Open letter to Mark Zuckerberg

   August 4, msn news: [A] survey of 1,552 U.S. adults, which was conducted from July 30 to Aug. 2, found that 66 percent of Republicans continue to insist that “the election was rigged and stolen from Trump,” while just 18 percent believe “Joe Biden won fair and square.” Twenty-eight percent of independent voters also said they think Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 election, as did a small 3 percent of Democrats.

  How many Republicans are there? How many independents? How many Democrats think Joe "stole it fair and square" as the old American saying goes? In round numbers, 33 million Republicans X 0.66, 38 million Independent X 0.28, 37 million Democrats X 0.03 - figure about 33.6 million people, max. But surveys have a small sample base. If you just check one corner of the crate, odds of an accurate survey go down. Also, 27% of registered voters don't care to vote, so one might assume they don't care if an election is stolen, ho hum. Adjusting the Trump true believer numbers down a bit we still get 24 million. And out of that group I posit that 2/3 of the Republicans who answered the poll were either flaunting their anti-establishment "ism" or a friend, relative, spouse was there who would detect any rebellion against the family's public stance.

  Only a guess, predicated on some pragmatic logic, but I'm thinking there are about 8 million people who either believe the 2020 election was actually stolen, or they realize their vested interests, which ride with Republican fortunes, would diminish in a more egalitarian America. The primary motivator for the gerrymandering and voter restrictions is to insure minority rule by the not so nouveau rich. It's not for the love of power, although that enters into it and sometimes almost supercedes the love of money. And it's certainly not because of party principles, for the whining Republicans no longer have any. 

  How is it that these estimated 8 million true believers in "the steal" can bring America to the brink of a coup, a hijacking of the election certification, a storming of the halls of Congress, and our outrage seems contained? Are we so leveraged by the media in our information "silos?" Are we doomed to inertia and inaction because the moneyed few with their hands on the levers have negated truth and we are now pawns? The Universe of Orwellian thought control is here, but we're seeking it rather than suffering it!

  And what a shame that the marvelous inventions of the information age are so easily misused, because money, excuse the expression, trumps art, money trumps education, money trumps intelligence. Unfettered, unquestioned capitalism has had it's trial. Like an engine so powerful it needs a governor to keep it from blowing up, capitalism is whirling us to our mutual destruction. But we can't legislate morality. And corporations have no conscience anyway. They aren't human - just a sheaf of papers, legal counsel, a profit motive and money to back it all up.

  The whole thing going on in the US right now looks suspiciously like "Let's you and him fight!" The current state of affairs has developed over the course of generations. Generations of subterfuge, mind management, disassembling of liberal gains and a spate of profiteering that benefited from riding the infrastructure, allowing entropy in public education, and maintaining a broke-ass under class without hope where young people see a way out through military service - and still each generation keeps believing in the American Dream!

  So our strength is in belief, even when it's not evidently justified. And how strong we get when we believe in a just cause! So let's revisit our values - "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln at Gettysburg - but wait - he was a Republican! Could it be that the party has been hijacked? The Achilles heel of American Democracy: the paucity of a two-party dichotomy, and the ease with which ladder climbers and central committee members will embrace nihilism and disrespect for principle when it might further their own career and personal wealth.

  The system needs an overhaul, and quickly! We can't regain our lost years of decay and pork barrel politics, and the political system is so entrenched that it's flatly resistant to change, but change we must. Regaining the original spirit of the Internet as a uniting force elevating all humanity would be a good prerequisite. The great minds and dreamers that developed our wonderful information technology were motivated more by the vision of shared information and the development of a shining culture and society than the present sales motivated monolith that the Internet has become. Big Brother is here, and he wants to sell you something!

