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The whalerus is a pleasant critter,
Always sweet and never bitter.
It roams the foamy deep,
And seldom has to sleep.
All knowledge it easily carries
Spread throughout its flukes,
Having no access to libraries
Or any need of books.
From dawns to dusks
there’s the job of cleaning tusks.
The cow doesn’t risk hers,
As he’s the one with whiskers.
On the planet where they dwell,
Conditions are swell:
On their diet of fish
They have all they could wish.
Some may think the whalerus a bit wild,
But there it’s considered quite mild,
Beside the hippolion, the slugeagle, the buffalouse,
The giraffosaurus and the snorklemouse.
A brittle partridge never needs
A confidential briefing in order to
Confine its combined nature to
Current fashion edicts coming from
Illegitimate sorcerers shelf-appointed
To monetize the pork pockets of many
Powder hungry zealots-in-orifice.
Lately it has been discovered that if
Lateness is an undiscovered virtue
Then partial sentiment sets up order
All around the parsimonious habits
Left over from wily abandoned
Personalities and had better frequent
Lonely places or at least avoid those
Better known lairs of insidious invidiousness.
Petty swollen tyros from and to nowhere
Arise to save us all from manufactured madness
By killing everybody and everything slowly
With speeches of glory, duty, fatherlandism,
White-horsing around and trampling sooth
With soothing prattletudes from syrupy
Frogged tongues flapping in the smog.
Level matted devils matter little in the shape
Of things to comment on in late editorials
Published concurrently with April Fool’s jokes
Foisted off as linear accomplishments of genius
Born out of intense and conscious mental
Irrigation husbandry as orthodox effort.
Golden medallion of fury floating in numerous
Vats of luminous virtual solutions to eternal
Problems cannot, will not, forge the several
Final conclusions or mend breaches in the breeches
Of a gathering distaste for disaster-mongering
As a deadly-hood handed down from ancient
Ideas of privilege and influence to be urned.
Nothing matters says the nihilist.
Matter’s nothing says the physicist.
Something’s the matter says the reformer.
Matter is illusion says the mystic.
It’s a very serious matter says the judge.
And for that matter says the orator.
Matter is organic or inorganic says the chemist.
It doesn’t matter to me says the dilettante.
That’s what’s the matter with you…says the psychiatrist.
What’s the matter with you?! says mama.
No matter what says the hero.
It’s a matter of time says the clock.
*********************
[A couple of things I may or may not send to friends.]
How not to be Fooled [?]
I was trying to write something useful for analyzing data, but have not gone
beyond these notes. Comments and suggestions would be welcome. For some
time I have felt that the greatest human problem is to find out what really
happened so that one can take intelligent action.
The applicable theme song title is: "It Ain't Necessarily So (or Not So)".
The watchword is LOOK! If you
can't see it, it might or might not be there.
Stable datum: ANYTHING can be faked these days (pictures, words, emotions,
intentions, results, statistics, audiences, crowds [https://crowdsondemand.com]
etc.….).
When someone says something or writes something, all you really know is that
someone said or wrote something. If it aligns with your experience, you can
accept it. If it seems contrary to your experience, you can reject it. If you have
no experience on the subject, you can get some. A common pitfall is being very
uncomfortable with not knowing. This might lead to accepting or rejecting for
some reason other than one’s own experience.
Communication is already a compromise with actuality (direct experience).
Motivations and intentions and preconceptions influence both teaching and
learning.
Data: importance; truth If it is important, its truth had better be examined.
If not, it can safely be ignored. Importance has to do with consequences to oneself
and others.
Where there is the greatest controversy, there is the greatest lack of understanding.
Theories and hypotheses are abundant
If we ignore our own biases, hopes, wishes, and buttons we will not arrive at truth.
If we assume the authority, honesty, unbiasedness, or altitude of someone we can
be fooled.
Too much respect for and trust of: titles, degrees, reputation, experience,
expertise, leads us astray. Examples are philosophy by entertainers, scientists,
experts in other fields, etc. Does that famous celebrity know anything about it?
