Biden's speech was brilliant. It's spot on that HCR reproduced a large portion of that speech along with the report on inflation. So, inflation is at its lowest level in years? Normally, this would be great news for an incumbent president seeking re-election. But, not now. Times have changed. Issues that once made a difference don't now.…
Biden's speech was brilliant. It's spot on that HCR reproduced a large portion of that speech along with the report on inflation. So, inflation is at its lowest level in years? Normally, this would be great news for an incumbent president seeking re-election. But, not now. Times have changed. Issues that once made a difference don't now. Why? In part the reason is that among about fifty million or more voting Americans (Evangelicals, white supremacists and the ultra wealthy) facts don't matter. John Stuart Mill made this observation in his 1869 essay, "The Subjection of Women," - when beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter.
To get a better understanding of what is going on here, Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the Midwest in the 1920's is very instructive. D.C. Stephenson, head of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana in the 1920's said: "I did not sell the Klan in Indiana on hatreds. I sold it on Americanism." How is this different from "Make America Great Again?" MAGA is KKK, 21st century version. Regaining political power and installing their version of "Americanism" is the only thing that really matters to them.
Richard Sutherland "So, inflation is at its lowest level in years? Normally, this would be great news for an incumbent president seeking re-election. But, not now. Times have changed. Issues that once made a difference don't now. Why?" I blame the media in large part for their distorted coverage of current events. Some ignore the Biden Administration's clear successes while other sources minimize, bury or present on the same level as the republican's craziness. That part of the media deliberately choses a path that presents a picture of a divided country with lots of controversy. Biden's calmer, less exciting approach to rebuilding our economy and status around the world just doesn't get readership, which is all most media cares about. Another reason why HCR's work is so important.
There are tens of millions of Americans who will never know that "inflation is at its lowest level in years." That's because their source of information is solely from Fox, OAN and Newsmax. They still believe that the election was stolen and that Kari Lake won in Arizona. They believe that all other information sources are fake news. These are "True Believers." They believe what they believe and facts, even if known, would make no difference.
The NYT, WaPo and many other "mainstream" sources are also a problem. Incomplete coverage, false equivalencies and bothsiderism are far too common in their reporting. It isn't just Fox and the rest of them. It takes effort to get a clear, accurate picture of complicated current events. Unfortunately most people just don't have the time.
News on the vomit front: Kari Lake is coming to Salem (OR) to speak to some meeting of wing nuts. Last year we had the Flynn dog and pony show in Keizer. Ain't we lucky???
Please go as an observer. I understand that she wants to be TFG's VP running mate. It'd be interesting to see how she works a crowd and what their responses are. Of course, the experience may cause you to go into a deep state of depression, so if your the least bit concerned, stay home.
Actually we have a friend who might. She listens to enemy radio every day and has attended some of the nut case meetings. She is very upset about this and I am not sure even she could get through it. There hasn't been anything about it except from a site called Salem Proletariat. Some of them might go to protest.
It's called reconnaisance. Hsun Tzu, in his "Art of War" in 250 BCE, noted: "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." Still, Hsun Tzu didn't say that it would be easy.
This person is heavily involved in politics especially land use here in Oregon. She knows everyone including several people on the R side. She spends most of her time on this as does her husband although I don't think he listens to enemy radio.
I am not a Fox AON or News Max " believer". Hearing that inflation slowed is good news but let's not start patting our self on the back just yet. Inflation has been happening for a long time and until prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news. Companies that dominate the market like Tyson Foods, Kellogg Foods... have created record profits lately because of thier ability to control pricing kak no competition have no incentive to lower prices to pre inflation levels. Someone doesn't have to be brainwashed or in an information bubble to be skeptical enough to not feel like celebrating news that inflation has just slowed.
A real false equivalency is saying that people in the lower incomes have mad the most gains on inflation. Someone going from $9 an hour to $18 ( 100% increase) had no buying power to start with and whos job is likely part time is having a harder time dealing with bills than someone with no raise that make $100,000 a year. But news is reporting lower incomes are rising as to meet inflation. Telling people they are doing better while they see themselfs struggling is bad politics and more a tactic of MAGA world employed on the brainwashed. Hold the champaign for real world results, then people will get on board. Propaganda is bad politics to an informed electorate..save the BS for Trumpito.
