Newt Thinking

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, has proposed that we (the FBI, NSA?) interview every Muslim in the USA and ask if they support Sharia, or Islamic Law.  If so, they should be deported.  When I stopped laughing I started crying.  If this is in any way a good idea on moral grounds, legal grounds or religious grounds then it should be applied in other ways as well.

This is what I propose:  We (whoever that is) should interview every Christian in the USA and ask if they believe the Bible is the word of God, inerrant, and should be taken literally.  If so, they should be deported.  Why would we want folks here who clearly are delusional, uneducated, supporters of child abuse, gender abuse, slavery and the death penalty without trial?  Sounds like a really scary, unhealthy group to me so let’s get them out of here.

I am not sure how far Newt has thought this through, but whatever strategy he has for deporting Muslims should work with fundamentalist Christians as well.  We should deport them to their country of origin whether it be Iraq, Britain, or the Philippines regardless of the number of generations that have lived here as Americans.  We should strip them of their American citizenship because they believe something that we perceive to be harmful to the rest of us.  We should abolish the notion that individuals have the fundamental right to believe what they choose to believe.  If individuals believe something that is not consistent with what we call our best interest we should banish them. 

This perspective is so extreme, so un-American, so immoral, and so un-constitutional that any nation that would take such suggestions seriously is in no way a democratic free nation.  It is a nation that practices “right think” and the consequences of enacting such legislation is more totalitarian than anything we have seen since Adolph Hitler and Idi Amin.  Those men are of the same mind as Newt.

If a recognized leader and spokesperson of a major political party can propose such an atrocity we should be afraid.  Be very afraid.  In terms of philosophy and morality, Newt resides at about the same rung on the evolutionary thought ladder as his name sake amphibian does on the evolutionary animal kingdom ladder.  His proposal is a tail that should not have been generated.

Obama is God

We are experiencing trying times.  Law enforcement officers are shot on the job.  Horrible, scary events that should never happen.  Unarmed men and women are shot by police.  Horrible, scary events that should never happen.  We see all this as a new problem.  It is not.  We have had separate but unequal races in this country for generations.  More of one race in prison.  More of one race dies via gunshot wounds.  More of one race experiences unemployment.  More of one race in colleges.  More of one race teaching in the classrooms.  More of one race in law enforcement.  We are lopsided.  We can scream all day that these differences are due to the behaviors of one race more than another.  Perhaps.  But we should be screaming that we must stop judging people by skin pigment, hair style, holes poked in their bodies, ink injected under their skin, and the relationship between their belly buttons and the top of their pants.  (I have contended all along that if teenage girls simply laughed at and refused to date any teenage boy who allowed his underwear to show above his belt the fad would disappear quickly.)

The problems are huge, both races have responsibilities.  Both races have tough steps to take to fix it because both races must modify their culture and their beliefs to end the disparity in data that confirms one race is treated differently and/or behaves differently than another.  That will be very hard.  Or so I thought.

Until I listened to my conservative friends.  Perhaps I should say my very conservative friends.  My moderately conservative friends and my liberal friends are not promoting the same message.  Just those folks on the far right.  Only they have seen the light.  And here is what they are saying.

The violence in our country is Obama’s fault.  Shooting police officers is Obama’s fault.  Increased racial tension is Obama’s fault.  Still no affordable universal health insurance is Obama’s fault.  Proliferation of semi-automatic rifles is Obama’s fault.  Probably sexual harassment at Fox News is Obama’s fault.  He caused it all.  He did it.  He is the villain!

If they are right, then Obama is God.  I have been praying to God to stop the violence, but Obama still made it happen.  I have been praying to God to stop senseless shootings of suspects and police, but Obama still made it happen.  Therefore I guess I should agree with my conservative friends that not only is Obama at fault, he is more powerful than we ever imagined.  More powerful than the God I followed.  It is time to worship Obama, pray to Obama, and ask him please to stop all the violence, all the killings.  If he caused it, he can stop it.  I am so surprised that enterprising right wingers have not marched out evidence of Obama’s deity status which should be easier for them to get than his birth certificate, and establish the Church of Obama, tax free. 

Why, now that we know Obama is a god the violence in France must be his fault too!  In fact, violence everywhere must be his doing.  Intolerance of other races everywhere must be his fault too!  Even global warming must be his fault. 

