It’s In Their Plan [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on March 31, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Wisconsin is evenly split between the parties, but when Republicans control the legislature and the supreme court, they suppress voting and heavily gerrymander the state in their favor…Currently, the state gerrymander gives Republicans 75% of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives although voting in 2024 was virtually dead even.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, March 28, 2025

Wisconsin is a perfect example, a fractal, of what literally ails our nation. In brief: republicans do not believe in democracy. If republicans actually believed in democracy, they’d spend less time suppressing the vote, gerrymandering, misinforming, fearmongering – and more time bringing relevant ideas to democratic governance. They’d earn votes rather than stifle voters.

If they were honest with what they actually represent, they’d never win an election.

The current occupant of the White House knows he cannot legislate his Project 2025 agenda. It is so wildly unpopular that he disavowed it until after he won the election. Now, in a fit of unconstitutionality, he jams it through by executive order. He wraps it in a thick veil of lie and misinformation.

If you are paying attention you’ll note that republican representatives in Congress are not showing up to their town halls. They are afraid to face their angry constituents and accept responsibility for their (in)action. And, since taking responsibility is not in their wheelhouse, they’ve invented yet another fantasy to explain the discord: the evil libs are paying people to rabble-rouse.

At least the republicans are consistent up and down the food chain. “It’s all a witch hunt”. “Not my fault.” “Never heard of it”.

The nation’s pet oligarch is coming to town. He’s trying to buy the election for the open state supreme court seat. “Musk has told voters that if Crawford wins, “then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats.” Not only has Musk said he is going to Wisconsin to speak before the election, but also he is handing out checks to voters who sign a petition against “activist judges,” a suggestion that it would not be fair to unskew the Republican gerrymander. Last night, Musk advertised a contest that would award two voters a million dollars each, with the condition that the winners had to have already voted.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson

To be clear, in the current republican world view, an “activist judge” is one that does their job, interpreting and clarifying the law, serving as a check-and-balance to the other branches of government. An “activist judge” upholds their oath to the Constitution.

Paying voters for their votes to maintain gerrymandered maps is a well-worn-page from their playbook. It’s also an act of desperation. Again, if they believed in democracy, if they actually believed in our system of governance, they would attempt to win on principle rather than with a festival of misinformation and blatant corruption.

Whoops! I forgot. Their weak man in the White House is dismantling our democracy in favor of fascism. In an authoritarian government, a judge’s job is to facilitate the criminality of the leadership so why should it be a surprise that the oligarch is buying votes for the republican candidate for the state Supreme Court?

It occurs to me that this may be our last free and fair election. Voting matters more now than ever. After Tuesday we’ll either have a court that fights corruption and attempts to preserve our democracy – or one that plays for payola. On Tuesday, we’ll either send a message to the silent republican majority in congress and prompt them to apply some brakes to the fascist takeover of our country or we’ll greenlight the gaslighters, watch as they comply with the weak man and eliminate our right to vote altogether. It is, after all, what the weak man promised: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Christians on Friday that if they vote for him this November, “in four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.” ~ Reuters, July 27, 2024

Voting is unique to a democracy. Fascism, not so much. They’re not even trying to hide it. It is, after all, in their plan.

read Kerri’s blogpost about VOTE

http://www.kerrianddavid.com

likesharesupportcommentsubscribe…thankyou.

Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

What Of Kindness? [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on February 19, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kindness is not difficult to share within a friend-group or inner-circle. Kindness is easy with the people that you know. It’s the reason I’ve never met a person that did not consider themself kind. It’s the reason I consider myself kind. I can point to examples.

But what of kindness to those outside of the circle-of-the-known?

Lately I wonder if we can consider ourselves kind when our kindness is reserved; selective; picky.

This morning I read of a farmer who voted for the despot. He is astonished. With the sudden loss of USAID, the elimination of his market, he is losing his family farm. My first thought was not compassionate. My first thought was not kind. “You’re the only one who’s surprised,” I spat. “Idiot”.

What of kindness?

The farmer has been the recipient of government subsidies. He has had FEMA support after natural disasters. He is a veteran with benefits. His parents are on social security and Medicare. He has friends receiving Medicaid. Now, he fears the loss of these programs. Before the election he wore his red hat, pumped his fist and voted for the end of government handouts. He saw no reason to support childcare for single mothers so they might go to work. He did not see himself as a receiver-of-help.