  So the solution to our larger problems will come from a freer and more complete distribution of information and the application of advances in knowledge and, dare I say it, science. Quantum computing advances will quickly solve seemingly intractable problems. A simulation could be created to test the effect on our economic system if lobbying were outlawed. How about a peer review system for legislators, tied to their compensation, to replace lobbying money? Provide a regulated process for campaigning that doesn't favor any party, doesn't require campaign donors, and wouldn't allow a party without a platform declaration, like the present day Republicans.

  In the interim, let's try to avoid civil war, and somehow return to rational discourse. Perhaps by outlawing foreign ownership of American media. And encouraging our own entrepreneurs to respect the technology they inherited and act in the public good!

Anti-vaxxer bad behavior has nothing to do with the topic

https://madriverunion.com/anti-vaxxers-harass-mck-high-students-with-taunts-lies/

I have to write something to "clear my registers."

  I drove by my local high school on Friday and was angered by the sight of anti-vaccination protestors harassing a student Covid vaccination event - but I kept driving. The local paper's report on the incident pointed out what a poor example the adult "anti-vaxxers" presented to the students. I question calling the protestors "adults." In the report one of the protestors chides the school nurse, Johnny Kell, for his "condescending" attitude, because he asked "Where do you get your information?" 

  It's an appropriate question, but obviously the protestors were there to serve some inner need, quite possibly other than a fervent belief that the vaccine would cause sterility as at least one sign carrier claimed. Anyway, by the time a "protest" group assembles and the adrenalin starts to flow it's not conducive to a debate over the facts. And with the ever present misuse of technology to corral "reports" from undocumented sources in the same enclosure as valid reporting, we are no longer able to winnow our information to separate the wheat from the chaff, unable to agree on what is true or false.

To continue the analogy, we are now in the age of "chaff information!" I'll dub it CI. Even stoically fair and unbiased news sources have an editorial viewpoint, in the past carefully labeled as opinion. But today's media environment leaves us adrift in a sea of conflicting, unsubstantiated data. But is it "data" if I made it up, or rewrote a piece written by my AI bot? And not everyone uses the alphabet and the written word - even recorded audio and video can be faked to serve editorial purposes! 

  The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives cover to truth abusers, when the intention was to protect truth tellers and make our society stronger by sharing information. The great act of faith performed by our founding fathers was to visualize a mature republic governed by an intelligent citizenry. We are falling short of our ideals through a perpetuation of ignorance. In a literal, factual sense - not as a pejorative - ignorance! Keeping the populace uninformed and under educated serves as a prelude for those who would control us through classic emotional ploys and semantic devices.

 If humans are denied access to education and never learn the art of critical thinking they may be more easily swayed by appearances, emotions, and the mood of their peer group. This allows us to be manipulated and guided by less than altruistic people who quite possibly have goals other than our well-being in mind. The manipulators seek to turn our attitudes and ideals to align with a concept or a cause when it's just a ploy to advance their program of self-aggrandizement, personal wealth creation and receive acclaim from their inner circle. One begs to ask, "what is the hidden objective here?" Who, and what purpose is served by misinformation? There certainly is a stark division of opinion evidenced by anti-vax protesting, widespread acceptance of election lies, and the sliming and trolling that goes on in online forums.

  I'm not being condescending, only searching for the right word here - one that can easily be found in an online dictionary - in it's unvarnished literal definition. And I think I found it. If I become angered by the inanity of the anti-vaxxers targeting an inoculation event for high schoolers, it serves no purpose to stop the car, get out and create further disgrace by confronting my fellow citizens, because I believe that, even though within their rights, they are getting "out of line." Then I have become equally inane and out of line my own (expletive deleted) self. So I recognize the seed of anger turning toward irrational action inside my being, and temper my response to extend compassion to all concerned, witness the spinning of the tao, and wonder how humans have made it this far! And witnessing the broader contemporary descent into irrationality, I wonder if we'll make it much farther. If we lose the ability to make decisions and unify on a course of action, it will be chaff information - CI, not AI - that does us in.

Propaganda networks are draining America's lifeblood!

