Mar 4, 2020
Faux Nobility
Eventually, Capitalism comes down to rich people spending less time doing the actual work, and more time concocting a reasonable-sounding rationalization for being self-centered rent-seeking assholes.
Veronika Tait, PhD - Psychology Today:
Republicans and Democrats explain wealth in different ways. In a survey by Pew Research Center, participants were asked why a person is rich. The majority of Republicans said a person is rich because they worked harder, whereas most Democrats said that it was because they had advantages in life. On why a person is poor, most Republicans attributed it to a lack of effort, whereas the overwhelming majority of Democrats said it was because of circumstances beyond control. So which is it?
Recent findings show that only half of today’s 30-year-olds earn more than their parents. However, 90% of children born in 1940 earned more than their parents. Rather than the ‘rags to riches’ fairytale so many of us want to believe in, opportunities vary widely depending on the occupations of one's parents. Researcher Michael Hout found that social mobility is far from the norm.
Some may argue that the current generation experiences lower ambition and greater entitlement compared to generations past. However, the data indicates that millennials earn 20% less than baby boomers did at the same stage of life, despite achieving higher levels of education. While business leaders work hard, it’s difficult to defend the jump in the ratio of pay between a company’s CEO and their average worker at 30:1 in 1978, skyrocketing to 299:1 in 2014.
- and -
With ideals of meritocracy reinforced in American culture, it is tempting to assume that those who are wealthy have worked hard and fairly earned their affluence. But that wouldn’t tell the whole story. One study from 2017 found that 60% of wealth is inherited rather than worked for. There are also stories of executives exploiting workers, such as Jeff Bezos, who recently purchased the most expensive home in California and whose workers reported peeing in plastic bottles because they could not use the bathroom during their shift.
Some advantages had by the successful are less visible. For example, I worked hard to receive academic scholarships and ultimately earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology with no debt. However, it would be unfair for me to not also acknowledge my own privilege at play in my accomplishments. My parents never handed me a wad of cash, but they did raise me with clean water and sanitary living conditions, adequate nutrition, a stable environment, a strong support system, quality healthcare, and a lack of childhood trauma.
Evidence suggests that simply having wealth, whether earned or by luck, increases one’s justification for it. Also known as the Just-World Fallacy, those who are on top of the social ladder, that is, those with money, power, and influence, believe the world is just. Those in the middle think the world is somewhat just, and those at the bottom believe the world is unjust.
Researcher Paul Piff cleverly demonstrated this by giving some participants a clear advantage in a game of Monopoly such as giving them extra money. When he asked participants why they (inevitably) won, they described how they had made smart decisions, and downplayed their privileged position.
Those who believe the world is just, that is, believe you get what you work for, are more likely to justify inequality and victim-blame. If those who are wealthy are automatically seen as good, it is assumed that the poor must have done something to deserve their misfortune.
Veronika Tait, PhD - Psychology Today:
Republicans and Democrats explain wealth in different ways. In a survey by Pew Research Center, participants were asked why a person is rich. The majority of Republicans said a person is rich because they worked harder, whereas most Democrats said that it was because they had advantages in life. On why a person is poor, most Republicans attributed it to a lack of effort, whereas the overwhelming majority of Democrats said it was because of circumstances beyond control. So which is it?
Recent findings show that only half of today’s 30-year-olds earn more than their parents. However, 90% of children born in 1940 earned more than their parents. Rather than the ‘rags to riches’ fairytale so many of us want to believe in, opportunities vary widely depending on the occupations of one's parents. Researcher Michael Hout found that social mobility is far from the norm.
Some may argue that the current generation experiences lower ambition and greater entitlement compared to generations past. However, the data indicates that millennials earn 20% less than baby boomers did at the same stage of life, despite achieving higher levels of education. While business leaders work hard, it’s difficult to defend the jump in the ratio of pay between a company’s CEO and their average worker at 30:1 in 1978, skyrocketing to 299:1 in 2014.
- and -
With ideals of meritocracy reinforced in American culture, it is tempting to assume that those who are wealthy have worked hard and fairly earned their affluence. But that wouldn’t tell the whole story. One study from 2017 found that 60% of wealth is inherited rather than worked for. There are also stories of executives exploiting workers, such as Jeff Bezos, who recently purchased the most expensive home in California and whose workers reported peeing in plastic bottles because they could not use the bathroom during their shift.
