The Flood

I have been thinking about the Biblical story about the Flood.

Or rather, I have been thinking about God wanting to wipe the world clean and start all over.

It reminds me, sometimes, of the urge I get to wipe out some coding project and start all over. Which, sometimes, is the right call. Let's you do a reset, take all your lessons learned, and rebuild without having to figure out how to update however many lines of code you'd have needed to before.

Most of the time, however, it's not actually a good idea. It basically makes you redo work you'd already done, creates new bugs that you'll have to solve, removes the solutions you found in the previous code so that you have to solve them all over again... and it basically means that a lot of time that urge is more about emotional satisfaction than something with real, practical benefit. (One could say the same about accelerationists wanting to speed up the collapse of society in hopes of being able to influence the rebuild).

But this isn't just about the pros and cons of rebuilding some large, complex project. I think about God, and the Flood, because my childhood upbringing has imprinted on me the idea that God loves us. That he realized wiping the world clean wasn't going to fix anything, and so He works in subtler ways. 

And we keep on being stubborn, stiff-necked fools.

Which is sometimes kind of admirable, often quite frustrating, and right now - where poor judgment seems everywhere and all sorts of foolishness is causing misery and suffering - I have a hard time appreciating.

I want to. I have often despised the arrogant elitists who think they're somehow special, that see how the masses are so easily led astray and look down on them - as if they are any better. (Every story of every billionaire throwing yet more money at the Trump administration shows that they really aren't. They  just have a ton of money that insulates them and makes it easier for them to force their bad ideas on everyone else.)

But that means that I don't really want to say the same things. I don't honestly want to believe that everyone who still supports Trump is a dumbass, or a gullible fool. Or someone too lazy to do real research. Or someone who has never learned how to get past their own biases and preconceptions, and has no incentive to, and therefore doesn't question the nonsense being thrown their way.

If I thought that, I'd have to reconsider the idea of democracy as a whole, and frankly given the elitist support for these assholes I have no reason to believe they're actually better. Given the way they're actively blocking anything that would help improve this messed up system, I'm pretty sure they'd actually be worse.

But then, where does that leave me? How do I still believe in democracy, believe in America, love my fellow Americans... and still value every single one of the dumbasses who are either passively or actively enabling this disastrous administration.

And it is a disastrous administration. It is maddening how much that gets glossed over and overlooked. I know most people don't pay attention to dry and boring policy, or the intricacies of legislation, or the historical reasons for various things... but I still think that Jan 6th should have been easy enough to demonstrate the threat.

People seem to ignore Trump's bluster and consider his attacks on the election as an attack on Democrats, rather than an attacking on the foundations of our country itself... 

And I don't know if that willingness to overlook things is a sign of ignorance, selfishness, short-sightedness, cynicism, or what.... but I do think people have forgotten just why we value self-determination, truth, and the rule of law so much.

I look at story after story of yet another government institution corrupted, and yet another abuse of power, and yet more degradation of the rule of law and democracy and I see the many Americans who just ignore it, if not outright cheer for it, and I find myself wondering 'how does God keep on loving us when we're like this?'

Because this isn't just us being ridiculously foolish. It's not just a one-time thing. It seems like this is something humanity does to itself, over and over again.

Stiff-necked fools. 

I know I'm supposed to love my neighbor, and not judge, and that really we're all products of our environment and if I was born and raised like those I am commenting on here and now that I would probably be just like them...

But some days it's really hard.

Especially when that foolishness is likely to destroy things I care about very much.

Like the rule of law, which I think protects all of us, and helps mitigate the politicization and pointing of fingers that are hallmarks of a system that is incapable of excelling.

Like the dream of what we could be, of an America where anyone and everyone truly can succeed if they're willing to put in the work. (And there's at least a bare minimum so that people aren't starving in the streets.)

I could probably leave this here, and perhaps write another post for the next bit... but they're related enough that I'll continue.

I think about how God can possibly love us - foolish, stubborn, spiteful, prideful, as we are.

And I think about cats.

Yes, I know... that sounds like a ridiculous non sequitur. Bear with me.

When pet owners talk about why they love their pets, you'll get statements like "And he's a dumbass, but... "

"That dog runs into walls."

"That cat hoards socks."

Sometimes we love a cat for being selfish and not taking any shit. Sometimes we love them for how they comfort us and adore us. Sometimes it's for doing something stupid...

But we adore the little fuzzballs. You can say something similar about dogs too. If you're a pet owner, you probably have at least one anecdote of some silly or stupid or funny or annoying thing your cat or dog does, and you adore them and when they're gone if something reminds you of it you'll miss them.

And we love our furballs no matter what they look like. Sometimes even because of it.

