We should learn from everything, from the diaper to the shroud, schooling is only a narrow part of that. Then pass it on to the next generation and the next, and the next if you have the chance. But the state is not really an educator, it is rather an indoctrinator.
Category: Nobody Asked, But
Anthill
Back in the 70s, I catered to peer pressure. I fired a guy because he wore bellbottoms to work. I acquiesced to the firing of a young native woman because she got arrested at Wounded Knee for demonstrating. I shudder to recall these events.
A Governed Society Isn’t Civilized, It Is Slap-Dash
The so-called Modern World has been sitting on its thumbs since WWII, maybe since the US Civil War. How else can we explain the massive failures of The Depression, Pearl Harbor, the Military Industrial Complex, 9/11, and the Coronavirus Pandemic? We keep getting caught with our pants around our ankles, because we do not pull our pants up in the first place.
Song of the South
Nobody asked but … I have spent most of my life living below the Mason-Dixon Line, 72 out of 77 years, and 68 of those in Kentucky. Kentucky is a border state. Several of my great greats were Union fighters and a few were Confederate. Honestly, I don’t know why any of them participated in…
Conflation Confirmation Conflagration
Conflation is running amock these days. People are actually making important decisions because certain things are viewed as Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, patriotic, religious, lawful, or criminal.
The Disintegration of Well-Meant Collectives
Not to oversimplify, but most movements start with a gathering of well-meaning individuals.
Got Your Divide, Got Your Conquer
There’s a popular behavior that consists of dividing everything in two parts. All people are of two kinds — those who like this behavior, and those who don’t. First those of ill-will tell us we must choose (why must we, btw?). There are two occasion: being judicious, sometimes it is wise to make a binary choice, and sometimes not.
Things I’ve Learned in the New Normal
Some of the things I’ve learned in this iteration of “Normal”.
Murder Hornets, Herd Immunity, Bleach
We have heard some doozies in the last three months. And all sides have been manipulated. We keep getting warned that we are being led by the nose rings to divide and dissent, but apparently that’s the one conspiracy theory we will not buy.
Setting an Example
My parents gave me the gift of deciding many critical issues on my own. They told me there were religions, and it was my responsibility to either choose one or reject all or to cherry pick among several. They never asked me to select a political bent, although they were both dyed in the wool Democrats, but my Dad was a dixiecrat, prejudiced, and fiscally conservative, while my Mom was a Bostonian liberal, who broke the color line on Chattanooga city buses. I was watching them.