The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (No. 30)
December 17, 2021
I hope you’ve been enjoying my series of essays on education and rights. The reaction thus far has been overwhelmingly positive.
I regard the four essays that I’ve published thus far to all be really only just introductory to the most important essays in the series, which are still to come. This Tuesday, I will publish the first of what I think are the best, the most controversial, and the most original essays in the series. In the forthcoming issues, I will do a deep dive into the question of children’s rights and parents’ rights, with particular regard to education. The fundamental questions are: Do children have a right to an education? What kind of rights do parents have when it comes to the education of their children?
And now for today’s issue of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” As we approach Christmas, I thought it might be nice to focus more on “the Good” than on the “the Bad” or the “the Ugly,” which is reflected in this week’s issue of GBU.
Lastly, I really do hope some of you will consider moving from the free subscription to the paid subscription. More than anything else, that kind of support is what keeps Mrs. Redneck off of my back.
THE GOOD
“LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN AND THE FATHERS THAT BEGAT US . . . ”: “Extraordinary Americans: Medal of Honor Recipients Cashe, Celiz, Plumlee.”
These men are heroes!
JUST DECIDED WHAT I’M GOING TO DO IN RETIREMENT: travel the country and visit the best burger joint in every state in the Union: “The Best Burger in Every State in America.”
AMAZING: SHE WAS BORN IN 1897, WHICH OF COURSE MEANS SHE LIVED IN THREE CENTURIES: “‘Oldest person in the world,’ Francisca Susano, dead at 124.”
READY FOR A TEAR OR TWO? This video is truly lovely and we should focus on the love that emanates from it, but if this couple were forced to be separated because of COVID-19, then I regard such a decision to keep them apart to be wicked. Definitely watch the embedded video: “Elderly couple separated for months by Covid-19 reunite.”
HISTORY SHOWS THAT “EMERGENCY POWERS” ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE VERY BAD UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, AND SOMETIMES THOSE BAD CONSEQUENCES WERE INTENDED: “It’s time to abolish ‘emergency’ COVID-19 powers.”
I confess that in the early days, I was a COVID hawk. With China reporting a 4 to 5 percent mortality rate, there seemed reason. (In fact, I should have reflected more on the untrustworthiness of information from China, especially after the experience of the Diamond Princess cruise ship suggested that COVID was a lot less scary than we were told.)
But science, and rationality in general, is about changing your opinions when you learn new facts. And what we’ve learned is that COVID is somewhat worse than the flu but not nearly bad enough to justify the enormous, expensive and disruptive changes we’ve endured.
In fact, the damages wrought by lockdowns and social isolation — medical, in terms of reduced exercise, missed medical screenings and increased drug and alcohol consumption, as well as psychological, in loneliness and anxiety — may have been worse than those wrought by COVID itself.
Also, most of the nostrums offered by the experts and Karens are nonsensical and don’t work. Masks outdoors, where COVID doesn’t really spread anyway? Plexiglas screens everywhere? Shut-down public water fountains and a wide variety of service changes in hotels, restaurants and airplanes that are attributed to COVID but really about saving money?
People have seen through this, and they’re over it. (And not just in the United States — a friend in London reports that everyone there is cheerfully going unmasked, crowding into pubs and generally ignoring whatever rules remain nominally in force.)
Related: “The radicalization of a COVID moderate.“
So why are our authorities catering to neurosis and fear rather than explaining the truth: that the virus is never going away, and the way to protect yourself and others is to get vaccinated and boosted. Why isn't that the only message?
I really don't know the answer. And yet I myself still feel the need to put a "to be sure" sentence or two in here. I feel the need to say that masks are still helpful (minimally at this point, but in situations like stores or theaters or airplanes — not schools — they also don't cause much inconvenience). I feel the need to say that testing is still important (if you're seeing a vulnerable individual, like a relative in a nursing home, it definitely is; otherwise, with the virus so manifestly not contained, not so much). I feel the need to say that we need circuit breakers to protect the health care system from coming under extreme stress (but what would those circuit breakers be, exactly, when the people most likely to wind up in the hospital are those who are determined not to get vaccinated?).
But my heart isn't in those "to be sure" sentences anymore. They're not false, but they're really there to reassure people I'm not some crazy COVID-denier. And I worry the due-diligences drown out my actual message and wind up sustaining rather than weakening a perspective that, while well-intentioned, can be quite harmful and destructive.
I am a naturally pro-social person. I wear a mask when required. I get tested when required. I try to accommodate and respect people's differing risk preferences. But I'm very privileged when it comes to COVID; doing these things is easy for me. I don't have little kids in school. I work from home. None of the extant restrictions materially impact my life.
Yet even I feel myself being radicalized, starting to think: maybe it's not enough to make reasoned arguments against rules that are little more than hygiene theater. Maybe it's time to break them.
And if I'm feeling that way, how on earth must normal people feel?
LET’S HOPE SO! “Final analysis confirms efficacy of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral.”
I’M REALLY HOPING THIS HAPPENS IN MY LIFETIME. If not, I’ll talk more fission energy. “Finally, a Fusion Reaction Has Generated More Energy Than Absorbed by The Fuel.”
A major milestone has been breached in the quest for fusion energy.
For the first time, a fusion reaction has achieved a record 1.3 megajoule energy output – and for the first time, exceeding energy absorbed by the fuel used to trigger it.
Although there's still some way to go, the result represents a significant improvement on previous yields: eight times greater than experiments conducted just a few months prior, and 25 times greater than experiments conducted in 2018. It's a huge achievement.
Physicists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be submitting a paper for peer review.
