CSotD: Where is Ted Patrick when we need him?
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Let's start the day with Pajama Diaries, which is funny but not funny.
It's part of an arc about a friend of Jill's trying to find out what's up with her child, and, while the Jenny McCarthy punchline is specific to that particular issue, the concept is universal for anyone with health issues and an Internet connection.
If Elon Musk wants to speculate about "What if we're just acting out a programmed game by some superior intelligence?" it can't do any harm, though most of us got through that sophomore year in the dorms. It's fun, it's harmless, or, in other words, it's just metaphysics.
But promoting speculative theories that lead people who need science to abandon it isn't funny and isn't harmless, and, while the aforementioned college sophomores may bat around a metaphysical proposition, they generally keep it on a friendly basis. Only rarely does metaphysical speculation wind up with people in matching sneakers having swallowed poisoned applesauce.
Spreading pseudoscientific medical advice is sadly common, and, while you really can't prosecute people for being ignorant and yet sure of themselves, it's not good for society when they seemingly gain ascendancy.
Unfortunately, as much fun as an "I Hate Jenny McCarthy" support group would be, the only people who would join would be the people who don't need it.
The thing about these pseudoscience cults — whether it's the anti-vax crew or the people who deny global warming or the anti-GMO gang — is that they share a need to buck the tide and be right when all around them are wrong.
Mostly, though, they have a need to belong. Every cult, every mainstream religion, every successful social club, welcomes the stranger and offers a sense of belonging.
And, if all they want you to do is show up for monthly meetings, wear a silly hat and sing some ridiculous songs, there's little harm in it. Maybe a couple of times a year you can even collect toys for orphans, fix up a playground or something.
But when it means denying your child competent medical care, indulging your need to be special is not so harmless and amusing anymore.
And when you go online and pose as an expert, spreading your arrogant nonsense among innocent people, well, you'd do better to simply sell flowers at airports.
And, for all the attention it got 40 years ago, deprogramming didn't really work very well.
Which naturally leads us to:
Clay Jones' commentary on the apparent presumptive assumed nomination of Hillary Clinton, on which he has an excellent essay.
My blogging site was down for several hours this morning, so I have had a chance to watch heads explode on-line with the announcement by the AP and other sources that, if you count the pledged delegates and add in the not-pledged-but-surely-promised superdelegates, Clinton has gone over the top and secured the nomination.
Best comment I've seen so far was "I've clicked 'Turn off notifications' and 'Hide post' more in the last 48 hours than I did in the previous four weeks."
It was a comment on someone else's post, and, given the relative neutrality of the original posting, I have no idea if she is pro-Clinton, pro-Sanders or simply a decent human being with a rational sense of perspective. She was commenting on the ongoing flow of vicious, nonsensical trollery and sewage coming from cult members on both sides.
I can understand Clinton supporters wishing Sanders would concede and let the main event move forward.
I can also understand Sanders supporters wanting to get a legitimate final count and a proportional place at the table.
Meanwhile, just as most of the people mourning Muhammed Ali are too young to have experienced his societal impact, most of the people who have marked the anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's death weren't around to know where he, and Gene McCarthy, and Mayor Daley all fit into the Democratic disaster of 1968.
Or what it would be like if Julius Hoffman were still alive and one of the two major candidates was apt to place him on the Supreme Court.
Because for all the extrajudicial antidemocratic outrageous actions of the Chicago Eight Seven Trial, it was sane control of the higher courts that kept us out of a complete freefall.
Most anti-war people found the firebrands like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin hard to take seriously, while most people who supported the war were not blood-thirsty enough to follow the lead of Curtis LeMay.
Similarly, I suspect that the bulk of Sanders and Clinton supporters are appalled at the vicious, antisocial trolls who represent them on line.
The difference is, today's True Believers have a louder voice than their counterparts of a generation ago.
We'll see how it shakes out once the final primaries are over, which is the point at which Hillary Clinton conceded in 2008. Sanders has said he will work to keep Trump out of the White House, and, if everyone can just be cool like little Fonzies, we may get out of this with some of our dignity intact.
Meanwhile, don't let the political cult members get you too depressed.
Though I'll admit I don't think they're as funny today as I found them back in 1979, when I wrote this.
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