Has It Really Been That Long?

I have not blogged since February. I have intended to, but I just could not come up with something I felt compelled to say. When I did at times, I did not follow through by actually composing a blog.

Today, I listened to an old podcast by Sam Harris. While I do not agree with everything he says, he tends to be one of my favorite thinkers. He was talking about police violence and racism, and the statistics he revealed were eye opening. Much of what we hear to the contrary is propaganda designed to support the narrative of one partisan or another. It was disheartening to realize how vulnerable we all are to false information in the form of propaganda.

We have so many serious issues to resolve if our species is to survive. Yet, we argue over issues with false or distorted information. People vote for horrible candidates because they agree with that candidate on one issue, or think that the other candidate will not support their position on that one issue. I can vote for someone who I think is dead wrong on certain issues if I believe, in the overall scheme of things, he or she is a better person than his or her opponent. There are a few single issues that might turn me against a candidate, but they would have to go to the core of my moral beliefs. I could not vote for a candidate who supports violent and immoral acts by Islamic jihadists unless the opponent holds views more disgusting than that.

On the issue of abortion, I am pro choice in the first trimester, pro life in the last trimester, and conflicted as to my position on the middle trimester. I understand why the issue is so volatile, but I also find that the radical pro choice candidate is (1) too extreme on late term abortion and (2) too out there on many other issues that I find important.

I am a moderate, although I am not moderate when it comes to bigotry and human suffering. Unfortunately, bigotry and human suffering are embraced by people who believe that the ends justify the means. They are the idiots who end up supporting dictators who say what they want to hear, instead of democratic candidates who do not. I fear that many on the left would support fascism and dictatorship if the people they hated (like me, for example) were the targets of the creeps running for office.

I hope to blog more. If that excites you, get a life.