A blog about life as seen by a retired Middle School Science Teacher from California
Author: Bruce Halen
I am a retired Middle School Science Teacher that loves to sing, ride bicycles and write. I am a Unitarian Universalist by religion and thrive on exercise to keep mentally and physically healthy and happy. I am an Ovo-Lacto vegetarian.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Celebrating the life of John Lewis is easy. Just reading quotes attributed to him give you an indication why you should celebrate John Lewis. I’ll leave it at that.
Once again the rightous, racist, rich Republicans show that they have absolutely no sense of humor. Money talks way too loudly. CBS listened to the money and fired Stephen Colbert.
Speaking of conspiracy, look no further than the United States Supreme court. They’ve gutted the Voting Rights Act, designated corporations as citizens to allow for limitless contributions to politial campaigns under the guise of free speech. Oh yeah, and then there was the ruling on presidential immunity. The shadow docket of ’24-’25 reads like a Heritage Foundation Wish List.
And while we’re on the subject of conspiracy, how is the love affair going between the President and Silicon Valley? Caution, it might not be quite the way you think it is.
What about the budget? This is a moving target as far as public opinion is concerned.
“They” say that that the two things that never change are death and taxes. I’m going to add a third. Congressional Republicans will give the Trump Cabal whatever they want. They are bought and paid for many times over. I hope that each Republican Congressional family understands the legacy that their family members have left behind for the country. Who is going to write the history?
On the Bright side.
There is a bright side isn’t there? Of course there is. It’s just taking me a little time to come up with brightness. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, merely that I don’t have the mental acuity channel the sunshine. Somewhere out there is a bright side. There always is. Wait, music is always a bright side.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Two major themes cross my mind as June comes to a close. June has been pride month, a time when a majority of the country celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion while the people in this regime in Washington D.C. pretend it isn’t happening.
Pride will be ok. No matter how hard the destroyers on the Right try to erase history and hope that people forget about what it was like to be human, that very same history has proven that as hard as you try to exterminate or eliminate or disinform, you can’t make our core humanity go away. We remember and we celebrate the core elements of who we are.
Humanity has been forced to take a back seat to greed, power and religious zealotry. But the one thing that the master planners of this conspiracy, driven by prejudice against humanity, have forgotten is that the human spirit cannot be lied to. It transcends the weaknesses of the mind and lives on. It’s something like the radioactive core of the Earth. You don’t see it, but it keeps on burning brightly and keeps the planet alive. Out of sight and sometimes out of mind, but always there.
Maybe that isn’t the best example because eventually the physical fuel will run out and the Earth will grow cold. The spiritual fuel, however, will not run out. No matter what the religious, the political, the judicial, the corporate forces do to try and break us, it won’t work. The force that fuels the core of our beings cannot be destroyed. Buildings can be destroyed, bodies can be destroyed, nature can be severely damaged, but they can’t touch the human spirit.
And they know it. Their power is barely bridled right now. It won’t last. How long it lasts is up to us. Nourish that spirit and keep going one day at a time.
*Speaking of out of touch (I wasn’t really speaking about it, but it makes such a nice segway): The lengths that this administration is going to downgrade, demean and demote women is so far out-of-touch with reality that even a good comedy sketch can’t touch it.
Case in point is the success of women’s sports. Anyone following women’s basketball? It is phenomenally successful right now. For an administration trying to take away even the most basic of human rights, health care, away from them, they shine as brightly and maybe even outshine us males across the board.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I just got back from another experience brought to me by the fruits of privilege and along the way I read a bit more on Stoicism in Brigid Delaney’s book “Reasons Not to Worry: How to be stoic in Chaotic Times.”
In her chapter on anxiety, Delaney cites prominent Stoics of the past such as the former slave Epictetus, Seneca and the philosopher /emperor Marcus Aurelias and modern Stoics like author William Irvine who advise us to turn our challenges and setbacks into character building resilience. Our setbacks and hard times can be turned back on themselves and become tools for becoming stronger and more resilient in facing the trials of the world.
Delaney goes on to suggest using the Stoic control test to calm anxiety. One of the root concepts of Stoicism is the Control Test. It is basically a general checklist of what is within your personal control. There are three basic areas that Stoics believe you have control over:
1. our character 2. our reactions (and sometimes our actions) 3. and how we treat others
She also suggested that giving up on hope was a way to reduce anxiety. I’m not sure that I am totally ready to give up on hope in the way that Delaney suggests . The premise of the Stoic approach in suggesting that we avoid hope is that when the object of your hope does not happen then the disappointment of not having your hope validated leads to anxiety.