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW IT, THE BABYLON BEE IS THE ONE OF THE BEST SATIRE SITES IN THE WORLD: “KKK Disbands As Progressive Left Accomplishing All Their Goals.”
GOOD. Remove your sanction from those who seek to destroy you: “15 States Threaten To Pull $600 Billion From Banks That Won’t Give Equal Service To Energy Industry.”
Fifteen state financial officers sent a letter to U.S. banks last week noting $600 billion in assets they pledge to take elsewhere if the financial institutions embrace corporate wokeism and prohibit financing to the fossil fuel industry.
Led by West Virginia Republican Treasurer Riley Moore, the group promised “collective action” in the form of an “economic boycott.”
Signatories to the letter putting banks on notice include chief financial officers from Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Texas and Kentucky, in addition to West Virginia.
COURTESY OF CAPITALISM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! “Scientists make strides toward an 'off-the-shelf' immune cell therapy for cancer.”
Immunotherapies, which harness the body's natural defenses to combat disease, have revolutionized the treatment of aggressive and deadly cancers. But often, these therapies—especially those based on immune cells—must be tailored to the individual patient, costing valuable time and pushing their price into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Now, in a study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, UCLA researchers report a critical step forward in the development of an "off-the-shelf" cancer immunotherapy using rare but powerful immune cells that could potentially be produced in large quantities, stored for extended periods and safely used to treat a wide range of patients with various cancers.
I THINK THIS IS VERY COOL, ALTHOUGH I WISH ITS MEANING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE AS VALUABLE AS ITS SELLING PRICE: “Copy of U.S. Constitution Sells for $43.2 Million as Crypto Group DAO Is Outbid.”
I LIKE NOS. 3, 7-8, 10-11, 14, 16-19, 22, 24-28, 30: “Non-Americans Are Sharing Things The US Does Better Than Anyone Else, And I'm Actually Feeling Pretty Proud To Be An American Right Now.”
THE BAD
MMM. Not sure if I should classify this under “the Good,” “the Bad,” or “the Ugly.” The article is good, the subject matter is ugly, and what’s left is the mean. We’ll go with “the Bad”: “HARVARD WARNS THAT CHINESE TECH IS RAPIDLY OVERTAKING AMERICAN CAPABILITIES.”
The race for tech dominance between China and the US is heating up — but it’s starting to look like Beijing is taking the lead.
A new report, spotted by The South China Morning Post and published last week by the Harvard Kennedy School, found that China is rapidly gaining steam in the realms of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G, semiconductors, biotechnology, and green energy.
NOT EXACTLY SURPRISING GIVEN THAT WE’VE MOSTLY “SHARED” OUR TECHNOLOGIES WITH OUR FRENEMIES. We do have one advantage, though: our generals are way more woke than those in China or Russia: “Top general admits U.S. trailing China, Russia on hypersonic missiles.”
Humorous and true words from our friend, Instapundit:
LATE STAGE NIHILISM: “44% of American adults say they don't want a child because the future seems too bleak as the US experiences the biggest decline in births since 1973.”
44 percent of adults ages 18 to 49 said they simply 'just do not want to have children' when surveyed, a 7 percent decrease since 2018
74 percent of parents of the same age also said they would not be having more kiddos
Similarly, both groups ranked medical and finances high up as reasons, while parents ranks age up high, too
Non-parents and parents both cited the 'state of the world' was a reason for not wanting more children, at 9 and 4 percent, respectively
The average US household is 2.53 people as of 2020 and only 3.6million babies were born last year, a 4 percent decrease - the biggest since 1973
In 2020, 25 states experienced more deaths than births, a trend that's continuing in 2021
TOXIC MASCULINITY IS SO YESTERDAY. Now we have to learn to live with toxic androgyny. “The Rise Of The Soft Boy And The Fall Of Masculinity.”
Though a huge focus on androgyny and gender fluidity is focused on sexual preference, identity, and the like, plenty of straight and cisgender folk are also adopting this cultural shift in the name of gender equality. Rather than having a mindset of accepting both femininity and masculinity for what they are, our culture is working toward deconstructing the idea of gender altogether.
When it comes down to it, sure, it’s just a dress. It’s fabric, folded, stitched, it means nothing. But fashion is expression and expression is everything. The meanings behind what we wear and the messages behind what celebrities wear are powerful forces of influence, and the message that follows men wearing articles that deliberately deny the difference between masculinity and femininity is a dangerous one. It’s one that says there is no difference. It’s one that says men and women aren’t at all different despite so much research stating otherwise. It’s a message that takes a dress — something inherently feminine and designed to be so — and turns it, too, into an androgynous subject.
The gender wars have waged plenty on both men and women, and it’s hard to not link outcomes to such things. We've demonized everything feminine (at least, for women) as weak and undesirable. No wonder we're seeing a rise in the number of young women and teenage girls who have chosen to transition. Modern feminism has created an environment that no longer encourages empowerment among women being women, but instead of women being powerful, capable, and not at all different from men. In doing so, we’ve allowed young women to grow up thinking being a man is of higher value.
Read the whole thing.
THE UGLY
POTENTIAL GENOCIDE ALERT—Iranian edition: “Just one wrong move!”
THE TITLE PRETY MUCH SAYS IT ALL: “Disgrace: Biden abandoned over 60,000 Afghan interpreters, support personnel -- along with 14,000 Americans.”
This is an utter disgrace, and it all goes back to Biden and his leadership team. And apart from occasional updates as State sees fit to give, it’s also an utter disgrace by our national media, which has chosen to ignore these abandoned Americans and allies rather than hold Biden accountable for his cowardly actions. Disgrace barely touches on it, in fact.