On solipsism

Solipsism is "The belief that only oneself and one's experience exists."

That sentence from the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy captures the gist of solipsism, but barely scratches the surface of an exceedingly complex subject. Nonetheless, with apologies to true philosophers, I'm going to discuss it using only that brief description as a basis.

A great many commentators have discussed narcissism as a major trait of the Great Pretender. Rather than cite any I simply suggest you search "Trump narcissism." You will see that "many commentators" is not an overstatement.

Narcissistic he certainly is, but to such an extreme degree that specialists should be asking what underlies it. I have been of the opinion for some time that Donald Trump is afflicted with a pathological form of solipsism.

Consider his behavior:

• He cannot endure difference of opinion, so he has fitted most major administrative offices with a revolving door. Solipsism does not recognize or even admit the existence of the thoughts of others, so when a contrary thought comes his way, out goes the offending person.

• He seemingly has no control of his vocal responses. He answers questions with a flood of words, repeated phrases and unrelated comments in strings of words that are impossible to parse intelligibly. Here's a recent response to a question about reducing oil production:

"We have a tremendous energy business with hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re doing great. Number one in the world. So they all got together and they said we’re going to cut it because we have to get rid of this tremendous supply. Now the good news is gasoline prices, I’m seeing 90 cents, 85 cents in different parts of the country, a gallon. Nobody’s ever seen that. I guess you have to go back to the 1950s for that. The big large dollar bills. Remember? You don’t remember, you’re too young. But the fact that you have to go back a long ways to see it."*

There is no direct answer about oil reduction strategy there at all. Because solipsists listen only to their own thoughts, they are limited in the kinds of things they can say and how they say them.

• He lies. Throughout the press conference cited above he repeated several times that COVID-19 case numbers were declining. In point of fact, on the day he spoke the number of new cases in the U. S. reached 33,752, the second-highest number since the pandemic began** 

He almost always reverts to magical thinking when discussing the virus. He can discount the thoughts of other people because he considers them unreal. But here he is faced with an entity that has no visible presence, no thoughts and no arguments. It simply exists. He can't fight it, insult it or fire it, so he goes back to trying to wish it away. I am not sure that behavior fits in the solipsism frame, but it must be noted.
That is all I, a layman, will say about Trump and solipsism. I urge those with knowledge and wisdom greater than mine to investigate the hypothesis.

--Diogenes


*https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-task force       press-conference-transcript-april-10
**https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Easter

Tomorrow is Easter, the day the Great Pretender vowed to make great again by "opening" America. That absurd goal was announced on national television on March 24, just 19 days ago. From that date to April 10 the number of new cases worldwide more than doubled, growing from 39,792 to 85,054 daily.*

During the week leading up to Easter, which most Christians call Holy Week, the number of new cases in the United States has grown by an estimated average of 30,821 per day, reaching a total number of 502,876 cases on April 11.** Not a propitious time to be exposing thousands more Americans to the virus.

The closure of houses of worship has understandably been controversial. We are guaranteed the right of free worship by the Constitution, and it is not something easily interrupted.

It must be noted that not all churches in all states are closed. Where closures have been declared, not all have been by government fiat. In the case of larger denominations the decision has been made by their governing body, and is therefore more likely to be respected by their parishioners than any order from a temporal governing power.

There has been a groundswell of pressure in some areas to open churches for Easter, and we understand that. Going to church on Sunday, and celebrating the great holy days in company with fellow believers has been a lifelong ritual for many of us. Yet even for the most devout, bricks and mortar and crowds, even clergy, are unnecessary: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."***

True believers in Jesus understand and believe this: that they themselves are the church, and wherever just a few of them get together, be it in a forest or barn or living room, there Jesus is also.

The demands of some clergy to open churches indicate that they either do not know or do not understand Scripture. Or they don't care. Opening churches in the face of disease would be a vanity: a worldly desire to be seen as a leader and a person in touch with God.

