Hell, the M$M gave up even referencing facts and just presents opinions as if they all have equal value. Nowhere do you read in the reports about that claim of Allen West [R-McCarthyism] of Florida’s absurd Congressional delegation that about about 80 Democratic members of the House are Communists, that this is not factual, but a delusion of West.

Nowhere do you read in discussions of climate change that 97% of climate scientists agree that it is happening, and man is causing it.

When reporting on Iran, nowhere do you read that no actual evidence of a weapons program has been found.

If people rely on the M$M, it is small wonder they are ignorant. The corporate overlords have ordered their minions to keep the news fact-free. The ‘news’ has become duelling press releases.

Thing is, I find that *most* people’s knowledge of the world around them is as shallow as a child’s wading pool. They don’t read the news. They don’t investigate whether what they’re told is true, is actually true. They don’t try to build context for what they hear by reading the history and examining the geography of a place. You and I, we’ve probably been there when news was being made, and laughed at what the news media “reported” about it afterwards, which was nothing like what happened. But most folks simply assume that everything they hear on the news or via the grapevine is true. They never question. They never seek. They never really even care, actually. Or as one girl said to me in school, “Why should I care? How does it affect my daily life?” And now they’re trying to take her contraceptives away from her so that she spends her life barefoot and pregnant. Maybe now she gets it. Probably not, though.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it would certainly be nice if it was based on something more than what they heard at a bar or bowling alley. Of course, I was trained and learned in the military and law enforcement that a single source for anything is no different than rumor or gossip, i.e. it might be true, but don’t depend on it without some confirmation.

There are an incredibly large number of people who get involved for social reasons, rather than the conviction that they are right. I’m arrogant enough to believe that I should be leading and not just following. I accept the possibility that I might be wrong, and will alter course based on new facts, but they have to be facts, not opinion. The data shows what it shows, whether I happen to like it or not.

A decade or so ago, when I was an officer in the local Sierra Club, I participated in their event at one of the larger local Earth Day celebrations. (Ironically, this one was held in the stadium parking lot at Rice University. Now there was a “natural” environment… lots of concrete and hot as hell!) Anyway, it was an opportunity to converse with a lot of people about environmental issues, people whose motives differed from my own, people whose level of education was… oh, well, no need to insult the mayflies. Anyway, what I learned was that many people of good will, e.g., members of the local Green Party, didn’t know their environmental assets from a hole in the ground. I confess I had always assumed that people with good motives and activist behaviors actually knew something. Boy was I wrong!

Oh well. Today must be a good day. Stella has returned, and managed to insert a pill into Lily the Cat. Between the two of us, we managed to clean up all the Lily-poop we could find. And I’ve had just enough beer to loosen my tongue/fingers…

I can’t deny that people just don’t get the connection between what the government does, and how it impacts their lives.

Our politicians are truly representative of our general population, Bryan. Memories of mayflies. Attention span of gerbils. We are so fscked.

– Badtux the Waddling Penguin

Everyone knows that Earth Day was a reaction to the Santa Barbara oil spill. We learned such great lessons that we have had two spills that were even worse since then. Just like we were so impressed with the damaged cause by Chernobyl that we had to top it at Fukushima.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that the right-wing of American politics is a suicide cult.

There are a lot of nice events around the country, OWL, and people should celebrate the gift that the planet represents.

As long as we entrust government to politicians with the memories of mayflies and the attention span of gerbils we are in deep trouble.

I like your logic, Badtux:)