He's right that the press is harder on him than any other president. Rightfully so. Because he's the worst man to be a president, and the press is who we rely on to tell the story. The truth of his behavior is why the press is harder on him. He deserves it all.
But press, shut the fuck up about the trivial. Just because it would be a major story of any other living politician, candidate or famous person did it doesn't mean you have to elevate the petty hypocrisy to a major story. THERE ARE PLENTY OF REAL FAILURES every week in this man's dossier to address before sinking to perverse trivia.
We don't need new evidence each day about the following realities about Trump:
1. He's a constant liar. 2. He embellishes everything about himself. 3. He does so by criticizing others whenever they disagree or point out his painful or embarrassing truths. 4. He's white and as an extension of his inferiority complex, he needs for that to be supreme as well. 5. He's incapable of complex thought. 6. He doesn't care about anything that doesn't specifically make him look good or bad, and (see #1) he will lie to make himself look good to himself (no one else really believes him -- his supporters know in their souls he's full of shit).
Be hard on President trump because he's a terrible president, and be hard on his proposed policies that are making America the worst it's been in my lifetime. Race relationships have been worse, and treatment of African Americans has been worse (watch The Vietnam War on PBS if you think otherwise), but this is our biggest backslide ever. The economy has been worse. The state of war has been worse (with the exception of our current North Korean situation, for which Trump is partially to blame, but not entirely -- the Korean problem has escalated with the advancement of their march toward nuclear capabilities which would have happened no matter who is in the White House.)
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The Benefits of Self Reflection - Any Mirror Will Do
A friend's Facebook post: [paraphrase] "This scriptural study of Job was a good reminder ..."
Whatever the strawman around which you want to wrap a personal reflection, it's your wrapping around it in which the benefit lies, not the strawman. Whether you take a moment of intentional analysis of one of the universal conflicts of the human condition using the Bible, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, an episode of Sex In The City, or a scholarly article by a clinical psychologist, your throw your life experience and natural attitude up against some idea or principle and compare and contrast, judge, butt and rebut, accept and deny and so forth. It's particularly useful when there's another thoughtful member in the room making it a threesome (you, them, and the literature) or three or more (with diminishing returns).
An open dialogue with the expectation that you will come away from the encounter with a better understanding, able to understand and incorporate a heftier hunk of some small part of the universal whole.
I've come to believe that it's sometimes useful to deconstruct the universal principles of human existence to appreciate in explicit detail the nuance of any given circumstance, and later reconnect it to the singular octopus, to remember that for certain, it really always abuts the oneness of all.
About the strawmen: for any individual, different strawmen may be more accessible (a literal minded person may struggle with something spiritual or metaphorical, a Christian may find their history with scripture richer), but it's also a great exercise in expanding our perspective by branching out to less natural strawmen. For a scientist to spend more time with a piece of literature to explore selflessness and altruism, or an acolyte to dissect the implications of kin selection in evolutionary psychology to explore how "goodness" can be baked into the human psyche through the invisible hand of our genetic drive to replicate itself. Either way, it's in the ping-pong of ideas that we grow.
Whatever the strawman around which you want to wrap a personal reflection, it's your wrapping around it in which the benefit lies, not the strawman. Whether you take a moment of intentional analysis of one of the universal conflicts of the human condition using the Bible, Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, an episode of Sex In The City, or a scholarly article by a clinical psychologist, your throw your life experience and natural attitude up against some idea or principle and compare and contrast, judge, butt and rebut, accept and deny and so forth. It's particularly useful when there's another thoughtful member in the room making it a threesome (you, them, and the literature) or three or more (with diminishing returns).
An open dialogue with the expectation that you will come away from the encounter with a better understanding, able to understand and incorporate a heftier hunk of some small part of the universal whole.
I've come to believe that it's sometimes useful to deconstruct the universal principles of human existence to appreciate in explicit detail the nuance of any given circumstance, and later reconnect it to the singular octopus, to remember that for certain, it really always abuts the oneness of all.
About the strawmen: for any individual, different strawmen may be more accessible (a literal minded person may struggle with something spiritual or metaphorical, a Christian may find their history with scripture richer), but it's also a great exercise in expanding our perspective by branching out to less natural strawmen. For a scientist to spend more time with a piece of literature to explore selflessness and altruism, or an acolyte to dissect the implications of kin selection in evolutionary psychology to explore how "goodness" can be baked into the human psyche through the invisible hand of our genetic drive to replicate itself. Either way, it's in the ping-pong of ideas that we grow.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Take a Knee. Take Five of Them.
In America, you can take a knee and not be put away. Sure, some people can be against you for it, but if they weren't, then you wouldn't have to take a knee.
The question you should be asking is not should they or shouldn't they. But "Why do some Americans feel the need to make a statement like this?" And then, "What do we need to do to fix it?"
