Republicans – bendingtheneedle

Let’s Ask Arty!

Let’s Ask Arty uses existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to query LLMs about politics in these troubled times.

Query1: Do humans seek facts or do they rely on information sources that confirm their existing biases?

Great question! Human behavior regarding information-seeking can be complex. People often demonstrate a tendency known as “confirmation bias,” where they favor information that aligns with their pre-existing beliefs and overlook or dismiss information that challenges those views. This can create echo chambers, especially in today’s digital age, where algorithms can amplify content that matches one’s interests and biases.

However, this isn’t the whole story. Many people actively seek out factual information and strive to consider multiple perspectives to develop a well-rounded understanding. Some individuals are more inclined toward critical thinking and skepticism, which helps them scrutinize information sources more carefully. In the end, it seems to be a blend of both tendencies, influenced by factors such as education, cognitive styles, and the information environment.

Query2: What human traits and characteristics lead them to actively seek out factual information to overcome confirmation bias?

Certain traits and characteristics can drive individuals to actively seek out factual information and overcome confirmation bias:

Open-mindedness: People who are open to new experiences and perspectives are more likely to seek out diverse sources of information and consider viewpoints that differ from their own.
Intellectual Curiosity: A strong desire to learn and understand the world motivates individuals to gather accurate and comprehensive information, even if it challenges their beliefs.
Critical Thinking: Individuals who engage in critical thinking are skilled at analyzing information, evaluating evidence, and questioning assumptions, which helps them identify biases and seek out reliable sources.
Humility: Recognizing one’s own limitations and the possibility of being wrong fosters a willingness to update beliefs based on new evidence.
Empathy: Understanding and valuing others’ perspectives encourages individuals to consider information that might contradict their own views.
Education and Awareness: Higher levels of education and awareness about cognitive biases can empower individuals to actively seek out factual information and strive for a balanced understanding.

These traits and characteristics can help individuals navigate the vast amount of information available and make informed decisions. Do you see any of these traits in yourself or others around you?

Query3: Which nations are best at teaching students how to think critically?

Several countries are recognized for their strong emphasis on critical thinking in education. Here are a few notable ones:

Finland: Known for its innovative education system, Finland emphasizes critical thinking, problem-solving, and student autonomy. The Finnish curriculum encourages students to question, analyze, and engage in deep learning.
Singapore: Singapore’s education system is highly regarded for its focus on critical thinking and creativity. The curriculum is designed to develop students’ analytical skills and encourage them to think independently.
Canada: Canadian schools prioritize critical thinking and inquiry-based learning. The education system encourages students to explore, ask questions, and develop their own understanding of concepts.
Netherlands: The Dutch education system promotes critical thinking through project-based learning and collaborative activities. Students are encouraged to think critically, solve problems, and work together to find solutions.
Australia: Australian schools emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The curriculum is designed to help students develop the ability to analyze information, evaluate evidence, and make informed decisions.

These countries have implemented educational practices that foster critical thinking and prepare students for the complexities of the modern world.

Regarding the suppression of critical thinking to promote religious values and belief systems, some countries do indeed prioritize religious indoctrination over critical thinking. For example, in certain countries, religious education is heavily integrated into the curriculum, and questioning religious doctrines is discouraged. This can limit students’ exposure to diverse perspectives and hinder their ability to think critically about different belief systems.

My input:

You’re probably wondering what questions about critical thinking have to do with politics and the troubled times America is in.

Have you ever wondered why President Trump publicly stated, “I love the uneducated?” or why the Trump administration is so fixated on getting rid of the Department of Education? or why Republicans are pushing legislation on the state level to incorporate Christianity into public schools?

I contend that Donald Trump and the MAGA-infected Republican party understand a population of critical thinkers would be disastrous to their platform and agenda and that the dumbing-down of future generations is critical to their existence.