The Latin word pastor means shepherd. Many Christian denominations use the term pastor for their clergy because those people are supposed to lead, guide, protect, and shelter us, and to provide us with (spiritual) sustenance.

We have seen a number of claims from clergy that worshipers who attend their church on Easter will be in some way divinely protected from, or even cured of, COVID-19.

Anyone who claims to hear, to understand, or to act directly on the word of God is delusional, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."****

Those who make these claims are not pastors. They are tempters, liars, deceivers and frauds, and they are flouting the third Commandment. If any one such succeeds in gathering people to them on Easter, and if any one of that congregation sickens or dies from COVID-19 as a result, they should have serious criminal charges brought against them.

So find a pleasant place where your family and maybe a few friends can join you, and have a safe, joyous, and blessed Easter,

-- Diogenes


*Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103046/new-coronavirus-covid19-cases-number-worldwide-by-day/

**Evaluate: https://www.evaluate.com/covid-19-daily-update

***Matthew 18:20, KJV

****Isaiah 55:8, KJV

Bye-bye, Bernie

Bernie has left the building, and that's a sad thing.

I am a Vermonter, albeit in exile, and I've been a Bernie admirer for many years. While he was still in the House I once had the privilege of sitting on a panel with him regarding poverty in southern Vermont, and I was impressed with his understanding of the issues and his concern for the people.

I strongly supported both his presidential campaigns, and I remain convinced that he is the only electable Democrat in the race. But he was sabotaged by the DNC in 2016,* and now has been pushed aside by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has all but obliterated political discourse in this country.

I don't dislike Joe Biden. He may have more impressive executive credentials than Bernie, but he lacks chutzpah.

Bernie's greatest asset is his passion and his ability to deliver his message cogently and with great energy. Bernie's chutzpah could not only counter Trump's bluster; it would come from a man deeply committed to the truth and to the welfare of the American people, two qualities the Great Pretender wouldn't understand if he was slapped in the face with them.

Biden is now the candidate, and I will support him and urge others to do so. I can only suggest he spend some time with Bernie, or watch videos of his speeches. He's going to need every trick he can find to go up against the most corrupt politician since Boss Tweed, and one who will stop at nothing to be re-elected.

--Richard Brown

*See the archives for Diogenes' Nov. 3, 2018 post, "Out With The Yobs!"

Still Trying To Cure Stupidity

This post was originally published on April 7. In light of the attention recently given to masks and Americans' responses to using them, we have updated it.

In his 1982 novel "The White Plague" Frank Herbert writes about a mad scientist who develops a pathogen that kills women. Men are asymptomatic carriers. His intended target is Ireland, because his wife and children were killed by an IRA bomb. But viruses don't observe borders, and the virus spreads rapidly and easily, passing through filters with ease. The result is global gendercide.

COVID-19 is far less selective. Its victims include the rich and the poor, the intelligent and the moronic, the religious and the atheistic, the royal and the commoner. It is an equal opportunity pathogen, making no distinction of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. No one is immune.

But there is one class of Americans who choose to put themselves at increased risk by willfully and deliberately ignoring the best medical advice: There is no word for such behavior other than stupid.

In a White House press briefing on April 3, the Great Pretender discussed the CDC advisory that all Americans wear face masks when around others to help stop the spread of the virus.

That was when a true leader would have pulled out a mask and put it on.

But after repeatedly assuring Americans that wearing a mask is voluntary because he doesn't want us to think the CDC has any authority, he went on to say that he would not be wearing a mask because "I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself."¹

Excuse me? There hasn't been a state visit to the White House since before COVID-19 appeared. His excuses range from silly to petty, like saying he "didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it"² during a visit to a Ford plant in Michigan.

As Biden aide TJ Ducklo noted, "Presidents lead by example, and wearing a mask helps protect others, . . . Donald Trump should try it, because his failure to act early on producing [personal protective equipment], on ramping up testing, and implementing a coherent national response to this crisis has cost thousands of Americans their lives."As if the Unspeakable Unmasked cared.

