I agree with the author of the meme here, and I believe that if we were to follow the course he suggests we’d be a lot less steamed about these issues than we are now.
Having said that, it appears that science is in the process of proving that our belief systems are wired into our brains, and that we ourselves have far less agency than we think we do in determining how we think and act.
Take me as an example. As readers know, I’m an atheist and a progressive. From my earliest memories at three years old, I’ve been an animal lover and a disbeliever in God. Mustn’t there be some basis for this in my genetic code?
In terms of experiences, I went to a private Quaker (pacifistic, non-violent) school, spent six years of college/graduate school studying Western philosophy, and had a business career that served clients in a dozen different countries. You could take 100 people with this make-up, and I doubt you’d find a single Trump supporter.
Now, do I understand the far right? Of course I do. I had the incredible good fortune to have all this line up, starting with my birth in Philadelphia my adoption at age five months by two kind, intelligent, and honorable people. But it’s not to imagine having been born in Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, Mali, or Mississippi.
We all carry with us the idea that our basic personalities are self-determined, that we create our characteristics from our own choosing. I question that.
Can’t swear that this is true but hoping so.
We must never forget.
The more visibility and the more frequent reminders we can get on this catastrophe in U.S. history the better.
It’s almost funny when we hear that California is a socialist state, or a police state (due to our environmental restrictions), or that people are leaving in droves to go to Texas or Florida. When I come across people who say this, I wonder: have you ever actually been to California?
Do you know that the garden-variety 3 BR, 2 BA house here lists at about $1.2 million, where, if it were moved to, say, the Midwest, it would be worth perhaps $2500,000? Why do you think that could possibly be? Maybe the law of supply and demand doesn’t apply to the Marxist part of the nation?
Perhaps it’s because Californians are offered fantastic economic opportunities. We develop and implement ideas that improve the lives of everyone on Earth, and that we profit greatly from our undertakings.
Something for the MAGA crowd to consider.
The main way governments create wealth is by educating people so that they can become productive members of society. They also build roads and airports and maintain law and order so that honest businesses can thrive.
Anyone living now who believes that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are creating wealth for anyone but themselves is a total fool.
A ton of people bought into the concept expressed here in the mid-20th Century, but no semi-intelligent person today believes that tax breaks for billionaires/trillionaires generates a nickel for the common person.
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