Guilt or innocence by association is used to lead us astray.
False data leads to hysteria, which is often the intention.
Words can be charged with significance, undefined, misdefined, hyperbolical,
redefined. They can be so abstract that no one knows what they mean. Slogans are
necessarily oversimplified for quick delivery of an idea.
Judge not by labels. The label on the jar says, “pickles”, but who knows what has
been put into it since? Labels also mask ignorance. If it has a label, someone can
pretend to know all about it. Labels applied to people and groups demonize them.
Words can be weasel, emotional, technical, equivocal, mystifying, mis-translated
or taken from dead languages.
Irrelevant data fluffs up or overloads or confuses.
Pictures can be actual, photoshopped, mislabeled, selected for persuasion,
irrelevant, exaggerated, have the wrong date, cropped or otherwise distorted.
Statistics can be distorted by manipulation of graph scales, skewed emphasis
(percent, average, mean), relative increase/decrease, and selecting portions of
the data.
The true test of a “fact” is that it can be experienced. This depends on the
capacity of the person to experience whatever it is. Any given person may not
have available the location, viewpoint, intelligence, capacity, education, or
equipment to ever find out. Is the evidence even traceable? This is widely
exploited by persuaders. Examples: Big Bang, Black holes, subatomic particles,
viruses, Archaeology, prophets, politicians. Most people don’t have either a
microscope or a large telescope. They can, within their means, test something to
see if it works and is useful.
What are the ulterior motives, vested interests, pretended/hidden/insider
knowledge? Who profits? Research or pseudo-research? Sponsored? Focus?
“consensus”?
Advertising has been famous for falsification for so long that the favorite adage
of “Let the buyer beware.” is usually presented in its Latin form. Of course,
sellers are not inclined to mention the drawbacks of their products.
People’s attention can be manipulated by fixing it, dispersing it, or
misdirecting it. The basic practice of the stage magician is to misdirect attention.
He does something interesting with one hand, while doing something else with
the other. When there is a huge circus in the mass media about anything, I usually
wonder what else is happening that I should know about. In the case of
governments, I wonder what they are covering up. But that is my personal
behavior, and this is not autobiographical.
As always actions speak louder than words. Not what is said, but what is done.
As for volume, the louder it is, the less factual it probably is. And if it is
depending only on force and threat, it is most certainly not true. Repetition may
or may not by itself indicate falsity, but is annoying to someone who has already
received the message.
If opponents agree on it, it might be true, especially if it is embarrassing or a
failure. If they contradict each other, other research and sources is/are needed.
Who said it? Are the sources (cited or hidden, “reliable”), direct, indirect,
hearsay, “reported” (who and how), “A new study indicates……” (contradicting
the one from yesterday). Books based on books based on books based on books….
Cause and effect: An error is to assume one result is caused by another event
because of proximity in space or time.
Hidden influences….the bogeyman effect/control operation. “It’s having a bad
effect on you, but you can’t see it or know where it comes from or do anything
about it.” Such as conspiracies, demons, diseases, radiation,….
Intuition might be useful, the test being as usual, results.
An apparent paradox needs more investigation.
Polls & surveys could be useful if one is interested in what other people are
thinking. They are often used to promote some idea. Their validity depends on
how it is conducted (what questions are asked, how they are asked, who is asked,
who asks, and the honesty with which they are tabulated). And who cares.
It might be better to be uninformed than to be misinformed; at least one knows
that one doesn’t know. Then one can start looking; with the same hazards.
Digging for data.
Poetry and fiction are another matter, and, as all art, can be used for propaganda
purposes, as in satire.
Propaganda:
Dr Emma Briant defines it as "the deliberate manipulation of representations
(including text, pictures, video, speech etc.) with the intention of producing any
effect in the audience (e.g. action or inaction; reinforcement or transformation of
feelings, ideas, attitudes or behaviours) that is desired by the propagandist."