We love our big fat cat, or our three legged dog, or the way one floppy ear turns inside out, or the ridiculous underbite, or when a big dog thinks he's a lapdog or a tiny dog acts like she's the pack leader.

Love, in many ways, is not actually because of any of that. Not because of the floppy ear or the goofy behavior. Those things we talk about the things we mention, are not the reason we love our pets. The love comes first, and those things just are associated with what we love.

And I think we should apply that to people. Maybe from God's perspective, he looks at us and he sees that goofy person who failed a test and it's just like the foolish cat that misjudged a leap. And maybe that ruthless billionaire looks like the irritable cat that will take a swipe at you if you try to pet them the wrong way.

Perhaps part of the reason He doesn't actually get involved in our petty little disputes and fights is that it's like a pet owner whose cats are fighting. There is no 'right' or 'wrong', He just doesn't want either to get hurt.

And perhaps from His perspective it's alright. I mean, if He exists and if there's an afterlife than even death isn't truly the end. And He's got time for us to figure things out and get it right...

From that perspective nothing is really that big of a deal.

But that's not a perspective I can share. Not truly.

I see the people murdered when our Navy blows up a boat rather than shooting out the engine and taking everyone into custody, and I know that people died without any real justice. Because of the orders this administration made.

I hear about the unusual number of deaths among people detained by ICE, about pregnancies in detainees that were separated by gender and shouldn't have even been able to get pregnant unless one of the guards or people working at the facility had sex with them, and I know - again - that people are dying because of this administration.

They are dying... and too many of my fellow Americans just don't give a shit. 

Then there's all the anti-vaccine crap, and an administration that it honestly wouldn't surprise me to learn is made up of eugenicists.

There's the petty vindictiveness of this administration. The attempts to abuse their power to hurt anyone that opposes them, like trying to take aware Senator Mark Kelly's retirement. 

It's disgusting. I hate it. I loathe what this administration is doing to the country I loved.

And so I wonder, yet again, how God is able to keep on loving us when we're like this.

Interesting

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trained-me-disappear-inside-dennis-hofs-world-ground-truth-freedland-syonc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via

Overextension

 I once took some classes on Tai Chi and learned about the training practice called Push Hands:

 

While I can't say that I practiced it for long, or ever became an expert in it, the concepts resonated with me. Especially when I realized that you can apply the physical concepts to... well, everything.

Let me give one small example. In Push Hands, the main goal is to make your opponent lose their balance. Force them to take a step. And our instructor pointed out that if someone loses their balance... the other party is able to control them, and direct them wherever they wanted.

If you overextend, if you move too far from your center of gravity, a trained opponent can help nudge you just that little bit further. Then you've completely lost control, and they're able to direct you into a throw or a fall or a joint lock or whatever.

I wanted to talk more about what that means on a more meta level. 

Like war, for example. When generals overextend, their forces are so far forward that their supply lines and support can't keep up, and their forces are then vulnerable - to encirclement, to starvation, to any number of things that a are smarty enemy can take advantage of.

Sure, in the short run you can sometimes take a gamble. You can overextend, if it's fast and quick and your opponent doesn't have the time to notice and take advantage of the opening. But you can't make overextending a consistent strategy, or you're  basically just asking to be defeated.

I think this also applies to nation building. You might be able to do a blitzkrieg and take control of a large swath of territory, but those gains can also fall apart as easily as they were won. Consider Napoleon and his Russian campaign. Or Alexander and how all that territory he conquered fell apart after his death. 

I think that's part of how the Ottoman's expanded in Central Europe - they exploited grievances and offered something better. 

For a time. 

Gaining control temporarily is one thing, maintaining and consolidating it is something else entirely.

I brought that up because it's kind of the foundation for something I've said before - I honestly believe that doing the right thing is the smart long term strategy.  That doing anything else is building your house on sand.

It may seem like a good idea. Your house is getting built in record time, faster than anyone else...

But you're taking shortcuts that undermine the effort as a whole.

And let me bring that more directly into our current political situation -

If you have to bury the truth, manipulate voters with cynical lies, and make stuff up in order to get the power you want - you are building your house on sand. If you can not win elections by being honest and transparent about what your goals are, and how you intend to achieve them, you deserve to lose. And, eventually, will. 

I know some people convince themselves that what they're doing is a necessarily evil. 'But they started it!' or 'They lie so much that we have to lie in order to counter them.'

Bullshit. If they're lying, learn how to expose those lies so that public opinion turns against them. Their lying and your lying just makes everything more confused and muddled. 

I especially find this attitude annoying when it comes to so-called 'Christian' conservatives, because they're supposed to know better.

God didn't say "don't lie and bear false witness, unless the other side does it too. Then lie as much as you want."

