The Biden Presidency

Problem is, the Republicans are salivating at the prospect of doing their own impeachment. Despite the fact that the former Clown in Chief was pretty deserving of impeachment proceedings, the Republicans still considered it to be a witch hunt. So now they are looking to even the score. That probably is a factor Biden is weighing on how far he can push any Federal mandates. Even for someone like me who is a fan of Biden, I can't argue with that. We can castigate Bush for the initial boondoggle, but in the end, the current status of our presence in Afghanistan is his situation to manage. My suspicion is the current debacle stems from him underestimating the Taliban presence (maybe due to bad information) but also grossly overestimating the efficacy of the (now former) Afghan government and military. We all knew they were corrupt but good grief. They basically piled whatever money they stole into bags and were the first ones out of the country.The sad part is that now women and young girls in that country will see a return to the unenlightened, barbarous ways of seventh century religious zealotry. That is the true tragedy.

People are exactly the same way they have always been. What has changed is that we have substantially more access to information and an ongoing 24 hr news cycle. Couple that with social media, and it gives the impression that things are horrible and getting worse. They are not. There are numerous times in history where things were far more dire, not just for the USA, but other countries. The Great Depression. Civil wars. World wars. And so forth.There will always be problems that need to be addressed and disagreements on how to address them. That is just the human condition.The key is to look at the actual statistics, not the hyperbole.

As someone who has worked in the software industry for almost 30 years, let me provide you with some insights that I think may help.Throughout history, there have been numerous individuals who will often make grandiose claims about the nature of society, indicating that 'the end is near'. They will provide rudimentary 'evidence' for those claims and leverage it to further their agenda. This is not a new phenomenon.What the internet along with video sharing platforms and social media sites have allowed is for those individuals to get a much larger audience than they have had in the past. But the core aspect of how they operate is still the same: make claims that selectively pick data to confirm the claim and make that information available to the masses.But here is the reason why it can seem more pervasive and give the impression that problems are more serious than they actually are: and that is how the algorithms that are serving you information are designed.Whether it be youtube, twitter, facebook, etc. All these platforms utilize algorithms to gauge your areas of interest and then serve you additional information regarding those interests. So if you have an interest in classic cars, you will get fed news articles, videos and social media posts that align with those interests. That is done deliberately as it maximizes your viewing and clicks, which is how the revenue is generated.Unfortunately, this is where the problems arise. If you start going down the rabbit hole of looking into things such as Amercian debt, fiat currencies, the gold standard, etc, the algorithms will then continue to serve up additional articles and videos that align with those interests. What this does is give the impression that there are serious issues in those areas due to the sheer volume of data you are getting. But in the end, its just the same information being regurgitated from different individuals and mediums. What the algorithms are essentially doing is playing into something called 'confirmation bias'. Whereby if you already have made up your mind about something or are leaning in that direction, you will be continually served up information that corroborates those claims, even if most of them don't hold water.In conclusion, the way you snap yourself out of that cycle is to start performing searches that counter your previous searches. And you will find numerous articles and videos stipulating the exact opposite of what the previous articles/videos might have been stating. The most important thing to recognize is the sources: if you are seeing videos from individuals with little to no background in the areas they are discussing, they probably aren't good sources of truth. If you instead find counter arguments from more reputable sources (universities, legitimate government agencies, scholars, etc) then you are more likely now getting a more accurate representation of things.

That really shouldn't be a battle. It should be something we all strive towards. Using critical thinking not only reduces the likelihood that you will fall victim to confirmation bias, but it also allows you to be open to new ideas and new perspectives. Which is a good thing. I myself am not religious. However, I can provide an analogy for you by referencing my mother.FYI, my mother has a PhD in biochemistry and she was a university professor for many years. Yet concurrently, my mother is religious. She still frequents churches and follows many traditions. The way she reconciles facts with her faith is she has a demarcation between them.
Objective science focuses on the "how". How does it work. What makes it tick. Etc.
Subjective religion focuses on the "why". Why are we here? What is the purpose in life? Etc. One is more technical while the other is more philosophical.Ultimately, the key is to not attempt to conflate literalist interpretations, especially from the Bible, when trying to draw conclusions. My mother often states that the Bible for her has always been little more than a moral guide. She recognizes that it is just a collection of works written several thousands of years ago by men who had limited understanding of the nature of things. One can argue about morality aspects of the Bible; that is certain. But fundamentally, it isn't a science textbook. At the time it was written, we were in the early iron age, long before the advent of the scientific method.

I definitely have the same impression. I am not sure if that is just a consequence of how the news media is putting out stories or if its just because she isn't really contributing much.The news cycle is still heavily dominated by the shenanigans of the Orange Man. So maybe he is just drowning out other political news.