Omicron - someone at a place I visited today said it’s a strange-sounding name, like if it was used as the title of a science fiction movie you would either think it very cool or very stupid. I’ll posit that it’s going to be very cruel to some very stupid people.
Not wrong in any way, shape, or form, TC. Your assessment that we may not survive the Twitter age is also spot on. What we've lost in this country has been engineered by forces from within (to use a term I learned in my 60's on LFAA) by Movement Conservative), from without (looking at Russia), and willingly (by today's Republiscum party adherents).
We are (relatively speaking) an infant Nation, whose rush to multi-national prominence was accelerated by the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of the Indigenous who occupied this continent when it was "discovered" by white European religious nuts. We had a growth spurt as toddlers following the "Great Depression" and WWII where we started the efforts to live up to the founding document of our country. We may be in our teen years now, with all the restraint of teenagers with no ability for reasoning and so dependent on our emotions to "guide" us in our important decisions that really require a bit more complex thought than a meme that tickles the collective amygdalae from unsubstantiated and inaccurate beliefs that meet the 140 character limit of a Tweet.
"Homo Sap" says it all. Just paying attention to our First World ads and lots of our vacuous programming and you see how self absorbed and spoiled we are as a society. Set up for a collapse indeed! We first-worlders would never be able to survive it--note our toilet paper stampedes!!!
We know what we have to do and it is minimal self sacrifice for us who have too much compared to the rest of the world.
As always, you've expressed a widely held opinion in clear and uncompromising language but, taken to its logical end, we're already all screwed and, to quote a cinematic Senator, "Nothing is over until we decide it is". For a little more perspective and some possible solutions, Zeynep Tufekci had a really good piece in the NYT yesterday and Joe Ferullo one in The Hill on the contributions the journalism "profession" is making to the whole mess. There is still hope although it's getting harder to hold on to.
You wrote: “Red” America will go out and party heartier.
It will. And since my part of America is purple surrounded by a mile high wall of red, I will continue my self-imposed exile inside my home. I want to be among the last ones standing!
I agree that "we" are mere Homo Saps, but the image that comes to mind is that "we" are worse than infantile idiots, there are far too many Neros among us, fiddling while our globe burns. I don't know if that is because "we" have gone off the rails with our immense wealth, our privilege, or if it's something worse. I tend to go along with the latter, since the cult mentality seems to have taken over so many of us. How did so many go so far into the rabbit hole? Is it in the water?
I want to know who names these dang variants? Omicron? Which, in math, refers to growth of a function at a “asymptotic rate” which relates to infinity???? Wonder how Gov of Florida is going to use this to advantage. He signed the last anti mask and vaccine bills—-defying OSHA and Pres Biden in Brandon, FL. To the expected chant….well, you’ve heard it. What a twit.
They're following the Greek alphabet; the ones we hear about are the variants that have a nice meaty, somewhat scary story that will excite comment and generate clicks and sales. Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Psi didn't get the job done so got no coverage. These being journalists, the only thing that is infinite is their desire for attention.
Well, I understand the intent behind using the Greek alphabet for the variants; it beats naming them for the regions they develop from. Not a lot of thought going into it; they already had to eliminate "Nu" (new? what's new?) and Xi (too common a surname in some countries, to include the leader of one of the largest countries) but still, I get your point.
Hi Christine, I bet our lovely governor will start the mantra, " See, I was right. Vaccines don't work! Monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, etc. Business as usual. Keep those theme parks going!!!"
Not wrong in any way, shape, or form, TC. Your assessment that we may not survive the Twitter age is also spot on. What we've lost in this country has been engineered by forces from within (to use a term I learned in my 60's on LFAA) by Movement Conservative), from without (looking at Russia), and willingly (by today's Republiscum party adherents).
We are (relatively speaking) an infant Nation, whose rush to multi-national prominence was accelerated by the enslavement of Africans and the genocide of the Indigenous who occupied this continent when it was "discovered" by white European religious nuts. We had a growth spurt as toddlers following the "Great Depression" and WWII where we started the efforts to live up to the founding document of our country. We may be in our teen years now, with all the restraint of teenagers with no ability for reasoning and so dependent on our emotions to "guide" us in our important decisions that really require a bit more complex thought than a meme that tickles the collective amygdalae from unsubstantiated and inaccurate beliefs that meet the 140 character limit of a Tweet.
The religious monsters are the root source of why America can't be great. Magical thinking = wasted human potential.
Yes, Ally. Truth.
You're quite right, TC, but so is Lord Karma! And as long as Big Pharma and the $ rules, our leaders never learn ...
And the people the leaders lead allow them to do the opposite. Yikes!
*will* never learn! LOL!
Both "never learn" and "will never learn" ring true, depending on what part of speech you want to emphasize.
"Homo Sap" says it all. Just paying attention to our First World ads and lots of our vacuous programming and you see how self absorbed and spoiled we are as a society. Set up for a collapse indeed! We first-worlders would never be able to survive it--note our toilet paper stampedes!!!
We know what we have to do and it is minimal self sacrifice for us who have too much compared to the rest of the world.
"None of us is safe til all of us are safe."
As always, you've expressed a widely held opinion in clear and uncompromising language but, taken to its logical end, we're already all screwed and, to quote a cinematic Senator, "Nothing is over until we decide it is". For a little more perspective and some possible solutions, Zeynep Tufekci had a really good piece in the NYT yesterday and Joe Ferullo one in The Hill on the contributions the journalism "profession" is making to the whole mess. There is still hope although it's getting harder to hold on to.
Hope looks more and more deluded
You wrote: “Red” America will go out and party heartier.
It will. And since my part of America is purple surrounded by a mile high wall of red, I will continue my self-imposed exile inside my home. I want to be among the last ones standing!
I agree that "we" are mere Homo Saps, but the image that comes to mind is that "we" are worse than infantile idiots, there are far too many Neros among us, fiddling while our globe burns. I don't know if that is because "we" have gone off the rails with our immense wealth, our privilege, or if it's something worse. I tend to go along with the latter, since the cult mentality seems to have taken over so many of us. How did so many go so far into the rabbit hole? Is it in the water?
Actually, 6% is much better than many of the poorest countries. The Covax project seems to be working as well as expected. Click the "show all" button at the bottom of the default list and scroll down to the bottom at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html
I want to know who names these dang variants? Omicron? Which, in math, refers to growth of a function at a “asymptotic rate” which relates to infinity???? Wonder how Gov of Florida is going to use this to advantage. He signed the last anti mask and vaccine bills—-defying OSHA and Pres Biden in Brandon, FL. To the expected chant….well, you’ve heard it. What a twit.
They're following the Greek alphabet; the ones we hear about are the variants that have a nice meaty, somewhat scary story that will excite comment and generate clicks and sales. Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Psi didn't get the job done so got no coverage. These being journalists, the only thing that is infinite is their desire for attention.
Well, I understand the intent behind using the Greek alphabet for the variants; it beats naming them for the regions they develop from. Not a lot of thought going into it; they already had to eliminate "Nu" (new? what's new?) and Xi (too common a surname in some countries, to include the leader of one of the largest countries) but still, I get your point.
Hi Christine, I bet our lovely governor will start the mantra, " See, I was right. Vaccines don't work! Monoclonal antibodies, Ivermectin, etc. Business as usual. Keep those theme parks going!!!"
Your moron is only a tic more moronic than the moron that we have here in GA
They didn’t want to name it after the Chinese imperial ruler
I'm not going down without a fight. I already have a list.
Nice to be back TC
Yep. We suck and prove that capitalism wrongs the world in every way.