August, 2020 archive
Tripping the Light Fatalistic 0
At the Hartford Courant, Thomas Cangelosi suggests a metaphor for the United States’s incompetent and uncoordinated response to COVID-19. A snippet:
(snip)
The scene seemed to be a microcosm of the national crossroads America faces as it negotiates the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become nothing less than a crucible of our national character.
Follow the link for his explanation.
“But Everybody Says . . . .” 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Jennifer Latson explores how exposure to constant repetition can wear down skepticism, cater to credulousness, and foster falsehoods, so that truth gets lost. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
In her piece, she goes on to explore other human tendencies that make us susceptible to such subterfuge, while also pointing out that, in these days of digital deluges of dubious diatribes and a blatherscape of blaring botnets, staying aware of facts and identifying falsity is increasingly important.
Aside:
I suggest “Fox News Effect” as shorthand for this phenomenon.
Mailing It In, Reprise 0
Sam talks with Mike Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union.
Chaos Agent 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Charles Johnston muses on what seems to be the political strategy of the current occupant of the White House. A snippet:
Follow the link for his thoughts on why and how this just might–and he metaphorically emphasizes “might”–work.
At the Inky, Will Bunch weighs in.
The Villages People 0
Experiments fail, even noble ones.
One Can Hope . . . . 0
I find myself bemused when persons refer to Trump’s “accomplishments.” He neither is accomplished nor has he accomplished anything in any way, unless incoherent blather counts as an “accomplishment.”
Image via Job’s Anger.
The New Secesh 0
Methinks The Roanoke Times editorial board has a point. They suggest that “social” media is not connecting persons, it’s separating them. Here’s snippet:
This process of self-isolation is hardly new. Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing wrote a book about this back in 2008. “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart” looked at how people have been self-segregating themselves by ideology in a way we haven’t seen before.
Follow the link for the entire article.
Bat Signals 0
Will Bunch looks back at the Republican convention coronation. An excerpt (emphasis added):
Only 26 hours after the disgraced former Party of Lincoln hit rock bottom by inviting racial vigilantes into your living room came the heartbreaking yet utterly predictable response: American carnage. Two people lay dead in the streets of strife-torn Kenosha, Wis. The 17-year-old — his life, too, forever broken by the lies of a movement he’d embraced — was finally arrested. But only after calmly walking right past police officers who apparently were there not to prevent disorder but to preserve it.
Do please read the rest.
Twits on Twitter 0
Aside:
I’m hardly alone in noticing that one of the side-effects of Trumpery has been granting tacit permission to racists to abandon the dog whistles for, you will pardon the expression, Trumpets.
