OT: Anonymous NYT op-ed

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=zk]
I’d be very surprised if Beto wins. Ecstatic, but surprised. I’ll be canvassing for him in Austin later this month while I visit my sister there. Go Beto![/quote]

To me Beto is young and aspirational. He’s cool and positive and embodies the best values of America. Ted Cruz is the angry, cruel America.

What puzzles me is if Trump’s economy is so good, why are there so many angry Republicans?

[zk]

[quote=flu]you really think there is a massive blue wave?

Stats say that when then economy is humming along, incumbent party stays in control.[/quote]

My confidence in any kind of blue wave, even a small one, is waning. And it’s got nothing to do with the economy.

Many intelligent and (I had previously thought) reasonable people I know are actually truly afraid of the migrant caravan and immigrants in general (and will therefore be voting republican). Not in a, “they’re taking our jobs and we’re spending money on their welfare” way, which would be ignorant and stupid enough all by itself. But in a much more visceral, fearful of physical violence way. Which, when you consider the actual amount of danger they pose (especially compared to the many dangers that are actually out there), is unfathomably ridiculous.

It really is hard to believe that people are that stupid. But clearly they are.

I guess it really shouldn’t be that hard to believe, though. Kinda my bad for ever thinking otherwise. In truth, we’re just animals whose brains are wired for discerning threats to our immediate physical survival, and not for discerning the larger truth or truth in general or any specific truth in particular. That may have been an advantage in the natural world. But now that we’ve built a civilization, it seems to me that it’s a shortcoming.

It seems to me that a bigger, more important movement than the movements for equality for women, minorities, LGBTQ+, etc. would be a movement that acknowledges that shortcoming and teaches people how to recognize when that shortcoming is causing them to see as “the truth” something that is not the truth. I think that if people could see when that shortcoming is causing them to not think clearly, then there’s a good chance we wouldn’t even need those other movements.

Not that there’s a chance in hell that such a movement will ever happen. And it probably wouldn’t work anyway (because people are idiots). In reality, it’s just a silly dream of mine.

[gromit]

[quote=zk][quote=flu]you really think there is a massive blue wave?

Stats say that when then economy is humming along, incumbent party stays in control.[/quote]

My confidence in any kind of blue wave, even a small one, is waning. And it’s got nothing to do with the economy.

Many intelligent and (I had previously thought) reasonable people I know are actually truly afraid of the migrant caravan and immigrants in general (and will therefore be voting republican). Not in a, “they’re taking our jobs and we’re spending money on their welfare” way, which would be ignorant and stupid enough all by itself. But in a much more visceral, fearful of physical violence way. Which, when you consider the actual amount of danger they pose (especially compared to the many dangers that are actually out there), is unfathomably ridiculous.

It really is hard to believe that people are that stupid. But clearly they are.

I guess it really shouldn’t be that hard to believe, though. Kinda my bad for ever thinking otherwise. In truth, we’re just animals whose brains are wired for discerning threats to our immediate physical survival, and not for discerning the larger truth or truth in general or any specific truth in particular. That may have been an advantage in the natural world. But now that we’ve built a civilization, it seems to me that it’s a shortcoming.

It seems to me that a bigger, more important movement than the movements for equality for women, minorities, LGBTQ+, etc. would be a movement that acknowledges that shortcoming and teaches people how to recognize when that shortcoming is causing them to see as “the truth” something that is not the truth. I think that if people could see when that shortcoming is causing them to not think clearly, then there’s a good chance we wouldn’t even need those other movements.

Not that there’s a chance in hell that such a movement will ever happen. And it probably wouldn’t work anyway (because people are idiots). In reality, it’s just a silly dream of mine.[/quote]

There has been such a movement. It’s pretty old, and actually fairly popular. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

🙂

[outtamojo]

Yes people are idiots- especially the bible thumping idol worshippers for whom indivisible with liberty and justice for all mean nothing. If I were a kid again I would take a knee in class.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=outtamojo]Yes people are idiots- especially the bible thumping idol worshippers for whom indivisible with liberty and justice for all mean nothing. If I were a kid again I would take a knee in class.[/quote]

So true!

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=zk]

Many intelligent and (I had previously thought) reasonable people I know are actually truly afraid of the migrant caravan and immigrants in general (and will therefore be voting republican). Not in a, “they’re taking our jobs and we’re spending money on their welfare” way, which would be ignorant and stupid enough all by itself. But in a much more visceral, fearful of physical violence way. Which, when you consider the actual amount of danger they pose (especially compared to the many dangers that are actually out there), is unfathomably ridiculous.

It really is hard to believe that people are that stupid. But clearly they are.

I guess it really shouldn’t be that hard to believe, though. Kinda my bad for ever thinking otherwise. In truth, we’re just animals whose brains are wired for discerning threats to our immediate physical survival, and not for discerning the larger truth or truth in general or any specific truth in particular. That may have been an advantage in the natural world. But now that we’ve built a civilization, it seems to me that it’s a shortcoming.
[/quote]

Good point. The caravan are people who deserve compassion. I would welcome them with open arms.

What does it say about the leaders who play to our fears? We are not that civilized.
Madeleine Albright said “we stand taller, we see further.” Not.

[zk]

[quote=FlyerInHi ]

What does it say about the leaders who play to our fears? [/quote]

Well, to this point, it says they’re winning. We’ll see what happens today.

[Author]

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