Too many folks think fake news is a new phenomenon.   It is not.  The concept of fake news is almost always involved with the cancer of “otherism”.  Otherism is a means whereby folks (and governments) blame the ills of society on someone else.

For millennia, that was my people.   The Jews. From we killed Jesus.  To the blood libel that we killed little kids for our wine and matza.  For the reasons why governments failed.

These are among the reasons why I have always been active politically.  To stand up for the rights of others (here’s that word again) that can’t.

In America, “otherism” included more than the Jews.  Because the Blacks, the folks brought over to America in chains to serve as slaves in the desire of others to become rich, were far more visible targets.

After the first attack on the World Trade Center (what?  You don’t know there were two?) in 1993, folks became more aware that this was simply an extension of the 1984 bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon.  But, otherism still did not spread to those of the Moslem faith.  No, that took the attack by Saudi nationals, funded in large part by Osama  Bin Laden (who got his money from Saudi Arabia AND America [which far too often follows the Middle Eastern rule that the enemy of my enemy is my friend- NOT!!!!!]), to start including the Muslim faith in our otherism hatred.

And, we invent facts.  Not just “The Donald”, who claimed that thousands of New Jersey Arab-Americans cheered over the World trade Center Debacle. And, we can’t forget “the Donald”s birtherism campaign, which linked almost all the otherisms (he missed Jews, but included Blacks and Muslims.)

But, the Donald didn’t start it.  When I was little, the Russians used airbrushing (there was no Photoshop yet) to remove folks they “knocked off”, who used to be in charge.   Or, they reported “alternative facts”  (I’m sure Kelley Ann Conway is pleased to know who she copies from) to the world.  (Like their 5 year plans were providing all the food needed by the Soviet Union.)

Before that, the Nazis told the German populace that the Jews were the cause of their poverty since World War I.  And, for that they needed to be erased.

More recently, when the world’s darling, Lech Walesa, lost his election in Poland (because of his incompetence), he also blamed it on the Jews.  After all, those 1000 remaining folks must have voted 40 or 50 times.  (Don’t get me started on the GOP claims of voting fraud.  As we see their own elite members are the ones registered to vote in multiple jurisdictions.)

But, now my other “religion”, the religion of facts is under attack. Science.  Knowledge.  Oh, sure, for years, folks invented their own news claiming vaccines harmed babies.  So, now, we have a new generation of children at risk from infections because significant numbers of (ignorant) parents refuse to vaccinate their children.  (I wonder who they blame when their kids develop polio, measles, and whooping cough.  No, I don’t.  I’m sure it will be the Jews, the folks from Africa (oh, yeah, Blacks), and other otherisms.  Never their own stupidity.)

(This may be a great time to repeat a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson.  “The likelihood that a person uses the word “toxin”  correlates strongly with how much Chemistry the person does * not * know….” )

But, it’s going to get worse.  Because too many (I would love to use a vulgar Yiddish expression here, but I won’t) uneducated folks refuse to accept the human component in climate science.  As our shorelines recede, as Eastern Virginia becomes a water wonderland (the areas surrounding our Norfolk Navy base is now under way more water than it was 30 years ago), as storms increase their intensity and damage.

The problem is that scientific endeavors and technological improvements using that knowledge have become routine.  Until something goes wrong.  Our investments in research have been so wildly successful that most people take science for granted in their daily lives. Until they need it.

And, given the propensity for the uneducated to cut critical budgets, sci-tech may not be then available.  Or, worse yet, it may take more capital to implement than the world owns.

This is not how the world’s greatest democracy is supposed to operate.  EVER.

 

 

 

 

Amazingly, there will be a March of Scientists on 22 April 2017.  It’s amazing because most scientists rarely get involved in politics.