idea that those who have nothing find themselves in that condition because they are lazy and worth nothing.

In such a society it becomes easy to imagine that millionaires and billionaires achieve that status because they must be way more valuable than other people. Many of the citizens in this society find difficult to believe those wealthy people are merely the ones who thrive in a game primed for greed, narcissism, and money hoarding. In this society, sharing and cooperation for the common good is for chumps. Instead, one is drawn to emulate the behaviors of the greedy. In this way, the me-me-me carousel keeps spinning.

For another fifty points, who can predict the logical outcome of this game? Here are some hints.

 The masses will continue trying to become more like their heroes, the millionaires and billionaires. It will not occur to them that they are late to the party and their chances of reaching their dreams are infinitesimal. And it most certainly will not occur to them that, were they to reach their dreams- they wouldn’t like who they’d become. Meanwhile, each one will be looking at her fellow citizens, who is also scraping up the crumbs left by those who own everything, and thinking, “that guy is the apocryphal frog-in-the-pot”. Such disdain will make each feel briefly superior, but in truth, they are all standing in water that gets warmer by the minute as more wealth is distributed upward.

So, here is one way of seeing the problem, these people are lost because they started out by surrendering the simultaneous pursuit of happiness and well-being for themselves and their fellow citizens. This fact is well understood by those who own and/or control almost everything (the ownership class). It is then a trivial matter to let just enough crumbs fall from their table to keep the illusion of sharing and cooperation alive. Meanwhile the owners consolidated their hold on the dissemination of information (media) to ensure they controlled, to a large degree, the messaging. In short, they made sure they are the people who tell the masses that the system is working for them. And how do these opinion makers ensure most will never question the message? One might imagine they would use sex to sell the message. In fact, they use fear and anger.   

In the end, the masses appear oblivious to the fact that the system they are using to achieve wealth (and become more like their idols) tends to funnel most of the money to the already wealthy. Even if it slowly begins to dawn on them that their dreams were an illusion, how will they get off the treadmill to nowhere? In the framework of the game, anyone who steps off the treadmill is a loser.

One way to look at the conundrum.

Capitalism is arguably the greatest wealth creating system ever devised.

Capitalism set in a system where it is worshipped rather than being employed as a useful and thoughtfully regulated tool leads to this bleak place.

News, terror, and amusement parks

What do amusement parks and news outlets have in common? They are both purveyors of fear. And what is the difference between them? The amusement park looks you dead in the eye and says, “Get on the rollercoaster. You are going to pay us to frighten you and you are going to love it!” I respect that. Sure, it is rapacious and unapologetic capitalism but, the terms are clear and overt. I am not so certain I could say the same about many of our news outlets.

Like many Americans, I recently watched the drama caused by the so-called Austin bomber. I was saddened by the casualties but having lived through the era of the “uni-bomber”, I was relieved that the whole episode was mercifully brief. Kudos to the brave and dedicated law enforcement officers on this front. However, what struck me was how quickly our attention turned to what we now consider to be the most important question. Were these bombings an act of terrorism? Was the perpetrator a terrorist? When the perpetrator was discovered to be a caucasian and an American, our mutual abhorrence with regard to his actions quickly faded. In its place, we found a way to be divided. Lines were drawn based on who was willing to call him a terrorist and who was not? Our news outlets told us we were at war with each other over a labeling issue. It wasn't even a hard sell. We were primed.

Did you ever stop to wonder why there are national discussions on who should be labeled a terrorist? We ask ourselves if we are labeling too many foreigners as terrorists and not enough homegrown Americans. What about the color divide, we collectively muse? Sure, there are lots of brown terrorists (most of us are pretty quick to agree on this) but are caucasian terrorists being undercounted? If it were not so deadly serious, it would be laughable.

Meanwhile, how many are questioning the gruel we are offered? Why are we now more obsessed with tactics (terrorism) than criminal acts (murder and destruction)? If we have a national consciousness, any thoughtful discussions in that realm are now surrendered to fearful fretting, anger, and thoughts of vengeance.

If you suspect the coverage of “terrorists” and “terrorism” is somehow not in line with day-to-day reality, you are not alone. We are all victims of terrorism now. But, perhaps, not by the agents we imagine. The simple fact is, terrorism specifically and fear-mongering generally are big business with many purveyors. A number of our news outlets would certainly qualify. However, like any multi-level marketing scam, there are many other sellers in the chain as well. And who is buying? We are.

A worthwhile link on the topic by actual experts:

Terrorism and the media: A guide for journalists