31 V 2020: The futility of violence

News films of the riots that are everywhere taking place report the presence of among demonstrators of white people bent on causing violence and damage. I’ve read that some think these are white supremacists at work, and I find that easy to believe, for the riots present the black community in a very unfavorable light. In any case, demonstrations seem to get out of hand easily and descend into vandalism, attacks on law enforcement, and looting. What is a naive middle-class elder from St. Louis to make of this?

In the days of Ferguson, it seemed to me that media coverage of the riots might as well have conspired to present the black community there as lawless, destructive, divided against itself, and ignorant. White supremacists could not have contrived to present  blacks more prejudicially light than the images of black “youths” hurling things against a backdrop of buildings in flame, scenes of frantic looting, and reports of mobs bent on destruction in an atmosphere that looked more like a vandals’ block party than a demonstration. And I had to wonder why the black community is, apparently, so often complicit in events and activities that make them look so bad. Why did we not hear stern denunciations of this behavior from black leaders and see the black community collaborate to bring its destructive and criminal elements under control? Anyway, Ferguson came, and Ferguson went, and nothing at all of lasting value was accomplished by it. And now the nation is playing re-runs of Ferguson. 

The sufferings of the black community have been unrelenting and grievous. The white community must accept responsibility for these and collaborate with a sense of urgency for their remediation. But the black community must collaborate too. We hear demands for more investment in black schools, but more money would not make a difference if black parents remain indifferent or unsupportive of education. There are demands for more jobs for blacks, and this would help, but it is becoming ever more difficult to introduce uneducated, unskilled people, white or black, into today’s workforce. The police are often ineffective at dealing with black crime and often enough exacerbate it by their bigotry and brutality. We need better police, no doubt. But would better police help if the black community remains tolerant of criminal behavior and refuses to cooperate with law enforcement to contain it? The disproportionate number of deaths in the black community due to corona virus is compelling evidence of society’s failure to deliver health care to the black community. Public health has not been effective in reaching out to the black population, but I have to ask where is the black leadership that would enculturate their community to contemporary ideals of health and summon it to greater participation in available health care.

I think we may have reached a crucial juncture. It is not likely that the majority community will be swayed by black violence. Martin Luther King did not succeed through violence but changed white society by his measured reaction to injustice and creative, non-violent response to institutionalized repression. The white community will decide whether it will continue its indifference to oppression and violence against blacks or will make the current troubles the occasion for honest reflection and determination to dismantle and rebuild those institutions that cannot adjust to racial equality.

29 V 2020: The right-wing’s share of media despair

I read a piece on Huffpost by Nick Robins-Early about the right-wing media entitled “Right-Wing Radio Reaches Tens of Millions. Coronavirus Conspiracies Are Out of Control.” It reported that among conservative Republicans the most trusted sources for news are Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. These are only the cream on the top, for there is a crowd of people making their livings by tricking and riling up the ignorant. I have long said that the election of Donald Trump is the most prominent evidence of the failure of American education. Our country is peopled with born suckers who remain that way because they’ve not been taught to think critically and are ready buy the Brooklyn Bridge (if they’re not asking too much for it).

Trump has complained about the social media, that they suppress “conservative” thought. Let me say first, that I do not think there are any authentic conservatives left in the U.S., for it seems that all on the right are marked with the sign of the bestial Trump. Secondly, the internet is crawling with right-wing websites, some of them virtually criminal. The far-right also commands far greater and more effective outlets on TV and especially talk-radio. Distributing information or even “conservative thought” is not the goal of right-wing radio (including many radio evangelists). Misinformation is their game, and first the anti-vaxers and then the corona virus deniers have spread misinformation that will prove lethal.

What is the goal, then, of Fox News, Limbaugh, and Hannity and all the lesser liars. They spread misinformation and misunderstandings to inflame the hatred of those who feel excluded, of the uneducated and of bigots against rationality and authentic freedom. They weaponize the unthoughtful against whatever target their owners tell them. Yes, their owners, for I do not think that any of these voices of the right is underpaid, and I do think that many of them are cynical actors well paid to act out resentment, indignation, hate, and bigotry. Moreover, the many vehicles available to them for spreading their message would excite the envy of, e.g., the Nazis who had to get by with only print, film, and radio.