The men and women of the Armed Forces defend our freedom to take knees if we want and are proud of their job and I don't know a single person who doesn't support them. Standing up for the flag does not equal supporting our troops. I was a troop once, and I support both the troops (past, present and future), and the need to improve our treatment of minorities and immigrants in this country and the right (and responsibility) for citizens to speak their mind as they see fit with whatever platform they have.
A president who singles out individuals for his harassment, on the other hand is anathema to his office and good leadership in general. I've always stood during the National Anthem, Pledge, etc., because the flag does not represent Trump, and he is definitely not representing America or our values.
To me, the flag, the Anthem and the Pledge are symbols of our aspiration to live up to our values. We want to be a more perfect union, we want to liberty and justice for all. We want our country to be a beacon of hope to the world and a leader by example: strong, firm, compassionate, inclusive, resolute, innovative. Not shrill, strident, peevish, defensive, flip-floppy, fear-driven, hyper-reactive.
The question you should be asking is not should they or shouldn't they. But "Why do some Americans feel the need to make a statement like this?" And then, "What do we need to do to fix it?"
The men and women of the Armed Forces defend our freedom to take knees if we want and are proud of their job and I don't know a single person who doesn't support them. Standing up for the flag does not equal supporting our troops. I was a troop once, and I support both the troops (past, present and future), and the need to improve our treatment of minorities and immigrants in this country and the right (and responsibility) for citizens to speak their mind as they see fit with whatever platform they have.
A president who singles out individuals for his harassment, on the other hand is anathema to his office and good leadership in general. I've always stood during the National Anthem, Pledge, etc., because the flag does not represent Trump, and he is definitely not representing America or our values.
To me, the flag, the Anthem and the Pledge are symbols of our aspiration to live up to our values. We want to be a more perfect union, we want to liberty and justice for all. We want our country to be a beacon of hope to the world and a leader by example: strong, firm, compassionate, inclusive, resolute, innovative. Not shrill, strident, peevish, defensive, flip-floppy, fear-driven, hyper-reactive.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
What We All REALLY CAN Agree On. Let's Start There.
1. It would be nice if more and more people had decent health insurance every year. Maybe we could figure out how to make that happen.
2. It would be great if we could put more of our money toward educating our young than incarcerating our adults. Let's find a way to systematically shift every dollar spent on prisons and jails to educating and meeting the mental health needs of children.
3. Discrimination sucks. It brings people down for no reason. It never brings people up. Let's continue to fight for fair treatment for humans, and humane treatment to animals. Death to mosquitoes!
4. Trust in government is important, so fighting corruption and increasing transparency is vital.
5. People having faith in the electoral system is an important factor to trust in government. Everything we can do to make it more transparent and secure is worth it. Things to take a really good look at: The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, Term Limits, and Citizens United.
6. Our workforce must meet today's needs. People need to be thinking about the future when they start their careers, with a viable plan B always there in case something happens to the industry, job, etc. This is more important every day as we see automation and AI taking on more and more. Examples: Online banking and learning (changes the role and focus of teachers from purveyors of information to facilitators of learning techniques and critical thinking)
7. Education can be greatly improved: What we teach, how we teach, when and where we teach. All are due for some serious overhauls.
2. It would be great if we could put more of our money toward educating our young than incarcerating our adults. Let's find a way to systematically shift every dollar spent on prisons and jails to educating and meeting the mental health needs of children.
3. Discrimination sucks. It brings people down for no reason. It never brings people up. Let's continue to fight for fair treatment for humans, and humane treatment to animals. Death to mosquitoes!
4. Trust in government is important, so fighting corruption and increasing transparency is vital.
5. People having faith in the electoral system is an important factor to trust in government. Everything we can do to make it more transparent and secure is worth it. Things to take a really good look at: The Electoral College, Gerrymandering, Term Limits, and Citizens United.
6. Our workforce must meet today's needs. People need to be thinking about the future when they start their careers, with a viable plan B always there in case something happens to the industry, job, etc. This is more important every day as we see automation and AI taking on more and more. Examples: Online banking and learning (changes the role and focus of teachers from purveyors of information to facilitators of learning techniques and critical thinking)
7. Education can be greatly improved: What we teach, how we teach, when and where we teach. All are due for some serious overhauls.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Non-Partisan DACA Reality
DACA was enacted with the full knowledge by the President at the time of its borderline legality. He chose to proceed, I assume, because it was better than the alternative of not acting to support those who fell under the provisions: children brought here as minors. With Congress locked into its ridiculous "oppose everything the president does, have no real plan of your own", the sort of immigration reform that we all know needs to happen through actual legislation was an obvious non-starter.
So, along comes a new president who campaigned on undoing everything Obama did, and who proceeds to live up to his promise, sets some dumb time-frame within which Congress is now supposed to come up with a solution... Yes, its tragic.
But what can we all agree on? How about this: we enact an immigration policy that allows enough hungry, wanna-be Americans in so we can continue to employ people do keep our country going, we provide an environment of welcome to those people so they want to integrate as productive citizens/residents who wish to contribute to and benefit from what our country has to offer, who don't feel outcast and ripen for radicalization, but rather have a real hope of climbing whatever they see as the ladder of success to achieve some idea of their American dream.