A win that involves compromising on what you know is right isn't a win at all. It also shows that you don't honestly believe you can win by doing what God says is right, which shows a rather significant lack of faith. 

 I don't think any 'victory' achieved by justifying doing things you know is wrong is any sort of victory at all, or will build anything lasting and worthwhile.

I do wonder sometimes, what it would be like to have a society that actually lived up to it's ideals. What would happen if our powers-that-be honestly believed in the Sermon on the Mount, who loved their enemies and gave to the needy. Who believed that they should be good shepherds, instead of the kind that kill their flock. Who sincerely thought that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Alas, all I see are people who claim to love Jesus and claim to read the Bible and yet hate their neighbors, think lying is justified, think a 'win' matters even if that win comes from lying, even when it demonstrates their complete lack of faith and lack of understanding...

It's very depressing, to be honest. Makes me have my own crisis of faith... not so much that I've decided I was wrong. It's more like... how long will it take before the problems with building a house on sand become undeniable?

How long until the incompetence, the failures, the inability to truly take care of their 'flock' become undeniable? 

How long will people persist in thinking they can build houses on sand?

When will the tide sweep in, and wash it all away? 

And how many will suffer when that inevitably happens? 

 

 

 

The Thing About the Democratic 'Autopsy'

Is that, as gas prices soar and support for Trump crumbles, success is in sight and yet it feels like Democrats are once again determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

This analysis seems pretty close to the truth, to me. Though given some of the voter targeting I heard about in the last presidential election, it does seem like there were some things that could have been done to help. 

It's just that overall Democrats no longer really seem to fight for the little guy. (That, and I personally believe they haven't done near enough to educate voters on just why January 6 was so awful. And how every time Trump undermines trust in our voting process - without actual proof - he's attacking America, and the Constitution, and he should be called out on that. As well as how running his mouth directly led to Jan 6, even aside from the fake electors and other blatant attempts to change the results. But then, clearly I care more about this rule of law stuff then many of my fellow Americans,so maybe I'm just being overly idealistic here.)

Conscientiousness

My thoughts on this tied in with something else I'd been thinking about. 

Okay, I also thought it a rather sad look at how miserable these ultra wealthy people must be, considering all the research on how happiness comes from connection, but I wanted to focus on something else.

I have realized that I have always been conscientious. When our parents gave us chores while they were out and my brothers always argued that they should be able to go play because they'd just do them later (which we all knew meant never) I wanted to do the chores first - because I didn't want that obligation hanging over me. I wanted to play knowing there was no task waiting to be done later, wanted to be free and clear.

That obligation is of course entirely mental, and I have come to realize not everyone feels that way.

And not just my brothers.

One example that struck me was the problem with antibiotics. Or rather,that apparently so many people will stop taking them when they're feeling better even though the doctor said to take them for a set period of time.

Mostly the shock was because in our family you did what the doctor prescribed, and if they said take the pill for 14 days you take the pill for 14 days. (Barring the he occasional forgetfulness, ofc. But you don't just stop).

And the thing of it is, and the reason I used this example,is that I know if I really wanted to I could ignore that and stop - but why would I?

Doctors prescribe them long enough to hopefully kill of the infection, if you stop taking the antibiotics too soon you risk making things far worse when the more resistant bacteria survives and grows back.

Like - it's not just being conscientious, it's doing so because it's really rather stupid not to.

Which is mostly the point I wanted to make. There are a lot of social norms and rules and sometimes they're inconvenient. And sometimes it's worth breaking them. But you have to understand them enough to know when and where and why you're breaking them, and honestly for the most part they're there for a reason and it's better to follow them. (Barring situations like when the rules are made by Nazis and the like where they enable mass murder. Blind obedience is not conscientiousness.)

And what that article about consequence free wealth indicates, to me at least, is a careless attitude that means they don't really care about the rules - which means they're breaking them just because they can, and not with any real understanding of why those rules exist or when they should or shouldn't be broken.

It's people who decide to throw out the antibiotics as soon as they feel better, because they think they know better than the doctor and don't want to deal with the inconvenience any more than they have to.

It's kind of a shame that the predictable consequences of such foolishness are so delayed, because they're unfortunately in a position to make the rest of us suffer before they learn better.

Very Nice Summary On Managerial Mistakes

https://yanivpreiss.com/2026/03/29/9-stupid-power-moves-managers-make-and-the-damage-they-leave-behind/

Recognition

I have not seen the movie discussed here, and yet I found the discussion fascinating. Or rather, I recognize who they are describing and it's every online edgelord. 

It also captures that frustrating feeling where you see the potential for something great, and yet that greatness is sabotaged by the person themself before they can even get anywhere.

I don't think I'd ever watch the film, because it sounds like an exercise in frustration where I want to ask the character 

"Can you just - not?"