Covid, Wikipedia, Experts, and Other Flotsam
Sidney Powell made unequivocal and strong statements this week, claiming she has the proof that Trump won in a landslide and fraud prevented it.
I don't know the woman, but John Zmirak and Trey Trainor vouch for her.
Wikipedia doesn't. It says she's a “supporter” of the QAnon conspiracy theory. It also has other unflattering things to say about her.
Although I'm a fan of Wikipedia, her entry is why you can't trust it. As of this typing (7:45 AM, 11/21/2020), her entry has been revised 75 times already today. (By comparison, the entry on QAnon, which is a reasonably "hot" subject these days, has been changed three times over the past three days.)
For active stories, Wikipedia strikes me as reliable as a slobbering drunk at the bar or a group of sorority sisters gossiping the morning after a party.
Call me “renegade.” I started a Parler account, Gab account, and MeWe account.
Well, I started the Parler account this week. I've been on MeWe since 2018 and Gab since 2017. Click those links and follow me. I'll follow you back. I don't exercise much discretion in such things.
The practice has gotten me a huge number of social media friends, like “Me So Horny in Seoul,” “See My Naughty Pics,” “Me Like to Free Your Hong Kong.”
I even met a girl from ancient Rome named “Text Me for Latifundia.” I've never visited an ancient senatorial manor from the 4th century, but if I ever get to Tuscany . . .
Not dazed and not confused: Matthew McConaughey says he hasn't ruled out a run for Texas Governor.
I'd support him. He strikes me as a right-of-center Christian (possibly a Catholic symp), with a lot of common sense, who, from day one of his career, knew the dangers of Hollywood.
He told Joe Rogan that, as soon as he hit the big time, he took a silent retreat for a few weeks to keep himself together. I think he said he went to Peru and to a monastery.
He strikes me as the kind of guy we need for POTUS: a man smart enough not to want to be POTUS.
Okay, okay: a man OR WOMAN smart enough not to want to be POTUS.
I would embrace a female president. I just hate the gender-inclusive prose that I'm required to use.
Any of the women on The Force strike as though they might be good a good POTUS, though, to be honest, there's something vaguely risqué about using that anagram with a female President.
“The Force,” if you haven't heard, is the conservative women in Congress counterpoint to “The Squad.”
The Covid wars continue.
Matt Walsh offered perhaps the best summary of the battle between the lockdowners and the anti-lockdowners:
“There are some conspiracy theorists out there but the majority of lockdown critics are simply making the case that lockdowns carry too much downside and not enough upside.”
Amen to that. I've had one lockdowner suggest I don't believe in social distancing or wearing masks. I felt like saying, “Dude, I've been social distancing for 30 years. You ought to see me sneer when someone tries to hold my hand during the Our Father at Mass.”
As for masks, I wear them because it makes other people feel better.
Or when I'm flashing pretty girls from behind my trench coat.
(New TDE readers: You'll forgive the ribaldry. It's a long-standing TDE tradition and one in which even the occasional saint indulged . . . such as St. Thomas More.)
Recommended podcast of the week: Freakonomics on Econtalk. It came out November 9th, so I suppose it's not “of the week,” but close enough.
Especially recommended: The discussion about the decline of the expert that starts at 20:00. They point out that experts aren't trusted any more and probably with good reason.
Amen to that. Intelligent people have been distrusting experts for fifty years. Marshall McLuhan once said the testimony of an expert is like a bright light shined in one's eyes.
Closely-related: William F. Buckley famously remarked that he would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston phone book than the Harvard faculty.
Expertise is the taurine of the State and intellectuals are its caffeine. Experts and intellectuals make the State think that it can do far, far more than it can.
In reality, the experts merely offer a cover for politicians who use the government to rape the taxpayer. Lenin built his regime with guns and violence. DC has built its regime on the testimony of experts and backs of unwitting intellectuals.
The two best books I've read about twentieth-century intellectuals: Paul Johnson's Intellectuals and E. Michael Jones' Degenerate Moderns.
I read Intellectuals while on my honeymoon. Yes, it is that randy (heh, heh), as was Paul Johnson in his personal life.
As for Degenerate Moderns, it is now out of print. I know Mr. Jones fell out of favor due to perceived anti-Semitism and, ahem, awkward views, but to my knowledge, that book merited respect, even making it on the New York Times' bestseller list, if memory serves (a Google search didn't confirm my memory, but we're talking 30 years, which renders both the Internet and my memory suspect).
Until next week, thanks for reading and thanks for sharing.
Eric
