The word “perspective” means the way that one looks at something. It is your viewpoint, your picture of the world. The suffix “-cide” means “to kill.” “Perspecticide” means to kill or destroy someone’s sense of self and their grasp on the truth about the world. The citizens of United States of America today are the … Read more
Democracy, at least in theory, relies on a rational electorate acting in response to credible information. Since the dawn of mass media, elections have been shaped by voters’ reactions to the news. But as I drove through the three states that decided the 2016 election by a little less than 80,000 votes, I sensed a … Read more
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Attributed to various people A few months ago, this blog received the comment quoted below. As the administrator of my own WordPress blog site, I did not “approve” this comment to go online for … Read more
A virus is a small collection of genetic code, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protein coat. A virus cannot replicate alone. Viruses must infect cells and use components of the host cell to make copies of themselves. Often, they kill the host cell in the process, and cause damage to the host organism. … Read more
An important way to understand Trump and Trumpism is as an assault on reality. At issue is the attempt to control, to own, immediate truth along with any part of history that feeds such truth. Robert J. Lifton The desire to control reality is typical of authoritarianism, religious zealotry, and cultism. If you control a … Read more
I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters. Donald Trump, Iowa, January 23, 2016 Donald Trump’s approval rating among Americans has always been between 37 and 45 percent. Just over a third of our citizens seem to support him no matter what he says or … Read more
It has become clear to me recently that the reason rampant wickedness causes great civilizations to fall is because wicked societies allow selfish incompetents to take over the government. Then, when a crisis comes along, it gets mishandled and turns into a disaster. (Yes, the coronavirus pandemic is what helped me see this). In the … Read more
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair How could every Republican member of the Senate, save one, have voted to acquit Donald J. Trump of abuse of power in the January 2020 impeachment trial despite the clear evidence of his guilt? … Read more