Delaney suggests that giving up on hope is ” the joy of being able to live firmly in the present rather than constantly thinking, dreading and fantasizing about what might occur in the future.”
"Cease to hope and you will cease to fear. Peace takes the place of hope and fear."
Delaney further suggests that by giving up a dependence on hope which Stoics believe is out of your control, you can better prepare yourself for hardships and the their temporary nature.
Stoics say to accept the reality of the moment and act according to what is happening right now.
This little book that I picked up at a closing branch of Barnes and Noble a few months ago, has been an effective tool in helping me through the difficult times that we find ourselves in right now.
I’ll confess that I am a bit uncomfortable with the idea of totally giving up on hope, But Delaney has given me a new way to think about it. In these times, I’m game to try something different.
And I like to think.
On the Bright Side
Vladimir Putin is undoubtedly very pleased to have Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. But he must be wondering what he did wrong in his grooming of Trump to be the American head of state. We are six months into our four year Presidential sentence and you have to think that if Trump and his entourage really wanted to destroy Democracy as we know it that it would have been accomplished by now.
Trump has surrounded himself with blithering incompetence. Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel (where has he gone?) and Kristi Noem among others.
Bondi looks like she has aged 50 years in the last six months. She used to be a semi attractive woman.
Patel has wilted under the pressure and seems to have gone on a six month vacation drunk.
Speaking of drunk, wouldn’t it be better to have Hegseth return to running a non-profit while he lives his life in a semi-sober stupor?
And what about puppy killer Kristi Noem. The SPCA might lobby to keep her hidden away in Washington D.C. far away from any cute puppies, hamsters or geckos, but most of us would prefer sending her back to the good people of South Dakota and let them decide what to do with her.
All in all, we are still in a deep pile of manure. The good news is that these idiots don’t seem to know how to dismantle a democracy.
Would someone please show the Supreme Court a copy of the Constitution that they are supposed to be upholding? The Tech Bros. must have figured out how to change the wording of the document in real time.
Keep pressure on the big money; Musk, Peter Thiel, Bezos, Zuckerberg et al. Our voice may be muted, but they understand lower profits.
Hitler took advantage of real socio-economic conditions in 1930’s-40’s Germany. Today’s Fascists needed to create those conditions and then apply their inhumane solutions to them.
Support journalism.
Take to the streets when you can
Take good care of yourself and keep your eyes on the prize.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Stoicism is the art of applied rationality. It is based on four time honored virtues. Justice, moderation, wisdom and courage. Those virtues are put into practice by applying what Stoics call “The Control Test.” Briefly, that the things that you should concern yourself with are the things that you have control over. Those three things are:
1. Your Character 2. How you act and react 3. How you treat others
I bring Stoicism up again today, because I failed the control test today while listening to House Speaker Mike Johnson talking to Meet the Press Moderator Kristin Welker trying to defend Number 47’s big, ugly budget bill that his House narrowly approved..
Do I have control over what came out of the mouth of a man several hours ago being broadcast on a recorded television show? The answer to that one is pretty easy. I was unable to resist verbally reacting to the words coming out of his mouth. He couldn’t hear me and what if he could? Would it change anything?
Of course not.
I need to learn from my failure and move on. But the one thing that I learned from listening to the bold faced inaccuracies about trickle down economics and lazy poor people is that I have significant work to do in the area of becoming a good Stoic.
______________________________________
There are probably a few of you that don’t have the relationship with ice cream that many of us have. But for those of you that do, consider this…
When you walk into the grocery store or the ice cream parlor, what flavor of ice cream do you look for? Mint Chocolate Chip. Rocky Road, Bubble Gum, Strawberry? Or one of the several other flavors available.
Do any of you go in looking for Vanilla? I’m going to guess that the answer would be No (with deepest apologies to you Vanilla fans).
Our beautiful, diverse world is not Vanilla. It is not one flavor of ice cream or one color of skin, one specific religion, one view of sexuality and the list goes on and on and on and. If you walked into that grocery store or ice cream shop and they only offered Vanilla, you’d turn around and walk out. At least I would.
The consumer drives the engine of commerce and the voter drives the engine of politics. Radical authoritarian wannabees occupy the seat of government power, but they do not hold the real power. We do.
