Since you bring it up - diagnostics in preparation for countermeasures

[Most of this was originally written in October 2017, but it seemed a bit melodramatic to me so I shelved it.  In light of recent events...well, here it is.]


The standard bearers have grown weak in the defense of their priceless heritage, and the powers of darkness have been strengthened thereby. Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character; it becomes lack of power to act with courage proportionate to danger. All this must lead to the destruction of our intellectual life unless the danger summons up strong personalities able to fill the lukewarm and discouraged with new strength and resolution.  - Albert Einstein

I'd love to change the world...but I don't know what to do.   - Ten Years After


The Song and Dance
Trump doesn’t scare me.  He’s a song-and-dance man. Pence and Bannon, those guys make me nervous.  We are not talking about Athenian democracy here. - Mel Brooks

I may have mentioned that I disagree with the views of the current executive, but I've tried to ignore the whole situation.  That he is contemptible is a given, but the media's love affair with him particularly disgusts me.  The ugly truth is that no one delivers clicks like this guy.  For a while I unfollowed anyone on social media who mentioned him.  This proved fruitless, so I quit social media altogether.  When his name came up on radio I changed the channel.  While other people watched his inauguration, I re-read Ionesco's Rhinoceros.  

Didn't help much.  It's impossible to avoid mention of the latest atrocity, whether it's Five Thirty Eight's "Trump Beat", Vox's endless hand-wringing, or the latest revelations on TPM, Deadspin, The New York Post, etc.  And no, I'm not linking to that crap.  Go find your own porn.

Oh, what terrible thing did he say

A long time ago Penn and Teller did a show ("The Refrigerator Tour") that was full of misdirection cons.  They repeatedly got the audience looking one way, then did the necessary business to make the trick work on the other side of the stage, unobserved, but in plain sight.  They showed the audience how these tricks worked, and toward the end Penn Gillette said something like "don't ask how we do this, ask why we do it."

It did have an effect on me.  It's actually not hard to fool people, you just need a big distraction.  So I think Brooks is on point here: the orange man is the silly business to keep you occupied while the real shit is going down.


The Real Enemy

The enemy is the convergence of three malignant dynamics:

• Ideology before science, knowledge, rationality:  Only power matters.  Knowledge / education / learning is arbitrary, negotiable, and to be disregarded when not convenient.  Climate change, sensible monetary policy, managing the population's exposure to toxic chemicals - these are things chumps do, because the science behind them is lies because all science is lies.  

It goes without saying that this is un-American.  America brought the world the Boeing jetliner, the laminar flow wing, Herceptin and Rituxan, the Internet, the iPhone, the iPad, the Tesla electric car.  America has, since the time of Ben Franklin, been a nation of pragmatic, inventive, scientifically-inclined people who respected facts and reason.  Sure we've been religious, but as a nation we haven't been STUPID about it.  We didn't wait for God to give us the Atom Bomb, we invented it before Hitler did, and a good thing, too.  

• Disregard of basic human rights and dignity:  The United States was founded on egalitarian principles, e.g., "all Men are created equal."  Chamberlain in The Killer Angels (and the movie Gettysburg) explains that "it's the idea that we all have value -- you and me.  What we're fighting for, in the end, we're fighting for each other."  Modern conservatism scorns this weakness.  It is diametrically opposed to Rawlsian conceptions of ethical conduct.  The weak and poor are inferior, and deserve their lot.  Attempts to aid them, such as Obamacare, are corrosive to society and sap the vitality of the nation.  See also:  "Separating Families at the Border is Really, Really Unpopular" - link

• Plutocratic disregard of the rule of law.  The few times I've seen this president or his minions confronted by a rational person, it went something like this:

The president is a nasty symptom, but these three dynamics are the real disease, and they have strong institutional sponsorship.

So, time for chemo.

Taking Aim
"What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy." - Sun Tzu

The enemy strategy is simple bullying.  My rough critique of the Democratic Party is that they need to stop backing up, because there's nowhere left to back up to.  Try hitting the fucker in the face for a change.  This shit is unacceptable, and it would be really nice to see a Democrat or two (other than the last President) say so, firmly, out loud.

"Oh, the President will say something mean in a Tweet," I hear some say, "we'll just give him ammunition."

Then go.  If you can't fight for knowledge, human decency, and the rule of law, you have no right to be in government.  We need people who will call this bullshit what it is and run off these fucking yahoos.

Here are some inspirational images and quotes to consider:

"Calling people animals is not a good thing."

"[He] turned away from not one but two bipartisan compromises."

Sorry, got my wires crossed there - the quotes are from Pelosi and Schumer.

When World War II broke out, they called in admiral Ernest King, whose career had been in arrears, and gave him some real responsibility, prompting him to say (it was reported), that "when they get in trouble, they send for the sons-of-bitches."  

Guys, the Marquis of Queensbury is dead.  Quit talking to your college classmates and friends at the club and start talking to the American people.  And tell them this is wrong and has to stop.

This article has other useful ideas.

And if President Orange tweets mean words at you, well, Mr. Truman said something about hot kitchens that applies.  If we don't fight for what we believe in - now - we won't have it.