“…What’s Happening Right in Front of Us.”

What do you say about the self-proclaimed “Most Transparent Administration in History” when you find out they are spying on American Citizens who have done nothing other than go about their lives?

If you found a way to defend that…

Then what do you say when you find out that the few, pathetic, rules restricting the access and use of the private information collected by the NSA were removed in 2011 by that same “Most Transparent Administration in History”?

Well… they did.  Full Story: Here

I must confess that I am not surprised…

The story held nothing that I haven’t already accepted to be true.

So why am I posting this?

It was a comment.  A small comment.  A comment that must be addressed.

JonQCit

9/7/2013 10:21 PM MDT

Does the US Constitution mean anything anylonger? Seems like so many of our elected officials have taken a pair of scissors and cut out sections they don’t like of it leaving it in a cut up pile on the floor. Change has been brought to us, I am not sure many like it however.

 

mhenriday

2:26 AM MDT

The short answer to your question as to whether the US Constitution means anything any longer, JonQCit is «No». Then we could have a lengthy discussion about how long it’s been this way ; my suggestion would be at least since very soon after WW II, when the US government begain initiating and/or participating in foreign wars without the Congress, as is its duty under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, declaring war (the last time the US Congress declared war was on 5 June 1942 on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania ; how many years has the US been at peace since that time ?)…
Henri

maifgm

3:39 AM MDT

job, it’s the people fault, we have become so ideology driven we can’t see what’s happening right in front of us. (emphasis mine)
just read some comments, we have a government that is spying on us, they have reversed restrictions secretly and people still defend them, that’s why we have these problems.

It’s not JonQCit’s rhetorical question or mhenriday’s assertion.  It was the product of our government schools, maifgm, that made me feel sad.

I’m going to assume that maifgm meant “ideologically” when making his statement.

While I don’t disagree with the problems he identifies, it is not being driven by ideology which has brought us here unless he is speaking of Socialism.

In fact, it is the abandonment of Ideology and the rise of Compromise which have handed the Socialists their greatest victories.  It is exactly the Spirit of Compromise which handed them maifgm and probably the friend maifgm drinks with.  It is Bipartisanship, the Why Can’t We All Get Along mentality, that is happening right in front of us.

Depending on maifgm’s age I might not dump ton’s of derision upon his head… I suspect everything he thinks sounds nice with a little ecstasy and a techno music bed, but it is an illustration of profoundly confused thought.  It is the absence of critical thinking that must be corrected everywhere we look.  First with ourselves, then with our friends… particularly those we drink with.

Ideology is the answer.

Free-Market Capitalism is the only Ideology which protects us from Tyranny.

It’s time we embrace it.

If you don’t think so, I suspect you too are a product of our Government Schools and the intentional confusion they were paid to administer upon you.  But don’t feel bad because you’re not alone.

Because maifgm is right on one important point, “it is the people’s fault”.

However, it’s now up to you to correct it.

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Miss the Point

I just finished listening to an exchange between San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and Adam Carrola. I also followed the thread of comments at various sites. What I’ve observed is a clear effort by those who do not want to address the truth of Mr. Carrola’s comments to intentionally Miss the Point. So I would like to offer a number of ways that you too can Miss the Point on Purpose, this way when you are confronted by… how shall I say it… an uncomfortable truth, you can focus on everything other than the distasteful reality.  (It’s an interesting conversation regarding minorities and socio-economic strata.  But That’s the Point!  And We need to Miss it!  Moving on…)

How to Miss the Point:

1.  Be Offended. Always.

A.  Focus on  the coarseness of the language.  Oh, Bad Words burn my ears… I just wish we could be nicer… etc.

B.  Take individual words or segments of a statement from the speaker you disagree with, put it in quotes, and claim it to be racist.

C.  Simply claim it to be racist without taking any of the speech into consideration knowing most people will not read it.

2.  Accuse the Speaker of being filled with Hate.

A.  Accuse the speaker of saying things in the past which were hateful… as defined by you.  It doesn’t matter if it’s true since you are the one who gets to decide if it’s “mean”.

B.  Illustrate their “Hate” by pointing out they are; male, republican, conservative, don’t like the President etc.  It will play to those who don’t really want to read the exchange but just want to “know” they are right in all things.  You can also call them names like “Fascist” or “NAZI” because your friends will not know what those words actually represent…  Works all the time.

C.  Take a statement the speaker you disagree with actually said then re-phrase it and accuse them Hate for “not” addressing it.  I find this a spectacular tactic which should be used just in case the reader of your comment does decide to review the exchange you are trying to get them not to read.  It will leave them confused.  Perfect.

3.  Make Sh*t Up or MSU.

A.  You can make up anything and accuse the speaker you dislike of saying it in “the past”.  Certainly those who also dislike the speaker will not go try to find the incendiary quotes you made up… they’ll just believe you.  And if your lucky they’ll work for organizations like Hand Gun Inc. and repeat them as fact then cite your statement in the footnotes of their articles.  This isn’t limited to HGI but they’re famous for writing their own MSU articles then waiting a few months (seasoning) so they can quote them as fact in newer MSU articles.

B.  You can also be the repeater of such MSU statements.  This is really easy and replaces all of that bothersome time thinking for yourself.  Just go to your favorite website which supports all the things you believe you think and pick out the “best” slams on the person you disagree with then repost them as your own.  Copy and Paste works well here.

C.  Finally you can do all of the above with greater frequency if you make up a number fo different “identities” and employ slight changes in your writing style.  You can literally be 15+ people with the exact same views regarding the truth you dislike.

So get out there and Miss the Point!

Substantive discussions of material fact and demonstrable truth is way over-rated.  Apparently most of the people out there don’t really want to make an effort anyway.  You’ll be a hit.  And you can protect yourself and your friends from the Ugly Truth and the feeling of dissonance associate with it.

You’ll be even better at it after a few glasses of Mangria.