There are two problems with MAGA. First, it’s regressive in that it’s trying to reimpose primitive tribal values onto a complex, global world. Second, more practically, it’s simply not possible to return to conditions of the past. Today’s items:
- Why MAGA can’t return to the past;
- Myths (lies) Republicans tell about abortions;
- More about Christian hysteria over the Olympics Opening Ceremony, which they completely misunderstood;
- And another piece about how the attraction to conspiracy theories can’t be fought with truth; it’s about psychological needs to matter;
- And OnlySky is back.
Washington Post, Megan McArdle, 25 Jul 2024: Opinion | J.D. Vance can’t go back in time — and neither can the rest of us, subtitled “The days of America’s manufacturing boom are gone for good.”
For one of the youngest vice-presidential candidates ever nominated, J.D. Vance sounds a little crotchety. His convention speech last week pined for an America that the 39-year-old himself never knew — a land before drugs and deindustrialization ravaged the Rust Belt, when housing was cheap and families were intact, and proud American craftsmen made the world’s best products with their own hands.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong in wishing for things you don’t remember — if they were really good, as many things were during the United States’ manufacturing boom: There were job opportunities, families formed easily and people felt support from society. I have sympathy for Vance’s desire to “put people to work making real products for American families.”
The problem is that Donald Trump cannot bring those days back. And I suspect Vance is too smart to truly believe the former president could.
The piece goes on with examples, some illustrating economic realities. Here’s an example:
In 1966, Sears sold customers a 21-cubic-foot capacity, self-defrosting, side-by-side refrigerator for as little as $545. Today, the store’s cheapest equivalent model is more than $1,000. The bigger difference is that, in 1966, the U.S. median family income was $7,500, while in 2022 it was $97,750. If the price of fridges had held constant as a percentage of family income, that new one would cost more than $7,000.
Keep things in perspective, people.
Side note: another problem with MAGA, and the idea that everything Americans buy should be manufactured in the US, is that doing so would increase the prices of those products to an extent consumers would not stand for. There’s a reason manufacturers ship jobs overseas, or buy rare metals from Mongolia and not Montana (I saw this example recently): because they’re competing in the marketplace. Products made strictly in America would be *much* more expensive. (As an analogy, consider if citizens of any particular state insisted all products be made in their state. Many products would become simply impossible. But the same is true on the global scale.)
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This theme is related. Myths, or lies?
LA Times, 25 Jul 2024: Editorial: Don’t be fooled by Trump’s and Republicans’ abortion myths
Abortion opponents peddle various myths about the procedure to discredit it and demonize the people who provide or support it. Abortion is healthcare. The earlier it is available, the easier it is for people to make choices about their bodies that will affect the rest of their lives. But during election season, expect to hear some or all of these fallacies as Republicans who oppose abortion inaccurately discuss it.
Namely:
- Abortion can happen after birth;
- Abortion is never necessary for emergency medical care;
- Medication abortion is dangerous to women;
Sample discussion about the first item:
None are as ludicrous as the myth Donald Trump pitched in the presidential debate in June when he said Democrats “will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth — after birth.”
Of course, there is no such thing as abortion after birth. Killing a fetus that emerges alive is infanticide. Abortion involves ending a pregnancy when the fetus is still in the uterus.
…
Trump also falsely claimed that a former Democratic governor of Virginia said he was willing to “rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby.” Not true. In fact, he said the opposite. In a 2019 interview, former Gov. Ralph Northam was asked about a Virginia state bill that would remove the requirement for three doctors to agree on whether an abortion was medically necessary in the third trimester. Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist, said that should be a decision left to the woman and her own doctor.
Once again — I’m discussing this because it’s not about abortion. This is about how tribal human nature priorities the births of children in any and all circumstances, even to the detriment of the mother or the actual health of the child. A black and white issue for them.
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More about Christian hysteria over the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony. Also, I’ve seen several Facebook posts about this. Google News: lots of posts about this.
Here’s a post from the most anodyne of news sources, Associated Press:
Associated Press, Thomas Adamson, 27 Jul 2024: Drag queens shine at Olympics opening, but ‘Last Supper’ tableau draws criticism
But this post on Facebook explains the issue.
Facebook, Alexandra Honigsberg, yesterday: Dearest Gentle Reader, I’m about to step on some toes in regard to the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics.
Dearest Gentle Reader,
I’m about to step on some toes in regard to the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics.
The headless woman was Marie Antoinette. She ruled over France and was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and stealing from the country.
Sound familiar?
Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!
And if you didn’t know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure.
And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana.
If some of you weren’t so busy trying to end the Dept. of Education, you might know this.
Loosen the clutch on your pearls.
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On another note, a commenter on Fb said that yes, of course, the painter of the Bacchanalia mimicked da Vinci, just as da Vinci played off earlier artists; while recent culture, including The Simpsons and Battlestar Galactica, have mimicked the da Vinci. It’s all art, people; get over it.
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One more for today. Another take on conspiracy theories.
LA Times, Jesselyn Cook, 28 Jul 2024: Opinion: Want to convince a conspiracy theory believer they’re wrong? Don’t start with the truth
As I’ve said over the years, I have in fact learned new things as I’ve gotten older (unlike many older people, apparently), and one thing I’ve learned (see Provisional Conclusions, #11) is that you can’t change people’s minds with evidence. For various reasons I’ve explore on this blog. So… what does this article suggest? Similar articles have suggested that it’s about appealing to their core values, which (cue base human nature) are not always about the truth. And so I think that’s where this piece goes…
The statistics are as stunning as the falsehoods. Millions of people now believe that the government, media and financial worlds are “controlled by Satan-worshiping pedophiles,” according to recent polling. These aren’t loosely held views. While reporting for my book “The Quiet Damage,” I talked to people all over the country who had tried until they were blue in the face to make the conspiracy theorists in their lives accept the truth.
But the truth is almost beside the point.
It seems entirely sensible to fight fiction with fact. In spite of passionately professed allegiances to “the truth,” however, ardent conspiracy theory adopters seldom have a desire to be accurately informed. Belief in the unbelievable, in many cases, stems from desperation to meet fundamental human needs, such as feeling valued and having a purpose. Over the last three years, while interviewing hundreds of disinformation-splintered families, it has become clear to me that facts alone can’t fix this. The solution begins with treating conspiracy theory obsession not as a sickness but as a symptom.
And then proceeds with real-life examples. People want to matter. They have needs. “Our innate need for things such as meaning and belonging is superseded only by what the body requires for subsistence, and not by any thirst for accuracy or truth.” People who are lonely find belonging. And so on.
Here again is the core issue, about primal values of tribal human nature, and the higher aspirations of humanity to achieve accuracy, and truth about the real world.
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OnlySky is back. Or has been back for a month, and I just noticed.