Yes dear conservatives, such a powerful deity merits our awe and respect.  Thank you for enlightening me.

21st Century Myths

We have parked a spaceship in orbit around Jupiter, discovered the gene attributed to aging, found a 9^th planet orbiting our sun, call almost anyone anywhere any time, seek and find information in microseconds, and developed self-driving cars.  Sounds like a scientific renaissance beyond the wildest dreams of folks a century ago.  And yet, I believe it is not our science that continues to keep us in turmoil.  It is our mythology.  These myths are so deeply held that for some even the possibility of questioning the myths leads to anger and outrage by the high priests of the myth.  And yet, until we release the myths from our belief systems we will be stuck in a state of constant conflict and self-destruction. 

A myth is a deeply held belief that is not grounded in fact, but is used to explain events and processes that are not superficially understood.  Myths can be self-fulfilling.  If I believe everything you say is a falsehood, then I will continue to find your statements to be false whether they are or not.  If a police officer believes you merit a ticket and follows you long enough, you will receive a ticket.  Neither of these beliefs are necessarily true, but can be self-fulfilling and thereby create a stronger bond between the myth and the myth believer.  Attempting to apply reason to the bond between myth and myth believer is a painful process often rejected by the myth believer.  Those who hold myths to be true relinquish their belief only in extreme circumstances and with much pain.  I believe the vast majority of the conflicts observed on the nightly news and our inability to work collaboratively together is due to those myths that are so deeply ingrained that we cannot fathom the truth.

Here are, as I see them, the major myths of this century:

Myth 1:  Competition is a good thing.  Through competition all things improve.

No matter how much data we have that shows this myth to be false the myth continues to be widely held.  Though competition may be a good thing when playing games, it tends to be destructive in every other arena.  The drive to “win” and the fear of “loss” embolden the myth holders to believe that any behavior is alright if it is in the name of winning.  Cheating, lying, misleading are all tolerable in a culture obsessed with competition and winning.  Professional sports are riddled with examples of such behavior.  The market is competitive, but it is immoral.  If winning means making more money then immoral acts are sure to follow in the practice of the myth holders.  If anyone wins, everyone else loses.  The end result of all competition is one winner and we know how monopolies operate.

Competition is destructive in all the areas we value most.  It is destructive in families.  It is destructive in relationships.  It is destructive in public schools.  It is destructive in religious belief systems.  It is destructive among nations.  Until we recognize that there is only a small set of circumstances in which competition may be a good thing and recognize the myth for what it is, a myth, then we will continue to have conflict and self-destruction.  We desperately need an era of collaboration.

Myth 2:  Knowledge is a synonym for wisdom.

The availability of Google, Siri, Cortana, Watson, et. al is wonderful.  At no other time in our history has the accumulated knowledge of human beings been so readily accessible.  But accessing facts is not wisdom.  Because I can instantly look up the number of students who failed a state standardized math test last year does not begin to truly provide insight into the nature of the test, the nature of the instruction, and the nature of the student.  Each of those variables are highly complex; so complex they produce a virtual infinite array of possibilities.  And yet there are so many who will look at those test data and assume they understand, assume they know all they need to know, and then pretend to propose strategies for improvement.  Such folks are truly fact morons.  If I hear one more legislator, one more billionaire, one more free enterprise charter school shyster announce that they have the answer I will bust.  These folks are morons.  They have stepped outside their field of knowledge, assumed that armed with Cliff’s Notes of facts they know all they possess the encyclopedia of knowledge need to know and proceed to continue the destruction of public schools via ignorance.  These folks do not know what they do not know and they do not know that there is such a thing as stuff they do not know.  Google cannot tell you what love feels like any more than it can tell you what a year of academic success looks like.  If you think it can, you too are a fact moron.

And yet for folks like Dan Patrick and Arne Duncan and John King and Bill Gates, etc., moron based fact finding is a hobby that hurts us.  Please stop.  Please know that you do not know.  That what you do know is not wisdom.  What you do not know you do not know is the core of the matter.  For every simple problem there is a simple solution and it is wrong.  Knowledge and facts are great, but it takes time and synthesis to grow wise with this knowledge.  We can ill afford further decisions or plans proposed by the un-wise.

