January, 2022 archive
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Paul Thagard argues that the success of fascist movements depends on misinformation. After outlining five specific types of misinformation that fascist movements of the 20th Century relied on, he goes on to suggests practices for inoculating ourselves against mis- and disinformation.
What particularly caught my eye, though, was this nugget, which illustrates why “social” media isn’t (emphasis added):
I commend the article to your attention.
Snow Job 0
Our local media has been filled with predictions of a snow storm for the last few days. For example.
One thing I have observed is that predictions of snow make people stupid. Understand that, in this area, if there is a snow storm, the odds are that within a day or two, the roads will be passable.
Nevertheless, when we went to our favorite local supermarket today (mind you, not because of the weather forecast, but because we were running low on cat food for our two furry monsters), we found the breakfast food aisle (bacon, sausage, etc.–items we were not planning to purchase) almost stripped bare. When we asked the check-out clerk if she had seen any panic buying, she said, “Not today, but yesterday.”
Which reminds me of my favorite snow experience.
I was working in Thorofare, NJ, which is almost directly across the river from Philadelphia International Airport. Because of a snow storm, we were sent home early. I was heading down Interstate 295 at about 35 mph on my way to the Commodore Barry Bridge, a reasonable pace under the conditions, carefully negotiating a snow-covered highway, when some clown in four-wheel-drive SUV blasted past me.
You will have to remember that, with four-wheel-drive, you can go faster, but you cannot stop faster.
I saw said clown again, about a mile down the road, nestled against the guard rail in the median, facing in the other direction, stuck.
Sometimes, desserts are just.
A Pillow of the Community 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Mike Murphy wonders why oh why anyone might doubt the credibility of Mike Lindell.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Richard Kyte takes issue with the growing (and casual) use of profanity in public and in the pubic discourse.
I must say, and perhaps it is a reflection of my age, that I tend to agree with many of his points. To use an old framing, I got no issues with locker room language, so long as it remains in the locker room and not, to pick two random examples, in news conferences and song lyrics. I do not necessarily agree with all his points, but I think his article is well worth a read. Here’s a bit of what he has to say:
(snip)
The most fundamental principle of social order in the West is that all people are equal. The social attitude corresponding to that principle is respect.
Aside:
Yes, I know that the “fundamental principle” to which he refers is oft violated and, indeed, seems these days to be falling into eclipse. Perhaps showing persons respect, however pro forma that “respect” may be, could help make that “fundamental principle” seem more real.
To put it another way, what the hell is wrong with just being polite to others, even if you disagree with or, indeed, contemn them?
Vaccine Nation 0
Methinks putting party over the public good is a pretty good indicator of a failed state.
Facebook Frolics 0
Multiplying misinformation about masks in a time of pandemic.
(But, after all, multiplying misinformation is a fundamental part of what the Zuckerborg does, is it not?)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Celebrate birthdays with politeness.
Stray Thought, Devolution Dept. 0
I suspect that future historians, should scholarship survive the impending floods and famines made inevitable by our societal paralysis in the face of accelerating climate change, will conclude that one of the tipping points in the self-destruction of our society came when persons stopped thinking of themselves as fellow participants in the polity and starting thinking of themselves as brands battling for “likes” and “followers.”
I am not sanguine.
Seen on the Disinformation Superhighway 0
Snopes rounds up a herd of hooey about presidents and presidential candidates from the past three decades and concludes
Follow the link for details.
“Whitewashing History” 0
The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Paul Williams explains, in the context of a column about Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, whose first official act was to ban critical race theory in schools, where, again, it is not taught. A nugget (emphasis added):
This all-consuming concern over “inherently divisive concepts” and the Constitution is rich coming from a member of a political party in thrall to a former president so divisive that he inspired an insurrection that the vast majority of GOP lawmakers are loath to acknowledge or investigate.
Image via Job’s Anger.
The Climates They Are a-Changing 0
Afterthought:
Back in what we called the “back field” at Pine View Farm, to the left and way behind the pine trees in the picture at the top of this page, there is a steep slope with about a 20-foot drop where the soil is very sandy, so sandy, in fact, that at spots the soy beans my father used to plant there did not grow very well.
We always thought it was once a beach. Now it looks as if it will be a beach once more.
What Happened Happened 0
The writer of a letter to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch points out that it can be done: Yes, you can teach history without teaching the dreaded and degrading (to white children according to Republicans, that is) critical race theory.