Curtis Dahlgren
The War on Dissent: Fibs, spin, statistics, and pure fiction
By Curtis Dahlgren
"What need has a god of a star ship?" – Hollywood
"What need has 'settled science' of a Public Relations firm?" – C. Dahlgren
WAR ON DISSENT: Russia, Venezuela, the Middle East, and Washington DC. Left-wing causes are all into "minimizing." Lying becomes misspeaking; spin becomes misremembering; statistics are tools for fudging the facts. When one gets caught, just call it a "mistake"!
A lawyer goes to confession: "I must confess the sin of vanity," he says. "Every time I look into the mirror, I think how handsome I am." The priest, who recognizes the voice and knows what the guy looks like, says:
"That's not a sin. That's a mistake."
That's the exception to the rule, though. Both vanity and lying are sins, but speaking of minimizing, the Old Media doesn't want you to know that the world's a mess (I guess). Page one of the Milwaukee paper is all sweetness and light while the persecution of Christians is relegated to page 11 (2-27-15):
"Extremists abduct more Christians; Militants smash ancient statues, other artifacts in Mosul."
To the A.P. and mainstream press, poll-tested terms such as "insurgents" sound better than MONSTERS. They're simply unemployed, disenfranchised "youths," y'know.
A riddle: Why did George Washington have a sleeping disorder? A: He couldn't LIE. [Two points: He really was honest. And he didn't have a degree.]
Back in the 1970s, a man went to visit his father in a nursing home and says, "Guess what? A man hit a golf ball on the moon yesterday." The old man says:
"That has to be the worst lie in the history of the sport," and the son says:
"I didn't say he hit it ONTO the moon; he hit it ON the moon." And his dad says:
"That's even worse. That is the biggest lie I've ever been told!"
National Geographic notwithstanding, lying politicians seem to be playing a game of "can you top this fib?" Like "14 of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2000."
Like the only reason we have colleges is that at some point there were politicians who said, "You know what, we should start colleges." Like, "Voters are no smarter than fifth graders."
[Seven of the eight Ivy League schools were started long before Land Grant colleges. And mostly by churches! Among our four-year colleges, 77 percent are non-governmental (so says PolitiFactWisc).]
Those who credit the government (or the "village," the commune) should read my "History of the University" in my RenewAmerica archives (look it up). Not to be nit-picky, but Vince Lombardi once said, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
CONCLUSION: Fallen mankind will never make the world "perfectible" until the sons of Adam do something about their fallen condition.
P.S. Speaking of the pure white wind-driven snow, it has been 20 below zero at my place in the banana belt of the Badger State. As you know, this is the last week of February and our average high temp is running 30 to 35 degrees below average.
Those much-esteemed climatologists can't do anything right! They've gone and overdone that climate cooling thing. The lefties can't ship us to Siberia so they're shipping Siberia to us. What's next? Sea level sinking?
They actually claimed that fallen mankind has the capability of "regulating" the planet's climate. In fact, they were against "anthropogenic global warming" before they were in favor of "Climate change for the better," before they were against "climate disruption," which it is now called. If it's "Real Science," the high priests should have no need of Public Relations. But, as Robert Louis Stevenson once said:
"Man is a creature who lives, not upon bread alone, but principally by catchwords."
In our era, those are the focus-group poll-tested catch-phrases. And when one wears out and loses its effectiveness, the P.R. "folks" just trot out another "tested" version. It's called "mass communication" – or lies for the masses. Well, as a guy in my little town said the other day:
"The next guy to complain about global warming is going to get a fist in the face."
Pardon us hicks for being so "simplistic" but it's a "settled fact" that global warming is near the bottom of our list of "challenges." No one is rooting for dirtier air, but We the People aren't buying all the "scares." First science says coffee will kill you and then it says it's good for you. Put me down as a coffee denier. As for man-made climate disruption, the dissenters are the clear majority because there are degrees of dissent:
- Some believe that AGW is a flat-out lie, a hoax.
- Some are just skeptical.
- Some are afraid to tell a pollster that they doubt man-made "change" is happening.
- Some don't believe it but are even afraid to ask any dumb questions.
SERIOUSLY, my mother used to say that sometimes in life it is better to just play dumb than to try to play "smart." Sometimes a dumb question will catch off guard even the degreed who hang around Starbucks smiling about the non-degreed.
PPS: As Julius Caesar said:
"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."
