Horse sense

[altivo]

I first posted the note below to Substack and was immediately told that it proved I was a person of low intelligence. I guess because I don't support the Orange Madman...

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Here I sit with two college degrees, literate in half a dozen languages, and three quarters of a century of practical exposure to and experience with human behavior, yet I absolutely cannot understand what is going on with the USA and elections.

About half of the voters polled continue to support a candidate who is a confirmed liar, convicted felon, obvious misogynist and narcissist. One who loudly denies that he is a NAZI yet proudly proclaims his intention to place people of races or nationalities he dislikes into concentration camps and to punish anyone who opposes or has opposed him by placing them in prison or worse. One who accuses his opponents of the the very crimes he has himself perpetrated.

Is democracy impossible, a failure doomed to collapse? As Robert Heinlein cynically suggested, proving that no matter how many zeroes you add together, the result is always zero?

Fortunately for me, I probably won’t be around long enough to see the final consequences, but I remain depressed by what I see. Our educational system has been slowly disabled and redirected so as to prevent growing minds from learning logic or critical thinking. Now they want to erase the parts of history that might prove embarrassing or generate guilty responses.

Certainly, I never agree with 100% of what any politician says, thinks, or does; but it is very clear to me that a vote for one of them currently on the ballot leads to disaster. Climate change is real but he will ignore it just as he ignored the pandemic that was also real. His racist and sexist attitudes will serve no one well. And his ignorance of economic and legal complexities will drag us back into another recession or depression. (What else can we expect from someone with repeated bankruptcies? One who persists in thinking that tariffs are paid by the foreign producers rather than becoming a financial burden on the local buyer?)

Don’t blame me, I voted for Harris and Walz.

Comments

[ranunculus]

In total agreement.
A few months ago I had a conversation with a neighbor that went something like this:
She: Did you see that terrible proposal to put a SIDEWALK in on Talmage Rd?
Me: I actually think it is a pretty good idea.
She: But the homeless will use it!!! They will invade our neighborhood.
Me: I've seen a sidewalk/bike-way like that work really really well in Anchorage and a couple of other places. Lots and lots of people use it. A sidewalk would allow people to safely walk from Talmage to Ukiah!
She: But it will increase the homeless in our area, they will get out into Talmage.
Me: They already get out into Talmage, they don't care if there is a sidewalk.
She: But it will make it worse!!!!!
Me: Do you really want people to keep getting killed on our roadway? There have been several in the last couple of years. Kids walk out there and cars go fast.
She: Well, I'm voting against it.

Not more that 3 or four days later a young lady got hit and killed on that stretch of road.

[altivo]

Yeah, it's like an old joke about women's suffrage:

A: "Surely you wouldn't give women the right to vote?"

B: "Of course I would, why not?"

A: "Because then they WILL vote! Everything will be destroyed."

Go Not Quietly

[frith]

Woo hoo! Rant on you Crazy Diamond! Two degrees? Six languages? Wowsers.

What you see here is naked proof that humans are not special beings, blessed with preternatural good sense and altruism. Rather, tribalism and unchangeable preconceptions are the norm. Nearly everyone is nice, talented in some way and a positive contribution to society. These are the same nice, fine people who in the middle ages would import convicted felons from nearby towns for an entertaining dismemberment and execution. I'm sure Trump must have some positive attribute, not that I know what that may be. If he gets into office, by hook or by crook, whoa, it's going to be bad. Seriously.

I don't want Robert Heinlein's democracy, where only those anointed by military service get to vote.

I hope your vote will come true.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[altivo]

It's good to hear from you. 🐴

In the end that post got a lot of "likes" but few comments. Two pro-Trumpers, one of whom assessed me as "dumb" and the other couldn't spell (or maybe just couldn't type.)

The pundits this afternoon and evening seem to think Harris is in the lead. I worry about the tricks Trump tried in 2020 and I'm sure he has a bag full of new nastiness saved up for this retry. Anything he can pull to get in front of SCOTUS is particularly dangerous.

I do take heart from the number of registered and persistent GOP voters who are turning away from him now. There may still be hope.

Oh, and my degrees are a BA in Religious studies and an MA in library science. Nothing like law or medicine, but I am well exposed to literature of all kinds. A 40+ year career in libraries exposed me to all kinds of humanity. As for the languages, they come with the territory. English and French are my best. I can read German, Spanish, and classical Greek and Latin with some effort. I think I have forgotten Sanskrit through disuse. No Slavic tongues, alas. Biblical Greek came with the religious studies, but I got lazy about Hebrew and skipped it.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[frith]

It's good to hear from you too. ^_^

Well, I'd had my quota for studies, tests and lab reports after I got my Bachelor's. You got a career swimming in free books and probably a say in which new books to acquire. I got a career rubbing shoulders with exotic animals, so I guess I lucked out too. 8^D

Not much longer until we find out if we'll _finally_ get a woman for president and another four years of applied anti-monopoly policy. Or Trump.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[altivo]

I think it's looking good for Harris/Walz now. Hooray!

I had a close pass with a zoo job back in 1976. Invited to interview at Brookfield for keeper position with elephants. Zoo director and head specialist for mammals liked me. Chief elephant keeper did not though, and made it clear that he thought I was too much of a "sissy" to deal with elephants. I declined the position rather than chance working with/for the guy. His approach with the elephants was all macho bluster and dominance. Within the next year, I believe it was, Brookfield had a keeper killed by an angry elephant. I wasn't surprised.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[frith]

Years back, when elephants were full contact and we did elephant rides, the zoo hired a guy we called "Army" to help with the elephant ride training. The elephants were scared of him and the elephant keepers were not enchanted with how rough he was with the elephants or his blatant racism. I think "Army" was not invited back.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[altivo]

Sounds about right. Many zoos are returning their elephants to the wild or some semblance of that, aren't they? It's hard to find a balance between preserving a species in the wild and protecting them from extinction there. I moved away from Chicago 25 years ago, but even back then the zoos were changing their focus from education and entertainment to species preservation and anti-cruelty. Lincoln Park was first, I think. Brookfield was always represented as a research center first and that made it harder for them to refocus their operations.

Re: Go Not Quietly

[frith]

Zoos can only hope to shape human behaviour. We still act like yeast in a vat full of crushed grapes. The sugar is getting scarce and the alcohol is ramping up but what's a yeast to do? So far, a whole lot of nothing, except to look for new ways to get more sugar and tolerate more alcohol.

Check-in from the aftermath

[songdogmi.wordpress.com]

Hi Mister Horse, I hope you and the (other) Mister are ok. My partner is with me this week and we are trying to support each other the best we can. We're dealing with despair and betrayal, pretty much, and laying low for a few days trying to recover from the initial shock of the election. Here's hoping you're getting comfort from your critters and music and other good things.

Re: Check-in from the aftermath

[altivo]

Not much comfort, alas. Partner is terrified and having nightmares. I am just horrified about all of this. I don't recognise this country now. It has turned monstrous and utterly inhumane, taken over by ignorant and selfish dolts.

[rhaen]

Love ya big hoss.

[altivo]

*hugs ya tight* I'm still weeping for the loss of our civilization and 250 years of progress. We have been picked up and dumped willy nilly back into the 1850s with a civil war on the horizon.

[rhaen]

*squeezes a big hoss*

It’s all so true. There’s so many things to say. What I will say is it’s wonderful to hear from you, altivo 💜 gonna focus on keeping the folks I care about alive. And the people who voted for the dollar store Hitler are gonna see what a shit choice it was here soon.