He didn’t want his taxes benefiting those who do not look like him. Those outside of his circle.

For years the farmer has been misled by the fox. And yet, I can’t help but acknowledge that he has participated in his ignorance. He could have asked a question. He could have changed the channel. The despot made no attempt to hide his plan. He was not a stealth candidate. Did the farmer not understand the word “tariff”? Did he not read Project 2025 and the cuts it promised? He lives in the age of readily available and easily accessed information.

Was he too lazy to care? Was he truly blinded by a campaign of foxy-lies? He’s certainly been steeped in an ugly boogeyman of US and THEM. He’s been choked on fear-tales, encouraged to paint himself as a victim of diversity-equity-inclusion. Might he have challenged what he was being force-fed? Yes. But he didn’t. He agreed with it.

Now, he will pay the piper for his choice. We all will. He voted for it. He chose it. Now he will experience it.

What of kindness?

As he discovers his folly, as he meets the stark truth of his choice, does he really deserve to lose his family farm?

What of taking responsibility for the consequences of his choices and actions? He voted for hatred. He voted for indecency and amorality. He voted for misogyny and bigotry. It was not hidden from him. He posted signs on his fence proclaiming his proud allegiance to the despot.

Now, he and his family must rely on the social safety net that he has demonized as socialist. He voted for the safety net to be removed. Now that he needs it he has changed his tune. Soon, he fears, there will be nothing to break his fall.

Hopefully, he will learn – as will we all – that THEM is US. Before we are conservative or progressive, we are citizens of this nation. Together. WE. And we are a diverse community.

Friendly. Generous. Considerate. Descriptors of kindness. Perhaps, through his revelation, when he understands he is – and has been – the recipient of kindness, when helping hands (again) reach and assist him to stand, to survive, he will be more willing and able to extend kindness to others, to people who do not look like him.

Perhaps he will understand that a government is capable of helping all people to rise just as it is now crippling the majority for the sake of a few.

Perhaps in the future he will vote for kindness and equity that extends beyond his inner-circle. Kindness, he will learn, is a crop that is planted and cultivated. To reap the harvest, to experience it, one must first vote for it. One must first choose it. And then pass it on.

read Kerri’s blogpost about KINDNESS

likesharecommentsupportsubscribebekind…thankyou.

Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Perspective | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

An End Thought [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on December 2, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

“I will not win all of my battles and neither will you. But if we do our best with intelligence, compassion and love, that will be enough – it has to be enough. And, that way, though each outcome may not be what we wanted or hoped for, at least each day we can be proud of who we are.” ~ Elizabeth Glaser

As we continue our dedicated house-clean and rearranging-fest, part of our campaign of distraction from the ugly turn of events in our nation, we found this framed quote in a closet. We removed the quote from its frame and put it in a special spot. The frame is en route to Goodwill.

We kept the quote because it exactly identifies the source of our discord. “…if we do our best with intelligence, compassion and love, that will be enough…” As a nation, we did not do our best. Compassion and love are nowhere visible in the despot-wanna-be and his maga-cult. And as for intelligence…well, I’ve written enough on that score. Intelligence fled the nation, red-faced with embarrassment.

The outcome of the election was most certainly not what we wanted or hoped for – and that is not the heart-of-the-matter. The issue is this: as my dear friend MM wrote following the election, “This is the first time in my life that I’m ashamed to be an American.” Here, here.

We did not do our best. In fact, we forwarded the worst. Sans compassion. Sans love. Sans intelligence. A rapist. A sexual predator. A felon. A reality tv figure, six-times bankrupt – posing as a businessman. Amoral. A racist. A blatant grifter. And demonstrably in mental decline.

Joan taught us a new word: Kakistocracy: government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state. One need only take a look at the cabinet appointments. “A junk drawer,” as someone quipped. Another wrote, “It’s a clown car.” It’s cringe-worthy.

We bumped into the other Joan at the store. She shared that her “philosophical friends” suggested that nations must go through periods like this in order to grow, a national splitting-of-the-tree-bark. I hope that is the case but, honestly, I don’t think it is. I don’t think Joan believed it either.