I don't think anyone wants to eliminate the boarders, so find a way to police that humanely, but make the pathway to becoming an American citizen/legal resident straight-forward and viable so it makes sense. That's a tough thing to do, but with thoughtful, minimally racist (inasmuch as that's possible) people working hard, listening to the arguments all around the dial, and coming up with a solution that accomplishes our immigration goals, it's not impossible. It will never be perfect -- that's not the universe we live in -- but it can be good, and we can work to improve it as we watch the results of our initial efforts closely.
Our brainless political hatred (liberal versus conservative) in this country is making this a horrendous non-starter, so we've got to be busting that shit up. It's going to take a willingness to admit where we've been wrong and where the opposition has been right, although the right is going to have to move a little further than the left to the left than the left will to the right. You know it, but the left has started to adopt the unquestioned hatred for everything the opposition does regardless of merits (though admittedly, there's not much happening on the right these days that doesn't deserve heavy derision, but where it exists, the left needs to give credit where it's due, even if there are some disagreements about the details).
So, along comes a new president who campaigned on undoing everything Obama did, and who proceeds to live up to his promise, sets some dumb time-frame within which Congress is now supposed to come up with a solution... Yes, its tragic.
But what can we all agree on? How about this: we enact an immigration policy that allows enough hungry, wanna-be Americans in so we can continue to employ people do keep our country going, we provide an environment of welcome to those people so they want to integrate as productive citizens/residents who wish to contribute to and benefit from what our country has to offer, who don't feel outcast and ripen for radicalization, but rather have a real hope of climbing whatever they see as the ladder of success to achieve some idea of their American dream.
I don't think anyone wants to eliminate the boarders, so find a way to police that humanely, but make the pathway to becoming an American citizen/legal resident straight-forward and viable so it makes sense. That's a tough thing to do, but with thoughtful, minimally racist (inasmuch as that's possible) people working hard, listening to the arguments all around the dial, and coming up with a solution that accomplishes our immigration goals, it's not impossible. It will never be perfect -- that's not the universe we live in -- but it can be good, and we can work to improve it as we watch the results of our initial efforts closely.
Our brainless political hatred (liberal versus conservative) in this country is making this a horrendous non-starter, so we've got to be busting that shit up. It's going to take a willingness to admit where we've been wrong and where the opposition has been right, although the right is going to have to move a little further than the left to the left than the left will to the right. You know it, but the left has started to adopt the unquestioned hatred for everything the opposition does regardless of merits (though admittedly, there's not much happening on the right these days that doesn't deserve heavy derision, but where it exists, the left needs to give credit where it's due, even if there are some disagreements about the details).
Friday, August 18, 2017
I'm Not Afraid of Those People
I'm not afraid of whites. I'm not afraid of Black people or Mexicans. I'm afraid of desperate people. People who are not secure in their careers with families to provide for or with no healthy avocations to fill their down-time with life-enhancing or home/community improvement endeavors. People with little hope and little to keep them gainfully employed with healthy self esteem.
When I think of who's going to break into my home or threaten my family, it's anyone who, for whatever reason, feels the need to harm others, whether to take their things or try to make themselves feel better through harming others (it's a real thing people do, ask a clinical psychologist). Someone who feels afraid, backed into a corner, DESPERATE (either physically, emotionally or mentally).
If we want to keep society moving in a positive direction, we need to adjust our institutions so people of whatever race and creed feel they are getting a fair chance (by giving them an actual fair chance and helping them FEEL that truth -- but it has to be true, for Pete's sake!). That means every shred of evidence they have to the contrary (institutional racism -- also a real thing, corruption in politics and government, police treatment of the public -- especially where there is a visible history of unfair treatment/racism, etc.) needs to be actively and measurably reduced to the lowest levels possible.
When I think of who's going to break into my home or threaten my family, it's anyone who, for whatever reason, feels the need to harm others, whether to take their things or try to make themselves feel better through harming others (it's a real thing people do, ask a clinical psychologist). Someone who feels afraid, backed into a corner, DESPERATE (either physically, emotionally or mentally).
If we want to keep society moving in a positive direction, we need to adjust our institutions so people of whatever race and creed feel they are getting a fair chance (by giving them an actual fair chance and helping them FEEL that truth -- but it has to be true, for Pete's sake!). That means every shred of evidence they have to the contrary (institutional racism -- also a real thing, corruption in politics and government, police treatment of the public -- especially where there is a visible history of unfair treatment/racism, etc.) needs to be actively and measurably reduced to the lowest levels possible.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
False Equivalency
To reason with someone who would try to equate groups espousing the elimination of other races with groups that exists to fight oppression is like trying to debate the merits of drunk driving with an utterly wasted 17 year old. There's no basis for a meaningful discourse. Just take away the keys for their own good and the good of others. They'll get angry and lash out, and that's OK, because if you let them get in and drive without doing what you can to stop it, you share the blame for the results.
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