Unfortunately, the Chucklehead-in-Chief's "do as I say, not as I do" attitude will no doubt be adopted by those who accept him as a role model, needlessly increasing the death toll. His followers, who seem to tend to blind allegiance, either to the GOP or to Trump, as opposed to independent thought and decision making, may well be hit the hardest.

With COVID-19 we might finally have a cure for stupidity--dare we hope it begins at the top?


---Diogenes, 4/7/20; republished 5/28/20


¹https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-briefing-transcript-april-3-new-cdc-face-mask-recommendation
²https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mocks-joe-biden-wear-face-mask-public/
³https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mocks-joe-biden-wear-face-mask-public/

The Navy's dirty linen

An academic dean once advised me to avoid airing the school's dirty linen in public. It's an old phrase that originally referred to keeping one's business to oneself.

In today's institutional environment it means, "For God's sake don't let anyone know what's going on here." Or its short form, "Don't tell the truth."

U. S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier allegedly broke that rule by publicizing a memo to his superior officers begging for medical assistance for 100 members of his crew stricken with COVID-19, and protection for their unprotected crewmates. Because the memo found its way to the media, Capt. Crozier was removed from his post as commanding officer of the U. S. S. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Navy's most powerful and important ships.

This is no small boat we're talking about. The Roosevelt has the population equivalent of a small city, carrying 5,600 souls including its air wing. If a community of that size on land was threatened by disease that could easily overwhelm its medical resources the mayor would very publicly be doing her best to bring attention to the problem by whatever means necessary, and be commended for it.

But in the Navy? You get canned.

The person responsible for dismissing Capt. Crozier is Thomas B. Modly, Acting Secretary of the Navy. Modly did happen to graduate from the U. S. Naval Academy, and spent seven years in active duty as a helicopter pilot. But his education and experience are all about business, making him a good Trump buddy. Here's a link to his official bio: https://www.defense.gov/Our-Story/Biographies/Biography/Article/1905292/thomas-b-modly/

Modly has no military command experience, yet he was appointed to sit in judgment of a proven commander with decorations for exemplary and meritorious service whose only mistake was to tell the truth.

It's irrelevant how Capt. Crozier's memo got to the media; the point is, it had to, and it did, and it probably saved a lot of lives when the naval high command couldn't be bothered to take care of its own service personnel.

All Americans should pay attention to this and make noise about it. We honor those who serve; why don't their bosses?

We have an alleged Commander-in-Chief. He needs to make this right by reinstating Capt. Crozier and paying more than lip service to his duty.

--Diogenes

Magical thinking

Magical thinking is the belief that if a person wishes for something ardently enough the wish will be granted. In a child wishing for a pony it's cute. In a chief executive wishing publicly for a quick end to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's worrisome.

In a televised Fox News "town hall" meeting March 24, saying Americans are full of "vim and vigor" (when was the last time you heard that phrase?), the Great Pretender, in the face of all medical evidence to the contrary, all but predicted that COVID-19 would run its course in just a couple of weeks, so Americans could enjoy Easter, saying, "I would love to have it [America] open by Easter. . . It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make it an important day for this too. I would love to have the country opened up and they’re just raring to go by Easter."*

That may be a nice thought, but one has to ask "why Easter?" If he's suggesting Easter as a target because it's the most important day in the Christian calendar and getting everybody back into church would be nice, he might at least give lip service to the first day of Passover (April 8) and the beginning of Ramadan (April 23), respectively acknowledging America's approximately 7 million Jews and 4 million Muslims, who are also subject to illness.

But that's not Trump's vision. He wants Easter with happy families and springtime and new hats for the girls, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. Oh, sure, Easter is important for other reasons--like the Resurrection, duh--but in Trump's mind it's his act of making it the day of the country's back-to-work "opening" that's going to make it a real big-time whoop-ti-do all-American celebration.

