The Curmudgeon Speaks

I just discovered this Google map feature (Restaurants that deliver). This might be useful.

I have an interest in the distribution of misinformation particularly as it relates to political issues. I write frequently about political issues on Facebook and recently I ran afoul of Facebook’s concern for misinformation.

AS you can see, I contested this decision and some have told me my post is not visible. Here is the post.

At first, I thought it was because of the source I cited. Esquire is not necessarily what I regard as a source for political reporting and this actual article raised the concern that Jared Kushner bought into a company in a position to benefit from the decision to rely on U.S. medical resource providers. When I searched for an article, I was reacting to news that the U.S. could have been much faster had it taken advantage of WHO resources. I now think it was what I wrote rather than the article I cited. Facebook would have had to include an assessment of the content within the cited article to decide it was spam.

My position was not something I fabricated out of thin air. For example, this piece from Politico makes very much the same argument. I listened as experts on television programs made this same point as well as VP Biden in last night’s debate.

[The Trump administration has come under criticism for the test-kit shortage, which local public health officials have said hampers their ability to survey the U.S. population for the virus. San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed called the shortage of kits “a national disgrace” in a letter to Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday.

While Trump tried to pin blame on Obama, the initial responsibility for the shortage appears to lie with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rather than adopt a test used overseas and recommended by the World Health Organization, the CDC chose to develop and distribute its own, according to reporting by ProPublica. That test didn’t work, forcing a scramble by the Trump administration for alternatives.]

Ezra Klein suggests that acceptance of flawed of misinformation can be higher among those who know more about a topic. I assume this happens because the more information have the more you have to work with in “interpreting” what tends to be ambiguous information.

Further investigation does show the issue with the WHO and COVID testing is more complicated than we wanted to do it ourselves even if this takes longer. Here is the analysis from Snopes. Here is the analysis of the Biden claim. There is far more in these analyses that influence my final position.

So, the WHO supplies kits to impoverished countries and expects countries with their help to produce their own kits. The U.S. was slow to respond and the first test kits developed were flawed resulting, in further delays. No, Obama policies were not responsible for the delay.

One final thing. After all this, I see Facebook says it is having problems. Zuckerberg had this motto “move fast and break things”. This is not the time for this logic.

I was working on my computer as I assume many of us are doing now. All at once, my online activity froze and a screen refresh brought up this announcement. We have not paid our access subscription fee and we have been cut off.

This reminds of a situation in Grand Forks when we forgot to pay our water fee and I sat in my office at the front of the house watching someone show up with a snowblower, dig through the snowbank on the front lawn, locate something I did not even know was there, and then take out this tool to turn off our water. Our lights were on and I was clearly visible in a large picture window, but the city worker made no attempt to explain his behavior.

Okay, I know it is important to pay your bills.

There is a back story here. While in Hawaii our credit card was hacked and someone tried to pay several thousand dollars of insurance fees using our account. Why someone would think this was smart, even as a criminal, I don’t understand. Anyway, we were notified and our credit account was frozen. Our situation required that a new card be sent to our home in the states and not to Hawaii. It is to arrive later today.

You quickly discover the consequences as you are contacted by the multiple services you pay automatically. We must have dozens of payments on a subscription or automatic payment plan. Many of these accounts are not even things I would remember without a nudge.

I was just thinking about the folks out there on limited incomes who cannot work because of the pandemic and how their creditors are responding. Evidently, CenturyLink is not one of those services willing to cut folks a little slack. Maybe they would if I called and explained. Luckily, I have other ways (a mobile hotspot or my phone) to reach the Internet. Many are not so lucky.

There is no way anyone should make light of our present circumstances. Our near future is uncertain and there is no way to know what the coming months will bring.

I have been trying to think how present circumstances might offer some opportunities. I am over 70 and while there are online ways to interact with family members, my wife and I are now going to have to be isolated. Our social media and online opportunities save us.

Why not consider the time I now take for granted (I am retired) as an opportunity to learn? Many more people are going to be in my situation. Even things like watching the sporting event of the day has changed. The news is important, but a steady diet of the depressing information can’t be helpful. I am not a movie buff. Why not learn something?

I consume mostly Kindle books and audio books. I pay for many, but I have also discovered just how valuable the multiple libraries I belong to can be in providing access to digital content. I have multiple library cards because I spend time in different locations. It is not as weird as it might sound. Out of curiosity, I contacted one of these libraries today to ask what someone who does not presently have access might do? Was there a way to become a card carrier remotely? Yes, at least my local library offers this service (https://www.hclib.org/about/library-cards#get-a-library-c). I am guessing your local library may be the same. You can both get a card and download content from your home.

My suggestion is that we try to both read for pleasure and read to learn.

Here are a couple of suggestions. I tried to identify reads/listens that are relevant to present circumstances and informative.

