I used to tell my h.s. students 15-20 yrs ago that one day the U.S. probably would no longer be a powerful country, citing the Roman Empire and the British Navy as examples of world powers that had come and gone throughout history. But even I didn't think it would happen so soon, in my lifetime.
"unable to distinguish between what feels good and what real". Hits the hardest as its incredibly true. This is so much the problem. People "vibe" check shit they don't care if it's true or not.
This is so valid and scary true for being said so long ago. But then so are books like Fahrenheit 451. It’s really pretty uncomfortable feeling because we are here now.
Modern accounting software can be used to keep track of the location of every single dollar used at a corporation. If wages are causing higher prices then have open access windows to all accounting at corporations for now and the past 30 years.
The manufacturing went away because another country had a lot more people who asked for a lot less pay.
In a global economy, the most peaceful we can have, that country is always going to become the manufacturing giant.
Only a less peaceful economic philosophy, or a cut in wages will bring it back.
"Inflation is caused by wages" comes from the Public Relations teams paid by mega Millionaires and Billionaires. We can keep wages low if there is a deflation in prices by ending price gouging to make 3% of the population wealthy.
You okay buddy?
I never mentioned inflation and it isn't even relevant to the discussion.
You'd have to send America into a second Great Depression to get the deflation you're talking about.
Also . . . how you gonna pull that off?
You can't force every company to keep prices at a certain point.
There are tiny local government organizations in counties that do nothing but come up with ways to ticket and fine people, for every tiny thing. There is already governmental, right-wing, micromanaging.
The prices can be scaled back with this micromanaging of local and state governments.
Americans wanted better quality of life. And we had higher education. Which means we naturally abandoned the lower paying jobs and got the more technical, high paying ones.
There wasn't a conspiracy to take out lower paying jobs. High wage countries just lose low wage jobs.
That's how that works.
We were always tuned in to PBS on Sunday nights when Carl's show came on.
Can you imagine that today.
America glued to their screens fascinated by education, science and learning about nature. If he were alive today, he would be a favorite target of Dump and the right.
Oh I don't know, why would stupid ass Mike say that he would probably be targeted by the right and Trump?
Seriously you people have to fuckin stop your hateful rhetoric.
Ok… now I’m just curious in your thinking (never said anything I just asked a question before). Do you genuinely think Carl Sagan would be attacked by people today for saying this or would everyone agree with him?
Well I think most people would agree with him, so why would Mike say that? That's the point I'm trying to make. There was no reason for him to assume that at all. Then looked at his profile, radical leftist, wow who would have guessed that.
Mike is a dumb fuck is all I'm saying.
Why do our taxdollors have to fund universities?
Seems like the $80 thousand per year per person should be able to get the job done. Why would one of them need an extra $200 million every year?
The embers were just glowing back then of political unrest and the injection of money ( lots of it) flowing into the senate and house, the grooming of the supreme courts. These cumulative effects and a none white President jump started the corrosive path to where we are today
There has always been, part of the North American culture, an anti intellectual sentiment. Our movies tv show “nerds” in a certain light.
The arrogance of ignorance has grown and has defended with whataboutism like cheap tv lawyers playing gotcha and reasonable doubt with important issues.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth."
"... The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
As much as some of us have studied history, we still continue to make the same mistakes.
This despot and his minions have managed to destroy what it took over two hundred and fifty years to attain.
The idea that hidden among this populace in this Country is a superior race is absutb.
I can't read the title of that book but I want to buy it to read. What is it? Thank you so much. I worked for Dr. Sagan at a symposium in New York at Carnegie Hall & was able to meet & lunch with him. Issac Assimov, Arthur Clarke as well. What an unbelievable honor for me. Thank you for this post.
Oh, it was. I was just in awe of those men. They were close friends so it was warming to see them enjoy each other knowing the combined brilliance behind those laughs. They are my kind of 'celebrities' & sound like your's too. :) Such good men. Sagan had just landed from Japan with wife/daughter.
Clarke was mostly the better writer, Asimov couldn't write a rounded human character to save his own life. Clarke destroyed his own RAMA series in the last book, a failure of imagination inherent in a creator who does not believe in Creation.
