Saying it feels a little better than “dammit,” but neither addresses the situation sufficiently. Politics so often trumps morality. (This post is sorta stream of consciousness):
In Michigan, Muslim and Arab American Voters Reconsider Support for Biden
From <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/us/michigan-democrats-biden-palestinian.html>
Don’t misread me; I think I see both sides of the conflict, but….Piffledinger!
________________________
HOW DID I MISS THAT
You probably don’t know who Buckel was, which is a point in the “individual actions are futile” column: A prominent L.G.B.T.-rights lawyer, Buckel was as responsible as almost anyone else for making gay marriage the law of the land. Then, in 2018, he set himself on fire in a park in Brooklyn to protest inaction on climate change. Opinion Today by Ron Currie. NY times 10/28/23
________________________
CALMING
Edward O. Wilson calms me, somehow. When I get riled up by current reality or Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death, I calm down with Wilson’s words. Becker writes that “Creation is a nightmare spectacular taking place on a planet that has been soaked for hundreds of millions of years in the blood of all its creatures,”
Wilson’s words tend to calm me. For instance: “The arts are not solely shaped by errant genius out of historical circumstances and idiosyncratic personal experience. The roots of their inspiration date back in deep history to the genetic origins of the human brain and are permanent….The reason is that the exclusive role of the arts is the transmission of the intricate details of the human experience by artifice to intensify aesthetic and emotional response. Works of art communicate feeling directly from mind to mind, with no intent to explain why the impact occurs. In this defining quality, the arts are the antithesis of science.” Concerning metaphors, favorites of mine, Wilson writes that metaphors are the building blocks of creative thought and are the “consequence of spreading activation in the brain during learning.” It saddens me that A.I. can be creative.
Consilience, the Unity of Knowledge 1998 by Edward O.Wilson. ( p 218-19).
The Denial of Death 1973 by Ernest Becker. (p 283)
________________________
RED HERRING IN OHIO
False leads started to become known as “Red Herrings” in the early 1800s when an English journalist named William Cobbett used the term to compare the media’s premature reporting of Napoleon’s defeat to the practice of using smelly fish to distract hound dogs from chasing rabbits.
In Ohio we will vote on state Issue One, a State Constitutional Amendment Relating to Abortion and Other Reproductive Decisions this Nov. 7. I was surprised to get partisan mail from both the pros and cons this year. Although the amendment does NOT address or change any laws involving parental rights over minors, that is the loudest song being sung by the Republicans against the issue: definitely a red herring non-issue.
NANMYKEL.COM 
You’ve taught me a new word: Piffledinger!!! Thanks, Nan!
Yes, I remember David Buckel and remember when he set himself afire trying to make people wake up, yet depressed because he realized the bigotry was somehow not going to go away.
Like you, I have been getting ads and flyers from both sides on Issue #1. I really thought this would be a landslide, after the August election to get it on the ballot without requiring 60%, but I’m hearing now that it’s going to be very close. In part, I think, it’s how Frank LaRose and his team reworded the amendment to confuse the average voter. Fingers crossed it passes. We mailed our ballots over a week ago and I confirmed that they have been received.
LikeLike