In NATO doctrine, propaganda is defined as "Any information, ideas, doctrines,
or special appeals disseminated to influence the opinion, emotions, attitudes, or
behaviour of any specified group in order to benefit the sponsor either directly
or indirectly."
Basically, the word propaganda means to spread information about something
from a particular viewpoint. Distortion is tempting.. Gullibility is exploited.
Ethics becomes a very important element here.
Bob McGrath [finally “finished”, 13 April 2020]
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Summing Up [started 23 January 2020]
Were I a writer, I might engage in long explanations and webs of logic.Fortunately
I am not. I wanted to try to say briefly what I seem to have seen and sort it out for
myself while I still can. This is not much more than an outline. If someone else
finds it useful, that would be good. Basically, I don’t seem to really know or
understand anything. Anyway I can have some fun with it, trying to maintain a
sense of humor about it.
Existence.
This a word used to describe an experience which can’t be put into words. The
words used to speak about it are various, still only words.This is the fundamental.
Yet here we seem to be. How and why we do not know. Many books have been
written trying to explain what it is and who did it and how and why. They don’t
agree. Are we here? What do you think?
Nothing/non-existence. Unimaginable. If there was nothing, there could be no
awareness to know about it. An impossible paradox.
Communication is what we do. Terminals are what we are (terminals send, receive
and relay communications). Communication is much more than words. Objects,
ideas, emotions, (etc.) can be passed. Duplication: if the exact message that is sent
is not received without alteration (by either side), communication breaks down.
Referents: communication has to be about some definite thing. Many disputes are
about the words or symbols or ideas rather than the things /events/facts. And about
what “should be” rather than what is. Communication is a two-way action: one has
to be able to send and to receive.
Being. Doing. Having. To have, it is necessary to do. To do, it is necessary to
decide to be (something).
Awareness. What is aware? Who? How many degrees of awareness? Good questions.
In the apparently vast reaches of space and time the affairs of mankind seem
practically invisible. It is viewpoint which determines any significance. From an
individual’s viewpoint his own circumstances seem important; from a world (solar
system, galaxy, universe) viewpoint, etc….less and less important….a matter of
perspective. We are living in present time and space……and can take sincerely our
activities and assign meaning and purpose to them.
The best way to understand something is to be it. That may not be easy.
Knowledge might be certainty based on experience. Belief could be certainty
without observation or a decision based on someone else’s data.
Time, space, energy, matter. seem to be the basic components of this physical
universe. Time is known by change of the other three parts. The past and the
future do not exist except as memory and imagination. Is a thing or object
simply a structured event? Are there anything but events?
Stuff seems to change form but is never really destroyed in this universe at least.
A form might be destroyed. Something called life animates and changes stuff
(for fun?). There has been an ongoing dispute about immortality. It might help
to define and isolate what one is talking about. Certainly human and animal
bodies cease to operate. Whatever animates the bodies is the subject in question.
Technology seems to benefit us although it tends to become a trap and a
dependency. Are we walking the plank? Materialist technology becomes more
complex, more specialized, more mysterious, and more dependent on apparently
dwindling resources. nearly all our activities are possible only because of
electricity and digital electronics. We have had a few relatively minor
demonstrations of what happens when the power system is temporarily disabled.
This is a non-survival cul-de-sac without mental and spiritual wisdom and
knowledge.
Theology may be interesting and fun, but what does the creature know of the
creator? The sculpture of the sculptor?
Happiness might derive from interest, participation, contribution and production.
There would be no attention on whether one is happy. It seems that when we are
concerned about our happiness, we aren’t happy. The pursuit of happiness would
be indirect. We might consider that what we are doing has some value in this
world. We might see progress (toward something) or improvement, or a challenge.
Beauty, ugliness; good, bad. These are opinions and relative to goals and
education or indoctrination. Morals seem to be dependent on the local society.
Ethics is easier to define.
My two cents. Comments, corrections, suggestions welcome. There are no doubt
holes and gaps in this. It lacks organization and continuity. My view is limited
for the time being.
Bob McGrath [finally “finished”, 13 April 2020]