"Why can't Trump get his story straight about the nukes?"
No one on the CNN panel will *really* answer this question: Trump just ... says stuff.
Creates a kind of halting problem:
“We obliterated the regime’s nuclear program”
(but then there is no reason for war so he says)
"They are close to nuclear"
(but that sounds like we messed up so he says)
“We obliterated the nuclear program”
(but then there is no reason for war so he says)
♾️
etc.
There is a cover story for why the US attacked Iran. One that is almost believable. The argument goes like this:
Iran was developing a drone and missile program rather like the Iron Dome that would make it "impossible" for the US to bomb them, and that would mean it's impossible to stop them if they wanted to make nuclear weapons. So they had to be stopped from doing this now.
Does Iran have the right to defend itself? It's an ugly argument.
Trump has said he will "bomb them back into the stone age" -- This is the solution they have. Cripple anyone who might become able to defend themselves. Every time I hear the phrase "bomb them back into the stone age" a little bile rises in my throat. I'm an American. How must this seem to the people of Iran. What will they vow to do because of our childish chauvinism?
This view of non-western countries is common. It will be our undoing.
But the other point, (which I got side-tracked from thinking about the phrase "bomb them into the stone age" ... ) is that the cover story I just articulated is too complex for Trump to even attempt to communicate. That is his diabolical populist instinct. He never confuses his base. Never uses big words or ideas.
Never makes them learn anything since for some people the feeling of learning makes them feel ... stupid.
And how do you unpack that? How do you deprogram someone from a place where learning things, and realizing how little they know is so horrible?
It's impossible to learn if you cannot admit that you do not already know everything you need to know about the world.
I think people *do* feel bad about what they don't know. Like not being able to find Iran on a map. That can feel embarrassing. But we can look at the maps. Read the history.
I think the shame and that can be induced by learning new things is tied to an essentialist and immutable view of what it means to be intelligent and wise.
For them "Intelligence" isn't something that you do, for these people it's something that you *are*
But this is false. To be intelligent you simply need to be open to learning new things every day. Willing to grow. That's it.
@futurebird It is at this point I think it's important to point out that right wing American culture actively celebrates stupidity. They actively eschew education, because every time they send their kids off to get educated, they come back atheists with liberal values. They celebrate repetetive task work "like daddy used to do" and "figure it out for themselves."
Which is why they can get so far down a wrong path. No course correction.
This is true.
I wish we could blame it all on the contempt and elitism of people of "educated classes" -- I think about my grandmother often she would say things like that. She had a 6th grade education. All her kids went to college because she made them, and then grand kids too.
But she also thought we were full of ourselves and pretentious. And she knew things, understood things I never will.
Because he is a crook!
@futurebird Great points, well timed. I literally just a few minutes ago had conversation where I said “I have to admit that 3 weeks ago, I wasn’t really familiar with geography of Strait of Hormuz & Persian Gulf, & had to look them up on a map.”
On some level, you can’t learn anything if you aren’t readily willing to admit ignorance. To the extent that narcissism prevents a person from admitting that…
@futurebird Don't forget, they also grew up in a culture that abhors the concepts of intelligence.
There's the obvious of course: see the way "nerds" have been looked down on for a very long time now. And Hollywood, of course, helps promote that sentiment.
But also, I can tell you first-hand as just someone who couldn't fit in, seen as being more intelligent (regardless of whether I actually am) they just... *hate.* They don't even know why.
Part of the problem is a culture of people who know things and use their greater knowledge to humiliate those who know less. I encounter this in job interviews all the time.
I *never* do this to other people, it's evil. But when you are being attacked, the instinct is to hate the people who know more.
myrmepropagandist
why not wy
Lawrence
Scott Miller 🇺🇦 🇺🇸
Nazo
John Maxwell
Phosphenes
Serenus