Like us, she’s scratching the scorched commons for understanding, wondering what happened to the intelligence, love, and compassion of many in her community; her neighbors, family and friends. Like us, mortified by the people who voted for hate, who turned a blind eye to indecency and all that the tyrant and his budding oligarchs represent – she does not want in-any-way to be included in any form of “we”.

Kerri played this brief instagram video while I was wrestling with an end-thought. This says it all [close the “see more” pop up and make sure to unmute the sound]

read Kerri’s blogpost about WITH OR WITHOUT

like. share. support. subscribe. comment…thank you.

Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

For Real [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab.]

Posted on November 16, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

What is real? It’s not so easy to answer this very simple question these days. With A-I manufacturing videos and images that seem real, with foreign interference in our elections, with a pathological liar about to once again take the national bully pulpit and a propaganda fox willing to magnify his hooey, with people believing tik-tok, X and instagram are sources of news…it is damn hard to know what is real. It’s damn hard to believe the dull-witted-ness in ascendence.

Who is real? This is a much more complex question. A heartbreaking question.

Post election we’re everywhere seeing and hearing from the maga-madcaps the phrase , “Family over politics”. Yet, a vote for the despot-elect was a vote against my son who is gay. A vote for the rapist-in-chief was a vote against my daughter’s rights. It was a vote against my wife’s rights. She was raped so it’s not a small thing to her that half the nation, including family and friends, seem okay to look the other way. To minimize his multiple sexual assaults as locker room talk. She feels deeply in her body – her soul – the national endorsement of rape. The national assent of sexual violence.

Every time she sees the phrase,”Family over politics,” Kerri hisses, “Back-at-you!” Real family, real friends would have thought to protect our children’s health and well-being before voting against them. They would have thought to protect our nation from an avowed fascist with retribution fantasies; they would have thought before voting against basic morality. They would have had the simple dignity to consider the sexual predation, the pathological lying and gross indecency of their candidate. Instead, they cheered. They voted for it. It’s left us nauseous with the question, “Are you for real?”

They put politics (if you can call it that) over family (if you can call it that). For real.

read Kerri’s blogpost about WHAT IS REAL

smack-dab © 2024 kerrianddavid.com

like. share. comment. support. subscribe…thank you.

Filed under: Family, smack-dab | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

One Basic Choice [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on November 2, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

I heard this phrase this morning: supra partisan. Transcending party. I heard the “supra partisan” phrase relative to 400 historians – of all political backgrounds and stripes – endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Their message: the urgency of the moment requires all of us to transcend party and vote for country. We’ve not seen a threat to our existence as a democracy like this since 1860.

Their statement is not hyperbole. The threat posed to our democracy by maga and their aspiring dictator is undeniable. It is historic. It is on our doorstep.

In maga-land, the patterns and lessons of history are threatening precisely because they reveal maga as a fascist movement. It is the reason that their Project 2025 blueprint includes the elimination of the Department of Education. Currently, they are banning books and waging a war on the nation’s libraries. They desire a willing and ignorant citizenry who will without question give over their rights – give over their minds – and follow the lies and whims of the great leader. No debate. No opposition. No questioning. No choice. No thinking. No voice.

No freedom.

A familiar quote comes to mind:

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana

This election should be a no-brainer but, alas, it is not. On Tuesday we will demonstrate that a majority of us have paid attention, learned from history, and vote to preserve our democracy. Or, that a majority of us chooses to ignore history and willingly, intentionally, vote to goose-step into the well-worn and well-known fascist horror story.

It all boils down to one very basic choice.

read Kerri’s blogpost about ONE CHOICE

smack-dab © 2024 kerrianddavid.com

like. support. share. subscribe. comment…thank you.

Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

“We Have A Problem.” [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on October 1, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

Yesterday I opened the door to the basement and heard a waterfall – not the sound you want to hear coming from your basement. I knew it was a waterfall because two years ago I opened the basement door, heard the sound and asked myself, “What’s that sound?” I’m sharing this with you as proof-positive that I am capable of learning and retaining what I learn. This time, I knew without doubt – because I remembered – the cause of the sound. Waterfall.

The first time I heard the waterfall-in-the-basement-sound I could not imagine that the sound was water pouring from the ceiling. It was inconceivable since it had never happened before. I was ankle deep in water before I allowed the penny to drop. That’s the great thing about learning: greater efficiency in understanding the situation, fewer steps to right-action. This time I didn’t need to investigate. I simply turned and announced to Kerri, “We have a problem.” We knew exactly what to do. We knew exactly what our day held in store.