An electorate of religiously indoctrinated citizens who can’t think critically is susceptible to lies and manipulation. For example, an uneducated electorate stuck in their own confirmation bias without the intellectual wherewithal to differentiate fact from fiction or the ability to pick apart half-truths and misinformation inserted into political speeches and policy statements might vote for a convicted felon and self-acknowledged sexual abuser and send our democracy into a tailspin.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told Americans the way to learn how he feels about any issue is to read the Bible. ‘That’s my worldview, that’s what I believe.’ The increase of religiosity in the Republican party should be a huge red flag to Americans who cherish living in a secular and pluralistic society. The GOP’s embrace of Christianity as a national religion is a genuine threat to the American way of life and critical thought. Religion tells you what to think, not how to think.

The dumbing-down of Americans by Trump and the MAGA-infected Republicans is purposeful and strategic. It’s part of their long game to remain in power for decades.

Free thinkers and progressives better come up with a strategy of their own to counter this or we run the risk of being ruled by an American Taliban.

Booking Prisoner P01135809

No matter the strength of the evidence in the multiple indictments in which this man is named, he is assumed innocent until proven guilty.

So, let’s put aside the four criminal cases and 91 felony counts he faces and instead look at some of his actions as President.

As President, this man:

Knowingly lied to the public about the dangers of the COVID-19 virus.
Regularly praised anti-democratic and authoritarian leaders around the world.
Equated the moral character of neo-Nazis with the people protesting neo-Nazis.
Welcomed interference from foreign governments into American elections.
Refused to accept the results of a free and fair election even after sixty court cases, and his own attorney general stated the claims of election fraud were bullshit.
Sat idly in the Oval Office for nearly 3 hours as his supporters attacked the capital building and assaulted police officers.

Even if you believe this man is innocent of the 91 felony charges, he is demonstrably guilty of being a shitty human being.

I’m unsure why millions of Americans refuse to look at this man’s lack of ethics and morality and continue to support him, but my gut says it’s human behavior.

Admitting Trump is a shitty human means admitting you knowingly voted for a shitty human, which reflects poorly on you. So, to avoid the embarrassment of your vote and inability to judge a person’s character, you turn a blind eye to all that orange shittieness and hop on the “What About Hunter Biden” bandwagon.

A president or presidential candidate’s lack of character threatens the republic only when voters are unable or unwilling to judge that character.

Until Republicans discover their character and admit politics blinded them to Trump’s lack of morality and that they were conned, America will continue to teeter on the abyss.

The MAGA Chickens Have Come Home to Roost

What happens to the partnership between the Evangelical Church and the Republican party when compassionate conservatism gets replaced with MAGA mania?

How do Evangelical ministers square the teachings of Christ with their MAGA-infected flock?

What happens when ultra-MAGA Evangelicals sit fidgety in church pews and listen to sermons contradictory to the messages spewed by their political Messiah on the campaign trail?

It won’t be long before we see a sectarian split within the Evangelical church and radical versions of Evangelicalism start popping up across the country, like crack houses in the 80s.

These radical Evangelical churches will teach a MAGA-tinged Christianity, where Christ, a muscular blue-eyed-blond-messiah, wields his razor-edged cross to slice and dice woke liberals, immigrants, homosexuals, and atheists, to reestablish truth, order, and the American way.

Break-away Evangelical churches are how MAGA survives and (thrives). These churches will become radicalization factories in America like Wahhabi mosques in Saudi Arabia.

MAGA politicians are no different than any other. They understand religion is a tool for controlling and mobilizing masses – Churches plant seeds dipped in fear and bigotry to grow compliant human saplings so that future outcomes that align with religious ideology can take hold in society.

“The meek shall inherit the earth” will be replaced by a mite-is-right mentality—where the rationalization and justification of cruelty to achieve a particular end is the norm.

The transformation of the Evangelical church will correlate and coincide with criminal charges against former president Trump and his impending legal jeopardy.

Let’s keep our eyes peeled for an upstart-fire-brand Evangelical minister looking to make a name for himself by taking advantage of political chaos.

Donald Trump will be the new radical Evangelical church’s prophet of revenge and retribution.

I hope none of this comes to fruition, but I would not be surprised if it did.

Uvalde, Buffalo, El Paso, Pittsburg, Las Vegas, Charlston . . . . .

Until US representatives who oppose gun regulation get voted out or begin losing their loved ones to gun violence, situations like what played out in Uvalde, TX, and Buffalo, NY will happen repeatedly.

