Non Political, Political Servey

[RSchneider]

I haven't had cable in 20 years. So I watch the local news from Allentown and then the other further away news from Scranton. I do that for about an hour in the morning. They have some national news but maybe a total of two minutes of it. Then I just turn it off and go on with my day. After 2016 I got tired of the national news, it was useless. So, I pay attention to local and state.

I also like the smaller markets news as they cover neat things. Like one College is making maple syrup, there's a St. Pats parade this weekend in Pittston. It's not all gloom and doom. The only time I watch national news is in an airport. Then when I travel, I watch their local news and then when In Europe watch whatever I can get in English. Most of the time, I have zero idea as to what's the hot button topic of the week. So far, it works. It's not like my life has changed because I don't listen to it.

I forgot, two of the guys I cycle with, are retired and they watch the news all of the time (I think their TV's are on 24/7). So, I hear all of their opinions while we ride. Mostly, the world is coming to an end and we will lose all of our freedoms. Yet they seem to still live the good life and have all the freedoms in the world. Yet talking to them, you'd think "the man" is keeping them down. Then there's crime and the illegal aliens. Yet none of that affects them at all. You'd think it would by talking to them. It just reinforces to me that I need to not watch that stuff but enjoy life. For all I know I could have a heart attack tomorrow. Maybe be like one of our riders that got hit last year while cycling and he died. You never know.

On Saturday I'm going on a 20 mile hike and enjoy nature. This summer, Switzerland for two weeks. Then go to France and hike for two weeks going over the Pyrenees Mountains on one of the trails for the Camino de Santiago. Who knows, I might go another week or two. Staying in hostels and finding small places to eat (which there are plenty). Enjoy life and surround yourself with others that do. No news too. I bet when I get back, nothing will have changed. It's like when I went to Norway last year. Gone for three weeks, watched nothing and when I got back, nothing changed.

 

[ehwatt]

Another thing to keep in mind, is that all rules are imaginary and can not have any effect or stand if people all become irreverent about them.
It takes honest people to have an honest society.

But, in religion, certainly political-ish issues of truth, facts, and group think also come into play. How can you ever sort that all out if you simply depend on your own tribe to inform your oppinion? My answer is, do your own research with the comprehension that all people are imperfect. An all insitutions are run by people.

So about the religieous institutions, all of them speak to be true above the others. For me then it says all of them are suspect. Maybe not the phylosophy of any but the latest implementation and interpretation by leaders of each. I mean hey, Jim-Jones espoused Jesus all the time, until he had cult control, then pronouced himself as the ultimate authority of christ. Yea, I agree, choose wisely my friends.

Social evolution shows a pattern of power seekers eventually finding ways to exploit all apparently stable and just social systems. We do have to correct all those instances peacfully over time, or you end up like the French revolution. In that instance everyone claimed Jesus was on thier side. And each wave of 'correctors' killed off the prior power cast for around 100years, until a short time before the one after the 1799 version that gave Nepolian dicatory powers. And then even beyond that. The final modern French consitution was only set in 1958.

God may not be flawed, but people who speak of him (it, her, or them), certainly are.

I think a good test is, what does a person do when they think they can get away with it and nobody will know? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. A belief in an utimate power does keep a few of us in check, but not all. Appearently, not most of us.

If one plays Mozart poorly do you blame the composer?

 

[AriLea]

I haven't had cable in 20 years. So I watch the local news from Allentown and then the other further away news from Scranton. I do that for about an hour in the morning. They have some national news but maybe a total of two minutes of it. Then I just turn it off and go on with my day. After 2016 I got tired of the national news, it was useless. So, I pay attention to local and state.

I also like the smaller markets news as they cover neat things. Like one College is making maple syrup, there's a St. Pats parade this weekend in Pittston. It's not all gloom and doom. The only time I watch national news is in an airport. Then when I travel, I watch their local news and then when In Europe watch whatever I can get in English. Most of the time, I have zero idea as to what's the hot button topic of the week. So far, it works. It's not like my life has changed because I don't listen to it.

I forgot, two of the guys I cycle with, are retired and they watch the news all of the time (I think their TV's are on 24/7). So, I hear all of their opinions while we ride. Mostly, the world is coming to an end and we will lose all of our freedoms. Yet they seem to still live the good life and have all the freedoms in the world. Yet talking to them, you'd think "the man" is keeping them down. Then there's crime and the illegal aliens. Yet none of that affects them at all. You'd think it would by talking to them. It just reinforces to me that I need to not watch that stuff but enjoy life. For all I know I could have a heart attack tomorrow. Maybe be like one of our riders that got hit last year while cycling and he died. You never know.

