Bill Maher Discusses Dangers Awaiting the Democratic Party Despite Joe Biden’s Victory

IMO, Bill Maher is spot-on here. If the Democrats (and their supporters) don't find the courage to speak out about these excesses of the Woke fringe of the political Left, they won't even be able to win the office of dog catcher next election--we just witnessed how badly Democrats were hurt in lower tier federal and state elections from coast to coast.

xv

In a year Democrats hoped to capture the Senate and bolster their House majority, the loss of so much ground in Congress has touched off an intense volley of finger-pointing, insults and plotting by each feuding faction to keep the other out of party leadership posts. The familiar ideological rift between the left and the center-left is intensifying after an election in which the message sent by voters was so muddled: embracing Joe Biden while spurning so many down-ballot Democrats.

Joe Biden would have lost in a truly massive landslide except that Trump was the worst candidate who has ever run for the office of President. Biden (for whom I voted) should have won by at least 90/10 over such an arrogant proudly-ignorant self-absorbed bully, yet almost half of our country voted against Biden. As it was, had merely 200,000 people in key states swapped their votes, Trump would have been reelected by a "landslide" the equivalent of the "landslide" Biden's supporters are currently proclaiming. We can't depend on the Republicans ever again choosing such a bad candidate. This bodes terribly for 2022 as indicated (in Maher's video) by Abigail Spanberger (U.S House of Rep-VA).

Here's an inconvenient fact: Many Republicans were voting against the Democrats, not for Trump, and not because "they are all racists."  If you don't believe this, it is because you have been unwilling to listen to real life Republicans who live and work in your community. It's time for all of us to do some serious soul searching. We need to confidently reassert evidence-based principles that have largely (though admittedly imperfectly) worked over time: It is a good thing to reward hard work and competence. It's critically important to set aside our feelings and self-critically get the facts correct before we discuss any political issue. It is absurd to loudly proclaim, contrary to strong evidence, that every "white" person is a "racist." It is unhinged to argue that police should be "abolished" or "defunded" in light the inevitable consequences of defunding, especially on poor communities (who largely want more police presence, not less). Here's a recent crime report from Minnesota, which actively defunded its police:

Homicides in Minneapolis are up 50 percent, with nearly 75 people killed across the city so far this year. More than 500 people have been shot, the highest number in more than a decade and twice as many as in 2019. And there have been more than 4,600 violent crimes — including hundreds of carjackings and robberies — a five-year high.
Do the Democrats really want to take back some seats in 2022?  If so, we need to have the courage to speak out against the sanctimonious left fringe, which excels at making cartoons out of complex individual people by jamming them into identity-silos and rigging public speech with dozens of hair-triggers.

Most of us recognize Wokeness to be a terrible foundation for collaborating with each other to run our country, but we are hesitant to speak out because we might be called names by the fringe left. It often feels uncomfortable to speak up because the Woke are so well embedded in many of America's primary sense-making institutions, including universities, media and political entities.  It will all be much easier if we encourage each other to start publicly saying what almost all of us are privately thinking.  It's time to get to work.

Continue ReadingBill Maher Discusses Dangers Awaiting the Democratic Party Despite Joe Biden’s Victory

A Social Vaccine to Protect People From Critical Race Theory

Many of us grew up with and/or currently live with other people who look different than we do. I am of European ancestry and my two daughters were adopted from China. We look a bit different, but I think of them as fully and forever my two wonderful daughters, albeit with this footnote: our ancestors came from different parts of the planet and we were so incredibly lucky we have found each other. My daughters are now young adults. They are capable and beautiful women, unique in their looks, their personal character and their interests. Anyone taking even a tiny bit of time to get to know my daughters would quickly agree.

It recently occurred to me that many people would consider that my daughters are of a different "race" than me. That strange thought jumped as I was studying Critical Race Theory (CRT), which strongly advocates for an intensely racialized social landscape:

Critical race Theorists therefore advocate not being colorblind or meritocratic. Instead, they recommend that we all focus on race and racism specifically at all times and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring and other opportunities. In practice, this often means to run mandatory implicit bias tests and training in workplaces and ensure that more people of racial minorities are represented in any (prestigious) workplace that lacks them.

I refuse to think of my daughters as being of "another race." In fact, this is a repulsive and divisive thought for me. All human beings have descended from various populations of one single species. Despite our common biological roots, each person is unique in a complex ways.  No two people are alike and the only way to get to know any other person is to spend some quality time with them. Thinking of other humans as simple colors rather than as unique people prevents us from having meaningful relationships with each other.

Hence my Tweet:

Side note: I'm fully aware that the United States is filled with people who still think that superficial immutable physical traits are more than skin deep.  I disagree. The concept of "race" is defective in the same way that astrology is defective. These two approaches for attempting to get to know other people fail. Both of these lazy approaches use irrelevant accidents as a false proxy for taking the time to get to know each other.

I try to avoid using the word "race" except in scare quotes because a) Use of the term "race" suggests that there is a benefit to seeing people as colors, b) The term "race" confuses people and needlessly divides us from each other, and c) fretting about "race" is always followed by destructive conduct: trying to judge the personal character of other people by the the way their bodies look is truly one of the most idiotic things people have ever done.

