"When people talk of the "closing of the conservative mind" this is what they mean: not that conservatives are more narrow-minded than other people -- everybody can be narrow minded -- but that conservatives have a unique capacity to ignore unwelcome fact."
(quote from blog post by former Bush speechwriter David Frum, via Media Matters)
For more - go here - http://mediamatters.org/research/201007200047.
2010-07-21
2010-07-09
Ray of hope in a darkening tunnel?
One of the hopes for the future is that people in the world can communicate and exchange ideas of thought through the Internet. The best was I've seen so far to do that online is through comments on news stories.
Here's an example (albeit a depressing one) -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-vanishing-american-co_b_640836.html
A very telling commentary by Mr. Reich. But this comment by reader 'Firbolg' was even more devastating -
"Business and politics are now global, citizenship is not. Corporations roam the world for resources and markets; flesh and blood folks are corralled in nation states.
Corporations are “legal persons”, not people. They have no morals, no respect for or experience of loyally patriotism or any emotion. They exist to survive, make profits, increase their net worth and become so powerful they can ignore any constraints.
People who control corporations must suppress or extinguish their human attributes to align with corporate goals.
To a corporation it is immaterial where a product is manufactured or sold or who is delighted, suffers or perishes in the process so long as the entire transaction yields a profit and can be repeated multiple times.
Corporations also lack intelligence or foresight. This is why, left unchecked, they tend to collapse under their own processes.
In the past governments created constraints, benefiting both real people and corporations. The former were protected from exploitation and the latter from extinction. This has changed since corporations bought up most of the politicians to the point where few if any constraints exist and real people can be exploited initially as labor and consumers and finally as taxpayers to shore up otherwise failing corporations.
The financial and healthcare debacles are perfect examples.
Some areas (India, China) are in the early stages while others (USA, “old” Europe) are in the terminal stages – but all have the same disease. "
I could not have said it better, nor agree more. Now as a person, I need to figure out what I can do about this.
Here's an example (albeit a depressing one) -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-vanishing-american-co_b_640836.html
A very telling commentary by Mr. Reich. But this comment by reader 'Firbolg' was even more devastating -
"Business and politics are now global, citizenship is not. Corporations roam the world for resources and markets; flesh and blood folks are corralled in nation states.
Corporations are “legal persons”, not people. They have no morals, no respect for or experience of loyally patriotism or any emotion. They exist to survive, make profits, increase their net worth and become so powerful they can ignore any constraints.
People who control corporations must suppress or extinguish their human attributes to align with corporate goals.
To a corporation it is immaterial where a product is manufactured or sold or who is delighted, suffers or perishes in the process so long as the entire transaction yields a profit and can be repeated multiple times.
Corporations also lack intelligence or foresight. This is why, left unchecked, they tend to collapse under their own processes.
In the past governments created constraints, benefiting both real people and corporations. The former were protected from exploitation and the latter from extinction. This has changed since corporations bought up most of the politicians to the point where few if any constraints exist and real people can be exploited initially as labor and consumers and finally as taxpayers to shore up otherwise failing corporations.
The financial and healthcare debacles are perfect examples.
Some areas (India, China) are in the early stages while others (USA, “old” Europe) are in the terminal stages – but all have the same disease. "
I could not have said it better, nor agree more. Now as a person, I need to figure out what I can do about this.
2010-07-03
4th of July - fun for you?
I know - it's a celebration of America's Declaration of Independence from England.
But really - must people all around me spend a fortune in firecrackers and blow them up in an attempt to recreate battles from more than 200 years ago?
Seriously, this is fucked up. Why do so many people need to act so idiotic?
Look, I like watching fireworks just as much as anyone else - when it's done by professionals in a controlled environment with emergency crews nearby. Not some moron who decided to buy all the cheapest crappiest loudest ones near the tents off the I-5 exits.
I know what some might say - just buy some and set them off yourself. Go fuck yourself.
I've no interest in setting them off. I've no interest in watching all the dust and smoke and shit flying over my house and property, fucking up my pets' eardrums, potentially burning my house down.
Maybe these people who do this feel it's the closest they'll ever come to war. Haven't they been paying attention to things going on in Iraq, or in Afghanistan?
If these people are so anxious to blow stuff up for their freedom, why don't the instead volunteer with their National Guard and go off and fight for it?
Yeah, I didn't think so. It's easy and frankly cowardly to set off fireworks in one's neighborhood and terrorize their fellow neighbors with their idiocy and lack of consideration.
But really - must people all around me spend a fortune in firecrackers and blow them up in an attempt to recreate battles from more than 200 years ago?
Seriously, this is fucked up. Why do so many people need to act so idiotic?
Look, I like watching fireworks just as much as anyone else - when it's done by professionals in a controlled environment with emergency crews nearby. Not some moron who decided to buy all the cheapest crappiest loudest ones near the tents off the I-5 exits.
I know what some might say - just buy some and set them off yourself. Go fuck yourself.
I've no interest in setting them off. I've no interest in watching all the dust and smoke and shit flying over my house and property, fucking up my pets' eardrums, potentially burning my house down.
Maybe these people who do this feel it's the closest they'll ever come to war. Haven't they been paying attention to things going on in Iraq, or in Afghanistan?
If these people are so anxious to blow stuff up for their freedom, why don't the instead volunteer with their National Guard and go off and fight for it?
Yeah, I didn't think so. It's easy and frankly cowardly to set off fireworks in one's neighborhood and terrorize their fellow neighbors with their idiocy and lack of consideration.
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