© Curtis Dahlgren
February 28, 2015
"What need has a god of a star ship?" – Hollywood
"What need has 'settled science' of a Public Relations firm?" – C. Dahlgren
WAR ON DISSENT: Russia, Venezuela, the Middle East, and Washington DC. Left-wing causes are all into "minimizing." Lying becomes misspeaking; spin becomes misremembering; statistics are tools for fudging the facts. When one gets caught, just call it a "mistake"!
A lawyer goes to confession: "I must confess the sin of vanity," he says. "Every time I look into the mirror, I think how handsome I am." The priest, who recognizes the voice and knows what the guy looks like, says:
"That's not a sin. That's a mistake."
That's the exception to the rule, though. Both vanity and lying are sins, but speaking of minimizing, the Old Media doesn't want you to know that the world's a mess (I guess). Page one of the Milwaukee paper is all sweetness and light while the persecution of Christians is relegated to page 11 (2-27-15):
"Extremists abduct more Christians; Militants smash ancient statues, other artifacts in Mosul."
To the A.P. and mainstream press, poll-tested terms such as "insurgents" sound better than MONSTERS. They're simply unemployed, disenfranchised "youths," y'know.
A riddle: Why did George Washington have a sleeping disorder? A: He couldn't LIE. [Two points: He really was honest. And he didn't have a degree.]
Back in the 1970s, a man went to visit his father in a nursing home and says, "Guess what? A man hit a golf ball on the moon yesterday." The old man says:
"That has to be the worst lie in the history of the sport," and the son says:
"I didn't say he hit it ONTO the moon; he hit it ON the moon." And his dad says:
"That's even worse. That is the biggest lie I've ever been told!"
National Geographic notwithstanding, lying politicians seem to be playing a game of "can you top this fib?" Like "14 of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2000."
Like the only reason we have colleges is that at some point there were politicians who said, "You know what, we should start colleges." Like, "Voters are no smarter than fifth graders."
[Seven of the eight Ivy League schools were started long before Land Grant colleges. And mostly by churches! Among our four-year colleges, 77 percent are non-governmental (so says PolitiFactWisc).]
Those who credit the government (or the "village," the commune) should read my "History of the University" in my RenewAmerica archives (look it up). Not to be nit-picky, but Vince Lombardi once said, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
CONCLUSION: Fallen mankind will never make the world "perfectible" until the sons of Adam do something about their fallen condition.
P.S. Speaking of the pure white wind-driven snow, it has been 20 below zero at my place in the banana belt of the Badger State. As you know, this is the last week of February and our average high temp is running 30 to 35 degrees below average.
Those much-esteemed climatologists can't do anything right! They've gone and overdone that climate cooling thing. The lefties can't ship us to Siberia so they're shipping Siberia to us. What's next? Sea level sinking?
They actually claimed that fallen mankind has the capability of "regulating" the planet's climate. In fact, they were against "anthropogenic global warming" before they were in favor of "Climate change for the better," before they were against "climate disruption," which it is now called. If it's "Real Science," the high priests should have no need of Public Relations. But, as Robert Louis Stevenson once said:
"Man is a creature who lives, not upon bread alone, but principally by catchwords."
In our era, those are the focus-group poll-tested catch-phrases. And when one wears out and loses its effectiveness, the P.R. "folks" just trot out another "tested" version. It's called "mass communication" – or lies for the masses. Well, as a guy in my little town said the other day:
"The next guy to complain about global warming is going to get a fist in the face."
Pardon us hicks for being so "simplistic" but it's a "settled fact" that global warming is near the bottom of our list of "challenges." No one is rooting for dirtier air, but We the People aren't buying all the "scares." First science says coffee will kill you and then it says it's good for you. Put me down as a coffee denier. As for man-made climate disruption, the dissenters are the clear majority because there are degrees of dissent:
- Some believe that AGW is a flat-out lie, a hoax.
- Some are just skeptical.
- Some are afraid to tell a pollster that they doubt man-made "change" is happening.
- Some don't believe it but are even afraid to ask any dumb questions.
SERIOUSLY, my mother used to say that sometimes in life it is better to just play dumb than to try to play "smart." Sometimes a dumb question will catch off guard even the degreed who hang around Starbucks smiling about the non-degreed.
PPS: As Julius Caesar said:
"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."
© Curtis Dahlgren
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
