Greetings good citizen, I awoke this morning musing about 'rationality' and how little of it appears to be evident in the public square.
Funny how this leads to the question 'What do we KNOW [as opposed to what do we THINK we know?]
The disparity between the two sets is numbing in its whimsy.
We find ourselves in DENIAL about so many things that we literally KNOW nothing while convincing ourselves we have 'all the facts'.
What led us here? The eye that never blinks.
Not that we get much help from it's 'older sibling' black, white and 'read' all over It too is unreliable because it delivers its own version of what passes for 'knowledge'.
Not that it's entirely useless...look at this quote by Paul Krugman:
Trillions for war but not a cent left over for the public weal...where do these people come from? Worse, how do the get elected?
No Rational person would vote for them but isn't that where all of this started? The utter lack of 'rationality' from the public discussion?
Why do people 'tune out' when the talking heads start blathering about something nobody cares about?
[Self-answering question...inserted to insure you are paying attention...]
First, they don't care if you're paying attention, their job is to fill empty space with 'something' and if that something is more 'sensational' than 'factual'...oh well.
Problem here is it's 'assumed' that YOU [almost everything in your head comes from 'the eye that never blinks'] KNOW how to sort 'fact from fiction'...until politicians start messing with your head by calling what you interpret as 'truth' to be merely 'alternate facts'.
Implying in that assertion that YOU remain ignorant of the truth...when in fact you are 'spot on'.
Oh don't worry, they intend to play that card as well only when they acknowledge you were correct it will be them insisting YOU SCREWED UP! Which like the 'alternative facts' is done to intentionally confuse you.
To remain 'grounded' you need to cling to the facts you can 'prove'. Left, right, up, down, forward, backwards, plus, minus, light, dark, motion, stillness.
The list is relatively lengthy and that's just the 'obvious' stuff but that's how 'knowledge bases' are built, the things you're SURE about followed by the things you're 'pretty sure' of...followed by the things you heard and have no 'evidence' of...like Spirit in the Sky...or your imaginary friend Pookey who disappeared under somewhat mysterious circumstances when you were little.
Probably around the same time God failed to deliver/protect you from that bad thing that happened.
Poor Pookey, he wasn't a god but he did 'get' you (and when you were with Pookey, YOU had 'super powers!
Sorry, had to throw that in there [let it be known that Gegner never had an 'imaginary friend' and leave it at that.]
The same 'practice' also applies to rationality, starting with the hierarchy of needs and working towards our place in the larger community.
What is screwing with a large swath of humanity right now is a society that doesn't 'need' them so they don't 'fit in' anywhere...
We don't see it today [because somebody smartened up and took it off the table about twenty years ago] but there USED TO BE a deep concern that permeated the corporate culture regarding 'right-sizing'.
Having just enough workers to maximize profits is what 'right-sizing' was all about. Those 'left out' by 'right sizing' were cut loose, left to their own devices...which is monumentally STUPID as well as freakishly selfish.
But this was done by managers trained to follow the formula, one that was constantly being 'tweaked'...so it excluded more and more...er, do people stop being people when we label them 'workers'?
Well, let's return 'rationality' back to the discussion with something EVERYBODY KNEW (once upon a time.)
As Mr. Krugman points out, when politicians call for SACRIFICE, they are acknowledging that we can't have everything RIGHT NOW, you have to do certain things first in order for there to be enough to go around.
PART of that calculation is fear of contentment. The 'masters' among us fear people becoming 'content' with what they have so they stop 'striving' to survive.
Worse, it was thought that desperate people would be 'highly motivated'...if you ever wondered why NOBODY [in charge] EVER actually does anything to improve the lot in life of the average human...well, that's because STUPID believes you already 'have it too good', if things got any 'easier' for you, you'd stop working altogether!
[BUT THIS DOESN'T STOP NUMBNUTS FROM WORKING/DEVELOPING ROBOTS INTENDED TO REPLACE YOU, HIS CUSTOMER?] Can ANYBODY explain THAT? (rationally, like the case for doing this is anywhere near 'reasonable'.) Let me once again interject 'we're doing this WRONG!'
This is a perfect example of SACRIFICE [albeit idiotic sacrifice but sacrifice none the less!]
Doing one thing before doing something else is logical and in effect you do 'sacrifice' the instant gratification that most of us crave [but few realize]
But politicians are forever making it an 'either/or' proposition. We can't have a strong military AND safe drinking water! That's just CRAZY and NOBODY (in politics) can survive if they are 'weak on defense'...doesn't matter what letter follows your name, the people who pay for the 'dog & pony show' check that out first thing!
Clean water is a 'luxury', let the peasants figure it out.
Sound familiar?
Seriously, WTF Good Citizen?
On 7/5 I want to see a FULL STOP GLOBALLY!
Doesn't take 'everybody', just the truckers, pilots and engineers.
If you're sick to death of others deciding what makes you 'satisfied' then it's time to pull the plug on this shit show of 'More for Me' while THEY mutter "I can't help it if they're stupid" under their breath...and that's more of a 'prayer' than anything else because they KNOW we aren't stupid, we're just don't know what to do about it.
So on 7/5 let's show 'em what NOTHING looks like.
Thanks once again for letting me inside your [don't forget your friends] head(s)
Gegner
Funny how this leads to the question 'What do we KNOW [as opposed to what do we THINK we know?]
The disparity between the two sets is numbing in its whimsy.
