Opus 2020-108: The Times, They Are A-Changing

I need habits and patterns in my life.  Routine keeps me from forgetting things.  For instance, I need to take a pill each day.  How do I remember?  How do I know if I remembered?  I build it into a routine and make myself have a knee jerk reaction that involves the pill.  Helpful in taking pills but dangerous in everyday life.

We get to where we take things for granted and stop being critical.  Do you remember the days in which you could pick up a newspaper and look at the front page feeling you were going to get a window into the world?  There was a time when we felt like we could watch the evening news and get a summary of what was needed to be an informed citizen.

Remember when you could rely on the skilled members of your community?  You could ask a doctor for advice and expect it to be useful.  I remember being raised to think of policemen as being trustworthy.  A teacher was expected to know something worth passing on.  A college professor was actually a scholar.  Remember when a high school diploma meant you could read, write and do basic math?

Things have changed.

As a teacher I have been asked what was really important for students to learn.  One central bit of knowledge to me was the scientific method.  That might be strange because I was a history teacher, but the basics of the scientific method applied to just about any discipline.  The problem I started running into was that even the science teachers seemed to have no understanding of the scientific method.  The scientific method is an organized way to test for the truth of a theory, in science called an hypothesis.  At the end of the cycle you come up with a new theory based on the success or failure of the last and keep learning. 

We are currently into the bastardization of science.  We are not longer seeking truth.  We are creating charts and graphs that back up the conclusion that brings us wealth and power.  I began seeing this in faculty meetings when they started talking about “experienced based” instead of “research based”.  What educators do is look for cute anecdotes that illustrates the point they want.  It does not need to represent any real trend or common occurrence but it needs to touch the hearts and manipulate the mind.  They then say that experience has proven their point.

We need to beware of experts bringing gifts.  It may be that they have the cure for cancer.  It may be that they are simply looking for the password to your life.  Don’t believe them when they say that studies prove something that doesn’t sound right to you.  Common sense is much more valuable than studies by modern scientists, sociologists, educators or government employees.

Obviously my comments have to do with the recent panic over another flu out of Asia.  Do your own research.  Examine the numbers yourself.  I live in a county that has had 6 deaths blamed on the Chinavirus.  There are six counties around us that have a total of one death.  Guess what we have that I don’t think they have?  Hospitals.  Where do people die today.  Hospitals.  The one other county is Bexar which contains San Antonio, the seventh largest city in America.  They have 44 deaths.  Guess what they have.  Hospitals.  Where do people send suspected infections?  San Antonio Hospitals.  Then you factor in all the lying going on about whom to count as a Covid-19 death and ask yourself, “What am I worried about?”

Wash your hands and your vegetables.  Watch out for unicorns spreading death.

homo unius libri