But, all the people whom they manipulate and arouse are allowed to vote. Ignorant, biased, and resentful voters can be used to murder democracy. A skilled con-man, like Mr. Trump, can work them like silly-putty. And when, as in the United States, the supreme con-man has the backup of sources of money who finance the manipulation of the public on a vast scale, does true democracy have a chance?

                        D     U    M     P          T    R     U     M    P

27 V 2020: Not good enough for Trumpy

Trumpy is now complaining about social media because Twitter recommended a fact check on his recent tweets. Of course, the fact check reveals that either he did not know the facts or, more likely, was misrepresenting the facts, that is, lying. Is a Twitter account a license to lie? Can I use twitter to recommend potentially dangerous drugs? Is Twitter to be used for character assassinations that are little more than the late-night flatulence of a dotty old man? And if you do tell lies on Twitter, do you have any right to prevent anyone from saying that they are lies? 

Trumpy is angry with the social media because he does not like the coverage of him that he finds there. He would die, of course, if people stopped paying attention to him, but it has to be the attention-with-adulation that he has to have.

Trumpy is angry with Twitter and with all the other mainline social media companies also because “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservative voices,” and he’s threatening “big action” against the social media.

If you take your ideas to the market to sell and they won’t sell, you might conclude that your product is not good enough or you might claim that the market is “rigged” against your product. As we have seen again and again, Trump accuses his critics of the faults of which he is most guilty. Trump complains that everything is rigged against him. I think it is rather the case that he tries to rig everything in his favor.

As to silencing conservative voices: The far right, neo-Nazis, gun nuts, Klansmen, pseudo-patriots, pseudo-Christians and rebels against the U.S. Government crowd the internet with their conspiracy theories and hate-speech. The internet has given them the biggest boost since hate was invented. Does the internet fail to show true conservatives the respect they think is their due, fail to glamorize their bad ideas? Maybe they could think about how to make themselves more respectable and try to come up with ideas that are more than the directives of their plutocrat supporters.

                     D     U     M     P            T     R     U     M     P

26 V 2020: Depraved indifference

At a recent interview, Mr. Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, was shown images of crowded bars and boardwalks in regions where COVID-10 restrictions are being lifted and he said in response: “I think in any individual instance you’re going to see people doing things that are irresponsible. That’s part of the freedom we have here in America.” He seems to mean that in America we are free to behave irresponsibly. This is the “right” to which demonstrators are referring when they say that stay-at-home-orders and mandatory wearing of masks deny them their constitutional rights. What they mean is their supposed right to “do what I damn well please” without interference from “big government,” concern for the welfare of others, or even basic morality.

Now the list of things that Americans cannot do and of things they are required to do is, in fact, quite lengthy; a minority complain, but most cooperate. But for some reason in this stupid noncompliance with requirements of masks and social distancing American freedom is said to assert itself, though it is not freedom but licentiousness, it is petulance, negligence and indifference to the common good. In fact, the legal terms criminal negligence and depraved indifference could describe the behavior of the many who refuse to protect themselves and others by their arrogant disobedience to law and mindless amorality.

As things are now, “freedom” and “liberty” are like the red, white, and blue bunting on automobile lots or parade floats — they flap in the wind but have no real meaning. I think Americans, especially American politicians, need to develop a more refined understanding of freedom and liberty if these terms are to have any wholesome meaning in our society.

23 V 2020: Getting rid of the gatekeepers

The Univ. of California and other institutions are announcing that they will no longer require that applicants for admission take the SAT and ACT, virtual entrance exams. The N.Y. Times reports: “The change is expected to accelerate the momentum of American colleges away from the tests, amid concern that they are unfair to poor, black and Hispanic students.” Well, I guess so. These exams demand a facility with standard English and basic math/science that many disadvantaged students have no opportunity to acquire. So let’s remove these tests of competence that, it is thought, exclude them from higher education.