"[U]ntil prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news." Oh, please. That is an absurd -- and DANGEROUS -- expectation. You're talking about 10%+ DEFLATION to get back to prices from 3 years ago. Do you not understand the dangers of deflation? Or are you a big-banker who alone would profit by it? How much fun was it for your grandparents from 1930 to '33? Looking forward to paying the interest on the $10K/person national debt in dollars worth more, and harder to come by, than they are now?"[U]ntil prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news." Oh, please. That is an absurd -- and DANGEROUS -- expectation. You're talking about 10%+ DEFLATION. How much did your (great-?)grandparents enjoy that from 1930-33? Do you look forward to paying the interest on the $10K-per-person national debt in more valuable, harder-to-come-by dollars than when "we" borrowed them? You "real false equivalency" assertion looks like innumerate nonsense to me.
Right. You don't want to start a deflationary trend because you can't control it. You can control inflation to some extent with interest rates, but there is little you can do when inflation goes negative and the interest rate crashes to zero. Which basically is what happened to Japan in the 90s, and I'll admit here that I don't know much about how they tackled the problem. But I do know that their economy has had problems with deflation ever since.
And I'll add that, according to Paul Krugman, wages are going up faster than inflation, which is slowing down considerably, and we still don't seem to be headed for a recession. Which seems strange, but go figure. I mean literally. Anyone who wants to figure that out, God bless you.
The answer is in Richard's first paragraph: "when beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter." So the media focuses on feelings. They've got bills to pay.
When I say tough, I mean really, really tough. Take Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., for example. He headed up the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA, how all living things share the same DNA (plants, animals, insects) it's because it came from a single Super Great Grandmother 3.5 billion years ago. And that modern humans emerged only 300,000 years ago and that we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. So, when did we get a soul? And, Francis Collins is a fundamentalist Christian. The takeaway? When beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter. John Stuart Mill was/is right.
See "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. We have two brains. One is fast to react and slow to learn, and the other is fast to learn and slow to react. The first one is sometimes called the lizard brain. It's where emotions are initiated. The lizard brain looks pretty much like the MAGA brain. Just sayin'.
Marycat2021, when you read "A Fever . . ." you'll see that the conclusion about MAGA being today's KKK is inescapable, right down to the white, Anglo Saxon Protestantism. DeSantis, a white Catholic, has sneaked into the group. Who could have ever imagined that such a shallow, empty, self-aggrandizing, serial lying congenital malignant narcissist such as Donald Trump could get even one vote, to say nothing about tens of millions. It is a great insult on the American populace and may point to the detrimental effects of religion on critical thinking abilities.
Richard, re: “It is a great insult on the American populace and may point to the detrimental effects of religion on critical thinking abilities.” I would add watching the short series on Prime, Happy Shining People, is a real eye opener for the far right evangelical movement that has and continues to be strong on the religious brainwashing of America.
It's interesting how irrational and clueless we can be. I have two daughters, both extremely well educated (MBA and J.D.) The older one (41) has one dgtr (3 yrs 8 mos) while the younger one (39) has no children. I think that they looked ahead 30 - 40 years and decided that it may not be the thing to bring new humans into this world. I can relate to that.
I totally agree! This is an amazing book! However, you may have trouble sleeping after reading! There are things in this book that I would never have imagined in a million years. It is so sickening...and we are currently living in it with these MAGAs!
True, and the search for a new "D.C. Stephenson" by Rupert Murdoch is on-going. He is apparently dumping DeSantis. @Advocacy reports just now: Rupert Murdoch set to bail on Ron DeSantis, reportedly eyeing new puppet to fight Trump
The Fox News founder has reportedly soured on the real-life Disney villain's floundering presidential campaign and has privately told people his new campaign crush is Virginia Gov. Greg Youngkin. Different right-wing fearmonger, same book-banning, queer-shaming, race-baiting bullshit.
Yes, Richard, while I was reading A Fever in the Heartland, I constantly thought about what is happening today. All the so-called patriots hear this siren song loud and clear. And I noticed that D.C. Stephenson was a slime ball who reminded me of death star except that he wasn't born into wealth....a clever lying con man though to hide and made up his background. Rs continue to screech about MAGA, family values, the military, law and order, immigration, and government spending...monstrous hypocrites.
