It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, wrote Charles Dickens in the opening of his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Those words seem eerily prophetic when read today. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in humanity. Every day the
Continue readingTag: conspiracy theories
Politics and its Discontents: A Unified Theory Of ….
I’ll leave you to supply the appropriate term to reflect this gentleman’s ‘insights’: These are the type of people who should be pepper sprayed, not peaceful protesters pic.twitter.com/hibwzJfLh1 — Rob Gill (@vote4robgill) June 20, 2020 Recommend this Post
Continue readingScripturient: The new normal
“Oh, the humanity,” cried Herbert Morrison, as he watched in horror as the giant airship, the Hindenburg, burst into flames at its mooring. The year was 1937, and Morrison’s words still echo down the decades. As the disaster unfolded in front of him, Morrison exclaimed, “…it’s falling, it’s crashing! Watch
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP assails Alberta Energy War Room for ‘gross incompetence’ — but is that such a bad thing?
Having swallowed much of the United Conservative Party’s unlikely conspiracy theory about what supposedly ails the Alberta oilpatch during its term in office makes it harder for the NDP to convincingly criticize the Kenney Government’s $30-million-a-year “Energy War Room.” To give the Opposition its due, though, yesterday they tried. Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Advice to Jason Kenney’s cabinet: curb your enthusiasms, one conspiracy theory at a time!
It’s sound advice in private and public life to restrict yourself to one nutty conspiracy theory at a time, lest folks start to wonder if you’re the one who’s, well, nutty. Take Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government in the context of this sensible and widely held rule of thumb.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: We need an honest inquiry into foreign political funding – unfortunately, Jason Kenney’s ‘witch hunt’ inquiry isn’t it
In truth, Canada needs a thorough and honest inquiry into foreign political funding, online manipulation and influence. Unfortunately, the $2.5-million probe into “foreign funded defamation” of Alberta’s fossil-fuel industry announced by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s government yesterday at a news conference in Calgary isn’t it. How could it be? It’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Foreign funded special interests’ and Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party: The ‘New Conspiracism’ comes to Alberta
The new conspiracism has come to Alberta! What is the “New Conspiracism,” you ask, and how is it different from the old conspiracism? “‘Classic’ conspiracy theories … arise in response to real events – the assassination of John F. Kennedy, say, or the terrorist attacks of September 11th,” observed Elizabeth Kolbert
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Guide to UCP “Conservatives”
The Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservatives parted company with the Kenney “conservatives” when Kenney created the free enterprise unity party. Those three little words signaled the transformation of the conservative party into one that cares only about money. With the Lougheed PCs gone the UCP turned elsewhere to fill out their
Continue readingScripturient: Hegseth, hand washing and social media
Fox News host Pete Hegseth has said on air that he has not washed his hands for 10 years because “germs are not a real thing”. That’s the headline you read on dozens of media sites and shared throughout social media (this one from BBC News). Instant reactions (mine included)
Continue readingScripturient: Another bad year for ‘psychics’ and quackery
The year 2018 was another bad year for so-called ‘psychics,’ astrologers and others in the prediction business – and yes, it is a business – because nothing they predicted came true. Nothing specific or meaningful, that is. Sure lots of general “predictions” and vague lifestyle comments phrased as “predictions” were
Continue readingScripturient: Baby, It’s Politically Correct Outside…
I must have travelled to another universe because when I awoke, the world had gone mad. Radio stations were pulling a popular, rather over-played, 74-year-old, playful holiday song because some folks thought it was about rape. Sexual assault. Or at least non-consensual sex. The media was full of Chicken Littles screaming
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Razzle Dazzle ‘Em: Part One
“Give ‘em the old Razzle Dazzle…how can they see with sequins in their eyes?” —Richard Gere as a corrupt criminal lawyer in the musical Chicago Prepare to be razzle dazzled! Jason Kenney spoke at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Energy Relaunch conference recently. This post will cover the
Continue readingScripturient: More rapture, less reality
According to some, the rapture is coming again, April 23. I’m so tired of this event. I’m still cleaning up after the last rapture. And the one before that. And the one before that, and before that, and before that… it’s even more frequent than an annual event. But next
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Conspiracy, Anyone?
Probably because I am in possession of a reasonably well-functioning brain and had the benefit of a good education, conspiracy theories have never held any particular allure for me. You know the kind I mean, the ones about faked moon landings, undersea ufo bases, and the machinations of the Illuminati
Continue readingScripturient: Raw water: the New Age death wish
Would you willingly expose yourself to cholera? While treatable, this highly infectious disease causes great physical distress and suffering to its victims, and is even fatal to some. Most readers have never experienced it because it’s rather a rarity in developed nations, those that have the benefit of modern water
Continue readingScripturient: Oumuamua: just a piece of rock
If you can watch the whole bit of this piece of New Age woo hoo without flinching or giving up, you will likely shake your head at the utter, mindless gullibility of humankind. And it’s not even political. But by now you know the Net is crammed full of conspiracy
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Just a Sense, a Feeling.
If there’s one thing we need to get much better at it’s learning to deal with the unexpected. It’s a huge understatement to note that, on so many fronts, we’re already passing through uncharted waters. Human lifespans being as brief as they are, life experiences can be very limited in
Continue readingScripturient: Why the panic over Julie Payette?
Governor General Julie Payette made comments in a speech to the Canadian Science Policy Conference on Nov. 1 in which she encouraged her audience at a science convention to ignore misinformation, fantasy and conspiracy theory and support facts and science, and to engage in “learned debate.” That has the right
Continue readingScripturient: It’s about the process, stupid…
My negative comments on the impending privatization of our electrical utility (and potentially our water utility once the first deal is sealed) drew some online criticism recently. None of those critics refuted any of the facts I offered, or attempted to debunk any of the numerous documents I quoted and
Continue readingScripturient: The ignorati rise
Chapman University recently published the results of a depressing, but hardly surprising, survey that shows American believe in codswallop continue to rise. Not political codswallop – this is the supernatural, paranormal, wingnut type. And the numbers are huge. Or yuge as the ignorati-in-chief would say. The article notes, “nearly three-fourths
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