Would Republican lawmakers care enough to act if their child or loved one was struck down by a bullet from an AR-15?

Would Republican lawmakers care enough to act if they had to identify their child or loved one gruesomely and mortally wounded by a bullet from an AR-15?

Sadly, other people’s children and loved ones being mowed down in a hail of gunfire is not enough to get these people to act.

Vote. Them. Out.

Support the Voting Rights Act

Republicans not supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is an act of self-preservation.

Republicans know that making it easier for black and brown people to vote, makes it harder for Republicans to hold on to their job.

So, rather than engaging black and brown voters and trying to understand issues from their perspective, Republicans are supporting legislative barricades that restrict access to the ballot box and make it harder for black and brown and poorer people to vote.

In America, the gap between “the haves” and “have nots” has a racial element to it and the gap grows wider every day. The truth of the matter is that Democrats are proposing programs to try and stop the gap from growing, while Republicans are fine with the current trend. To put it more bluntly, Democrats are more likely to support programs that help level the playing field, while Republicans long for the good ole days when black and brown people worked in a field.

America’s population is browning.

Republicans see this tinting as a threat to their vision and version of America.

To Republicans, this feels like an ominous fade to black scenario.

And the only way Republicans think they can prevent this from happening is to hinder black and brown people from voting — and that’s what they’re doing by blocking the John Lewis Voting Rights act, while supporting state laws that make it harder for black and brown people to vote.

Republican attacks on voting rights are another shameful assault on our republic and a further tugging on the thread that holds our democracy together.

Trumpocrisy

Concept, american flag on cracked background

The other day, I watched former President Trump praise his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Ill in a televised interview.

I listened to the former disgraced and seditious-prick-of-a-president say how well he got along with dictators and autocrats and how he admired their strong leadership.

None of this surprised me.

Trump is an easily manipulated, egotistical fool. Leaders like Kim Jong-Ill and Vlad Putin simply blew a little smoke up the orange one’s undies to court favor with Trump.

What disheartened me most about the interview was the applause from my fellow Americans in the audience.

When did getting along with murderous dictators become a praiseworthy trait in an American president?

Had President Obama or candidate Clinton said anything remotely like this, they would have been crucified by the very same people who were applauding. As Forest Gump would say, Trump supporters and hypocrisy go together like peas and carrots.

Republicans and Democrats have always differed on policy. But when it came to condemning brutal dictators and autocrats, we stood together.

That used to be common ground.

Why is this no longer the case?

What changed?

Well, for one, we had four years of being led by a self-absorbed, morally corrupt, and intellectually vapid president. Trump rose to power by tapping into many Americans’ grievances and fears around race and then, with purposeful malevolence, sold them a solution based on a warped definition of Americanism.

Trump understood that a divided country was his only path to power. So, from the onset of his candidacy, all the way through his presidency, he divided this country.

Five years later, we see the result in a fact-resistant confederacy of MAGA-hat-wearing morons and the cowering politicians who fear them.

Trump and his supporters are the blood in the boner of an alt-right movement in America — and you can’t reason with a boner.

But usually, over time, it subsides on its own.

Hopefully, that happens here.

Have you heard enough?

After five years of crap, I keep waiting for the tipping point.

I keep waiting for my Trump-supporting friends to say they’ve had enough. I want to believe in their humanity. I’d like to think that after listening to yesterday’s testimony from the officers who defended the capitol on January sixth, they’re saying to themselves:

“You know what? I’m a proud Republican and a conservative, but what Donald Trump and members of congress promoted in the lead-up to January sixth – and the lies they continue to spread today, are despicable. I can no longer support Trump or any other politician who continues to espouse those lies. I’m fucking done with Trump.”

That’s the humane response that people who care about this country hunger for. And we keep waiting for it. We long for the days to argue and differ on politics, not humanity, not democracy, not on basic human decency and integrity.

For more than 5 years, there’s been no normalcy around our politics, and that’s because America voted into office a sociopathic fascist with low-level intelligence. And even though he’s no longer President, Trump continues to control the Republican party.