It also occurs to me that there might be a causal connection between my experience harmoniously living with people of "another race" and my forceful rejection of CRT. I suspect that my experience living in a "multi-racial" household has incentivized me to forcefully reject the poisonous and divisive ideology offered by Critical Race Theory. People cannot meaningfully be stuffed into a simplistic color categories. They can only be understood as individuals, one by one, and there are no shortcuts.  I've learned this in many ways during my life, not just being a parent in a "mixed race" household. I've been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to really get to know many people of different "races" during my life as a student, asa photographer, as a musician and as an attorney who has handled more than a few civil rights cases for plaintiffs.

I've also noticed that many prominent writers from "racially mixed" households have taken similar strong stands against Critical Race Theory (CRT). This includes John McWhorter, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Wilfred Reilly, Christopher Rufo, Shelby Steele, Barack Obama, Coleman Hughes and others. This makes me wonder whether those who have lived lives well-blended with people of other "races" can more easily see that sticking people in "racial" categories is a terrible way to get to know other people.

Contrast this with the fact that many Americans who are suspicious of other "races" have spent their entire lives segregated from those of other "races."  I've noticed that many of the shrill CRT advocates are "white" people who tend to run in homogenous packs of "white" people.  Could it be that their willingness to embrace CRT flows from their segregated lives? Is it possible that many CRT people (such as Robin DiAngela) have been damaged by their failure to really get to know people of other "races"?  It would take a high degree of ignorance, or perhaps fear or laziness (again, I'm thinking of Robin DiAngelo), to categorize complex individuals who come in many shapes, colors, skillsets, histories and personal characteristics (including the Big Five personality traits) and levels of accomplishments into silos that are simplistically labeled "white" and "Black."

It is my operating assumption that people will not willingly categorize each other into color categories if they spent quality time with those of other "races." People who have made close relationships with people of other "races" have essentially essentially given  themselves a vaccine to protect them from getting caught up in CRT.

Consider this quote by Miguel de Unamuno:

"Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by traveling."

Similarly, racism is cured by "traveling" through life having close relationships with those of other "races."

I am interested to know whether any social scientists have studied what I am describing.  My observation, once again, is that people who have close and enduring relationships with those of other "races" are far more likely to be repulsed by CRT.

[Edit note 2020.11.13: I posted a much simpler version of this post yesterday.  I expanded on this idea as I considered it further].

Continue ReadingA Social Vaccine to Protect People From Critical Race Theory

More Criticism of the Political “Left” and “Right” from Eric Weinstein

Eric Weinstein's apt Tweet:

Or, instead of off-script and on-script, should we refer to people as "Thinks for Themselves" and "Doesn't Think for Themselves"? Labels of Left/Right are (often intentionally) deceptive, obscuring massive internal dissent within the "two" tribes for purposes of feigning homogeneity. Tribes use these labels to fluff up their feathers to try to appear coherent, like politically powerful voting blocks.

The labels "Left" and "Right" look precise, but simplistically clean appearance of these labels disguises a lack of precision.  Primarily, these labels refer to heterogenous tribes that try to portray themselves as homogenous.  This is not merely academic. The use of the Left/Right labels (legitimized and amplified by lazy media and social media) is tearing our society apart.

Continue ReadingMore Criticism of the Political “Left” and “Right” from Eric Weinstein

Ancient Stoic Quotes for Today

I have recently become a subscriber to Ryan Holiday's podcast: The Daily Stoic. Listening to his episodes has encouraged me to read more on stoicism. Much has changed over the past 2,000 years, but the best advice by the stoics is as relevant as ever. Here are some examples.

"The Obstacle Is the Way." Marcus Aurelius

“Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?” – Marcus Aurelius

“And a commitment to justice in your own acts. Which means: thought and action resulting in the common good. What you were born to do.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.31

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” – Seneca

"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." Marcus Aurelius

“Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future.” – Seneca

“All ferocity is born from weakness.” Seneca

“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.” Marcus Aurelius

“I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.” – Cato

"Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference." Marcus Aurelius

He has the most who is content with the least. Diogenes

Just keep in mind: the more we value things outside our control, the less control we have. Epictetus

“He who fears death will never do anything worth of a man who is alive.” – Seneca

“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.” – Seneca

“Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” – Marcus Aurelius

If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” – Marcus Aurelius

“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone.” – Marcus Aurelius

We should always be asking ourselves: “Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?” - Epictetus, Enchiridion

Floods will rob us of one thing, fire of another. These are conditions of our existence which we cannot change. What we can do is adopt a noble spirit, such a spirit as befits a good person, so that we may bear up bravely under all that fortune sends us and bring our wills into tune with nature’s. - Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant. - Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled — have you no shame in that?” — Epictetus

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.” – Marcus Aurelius

Continue ReadingAncient Stoic Quotes for Today

Holiday Gloom re COVID

I agree with Chris Hayes here. Cold weather + holiday parties + travel + Thanksgiving feasts + Christmas gathering would seem to be a perfect storm for COVID, especially with numbers already spiking. We were concerned about the pandemic back in March, when the rate of infections was a tiny fraction of what it is now. This is insanity.

BTW, my elderly mother and her adult children WILL have an hour-long in-person Thanksgiving celebration this year. We will meet outside at my mom's house during the "heat" of the day, spread far apart from each other on lawn chairs, eating our BYO snack and drink for about an hour. Unless it's surprisingly warm, in which case we might linger longer.

Continue ReadingHoliday Gloom re COVID