My Way (Not Frank Sinatra)

 Social media and mainstream media have created a sick society. 

We are polarized like never before. I watch a Netflix movie called, The Social Dilemma.  They explain in the film that the unintended consequences of feeding you content you like may narrow your perspective.

The Social Dilemma- Trailer

Scott Adams, videos, and podcasts delves into the subjects all the time. He is a trained hypnotist and has written several excellent books on the subject as well—one of the most poignant ones is Loserthink. 

Amazon Books - Loserthink

We are all guilty to a certain extent of confirmation bias, and it's only gettings worse. All your Facebook and Twitter friends think, act and hold the same views as you do. You then hang out with like-minded folks and choose only the news and entertainment that reflects your new narrowing worldview. In the world today, you can also find the church or club of your choice that adheres to your way of believing and thinking. 

You dare not confront or interact with anyone holding opposing viewpoints because they are dangerous to your psyche. 

Creating tribes

 Maybe with the divide that is going on in this country and, dare I say, the world, instead perhaps of bigger or world governments, we should turn to smaller tribes. These collective tribes can have joint projects like transportation, energy supplies, and a handful of other things that only work through a co-operative. 

My tribes will be smaller communities of like-minded folks who can peacefully coexist more peacefully and cooperatively than larger communities, states, and nations. Working in cell groups, they can also interact with like-minded tribes when the need arises. 

In the interconnected world of social media on the internet, we already see tribes. I can foresee that these cyber tribes can become physical communities and towns. 

Large cities and metropolitan areas worked in the industrial and commerce age, but we are returning to agricultural and rural less urban communities. 

What is your opinion?

Free speech

 Free speech isn't free, never has been. "Free" speech was purchased at the cost of lost jobs, social ostracization, and even ruined lives. 

When I was a liberal back in the '70s, we were enamored with the concept of unrestricted speech. This was a product of the Cold War era's censorship—the Hayes act on TV and movies. Lenny Bruce, a comedian in the  '60s, was banned from saying "shit" in Las Vegas. He created a whole act of being banned for saying "shit" in a Las Vegas where "craps" is the biggest game. 

The outrage at the Vietnam War and the protests made free speech a battle cry. The music industry protest songs, movies, and entertainment pushed the limits of free speech. The type of films like "Blazing Saddles" made political correctness look like a foolish notion. Woodstock popularized profanity and political outrage into an art form. 

But that was then, and this is now. Major social media outlets and college campuses have turned into the biggest censors since the Hayes commission. Anything other than the "correct" speech sanctioned by the elites who determine what is permitted. Who are the elites? Progressives of all types: educators, technocrats, progressive politicians, and so-called left-wing journalists. 

They have become the self-appointed moderators of what speech will be permissible under their own perceived authority to do so.  Communist China, Russia, and North Korea are laughing at The USA's hypocrisy in pretending to have a first amendment to its constitution. Of course, that applies to congress passing laws, but we all thought it was an American right by virtue of our citizenship. We assume that social media tech companies, college campuses, and the like would champion the notion of free speech. Alas, no. They are the politically correct, cancel culture censors. They make Nazi book burners look like amateurs. 

Blogs like this may get banned in the near future. 

What is your take?

2021

 I will turn 70 this year. As I reflect on the new year of 2021, I can't recall a year met with lower expectations. With the carry-over of the disputed elections, unresolved racial tensions, and Covid, things look grim indeed.

We are a divided country and a world unsure of itself. Not to say history has been full of happy tales, but it looks like the progression of a more enlightened society is causing more issues than it is solving. 

I would say that we need to look up and back for hope. Now is the time to turn to the Bible for answers. 

Let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

2020 retrospective

 The years 2020 will go down in infamy. I can only say it's been one messed up year: the pandemic, crazy politics, riots, and general malaize. 

I will say I thought 2020 was going to be a year of focus. I know a play of words on 2020 as referring to vision. If it was, what did we see?

I think we saw the unrepairable divide among the people of this country. We are as polarized as we can get. There is no longer a middle ground. Masks, lockdowns, and mail-in voting have only two sides, no middle. 

What will the future look like in the Divided States of America? Who knows. But one thing for sure, there is no middle. 

Christmas, Covid, and Concern: 2020

I put my Plasticville set up this year for the first time in years. This is my train and village set that I put together over 20 years ago. I painted the little figurines by hand I didn't know at the time I had a Trump figure.

In a way, I guess it represents what we wanted to do Make America Great Again, just like the little 1960's village. Maybe some would say it's plastic, and that describes the phony or, as the Urban Dictionary puts it: definition. plastic. A materialistic, fake man or woman. In particular, someone who is attractive yet lacks any sort of depth whatsoever.

But trying to put a perspective on it, we were trying to create something. Coming out of WW2, people wanted peace and prosperity, and the children, "the Boomers," rebelled for a short time and then split. Some went left, and some went right politically. They both built their houses on the sand, as the bible says. 

Now the past failures leave us where we are in 2020. I'll pick this theme up in a later blog post. 

Welcome to the new normal: pandemic paranoia, and panic.

 When Covid numbers hit the 300 thousand mark (at least the death toll numbers with comorbidity), I concluded we are in a new extended period of pandemic- paranoia, and panic. 

Whether or not masks and lockdowns are worth the price of freedoms is one issue, and the global effect is another. The world is forever on an alert for the next virus. Evil nations aband their nuclear missiles and turn to bioterrorism. 

Even if the new vaccine is effective, that will lead to other measures such as tracking people and taking away our right to decline the vaccine. 

What we have lost in the battle to stay healthy and alive is not worth the battles that have been fought to preserve the very freedoms we are now gladly giving away. The cure is worse than the disease.