On Saturday I'm going on a 20 mile hike and enjoy nature. This summer, Switzerland for two weeks. Then go to France and hike for two weeks going over the Pyrenees Mountains on one of the trails for the Camino de Santiago. Who knows, I might go another week or two. Staying in hostels and finding small places to eat (which there are plenty). Enjoy life and surround yourself with others that do. No news too. I bet when I get back, nothing will have changed. It's like when I went to Norway last year. Gone for three weeks, watched nothing and when I got back, nothing changed.

Yep, a big part of one's experience is how do you think of it. And what do you pay attention to. And in that, you see what you want to see, or expect to see.

Many mind sets are such that they have to find all the bad before they can fix it. So they are on constant hyper vigelence looking for 'the evil' to attack it. While that goes on, they seem to make every move toward having everything broken.

An opposite is one that everything is fine and rosy. And of course they are constantly finding joy, but may be blind to things that need attention. While that goes on, they are making choices in small and big ways that do improve thier lives. But are they negelecting the gorilla on the roof?

But hopefully both groups do not have an undercurrent of denile.

Every person has some mix of the above. And all people need to regulate themselves as thier first priority. A sad percentage seem to miss that boat.

An interesting experiment is putting a person in a room with small color dots of all colors but that are offset towards grey. Then the process is,
taking a person and telling them there is only yellow and red in a room. Then send them in for 30 seconds. Then when they look and come back out and ask if they saw any blue. They often say they found little to none of it.

Take a second person and say the room has blue in it all over the place, go in and come back out and yep they saw it every where.

I like to preset myself that I'm very happy with what I got, but that there is opportunity in all corners of life.

I do have to remind myself constantly that all presentations from all medias, especially the news, are only small extracts from experiences and not the whole. They are infact what that source wanted to show you, and they have thier own reasons, maybe not in alinement to your benefit.

Ever notice how there seems to be very few examples of a selected car model, then if you buy one they seem to be everywhere?

 

[Rickb]

Yep, a big part of one's experience is how do you think of it. And what do you pay attention to. And in that, you see what you want to see, or expect to see.

Many mind sets are such that they have to find all the bad before they can fix it. So they are on constant hyper vigelence looking for 'the evil' to attack it. While that goes on, they seem to make every move toward having everything broken.

An opposite is one that everything is fine and rosy. And of course they are constantly finding joy, but may be blind to things that need attention. While that goes on, they are making choices in small and big ways that do improve thier lives. But are they negelecting the gorilla on the roof?

But hopefully both groups do not have an undercurrent of denile.

Every person has some mix of the above. And all people need to regulate themselves as thier first priority. A sad percentage seem to miss that boat.

An interesting experiment is putting a person in a room with small color dots of all colors but that are offset towards grey. Then the process is,
taking a person and telling them there is only yellow and red in a room. Then send them in for 30 seconds. Then when they look and come back out and ask if they saw any blue. They often say they found little to none of it.

Take a second person and say the room has blue in it all over the place, go in and come back out and yep they saw it every where.

I like to preset myself that I'm very happy with what I got, but that there is opportunity in all corners of life.

I do have to remind myself constantly that all presentations from all medias, especially the news, are only small extracts from experiences and not the whole. They are infact what that source wanted to show you, and they have thier own reasons, maybe not in alinement to your benefit.

Ever notice how there seems to be very few examples of a selected car model, then if you buy one they seem to be everywhere?

Speaking of mindsets……..the term “mindless” comes into play, perhaps escalated in todays society as a result of social media. : having or showing no ability to think, feel, or respond. : showing no use of intelligence or thought: having no purpose. : requiring very little attention or thought.

 

[Sonoran Sam]

perhaps escalated in todays society as a result of social media.

100% Agree!!

 

[RSchneider]

100% Agree!!

While I agree, the internet allowed this to happen as there was social media long before the likes of FB or Twitter or any of the other things that has been around for the last 15 years. Even back in BBS days, it started with it. Then it was newsgroups. After that things like AOL and Yahoo tried their version. Probably around when people got things like Netscape, they discovered there were forums. It was even the case back when Sears launched Prodigy back in the 80's.

