Where A represents “immediate monetary interests,” and B represents “future survival of the planet's biosphere, which includes human beings (men, women, and children)."
For those of us who flunked algebra, > represents “greater than.”
Analysis of Republican algebra: (A > B) = C, where C represents “massive greed, shortsightedness, and irresponsibility."
Denial, is not only a river in Egypt, it’s: “Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigman Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.” -Wikipedia
We’ve discussed or mentioned global warming and climate change on this site many times, and I have came to the same conclusion as much as I’ve mentioned it; that it is real, it will have real, extraordinary effects upon our small planet and all of its inhabitants, it doesn’t matter what is causing it, that it still must be dealt with if humans want to continue living here, and that these conclusions are supported by verifiable, yes, scientific evidence. I’ve come to this same conclusion so many times it makes my ears bleed to think about it.
Let’s keep in mind that science, and the scientific method, are merely the best, truest, simplest, and time tested tools that humans have developed to discover truth. What kind of truth? Truth that can be verified by anyone who chooses to do so. The scientific method always consists of three components; 1: postulate a theory or idea, 2: test it by experiment, and if the experiment seems to verify the theory or idea, 3: have the theory or idea and the experimental evidence verified by peers, who can test it repeatedly, or as we like to say, over and over again, trying to poke holes in it, or discover alternate theorys that can explain the experimental evidence (and have those theorys tested by experiment and subjected to further peer review), and if it is concluded the theory is wrong go back to the drawing board, or if it tests out right, claim that the theory is true, that it works within the real world and is indeed a part of how nature works. At all times the original theory can be tested by anyone, and if more accurate experimentation methods are developed and it is determined that there are better explanations to describe the observable evidence then that theory must be revised, no matter how much we may have come to cherish it (all of that peer review makes the scientific method “self correcting," which makes it the best, truest, simplest, and time tested tool that humans have developed (so far) to discover truth).
As Dr. Carl Sagan put it, and I paraphrase here, we must always courageously go where the evidence takes us, not where we may like it to go.
That’s not scary is it? I don’t know why, but a lot of people think it is.
It’s gotten us quite a lot: the Iphone for instance, and automobiles for us to use those Iphones in while driving. Automatic cameras on street lights, so we can be issued citations for driving while using an Iphone. Electric light bulbs, so we can see in our homes at night without having to use candles which cuts down on our need for whale blubber. Its given us computers, and advances in agriculture which allows a percentage of the 7 billion of us on Earth to become obese. Its given us books and heart transplants, vaccines and the medications many of us rely on. Its given us the electric guitar. Its given us smog. Its given us the hydrogen bomb and a whole bunch of other ways we can slaughter each other. Its given us submarines which are really cool. Aircraft carriers and the planes that take off and land on them. Its given us fans and television, and movies, and prophylactics and Vicks Vaporub. Its given us a whole bunch of stuff! Much too much to fully mention at this particular time.
It has also given us the ability to detect, measure, and record shifts in global weather patterns over long periods of time.
It’s so funny! I never hear our right winger friends (even the Tea Baggers) complain about any of those things listed above (except for that last one), and the rest of us sane people, most of the things listed above. We’ve gotten used to all of this convenient technology. Many of us, like my lovely ex-case manager Erin, have never lived without it, and maybe assume that it has always been here (I can’t imagine her without an Iphone surgically attached to her person).
Be that as it may, a lot of us have very deep felt beliefs about certain things, most notably matters that deal with politics and religion. And we’ve discussed recently that the way we think, the way we perceive the world, is made up in a large part by our environment (how we are raised and ideas indoctrinated into us by parents), and genetics (our physical and mental proclivities hard wired into us). This allows for the fact that a large percentage of our population will happily abandon verifiable reality in order to embrace a reality of their own, that may not have a whole lot to do with real reality. Why? Because that is their nature, and it is convenient for them to maintain a sense of security in this at times frightening world.
I understand that, I do. I rarely try, nor feel any great need to attempt to change people’s minds through argument or discussion about matters mostly concerning politics and religion. It almost never works, wastes a good deal of my time, and sometimes when people’s strong beliefs are challenged in any way, they often get defensive, and sometimes real mad.
