The loneliest number - a bit of a ramble

[billy rubin]

part of the American Problem is that we are in a place where we CANNOT talk to each pother.

there is an active program to discredit informed opinion here in the states that has been in place for some 30 or 40 years now, ever since the energy industry discovered it was more effective to simply deny climate change than advocate to ignore it . . . the conservative political wing adopted the same tactics, and we have seen it this year in full force as trump and his toadies and enablers deny the novel corona virus.

you simply cannot have a rational discussion with someone who denies that the sky is blue, and questions the existence of color in the first place.

trump's main following is with people who have les education than their opposition, and who deny that informed opinions are more likely to be correct than uninformed opinions. the conservatives in government consist of those who agree (the morons) and those who know better but game the system in favor of their political goals (the mcconnells).

the most important thing we in america can do in the post-trump era is try to re-build confidence and trust in infomed opinion, the trust in experts that has been discredited by the conservatives in the post reagan era.

it does not matter what the science is if people don't believe it.

[Icarus]

Billy, let us hope that there will actually be a "post Trump era"

I have little confidence that we can build a society with "informed opinion".   A frighteningly large proportion of our citizenry is thoroughly convinced that Q-anon is a reliable source of information, that climate change is a hoax, that the rapture will soon be here, vaccines cause erectile disfunction and/or autism,  and numerous other "alternative facts".

[billy rubin]

well, you know that there will be a post-trump era, either in a few months or in four years.

god, i hope his odious children fade away in either event

what that will look like, i don't know. but you're right, there are people who believe all sorts of crap. i've personally known several who believe th emoon landings were faked, that joe biden drinks the blood of murdered children, and that th eilluminati or the rothschilds control the world economy.

in th epast they could be ignored, somewhat,, but now they have been discovered by people who mobilize them for their own gain.

jeez, how can any unemployed coal miner see a new york city real estate billionaire and think that the guy will look out for him?

even common sense is missing.

[Tom62]

We do have our differences in all sorts of ways.

Here is an almost humorous report that demonstrates our differences in priorities.  Denmark is building or has built a 47 mile fence separating the Danish/German border. The purpose is not to keep the Mexicans out of Denmark.  It is to keep the German boars from invading the Viking territory.  (Boars: as in the formidable pig like beasts that root up all manner of agricultural sites) 

Any Danes out there who can verify or deny such a news report?...............No intent to derail the conversation here.........Asmo:  please proceed with your scholarly and eloquent argumentation.

It is indeed real news. The fence was finished in 2019 is 70km long and 1.5 meters high. Now the Germans are building a similar fence on German-Polish border.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Let the boars in and eat them. Excellent food source. 

[Asmodean]

Spears and loin cloths, my friend. Spears and loin cloths.