I predicted that when it got to the point you didn't have to be technically savvy, that the information superhighway was going to be derailed and we'd all end up in a ditch. We've been in this ditch for a while and the tow truck is nowhere to be found.

 

[AriLea]

Another realization, is just how much we humans are like ants. All of us depending on trust of the person next to us having access to a well reasoned opinion. When that is out of wack, just like ants we run around in tiny little circles. Or each and every person needs to do remes of research verifying facts, tec details, and back story to mitigate that. Do any of us actually have the time or band width for all of that? all while the signal to noise ration is hugely restrictive?

It can be said that one of the largest contributors to WWII was the advent of new media and the reach that bad players had into greater numbers of people without counter point or vetted reflection. It took quite a bit of work for instiutions and culture to offset that new vulnerabuility. And they still often failed at that level.

Here we are again with far reaching tribal behavior and echo chambers all powered by the internet and technically supported anonymity. If 'they' can make it entertaining enough, one person can influance billions of people. It's overwhelming.

 

[DikiJ]

One of my joys is riling up a few of my friends who are on the opposite corners of my spectrum. They constantly talk about the things that their little group of same thinkers like to talk about. I love to stir them up with contradicting "proofs" that I can find some where on the internet. Mostly its stuff that I don't even believe but it seems to irritate them to no end. It's probably not very nice but, hey, I'm a crochety old guy so it kinda makes me happy. They seem to keep coming back for more since they think I'm serious.

I sometimes watch Quora even though they are pretty much dedicated to attacking Russia (which I agree with) but they have a lot of other interesting questions that come up that are related to personal life.

 

[AriLea]

One of my joys is riling up a few of my friends who are on the opposite corners of my spectrum. They constantly talk about the things that their little group of same thinkers like to talk about. I love to stir them up with contradicting "proofs" that I can find some where on the internet. Mostly its stuff that I don't even believe but it seems to irritate them to no end. It's probably not very nice but, hey, I'm a crochety old guy so it kinda makes me happy. They seem to keep coming back for more since they think I'm serious.

I sometimes watch Quora even though they are pretty much dedicated to attacking Russia (which I agree with) but they have a lot of other interesting questions that come up that are related to personal life.

Hmmmm, lol, yes they should know you by now. A dirty little secrete is that when a person inside your circle is known to have a certain character, ya just let them spin, But don't call them out on it.

I'd have to say maybe your friends have not yet decided it's worthless to try and convince you otherwise on what they consider that you seem to think. And for your own case, you still consider them willing to at least hear your ramblings. YOU are really/actually making fun of them for caring about these subjects. And that is a dishonest tactic, where you could just honestly say I don't want to disucss it. But you like the joke, so I have to say you are getting the results you want and have earned. Everyone needs a hobby!

But hey, cudos that you guys remain friends even with disagreements. But you should both consider, what are you now known for? What is your character in thier eyes? What do they not tell you in response?

I truley hate the idea of talking others into what stand on currently, unless the details or why's matter to them. But I do fully like to guide my conference at hand into checking details and background for themselves and thinking for themselves.

Having said that, there is alot in the world that is now taken for granted that shouldn't be.

Putin as an example of an existential threat shows just how much dedication we have lost. It is forgotten in many corners why Russia must be kept in check. Once you have lost any real check on power, a situation of Caligula or Sadam Hussian owning you and everything else is the natural result.
There is essentailly no difference between a mofia controlled state and any kingship, dictatorship, or a warlord cotrolled society.

And as far as overseas, the last thing we want is a fight inside our own country. Our past overseas activity and influance is very much why this has not come here to us at home since just before WWI.

 

[AriLea]

So what I was hoping for was some evidence that society is developing a vacination to political Cult Propaganda that now theatens western civil society. This version of it leaverages the internet as social media. So far, I'm not seeing any evidence of effective vaxination here. But of course that is not what this website is dedicated to. And I will of course continue to look for that evidence elsewhere.

From the perspective of life as a classroom, where we learn from our mistakes motivated by the resulting pain, it will happen at some point. Infact that has happened through out history. When will we see it in these times?

The whole purpose of a consitution is to immunize a society to the political abuses of the past. Just imagine returning to a pre democracy world. In that world, a full war mobilization happened everytime an authoritarian had any asperation to do so. Many times 5 years of peace followed with 10 years of war, in ongoing cycles. In a nuclear world and one very vindictive leader, the end of life is not just possible, but statistically inevitable. Sobering thoughts indeed.