Simple Minded wrote: ↑Wed Nov 04, 2020 4:56 am
I don't recall how many years ago, but when the legislators starting discussing the concepts of hate crime and hate speech, I knew the concept of Free Speech was on its last legs. Also that punishment of hate crimes would morph into efforts to rid the world of one's personally preferred versions of Boogeymen.
As Viktor Frankl said "Between stimulus and response, man has the ability to choose!" The very concept of hate speech means the receiver is not considered responsible for his reaction, but the transmitter is to be held responsible for the reaction of the receiver. Seems like such a simple concept, one that is easily explained to a child, but impossible to explain to one who wants to wallow in their chosen version of "butt-hurt!"
Both of the above are not at all surprising in view of the growth of the anti-individual/anti-personal responsibility zeitgeist of the last two or three decades.
Regarding campaigns, with two candidates that has been in the limelight for decades, it is hard for me to believe that most potential voters did not make up their minds about who to vote for many months or even a couple years ago.
But, prior and post election, experts will say, (probably to continue to support the industry) "Candidate D lost state X due to their not spending more time in state X during the last two weeks of the campaign.
I suspect pollsters study arithmetic at the same schools as Climate Scientists.
Oddly enough, COVID seems to have made people around here even nicer and more friendly than before.
I suspect, contrary to the prognostications of all the Doomsayers, the sun will rise tomorrow no matter who wins.
Hello again SM,
I live on an island and therefore spend a lot of time on the water going back and forth to the mainland. Sometimes it's on our regular ferry service; other times it's by water taxi.
Since summer masks have been required while travelling and, where possible, we're instructed to keep two metres (six feet) apart. This makes conversation difficult, especially on the water taxis because their engines are LOUD. I also used to interact with people at the ferry landings a lot. This is now more difficult, again mainly because of the damn masks and the six foot rule. (I'm not an anti-masker; I'm just pointing out some consequences).
It's also the case that since covid we've had a large influx of people here from outside the area. Doc reported something similar. I think the population has doubled over the last six months, that despite the fact that many old-timers have decided it's too much work to live here and moved away or simply passed away. Some of us are still here, like the neighbour who gave me a couple of big bags of apples. It was a good apple year. I even had a small crop of my own. That tree grows out of pure granite. There's no soil here, except what we create or somehow bring over here. But I digress. Can one digress from a ramble?
Now and then you've mentioned your family, not always in flattering terms. I guess I relate because although there are some real achievers in my extended family most (not all) of my closest relatives, especially the younger generations, are, well, lazy. I have a nephew who will soon be forty-one years old who has never worked a day in his life. Don't ask me how he does it. I don't even want to know. I gather this is not all that unusual. Guys like him spend days, months, and years watching videos and playing online computer games.
Well, maybe I shouldn't be too judgmental because I'm thinking how different life was for me. Soon after I left home my partner and myself struck out for the middle of nowhere, built a cabin and lived rough. Later I returned to civilization, got my Masters Degree, and pursued a professional career. However, I never lost my taste for the wild places, took early retirement, and once again decided to do the absolutely crazy thing of starting from scratch, clearing a patch of forest in a place that no one but a nut case could even find (this was before Google Earth) and began building again. You can't teach an old dog new tricks: I'm still building when I should probably be in a rocking chair.
What does this have to do with the U.S. election? Only that it's a whole different world now. Is it even possible to go without an internet connection these days, much less collect water from a creek?
If I allow myself to think about it too much, and especially because I've read so much history, I don't think this can end well. But maybe I'm promoting a lost cause and worrying about something that couldn't do anything worse than kill me, and what the f__, I'm getting on in years anyway. It's the young ones that will have to deal with the consequences.