I get what Mill was saying, and we see it every day;but perhaps the concept of "feelings" beg a closer look. It occurred to me long ago, assigned Descartes' "Discourse on Method" in college, that "I feel, therefore I am", might go deeper than "I think therefore I am". In retrospect, I can't separate them. The precise parameters of my own experiential sense that "I am" seems a bit mysterious and elusive. My consciousness seems to involve a constant flow of micro-decisions about what is true AND what "matters". I have some grasp of the physics and physiology of sunshine on my shoulder, but less of the experiential sentience, for which I can compare notes with other humans, but not adequately describe. I can appreciate the chemistry and neurology of tasting a fresh strawberry (which my wife is currently gathering) but that animal experience is both "tangible" and hard to pin down. In any case I believe that "feelings" are core to who and what we are, and serve us best when reconciled the revelations of our own intelligence.
"Dispassionate inquiry" is misrepresented by Star Treks "Mr. Spock", as many scientists, including Einstein, have been quite passionate, but also mentally disciplined with respect to logic and evidence. The urge to discover and the recognition of a promising thread implies decisions of value.
Demagogues have subjugated humanity from time immemorial, by appealing to attractive lies and prejudices. Lies sabotage our liberty, justice, and socially healthy outcomes, and must be confronted with the most accurate observations and conclusions we can muster, but also with appeals to our values. The above collection of excerpts from Biden's speech is packed with them. Current Republicans ironically seem to offer only the "blue pill" and Democrats the "red", but Republicans arrogantly and disingenuously make such a show of defending "Values"; neglecting to mention that everyone has them. It is refreshing and essential that our responsible leaders make more of a "thing" of just and liberating, forward-thinking values and help us focus on our own.
What, in the end, matters most? And who gets "a voice" in that regard in a democratic republic?
Biden's speech was brilliant. It's spot on that HCR reproduced a large portion of that speech along with the report on inflation. So, inflation is at its lowest level in years? Normally, this would be great news for an incumbent president seeking re-election. But, not now. Times have changed. Issues that once made a difference don't now. Why? In part the reason is that among about fifty million or more voting Americans (Evangelicals, white supremacists and the ultra wealthy) facts don't matter. John Stuart Mill made this observation in his 1869 essay, "The Subjection of Women," - when beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter.
To get a better understanding of what is going on here, Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the Midwest in the 1920's is very instructive. D.C. Stephenson, head of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana in the 1920's said: "I did not sell the Klan in Indiana on hatreds. I sold it on Americanism." How is this different from "Make America Great Again?" MAGA is KKK, 21st century version. Regaining political power and installing their version of "Americanism" is the only thing that really matters to them.
Richard Sutherland "So, inflation is at its lowest level in years? Normally, this would be great news for an incumbent president seeking re-election. But, not now. Times have changed. Issues that once made a difference don't now. Why?" I blame the media in large part for their distorted coverage of current events. Some ignore the Biden Administration's clear successes while other sources minimize, bury or present on the same level as the republican's craziness. That part of the media deliberately choses a path that presents a picture of a divided country with lots of controversy. Biden's calmer, less exciting approach to rebuilding our economy and status around the world just doesn't get readership, which is all most media cares about. Another reason why HCR's work is so important.
There are tens of millions of Americans who will never know that "inflation is at its lowest level in years." That's because their source of information is solely from Fox, OAN and Newsmax. They still believe that the election was stolen and that Kari Lake won in Arizona. They believe that all other information sources are fake news. These are "True Believers." They believe what they believe and facts, even if known, would make no difference.
The NYT, WaPo and many other "mainstream" sources are also a problem. Incomplete coverage, false equivalencies and bothsiderism are far too common in their reporting. It isn't just Fox and the rest of them. It takes effort to get a clear, accurate picture of complicated current events. Unfortunately most people just don't have the time.
News on the vomit front: Kari Lake is coming to Salem (OR) to speak to some meeting of wing nuts. Last year we had the Flynn dog and pony show in Keizer. Ain't we lucky???