It’s a line. Past experience is useful in present and future choices. To ignore past experience – to ignore what we know – is called ignorance. I thought about the line between knowing and head-in-the-sand as I stared into the sky. Sometimes it’s a curse to see all-the-world as a metaphor. We stopped on the path so Kerri could take some photos of the storm line over the lake. It was distinct. The light behind the dark clouds was startling, hopeful.

Here’s what I thought while staring at the line in the sky: we had four miserable years with the maga-candidate as president. He left us a bloody mess. His time in office was a daily festival of chaos. He lied so liberally that media organizations initiated a daily count of his lies and instituted fact-checkers as a regular part of their reporting. He mismanaged the greatest health crisis in a century costing thousands of lives. He was impeached twice (side note: watch the new documentary From Russia With Lev and ask yourself how it was possible that he was protected by his party from impeachment).

Each day I ask myself, “How is it possible that people do not remember?” Of course, I know the answer – I’ve heard this sound before. We remember though many are choosing to ignore what they know. They feel it necessary to step into the ankle deep water again before admitting that there is a problem.

We are on the eve of an election. The maga-candidate is like a waterfall in the basement, seeping into and destroying everything. We’ve opened this door before. We know without doubt the sound. We’ve heard it before – we’ve heard it all before. The lies. The threats. The fearmongering. The blaming. We need not descend into chaos to know what’s happening – what will happen if he is elected.

That’s the great thing about learning: greater efficiency in understanding the situation, fewer steps to right-action.

Vote to stop the waterfall in the basement. We’ve already learned what will happen if we don’t.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE LINE

like. share. support. subscribe. comment…thank you.

Filed under: Metaphor, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Simply Say, “Enough.” [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on September 2, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

She snapped. I watched it happen, the moment when there was no more room for tolerance, no more space for grace. Had she spoken she simply would have said, “Enough”.

You can’t make up this stuff.

A hot mic on the Access Hollywood bus should have ended it.

Being found liable for sexual assault (rape) by a jury of his peers should have ended it.

Being accused of sexual assault and misconduct by 25 women should have ended it.

His recent repost of repugnant tweets about Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris should end it. But it won’t. As a survivor of sexual abuse she’d had enough. She snapped.

Misogyny in the United States is not only alive and well, it is being celebrated by at least half of the voting population. The man-who-would-be-king has no bottom to his baseness. How is it possible that so many are so willing to follow him into the pigswill? How is it possible that this miscreant* is the person the red hats have chosen to emulate, to support, to uphold as an example for their children, as the standard bearer to lead them into the future?

In a recent interview James Carville warned that this miscreant “under-polls” meaning that the people who support him are ashamed to admit that they support him and his reprehensible views. So they hide their support. They mask their truth. I suppose being so ashamed of your beliefs that you lie to conceal them implies at least some small shred of self-awareness. A gutted morality. Or perhaps it is plain cowardice.

Misogyny: the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy.

Running a campaign on hatred. Contempt. Amplifying prejudice and sexism. In other words, the miscreant and his hate-party are empty of vision and ethics. This paucity of heart and thought leaves them with no recourse but to demean others – as it seems their single goal is to maintain at-all-cost the rusty social roles of a collapsing patriarchy.

Strumming the strings of those who fear equality, whipping up a crowd terrified that they will come up short on an even playing field.

This is what I wanted to tell her when she snapped: drowning men push all others underwater to elevate themselves.

Those who support the miscreant, like the miscreant himself, are drowning. It’s easy to see: working to restrict voters, gerrymandering maps, desperate to change voter laws and procedures so they can tilt the outcome in their favor no matter the result of the election. The miscreant has proclaimed that, once in office, he will “fix things” so we need never vote again. It’s the statement of a sad little man and his party swallowing water, afraid to compete, afraid to say, “This is what we believe.” (see Project 2025 and the lengths they now go to disavow it). It betrays a fundamental disregard – and disdain – for the system they proclaim to protect. If they truly believed in our system of governance, if they truly believed in the values they purport to conserve, they’d not fear an even playing field. They’d defend it. They’d welcome it. They’d arrive at the table with a fierce dedication to protect the right of all citizens to freely vote. They would not tolerate so crude and base a man as their leader.

