Well, for one thing, not everyone agrees on the definition of hero; and, for another, not everyone agrees on the definition of good. I don't know if any of this has anything to do with the current Culture War, though, because it's basically just being orchestrated for profit at this point.
Exactly. It's like the Fight-or-Flight Syndrome. Instinct versus Civilization.scottydog wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:46 pmI think the Culture Wars reflect not the truth of society but a truth about the primitive reptilian human brain. We know that evolution designed us to be tribal to some extent, as some degree of tribalism helped early humans survive. As you said, the relentless drive for monetary profit is exploiting and exacerbating our tribalistic tendencies. And everyone loses.
Good question. The problem is that people want to be exploited. The only thing that can be done is to cultivate both reason and compassion-- peace and love.What if anything can be done to reduce the monetization of disinformation and cultural warfare?
Thank you. She's definitely got the right idea, same as Daryl Davis. Understanding and civilized discourse are the only definitive solutions. People screaming at each other from other sides of the street does nothing. It's too bad that's not on DVD.scottydog wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:50 pmA 2017 documentary, White Right: Meeting the Enemy, describes radicalization, its causes, and its cures.
And then I remember that in 2017 you blogged about Daryl Davis's extraordinary feat of meeting KKK members and getting them to change their racist ways.. This remains one of my favorite hero essays on my blog
By savagely beating it into people.I agree that the solution is compassion, empathy, and kindness. How can our society do a better job of cultivating those traits?
It's a collection of his essays, so it comes in easily digestible bites.
Most people are decent at the core, but, like any animal, will strike back if threatened or abused.Will's story about his Downs Syndrome son was amazing. Does the fact that his son never encountered cruelty give you hope for humanity?
About the same as me being elected President. People are incredibly resistant to change, even when change makes sense. Gun control is a classic example. I think that will happen eventually but I'm not holding my breath.RJDiogenes wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 9:13 pmWhat do you think the odds are of passing a Constitutional Amendment removing the Electoral College and instituting ranked voting?
It would definitely need to start at the local level. An Amendment to take away the power of the two major parties is the one thing guaranteed to bring the parties together-- in opposition. One way to propose an Amendment is for two-thirds (I think) of the States to call a Constitutional Convention-- it's never happened that way, but I think it would be the only option in this case. But we probably need ranked voting to become more familiar on the local level before that can happen, and we're still a ways from reaching that level. A ranked-voting law recently failed to pass in Massachusetts of all places.
So now I have about 20 unread books in my pile Hundreds. I'm a compulsive book buyer.
Do you have any suggestions?Section 1. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, and Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States shall hereby be annulled, and other Articles and Amendments modified accordingly.
Section 2. The offices of President and Vice President of the United States shall be elected by popular vote via a ranked ballot on which voters shall designate their preferred choices from first to last. Votes shall be tabulated such that lesser-ranked candidates be eliminated until one candidate with a majority remains. Ranking of less than the full list of candidates, or adding candidates not listed, shall not be construed as to disqualify the ballot.
Section 3. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 4. This amendment shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Hundreds? Will you attempt to read them now that you're retired? Or have you given up any hope of reading them?
Yes, as follows:RJDiogenes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:56 pmSection 2. The offices of President and Vice President of the United States shall be elected by popular vote via a ranked ballot on which voters shall designate their preferred choices from first to last. Votes shall be tabulated such that lesser-ranked candidates be eliminated until one candidate with a majority remains. Ranking of less than the full list of candidates, or adding candidates not listed, shall not be construed as to disqualify the ballot.
Section 3. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 4. This amendment shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Do you have any suggestions?
I hope to read many of them, but I doubt if it's possible to read all of them if I intend to do a lot of writing and stuff. But being surrounded by books is my Comfort Zone.
Reasonable? Yes. Feasible? No. It would become just another thing for people to waste time on. Everybody would be hiring pillow manufacturers to diagnose their opponents.Does that seem reasonable and feasible?
Mental health is too subjective and the politerazzi too delusional. In any case, the only qualifications for the presidency have always been only age and natural-born citizenship, and I'm fine with that (I might even be okay with eliminating the natural-born part). 
The problem with that is that 35 used to be middle aged. As life expectancies have increased, childhood has become longer. Now that people are routinely living into their 90s, they are also not really maturing until they're in their 30s. Maybe the threshold for the presidency should be 2/3 of the average life expectancy from the most recent census.
Too much potential for abuse in profiling. Besides, some of our best presidents have been crazy. George Washington took on the British Empire. How crazy was that?The GOP is making a huge deal about Biden's so-called dementia, which could be a real concern for an older president with fading mental faculties. That's why I'd be okay with a psychological check-up, which might disqualify both Trump and Biden, and may have also disqualified Nixon (narcissistic personality disorder) and Reagan (Alzheimer's).
Yes, for the rest of his term, until he understandably lost the next election.Didn't Woodrow Wilson's wife run the country for a while during his rehab from his stroke?
And read 