Being in utter darkness about why I’m not getting what I want is more comfortable than the knowledge that it’s because of some attitude or behavior of mine that’s out of whack. It’s easier to handle being treated badly by someone for no apparent reason than to find it it’s because I’m an unpleasant conversationalist.
Tag: ignorance
Distortion
Mark Twain once opined, “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” One can only imagine what he might have said about cable news. There are vast numbers of the public, however, who form their convictions from headlines and teasers. Those few who stick around long enough to get the proffered stories are regaled with inaccuracies.
Influences IV
This is another disparate group of influences, R. Buckminster Fuller, Edward Tufte, Douglas Hofstadter. The first is from the 60s, the second from the 90s, and the third from the first decade of the 21st Century, in the order that they came into my life. But all three think outside of the boxes which have contained so many of us.
God and the Devil in Policies and Hacks
Individuals who advocate welfarism and redistribution are angry at god. Individuals who chase get rich quick schemes are enamored by the devil. I don’t say that lightly.
Mystery All The Way Down
We are constantly told that we are only a click away from a nearly infinite amount of information and that scientific inquiry is pushing out the frontier of knowledge at a breakneck pace.
Once Ignorance is Cured, Malevolence Remains
I believe most people support archators out of ignorance. Most. Some people support archators out of malevolence. Almost everyone is a fan of some archators, though, and this is strange.
Sick, Sick People
On a local FB page, someone had posted a meme begging people not to publicize upcoming police “checkpoints”, saying something like “what if someone’s child dies because you helped a drunk avoid the checkpoint?” I stated that I would rather risk a few drunk drivers than armed highwaymen shaking down travelers for their “papers”.
Maintaining Victim Fluidity
The difference between crimes and non-crimes is that with the former, you have a real, identifiable victim, but with the latter, you don’t. Therefore, the government stands in place and assigns itself victimhood in order to bring charges. The more charges it brings as a victim (eg. The State vs…), the more revenue it generates. The more dynamically ambiguous it identifies itself as a victim, the richer and more entrenched in the fabric of society it gets.
Anatomy of a Tax Cut
I’ve watched the debate over the vanilla Republican tax bill closely during these many months. It’s been fascinating at many levels, not least sociologically. People reveal much about themselves — and their views of personal autonomy — in how they discuss taxes.
In Case You Missed Out on Bitcoin
I’ve heard many people say they wish they had bought just a little bit of bitcoin 5 years ago. I hear ya, but that train has left the station and there’s nothing you can do about it besides get smarter for the next opportunity you’ll need the intelligence to recognize.