The art of subconscious reasoning

Mariner has a pet phrase he often uses in the humid summers of Iowa: “I’m sweating like a fish!” On rare occasions a listener may come back with “Fish don’t sweat!”

“Of course they do” he responds, “where do you think the oceans came from?” As the listener pauses in confusion, mariner continues his argument: “And now there’s global warming and the fish are sweating too much. That’s why the oceans are rising.”

It all makes sense, doesn’t it? No facts needed, no historical dependencies, no social accountability. Not only does it make sense, there is no blame to be assumed.

Lest the reader become ‘holier than thou’ everyone thinks this way to some degree or another. Subconscious reasoning is the source of prejudice of every kind, even simple opinions and is the cause of every abusive behavior.

There is skill involved, though. The more central to one’s life and anxieties, the more elaborate the narrative becomes – and more denial of reality. This is how an attractive young lady can be a Trumpist. When given Donald’s illegal and immoral behaviors by a journalist, she is able to say, “I don’t care.”

Because internal, often unknown thoughts frequently are promoted by the cerebellum, the brain becomes very obedient to its opinions because the cerebellum’s job is to survive. Survival is important internally, of course, but externally as well when social integration or other threats occur – hence subconscious reasoning.

Perhaps this explains the Supreme Court’s reasoning.

Ancient Mariner

 

Political Sociology in action

It was mentioned on the blog some weeks ago that the time was coming when the retirement age would be extended as the population grew smaller and older. The pandemic has forced this idea into the political world today. Recently, Senator Ron Johnson (Trumpist republican) proposed putting seniors back to work – after they already had retired and started claiming Social Security benefits. Senator Ron’s motivation is suspicious; perhaps he found a new way to cut the cost of Social Security benefits simply by ignoring that it exists and ignoring the earned right to be on Social Security – or maybe civil rights are subservient to authoritative mandates.

Once a predator has been turned loose, it is difficult to put it back on the leash. This is the case between capitalism and socialism as resources become scarce, human environmental relationships begin to fail and plutocratic/authoritative defense mechanisms turn increasingly predatory. This battle will take decades to restore balance to society.

Recent history has shown that less sophisticated nations easily fall prey to authoritative leadership. Is the United States capable of putting the leash on prowling predators?

Who are economic predators? “everybody’s on their own” capitalists, a number of hoarding types like monopolistic corporations, venture capitalists and private equity types; also antidemocratic and libertarian types.

In the end, the outcome will be based on who controls the military and whether a legitimate, operational constitution holds together. Remember when Donald tried to call out the US military to quash Black Lives Matter and ‘de-fund the police’ protests?

Our personal liberties and democratic government lie within the realm of an arbitrary future. Perhaps we should win a big lottery just in case.

Ancient Mariner

 

Connect the dots

֎ Mariner was up early this morning. As usual, first get a coffee then turn on the computer. His standard procedure is to go to NOAA to check the weather, then to the blog, then open email.

Before mariner got past the weather check, Googlesyndication had made 138 attempts to enter his computer system. Fortunately, he has software that blocks this kind of silent intrusion.

֎ Mariner read the commentary of a Big Data executive who said, “Our future in the metaverse is to be a dot similar to the dots in a George Seurat painting.” The inherent value will not be in any one dot; one will have to step back to view the entire collection of dots.

Things like individualism, one person-one vote and personal choice in life no longer will exist. Instead, the entrapment of becoming a pink dot whether or not one prefers pink will be the extent of individualism.

֎The Trumpian movement occurs because the labor class in the United States for decades has been discounted as an unsuccessful class because they are not white collar; their salaries have fallen in value because of inflation versus employer disregard for economic well being; they carry no respect in the gestalt of US culture; their voice through unions was systematically eliminated. Now to be a dot . . . 29 percent of US citizenry believe it is somewhat likely that within ten years there will be a civil war.