Myth 3:  Accumulating personal wealth and/or power is the purpose of life.

In our secular, consumer based economic system acquiring stuff is viewed as success.  Million dollar homes, yachts, fleets of cars, etc., are sources of envy and yearning.  So much so that when there were little to no restrictions on banks and consumers borrowed way over their heads to acquire those goodies our entire economic system almost collapsed.  We have not learned.  We ship the labor portion of operations overseas because it is cheaper.  If it is cheaper, while triggering unemployment here we have created more wealth among the management of the company.  If wealth is the purpose of life, then any responsibility for our fellow human beings must take second place.  Or lower.  Sadly some do not learn this until much later as they face serious disease and the death that will come to us all.  Pursuit of wealth at the expense of values is simple prostitution.

Myth 4:  My belief system is right no matter what the facts are.

Both the Quran and the Bible make it clear that people who believe differently than the proponents of those two faiths may be subject to slavery and execution.  In that case, if for Muslims it is OK to kill Christians and for Christians it is OK to kill Muslims we will have an ongoing holy war.  Worse, the jihad fuels internal inquisitions.  How Christian are you?  Which sect of which belief do you follow?  While some Christians attempt to have the government reflect and support their version of Christianity some Muslims are warring to establish Muslim law as the law of their land.  There is little or no difference in those who want Sharia and those who want Christian principles and icons supported by the government.  Regardless of your belief, my belief system is right no matter what you believe or what the facts are.

I know folks who still believe Obama is a non-American Muslim.  There will never be enough facts to convince such morons that the truth lies elsewhere.  I know folks who still believe the earth is 6,000 years old and humans and dinosaurs simultaneously shared the planet.  There will never be enough facts to convince such fools that the truth lies elsewhere.  Yes, evolution is real and it is factually accurate.  And to make it worse, each of these irrational, idiotic belief systems holds up those who most stridently defend their ignorance as heroes or martyrs.  

Belief systems are myths.  Simple.  It is as hard to convince a Muslim that they believe just one of several sets of beliefs on planet earth and that no one can “prove” if any of the beliefs are true, other than the self-fulfilling mythology I discussed before.  Regardless, our underlying conflicts on the planet revolve around conflicting belief systems whether they are religious, economic or political.  In each arena, the believers of the myth hold so fast to their beliefs that solutions grow more and more impossible to attain.  In the Middle East it is OK to marry a 10 year old girl, beat your wife and execute infidels.  It is bad to dance, drink and have fun.

What shall we do?  What shall rational, thinking, open, honest folks do when confronted with these myths?  There is, I know, a temptation to run, to hide, to isolate, especially from the standard bearers of whatever myth you encountered.  We cannot do that.  To succumb to mythology ensures our future will not be rational.  Our future will be bloody and backward.  Despite our technology, we can easily enter another middle ages.

We should do two things.  First, we must recognize that each of these myths benefits someone, especially if everyone believes the myth.  Secondly, we must shift the burden of proof from the rational folks to the myth holders.  That can be done fairly simply.  I do not have to prove Zeus does not exist.  If you believe in Zeus then the burden of proof lies with you to prove he is real, not just that you believe he is real and you have personal internal non-observable interactions with him, but proof that we all can see.  If you believe that belief in Zeus is superior to belief in Ra, then you must first accomplish the proof outlined above, then a similar proof for Ra, and then demonstrate in what ways Zeus is superior.  If you believe all democrats simply want is to tax the rich, fund the poor and make government huge thereby taking away the rights of Americans, you are going to have to prove that, not just think it or believe it.  If you believe all Republicans are bigoted, white, rich people who do not want to pay taxes and want the government off their backs so they can make more money you are going to have to prove that.  If you believe that a socialist approach to solving economic issues is evil, you will have to prove that.  If you believe that a free enterprise approach to solving economic issues is moral, you will have to prove that.  And on and on.

Clearly, no one who believes these myths will be able to prove they are correct.  Hopefully, learning that we are all human and we each carry around a set of beliefs that inhibit us from working together successfully will be enlightening.  Hopefully, in time of conflict, solutions will appear from reason, not from enforcement of one mythology over another. Myth based decision making and action must stop.  We must view it as uncivilized, backward and harmful.  If we can do that, there is truly hope for the future.