Wednesday, November 30, 2016

A LONG CALM AMIDST A BUZZ IN THE WAKE OF A TWIT


I am not as calm as Mr. Chomsky, but I value his experience and his commentary, so check out the interview that is below.
I have been thinking a lot about the effect of this two-year battle over our minds, with the Sanders campaign and the misleading assumption that Trump was a clown who had no chance and that Hillary was horrible but would run away with the election. Add to that, we have educated folks watching the debates as entertainment, when none of the real issues were being debated.
I had a conversation with a cat the other night and he said, "There are parts of my mind that will forever be corrupted by this election. That is real estate that I don't think I will be able to reclaim."
Now, there is commentary about the effects of social media. Uh. Yeah.
Humans are watching their little hand-held boxes instead of living their lives. Clicking on minuscule, tiny headlines of drivel and re-fueling the junkfood society by re-posting and tweeting and commenting and fretting. Sometimes. Sometimes, the data is worth transmitting and re-transmitting and swimming in and chanting. Yep. I know.
Sometimes, though, shit ain't right...and maybe it isn't you that's being mislead, maybe it is your more easily mislead sidekick. Maybe S(h)e's the one who is copying and pasting the makings of a new regime of double speak and confusion. Is there a cure? We'll find out how much it works, but this is what Noam has to say"
"You combat it by being an educator; by trying to educate and organize and bring people to understand that they should use their critical intelligence to evaluate what they read, whether it is in the mainstream or on some site that they're looking up...I think it can be overcome."
I hope the man is correct. I see a society that is constantly distracted by trivialities and is rushing to busy themselves in the opposite direction of wisdom and any sense of good judgement.

I have more to say about our mindsets, but I don't think I'll get to them tonight.

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