Two of the more egregious examples:
Richard Nixon broke innumerable laws hiding under the umbrella of “national security.” The populace was understandably upset and went through a period of holding leadership more accountable and being more open. Ronald Reagan ran up a national deficit that should be a source of shame to America under the name of “national security.” Now we have another administration following the same patterns. Apparently neither us nor the politicians learned anything.
The victims of the Holocaust, before the “final solution”, were forced to carry travel papers, wear special symbols to make them stand out, and were restricted in their movement. Now, these people are carrying out the same acts against Palestinians. These people were victims of some of the worst genocide in history and here they are enacting the same policies and doing the same acts that led up that horror. Now, Italy is racially and ethnically targeting gypsies. I guess we didn’t learn anything from World War II or the events leading up to it.
Like greedy old women we just keep repeating stupidity until something stupid happens. And then we wonder why something stupid happened. Which only provides evidence for my theory that people don’t really learn, they repeat. For all of our idea of being “civilized” or “advanced” we’re really just taller, balder versions of Australopithecus with bombs instead of sticks.
5 comments:
I believe the definition of insanity is something like "repeating the same event over and over and expecting different results"
There may be a loophole for any of the experiments that I do in the lab. I don't think those conform to the normal laws of probability. I blame the lab gnomes.
The parallel between the power grabs of Nixon and Bush is striking, with the exception of the fact that the American public as a whole doesn't seem to care this time around. The people in this country are more interested in celebrity childbirth (even though they don't seem to have a decent sex-ed background in the first place) than they are in the politics and government that actually affect their lives.
On an unrelated note, the blog links on the right side of your page are not updating for my blog. I've posted since "Wafer Thin" and it's not seeming to catch the update.
I'm not against repeating. Replicates are necessary in science. Even Lisa said "I don't understand why we only try ideas once." But there are some things that go beyond the need to experiment and should not be repeated. These include xenophobia, racial and ethnic targeting, and perpetuating hidden government practices under catch-all terms like national security or executive privilege.
On another unrelated note, I don't know why your blog isn't updating. I even deleted it and re-added it and it still insists you've haven't posted anything new. Lame.
Okay so I lose points for trying to joke my way through the beginning of my last comment.
Repetition is your friend. Say it again, repetition is your friend...usually.
Being able to repeat and observe phenomena in a lab setting or in life allows us to add data points and better predict the future outcome of similar events. That being said, some data is not worth seeing twice when the failure is evident from the start.
I am seeing almost the same arguments used in opposition to gay marriage as were used in opposition to interracial marriage. They were flimsy (at best) back then and hardly worth my time now.
The blog link is fixed now. Must have been a Blogger hiccup
Is Lisa Simpson now akin to Madonna, where you don't need a last name to figure out the reference?
Yes.
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