RE: Eagle and Octopus - Haiku - And an interesting metaphor on our nation's current struggles
That is an amazing video. I agree — it’s great that they intervened and freed the eagle. It would have been a horrible way for the bird to die. What an odd thing for an octopus to do!
Metaphors aside, on the second topic I have a lot of thoughts. I generally don’t discuss politics on social media because it tends not to go well. But as you and I are like minded, I will share some thoughts.
I tuned in quite a bit to the hearings. And a few things struck me. Trump supporters don’t think of him as a crook or see themselves as having to set their conscience and morals aside to stand behind him. They see him as unorthodox but effective, and they have themselves convinced that he has been the victim of a witch hunt. Poor Trump, in this way of thinking, has had to try to get things done when his adversaries were just looking for the right time to set a trap and were setting land mines and blocking progress from the day he took office. And when (legitimately, in this view) he attempted to launch a private investigation into his political adversary, there was nothing wrong with it, no quid pro quo, no pressure applied or aid withheld. In other words, there is no moral dilemma for them. Evidently they are also just fine with his approach on environmental policies, racially biased immigration and border policies, etc. etc. Let children be ripped from their parents and caged. Let him hide whatever shady things he has been doing to avoid paying taxes like everyone else. These things are simply not a problem in some people’s eyes.
Trump will not be removed from office. He has way too much support in the senate. This will benefit the democrats far more in the next election than if he was removed from office, IMHO. But we shall see.
So my point is that it’s not a matter of following one’s conscience. The fact is, we operate by an entirely different moral compass then the supporters who voted this man into office and approve of his behavior. It’s like if I pointed to the sky and said it’s blue and you agreed — yup, it’s blue — and then two other people came along and agreed together that it’s green. You can argue all day that anyone can see it’s blue, but they see green, quite happily, and they are 100% convinced. You’re never going to win that argument.
No argument, and I've made this point myself, quite recently in fact, which is why as a general rule I stay away from politics in social media as well.
But I disagree that most of our GOP politicians actually believe what they are saying. I don't believe that most of them are stupid; I believe that they are criminally corrupt, and will do anything to keep our Criminal-in-Chief in office, no matter what it does to our nation long term.
They have, quite clearly and consciously, chosen party over country, and are thus truly traitors.
Besides, Marek's analogy was just too perfect for me not to pass it along.
An orange octopus, a cold-blooded multi-tentacled creature, trying to drown a warm-blooded air-breathing bald eagle, the symbol of our nation and of our freedoms; but failing in the end, because good and decent people intervened to prevent it from happening.
Call me naive, and I'll readily admit it may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm still hoping and praying for the miracle that forces GOP senators to rediscover their spines and do the right thing.
And, at the same time, Trump has been increasingly erratic in recently months, and now that he is actually going to be impeached, he may well do something so unhinged and heinous that even the Republicans finally say "Enough is enough. No more."
And no, I'm not holding my breath.
Clearly, I am speaking of our politicians when I say that I don't believe that they are saying what they believe, but rather what is expedient for their current political goals.
Clearly Trump's rank and file followers, at least many of them, DO believe the pablum they've been fed for the past four years and more.
Thankfully, many have seen through the lies and have jumped ship, but for those who are true believers, I have no animosity toward them, and agree that anything I say is unlikely to change their minds.
Which is one of the reasons why I am such a supporter of better early childhood education, as we as a nation need to start teaching logic and critical thinking skills at a MUCH earlier age.
There are many reasons why our students are lagging behind internationally, but most of it comes down to the way the Republican party has banded together to eviscerate our educational system for the past four decades and counting.
Less federal interference at the classroom level would go a long way toward helping to ameliorate the problems.
The way we teach math, as just one example, has been categorically proven to be the LEAST effective way for students to learn, and if we would simply start using the many ways proven to BE effective, our students would be doing far better overall.
My dad taught in the LA City School System for nearly thirty years, and we had a lot of conversations along these lines, as I have with a number of friends who are teachers. We could be doing SOOOOO much better, with the same money or less, if we would simply eliminate EVERY administrator who is not qualified to teach in the classroom.