Notices by Joseph Meyer (josephmeyer@c.im)

@GossiTheDog This toot makes part of me want to invite persons on FB to join Mastodon. But, I hesitate, since they in turn might invite persons I would rather not see on Mastodon. It’s a conundrum.

Most people I know seem to be in an almost zombie-like state of quiet acquiescence about the situation in which we find ourselves today. Even academics have nothing to say. Is it because people are too busy to complain, or perhaps too afraid? Regardless of the reasons, I am shocked and confused why more people, myself included, are not making a huge fuss. Karl Marx once wrote, “religion is the opium of the people,” and perhaps he was largely correct. But consumerism and the hectic schedule of daily life in an oligarchy may also be today’s opiates (3/3)

It was not until this morning, when I thought of where we are in simple and concrete terms (i.e., money has put billionaires in control of our government) that I realized a major threshold has been crossed. The takeover of U.S. government by billionaires has been so fully and quietly accepted by a large segment of the U.S. population that no attempt is even made by the wealthy to disguise it or make excuses for it like they would have done in the past. In the past, they knew it was not right and used subterfuge to justify themselves. Our billionaire leaders of today don’t seem to know their behavior is wrong and neither do their supporters, like some evangelical Christians. A prosperity gospel that only requires a childish acceptance of an abstract Jesus Christ as one’s personal savior, with few concomitant behavioral expectations, has redefined U.S. Christianity in the image of its followers like oligarchs have redefined democracy and what it means to be a responsible member of society into whatever serves their own interests. (2/3)

Life in a Pseudo-Religious Oligarchy

I may be the only one dense enough to just arrive at a realization about the state of the U.S. government today. The Citizens United (2010) ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that made corporations into people, without limits to their political cash contributions, once seemed in the not distant past like a legal abstraction to me. And, the description of the U.S. government as an oligarchy by none other than Jimmy Carter in 2015 sounded like hyperbole. It’s like the consequences of Citizens United and subsequent related events snuck up on me while I was too busy making a living and supporting my family to pay much attention, which might have been part of the plan. (1/3)

#Ethics #USPol #Money #Christianity #Religion #Oligarchy #Sunday

Christianity, Texas-Style.
https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-12-09/ken-paxton-lawsuit-sunrise-navigation-center-homeless-service-provider-austin-tx

#Texas #Homelessness #Christianity
#MerryChristmas

I have slowly been reading through The Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, based on his interviews with former Nazis after the Second World War. One of the most thought-provoking chapters of the book, published in 1955, was based on an interview with a former Nazi who initially refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Nazi party. The next day he decided to take the oath, so that he could keep his job and support his family. But while a Nazi, he secretly saved a large number of Jews by diverting them away from the concentration camps to safety.

Yet in his interview, the former Nazi told the book author his decision to join the Nazis was the wrong one. The author replied, “but you saved many lives and would have been unable to do that if you were unemployed as a result of refusing the oath.” The former Nazi, who had obviously put a lot of thought into his position, then explained that when he took the oath he did not know if he would later have either the courage or the opportunity to save lives.

Later the former Nazi added that he and many other well-educated Germans who stayed quiet and stuck to their daily routines were far more qualified to be leaders of Germany than the Nazi leaders who were typically less-educated. He concluded that he was one of thousands of well-educated Germans who saw the big picture of what was ultimately coming, could have refused to join the party, and by seeking leadeship roles as political opposition figures in Germany could have averted Nazism and the Holocaust entirely. He reasoned that millions of lives could have thus been saved, instead of the dozens he actually saved while a Nazi. He concluded that he made the wrong choice. It was an interesting and well-considered philosophical perspective and one that may be pertinent in the world today.

Was the former Nazi correct? The book was published in 1955 or nearly 70 years before today. Did the U.S. election victories by the MAGA Republicans, who sometimes seem poorly educated, happen because better-educated U.S. citizens stayed quiet or were less organized and driven to offer an alternative as suggested by the former Nazi in his 1955 interview? Or, did the MAGA Republicans win because ignorance and hate appealed to voters more than educated reason?