Two days into this ludicrous timeline, with a one-day increase of 15,000 cases, the United States gained the dubious distinction of having the most cases of COVID-19 in the world. And suddenly the Easter "opening" is forgotten, replaced with a can-do, all-hands-on-deck response, including invocation of the Defense Production Act to increase dramatically the manufacture of ventilators.

In a fluid situation such mid-course corrections can be necessary, but in the March 23 meeting the Great Pretender downplayed the severity of COVID-19, comparing it to garden-variety types of flu at least 20 times during the approximately 21 minutes that he actually spoke. And on March 27 he mocked state governors for overstating the need for equipment even as he ordered the building of ventilators to be accelerated.**

Magical thinking in an adult is not an indication of mental instability in and of itself, but in a person known to have a volatile temperament it should be of concern, especially when he is responsible for our nation's welfare.

-----Diogenes
 

*https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-town-hall-transcript-march-24-trump-wants-to-restart-the-economy-by-easter

**https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/489909-trump-uses-defense-production-act-to-require-gm-to-make-ventilators 

Out With the Yobs!

It was neither the Russians nor Trump’s thuggish yobs that put the Great Pretender undeservedly in the White House. 

 

It was the Democratic National Committee who, with their pc-at-any-cost corporate mentality, sabotaged their own goal by brushing aside Bernie Sanders,  the one candidate who could have beaten Trump. Instead they quixotically backed Hillary Clinton, not because she was the better candidate, but because she reflected their naive and narcissistic belief that given the choice, Americans would vote for a woman because, well, because she's a woman.

 

Wrong. The electorate, sad to say, responds to raised-voice blood-and-guts emotion. And the Trump steamroller--us vs. them rhetoric, strong-arm tactics to keep "enemies" at bay and out of rallies, impossible promises, emphasis on "real" Americans, the marginalizing of minorities, open bigotry, especially the demonizing of Barack Obama, and the threat of terrorists and rapists behind every tree--was nothing if not bloody and emotional.

Speaking of all those promises, whatever became of most of them? You can find that out at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-promise-tracker/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ecdfc0995e08.

 

I have often said the biggest problem the DNC has is that it won’t fight dirty often enough, and when it does it shoots itself in the foot--witness the Sanders debacle. America's first  best hope for the 2020 election is likely the upcoming midterm election this Tuesday (11/6) in which the DNC isn't directly involved. If enough seats, especially in Congress, can be turned blue, the Yob-in-Chief will face some much-deserved comeuppance.

 

Up for grabs in Tuesday's election: The entire House of Representatives; one-third of the Senate; and more than half the gubernatorial seats in the Union. Several of those seats are considered safe for the incumbent or are uncontested. However, there are enough contested seats to change the balance of power in Congress and in the leadership of a majority of states. If you're undecided about voting, check the following links to see if you're in a battleground area. If you are, get out there and make a difference.         https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congress_elections,_2018 and https://ballotpedia.org/Gubernatorial_elections,_2018

In 2016 we turned into what H. L. Mencken called a "boobocracy." Let's redeem ourselves in 2018. God bless America.

 

-- Diogenes

The 561

561: If you're an American you should remember this number, because just as 666 is the number of the Beast, 561 is the number of your government--the number of people who have the ability to change your life and the destiny of this country.

There are 535 people in Congress, 9 on the Supreme Court, 15 in the Cabinet and two executive officers. I include the justices of the Supreme Court because, at least since the Citizens United decision, if not the 2000 presidential election, they have made themselves arbiters of power. The vice president is included for his role as president of the Senate, not as understudy to the president.

To put that number in perspective, consider this: Right now there are approximately 327 million Americans who are governed in one way or another by that 561. The term 1 percent is frequently used to refer to the elite financial class. That's nothing. We are overseen by less that 1 percent of 1 percent of 1 percent of our fellow Americans. The specific number is .0000017, or seventeen ten-millionths of the population.

Put in a different way, each of those 561 has power over about 583,000 individuals--about the population of Wyoming. Going further, we could say that each of us is governed by 17 ten-millionths of a person: an earlobe, perhaps, or a toenail?

