https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=654265555058540&id=100014253040289
Governing Human Society on Earth
I think we’ve come to the point where any reasonable person would concede that what we’re doing isn’t working. There necessarily comes a time when there is no more time left to conduct studies; to have discussions; to debate trivialities into infinity; to convince or educate the ignorant and shallow and easily satisfied and incurious; to compromise yet further; to reach across the aisle. That time is upon us. It’s time to shift gears now. This is a binary change. On or off. Forward or backward. Thrive or wither.
There is no middle.
There is no half gear. Do you see a 1 1/2 gear on your car’s stick shift? You pick a direction and you follow it. You do not simultaneously follow one direction and another or else you will split yourself in two. Any idiot can see that.
We’ve so far gathered much information throughout our human history about ways human beings can thrive on this planet. We have way more information than is necessary to solve all of our problems! Do you understand that? However we have chosen not to act upon that information and pursue courses of action that truly allow us to thrive as a species and to thrive as a planet. Instead we have chosen to follow the moving target, the rabbit on the post, watch the same old show over and over again, tell the same old joke, perform the same old tradition. Instead of using what we’ve learned in order to move forward and better ourselves and our society and our circumstances and our understanding of the universe we have chosen instead to take all of that, fancy merely the shiny bits, sit on the couch, eat potato chips and watch TV and get fat and drunk and stupid and drive bigger and bigger trucks. Our coastlines are not collectively-owned celebrations of nature’s beauty and places to reflect and enjoy but staging areas for pushing more metal and plastic and oil and waste into the oceans, making them merely extensions of our mismanaged, exploitative, terrestrial roadways.
Sigh. It’s late and I’m tired so I’m going to go home. I’ll write more later maybe. ๐๐๐โ๏ธ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฝ๐ธ
If you donate money to me I’ll have more time and energy to think about and write about the solutions to all of these problems I’m identifying and outlining all over the place. If you find it too hard to figure out how to donate money to me let me know and I will improve the system. Thank you for your support and your eyeballs and your mind and your heart! ๐ If we work together we can turn this situation upside down and make it better.
Ex-UN chief Ban Ki-moon says US healthcare system is ‘morally wrong’
Ex-UN chief Ban Ki-moon says US healthcare system is ‘morally wrong’
Kudos to Ban Ki-moon for having the courage to step forward and say something like this.
One thing I will question is why the rest of the Western world was seemingly so absent from public condemnations of events and policies in the USA that preceded or directly resulted in this situation. I do champion diplomacy and have the deepest respect for those who engage in it. However it is also necessary and healthy to be brave and principled enough to bite the hand that feeds you when the other hand is beating you or someone else. At some point you become complicit via inaction.
This is the trash that the Republican Party scrapes up to be a Supreme Court Justice. In the United States of America. In 2018. Very impressive.
CNN: Two Republican senators urge committee to hear out Kavanaugh accuser before vote https://www.diigo.com/annotated/7ba20bf547894b5079c37ae8258904a6
Yeah. ๐ I think the least you could do is take the hour or so to hear out the accuser before the vote; you know, the vote to decide who’s going to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States of America for life.๐
Todayโs GOP leaders have little in common with those who resisted Nixon
Excellent article! Well worth the read. Plus you get a history lesson.
Another more timely strike against Mississippi
Feels like it! ๐ One more reason to GTFO.
And “Governor” Phil Bryant is a buffoon. Denial & ignorance (best case) and actively looting your historically suppressed constituency (worst case) are both very grave errors/crimes/sins/mistakes/acts/choices in an actual democracy. I’m hoping for massive amounts of cosmic justice, whether I’m privileged enough to witness it or not. ๐๐๏ธโฅ๏ธ๐๏ธโธ๏ธ๐๐๐ข๐ฆ
Citizen, it is your responsibility and duty to educate yourself
Now don’t get me wrong! There should be a public education system that is stellar in every regard. But it is incumbent upon each of us (or at least those of us who want to be able to vote, or make any decisions in the public sphere) to ensure that we have a torrent of diverse information constantly flowing into our brains with which we can make decisions, compare and contrast, reach conclusions, ponder, meditate, etc., resulting in a nuanced, intelligent, wise, well-informed, reasonable, citizen of the world.
And like I said earlier this might not be for everyone. Maybe some people don’t want to put forth the effort or care or attention into doing this for themselves. In that case I would politely request that you refrain from doing anything that would affect anyone else on the planet and get used to accepting the guidance of those who do care to accept this responsibility.
How does that sound?
American political party reform
Check out @AmirAminiMDโs Tweet: https://twitter.com/AmirAminiMD/status/1029124848403013634?s=09
Sounds good to me! Sounds like progress is required, change. Because change is normal. Change is natural. Change is inevitable! So let’s just get on with it instead of resisting it and causing infinitely greater problems than would occur otherwise.
I think one way of looking at what we’re experiencing now is the result of holding on to some fanciful notion of what the past was like and completely failing to recognize and confront the current reality.
The root of the problem, if you care or are otherwise interested
Check out @profwolffโs Tweet: https://twitter.com/profwolff/status/1029053971627892736?s=09
This references an article I wrote about previously:
Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change โ The New York Times
As Mr. Wolff points out, the New York Times continues its seemingly proud tradition, one it shares with plenty of other purveyors of truth, of stopping short of assigning blame where it is due and responsibly questioning the premises of this situation.