The meme here is powerful, but there is no evidence that such a moment will actually arrive.
Of course, it’s possible that humankind will find itself on the precipice of some sort of collapse, perhaps, via environmental decay, and there will be a massive movement uniting all the peoples of Earth.
Uncountable works of science fiction have been based on this premise. Could happen.
Energy/economy guru Robert Rapier writes: That’s a guy terrified of losing the election and being held accountable in court. I have no doubt he’d cause that bloodbath if he thought it would save his skin.
Considering that Trump incited an insurrection last time he lost, can we expect anything different in November? Also, as Robert pointed out, the difference here is increased incentive: he’s bound for prison if he loses.
Bezos, worth just shy of $200 billion, has realized that union-busting is of critical importance, and is suing to dismantle the National Labor Relations Board.
Huzzah.
When George Bernard Shaw wrote these words, “false knowledge,” hadn’t yet become an entire industry.
Now, there are “news” organizations that have convinced their viewers that the 2020 election was rigged, that COVID-19 was a government plot to cripple the American economy, and that the radical left has weaponized the justice system against one of the best presidents the U.S. has ever had.
To illustrate what a sick joke RFK Jr.’s candidacy is, he thinks that having a crackpot football player a heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency is a good idea, one that will appeal to a large number of Americans.
Let’s admit that our nation is awash in ignorance, but there is a limit.
Here, Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith presents one reason that guilty people need to be punished for their crimes.
250 years later, the United States faces this dilemma: Either try, convict, and incarcerate Donald Trump for the numerous felonies he committed since leaving office following his loss of the 2020 election, or resign yourself to the fact that you live in a country in which rule of law is meaningless, whose president is free to do anything he wishes with total impunity.
In response to the meme here, Shawn M. Phares writes: Especially since he’s a criminal, seditionist, who attacked his own capitol, showed top secret government to normal citizens, and committed espionage. And on top of that he’s a pathological liar, racist, and bigot.
Yes, and keep in mind that this is precisely what almost half of American voters are demanding. Not only do MAGA Republicans not have a problem with any of this, they insist upon it.
I believe what the people are talking about in this meme is the top marginal income tax rates.
Obviously, it would be good if there were no loopholes by which our top earners could avoid income tax, but what we really need is a wealth tax that applies to all net worth over a certain amount.
The combined net worth of all billionaires is $12.2 trillion. A tax of 5% would raise $600+ billion annually, more than sufficient to end hunger and decarbonize our energy and transportation sectors.
I would love to cite evidence that we’re on the way to “living together as brothers” rather than “perishing together as fools,” but I struggle to find it.
I see too much (and perhaps an irreversible amount of) greed, tribalism, religious fanaticism, indifference to the suffering of others, the rejection of science, and the reliance on war as a tool for the settling of our differences.
Of course, the final chapter hasn’t been written. What if there is a planetary catastrophe, perhaps in the form of environmental collapse, that brings the human race together?
I studied philosophy for a few years as a younger man, and I recall a graduate course on metaphysics, delivered by Henry B. Veatch (pictured), one of the most widely published and decorated American philosophers of his time (the mid/late 20th Century). Though it would be incorrect to call Veatch a “showman,” trust me, no one ever fell asleep listening to him speak.
Metaphysics is defined as “the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.” All this sounds fine, until we consider that most of these ideas are now more properly the domain of science.
Yes, Kant told us that “space and time are forms of our intuition,” but in the 21st Century, we’re more likely to answer questions on this subject via references to Einstein or Schoedinger.
Aristotle, one of the most important early metaphysicians, explained that “to be is to be a substance,” but nowadays, if we want to understand the fundamental building blocks of the universe, we turn to theoretical physicists like Feynman or Hawking.
The subject of “knowing” is part of metaphysics, or, more properly, of what is called “epistemology.” Yet again, those of us who are interested in how the mind interacts with the outside world are more likely to consult a neuroscientist than a metaphysician.
For better or for worse, the heyday of philosophy seems to be behind us.