Absurd? Ridiculous? Of course. But the point is that not only is the United States not a democracy, it is no longer even a republic. It is an oligarchy; and given that more than half the members of Congress are millionaires and that the White House is occupied by an obscenely wealthy person, it is a financial oligarchy. The very rich are in power and everyone else gets screwed.

Now the money-laden Congress has allowed the government to close down and seems in no hurry to get it running again--never mind how many hundreds of thousands of government employees go without paychecks and are unable to make their mortgage or rent payments or feed their kids.

Government shutdowns are neither new nor unique to this administration. But those misguided souls who voted the Grand Poobah into the presidency in the belief that as a businessman he could make the government run efficiently and avoid such problems are surely now seeing the error of their ways.

The 2018 midterm election will be of exceptional importance. In it we will have the opportunity to clean the rot and corruption out of Congress; or we can maintain the status quo and allow the tiniest, most unworthy fraction of  the American population to continue to lead us like the sheep we have become.

--Diogenes

J'Accuse

A classic description of insanity is the continual repetition of an action in the expectation of a different outcome.

Thus the various governments of the United States, federal state and local, exhibit insanity by continuing untrammeled access to firearms and ever-widening degrees of carry permits, in the apparent and irrational belief that such actions will somehow put an end to gun violence and mass shootings, such as that just seen in Las Vegas, with at least 50 people dead.

The same excuses for the shooter will be heard: "He's old; he didn't know what he was doing." But we've heard it all, haven't we? Just change the descriptor: young, Marxist, mentally ill, extremist Muslim, extremist Christian, disgruntled employee, PTSD victim, jilted lover, neo-Nazi, etc. Ultimately no one knows what they're doing, it seems--especially when they're holding a gun.

Or the victims are blamed: "They're just African Americans," or white, or Baptist, or Sikhs, or criminals, or mentally ill, or women, or police officers, or office workers--fill in the blank.

So is the entire nation insane? Some would say so, but I do not. There are those who foment this violence and know exactly what they are doing.

Therefore, I accuse:

• The president and vice president of the United States and the entire Congress of being complicit in mass murder and worthy of mass impeachment for gross malfeasance in office for their refusal to enact gun control legislation, thereby endangering the citizenry at large;
• The governors, lieutenant governors and legislatures of those states that allow easy access to firearms and carry permits, of the same crimes stated above;
• The board of directors and officers of the National Rifle Association of complicity in manslaughter and attempted murder of hundreds of American citizens for no reason other than to continue lining their pockets with membership fees and kickbacks from the firearms industry;
• The nationwide membership of the National Rifle Association of being accomplices in the crimes listed above and knowingly supporting an organization that has no moral compass when it comes to public safety;
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation of endangering public safety by failing to name the directors and officers of the National Rifle Association as public enemies for their continued endangerment of the American people;
• The firearms manufacturers based in the United States of public endangerment by their unwillingness to support rational gun legislation; and
• Every American citizen who has a conscience and a voice but has not raised either against gun violence of failure to act responsibly for the good of the country.

I do not care whom I offend. In fact, if you are offended by reading this, then shame, shame, deepest shame be upon you.

--Diogenes, 10/2/17

Hearing vs. Listening

When I was urged by Rinpoche Dorje to direct my messages to "those who have ears to hear," I did my best to follow his advice, as I have always done. However, both the Master and I are forced to acknowledge that those who hear do not always listen, and few of those who listen actually take up the struggle for justice.

I turn to the Judaeo-Christian Bible frequently because I believe it references, describes and dissects virtually the full range of human behavior and psychology. John 8:32 is a passage that I have always held to strongly, but I have been learning the truth of Mark 6:4.

I am therefore taking indefinite leave of this venue and associated Facebook and Twitter postings. This will please some more than it might others; but Diogenes is not gone and will neither be forgotten. La lutte continue sans cesse.