Some advantages had by the successful are less visible. For example, I worked hard to receive academic scholarships and ultimately earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology with no debt. However, it would be unfair for me to not also acknowledge my own privilege at play in my accomplishments. My parents never handed me a wad of cash, but they did raise me with clean water and sanitary living conditions, adequate nutrition, a stable environment, a strong support system, quality healthcare, and a lack of childhood trauma.
Evidence suggests that simply having wealth, whether earned or by luck, increases one’s justification for it. Also known as the Just-World Fallacy, those who are on top of the social ladder, that is, those with money, power, and influence, believe the world is just. Those in the middle think the world is somewhat just, and those at the bottom believe the world is unjust.
Researcher Paul Piff cleverly demonstrated this by giving some participants a clear advantage in a game of Monopoly such as giving them extra money. When he asked participants why they (inevitably) won, they described how they had made smart decisions, and downplayed their privileged position.
Those who believe the world is just, that is, believe you get what you work for, are more likely to justify inequality and victim-blame. If those who are wealthy are automatically seen as good, it is assumed that the poor must have done something to deserve their misfortune.
Sarah Kendzior:"When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live."
Mar 3, 2020
This New America
We're living in a new America now - not a nation of laws, but a nation of, "make me".
"I do what I want" is our new national motto. Right and Wrong have become fungible. There's no honor in the way we're doing things.
Which is why it's the perfect atmosphere for a Donald Trump.
This is not a guy who does what's right because it's the right thing to do. And he doesn't restrain himself from doing what's wrong simply because it's wrong and people shouldn't do it.
Trump will sign on the dotted line and then have no problem reneging when it comes time to settle up.
The approach is that he'll do what he's promised to do only if his lawyers convince him that your lawyer's can force him to do it.
So notice how he's constantly going after the courts. He's trying to bring social pressure against specific judges in order to sway their decisions.
And he's getting lots of help from Mitch McConnell, who's been very busy stacking the federal bench with ideologues who have no real function other than to find ways to agree with the Daddy Staters.
This shit gets worse until Trump is forced out of office, but then we have to concentrate on moving against the other elements of the Daddy State - which, conveniently enough, happen to be largely Republican, so we keep hammering away at the GOP until the "moderates" can get back in the saddle over there.
"I do what I want" is our new national motto. Right and Wrong have become fungible. There's no honor in the way we're doing things.
Which is why it's the perfect atmosphere for a Donald Trump.
This is not a guy who does what's right because it's the right thing to do. And he doesn't restrain himself from doing what's wrong simply because it's wrong and people shouldn't do it.
Trump will sign on the dotted line and then have no problem reneging when it comes time to settle up.
The approach is that he'll do what he's promised to do only if his lawyers convince him that your lawyer's can force him to do it.
So notice how he's constantly going after the courts. He's trying to bring social pressure against specific judges in order to sway their decisions.
And he's getting lots of help from Mitch McConnell, who's been very busy stacking the federal bench with ideologues who have no real function other than to find ways to agree with the Daddy Staters.
This shit gets worse until Trump is forced out of office, but then we have to concentrate on moving against the other elements of the Daddy State - which, conveniently enough, happen to be largely Republican, so we keep hammering away at the GOP until the "moderates" can get back in the saddle over there.
Mar 2, 2020
COVID-19 Update
1st, John Oliver
The worrying parts:
The virus is highly infectious, potentially nearly twice as infectious as the flu. It might be far higher, there isn’t anywhere near enough data yet.
The "R0" (the number of people who're likely to be infected by any given infected person) is thought to be between R1.4 and R3.8
And then, Adam Wren at Medium (kinda long):
Read through the bits about what to do to avoid exposure etc, and then -
The worrying parts:
The virus is highly infectious, potentially nearly twice as infectious as the flu. It might be far higher, there isn’t anywhere near enough data yet.
The "R0" (the number of people who're likely to be infected by any given infected person) is thought to be between R1.4 and R3.8
Infected people could spread the disease for up to two weeks before showing symptoms.
Some people don’t show any symptoms at all and could infect an enormous number of people.In The Atlantic, Marc Lipsitch, a leading epidemiologist at Harvard reported that “that within the coming year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19”. This was last week and while ridiculed at the time, his assumptions are now the generally accepted position among epidemiologists.
Some people don’t show any symptoms at all and could infect an enormous number of people.In The Atlantic, Marc Lipsitch, a leading epidemiologist at Harvard reported that “that within the coming year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19”. This was last week and while ridiculed at the time, his assumptions are now the generally accepted position among epidemiologists.
And try not to obsess on this kinda shit. Understand the scope of the ramifications, just don't get too hung up on the Hair-On-Fire triggers.