Ezra Klein – Why we’re polarized. This is a book about our political divide and for the most part is analytical regarding how we got to our present state without blaming one party or the other. I happen to believe the country needs to try to understand the present situation and the health crisis we are now experiencing will only make the stress of this division worse.

Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum – That used to be us. A personal favorite that describes the global setting and the role of the U.S. in the global mix. I suppose this could have a political orientation, but the content is analytical and issue-oriented.

I had this view while sitting on the lanai a few days ago. Cindy brought her iphone and captured the image. The normal bunch of nenes and a snow goose.

This seems the type of photo that might be the subject of a contest of some sort – “label this photo”. I told Cindy I would call it “one of these is not like the other”, but she thought this was too predictable and I could do better. She thought there must be a message in there somewhere. I did come up with an alternative, but I am not certain my alternative has a deeper meaning.

Given recent world events perhaps “we are all in this together” would be good. 

As I understand the problem of identity politics, people are willing to ignore facts that contradict what they see as a party linked position because party affiliation is part of their personal identity. Like religious affiliation, gender identity, and perhaps even sports fandom, political identity is something that somehow trumps (no pun intended) challenging facts. We somehow ignore or reinterpret evidence that would perhaps persuade us if not challenging to core beliefs.

Presenting information in a less threatening way may be helpful. This is my interpretation of Andrew Zimmern’s “What’s eating America.” You may be familiar with Zimmern as a foodie who eats weird things. Like the late Anthony Bourdain, Zimmern has an interesting way of using food to examine other cultures perhaps in a way we all find interesting and he has a new series in which he explores political issues. The series is from MSNBC so you can anticipate that Zimmern is at heart a liberal.

There is a local connection for me in the example from this series I include here. Zimmern has a restaurant in Minneapolis. I am fairly certain I visited the Apple orchard depicted in the episode on climate change this Fall. If you would normally have access to MSNBC and identify your provider, you should be able to watch back episodes – https://www.msnbc.com/whatseatingamerica

The label of “socialist” is being deployed as a political weapon despite the lack of sophistication in having an understanding as to the meaning of the word. Fighting a pandemic must be a “socialistic” effort. It is essential to protect and if necessary treat each individual to control the spread of the disease. It doesn’t matter if they have insurance or not. It doesn’t matter if they can afford to be tested or not. This is the meaning of the role of government as a safety net. I just want Republicans who like to use the word socialist to refer to those supporting specific roles for government and to accept this this country needs to support and rely on the government to meet the needs of all to benefit all. There is a great object lesson here and I hope the political ignorance of some does not endanger us all.

I read in the Tribune that the Minneapolis area housing market is the fourth hottest in the country. I can believe it. For the past several months we have been constantly bombarded by offers to purchase our home. The requests pour in by mail, phone, and text. No need to paint. No need to repair. We will give you cash.

We have no interest in selling and we keep telling them that, but the offers keep coming. I received a phone call and a text today. I think they may have given up on Cindy. I wonder just what about us in some data base must encourage this interest. I can’t imagine some poor lackey sits around a real estate office day after day going through the phone book and calling people. What are the odds anyone would be interested?

It must have something to do with our age What other data could they have about us. Ready to head for the nursing home and need money for a room? We can help. It must be something like that.

A cash deal would offer a big chunk of change, but then what. In a sellers market, you don’t want to become a buyer. Surely, they don’t think we don’t understand that. We do have a lake home and I suppose we could live there, but the desolation would get to us eventually. Maybe I should actually act interested once and just see if they would explain what it is about us that has generated this interest.

A recent study suggests these classes could be increasingly important. Researchers at Princeton and New York universities found that Facebook users 65 and over posted seven times as many articles from fake news websites, compared with adults under 29.

Fellow old people – review this NPR story. The quote above captures the key point. You (we) are passing on too much false information. At least read the articles and not just the headlines. Take a look at the source. If you haven’t heard of it before, see if you can find more about the claims that get you mad elsewhere. The kids call this lateral reading.

Who knows. Your grandkids may be watching what you post.

I wrote this three years ago. Facebook recommends you of past posts and this is what came up today. I continue to hold this position and may be even more concerned that others see the country and world in a different way.

We seem to be entering a period of time when existing moral principles are being discarded to increase rather than decrease inequity. These inequalities have long existed, but those struggling to gain equality seem to be making many nervous.

Males are advantaged over females.
Christians are advantaged over other religions.
Rich are advantaged over less well off.
Whites are advantaged over other races.
Those who already have a place in this country are advantaged over those who like to make this country great.

This movement is so selfish and so out of the long-standing character that made American great. The notion that Americans or those who are presently privileged work harder, are more intelligent, or are special is not only a myth but a convenient way to discriminate. The system we built promoted trying to make the country a fair playing field and then to promote achievement through competition. It now seems we are afraid we can no longer compete so we are resorting to isolation and provisions that protect those who present have a privileged state.

Once you are afraid to put your skills and your work effort on the line, those who do will eventually surpass you. If you are great as you say, prove it.