I don't disagree about Azimov's thoughts, but he was an intellectual who hated plebes, disliked most of humanity. Sagan was intellectually brilliant but his writing is full of contempt for those with spiritual values, because he had none, didn't want any = a shallow streak that diminished him.
Got it. Agree. Actually, Sagan was gracious but did have a bit of a nasty streak that was clear during conversations. My admiration was for their collective intellect. Sagan's personal life was less than admirable but his science .... another matter. You are on target. :)
I can admire intellect, but you can't be a great writer without emotional intelligence. I can be amazed by a fine-tuned mind, but find myself cold in fiction without a heart. You can have wisdom without compassion, but you can be brilliant enough to change the world for those who do care.
The “ dumbing down of America “ , hit me… hard 😓. Ladies and Gentlemen, have a nomination for “post of the night “ !!! Bravo, I salute you 👏🏻👏🏽👏🏾👏🏼👏🏿👍🏾( History… relevant to present time/ Educational… + so many resources have been deployed to Keep people uneducated ( sleep) categories)
It is so sad that our great country is falling apart. Since J.F.Kennedy died our country took a nose dive down hill. Every year getting worse and worse. Final trump is putting the icing on the cake. It is reminding me of those Hitler days. I hope we can fix this horrible thing before it is too late
Fox brought us two networks back then.
Both of them celebrated cruelty and ignorance.
One showcased liberal values and the other network was outraged by those values and claimed that they were destroying the country.
Murdoch played both sides and helped normalize the cruelty we now see.
Calling this "prescient" would be an understatement. I have to reread that book. Carl Sagan's work is timeless. Watching Cosmos as a child cemented my nascent interest in science and set me on a path of lifelong exploration.
We need to encourage small businesses to offset this slide into oblivion. Break up BIG BUSINESS, and hamstring the RICH from hampering and influencing our government. Let's bring back the joy of innovation on a small scale. Like it was in 1776. We built a mighty nation that way. 🐱
My god!😔 Nothing could closer to the truth. Look around you ... we have arrived. Carl was absolutely correct. A just and positive future is still with in our grasp
Bottom line is Trump supporters support Trump.
Not America, not law, not decency, not even their God anymore. They've turned their backs on the constitution and choose chaos over democracy.
A Trump supporter can never be associated with good.
END OF STORY.
I see your point, but folks used to make fun of each other's political opinions, have a beer together, and both defended the constitution. Djt bragged he uses chaos to take over businesses and is running the country the same way. Thru chaos he's manipulated his party away from the constitution.
Eh. People still do those things, even today. I have lively, healthy discussions with my neighbors. Sometimes online too. I'm grateful for it tbh. It reminds me that people aren't caricatures, as much as social media would have ya think.
that's good for you, but too many folks now believe that breaking the law doesn't matter anymore. The constitution is up for debate if trump says it is. That buddying up with our enemy is okay. That if trump sold us out, they'd back him. Trump can't keep his indiscretions to himself; (1/2)
Actually most Americans are the dumbed down feel rather than think masses he was talking about. Otherwise there would be impeachment hearings going on right now because we demand it of our representatives.
If they ask 'why?' tell them SETI, Cosmos, and the hope that somehow our combined intelligence will steer us before corruption overwhelms our silly planet.
I'm specifically thinking of the line "I am emperor Ronald Reagan, born again with fascist cravings." Change the name and the synchronicity becomes eerie.
Yes. 25 years then Nixon thought that we should have some of the fascist thing. There's that New Yorker cartoon where it's Nixon saying to a republican "are you going to be loyal to me or to that Constitution?" All wide-eyed children saw it.
I just saw it this morning, lol. Someone posted it. I was too young during Watergate. The first real political event I remember was the Iran hostage crisis.
As long as you understand that that song is sung in character, from the point of view of the Republicunts. The deliberate irony in that song is missed by so many people it's sickening.
Eric once told me that he almost regretted writing that song because so many people missed it. If people had gotten it he wouldn't have had to write "Nazi Punks Fuck Off."
He's the one,
Who likes all our pretty songs,
And he likes to sing along,
And he likes to shoot his gun,
But he knows not what it means,
Knows not what it means.