  I'm a second generation American. My grandparents immigrated from Germany, Iceland and Denmark, seeking a life far from the turbulence of World War I Europe. Born in 1943, I remember the years when Americans were unified by the sacrifices and victories of World War II. The U.S.A. moved from jingoism and colonialism to  become saviors of the planet! But then we lost the recipe, embarked on a series of undeclared wars and became the standard bearer for a soulless corporatism intent on securing offshore wealth, installing oppressive regimes, and opposing egalitarianism if it threatened our moneyed interests.

  From savior to threat in a single generation, elements already extant in our society conspired to maintain white supremacy, control of wealth by powerful "insider" families and a return to a false patriotism based on nationalism rather than morality and ideals. A generational conflict between these opposing forces brought us riots and internal threats of revolution in the 1960s as our government used forced conscription to wage a war of attrition in Southeast Asia. We took up the mantle of colonialism lost by our allies, the French, who were defeated by North Vietnamese nationalists at Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954.

  During my youth America became the enforcer of a destructive capitalism that placed profit over people. Maybe that's what we always were, that was always our value, the unspoken unifier for Americans ensconced in the halls of power. Perhaps our "nobility" in World War II was nothing but a by-product - defending continued exploitation in our quest for profit was likely the closet motivation for joining the battles of liberation in Europe. And the war in the Pacific nothing but a clash between two colonial powers for domination in that region!

  If one abandons the bias favored in our school books for a more pragmatic view - "follow the money" - things begin to make more sense. It always amazed me that we would allow foreign ownership of American properties, the sell-off of once independent Hawaii to Chinese and Japanese interests, French ownership of Bank of the West. Such things are kept under wraps, I only learned of these examples by living in Hawaii for three years, and because "BoW" was once my bank.

  The quiet alliances that favor corporatism have no respect for our founding documents. Our wars are fought to control wealth, not to promote democracy. The intellectual triumphs of the Enlightenment are a mere abstraction to be overcome in the pursuit of personal power and family enrichment. Given this seedbed of avarice, it's no small wonder that a foreign opportunist from Australia could use accumulated wealth to build a media empire: Rupert Murdoch and Fox, voice for the original enemy within. And now, off the radar for a majority of Americans, the cancer is metastasizing. Driven by a Mussolinic fascination for the narcissistic, immoral, culturally ignorant, racist deposed president #45, there are new networking websites, fountains of misinformation posing as news sources, armed militias waiting for a "go" signal. And the Republican party has become a blatant fifth column, opposed to equality, an advance guard for despotism! The GOP is now a neo-fascist shill for the vultures who use unadulterated capitalism for personal enrichment while crushing the middle class, seeking to perpetuate lack of opportunity for others so they may continue their monopolistic rape of the planet's resources regardless of consequence.

  I often wonder what I owe the country of my birth. If "no man is an island," what do I do to ensure the wellbeing of my fellow citizens? How can I serve humanity? I know war is an immoral "tool of the devil," I fervently believe in human rights - what can I possibly do to halt ignorance and destruction? My answer is to live humbly, "leave only footprints" and combat misinformation that would seek to divide us or rationalize evil.

  Can't do it by myself, so tell your Trumpublican friends they are being conned, advise liberals not to follow politicians, be aware of the hypocrisies inherent in all politics. And, dear people, learn to look within, cultivate your own spirituality. Ultimately, we are all one. When awareness of our connectedness becomes a given, not a remote concept occasionally touched upon in a pastor's sermon, or a sidebar to a TV interview, then you will have refined your shit-detector, become less prone to blandishments from any source whatsoever. We are all divine. In the process of learning critical thinking, we will also assimilate much that is false or misdirected. Once we accept and attune ourselves to the universal divinity we all share, the process of discarding that which is false and divisive may proceed. Life is not a zero-sum game where someone else must lose to enable my prosperity. Beware overly simple solutions that involve dehumanization or disrespect. The best solutions are inherently simple, at their core an expression of love!