Fascinating, challenging, frustrating, disheartening, encouraging: the 1931 Page-Barbour Lectures at the University of Virginia, compiled into The Theory of Education in the United States, by Albert Jay Nock. A significant read, IMO. My library? Two electronic formats and paperback. Read this, then Ortega’s Revolt of the Masses. The two seem to cover most of the bases in revealing why our society is so muddled. And often (appears to be?) sinking.
Celebrate Membership in the “World of Odd”
I grew up as an Odd in a family of high-functioning Norms. There was generally about one chance in ten that things that struck me as hilarious would elicit as much as a chickle from my sibs. In their kindest moments, I was the recipient of the iconic “calf-at-a-new-gate” looks from them.
And so even today, I get my own laughs primarily from observing Norms. Primarily pity laughs, but I do find Norms amusing from time to time.
(Yeh, DSM-IV, the latest perversion of the DSM, was written to reclassify my norm, as for most Odds, from “eccentricity” to “disability” when it really just reveals the disabilities of Norms to view reality through a different lens.)
So, I Saw a T-Shirt. . .
. . .that I can’t quite get behind, IYKWIMAITTYD.
Nah. That’s WAY too friendly, and besides, feds aren’t my type. You know, human. I’m not into bestiality, ya know. (Ya can’t blame me for dehumanizing the feds, because they have done it to themselves.)
Kamalamadingdong’s Russian Influence?
*heh* I adapted a Babylon Bee “meme-y thingy” to more closely match my perceptions of Kamalamadingdong. ‘Tis a poor thing but mine own” as it were. . .
INjustice, Thy Name is. . . Federal
Too many laws. Most of the laws on the fedgov’s books should be completely scrapped, metaphorically “nuked from orbit.” If they are truly necessary AND PROPER (undeniably completely within strict constitutional bounds), then re-pass them with the limitation that ONLY what is in the black letter of the bill is enforceable and the entire law must be strictly enforced on ALL inhabitants of the country, no exceptions or “immunities.” Period. What we have now is a complete, total, and absolute perversion of “equality before the law.”
“Consensus Science” Isn’t. Science, That Is
Whenever I see or hear someone refer to “SettledScience®” or “consensus science” I think of the late 19th century when the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) here in the United States expressed concerns about the potential for the end of knowledge. Sadly, this is not a rare phenomenon in science, just a slight twist on the “We know it all; don’t bother us with anything new or contradictory” bent of “SettledScience®.”
Settled science or consensus science ain’t science. Settled science is a classic example of the kind of UNnatural stupidity that causes enormous harm. The most nefarious (and, I fear, widespread) form of stupidity is WILLFUL ignorance, and, due to conceptual and even pre-conceptual bias and the tendency among many to simply confirm their biases with “research,” this nefarious form of stupidity has always ALSO infected science.
In the public square, this frequently translates into “Scientism,” is a cultic adulation of “science” by fanbois who worship at the feet of “SettledScience®,” “scientific consensus” or other anti-scientific belief systems. And yes, the cult is, sadly, VERY widespread in our society.
Most people, let alone “Scientism” cultists, do not have the first clue about the scientific process and if asked about the value of falsification of a hypothesis versus replication and verification of a hypothesis (or any other aspect of the scientific process) would have no response but “Science!”
And unnaturally stupid self-made morons both abound and are the backbone of the electorate. No wonder the Framers sought to curb democratic impulses. Sadly. . . *sigh*
[sarc /on] Thank You, Department of Injustice [sarc /off]
Read a quick lil novel that’s a fantasy about justice served on Antifa (and similar) thugs in the wake of the 2020 riots. . . after those thugs were released and given pats on the head for looting, burning, and outright murder. It’s a little like a weak version of John Ross’s “Unintended Consequences.” Not sure those are healthy fantasies to harbor, though. Such things, once out in the wild, might well progress beyond being fantasy.
Still, it would be nice for justice to be more than a fantasy that seems more and more to be denied a place in reality. We can, at least in part, thank organized government crime like that perpetrated by the Felonious Barony of Iniquity and its parent organization, the Department of Injustice for much of the anarcho-tyranny leading to so much else in government following their examples.
Nopers. Not for Me.
Saw a posting for what is quite likely an otherwise worthwhile event, but even if I were to desire to attend, I could not, because I have a firm policy against exclusion of knives (and by extension ANY exclusion of items that can be used for self-defense, because such is an inherent right). And, guess what? The venue not only excludes ALL knives (no matter size, design, or purpose) but excludes a lot of other things that, well, only Koolaid drinkers would approve of.
Yeh, I don’t fly, either (and I’d have to to make the event. Or rather, I will not, because Thugs Standing Around are just Security Kabuki, laced with cover for Official Thievery. Sure, it limits some of my options, but not any that are really important.
Change the Terms but Keep the Substance
IOW, lie. That is what the forces occupying our communities under the cover of government do day in and day out.
Sovereign immunity? Qualified immunity? Anathema to the Founders and Framers.
Among the “long train of abuses” cited in the Declaration of Independence, one stands as a model for our INjustice system’s practices of both Sovereign Immunity and Qualified Immunity, that all too often protect government actors from the consequences of their crimes. The Declaration cites the king’s acts:
“. . . protecting them [occupying troops, similar n almost every regard to LEOs, persecutors, urm, prosecutors, judges, bureaucraps and the like “occupying” our communities] by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States . . ”
And then there is the fact that BOTH the federal system AND the states are barred from creating classes of nobility, so what do they do instead? They create privileged classes that are in no substantial way different to nobility, in that they have protections from the laws they more and more often use to suppress and oppress citizens.
Our contemporary law enFARCEment and INjustice systems (along with just about every government bureaucrappy) can be held accountable for their persecutions of citizens (and in many cases, more and more often nowadays, actual encouragement of real criminal behavior) only with great difficulty, and with barely any effect on the lives of bad actors in government. At most? Maybe a slap on the wrist. More usual? “Attaboys” and promotions.
Thus, for example, the murderer, Lom Horiuchi, stands as a “hero” and inspiration to law enFACEment and other government bad actors everywhere. BATF’s (and other agencies’) brutal murder of children at Waco? *meh* No consequences (except for the BATF agents killed by “friendly fire”–a minor karmic justice).
And then there are those fake “protectors” training sheeple in serfdom. I would modify the George Bernard Shaw quote, “When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he will always declare that it is his duty,” for today’s Thugs Standing Around (TSA and all such security Kabuki personnel operating under cover of law), because most such persons have no sense of shame, nowadays, and no sense of right and wrong, either. They seem proud of doing things that any reasonable and decent person would be ashamed of.
Ortega’s “Mass-Man” Leading the Way to. . .
Even just a glance at the passing scene leads one to observe that the Internet’s empowerment of Ortega’s “mass-man” and the attendant massive explosion of the growth and influence of “Dunning-Krugerands,” has only exacerbated the downward spiral toward Kornbluth’s “Marching Morons.”
Setting: Far future (less far, now, by a LOT, if today’s society is any indication). “The human population is now 3 million highbred elite and 5 billion morons, and the “average” IQ is 45 (whereas today an IQ score of 100 is average, by definition).” (? Wikipedia)