The situation is made more complex because of a dysfunctional Congress. We can blame Newt Gingrich for that dysfunction. During his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives (1995-1999), he weaponized party politics; the opportunity for Bob Dole and Ted Kennedy to cut a deal could no longer happen.

In Congress, party dominance became Job One; citizens weren’t on the job list. Campaign fundraising became the influence on policy. When Al Franken resigned, he said he spent five hours a day making calls to raise campaign funds. Today, Mitch McConnell carries the torch but isn’t the leader of the party. The party stands armed and ready under the Trumpian flag.

So, reader, will there be a civil war? Who cares if one is just a statistical dot?

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On the good side of things, unions may be coming back. Gallup news reports that public approval is rising and is at its highest since 1965 (71 percent). Mariner’s brother is a union advocate. He reports that many trade companies are voluntarily coming to unions to have access to workers. Obviously the economic effects of the pandemic have messed up employment enough that unions are the only dependable source to find workers.

Ancient Mariner

A conundrum

Mariner was a preacher for a while. He became familiar with the Christian faith generally and with Christ’s exhortations to love others before self. In college he had a minor in religion and studied several religions. Not one religion, especially Islam, ever took the ‘love’ thing seriously.

For centuries Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism were more closely related to the role of a Supreme Court and supported the political power base. Islam had a similar role but promoted a more punitive role as a requirement for inclusion. These are generalizations, of course, but generally the role of religion has more often been concerned about politics and self-aggrandizement than the pursuit of salvation.

It seems today that this political role has returned. In the United States particularly, hate is preached from the chancel. Deliberate political enmity and even violence are supported.

Is religion a change agent? Does religion have a ‘divine’ right to promote pain, suffering and death in the name of God and Jesus Christ? It is a conundrum.

Whenever religion takes up political reform, it is rebellious; advocates are looking for revenge, not love. Whenever religion focuses on profitability, it disregards the need for love and replaces it with dollars. With all the confusion in today’s world of humans, it is hard to find positive spiritual anchors – especially in churches.

What happened to the words of Jesus? Does religion suffer from the same forces that shape society? If so, what purpose is religion? In a time when unity, love of fellow man, sharing and compassion are in critical demand, where is the moral authority of religion?

Some of this confusion can be laid at the footsteps of the Founding Fathers. They wanted to be sure that the Church would never play an official role as a ‘state religion.’ In effect, however, making religion an independent and protected role in society, religion could do whatever it wanted in spite of democratic legislation.

So, the question remains, how can religion help? How can it advocate love of others? If religion doesn’t uphold Christ’s principles, who needs religion – unless it is a political voice instead of a religious voice?

Ancient Mariner

 

While we wait

It definitely is a waiting game on several critical fronts. China has begun its pressure game with Taiwan; we can only wait to see what happens.

Neil Degrasse Tyson said if both polar ice caps melt completely, the ocean will rise to The Statue of Liberty’s elbow; we can only wait to see what happens.

The November elections clearly are jump ball at this point. All the polls mariner has read indicate a fog of insight; we can only wait to see what happens.

The Supreme Court has missed the ball on the Affordable Care Act and abortion. Is this the new direction for the Court? We can only wait to see what happens.

Across the nation police departments are understaffed from resignations and low pay. Crime is up in many states, including homicides; we can only wait to see what happens.

Finally, big corporations will have to pay a 15 percent income tax; will the republicans reverse this legislation in November? We can only wait to see what happens.

Afghanistan society has collapsed, having no economy and no social standards; we can only wait to see what happens.

The Ukrainians continue to fight as their nation becomes decimated by a needless bullet war; will the government and the economy survive as the war goes on? We can only wait to see what happens.

Mariner’s potato crop is nearing the end. Will there be an abundance of potatoes? We can only wait to see what happens.

Does the reader have a hobby?