The next time you go ice cream shopping take note if they only offer Vanilla. There is a 100% chance that they don’t just offer Vanilla as your only choice. You get to choose the flavor that you want
Keep doing what you do and show Washington that Vanilla alone isn’t good enough.
From the PBS NewsHour
Happiness is a combination of Enjoyment, Satisfaction and Meaning.
Dr. Arthur C. Brooks, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
I recently visited the historic southern city of Savannah, Georgia. For the casual tourist Savannah offers all the comforts of fine lodging, food, friendliness and good old southern hospitality. First rate museums of art, slavery, Prohibition and the rich maritime history of the city can be found and offer enlightenment.
There were two cemeteries of note in Savannah. The free one that entombed those citizens of note from the Revolutionary War period until 1853. The paying one covered the Civil War until I don’t know when because I didn’t go there. I have this thing about cemeteries. They fascinate me, which I find to be at least a little odd.
The lives portrayed on those decaying stones help to tell the epic history of the life and times that these people were immersed in, and like me, largely ignorant of, in their own day.
Speaking of Cemeteries, Savannah prides itself on it’s ghosts. I think rightly so. Story has it that ghosts roam the streets because their graves were covered up in the building of Savannah. That and the war, disease, fire and natural disasters visited upon its people have released many a restless soul to dwell among the physically living.
You may or may not believe in ghosts. I tend to believe, but that’s for another day. Savannah certainly has ghosts. I think those ghosts live inside modern day residents of this fine city, other Georgia cities and cities throughout the old slave holding South.
Racism is everywhere. The South has a reputation for being more racist, but is it really? It certainly is by reputation. It likely has a predisposition to be more racist based on the treatment of African slaves used to bolster the the economies of cotton and tobacco that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Perhaps it is less racism and more a collective guilt that makes it more difficult for people in the south to see people of color for who they are. The treatment of ethnic minorities, in this case dark skinned ethnic minorities, by Southern cotton and tobacco monied families, has left their progeny with an indefensible and inescapable perception of who the Black man/woman is.
Guilt is a pernicious thing. If it isn’t addressed, it becomes like an untreated cut that gets infected and spreads to other parts of the body until the organism becomes very sick and eventually dies.
If that guilt is played upon by greedy, mean spirited people of great wealth, the problem is magnified. The disease in the one body spreads to other bodies and the illness becomes normalized.
I bring this up now because that illness of guilt is being spread across the U.S.A. in an attempt to normalize it. Attempts to whitewash the accomplishments of Black men and women and other people of color through unconstitutional immigration practices, the banning of books, attacks on institutions attempting to treat the guilt wound are simply attempts to hide white guilt for the way non-Caucasian peoples have been treated in this country.
Late in his life, the Noble Prize winning author John Steinbeck traveled the country in his truck, Rocinante, along with his dog Charley “in search of America.”
What he found was a country much like I would see today if I were to engage on a cross country trip across the U.S. of A. Diversity, friendliness, hospitality, beauty and candor.
On his trip back to his home in Sag Harbor, Maine, Steinbeck experienced the dark side of the South. In New Orleans, he witnessed “The Cheerladies or Cheer Leaders.” The Cheerladies/Cheer Leaders were a group of middle aged white women that gathered outside a school that was attempting to integrate and heckle and yell unspeakable obscenities at young Black students.
One of his many riders going through the South was a man in his thirties who basically wormed his way into a ride. You’ll have to go back and read Pp.268-272 to get a feel for the hate this man had for Black people.
The America that Steinbeck encountered 65 years ago is still, embarrassingly, still pretty much the same.
Although I must add that I had a good experience bicycle riding through Arkansas and Louisiana in the mid ’80’s.
Racism isn’t necessary. It isn’t genetic. It is taught. Why it is taught is a mystery to me. I think it gets to the old saying “GIGO.” Garbage In. Garbage Out.
Why has it become the divisive centerpiece of the second Trump Administration? I don’t really know. I can’t bother myself with that. It is beyond my control.
What I do know is that, like Steinbeck, I will continue to work for what I believe in. The New Testament of the Bible and The United States Constitution are two documents that I deeply respect. I try to live my life each day using those documents as guideposts.
I am sickened by those forces that have taken those two documents and have turned them into the antithesis of what they are. I will continue working for the Liberal causes championed in the Bible and continue working towards “the more perfect union” called for in our Constitution.
Let those ghosts finally rest in peace.
On the bright side...
