Don’t Pass It On!

Oh, Wow! I didn’t really think of this. I was reading a Snopes article and it talked about how trolls get their kicks.

What it amounted to was that they don’t care whether it’s good publicity or bad; they simply want their statements repeated. I realized that I was doing a lot of contributing to the problem by “sharing” the statement or meme or whatever across the medias.

It made sense when I read it. “This is horrible!” and “This is great!” will both get looked at and passed on.

Keeping this short, I paraphrased above. The article is good and well worth reading:

https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=LWTbHf&c=HJXqFG&k=4da602de55bea90bb151bd3e54a9ba74&m=YpZuVL&r=AYfUAkz

Namaste,

Scott

Looking Back, Looking Forward…

I think a lot about never having any blogger notifications appear on my blog. If I didn’t see people outside every day I would imagine that a solid event, catastrophic in nature, had wiped the planet. Then I got to checking my stats. Is it really true that I haven’t published a post since January 2021? Hard to imagine, so I keep looking. Yep, very few views, only a couple of posts, and the year’s stats are nearly zero.

Why does that matter? Well, if I am only doing average of 4 posts a year, why should anyone else be expected to? I still find it hard to believe that no one I followed by the end of 2020 has written a single post. However, it seems that they have either done that or have moved to another platform. I got a few likes, so there are those out there. Let’s go with that. I have about 8 people I know did exist during January 2021.

So, to you all, “Hi!” It’s been quite a year. It comes out that it will, most likely, continue to be quite a year and on into the next year. I do think now that we will as a world survive, at least, for the next 10-15 years. I have read too much of global warming and all the other environmental problems to think we will have it easy after the next 5-10 years.

I hope all are doing well. Consider this a campfire post: we are all sitting around t nice fire in the evening and introducing ourselves, again. How are you? What’s your world like? Are you done blogging? Has blogging changed for you? Yeah, me asking all those questions again. But…I miss all your voices.

Namaste,

Scott

A Last Stand

It is 1:43A and I have been watching the government workings since about 2pm. I have tried to imagine how I would feel if I came to work on a morning, expecting debates, speeches, and voting; and, instead, watching as I had to hide and vacate my workplace, feel threatened, then return to a “normal” day at work at nearly 8pm.

I have been listening as objections are made and countered and then voted on. I have watched and listened as we went from violence, then order, then to the House and Senate debating, especially, the voting validity for Pennsylvania. The more I listened the more I thought. What I couldn’t give was the fact that some of the arguments on the objection side made sense, made good sense. But what I did see was from the House was a sense of arguments and anger and other things I really didn’t hope to see. But there was voting and I will support that, even when some objections were about the voting process itself.

I support our governmental processes, even where I haven’t seen the voting outcome yet.

What I don’t support is the violence and the attack on the Capitol Building. I thank our police and secret service personnel and any other responders who helped gain and maintain order. I feel sorry for the loss of one woman’s life and hope our country will regain and keep its democracy.

Namaste,

Scott L Vannatter

How We are Starting Out (IMO)

First a strange joke I heard (you may have to read it several times). I went to the store and bought a fresh brand cherry and a microphone – badda bing badda boom (say it out loud).

Joking aside – This year is ending the way I am afraid 2021 will start – poorly.

Had another bad sleep night last night, so I woke up and rolled over to pick up my Kindle. I like starting the day with either my Kindle or getting on the PC and looking at a lot of the same thing. I was doing fairly well until I got to Facebook (I am hearing a lot of that, lately). It was okay for awhile, then I hit a long trending page about the election. I need to clarify.

1. I don’t hate Republicans.
2. I don’t believe everything I read or hear; I ask questions and try to check things out.
3. I am not one-sided on much of anything.
4. I believe all things work together for the best in the end.
5. I believe in most of our country

The page was written by a Republican to Republicans. They didn’t smear Biden; however, they trashed our news media and all Democrats as well as most of this country.

I repeat number 1 – I don’t hate Republicans.

But, I do have to make some statements I know will, most likely, be taken poorly. I may get unfriended on FB (That’s okay, I can live with it).

What I didn’t like is the over-generalization made by this particular person and those who commented about all Democrats ignoring the reality of the situation. It bothered me they lumped all of us (“us” being anyone who was not a Trump voter) into a large group and telling me what characteristics we “all” have.

What got me most was the more I read the more I felt they were the ones here who were not paying attention. They were doing the generalization by saying we all felt the same way.

This group was in the mode of how wrong we were; how much we will see; and how the election is not over; and how horrible our news media and government had become that they could perpetuate all the lying and not see the (their) truth.

If this sounds like a bit of a rant, it should. I am ranting, but trying very hard to keep it at a level pace. Everyone has a perfect right to believe as they do (given they don’t see violence as the only way out). Everyone has a perfect right to vote as they see fit. I really don’t care how you voted. There are many times, however, when it is very obvious.

I have tried listening to the news and reading articles from both sides. What I have found so far is the vast majority of people writing articles or making solid statements the election is not over and “you” will see are not paying much attention to what is going on in this country.

Mr. Trump you lost. Sorry for you, but you did. What happens now to you is up to you and what you have done in the past. What you will be remembered for as President will be in all the books and talked about for a while, then on to the next thing.

Mr. Biden you won. It was a pretty clear win after the dust died down and that makes me happy. Yes, I wanted for you to win and am not afraid or uncertain of that. I feel 4 more years like the last 4 and we might never have gotten to vote again. This was implied several times from places. I also worried about war coming because of instability in our government.

Let’s see:

1. A pandemic (still ignored and unaccepted by many) was allowed to go on until March 1st when it was too late to comfortably get out of danger.
2. Many world friends now are having to decide to be friends again and I don’t blame them.
3. Many new friends will, most likely, not like us any long and I am rather pleased with that.
4. I doubt these next 4 years will be so thoroughly full of “Fake News” and “I will see to it that…” and then not.
5. There will, probably not have to be an actual committee to keep track of how many times our leader misspoke (I won’t say lied, but I lean that way). It was well over 5,000 times by their accounting.
6. There were fights and violence which, probably, could have been avoided.
7. States being “visited” by government employees in combat gear or “hidden” will be lessened.

That’s enough, but not all. So, no, I didn’t care for the way our country was led the last 4 years.

And, as is customary, when that happens someone else takes over.

What I have had the most trouble connecting the dots on are the many Republican leaders or big names who ended up, actively, stating their disapproval of the current leadership or agreeing with the way the election turned out. I won’t speculate on why this happened, I simply state it because it is so.

You are welcome to leave comments below. I, seldom, delete a comment; usually only if it is just so horrible that I don’t want it in print under my name. However, do, at least, think this through – if you just tell me how I don’t read the real news or listen to the right people or just don’t know what I am talking about, then you are just perpetuating and proving my statements.

I really do love you all. Namaste,

Scott

Hopefully, We Move into Change for the Better

I have stated with clarity, and will again, that I voted for Trump the first time around. I had my reasons and I still stick to them. However, three months into his presidency, I lost all faith in President Donald Trump and never got it back for a second.

Now, I find that I am not alone, was never alone – people slowly switched sides to finish in the ultimate election won by a record number of voters, all wanting their way, and finding that the majority, though not large, was not insignificant and that we were still a United States wanting to work together and do good and be effective in helping each other.

I read an article today that, while being partisan, pretty obvious, nevertheless shows reasons and goes into detail about Trump’s life and choices. I think everyone should, at least, read it.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/07/donald-trump-is-a-loser-434103

Namaste,

Scott