Speaking of political optics.
Yeah, the criminal, who is being protected, at all costs, by the GOP.
Then there’s the Republican Party witch hunts:
Yipes, talk about political optics.
It’s funny in a way, but on the other hand, realizing that all this wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous dumbing down of America. I mean this huge MAGA population around a third of our country - that can’t pass the most basic grade school logic challenges, but will gloom upon an idol for salvation.
Not that the other 2/3 of the country is doing very good in the logic, rationality, consistency, fair play state of mind either. There trashing of America’s one time fair-play attitude, total disregard for honesty when presenting their stated “facts” - refuse to change opinion even when the facts stack up overwhelming.
Simple logic, not maintaining systems - will lead to system wearing down and crumbling.
Medical logic, disease gets spread via air born particles - wear face masks to protect self and others.
Paying taxes is okay, especially if we expect the services - continued citizen scrutiny and involvement is needed to make sure that money gets spent properly. And officials doing their jobs honorably
A mentality where maximizing profits is all that matters - will destroy the base that makes riches possible to begin with.
Lordie knows how long I could go on. Other day saw a video about collapsing bridges in Norway, they built 14 major Glulam beam bridges in that country - of course not all wood/glue, also lots of steel. Ergo lots of major connections happening.
The think bridges, up way north, long stormy cold nights, nice days sometimes probably temperature fluxes of dozens of degrees, expansion, contraction, moisture, salt spray - imagine the possibilities.
We need each other to keep our selves honest. But something has broken down these days when basic physics is to be ignored because personal profit are to be had.
Oh but that’s not even why I came here.
Check it out:
Dumbing Down is not the problem. Americans are smarter today than we were 100 years ago.
The problem is a loss of trust due to increased Diversity.
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How do you figure that.
Simply because some people have accumulated more knowledge than society ever had at its disposal - doesn’t mean the people of the country are any smarter.
My god, USA elected (and has turned into JC SuperStar) the epitome of the Ugliest of Ugly greedy, evil Americans. Break any contract, absolute contempt for old honesty and humanity. Harboring egomaniacal tendencies, openly hating our government and being a tax-deadbeat. But he’s now a hero to a third of this country - and look at spin off results, Russian invasion and war to destroy Ukraine - that’s trumps doings & no-doing. The COVID related health crisis, both human health and damage medical industry and public health norms, etc, etc.
Today a third of our country continues saying - Hell yeah baby, we want a Trump Dictatorship, truth means nothing, all we care about is sticking it to those liberal neighbors of ours.
Way less people are involved in democratic organization with a boards, following Roberts Rules Of Order, and cooperating to do good things for their respective communities - and such.
Go to a hotel and try going through those 500, 1000 channels, what am I supposed to gather from channel after channel of total brainless garbage & stuff being peddled - like getting more stuff is all there is to living.
We have become a nation of delusionals, and just because we may have pockets of intense knowledge, doesn’t mean much of that translates into society.
Besides, with knowledge and healthy human comes the need for wisdom to guide us in how we use our knowledge. - we’ve totally lost on that score - all our knowledge seems dedicated to the basest of human desires. Not much future in that, now wanna go through the global news to see how well things are going??
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And that is a man-made problem that can easily be fixed, if it weren’t for “typecasting” and unwarranted racial prejudices.
In an individual, it can be fixed, but that assumes a lot of background being laid, some of it while they are young. I don’t think it’s easy. There are instincts that keep us from trusting strangers
And that is to be expected. Many humans are dangerous predators or simply prejudiced.
What is so wrong with diversity? I do not see how diversity causes loss of trust. It should increase it because you get to know others. There is nothing wrong with diversity.
You couldn’t prove to me, given what I’ve observed of people.
A 7 year old asked me “why are there so many different kinds of trees” today.
Nature exists after two billion years, because of diversity.
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And the diversity in the forest is necessary for maintaining a healthy shared biochemical environment.
Everything that exists today was chosen by natural selection for being contributory to the entire system and the desirability for survival to procreate. That’s why forests comprise the largest biomass on earth.
Knowledge and intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing — that much is accurate — but Americans are objectively more intelligent and the world is a better place today in most ways. You are often motivated by paranoia about Trump, which you connect to everything you don’t like and dig deeper into a pit of despair. If you could get past that you’d realize things could be much worse.
Knowing others does not automatically mean trust can be established, and different groups have different behaviors, values, etc. which cannot be ignored.
The reason for stopping Trump is precisely because I know how much worse things could be.
I partly agree with that assessment. The smartest in the US are probably some of the smartest in the world.
But the education of the average US citizen is ranked 38th in the world.
Education Rankings by Country 2023
Ironically, despite the United States having the best-surveyed education system on the globe, U.S students consistently score lower in math and science than students from many other countries. According to a Business Insider report in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in math scores and 24th in science. Discussions about why the United States’ education rankings have fallen by international standards over the past three decades frequently point out that government spending on education has failed to keep up with inflation.
Education Rankings by Country 2024
This dichotomy of pro-Trump ‘deplorables’ and anti-Trump ‘zealots’ disgusts me.
I don’t identify with either. What I see is that the fairy tale that we were told of any citizen becoming president is definitely not true. The American populace has been electing outsiders every time, with the exception of Biden. The American populace has been electing people who were against the Iraq war… with the exception of Biden. I ask whether Biden was duly elected, but I didn’t have a horse in the race. I did find it peculiar how the democratic field all dropped out over the course of a week in incoherent ways that made it look as if there was actually no primary. Tick another one up for the big guy. The corruption of DJT pales in comparison to that of Joe Biden. If you want a deep state candidate you’ve got it in Joe Biden.
Really, I only meant to contribute to this thread another perspective that is not my own, but is one that I identify with, and fits this title of Political Optics:
Please do list the “most ways the world is better” in 2023.
It would be interesting to see what it says about your priorities.
“These institutions are captured”
Wonderful.
“We have to reboot the entire system”
21:25 “… I think Donald Trump will think carefully …”
You know up until then it was a bunch of nothing burger, I saw nothing enunciated very clearly, just the usual aimless mumbling as I’m trying to figure out what this guy knows, and why I should listen to him, or care?
But, that line exposed him for a clown and is more delusional and “captured” then I can tolerate.
Trump thoughtful??? Trump concerned over consequences, WTF. Where has this guy been hiding, or what kinds of mind numbing drugs is he on?
Or can you supply some examples of trump being thoughtful or having genuine concern for consequences???
I think perhaps that video deserves a tit for tat
I was very pro Trump in 2016. He had his chance and he failed, so I’ve moved on. Many liberals can’t move on because they’re obsessed with Trump. Biden is a nobody who doesn’t threaten anyone in the establishment, basically the opposite of Trump. He appeals to the biggest voting block in the country – Boomers – and that’s why he was nominated. Of course, nothing has really changed. The same big issues are still on the table, and nothing is being done.
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Increased life expectancy.
Less War.
Less Pollution .
Less Starvation.
Less Poverty .
Each of these is subtle, but this one stands out. Rivers might be cleaner, air quality too but it varies. The problem is, the specific form of pollution is destroying the environment.