Continued rambling – Regarding the Constitution and public apathy I would suggest that a large percentage of the US population, maybe more than half is or was disinterested in politics as usual as long as their own life was largely unaffected. Here comes a controversial statement – Trump made politics interesting! A lot more people started paying attention and forming opinions.

In the “Look Inside” feature of Rauch’s book on Amazon Rauch notes several stupidities and lies coming from Trump. The current President/Administration is accumulating its own collection of stupidities and lies. Life goes on. End of my political commentary with the exception that I hope that Trump stfu but it’s highly unlikely. Lol

Thank you Cindy! Nothing is worse than the loss of a child under ANY circumstances. Almost 10 years ago we “lost” our then 36 year old niece to Stage 4 Glioblastoma Brain Cancer (inoperable). She battled the disease for 14 months before she could fight no more. It was horrific watching her go through it all, despite her deep faith & strength, the cancerous tumor “won out” At the time, she left behind a 7 & 8 year old sons & her husband.
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As if that wasn’t bad enough, her husband, the boys’ father, was into drugs & overdosed 8 years later. This left the boys parentless & homeless. My brother in law & his wife stepped in & have raised the boys the last 8 years.

One is now a senior in high school, the eldest a soon to be Freshman in College.
Only through the love & support of family have these lovely young boys, now men, turned so to be stellar young adults.

I am here for you anytime if you need to talk. Virtual hugs Cindy. Stay strong, hopefully one day you’ll be able to share that hug with your daughter.

Kimo – That’s an excellent overview. I’ll ramble on a bit in response to you and PeaceMaker below. I have my own opinions and probably biases and it’s worth taking a look at them. A lifelong friend of mine is a “progressive” and presents some of the usual arguments like “Rich people are too rich and that’s not fair.” He suggests that Jeff Bezos should be more than happy with a $50 million a year income and I suppose he has a point. I suggested that was arbitrary and I asked him if he believed that “decent, honest” politicians could be entrusted to determine what amount of income for people was acceptable but that didn’t go far – lol

On a video I watched which was unrelated to scn some professor or someone with some sort of credential was saying that if you are talking to someone who has an opposite viewpoint you might first say “Let me see if I understand what you’re saying.” and repeat back to the person what they said. She then mentioned that the most important thing is that the person you are speaking with feels acknowledged since so often people don’t feel they are being acknowledged and that usually calms down a heated debate. If that doesn’t remind an ex scn of the Communication Course I don’t know what would!

Ballet Lady, I so appreciate your good wishes and prayers and love. I’m sure all who have lost loved ones to the cult appreciate it too.

Richard, you’re right that not all journalists are propagandists, though the corporate model kind of dictates that those who belong to thost corporations fill that slot. That fact means that true journalism is in the process of reverting to those to whom it rightly belongs — the citizen journalists who walk around with their eyes open.

I will get myself a copy of that book too, and read it. It’s fun to discover whether one’s beliefs are still right or whether one needs to grow some more. Well, maybe “fun” isn’t quite the right word… but rewarding, maybe?

And I completely agree that the right has its cancel culture as well. Huck Finn is an interesting dichotomy, though; both the left and the right have or are cancelling it, for different reasons, both of which prove a narrowness of thought that is distressing in any circumstance. When I was a high school English teacher, I was mortified that the department head unilaterally discarded To Kill a Mockingbird in favor of a hagiography of Steve Jobs… ugh.

That said, the Constitution only protects to the extent it’s followed, and though neither side is blameless, currently the Left is the one that is mostly ignoring constitutional principles. Changing it requires a convention. Ignoring it just requires complicit law enforcement entities and public apathy, both of which are in abundance.

Good comment. So true, Peace Maker

You are welcome Cindy, I only wish I had the power to put her in contact with you, yet I know she’d “pay the price” if that were done.

One can only hold on to hope that one day she sees the truth & leaves. My love & prayers are with you.

Peacemaker – Thanks. We’re on the same “wavelength”. At a quick glance I pulled this from the ALA, American Library Association, reference. A chance for rationality? haha

“Explore additional frequently challenged books by topic, genre, time, and audience. While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read. Banned Books Week is an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and draws attention to the harms of censorship.”

I could reply further but for now my brain cells are fried and I need to regenerate. :-))

Kimo – Thanks. I like Atkinson’s metaphor of Astroturf foundations or organizations falsely posing as “grassroots”. Scn has lots of them.

The reviews on Amazon say that while Rauch leans left he presents a balanced view. We’ll see – I ordered the book. Not all journalists are propagandists.

The great divide of people with different political, economic and philosophical beliefs is obvious to people. The flight from truth and reality is an ongoing discussion on scn blogs and ex scns and others who follow scn have a broad background and knowledge on that discussion.

There is the possibility that the pendulum will swing to rationality rather than Big Brother but it will be a slow generational change. In the meantime I believe the checks and balances in the Constitution will cancel out the most radical extremes. Call me an optimist and I choose not to get stuck in “fixed opinions” in scn lingo. When I first registered to vote I put down Democrat but I need to figure out how to change that to Independent. haha – my 2 cents

https://www.amazon.com/Constitution-Knowledge-Jonathan-Rauch/dp/0815738862/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UIE5P0UB5HLV&dchild=1&keywords=jonathan+rauch+the+constitution+of+knowledge&qid=162799