Mastodawn

I'm currently reading Frank Herbert's "Dune" for the first time.

I was struck by this passage. It comes right after the Reverend Mother has tested Paul Atreides. She is talking with him.

"𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺."

How apropos seventy years later.

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Michael Gemar 1d ago

@Wolf @Npars01 But getting rid of the thinking machines didn’t seem to reduce power disparity.

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Nicole Parsons 1d ago

@michaelgemar @Wolf

Humanity has always had to struggle with a certain percentage of sociopaths wishing to cheat & dominate.

It's the job of the majority in every society to curb such individuals.

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AJD 1d ago

@Npars01 @michaelgemar @Wolf an even worse struggle is the one against the stupids. Always underestimated and never right.

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Nicole Parsons

@albertojavier @michaelgemar @Wolf

Stupids are manufactured as well as born.

Ensuring the poor have a nutritionally deficient diet pre- and post-natally is a common method used by The Moneyed.
https://abcnews.com/Health/snap-back-millions-americans-lose-benefits-due-new/story?id=127593186

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/federal-food-assistance-program-may-slow-cognitive-decline-study-sugge-rcna220888

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/heres-whats-in-new-dietary-guidelines-from-the-trump-administration

Another is exposing the poor to higher rates of disease, poor quality water supply, air pollution, & insufficient medical care is another.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/measles-encephalitis-south-carolina-anti-vaccine-b2918500.html

https://ourworldindata.org/measles-increases-disease-risk

https://theconversation.com/measles-can-ravage-the-immune-system-and-brain-causing-long-term-damage-a-virologist-explains-252354

SNAP is back, but millions of Americans could lose benefits due to new restrictions

More than 3 million Americans could lose benefits in the next few years.

ABC News

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Nicole Parsons 1d ago

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/11/federal-funding-lead-pipes-replacement-chicago-illinois-trump-withholding-congress/

https://earthjustice.org/press/2025/trump-administrations-epa-dumps-wastewater-treatment-standards-for-coal-fired-power-plants

https://www.ehn.org/autism-wildfire-smoke

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-the-trump-administrations-embrace-of-oil-gas-and-chemical-industry-interests-will-endanger-childrens-health/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02427-6

Koch Network funded covid disinformation deliberately & got millions of kids with long covid.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/coronavirus/2022/02/10/long-covid-symptoms-muscle-pain-fatigue-brain-fog-kids/9231178002/

https://jacobin.com/2021/12/right-wing-think-tanks-herd-immunity-death

Dictating a subpar education is another method.
https://jacobin.com/2018/06/public-education-privatization-koch-brothers-teachers

https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/public-education-ground-zero-radical-rights-assault-democracy-says-historian

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/07/school-voucher-program-school-choice-tennessee-lobby-for-expansion/71436751007/

Federal cash for lead pipe replacement isn't making it to Illinois communities

“I think that they’re playing games,” one congressman says.

Mother Jones

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Nicole Parsons 1d ago

Koch Network is so successful at this one that the American average literacy rate is down to 6th grade, with the help of Zuckerberg et al.

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/public-schools-crosshairs-far-right-propaganda-and-common-core-state-standards/

To recreate Jim Crow, Koch funds re-segregation efforts in public education, subpar Christian academies, and voucher school frauds.
https://progressive.org/latest/like-dad-charles-koch-bircher-new-documents/

https://www.propublica.org/article/camden-alabama-segregated-schools-brown-v-board

Public Schools in the Crosshairs: Far-Right Propaganda and the Common Core State Standards

Across the United States, a fierce wave of resistance is engulfing the Common Core State Standards, threatening to derail this ambitious effort to lift student achievement and, more fundamentally, to undermine the very idea of public education.

Southern Poverty Law Center

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Nicole Parsons 1d ago

I'm now of a divided opinion on the subject of MAGA ignorance.

Blaming someone for their cognitive damage from poverty or pollution isn't fair.
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-shocking-hazards-of-louisianas-cancer-alley

Blaming someone for their parents' belief in Trump's fascist lies isn't their fault.

Living with rickets etc is sufficient consequence.

I hold out hope that MAGA voters will realize how they've been conned by the Epstein Class.

& overcome the disadvantages that were imposed upon them by greedy psychopaths.

The Shocking Hazards of Louisiana's Cancer Alley | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

New research shows that the industrial pollution—and the risk to human health—on Louisiana’s Cancer Alley have been significantly underestimated.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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unfmeghan 1d ago

@Npars01 as described in Brave New World

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Travis F W 22h ago

@Npars01 @albertojavier @michaelgemar @Wolf be careful not to conflate ignorance and mental disability.
I am choosing to interpret "the stupids" in a political context, referring to people who *reject* wisdom for sociopolitical gains.
Social context is a much bigger factor shaping incongruous world view than measurable intellectual capacity.

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AJD 21h ago

@travisfw @Npars01 @michaelgemar @Wolf absolutely. I use the same definition. And that still doesn't change the outlook.