Please go as an observer. I understand that she wants to be TFG's VP running mate. It'd be interesting to see how she works a crowd and what their responses are. Of course, the experience may cause you to go into a deep state of depression, so if your the least bit concerned, stay home.
Actually we have a friend who might. She listens to enemy radio every day and has attended some of the nut case meetings. She is very upset about this and I am not sure even she could get through it. There hasn't been anything about it except from a site called Salem Proletariat. Some of them might go to protest.
It's called reconnaisance. Hsun Tzu, in his "Art of War" in 250 BCE, noted: "Know your enemy and in 100 battles you will win 100 victories." Still, Hsun Tzu didn't say that it would be easy.
This person is heavily involved in politics especially land use here in Oregon. She knows everyone including several people on the R side. She spends most of her time on this as does her husband although I don't think he listens to enemy radio.
Never give in to the Fox news zombies- you've got facts on your side. Keep fighting the good fight.
It's a real tough slog, Dave. Very tough. But, they can't simply be ignored.
I am not a Fox AON or News Max " believer". Hearing that inflation slowed is good news but let's not start patting our self on the back just yet. Inflation has been happening for a long time and until prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news. Companies that dominate the market like Tyson Foods, Kellogg Foods... have created record profits lately because of thier ability to control pricing kak no competition have no incentive to lower prices to pre inflation levels. Someone doesn't have to be brainwashed or in an information bubble to be skeptical enough to not feel like celebrating news that inflation has just slowed.
A real false equivalency is saying that people in the lower incomes have mad the most gains on inflation. Someone going from $9 an hour to $18 ( 100% increase) had no buying power to start with and whos job is likely part time is having a harder time dealing with bills than someone with no raise that make $100,000 a year. But news is reporting lower incomes are rising as to meet inflation. Telling people they are doing better while they see themselfs struggling is bad politics and more a tactic of MAGA world employed on the brainwashed. Hold the champaign for real world results, then people will get on board. Propaganda is bad politics to an informed electorate..save the BS for Trumpito.
"[U]ntil prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news." Oh, please. That is an absurd -- and DANGEROUS -- expectation. You're talking about 10%+ DEFLATION to get back to prices from 3 years ago. Do you not understand the dangers of deflation? Or are you a big-banker who alone would profit by it? How much fun was it for your grandparents from 1930 to '33? Looking forward to paying the interest on the $10K/person national debt in dollars worth more, and harder to come by, than they are now?"[U]ntil prices start heading back to what they were before covid there is not really much good news." Oh, please. That is an absurd -- and DANGEROUS -- expectation. You're talking about 10%+ DEFLATION. How much did your (great-?)grandparents enjoy that from 1930-33? Do you look forward to paying the interest on the $10K-per-person national debt in more valuable, harder-to-come-by dollars than when "we" borrowed them? You "real false equivalency" assertion looks like innumerate nonsense to me.
Right. You don't want to start a deflationary trend because you can't control it. You can control inflation to some extent with interest rates, but there is little you can do when inflation goes negative and the interest rate crashes to zero. Which basically is what happened to Japan in the 90s, and I'll admit here that I don't know much about how they tackled the problem. But I do know that their economy has had problems with deflation ever since.
And I'll add that, according to Paul Krugman, wages are going up faster than inflation, which is slowing down considerably, and we still don't seem to be headed for a recession. Which seems strange, but go figure. I mean literally. Anyone who wants to figure that out, God bless you.
The answer is in Richard's first paragraph: "when beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter." So the media focuses on feelings. They've got bills to pay.
When I say tough, I mean really, really tough. Take Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., for example. He headed up the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA, how all living things share the same DNA (plants, animals, insects) it's because it came from a single Super Great Grandmother 3.5 billion years ago. And that modern humans emerged only 300,000 years ago and that we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees. So, when did we get a soul? And, Francis Collins is a fundamentalist Christian. The takeaway? When beliefs are based on feelings, facts don't matter. John Stuart Mill was/is right.
See "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. We have two brains. One is fast to react and slow to learn, and the other is fast to learn and slow to react. The first one is sometimes called the lizard brain. It's where emotions are initiated. The lizard brain looks pretty much like the MAGA brain. Just sayin'.
Excellent. Thank you!
Thank you, Richard. Looks like I have some further reading to do.
And thank you for calling out MAGA for what it really is.
