My biggest gripe , and my only gripe, really, with the Oil Drum, was that many of the members who posted comments failed to take into consideration the very well known fact insulting or demeaning that person's culture, ethics, personal values, religious beliefs, or political affiliations, is about as effective as fighting a fire by throwing gasoline on it.
So we won't be badmouthing anybody here, excepting individuals and institutions who are on my own personal sxxtlist; this may seem unfair , but this is my blog, and I do believe in property rights. there are thousands of other blogs where you can insult Christians, poor white folks, dead white European males, social conservatives, and any other people you have it in for to your hearts content, and if those thousands are not enough, why then , feel free to start your own.
It is necessary , and proper, to point out the errors people have made in the past, and continue to make today, in order to advocate for change.This can be done in such a way as to lead those who disagree with you to gradually come around to seeing things your way, if you are willing to exercise a little care and imagination in choosing your words.
We live in country where political power is rather evenly divided in many respects. We consider a 51/ 49 election close; we call 55/45 a landslide. A good many people who habitually consider themselves either liberals or conservatives actually agree on a number of issues that the two dominant parties fight over tooth and claw. if you can win over just two or three voters out of a hundred, you can change the result from a loss for your side to a win.
I personally know a number of people who habitually vote republican because they believe people should be held responsible for their own welfare, or that they have a constitutional and god given right to own guns , or any of several more reasons.A quarter of them- older southern white guys- have good things to say for Obama these days because they smoke pot- and yes, in my estimation, a quarter of southern white guys who grew up in the sixties smoke pot today, at least occasionally. These people believe that what you do in private is your business, and not that of the government.There are bridges already up , such as this one, whereby people who were once strangers and enemies can come together. Flag burning hippies from the sixties share this ground with a lot of guys who believed that the right thing to do was to fight in Asia, and volunteered to do so.
People who believe in America being and remaining a militarily powerful nation can be induced to think about our dependence on imported oil as a threat to our long term national security, and consider the possibility that tough automobile fuel economy standards are a good thing for the country, rather than an unjustified attack on their personal economic freedom.
I believe in clean air and clean water laws; many people don't because they don't realize just how important to their own health, and the health of their children, such laws are. This lack of knowledge can be remedied, without alienating these same people by talking down to them .
People who believe that they are owed something by society simply because they are alive can perhaps be disabused of that notion. I believe in the arts for instance, but if somebody wants to drew pictures or dance all day, he is going to have a hell of a hard time convincing me he is any more entitled to being paid for doing so by the tax than I am to be paid to hunt and fish or raise apples.
So far as I am concerned, they can find patrons, or get a real job.
I believe in charity, where charity is truly needed, and justified , but I do not believe the vast majority of people who pay taxes should be taxed to make a gift of a stadium to the mega rich owners of professional sports franchises and the very small percentage of people who actually attend games.We would still have plenty of sports without a dime being spent to subsidize the owners or the fans.
Now whether you, dear reader, happen to agree with me, or don't in respect to the arts and sports, or any given issue , is not important to me, personally. what is important is that you understand my philosophy in respect to this blog.
I intend to use it as a tool to help move our society in what I consider the right direction. Bad mouthing people who can be brought around, gradually , to my way of thinking , won't get the job done.If you are an old TOD regular, you already know how I think, and it's very likely we agree on most issues relating to energy and the environment.
If you've just wandered here by accident, you are most cordially welcome. I believe you will find a great many things here , as the weeks go by, of interest to you, if you are in the habit of thinking for yourself.
OFM,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first two Blogger Posts.
Its all a matter of taking baby steps.
You can learn simple HTML commands and then work your way up, i.e. how to create a hyperlink with the anchor tag
B They silenced me OLDFARMERMAC because they had the chance to when I said I would no longer post unless invited back. They , YOU, ME, nobody can - you want to know why - IT IS THE TRUTH. Even more important these flat earthers say (NOT ME YET ON THIS) but by acknowledging we live on a flat plane you are supposed to then only be able to explain it with god. I have been the RUDEST athiest since about 3 days after my mom dragged me to church. I am really leaning more torwards a fricking GOD existing now. NOT in a MILLION years did I ever think I would utter those words and yet here I am. Yes, by the way I am typing and thinking frenetically because a CORE belief of mine has been SHATTERED!!!!!!!