1. GPS 2. Diabetes and Obesity Drugs 3. Quantum Dots 4. Sign Language Dictionary 5. CAPTCHA 6. Life Without Screwworms 7. Bladeless LASIK Surgery 8. Infant Massage 9. The Dustbuster
New York Times Digital edition by Alan Burdick and Emily Anthes with illustrations by Ruru Kuo. May 16, 2025, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
What do those nine items listed above have in common? They are all advancements made possible by funding from the federal government. Were they a good uses of taxpayer dollars? Consider them in your life and answer that question.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and you’re wondering how to get involved in social activism in the area, visit this website for ideas.
Another plus to living in the Bay Area is an exhibition of the work of photographer, Nancy Richards Farese. "She works with international aid organizations to document children in turmoil and trauma. A piece by her in the Sunday, May 11 San Jose Mercury News explores the importance of play in the lives of children and the important lessons to be learned from play. Things like how to negotiate, choose a leader, adapt rules and resolve conflict. In the process of play, children are exposed to justice and injustice, freedom and constraint.
Perhaps there are some adults that need to play more? A display of her work is viewable at The Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose through June 8.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
We know it is likely coming, but when and where will it happen? The arrest of a Wisconsin jurist today is a wakeup call that that it is not a matter of whether this Administration cracks down on freedom with violence against the American people, it’s a matter of when.
I am preparing myself, at least in part, by watching resistance stories from World War ll. One in particular that gets to what an American resistance against a tyrannical government might conceptually look like is the Netflix film Number 24. Number 24 is the story of a young Norwegian resistance fighter. It is realistic and clear in it’s messaging about tyranny and what it can look like if it is not countered through democratic processes.
If that sounds a little melancholy and overly dramatic , so be it. It is what it is.
If we gird our loins and take the second punch from Donald and the Magettes as well as we took the first punch, then we here in the United States have a fighting chance of fighting off the MAGA penal colony and restoring America by becoming American again.
The Tiananmen Square protests/massacre occurred in 1995. I don’t know that an event like this will actually happen here in the U.S.A. The fact that it happened in China is one thing. Chinese people have been repressed for several decades. They were expressing a sentiment that they weren’t about to get. Democracy and the freedom that comes with it.
Here in the United States, the possibility of American soldiers killing Americans seems like a long shot even to me who tends to flirt with the Dark Side despite being an eternal optimist at heart. I pray that our American boys and girls under the direction of American men and women would not follow an immoral command from a deranged leader.
As protests get larger and more frequent, I worry that the narcissistic President Donald will become progressively more unhinged and do the unthinkable. I hope not, but if it does happen I hope that I am there. In the heart of the resistence.
Ok, that’s enough with the bravado.
In the meantime, I make small donations, attend marches and protests, work on immigrant rights and climate change issues through my church, write this little blog, keep my body as healthy as a 69 year old body can be and sing…a lot. These are things that I can do and find joy in doing. It’s what I can do. And it’s what I will continue to do
Give yourself a break from the news and take a few deep breaths several times during the day. It really helps. So does listening to Paul Simon’s 1975 rendition of his song, American Tune.
"Power rests in People not in the People in Power."
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
The word has a markedly religious undertone. I am not as familiar with the words usage in other religious traditions, but I am somewhat familiar with the word and how it is used in the Christian religious tradition.
The religion’s prophet, a man known as Jesus was tortured to death for speaking out against the establishment religious so called holy men of his day. As the story goes, he proposed a way of living where each individual person had a direct pipeline to God. No need for an intermediary. Just you and God. No need to pay your way into the unknown but desired afterlife.
As you can imagine, the high priests of the Jewish temple did not take kindly to this young upstart who was starting to undermine their credibility and opulent lifestyles . People were listening to him and they liked what he had to say. The things he said were lived and later taught by his followers, or apostles. They were written down much later, in fact centuries later into a series of letters and stories attributed to the Apostles Mathew, Mark, Luke and John and assembled in what we know as the New Testament section of Christian Bible.
It is called the New Testament for a reason. It was written to replace the Old Testament and separate Judaism from the new religion of Christianity.
Of course it wasn’t that simple. The message of Jesus got manipulated, twisted, melted and bent into something that more represented the very things that inspired Jesus to leave his birth faith and teach a new way of doing things.
Poor guy. He wasn’t destined to live a long life and he didn’t. He was beaten and nailed to a cross and hung out to die, which he did, at the age of 32. End of story right?
