Day 1217 – An Exploration into Values
Tuesday May 19, 2020
166 Days until the election on November 3rd
246 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021
Robert Persig’s subtitle to his book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was “An Inquiry into Values.”
As “Field and Stream Magazine” said about Richard Brautigan’s “Trout Fishing in America” that “It had little to do with trout fishing,” so “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” has little to do with motorcycle maintenance except as a metaphor for value and in that there is a lot to unpack.
I realized that my screeding is, or has become, more than my bitching about our current political situation. It is an exploration and an examination into our values. The idea of American Exceptionalism, the America portrayed to the world by Hollywood, by the Peace Corps, by the CDC, by our military, by our economic presence, by so many things big and small they all speak to our ideals and our values.
Donald Trump has been busy showing another set of values to the world. He and his ilk are sending a very different message. The question is “Is this what we want to become?”
When I think of the things that make this country different and a model that others want to emulate none of those qualities are displayed in what Mr. Trump is doing, saying, or how he is acting.
When I ask people what they like about the U.S.A. they never mention the programs and practices of this administration or the ideas that they have promulgated. The government programs that are most mentioned are those started by Democrats. In fact, I can’t think of a single program that a Republican has put forward that has actually helped people. Wait – EPA, Nixon – that’s one. Along with the Clean Water Act. Of course, ever since they were passed Nixon’s fellow Republicans have been trying to degrade and tear down those laws.
Okay, moving on. Beside getting rid of four Inspector Generals this past Friday what else has been going on? Note: one of those IGs was looking into the Secretary of State. Shocking. Just because Pompeo was trying to sneak arms to Saudi Arabia? Come on. Oh and he had an intern walking his dog and picking up his laundry. That’ll teach that kid statecraft.
Well, by way of introducing the next topic next week is Memorial Day and we can celebrate with the head of the White House Corona Virus Task Force, Mike Pence, the end of Covid-19. Begone! Yeah. Mike predicted, “We’d be looking at the virus in our rear view mirror” come Memorial Day. And so we shall. So what if the virus is on the rise throughout most of the country? Let’s celebrate. Eric Trump has said that the pandemic is actually an attempt by the Democrats to hold down his father’s rallies. I say no. Hold the rallies. Don’t let no little virus stop you.
Rachel revealed a fascinating little tidbit last night. It explains how we got here. Why Pence said we’d be looking at the virus in our rearview mirror come Memorial Day, and it gives a window into the workings of Donald’s mind. Let me say, his mind is a scary place. It reminds me of a course I took on the universe and how our planet was formed. When the lecturer got to the point of describing the early cells they had all this DNA swirling around colliding with each other, breaking apart, reforming, breaking apart. It wasn’t until cells developed a nucleus that the barrage stopped. I have the impression that Trump’s brain has no nucleus and that it is continually being bombarded by bits and fragments of information and stimuli.
It turns out that Trump didn’t like the death figures he was seeing from the virus. He wanted to open the country back up and he wanted data to support his point of view. (Truth be damned! Oh. Sorry.) So an economist type developed a model and found a function that would predict what Trump wanted to see. It showed a dramatic drop off in deaths come the middle of April. Donnie likey; Donnie fuse in brain. Jared likey. Mikey likey. Mikey repeat predictions to the press. Jared based his work (does he work? Or does he just go around gumming up the works?) and his policy mentions on this (I don’t think he really does policy. He just talks about policy.)
So. So the White House was basing what was going to happen based on this model that had no basis in epidemiology only in some curve fitting function based on the data they had at a particular point in time.
I understand the desire to want to see results in line with expectations, but this? Come on. I want a person heading up a pandemic response like Andrew Cuomo, not that sneaky fraud Pence.
OMG. How much longer? Not the stay at home, the idiocy, the cruelty, the destruction.
Our experts keep saying we have no time to lose. That we must act now. But our leaders are congratulating each other on a job well done. Of course like the Monty Python movie where they call, “Bring out your dead” and one body get touted out only to say, “I’m not dead yet!” That fellow gets beaned with a black jack. The governors believing the president and his minions have to ignore the dead and dying that call out for help. Not a problem. We are all fine. Bop. Sorry. You were messing up our illusion.
To quote Dr. Bright’s testimony before Congress, “We are in deep shit.”
166 Days until the election on November 3rd
246 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021
PS Stud Puffin
SNAFU