Assuming pretty much all of "best case scenario" data so far, here in USAmerica, Inc, it could look like this:
If 40% of the population contracts the disease = 132,000,000 people
If 20% of those require hospitalization = 26,400,000 patients (in about 800,000 available beds)
If 25% of those require ICU admission = 6,600,000 (in about 95,000 available beds)
If 2% of those with severe illness die = 132,000 dead Americans (which could be a lot closer to half a million or more)
Just the troubles we could have getting people into a bed to care for them can make the thing worse, so we have to remember that one of the big problems that can grow out of a big health problem is that the problem can often make itself worse.
Just the troubles we could have getting people into a bed to care for them can make the thing worse, so we have to remember that one of the big problems that can grow out of a big health problem is that the problem can often make itself worse.
So in addition to difficulties getting a handle on a problem where everybody kinda follows the rules and there's a strong organization with solid leadership:
- We have a fair-sized demographic that won't seek treatment - because they can't afford it, or they don't have access to facilities, or because of personal denial - and that will mean a wider-spread contagion
- Some of the healthcare workers will succumb to the disease, and that number will be increased if (when) the system becomes overwhelmed
- Consumable Resources (masks, oxygen, syringes, etc) will run short because the disease will remove some of the people from the supply train
 |
| And as always, look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp |
Things Have Changed
The Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863
 |
| Let's just say it didn't make southerners real happy |
And then:
Thomas Jefferson April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826
WaPo:
(Charlottesville) -- His name still adorns much of the city, from the public library to a private winery. And from the foot of a mountain dedicated to him, his statue still gazes out over the university he founded.
But lately, in ways both small and seismic, Thomas Jefferson’s town has started to feel like it belongs to someone else.
For the first time since World War II, Charlottesville won’t honor the Founding Father’s birthday this spring. Instead, on Tuesday, the city will celebrate the demise of the institution with which Jefferson increasingly has become associated: slavery.
Liberation and Freedom Day, as the new holiday is known, will commemorate when Union troops arrived here on March 3, 1865, and freed the enslaved people who made up a majority of Charlottesville’s residents.
“This marks a wholesale shift in our understanding of the community’s history,” said Jalane Schmidt, a professor at the University of Virginia who helped organize the events, which, despite the name, stretch all week. “To take Thomas Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar and add this is a big deal.”
His name still adorns much of the city, from the public library to a private winery. And from the foot of a mountain dedicated to him, his statue still gazes out over the university he founded.
But lately, in ways both small and seismic, Thomas Jefferson’s town has started to feel like it belongs to someone else.
For the first time since World War II, Charlottesville won’t honor the Founding Father’s birthday this spring. Instead, on Tuesday, the city will celebrate the demise of the institution with which Jefferson increasingly has become associated: slavery.
Liberation and Freedom Day, as the new holiday is known, will commemorate when Union troops arrived here on March 3, 1865, and freed the enslaved people who made up a majority of Charlottesville’s residents.
“This marks a wholesale shift in our understanding of the community’s history,” said Jalane Schmidt, a professor at the University of Virginia who helped organize the events, which, despite the name, stretch all week. “To take Thomas Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar and add this is a big deal.”
But lately, in ways both small and seismic, Thomas Jefferson’s town has started to feel like it belongs to someone else.
For the first time since World War II, Charlottesville won’t honor the Founding Father’s birthday this spring. Instead, on Tuesday, the city will celebrate the demise of the institution with which Jefferson increasingly has become associated: slavery.
Liberation and Freedom Day, as the new holiday is known, will commemorate when Union troops arrived here on March 3, 1865, and freed the enslaved people who made up a majority of Charlottesville’s residents.
“This marks a wholesale shift in our understanding of the community’s history,” said Jalane Schmidt, a professor at the University of Virginia who helped organize the events, which, despite the name, stretch all week. “To take Thomas Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar and add this is a big deal.”
His name still adorns much of the city, from the public library to a private winery. And from the foot of a mountain dedicated to him, his statue still gazes out over the university he founded.
But lately, in ways both small and seismic, Thomas Jefferson’s town has started to feel like it belongs to someone else.
For the first time since World War II, Charlottesville won’t honor the Founding Father’s birthday this spring. Instead, on Tuesday, the city will celebrate the demise of the institution with which Jefferson increasingly has become associated: slavery.
Liberation and Freedom Day, as the new holiday is known, will commemorate when Union troops arrived here on March 3, 1865, and freed the enslaved people who made up a majority of Charlottesville’s residents.
