Florida showing the way in combating Woke

 Say what you like about Ron DeSantis, he is definitely show-casing a legitimate strategy to combat woke policies that should be looked at by every right wing politician who is in power, or wants to be.

It is very clear that both market forces and generally Cultural forces are leaning towards the woke agenda...a place where sexual freedom is prioritised, where gender is becoming less a biological fact and more of a social role based activity, where every minority race is celebrated and white people are detested. Its an onslaught, driven primarily by social reproduction of these themes in institutions and social media to make us all believe that these themes are rational social norms instead of fringe theories.

And really, there are only two elements in society providing any sort of limiting factors on this constant onslaught...Religion and the State. With religion becoming less influential, it is only the state that can push back.

And so what has DeSantis and his state representatives done.

1. Legislation to stop white privilege being used to shame or guilt people

2. Banning of sexual materials in school libraries

3.Legislation to stop the teaching of LGBTI issues before Year 3.

4. Immigration limitations.

Its a good first step. In Australia, we don't quite have the same level of conflict, but we need to call out these corporate and social overreaching activities when they appear in front of us. So that means keeping the pressure on sporting organisations to exclude trans women from female sporting competitions, to push back on any teachings of LGBTI or Queer issues in schools, and to oppose the Indigenous Voice.

Artificial Intelligence - Why the fear?

 Been pondering the fear of Artificial Intelligence in the media of that. With the rise of ChatGPT, people like Elon Musk and others are now saying that this technology is posing real risks to humanity.

What a load of tosh. Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of doomsday plots revolving around Scientism. There is no fear of God anymore, due to the decline of organised religion, so all we have is science based destruction..Climate Change, Nuclear War, Virus, and now AI.

AI is not sentient. It can never really be. This is pure anthropomorphism...applying human characteristics onto non human systems. And the biggest reason for it? AI will never know what death is...so it will never fear it.

Humanity knows death. It is part of our traditions. Our lived experience. The feelings of loss of losing someone dear to us isn't just an algorithm or a stimulus. This fear of death happening to us is what drives our brains.

So much of our intelligence is based on being inside a biological shell that has a limited lifespan and is prone to the environment...something an AI will never be able to comprehend.

Hence if AI will never fear death, it will never fear us.

 

When did the lack of a pride round become anti-gay?

Was listening to Kyle and Jacki O this morning when Brooklyn Ross, their news guy, reported that the NRL has announced there was not going to be a Pride Round (or a respect) round this year. Now even though there has never been a Pride Round in the NRL, Brooklyn then started a diatribe about now that meant that the NRL was anti-gay!

Come off it Brooklyn. No Pride round just means it is sexual orientation neutral. Not pro, not anti. Pretty much what every organisation should be.

And I dont blame the NRL after the debacle that was the ill-fated Manly Pride round last year, that basically cost Manly, and Des Hasler their chances for success in 2022. You cant make religious players support homosexuality without a backlash, and with a large percentage of the NRL players from the religious pacific islands, it was always going to be a disaster.

The NRL is showing the very definition of inclusivity by not prioritising any particular sexual orientation and treating them all the same. Should be the benchmark for Sports organisations going forward.

CS Lewis - Prophet

 Been reading a bit about CSLewis, specifically "The Abolition of Man". What a triumph of thought.

This was written all the way back in 1943, yet the thoughts around the dangers of relativism and the belief that there are no objective or universal truths and values are as apt now as they were back then. In fact, to me, it seems as if his dystopian vision of a world being controlled by a select group of "Conditioners" who decide, on a whim, what the current values are, is pretty much becoming a reality every day.

CS Lewis believed that there were a set a values (he called the "Tao") which has persevered throughout all civilisations and all times that we should be using as a basis for Good and Evil.

Roughly these involve the following

1. The Law of General Beneficence -Look after everyone

2. The Law of Special Beneficence - Look after those you know - Friends, Countries, Family

3. Duties to Parents, Elders and Ancestors - Honour those that came before

4. Duties to children and posterity - value children and reproduction

5. Justice - Sexual (no adultery), Stealing (no theft), Judgement (no bribes/corruption)

6. Good faith (Try to be honest)

7.  Mercy (Look after the weak)

8. Magnanimity (Be brave and forgiving)

I think a few of these are still alive (1,7) but quite a few are on life support (2,3,4,5,8).

 Unfortunately in todays world, there seems to be only 3 absolute values are being raised in their place

1. Duties to minorities (in race, gender and sexual orientation)

2. Duties to the environment (maybe fits into value 4, but loosely as environment values population control)

3. Duty to yourself (to be happy)

Not sure that is enough to provide a path to a good life. You need more.

Ye's salient point

"A white person can wear a shirt that says "Black lives matter" without criticism, but a black person can't wear a shirt that says "White lives matters" without being attacked"

Very true. Leads into the argument that there are large inconsistencies in cancel culture. Who determines who should be cancelled?