"Politics and Knowledge in the Nihilistic Days of 1920 and 2020" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Richard Moore

 

Kudos and many thanks to Richard Moore for his Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation, "Politics and Knowledge in the Nihilistic Days of 1920 and 2020!"

A link to the PDF of Richard's Saturday, March 27, 2021 slideshow can be downloaded here.

Here is Richard's presentation hypothesis:

Since before and after the written word, Sapiens have repeatedly found themselves in Threatening Times and have reached back to their Elders for guidance. The options chosen by the Elders have been Finite for each of their pending Disasters and may be a helpful guide for each Future Generation.

Following his introductory slideshow, Richard aired a portion of the video of UC Berkeley political theory professor Wendy Brown's lecture, Politics and Knowledge in Nihilistic Times: Thinking with Max Weber - "Knowledge." This lecture may be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXm_0DxoS_k&t=3858s

Key within Brown's lecture was her view of the role of education and the use of knowledge. Brown thinks individual students and society at large are best served when students are influenced by answers to and discussions centered on the following questions:

1. What am I living for? Why am I here today?

2. What kind of world do I want to live in?

3. How should or could humans order our common arrangements and our relationships with the nonhuman world at this juncture in world history?

Richard’s presentation and the discussion that followed established yet another landmark within O&I.

I say this in the sense that it succeeded in having the Confluence henceforth consider nihilism, a complex subject to say the least, in a more comprehensible and useful manner. That is, in the context of knowledge and politics (power), not philosophy.

Hereafter I think everyone who attended will better understand nihilism, if/when they ever come across the term again. Not as an arcane philosophy, rather as a contested matter. A contest over the importance and usefulness of knowledge and values fought in the breach between politicians and the wealthy on the one hand who want to quantify values and control resources including people; and on the other, by individuals who wish to deeply consider and construct values for guiding their personal lives and for living well among their fellows, and within the rest of Earth’s ecosystem.

The latter, personal emphasis on values is an exercise of freedom, a dwindling freedom left to us in the modern world of techno-commercial control. Many think this individual freedom regarding the progressive, humane use of values may be our only hope for retaining any of our humaneness following modernity's inevitable collapse, and the anarchy, democratic socialism, or tyranny that become our options.

Great job, Richard!

}:> & ~:)

The Evolution of Governance

Somebody is lying as to what is really in President Biden’s COVID stimulus plan legislation, the New York Times:

“A Look at What’s in Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Plan”

New York Times, January 14, 2021.

Want to get beyond the media gatekeepers? Read the 591-page bill yourself, here. The list of the bill’s contents alone runs for nine, small print, single-space pages. Here is a sample of the text from page 10 and 11. The rest of the bill is just as crystal clear to the average US voter as this excerpt.

(5) to make payments for necessary expenses

related to losses of crops (including losses due to

high winds or derechos) pursuant to title I of the

Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster

Relief Act, 2019 (Public Law 116–20), as amended

by section 116 of the Continuing Appropriations

Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–59) and as further

Amended by subsection (c) of section 791 of the

Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020

(Public Law 116–94) for crop losses in crop year

2020.

Forget all the previous legislation referred to in this excerpt. One can find and study up on that. But what exactly are “expenses,” “derechos,” and “losses?” Who defines expenses and losses, sets their thresholds, and pegs dollar amounts to them? On what basis? I know what a derecho is but nothing about agricultural losses and expenses. I guess the US Department of Agriculture is left to figure that out.

Or you can do the research. Coincidentally, a friend of mine yesterday sought and read multiple website articles on the bill and came up with the following list outlining the contents of the legislation in basic vocabulary. My friend is not typical of the average American voter in terms of education and research skills. He’s an engineer. It took him about an hour to research and put this table together. American voters, most of whom are less highly educated and have less skills in researching, would likely take much longer assuming they had the will and interest to do. Most don’t.

                

Maybe it is my Republican Congressman Drew Ferguson here in Georgia, USA who is lying.

"Batshit Crazy: Is There a Solution to Mass Delusion?" - An Owl & Ibis Presentation by Pam Dewey

 

Kudos to Pam Dewey on her outstanding presentation, “Batshit Crazy – Is There a Solution to Mass Delusion?” at the February 27, 2021 meeting of Owl & Ibis – A Confluence of Minds. Here is Pam’s description of her presentation containing an Internet link to the video.

There are several Mass Delusions currently affecting large segments of the US population:

Large numbers of followers of the QAnon "complex" of multiple conspiracy theories are convinced that vast numbers of celebrities like Tom Hanks and politicians such as Hillary Clinton are part of a secret cabal that rapes babies and children, sacrifices their bodies to Satan, and drinks their blood. 

 

A large segment of Evangelical Christians are convinced that God Himself placed Donald Trump in the presidency in 2016, as almost a Messianic figure who would not only "Make America Great Again," but would "Make America Christian Again." 

A large proportion of those people along with others are also convinced that the 2020 election was stolen by a massive effort by Democrats to falsify election results, and that Donald Trump was actually elected by a majority of millions of voters. 

 

Many are also convinced that Trump has a secret plan to use the US military to take back the presidency in the near future.    All these delusional speculations are wreaking havoc on American society, destroying relationships among families and friends, led to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, and are ultimately threatening the whole institution of democracy in America.

This video, originally designed as an introduction to a group discussion session, explores the question ... is there a solution to mass delusions such as those inflicting America now?  The first section provides a brief overview of the history of mass delusions, past and present. The second section introduces the social/psychological phenomenon of "Cognitive Dissonance" as a factor in understanding mass delusions. And the final section examines the origin and progress of a recent incident of American mass delusion to see how it may help explain certain aspects of the current mass delusions running amok in American society. https://youtu.be/hKXcikNqQTw - Pam Dewey 

Great job, Pam! Thank you!