But I fear admitting students who cannot demonstrate the knowledge and skills that higher education should demand will have one of two unfortunate consequences. Either colleges and universities will continue to demand the knowledge and skills that are in reality required for work at that level, and students lacking that knowledge and those skills (a lack that is diagnosed by SAT and ACT) will have to acquire them overnight or fail out. Or, to avoid losing many paying students because they can’t do the work, institutions will dumb down their programs. They will adjust to accommodate ill-prepared students and the already rapid downward glide of higher education in America will accelerate.

20 V 2020: Is Fox News turning on Trump?

I just watched a clip from The Daily Show which gathered together a long series of negative, very negative remarks about Trump by Fox News personalities. Even allowing that some of these remarks were taken out of context, there are enough of them to make me wonder if Fox News is turning against Trump. Let us hope it is, for it has been the biggest source of Trumpian propaganda.

If Fox News is going to dump Trump, that would make it a standout among Trumpists. For the Republican senators and congressmen are still ready to do his bidding and no one at all in the vast Trump establishment dares to speak a word of criticism. Is this, as I have long thought, due to their realization that without Trump they are dead politically? Or are they, as some have suggested, afraid that Trump will vindictively turn on them as they run for re-election in their various states?

As far as their public behavior goes, however, they are acting crazy. I recall an old saw from early in my education: “If you put crazy people with sane people, it does not make the crazies sane but makes the sane crazy.” Of course, not all the Republicans in Congress were sane to begin with, but since Trump took office almost all of them seem to have become certifiably insane.

Instead of “Carthago delenda est,” I’m going to sign off with DUMP TRUMP!

18 V 2020: We don’t need a super-duper missile

I smiled to see that our President described a weapon in development as a “super-duper missile.” I smiled because the adjective super-duper took me back to high school (c1960). A classmate’s father and uncle ran a small metal-work manufacturing business. One of their more successful products, one ahead of its time, was the Super-duper Puppy Pooper Scooper. Product names like this are delightful to high school boys, so I remember it well.

The United States really needs something super-duper, but not a missile. What we need is more like a Super-duper Trumpy Blooper Scooper. Our President’s staff, the G.O.P., and Fox News (his very own Pravda) have to follow him around, ready to get rid of his droppings. They could use a Scooper.

16 V 2020: Why did Trump fire the Inspector General of the State Dept?

Trump announced his dismissal of the Inspector General of the State Dept., Mr. Steve Linick, who has served in that capacity since 2013, and replace him with Stephen Allard, an Indiana crony of V-P Pence. Trump says he has lost confidence in Linick. That means “He might be a whistle blower.” Why did he lose confidence in Linick? Linick has initiated an investigation of Secy. Pompeo’s improper use of a political appointee as a houseboy. 

Commentators say this replacement of someone who can be trusted to do his job with a crony who can be trusted not to do his job is the latest manifestation of Trump’s paranoia about anyone who has not sworn the oath of unconditional obedience and loyalty to him. I agree with this conclusion, but I feel there is an additional inference to be made: Trump fired Linick because Pompeo is guilty and Linick knows it 

14 V 2020: Who did you say is “classless”?

I’ve read that Sen. Mitch McConnell has described former president Barack O’Bama as “classless.” The incongruity of this is mind-numbing. McConnell is the eager slave of Donald Trump, who is classless incarnate, and Mitch himself has wallowed in sleaze so long that I would think that “classless” was not in his vocabulary.

8 V 2020: Reckless endangerment

I see that the oft-married Peter Hegseth, chronic jock, and right-wing roustabout has declared that we should all show some courage, get out of the house, and go ahead and try to contract coronavirus, in hope that we will achieve a “herd immunity.” On the contrary, business leaders, governors, trumpists, and, of course, the President are urging people to get out of the house and spend money, on the assumption they will not contract coronavirus or spread it. Now which do you think is giving the better advice??

The anti-rational Hegseth is simply dim. The irresponsible posturing and deceit of rest of these fools manifests a chronic inability to accept reality, a compulsive disobedience to informed advice, and a disregard for the health of their fellow Americans. I wish we could put them all on trial for reckless endangerment.