And the billionaires who might do somethings to help right this nation choose to focus their every effort on just getting more and more money. Not to do anything that would benefit their nation, just to inflate the numbers on their financial statements.
But not as terrifying as that roll neck and the fact that he sounds very vague and yet many Americans will believe that he could see into the future….fucking idiots
It's very telling that everyone i knew who had influence on who I became, family and people in my area, kinda all hated CS because he wasn't some religious figure, they demonized him Hard because he was so scientificly oriented. Like the science made his message untrustworthy, because he wasn't 1. >
2. Wasn't pushing some jesus message. I always thought that was weird AF. I grew up in MS. And that kinda speaks volumes for how ass backwards this state is. Totally enthralled in religious dogma, ( and rejects figures like CS and Isaac Asimov )both got thrown in front of "that's the devils message"
Thank you for posting this is ::omg is this really:: the author? i this is like texting Toni Morrison, Anne Rice, Cisneros, Frank Herbert, Thomas Piri, like out of nowhere I well thank you for posting on the BSKY.🦁
Hey Carl - astrology requires study and it utilizes mathematics. Everybody should know their natal chart for personal development. And a good astrologer can predict larger trends. Being human in this universe does require a belief in magic. God help the people who try to rely entirely on logic.
Carl Sagan-a wise visionary!
As opposed to the loud, venal and ignorant Magats in charge of the shit show we have now.
They are doing everything they can to turn us into cattle in their very own rodeo.
Destroying our institutions and their knowledge, mocking the constitution that protects us all!
This morrors a quote from Isaac Asimov
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
I really miss him, I have his documentary he did Cosmos. His intelligence and passion for teaching always captured me, whenever I saw him speak I could not turn away. Sadly as he stated we now celebrate ignorance, America has become the worlds jester.
Sagen was a remarkably aware & intelligent person. The correctness of his vision of future America is a most sad revelation at this point. Brilliance so often escapes from those for whom it would most benefit for it rarely carries wealth. Yet, this is what wealth should most be supporting.
🌊🇺🇸🇺🇦🌈🟧🌍💙
Most of America that fled the cesspool of X/Twitter. Clearly one third of the country is so dumbed down that when asked about Carl Sagan and his works in the 90’s they’d ask, “which N’Sync was Carl?”
The only exceptionalism to the American story is how quickly we pissed it away.
From what I can see, BlueSky is just as much a cesspool. But the big difference is that on Twitter, at least there opposing sides to point out lies and misinformation. There are even Community Notes.
Here, lies go unchallenged, and it's a complete echo chamber.
I miss BRIAN so much.
And Carl.
But Brian is still HERE with us..why, oh WHY can he not be helming the ship somewhere on television?
I know why. I feel for him. But there are MEDS for that!
I loved that man. Listening to him on PBS as a child gave me my first true glimps of what is possible by imagining the impossible. I am the woman I am partly because of Carl Sagan.
So prescient and applicable to people in all political spectrums and stripes, but especially with MAGAs when considering the dumbing down of Americans.
I remember visiting the States in the early 90s. I was staying on the Jersey Shore, but drove to Pittsburgh for a couple of days. On the car radio I heard nothing but Shock Jocks spouting mad nonsense. I remember feeling worried for America then.
Incredible words by Sagan who was an intelligent man with a heightened ability to perceive events that so many of us have missed. He forecasted a direction so many of us could never have predicted and in which we find ourselves living in right here and now.
Comments
Same message, different approach.
We have to blow out all the well hidden and secret rules that were used to destroy the middle class.
In a global economy, the most peaceful we can have, that country is always going to become the manufacturing giant.
Only a less peaceful economic philosophy, or a cut in wages will bring it back.
I never mentioned inflation and it isn't even relevant to the discussion.
You'd have to send America into a second Great Depression to get the deflation you're talking about.
Also . . . how you gonna pull that off?
You can't force every company to keep prices at a certain point.
The prices can be scaled back with this micromanaging of local and state governments.
It can't.
Not without sending us into a Great Depression.
My dude we do not WANT to be Russia.
You must be living in an underground tank to not see it.