“This marks a wholesale shift in our understanding of the community’s history,” said Jalane Schmidt, a professor at the University of Virginia who helped organize the events, which, despite the name, stretch all week. “To take Thomas Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar and add this is a big deal.”
Across the country, especially in the South, communities are arguing over how to tell more inclusive and accurate histories.
Nowhere has this clash been more fraught than in Charlottesville, where parks have been renamed, then renamed again, streets have been re-christened, and stickers bearing white supremacist slogans go up as quickly as activists can remove them.
It's not that anyone wants to get rid of Jefferson - nobody's trying to "expunge" any history. In fact, the efforts to remove Confederate monuments and to change the story in order to include relevant details, are actually about stopping the expungement of those details - the parts of our history that make us uncomfortable.
Jefferson had greatness in him. He did some awesomely awesome things. But just like all the other founders - just like all of the rest of us - he had his shortcomings.
I'm not afraid to learn as much as possible about my heroes - warts and all.
Today's Tweet
Fourth time's the charm.
Can’t. stop. watching. pic.twitter.com/ED5BLZ7myv— Tomthunkit™ (@TomthunkitsMind) March 1, 2020
via RexChapman 01
Feb 29, 2020
Today's Today
Kid's got some ups.
Happy #LeapDay at least someone still has upward mobility heyo pic.twitter.com/IcQAvI3Vj5— Flan Bites (@flanbites) February 29, 2020
About That "Deal"
Max Boot, WaPo:
Taliban and U.S. representatives signed on Saturday what has been described as a peace deal. Beware the treachery of labels. Just as Magritte’s painted pipe was not really a pipe, so this vaunted “peace deal” is not really a peace deal.
It has been heartening to see a steep reduction in violence over the past week — a U.S. precondition for signing the deal — but there is no agreement on a permanent cease-fire, much less a resolution of all the issues that divide the democratically elected Afghan government from the Taliban. What was signed on Saturday is an agreement to try to reach an agreement. To get even this far, the United States had to drop its long-standing demand for intra-Afghan negotiations to precede a U.S. troop drawdown. Now the Taliban will enter the talks, scheduled to take place in Oslo, in a stronger position after having already achieved their chief demand — a timetable for U.S. withdrawal within 14 months.
I envision three potential scenarios for what happens next: good, bad and ugly.
The good scenario would look like Colombia. After more than 50 years of war and four years of peace talks, the government and the FARC insurgency signed a peace deal in 2016. The rebels agreed to lay down their arms and to be reintegrated into civilian society. There has been some fraying of the accords since then — with accusations of violations from both sides — but the deal has largely held. The civil war has not reignited. The murder rate reached an all-time low in 2017, and although it has increased slightly in the past two years, Colombia remains far more peaceful than in the past.
The bad scenario would look like Lebanon. That country’s ruinous civil war began in 1975 and ended in 1989 with the signing of the Taif Accord. This agreement modified power-sharing among the major sectarian groups — Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Druze — and its implementation was overseen by Syrian occupiers. The Syrian troops finally left in 2005, but the peace deal has largely held — albeit at a significant price. While Lebanon is technically a democracy, real power is held by Hezbollah, which is both a political movement and a radical Islamist militia. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has not imposed its fundamentalist views on more secular Lebanese people: Women are free to walk around Beirut without head coverings and alcohol flows freely in restaurants. But Hezbollah dictates who rules, and it uses its Lebanese strongholds to project power into nearby countries and across the world.
The ugly scenario would look like South Vietnam. The 1973 Paris Peace Accords brought an end to the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam, but North Vietnam began violating its terms at once. Two years later, the weakened state of South Vietnam was overrun by a North Vietnamese blitzkrieg. America’s abandoned allies had to flee or be consigned to brutal “reeducation” camps.
Max rates the probabilities for success in reverse order:
- Ugly
- Bad
- Good
I think the only thing we can be pretty sure of is that we'll see the whole thing return to a kind of Status Quo Ante - more or less the same as it was before we went in there and started fucking with it.
And that's pretty much always how it works out when we take on these enormously stupid projects.
The lesson we never seem to learn is that we shouldn't do this shit just because we can.
And Colin Powell's Pottery Barn rule gets truer and truer: You break, you own it.
Feb 28, 2020
Today's Tweet
Incels - whaddaya gonna do?
Pornhub, YouPorn and XXXVideo are reporting unusually high traffic coming from the Alexandria and Fort Washington area which coincidentally is where CPAC is currently being held.— YS (@NYinLA2121) February 27, 2020
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