If his party will not hold him accountable or at least condemn him, if the law -as it seems – is incapable of holding him accountable, then the voters must. We need to end it.

Never mind the impeachments, the felony convictions, the dozens of indictments awaiting trial, the evidence-free claims and incessant whining of an election he lost, the violent attempt to stop the transfer of power…with the once-stiff spine of the republican party now a swampy puddle on the floor, it’s time for this nation to snap and say “Enough.”

His repulsive rhetoric is not locker room talk. His party’s “boys will be boys” excuse needs once-and-for-all to be swept into the dustbin of history with the miscreant and his privileged-hate-speak.

There is no excuse for misogyny. It’s way past time for the old boys to man up and learn to play on an even and equal playing field. American woman are not stupid. And that’s exactly what the old boys are afraid of.

*miscreant (noun): a person who behaves badly or in a way that breaks the law.

read Kerri’s blogpost about MISOGYNY

like. share. support. comment. subscribe…thank you.

Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

It Takes Some Courage [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on July 23, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

I woke up this morning with this song running through my mind:

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, but she doesn’t have a lot to say
Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, but she changes from day to day
I wanna tell her that I love her a lot, but I gotta get a belly full of wine
Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, someday, I’m gonna make her mine
Oh yeah, someday I’m gonna make her mine.

It’s the last track on the Beatles album, Abbey Road. A 23 second ditty. I haven’t listened to the album in a decade. So, why was Her Majesty running amok in my dream life? I don’t know. The rest of the dream faded so all context was lost. It’s enough to make me “gotta get a belly full of wine”.

Sense-making is a product of context. For instance, this photograph of the sun piercing the clouds is nice but becomes much more meaningful when placed in context: we were under a tornado warning when Kerri suddenly grabbed her camera and ran outside. “Hope!” she said in response to my puzzled stare. Now, this is and always will be a photograph of unlikely hope.

Context is everything. For instance, the election-was-stolen-lie only gains traction in the red hat community if the context is ignored. Context: 62 lawsuits were brought contesting the results of the election and nearly all were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Liars routinely attempt to insert a fabricated context in place of an actual context. “The election was stolen,” is on the same eye-rolling-level as “The dog ate my homework!”

It only takes a question or two to pop the wildest fabrication.

Of course, one must first want to pop the fabrication.

We are witness to the greatest pathological liar of our times spinning new and fantastic contexts for his question-free believers. If the actual truth doesn’t match their group-hallucination they cry in unison, “Fake News!” Fake news is a go-to context akin to “The dog ate my homework.” It covers a lot of missing homework. It stops the most basic questions. It’s intellectually and spiritually lazy.

We are under a metaphoric tornado warning. I hold a small hope that a few of the red hats might one day wrinkle their brow at the outrageous baseless assertions they are fed and wonder if the dross they are eating is actually true. In that moment, it’s possible that they might ask a question or two. It’s possible they might seek context beyond the group-lie.

It takes some courage to ask questions, especially when it is unpopular to ask them.

It’s never too late to pop the fabrication of a pathological liar. It’s never too late to come back to your senses. It’s never too late to ask yourself, “What was I thinking?” It’s never too late to find your courage. I imagine it would feel like the sun piercing through threatening clouds.

An unlikely hope.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SUN THROUGH CLOUDS

like. share. comment. support. subscribe…thank you.

Filed under: Metaphor, Perspective, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Ash On The Sills [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on July 20, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

I was excited when I learned that David Neiwert was living near me in Seattle. I was preparing to direct a play, a docudrama by Steven Dietz called God’s Country. The play explores the rise of the white supremacist movement in the USA. David is a journalist and has authored several books on domestic terrorism – one entitled In God’s Country. That’s how I became aware of him. He was generous with his time, asked many questions to better help serve me as I shaped my thoughts on the production. He was not only a valuable source of information, he was deeply caring, kind – a guide. I believe David, through his work, was-and-is trying to sound an alarm for the nightmare in which we now find ourselves.

One of his images has stayed with me. Ash on the sills. I hope you take the time to read it – if only the introduction that tells the story of the image. It will stay with you, too. It may prompt you to respond – with your vote for democracy and against white nationalism – to the alarm that David has been ringing for a long time. At least I hope so.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE NIGHTMARE

smack-dab © 2024 kerrianddavid.com

share. share. share. share. share.