Ancient Mariner

It warms the heart

֎ Mariner watched a short video from NEWSY broadcasting which revealed a growing market for farm equipment built with standard parts rather than having to abide by the privatized and copyrighted and BIG dollar cost of companies like John Deere. The reader will enjoy a sensation they probably haven’t felt in a long time. See:

https://www.newsy.com/stories/former-software-engineer-aims-to-change-future-of-farming/?utm_source=MaropostMailing&utm_medium=Email&utm_name=08042022&omhide=true

֎ Mariner lives in a semi-rural area of Iowa, several small towns and no large metropolitan areas. Nevertheless, the public libraries in the region all have seen the new light in these changing times. Libraries aren’t quiet, dusty archives anymore. Libraries have become public activity centers with almost continuous programming for all ages from old people playing euchre to preschoolers running around on the lawn. Technically the libraries are up-to-date, even having supported some public school classes during the pandemic.

֎ The reader knows by now that Kansas voted overwhelmingly to keep the right to have an abortion. This may or may not be good news to an individual reader but the really good news is the turnout. Dangerous Donald continues to loom over politics like a possible tornado. His followers, mostly conspirators, racists, misogynists and illicit opportunists drew only half as many voters as those who voted for abortion. These numbers bring hope to those who know that the only way to defeat the Trump movement is to outvote its advocates. And most of us did not have faith that this could happen. Dare we think the Kansas turnout may be good news for November?

Ancient Mariner

Private Equity

Private equity investors are different from venture capitalists, who provide a cash infusion to small startups and hope they blossom into the next Facebook. Nor are they stock traders making split-second decisions to buy or sell shares in public companies. Rather, private equity funds aim to take control of a business for a relatively short time, restructure it and resell or liquidate the company at a profit.

It is mariner’s opinion that private equity firms are the most evil and destructive element of uncontrolled capitalism. The impact on local newspapers across the country has been in the news. Small newspapers are disappearing because of private equity take-overs.

It is a form of thievery. Mariner knows about four billionaires who bought a bank and immediately foreclosed on every mortgage – creating great financial hardship for homeowners. The billionaires either received immense amounts of cash when property owners could pay off their mortgages or took title to properties well below their market price. The event was a tragedy for mortgage holders and demonstrates the disregard of private equity for any form of moral behavior.

Propublica reports that private equity manages over six trillion dollars in the US economy. The Congress, of course, does not attempt to change the tax structure advantages.

An unexposed impact of private equity is the disregard for employees who are summarily laid off, fired, and whose retirement benefits are redirected to private equity.

Does the reader have a hobby?

Ancient Mariner

Aging

Before we start, here’s a headline for the reader:

122 candidates running for election in November believe the 2020 election was stolen. Yes, Virginia, democracy is in great danger.

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֎ Mariner’s wife came across unusually good coverage of a looming issue that gets little press. Published by Forbes, the article[1] discusses the related issue of shrinking population versus today’s attitude toward older people.

It is true that most wealthy nations have shrinking populations. Population size is measured by the fertility rate (the total number of children that would be born to each human female if she lived to the end of her child-bearing years). For a population to sustain its numbers, the fertility rate must be 2.1 children per female. China has a fertility rate of 1.15, Australia and the United States have rates of 1.6 and Japan has a rate of 1.3.

As the average age of the population grows older, there are fewer women of child-bearing age. The average age of a US citizen has risen from 29.5 in 1960 to 38.6 today. It is frustrating to some that the very antidote for falling population is immigration – both mathematically and economically. Racial prejudice is a damaging phenomenon.

Associated with the shift in average age is the impact it has on the workforce. The UN suggests there will be around 30 million fewer people of working age in the world’s five largest economies. Changing the general attitude toward older people being inept and brain-dead will be difficult. Research has shown retired folks to be quite capable although some jobs involving strength or dexterity may have to be modified. Further, as the tech industry already has learned, older folks aren’t as interested in new technologies –they are rife with Luddites like mariner.