DeleteOpen your mind and stop trying so hard to disagree to what your senses and intuition are TRYING to tell you- I know what you are actually thinking and that is this- NOBODY has put up an argument on peakoilbarrel that has refuted what he said. How is that??????????????
Now imagine that I did not find your blog and write you here, it is very likely you would have accepted your own beliefs possibly, forgotten all about my insanity and moved on with your life and then RONS blog and all the science religionsts would win while never even having proved me wrong. WOW!
VERY Disingenuous of RON to boot me and NOT tell anyone, looks like he he knows he cannot win MY argument.
Last thing for NOW XTRA CREDIT?
Satellites
Do Satellites never need repair? Who does the work?
How do satellites get their static electricity build up removed and endure the insane temperature fluctuations?
How do satellites reorient themselves with never ending magic recharging jet fuel?
Last I poted my responses to oldfarmermacs blog in the WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 THREAD now go prove me wrong PLEASE, I want BACK in the ball earth club!
OFM! Congrats on your new blog. I'll be checking in regularly
ReplyDelete- Another TOD refugee
PS (here's where I plug my blog :>) Its call surf the peak - not half as funny as this though. http://surfthepeak.blogspot.com/
c They silenced me OLDFARMERMAC because they had the chance to when I said I would no longer post unless invited back. They , YOU, ME, nobody can - you want to know why - IT IS THE TRUTH. Even more important these flat earthers say (NOT ME YET ON THIS) but by acknowledging we live on a flat plane you are supposed to then only be able to explain it with god. I have been the RUDEST athiest since about 3 days after my mom dragged me to church. I am really leaning more torwards a fricking GOD existing now. NOT in a MILLION years did I ever think I would utter those words and yet here I am. Yes, by the way I am typing and thinking frenetically because a CORE belief of mine has been SHATTERED!!!!!!!
DeleteOpen your mind and stop trying so hard to disagree to what your senses and intuition are TRYING to tell you- I know what you are actually thinking and that is this- NOBODY has put up an argument on peakoilbarrel that has refuted what he said. How is that??????????????
Now imagine that I did not find your blog and write you here, it is very likely you would have accepted your own beliefs possibly, forgotten all about my insanity and moved on with your life and then RONS blog and all the science religionsts would win while never even having proved me wrong. WOW!
VERY Disingenuous of RON to boot me and NOT tell anyone, looks like he he knows he cannot win MY argument.
Last thing for NOW XTRA CREDIT?
Satellites
Do Satellites never need repair? Who does the work?
How do satellites get their static electricity build up removed and endure the insane temperature fluctuations?
How do satellites reorient themselves with never ending magic recharging jet fuel?
Last I poted my responses to oldfarmermacs blog in the WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 THREAD now go prove me wrong PLEASE, I want BACK in the ball earth club!
I agree with what you say. My biggest grip with some people is that they blame everything on their 'natural' enemy and refuse to investigate or ask questions. If they are a republican, it is the democrats, socialists, or communists. If they are a democrat, it is the republicans, capitalists, or libertarians. Most frustrating of all is that quite a few of them are educated and intelligent. I learned a long time ago in college that true believers have to convince themselves that they are wrong. And that does not easily happen.
ReplyDeleteWords and arguments just don't seem to work very well. Still I hope that some progress can be made by providing data and stories that get people to think. When I first started communicating around the globe on the internet the early 90's, I was hopeful that the internet would facilitate communication. Unfortunately the internet has done that by enabling people to find echo chambers for every persuasion.
Still people do change. They go from being religious to non religious, from democrat to republican, from independent to anarchist, from capitalist to socialist and so on. The key I believe is to get people to think for themselves.