Filed under: Metaphor, smack-dab | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Dear Momma [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on July 15, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

Dear Momma,

I was awake most of the night thinking about our phone conversation. Something was troubling me and as I lay awake I realized what it was – so I want to share a few of my midnight thoughts with you. [It is important enough that I decided to change my post for today – something concerning crowns.]

It’s best to begin at the beginning. During our call we shared two sentiments on which we are in total agreement: 1) we are afraid for the survival of our nation and 2) we think the country deserves different candidates on both sides. Since we sit on opposite sides of the political divide, I was taken aback that you had not heard of Project 2025, that you had no idea what I was talking about. That was the seed of what troubled me through the night. I wondered how something so present in my information and news streams (and conversations) was so absent in yours.

So, I need to take a step back and offer some context for what’s troubling me:

Social media is ‘smart’ – which means it ‘learns you’ – it responds to your preferences by feeding you more and more of what you like. That’s a terrific thing if you are shopping for shoes or like to see cute puppy videos. It’s a terrible thing if you want to be informed about what’s going on in the world. Your stream is fed by what you like, not by what is factual or by what may offer a differing point of view. It encases us in bubbles of agreement, in tribes of likemindedness, and we confuse shared opinion with fact or truth or what we used to call news.

Television news operates on the same principle. It’s driven by ratings – another word for ‘likes.’ As a nation we no longer seek news for its veracity, we tune in to the sources that report what we “like’ and opinions with which we agree – and disparage the sources with which we don’t agree. If you think about it, news based on agreement is, in fact, not news at all. It is entertainment meant to keep you hooked, to garner likes. It is a recipe for disaster. That is why you’ve not heard of Project 2025. Inside your bubble, you would not like what it portends. Click on the link I provided and you can read it for yourself (and, since I know you won’t – it is too long – I offer this link to a Wikipedia summary. You can also Google summaries but remember, Google will sort to what you like – so I offer this 6 minute summary from the PBS News Hour for you to watch).

Since it is not my intention to lobby for one team or the other (to change your mind – I know that is a fool’s errand) – and I know PBS is generally vilified by folks inside your bubble, I want to give you two tools or suggestions that will, if you use them, make you capable of reaching beyond the prison of ‘likes’ and check things for yourself:

First, check your media sources. Here’s an example. This is a media bias chart. It rates all media according to left/right bias and fact/propaganda reliability. Note that PBS News is high on fact reliability and in the center so is mostly without intentional bias. Fox News, on the other hand, is strong right and barely above the propaganda line. Here’s an article on media bias charts if you want to know more about them.

Second, check the truth of what you are being fed. We use Snopes.com almost every day. It’s easy to use and you simply need to type in a question and will get the latest fact-checked information. Here’s an example of a question I asked – for you to see.

Like you, I am afraid for the survival of our nation and, as we discussed, it hinges on the choice we make this coming November. In a free nation we are fortunate to go to the polls and vote for our choice. I believe with all my heart that it is not enough to go to the polls and vote based on opinion, driven by our ‘likes.’ We have the obligation – if we are truly afraid (and I am) – to reach beyond the thick wall of our bubbles, ask questions, verify answers, and find out exactly what and who we are voting for.

During our call you wondered how our nation has become so divided and politically antagonistic. It’s a great question for your community’s Situation Room conversations. My belief is that we are too comfortable inside our bubbles – agreement is easy when in a room of like-minds and easy agreement is made easier when the opposing point of view is understood as the enemy. The antidote for our divide is simple but requires us – all of us – to cease living inside our lazy bubble-reactions. Each-and-everyday, we need to take the few minutes required to check the truth of what we are being fed. To stop running our affairs on likes and easy agreement – and seek substantial truth regardless of whether or not we like it or our friends agree with it. In that direction we’ll find middle ground, compromise, and the road to a healthy national – and local – dialogue.

I love you. Thanks for considering my late night thoughts.

David

read Kerri’s blogpost about CROWNS

like. share. support. subscribe. comment…thank you.

Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Next Page »
  • buy us a coffee :-) Thank you!

  • visit the studio melange at kerrianddavid.com

  • The Seer available on Amazon.com

  • Lucy & The Waterfox is also available on Amazon.com