Miscellaneous observations
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No one ideology can give correct or even sane answers to every question. Pragmatism and moderation must always temper our adherence to our belief systems.
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A new survey shows Nebraska's economic-populist independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn leading his Republican opponent 46% to 42%. This is not a sure thing but it is winnable. We really could soon have an economic populist in the Senate who is not beholden to either party -- hopefully the beginning of a whole new movement.
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I'm well aware that the way I write sometimes does not strictly adhere to standard grammar (splitting infinitives and suchlike). This is because I prioritize clarity and ease of reading. If the clearest way of expressing an idea happens to transgress a grammatical rule, then I will ignore the rule.
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We now know that Mitch McConnell is technically alive, but he is clearly in no condition to handle the job of being a senator. Then there's the obvious mental deterioration lately shown by Trump's increasingly unhinged social media posts and pronouncements. We have systems in place to remove people who are obviously incapacitated from political office -- they just aren't working because the people who should be using them are prioritizing partisan political interests over the interests of the country.
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When somebody makes a blanket denunciation of "the left" or "the right", our suspicion should be directed first against the person who is doing that, rather than against their target.
The extremist on one side looks at the extremists on the other side, gathers their most stupid and outrageous statements and actions into a broad brush, and proceeds to tar the entire other side with that brush. The trouble is, many individuals who start out as moderates read what the hard-liners on their own side have to say (since those hard-liners are over-represented among people who write about politics) and are gradually swayed by it, polarizing the country into two camps, each convinced that the other has gone crazy.
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The first loyalty of a congresscritter or senator should be to his or her constituents, not to his or her political party. Their job is to represent us. "Party discipline" is contrary to democracy.
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The cynic is the most shallow, most naïve, and most gullible type of person ever to exist -- and also among the least interesting.
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In the Lindsay Clancy case, as with all violent crimes, my concern is for the victims, not for the perpetrator. What haunts me is the horror that those children must have felt, being killed by the one person that they should have been able to count on most of all to protect them.
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Most people who think it would be "unnatural" to cure aging so that people can live for centuries probably do not think brushing their teeth is "unnatural", but fundamentally it's the same thing. In both cases, one is using tools created by human intelligence to prevent damage which would otherwise slowly degrade one's health.
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The reason why the moan-groan-doom-gloom mentality is so dangerous is that the way we perceive our situation can affect how we deal with our situation. Wallowing in doom and gloom leads to pessimism. Pessimism leads to despair. Despair leads to paralysis. And paralysis leads to defeat even when defeat was not inevitable. If you convince yourself that everything is hopeless, you will not take action, because you will have trapped yourself in a state of mind where you believe that taking action is futile or will even be counterproductive, regardless of the actual track record of such action in the real world. This is why the enemy within the mental gates is so dangerous.
posted by Infidel753 at 9:50 AM
8 Comments:
I couldn't believe it when they showed Mitch McConnell in the van he was wheeled to. He sat there like there wasn't much going on upstairs. While it's sad he's at that point, there needs to be some sort of concession when someone, especially a senator gets to be this was where they have to step down. It's just ridiculous.
Of course, I appreciate many points, but they fall from my brain once I get on to the next one. I do remember the first, and would just remove ‘fundamentally’ from the statement that we are animals.OTOH we are different than all others, so I get the adverb, or is it an adjective? Speaking of which, for popular writing, following the all of the rules can ‘sound’ archaic and/or awkward, so it is sometimes best to disregard. Thanks for the post.
Fatalism really is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy—convincing yourself nothing matters is just giving up before the bell rings. Your breakdown of how extremists use broad brushes to trap moderates in echo chambers is spot on, too. The Osborn numbers show there’s a real craving out there for practical, working-class common sense over partisan theater. Excellent set of observations, Infidel!
Anyone who has spent time in a nursing home or Alzheimer's facility recognizes the vacant stare of Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden. I'd also call out their family members for allowing this travesty. Good thoughts on your last paragraph.
Regarding grammar:
The all-too-common practice of ending a sentence with a preposition, even for the sake of "clarity", is a practice up with which we must not put.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Mary: We wouldn't allow two-year-olds to be senators because they just don't have the mental capacity to handle it. This is hardly any different.
Anvil: It's true that we're different (every animal species is), but the commonalities are much greater than most people realize.
Mr Shife: Thanks. I really hope Osborn will be the start of something that will lead mainstream Americans out of those partisan echo chambers.
Bijoux: I did spend a lot of time in a nursing home, when my mother was in one for her last few years. It's sad, but reality -- most people in extreme old age are just incapacitated and not functional adults any more.
Burr: I'm reminded of the most famous split infinitive ever, from Star Trek -- "to boldly go where no man has gone before". Every possible way of saying that without splitting the infinitive doesn't sound nearly as good as the original.
"In the Lindsay Clancy case, as with all violent crimes, my concern is for the victims, not for the perpetrator. What haunts me is the horror that those children must have felt, being killed by the one person that they should have been able to count on most of all to protect them."
I can't agree more. Given our proximity to the trial, we have been flooded with "both-side"serism since the get-go. It comes down to this - she murdered her children. Period. I don't give a rats ass about her "state of mind"; she murdered her children. She needs to pay the consequences. Period.
They are really pushing for full mis-trial.
It's a very bizarre case. I can understand calling for leniency if one believes she was literally insane, but some people seem to be treating her as almost a heroic figure.
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