Wrong. As the story goes, his lifeless body was taken off the cross and put in a cave that was made seemingly inaccessible by a large boulder that couldn’t possibly be moved. But, miraculously, it was and when his followers came back the next day, the body was gone.
It’s hard to know what happened to Jesus, but according to Christian teachings, Jesus was risen from the dead so that his followers would be granted everlasting life. There was no need to pay your way into the good lodgings of the afterlife. Your way was already payed. All you had to do was believe in the teachings of Jesus.
I wish that it was that easy, but even the most basic, believable, human ideals can be mangled by human-kind. I used to be a Christian. I still embrace the belief that there is a force greater than the forces of the physical world and I doubt that that will ever leave me.
The story of the resurrected Christ is symbolism of the strongest human kind. The idea that even when your body uses the last of it’s material energy, your spirit lives on forever. Not for a thousand years, a million years, 4.5 Billion years or 120 Light years, but for all time.
Which gets me finally to the point that I have been formulating as I write. Death is temporary. And that is important as we as Americans, Humans and Earthlings try to resurrect freedom, justice, hope and human kindness from the brink of death on the steps of the Temple erected out of tribute to the seekers of wealth and power.
It’s the same today as it was in the time of Jesus. Except that today, the religion named after Jesus no longer resembles the institution of Humanity that he envisioned those thousands of years ago.
As we emerge from the Christian high holy day of Easter, the story of the resurrected Christ, whether you believe his story or not, it is not a huge stretch to see us as the collective modern day Jesus being resurrected from the dead and sending the message to the rich and powerful that they are no more powerful than we are.
In fact, we are collectively more powerful than they will ever be. May Donald Trump be happy; May Donald Trump be healthy and strong; May Donald Trump be at ease; May Donald Trump be at peace.
Even as I sometimes curse his name. I believe that.
Enjoy nature’s version of resurrection. It’s called Spring!
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Yes, it’s called DOGE, but they have the acronym wrong. Instead of standing for The Department of Government Efficiency, which it clearly is not, I have a more accurate acronym:: The Department of Greedy Elon. That would seem to be a more accurate title for what the Tesla Twit is up to in his current gig.
It also seems to an overall description of what our current “leadership” views it’s mission for the next three years and 10 months, not that I’m counting.
We can be thankful to Vladimir Putin, the Heritage Foundation, Big Oil and the Tech Bros for calling Democracy to our attention here in the U.S. of A. We as a nation tend to take things for granted, have a short attention span and live in blissful ignorance of what is happening to others. Others being other Americans and others being those living anywhere else in the world.
I sometimes wish this “blissful ignorance” for myself. But, I’m quick to return to my calling. When someone is a victim of injustice , I am a victim of injustice. I cannot sit back and accept the injustice. I simply cannot. it’s in my epigenetics. I’m stuck with it and I’m glad I am.
My parents exposed me to a Christian religious education at a young age and those early teachings have pretty much doomed me to a life of compassion and service to others. Don’t get me wrong, I have no regrets the life that I have been called to live. I live it joyfully and enthusiastically.
But, it does challenge me greatly in the area of separating the action from the actor. In these made for tv divisive times, we are pumped with information, misinformation and purposeful disinformation by forces that benefit from the cycle of demonization. He, she, they are there and we are here.They are wrong and we are right.
Of course this is all bullshit. It works for the force that largely stays behind it’s own cloak of invisibility and allows their dirty work to be done by political figures, religious organizations and politicized news outlets.
But, let me get back to the thesis for today’s opinions.
Elon Musk and his smoke and mirrors operations at D.O.G.E. His special interest in his position at D.O.G.E. (what exactly is his position?) appears to be at least two-fold. One fold is to protect his own business interests from government intervention and the second fold is to extend the already ridiculous level of tax breaks received by his Billionaire class by simply eliminating the services that those taxes pay for. If you can’t do it legally through legislative processes, then go to the next best approach. Take a butcher’s meat hacker and start hacking.
Musk’s money and influence are doing great, but not irreparable harm to the U.S.A. Anything they are doing can be undone. While we common folks down here write our blogs, boycott, hold our picket signs, write our letters, make or text calls to our elected officials and attend town halls and other meetings, our judicial system is bearing the brunt of the heavy lifting in the resistance struggle against the budding Whie Nationalist Oligarchy.
It does my heart good and bolsters my spirit to see the little things that we are all doing to resist those that have wealth and power and wish to expand it.