For more than 5 years, more than half of the country sat bewildered at the number of people who went along with the Donald Trump shit-show, cheered him on, and sent him money. For most us, it was a deflating realization that America was not what it claimed to be.

We kept hoping that maybe this was just an example of people being caught up in their personal and familial political history “I grew up in a Republican family, I support conservative values, I’ve always voted red.” We kept waiting for Republicans to have an epiphany; we kept hoping for that “lightbulb moment” where Republicans would wake up and see that Trump was not a Republican or conservative; he was only interested in politics in so far as it benefitted him.

Yesterday’s testimony should have been that moment for my Trump-supporting friends. If after yesterday you still support the former President, then please, just fuck off.

I’ve no space in my life for shitty human beings.

Mitt’s image problem

pexels-sharon-mccutcheon-1212407

Yes, I voted for Barack Obama in the last election.

Yes, I will vote for him again.

No, these two facts do disqualify me from, or make me incapable of, providing an unbiased assessment of what I perceive as Mitt Romney’s and the Republican Party’s image problem(s).

So here goes:

They both take too much direction from, and put too much credence in the far-right faction of their party. Rush Limbaugh calls a US citizen testifying before congress a slut – and Mitt Romney does not have the courage to take him to the woodshed. He looked weak and ungentlemanly.

They are out of touch with the American populace on almost every social issue of the day. I provide the following discussion with my kids to demonstrate :

Me: Do you think the government should stop Gay people from getting married?

My kids: They look at me, dumbfounded at the question itself. Why would the government try to stop people who love one another from getting married? That’s stupid (and TOTALLY unfair) Dad!

Why we are even talking about such silliness, when we have soldiers getting killed in Afghanistan, rioting and violence in the Middle East, and people out of work in America? Anyone?, Anyone? – – Bueller?

Me: Do you think people who are gay should be allowed to serve in the military and not have to hide the fact that they are Gay?

My Kids: Again, mystified at the ludicrousness of the question. They ask innocently (I think), “Does being gay prevent them from loving their country and doing a good job Dad?”

Me: Not that I am aware of boys.

My Kids: Then who cares Dad?

Me: Good point boys.

Me: Do you think that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools?

Kids: What is creationism dad?

Me: I explain the concept and point them to a definition of the word.

Kids: But that does not sound like science Dad – that sounds more like a personal belief. I do not understand how or why you would teach something like this alongside evolution Dad.

Maybe they could teach this in a class about religion – “would that be OK Dad?”

You see, the kids do not want to tell people not to believe in something -but they are smart enough to know the difference between scientific theory and personal religious beliefs.

Kids: Hey dad, I heard in school today that we are falling behind other countries in math and science. Maybe those schools that teach creationism can drop that course so the kids can bone-up on real science and math. What do you think dad?

Me: I think that is a swell idea kids. Write the republican governor of Texas.

Me: Do you think immigrants should have a pathway to citizenship in this country?

Kids: Yes they say – almost immediately.

White, bright, and way too uptight. When the camera panned out at the audience at the Republican convention – all I saw was white people. Don’t get me wrong, I like white folks (hell, I am a white folk!).

However, my perception was that that the populace in that convention hall was not representative of America as a whole – instead, I saw it as a subset.

My perception is that the republican’s quilt is mostly one color – white (with maybe some dark stitching on the outer edge), while the democrat’s quilt is multi-colored and more representative of the “fabric of our country”.

My perception when Michelle Obama spoke about her and Barack’s early day’s was that she was being genuine – and that “genuineness” resonated with me.

When Ann Romney spoke about her and Mitt’s early days, my perception was that she was trying too hard to paint a picture – trying to strike a chord with a segment of the population that she does not have a lot in common with. My perception was that it seemed faked and rehearsed, almost like she was trying to be something she was not.

And (I know this is superficial) but the contrast of Barack Obama crooning an Al Green classic to Mitt Romney’s geeky and stiff rendering of “America the Beautiful” remains fresh in my mind. Basically, when I see Mitt Romney, I see a decent rich white guy who made his bones on making other rich white guys richer.

Who knows, maybe a predisposition towards one party over another makes you hear and see things differently. I suspect that my republican friends had a totally different perception.