#Fascism #USPol #History #Books
#Reading

Probably a foxtail cactus (Genus Escobaria) seen on a hike along the Slaughter Creek / Bauerle Ranch greenbelt in southwest Austin, Texas. #Hiking #Cactus #Flora #Austin #Texas #Nature

“Because the mass movement of Nazism was non-intellectual in the beginning, when it was only practice, it had to be anti-intellectual before it could be theoretical. Expertness in thinking, exemplified by the professor, by the high school teacher, and even by the grammar school teacher in the village, had to deny the Nazi views of history, economics, literature, art, philosophy, politics, biology, and education itself. Thus Nazism, as it proceeded from practice to theory, had to deny expertness in thinking and then, in order to fill the vacuum, had to establish expert thinking of its own—that is, to find men of inferior or irresponsible caliber whose views conformed dishonestly or, worse yet, honestly to the Party line. The nonpolitical schoolmaster could not help being dangerous—not if he went on teaching what was true. In order to be a theory and not just a practice, National Socialism required the destruction of academic independence. In the years of its rise the movement little by little brought the community’s attitude toward the teacher around from respect and envy to resentment, from trust and fear to suspicion.”

—from They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, a journalist, based largely on interviews of former Nazis several years after the war and published in 1955. Recommended reading for insights about human, not just Nazi, bigotry and contemporary politics.

#Books #Reading #Education #Misinformation #Disinformation #Politics

I have been browsing photos on this Silent Sunday morning and viewing the ALT text that most of you are including for those who are visually impaired or blind. One might even call that text artistic prose, when it is done wIth great attention to detail. Reading it enhances photographs even for me, a sighted person, by calling my attention to details I might have otherwise not appreciated. So, thank you to those photographers who take the time to do a nice job with ALT text.

"Prose is art. The way a writer uses language to tell a story. It lacks formality yet requires attention to detail. Writers manipulate the structure of sentences to elicit an emotional response from their readers. When a writer tells a story in ordinary, everyday language they are giving you their best in prose."
Source: CreativeWritingEDU.org

I am also imagining a photo without ALT text from the perspective of a person who cannot see it, like a black box or empty space. By reading the good work of others, I am trying to get inspired to do better with ALT text descriptions when I share my own photos: Writing prose, painting a picture with words, creating an emotional response.

#Photography
#Writing
#SilentSunday

I am feeling happy that other members of the Fediverse (aka Mastodon) who I don't even follow provided good reasons for not joining BlueSky, mostly because I did not really want the hassle of switching to another platform. The main reason that persuaded me to not go there is that BlueSky is a corporation like most other social media platforms.

#Fedi
#Fediverse
#Mastodon
#BlueSky

I came across two electric scooters, parked side-by-side on a public sidewalk near my daughter’s apartment building, where there are residents who use wheelchairs. The sidewalk was completely blocked, so anyone traveling by wheelchair would have to go into the street to get around them. I gently moved them off the sidewalk and onto a rock garden next to it when what I really wanted to do was roughly chunk them into a nearby dumpster. Yet the scooters both had the nerve to scream at me for gently relocating them. I am a grumpy curmudgeon who is easily annoyed. And, I already despise those scooter companies and riders who too often terrorize pedestrians with their speedy and reckless driving on sidewalks. So, if you use these things, please have the courtesy to ride them and park them in a way that does not obstruct sidewalks or endanger others.

#Scooters
#Sidewalks
#Pedestrians
#Disability
#Access
#Kindness
#Courtesy
#Mobility
#Wheelchairs

@aral That seems like a smart aphorism, though I will have to ponder it more before deciding whether I entirely agree. Let’s see if Tesla remains in business.

@jeffowski
I think the fediverse is not a representative sample of the US population. 🙂

@jeffowski
Wow. I do all of those. I guess I'll follow you.

Some paintings of Donald Trump in a neighborhood front yard.

#Trump
#Art
#Politics

@georgetakei
“Probably weird for Republicans to see kids who are that proud of their dad. Tim Walz's kids probably spend holidays with him and everything.” - Evan Hurst at Wonkette.

“Remember that a rattlesnake narrowly missed by a pitchfork is not a hero. It’s still a rattlesnake.” - Jose Martin Concha.

#Politics

5. Seek community. Find people you trust to share your thoughts, feelings and concerns. Make sure they are people who will listen without judgment. Rely on friends, family or community groups who can help you laugh or find distractions during stressful times.

(5/5)

4. Live your values. One way to impact politics and decrease stress is to make sure our daily lives are closely aligned with our values. Values are fundamental beliefs that guide behaviors. With a clear sense of our own values, it is easier to maintain focus on what we find important and what we can control.

(4/5)

3. Focus on what you can control…. And on your personal wellbeing by engaging in things you enjoy such as hobbies, exercise and time with friends. If you enjoy being politically active, find one or two meaningful causes to which you can donate your time or money.

(3/5)