Personal Musings category archive
Influencer Idiocy in Dis Coarse Discourse 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Alexander Danvers explains why you can’t trust many “internet influencers.” The short version is that they try to use what they claim is logical reasoning, while ignoring actual evidence. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
A caveat: It’s not the best piece of writing I’ve seen; there are a few times when his wording could have been a bit clearer. For instance, he uses the term “logic,” when what he means in context is “logic based on false premises” or “reasoning unsupported by evidence.” (A fitting synonym might be “sales pitch.”) Nevertheless, in this age in which uncredentialed and unqualified yahoos seem capable of attracting many ears and turning many heads, methinks it a worthwhile read.
Alternative Realities 0
As I was driving home from the nuptial ceremony I attended over the weekend, I found myself behind a car sporting a bumper sticker that read
Guns Save Lives.
Yeah.
I have no idea whether the person who placed that sticker on that car actually believed that or was simply proffering an offering at the feet of the idol of the portable phallus, but it indicates the extent to which persons are willing to live in alternative realities because, well, actual factual reality conflicts with their lusts and desires.
Speaking of alternative realities, Fox News is running an ad (no, I won’t link to it) about how Fox News unites the country.
Perhaps persons who watch Fox News (and its imitators) will fall for it.
I suspect that no one else will.
Stray Thought 0
I will be on the road today, but, even if I were not, I would not lower myself to watch Trump pleasuring himself with his military blow-up doll parade.
Stray Thought 0
It occurred to me as I drifted off to sleep last night that there must be some irony in honoring Memorial Day while a draft dodger occupies the White House.
But, then, as Professor Shade was fond of pointing out, “History is irony.”
The Fantasy World 0
Methinks a viable case can be made that Donald Trump (along with the Trumpettes) lives in his own alternative reality.
A Passing Remark 0
For some fool reason, my neighbor said to me just the other day, “It only took Hitler 53 days.”
Twice.
Whyever might my neighbor have made such a remark?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Devolution 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Ira Israel finds what he refers to as “fabricated self-importance” to be of some concern. A snippet:
I commend his piece to your attention.
As an aside, I think “social” media feeds this phenomenon by rewarding persons for boasting and for boosting fabricated–I use that term advisedly–versions of themselves. But read his article and see what you think.
(Broken link fixed.)
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
It occurs to me that this whole anti-DEI movement is all about making sure those folks (you know who they are) know their place and stay in it.
A Moment of Duh! 0
It came to me today, as I was reading about this, that the reason the white right-wing is against DEI is right there in the words themselves.
The opposite of DEI is UIE: uniformity, inequality, and exclusion.
Stray Thought 0
I never expected that I would be living in a rogue state.
Stray Thought 0
It should surprise no one that Donald Trump has set his sights on the Department of Education.
After all, he’s on record that he loves the poorly educated, so, clearly, in Trump world, it makes sense to promote poorer education.
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 0
After years of warning us that the federal government cannot be trusted, the right-wing and the Republican Party have succeeded in giving us . . .
. . . a federal government that cannot be trusted.
Stray Question 0
Why do so many persons seem to think that daylight savings time “makes more daylight” when all it does is move daylight about?
Oxymoron of the Day 0
No, not “responsible gun owner.” That’s an oxymoron every day.
The oxymoron of the day is Trump administration.
A. Enron 0
Q. What business are Republicans thinking of when they say, “Run the government like a business?”
Because It Is. Okay? 0
Stray Thought 0
There is no sign more convincing of the end of intelligent life than the sight of grown men walking around in cargo shorts in near-freezing weather.
Gutting Out the Vote 0
It appears that Republicans did not have to gut out the vote.
Voters did it for them.
My Daddy taught me through example that voting is not a right.
It is a duty.
Via PoliticalProf, it would appear that a large portion of the citizenry was not taught that lesson or, perhaps, chose to ignore it.
I fear that they–and the rest of us who did vote–will pay dearly for their indolence and apathy.
Recommended Listening 0
Harry Shearer’s interview with Dr. Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University, in which they hold a balanced discussion of the federal deficit; In the course of their discussion, Kelton explodes many of the myths and falsehoods spread by the self-styled “deficit hawks.” The discussion starts at the 21-minute mark.
By the way, the rest of the show is also well worth a listen. I try not to miss an episode.
Stray Thought 0
Today’s Republican Party does not only value party over country.
It values party over competence.