There wasn't a conspiracy to take out lower paying jobs. High wage countries just lose low wage jobs.
That's how that works.
Can you imagine that today.
America glued to their screens fascinated by education, science and learning about nature. If he were alive today, he would be a favorite target of Dump and the right.
Think it was on Obama's list, but he sadly passed before he took the office.
Seriously you people have to fuckin stop your hateful rhetoric.
Mike is a dumb fuck is all I'm saying.
What he said was exactly what the liberals have done and are completely comfortable with it.
Seems like the $80 thousand per year per person should be able to get the job done. Why would one of them need an extra $200 million every year?
Spot On
Yes
Correct
Yeeeaah buddy
Sagan as Nostradamus.
The arrogance of ignorance has grown and has defended with whataboutism like cheap tv lawyers playing gotcha and reasonable doubt with important issues.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth."
"... The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
https://youtu.be/v--znY7yk84?si=uCHogcBttbWqiYcH
Insanity Brian wouldn’t abandon me.
This despot and his minions have managed to destroy what it took over two hundred and fifty years to attain.
The idea that hidden among this populace in this Country is a superior race is absutb.
I do this all the time. 🔭😎👍
My favorite 2 chapters are
The Dragon in My Garage
And
The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
Both of them celebrated cruelty and ignorance.
One showcased liberal values and the other network was outraged by those values and claimed that they were destroying the country.
Murdoch played both sides and helped normalize the cruelty we now see.
“They did not listen, they did not know how; they’re still not listening now”
(Vincent)
I came to the conclusion awhile ago: we’ve lost the ability to think critically.
How many get news from just 1 source and never question it?
- or fact check info on the Internet ?
- and believe (unreal)reality TV?
He never was the “smart businessman” he played on TV! So here we are now! 😔
Not America, not law, not decency, not even their God anymore. They've turned their backs on the constitution and choose chaos over democracy.
A Trump supporter can never be associated with good.
END OF STORY.
The root of these problems is STILL the money.
https://medium.com/@bj.chippindale/owned-3a5602124f7b
It is the money that gives the maggots faux news.
My pinned thread explains how the money itself is the poison.
https://bsky.app/profile/bjchippindale.bsky.social/post/3lacq4nvxsb2t
Right about everything.
https://bsky.app/profile/adamether.bsky.social/post/3lmphompu4223
If they ask 'why?' tell them SETI, Cosmos, and the hope that somehow our combined intelligence will steer us before corruption overwhelms our silly planet.
For everyone's grandkids ffs.
🌍🌎🌏🌱
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social
@wajali.bsky.social
@muellershewrote.com
@adamkinzinger.bsky.social
Trump/Elon the end.
WTF 🤬
-RFK
-Whoops, I mean the Dead Kennedys
Who likes all our pretty songs,
And he likes to sing along,
And he likes to shoot his gun,
But he knows not what it means,
Knows not what it means.
He skipped the debate here of why not...
I wonder when Big Chief Sitting Fool will start to tell his minions to get all books burned,just like Adolf.
As opposed to the loud, venal and ignorant Magats in charge of the shit show we have now.
They are doing everything they can to turn us into cattle in their very own rodeo.
Destroying our institutions and their knowledge, mocking the constitution that protects us all!
also feels kind of ironic for someone MSNBC (or any mainstream news outlet) decrying the "10-second sound bite"
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
🌊🇺🇸🇺🇦🌈🟧🌍💙
I miss Carl Sagan but fortunately his wise intelligence lives on.
Playing in the background.
The only exceptionalism to the American story is how quickly we pissed it away.
Here, lies go unchallenged, and it's a complete echo chamber.
And Carl.
But Brian is still HERE with us..why, oh WHY can he not be helming the ship somewhere on television?
I know why. I feel for him. But there are MEDS for that!
(Didn't need the music in the bg, distracting).
I still listen and read Sagan. The Pale Blue Dot is one of the most beautiful things I've ever listened to.
This is spirituality for me.
"A mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam"
❤️
And Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour'
My father worried about the same........
#[email protected]
Traurig, dass die Amerikaner
wohl an Gedächtnisverlust
und Ignoranz leiden.