We find ourselves in DENIAL about so many things that we literally KNOW nothing while convincing ourselves we have 'all the facts'.
What led us here? The eye that never blinks.
Not that we get much help from it's 'older sibling' black, white and 'read' all over It too is unreliable because it delivers its own version of what passes for 'knowledge'.
Not that it's entirely useless...look at this quote by Paul Krugman:
There were and are poseurs like Paul Ryan, who claim to be big deficit hawks. But there’s a simple way to test such people’s sincerity: when they propose sacrifices in the name of fiscal responsibility, do those sacrifices ever involve their own political priorities? And they never do. That is, when you see a politician claim that deficit concerns require that we slash Medicaid, privatize Medicare, and/or raise the retirement age — but somehow never require raising taxes on the wealthy, which in fact they propose to cut — you know that it’s just an act.
Trillions for war but not a cent left over for the public weal...where do these people come from? Worse, how do the get elected?
No Rational person would vote for them but isn't that where all of this started? The utter lack of 'rationality' from the public discussion?
Why do people 'tune out' when the talking heads start blathering about something nobody cares about?
[Self-answering question...inserted to insure you are paying attention...]
First, they don't care if you're paying attention, their job is to fill empty space with 'something' and if that something is more 'sensational' than 'factual'...oh well.
Problem here is it's 'assumed' that YOU [almost everything in your head comes from 'the eye that never blinks'] KNOW how to sort 'fact from fiction'...until politicians start messing with your head by calling what you interpret as 'truth' to be merely 'alternate facts'.
Implying in that assertion that YOU remain ignorant of the truth...when in fact you are 'spot on'.
Oh don't worry, they intend to play that card as well only when they acknowledge you were correct it will be them insisting YOU SCREWED UP! Which like the 'alternative facts' is done to intentionally confuse you.
To remain 'grounded' you need to cling to the facts you can 'prove'. Left, right, up, down, forward, backwards, plus, minus, light, dark, motion, stillness.
The list is relatively lengthy and that's just the 'obvious' stuff but that's how 'knowledge bases' are built, the things you're SURE about followed by the things you're 'pretty sure' of...followed by the things you heard and have no 'evidence' of...like Spirit in the Sky...or your imaginary friend Pookey who disappeared under somewhat mysterious circumstances when you were little.
Probably around the same time God failed to deliver/protect you from that bad thing that happened.
Poor Pookey, he wasn't a god but he did 'get' you (and when you were with Pookey, YOU had 'super powers!
Sorry, had to throw that in there [let it be known that Gegner never had an 'imaginary friend' and leave it at that.]
The same 'practice' also applies to rationality, starting with the hierarchy of needs and working towards our place in the larger community.
What is screwing with a large swath of humanity right now is a society that doesn't 'need' them so they don't 'fit in' anywhere...
We don't see it today [because somebody smartened up and took it off the table about twenty years ago] but there USED TO BE a deep concern that permeated the corporate culture regarding 'right-sizing'.
Having just enough workers to maximize profits is what 'right-sizing' was all about. Those 'left out' by 'right sizing' were cut loose, left to their own devices...which is monumentally STUPID as well as freakishly selfish.
But this was done by managers trained to follow the formula, one that was constantly being 'tweaked'...so it excluded more and more...er, do people stop being people when we label them 'workers'?
Well, let's return 'rationality' back to the discussion with something EVERYBODY KNEW (once upon a time.)
As Mr. Krugman points out, when politicians call for SACRIFICE, they are acknowledging that we can't have everything RIGHT NOW, you have to do certain things first in order for there to be enough to go around.
PART of that calculation is fear of contentment. The 'masters' among us fear people becoming 'content' with what they have so they stop 'striving' to survive.
Worse, it was thought that desperate people would be 'highly motivated'...if you ever wondered why NOBODY [in charge] EVER actually does anything to improve the lot in life of the average human...well, that's because STUPID believes you already 'have it too good', if things got any 'easier' for you, you'd stop working altogether!
[BUT THIS DOESN'T STOP NUMBNUTS FROM WORKING/DEVELOPING ROBOTS INTENDED TO REPLACE YOU, HIS CUSTOMER?] Can ANYBODY explain THAT? (rationally, like the case for doing this is anywhere near 'reasonable'.) Let me once again interject 'we're doing this WRONG!'
This is a perfect example of SACRIFICE [albeit idiotic sacrifice but sacrifice none the less!]
Doing one thing before doing something else is logical and in effect you do 'sacrifice' the instant gratification that most of us crave [but few realize]
But politicians are forever making it an 'either/or' proposition. We can't have a strong military AND safe drinking water! That's just CRAZY and NOBODY (in politics) can survive if they are 'weak on defense'...doesn't matter what letter follows your name, the people who pay for the 'dog & pony show' check that out first thing!
Clean water is a 'luxury', let the peasants figure it out.
Sound familiar?
Seriously, WTF Good Citizen?
On 7/5 I want to see a FULL STOP GLOBALLY!
Doesn't take 'everybody', just the truckers, pilots and engineers.
If you're sick to death of others deciding what makes you 'satisfied' then it's time to pull the plug on this shit show of 'More for Me' while THEY mutter "I can't help it if they're stupid" under their breath...and that's more of a 'prayer' than anything else because they KNOW we aren't stupid, we're just don't know what to do about it.
So on 7/5 let's show 'em what NOTHING looks like.
Thanks once again for letting me inside your [don't forget your friends] head(s)
Gegner
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