It doesn’t bother me that my lovely sister believes in God, which I do not (no evidence). It doesn’t hurt me in any way, it certainly doesn’t affect me in any way whatsoever. Her beliefs provide her comfort, and I would be loath to deprive her of that comfort by trying convert her to my way of thinking.
But when some people try to force their beliefs onto others, or through the political process attempt to change our society to conform with policies and beliefs that may be detrimental to our society... well then we have a problem, and for some strange reason that is difficult to fathom, a lot of folks, especially conservatives, are not happy unless everybody thinks the same way that they do.
A recent example of this is that Republican legislatures in a majority of our states insist on passing laws, like those concerning a woman’s right to choose to have a baby or not after getting pregnant, that reflect their personal and religious views, therefore attempting to force those views on to a portion of the population that do not agree with them. I don’t know why they do this other than for political reasons, as it is as unlikely that conservative laws, ideology, and social pressure will persuade liberal minds to change, as it is the other way around.
People cannot be forced to accept an ideology they do not believe in.
And now politics enters the picture. And when we talk about Republican politics, at the present time, we’re also talking about greed, manipulation, and psychopathology.
Not all of those who identify with the Republican Party, or are conservative in nature, are greedy, manipulative, and psychopaths, by any means. Right now I’m talking about the Republican leadership, whether it be national, state, or local.
I do not believe the Republicans actually believe half of the crap they spew, however they are masters of manipulation, and they have a huge media presence, that all too often spills over into the corporate controlled so-called mainstream. They don’t have plans of their own to provide to the American voters, so their current game plan is to convince the electorate that the democrats policies are not working, even though they currently are, for the most part. Let’s take the state of the economy and employment for instance. President Obama held a press conference Friday to discuss the economy, where he presented a fairly accurate assessment of how we are doing (except for him stating the “private sector is doing fine,” which the Republican Noise Machine immediately jumped all over, which allowed Mitt (Mitt) to make the assertion that America doesn’t need it’s firemen, police, or teachers... what a douche). Obama rightly stated that all of his efforts to create jobs (The American Jobs Act of 2011, which the Republicans defeated last October), or improve the economy had been blocked by the Republican controlled House of Representatives. This is true. The Republicans in both the House and Senate have acted in concert to obstruct all of the President’s proposals. Why? Because they are traitors. They would see the American economy fail in order to defeat Obama in November. As far as I’m concerned that is an open conspiracy to damage the United States of America, much as they did last year during the budget ceiling debacle, in which they allowed the country’s credit rating to decline for the first time in our nation’s history.
Anyway, right after the President’s press conference, the House leadership, namely Reps Boehner (The Brown One) and Cantor (The Incredibly Irritating One) replied with a press conference of their own at which time they accused the President of playing “the blame game” (my gosh, these guys can’t think of an original thought between them), and that it was not their fault that the economy was still sluggish, and that unemployment is still relatively high, and of course blamed the president (who is it that is playing the blame game?), when in reality it was and is the Republicans in Congress who are obstructing anything Obama may do to improve the economy (Republicans are not adverse to, how shall I put this... lying).
And I can’t really blame these guys for doing what they do because I don’t think they know any better. They are sick. They are sociopaths who need medical treatment, not to be in control of a major house of Congress. They need help, pure and simple.
So please America... please vote these... people... out of office where they can’t hurt anyone anymore. All of them. Let them go home, enter mental institutions, and maybe someday, with lots of thorazine and happy talk, they’ll get better.
Or keep them there for the rest of their lives, I don’t care. As long as they can’t hurt anybody anymore.
What would the Republicans do if they were to regain the White House in November, with the help of their ten or so psychotic billionaire backers... the same old crap that got us into the recession in the first place. The same failed policies that Bush used; lower taxes for the rich, decrease spending on social issues (because that takes away money they could be giving to the rich), increase military spending when we don’t need to, deregulate... well everything, and privatize... well everything.
What was it that Einstein said about insanity? Oh yes, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That’s what the Republicans are all about, except it’s not them that are being damaged by their actions.
It’s us.
To be continued.
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