Marycat2021, when you read "A Fever . . ." you'll see that the conclusion about MAGA being today's KKK is inescapable, right down to the white, Anglo Saxon Protestantism. DeSantis, a white Catholic, has sneaked into the group. Who could have ever imagined that such a shallow, empty, self-aggrandizing, serial lying congenital malignant narcissist such as Donald Trump could get even one vote, to say nothing about tens of millions. It is a great insult on the American populace and may point to the detrimental effects of religion on critical thinking abilities.
Richard, re: “It is a great insult on the American populace and may point to the detrimental effects of religion on critical thinking abilities.” I would add watching the short series on Prime, Happy Shining People, is a real eye opener for the far right evangelical movement that has and continues to be strong on the religious brainwashing of America.
I will check into it, Chris. "Happy Shining People." Makes me think of "the Stepford Wives."
Yes and the Handmaiden’s Tale.
It's interesting how irrational and clueless we can be. I have two daughters, both extremely well educated (MBA and J.D.) The older one (41) has one dgtr (3 yrs 8 mos) while the younger one (39) has no children. I think that they looked ahead 30 - 40 years and decided that it may not be the thing to bring new humans into this world. I can relate to that.
I totally agree! This is an amazing book! However, you may have trouble sleeping after reading! There are things in this book that I would never have imagined in a million years. It is so sickening...and we are currently living in it with these MAGAs!
True, and the search for a new "D.C. Stephenson" by Rupert Murdoch is on-going. He is apparently dumping DeSantis. @Advocacy reports just now: Rupert Murdoch set to bail on Ron DeSantis, reportedly eyeing new puppet to fight Trump
The Fox News founder has reportedly soured on the real-life Disney villain's floundering presidential campaign and has privately told people his new campaign crush is Virginia Gov. Greg Youngkin. Different right-wing fearmonger, same book-banning, queer-shaming, race-baiting bullshit.
Detrimental effects of worshipping false Gods like money and power. Trading one addiction for another to avoid brutal reality in a dog eat dog world
Yes, Richard, while I was reading A Fever in the Heartland, I constantly thought about what is happening today. All the so-called patriots hear this siren song loud and clear. And I noticed that D.C. Stephenson was a slime ball who reminded me of death star except that he wasn't born into wealth....a clever lying con man though to hide and made up his background. Rs continue to screech about MAGA, family values, the military, law and order, immigration, and government spending...monstrous hypocrites.
I get what Mill was saying, and we see it every day;but perhaps the concept of "feelings" beg a closer look. It occurred to me long ago, assigned Descartes' "Discourse on Method" in college, that "I feel, therefore I am", might go deeper than "I think therefore I am". In retrospect, I can't separate them. The precise parameters of my own experiential sense that "I am" seems a bit mysterious and elusive. My consciousness seems to involve a constant flow of micro-decisions about what is true AND what "matters". I have some grasp of the physics and physiology of sunshine on my shoulder, but less of the experiential sentience, for which I can compare notes with other humans, but not adequately describe. I can appreciate the chemistry and neurology of tasting a fresh strawberry (which my wife is currently gathering) but that animal experience is both "tangible" and hard to pin down. In any case I believe that "feelings" are core to who and what we are, and serve us best when reconciled the revelations of our own intelligence.
"Dispassionate inquiry" is misrepresented by Star Treks "Mr. Spock", as many scientists, including Einstein, have been quite passionate, but also mentally disciplined with respect to logic and evidence. The urge to discover and the recognition of a promising thread implies decisions of value.
Demagogues have subjugated humanity from time immemorial, by appealing to attractive lies and prejudices. Lies sabotage our liberty, justice, and socially healthy outcomes, and must be confronted with the most accurate observations and conclusions we can muster, but also with appeals to our values. The above collection of excerpts from Biden's speech is packed with them. Current Republicans ironically seem to offer only the "blue pill" and Democrats the "red", but Republicans arrogantly and disingenuously make such a show of defending "Values"; neglecting to mention that everyone has them. It is refreshing and essential that our responsible leaders make more of a "thing" of just and liberating, forward-thinking values and help us focus on our own.
What, in the end, matters most? And who gets "a voice" in that regard in a democratic republic?
Amen!