When anyone is suffering anywhere, I am suffering. But it is good suffering. As the late civil rights leader John Lewis said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
There’s lots of good trouble yet to get into. Let’s get into it.
The Billionaire tax whackers portray government as one big monolithic bureaucratic mess. This simply is not true. Michael Lewis tells the other side of the story in his new book “Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Servants.”
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
Our White Christian Nationalist (so far) “soft” Coup is in it’s final preparations for a full on takeover of the United States government. The German people didn’t know what was coming on August 31, 1939, but the next day would be the invasion of Poland and the start of World War 2. The American people don’t have that excuse as far as what is coming next.
We know where this is headed.
The question is now that we know what is coming, are we going to sit back and watch or are we going to call a spade a spade and fight to take our country back right now. This is it. This is the time to act. This won’t wait until tomorrow, next month or next year. This is the time. The time is now.
If you are going to join a group, stand on a picket line, write a blog, make financial donations I suggest that you do it now…with bells on. No more sitting back.
On the bright side, I have two names for you. Brian Tyler Cohen and Texas State Rep. James Talarico. Tyler Cohen is an author, podcaster and YouTuber with a focus on politics. Thanks to my friend Kelvin for telling me about Cohen.
Talarico is on a crusade to expose the hypocrisy of the Republican Party for not practicing what they preach. He wants Progressives to insert the real Christian message of how to treat you fellow man into its message being that they are the ones trying to implement Christ’s teachings into the world.
His interview today with Tyler Cohen on how the MAGA religious right has hijacked the party and replaced Jesus as their savior with Trump as their savior is worth listening to. See the underlined link above.
Be well, be hopeful and I wish you happiness, health and peace.
Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).
How to Debunk:
1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.
2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.
3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.
4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.
5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.
"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.
"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."
"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."
Sander van der Linden Social Psychologist University of Cambridge
Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
Update: McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024. New York Times best seller.
In a first attempt to answer my own question, it will take action from us. The regime that we “elected” is not acting in our best interests. It is, in fact, acting in the best interest of the Chief Dictator, Vladimir Putin. In my eyes, this is traitorous behavior. We are in a cold war with Russia, so treason is on the table for those members of the U.S. government that are aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States of America.
What kind of action you might ask? I’ll admit that even though my commitment to stoicism is strong , there are days, like today, that I flat out failed in my efforts to filter the news that I am seeing and hearing and reading through the filter of the Control question. Today, I was a miserable failure.
I forgive myself for being a miserable failure as a Stoic today (which is now yesterday). It’s ok. This is hard work and it will take many more days, weeks, months and years of hard work to restore rational thought and common sense humanity to a confused nation. I guess I’ll be re-reading and re-practicing what Brigid Delaney is teaching me in her book “Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times.”
One thing I’ve learned along the way on how to deal with moronic insanity that I have no control over is to seek out communities my communities. My church offers me a Small Group Ministry community, a choir community and an Immigrant assistance committee community. I have two other choir communities, a golfing community, a fantasy Baseball community, a community of friends… Who am I missing?
I’m having a series of random, wondering thoughts today, which I suppose is predictable in a news environment that is running pretty randomly since January 20.
I’m wondering about all the Republicans in Congress who have the authority and power to curb the power of a deranged autocrat but refuse, for reasons unknown to me, refuse to use it. They hold more power than even the Supreme Court. I eagerly await the first Republican legislator with a backbone to stand up to the emperor and tell him that he has no clothes on, so speak.
I’m wondering if corporate America is just playing metaphorical ball with the guy with all the power and will revert back to some semblance of whatever humanity they are capable of exhibiting once his term is up. Or is saving all that tax money and a corporate friendly government that doesn’t give a shit about us just too tempting to turn down.
I’m wondering what Vladimir Putin has to do with this mess. I don’t doubt for a minute that there is enough autocratic talent in the Heritage Foundation Right stage a Coup on the U.S., but the evidence is building that he has his hand in it somehow. If we could somehow lose Putin the world would be a much better place.
I’m wonder when it will be the right time for a March on Washington.
A very wise Buddhist friend taught me to say these words to myself when I'm starting to get very angry at someone's actions or words:
"May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be happy. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be healthy and strong. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at ease. "May (insert the name of the person(s) here) be at peace.
This too is hard to do. I find that I’m practicing it a lot these days, But, when I do it, somehow I feel better. It reminds me not to place the blame on the person for their actions. The action is coming through them but it is not of them. Credit to Dr. Ysaye Barnwell for that thought.