This issue will grow slowly, like a 1950 Ford reaching 90 miles per hour. It is growing slowly now but will become a serious, rapidly interfering issue in a few years.

Ancient Mariner

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2022/07/25/shifting-our-aging-society-from-a-burden-to-an-asset/?sh=1b91126e2756

The Electorate – AAPI

The fastest growing population of voters is the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). A series of polls from different quarters suggest that, generally, this group leans toward the liberal democratic agenda. In the past two decades, Asian Americans also have become one of the fastest growing racial or ethnic groups in the United States.

Between 2010 and 2020, the Asian population in the United States grew by 39%, and their population is projected to pass 35 million by 2060. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were the third-fastest growing group, growing by 30% from 2010 to 2020. Their population is projected to pass 2 million by 2030.

Asian Americans respondents ranked health care (88%), jobs and the economy (86%), crime (85%), education (82%), gun control (73%) and the environment (75%) as “extremely important” or “very important” issues for deciding their votes in November. Voting rights and addressing racism were also important issues.

This explains why there is growing resistance and prejudice against AAPI from the grumbling conservatives and unenlightened bigots.

Things may get interesting: Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced a seven-figure investment in digital, print and radio advertising to woo AAPI voters.

– – – –

The Associated Press announced today that a new survey showed that 2 in 3 Americans say they favor term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices, according to a new poll that finds a sharp increase in the percentage of Americans saying they have “hardly any” confidence in the court.

There are only three branches of government: Congress is dysfunctional, the President is shackled by the Congress and the Supreme Court is wallowing in early 20th century interpretations of the Constitution.

Does the reader have a hobby?

Ancient Mariner

 

Privacy continues to dwindle

Before we start, mariner has been asked about the accuracy and prejudice of his cluster of news sources. Anyone who knows mariner knows he is critical about everything – especially doctored facts. He has collected the best commentary, best fact checking and least biased reporting available. That being said, the two news sources below aren’t trying to change minds, just enlighten them.

Mariner owes it to his readers to reprint a Protocol (news agency) article that clearly demonstrates how large corporations can erase privacy even for the most personal aspects of one’s life. This issue also begs the question whether super giant corporations like Amazon should be allowed to be so large as to control what should be independent government oversight.

 

“Amazon announced yesterday that it’s buying its way into a huge slice of health care provision with the acquisition of One Medical for nearly $4 billion. It claims the deal will allow it to “reinvent” health care, and it’s raising some eyebrows.

One big concern with the deal: data. Health care companies hold a massive amount of information, especially in the age of telehealth. The deal gives Amazon new ways to glean data to help it build AI, Protocol Enterprise reporter Kate Kaye writes.

One Medical operates clinics throughout the U.S. and already has roughly 800,000 members enrolled for both in-person and virtual services. Amazon will have access to a treasure trove of valuable data for AI health products.

This means that talking with your doctor could be used to improve things like voice-enabled health apps or in-office ambient software.

This deal is also unlikely to face antitrust pushback despite its size, Protocol Policy editor Kate Cox told me.

Because Amazon doesn’t yet have a strong foothold in the health care industry, other than its work with Amazon Pharmacy, the deal will likely be viewed by regulators as “competition-neutral,” Kate said.

This reveals a flaw in current antitrust laws, allowing massive corporations to continue to grow their influence: Antitrust laws go after companies that are trying to grow in one particular sector, not “octopus” companies working on a little bit of everything.”

Join Amazon Prime! Cancer cured with Amazon products. Get Amazon health insurance discounts not based on averages but specifically targeted to your ailments except for existing conditions . . .

If Amazon doesn’t produce goosebumps, read this article by Axios that reveals Donald’s active pursuit to dismantle the FBI and IRS as part of a scheme to make America great again as a dictatorship, should he be re-elected. Winning aside, his advocates are deadly serious. See:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-ed1e48cc-4d9d-4a23-b2b9-042504d7b0b6.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

Ancient Mariner