Books

I have recently read Jaron Lanier’s newest book: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now (2018). It makes some great arguments for those who are in a position to do so to remove themselves from social media platforms. As a result I am exporting my data off of Facebook and Google, Instagram, and moving everything to my own blog. I highly recommend the book and would love to encourage and help others to move to a platform that gives them full control of the content they publish and the content that they consume. ...

#jaronlanier is right! #tenargumentsfordeletingyoursocialmediaaccountsrightnow #facebook #instagram #whatsapp #twitter

“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good about this country.” Considering the content of this book, the investigation into Trump and his obstruction of justice, and the rumored pardoning of Scooter Libby who was himself convicted for obstruction, perjury and lying to investigators, any supporter or member of the GOP has got to ask themselves just exactly what level of criminality they are comfortable with. You don’t get a pass for merely liking GOP policies, because civic duty now requires collective action to support our system of government and the rule of law. The RNC has made its decision already. They are going to the mats against the Department of Justice. ...

Great quote from How Democracies Die. By Levitsky & Ziblatt — “Collective abdication - the transfer of power to a leader who threatens Democracy — usually flows from one of two sources. The first is the misguided belief that an authoritarian can be controlled or tamed. The second is what sociologist Ivan Ermakoff calls “ideological collusion,” in which the authoritarian’s agenda overlaps sufficiently with that of mainstream politicians that abdication is desirable or at least preferable to the alternatives.” ...

Did a lot of walking yesterday. Perhaps I am spending too much time walking but it is the best way to pass the time while listening to an audiobook. I just finished listening to Norman Mailer’s “The Castle in the Forest”. “Der Waldschloss” was a term used in this fictional account, at the very least, by some of the jewish prisoners at some concentration camp during World War II. It was meant to be ironic. To say their home in the woods was not a prison but a castle was an attempt at preserving a bit of humor after having had all other luxuries taken from them. ...