On 08/03/2017 01:07 PM, Frank Wimberly wrote: > Nice to have you back, Glen.
Thanks! On 08/03/2017 01:19 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote: > People talk about `playing by the rules' like it is a good thing. But is > fulfillment of an old or obsolete social contract (get married, get a > soul-destroying job, and make babies) really something to be honored? Some > reason to lock-out cheaper or more-skilled workers in their favor? It seems > to me little more than fear of failure, and an absence of curiosity. A > bunch of people that take pride in their ability to truncate the world into a > set of rules that can be conveyed by using a belt or a chant, and while > intoxicated. I agree completely. My Trump-loving, CEO-hating, corporation-fearing, Christ-loving, walking contradiction of a neighbor talked about how the "justice system has been destroyed", criminals get off, corrupt politicians get away with it, etc. I told him of my DUI arrest after I was diagnosed (and drank too much yapping with a friend about death) and the circumstances of it. My claim was that, back in Texas, when I was a kid, the cop would have locked up my motorcycle and driven me home ... probably to turn up the next morning to yell at me. But regardless of any sympathy the cop might have had for my circumstances, they're simply not allowed to do that sort of thing (at least not with ordinary people). They'd be fired or go to jail themselves (or think they would). After my neighbor finished his rant about the justice system, I told him that story and followed up with my rant about "jury of your peers" ... the gist being that context is king, details are important. And you want a) a good dialectic between the state and your lawyer and b) to be judged by those (morons) you live with. You want that. He then agreed and told a story about some conflicted feelings he had over a personally relevant murder trial. So, he ended up agreeing that, perhaps, the justice system isn't so broken after all. [sigh] Then I told him about a recent article that showed judges were more likely to grant probation if they had recently eaten and less likely if they were hungry. So, he, again, flipped and began ranting about how broken the justice system is. Anyhooo .... it devolved, as it always does, into him a) extolling his tendency to argue against deontological Christians who think their pet rule is in the bible and b) complaining about how Catholics and Muslims are too flexible in their interpretations of their respective rulesets ... despite his never having heard of Hadith or anything of the sort. Oh well. On 08/03/2017 01:33 PM, Gillian Densmore wrote: > For me the issue is simple: 45. Is fucking nuts. He was nuts in the 80's > and gone even more bat fucking shit crazy somehow. I'm not so sure. In my off moments, I can't help but think I'd end up in the same situation if, for whatever reason, the job landed in my lap. I feel the same way here on this list, surrounded by people way smarter than me ... especially when I say stupid things off the cuff, just like Trump. I can even empathize (by imputation) with some of what I think Trump meant when he said various things that seem stupid for a politician to say. I may be slightly more academic than Trump and try to speak more clearly and steadily. But you don't have to be crazy to be really really bad at something. He's incompetent and should never have been elected. To me, that's really the deepest, trustable, statement we can make. Personally, his election seems to me like more of the same: Rich people have the power ... and having money doesn't imply you're competent at anything. On 08/03/2017 01:40 PM, Steven A Smith wrote: > Reminds me of the trick when arm-wrestling someone who is well matched, of > "pretending" to give way just a tiny bit and being able to overcome the > opponents dynamic strength more effectively than their static strength. I hope you're right. I even wrote a response to a post the other day reflecting that... basically, that Trump (and the racists, neo-reactionaries, sovereign citizens, etc.) are the resistance, not the liberals. If we empathize with the pathetic, frightened, little moron homunculi that drive all these people, imagine how you'd feel to look around and see all the progress we've made over the last 100, 1000, or 10k years. Really, the liberals are winning, thank Yog. -- ☣ glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
