I personally don't feel the effects from climate change so it doesn't exist.
I personally didn't get sick from covid-19 so it doesn't exist.
I personally am not affected by war so no money should go to helping war victims.
I personally don't like going to the theatre so no money should go to preserving culture.
Did you notice something? That's right; all statements are personal. Meaning that they are selfish, those people who believe in 'alternative facts'. Thank you for giving us, sane people, that gem, Kellyanne Conway:
Selfish people do not care about the planet, animals or other people. Perhaps with the exception of people who look and act like them. Their 'tribe' so you will.
An example: they want freedom. But not for people who don't look and act like them. When they state they want 'freedom for all', they lie. When they say they want equality, they lie. Because they don't want equality for immigrants, muslims, women, unemployed people, people of colour, et cetera.
We find these people not only in the United States of America ('America' is a continent. The USA is a country in North-America) but all over the world. In my humble opinion the world would look a lot better if it wasn't for selfish people.
Problems would be tackled more efficiently if they'd target selfish people.
How can we make selfish people realise it's not all about them? Of course we're all more or less selfish. It's only natural and a means to survive but - and I'm quoting this article (click) now -
"The problem arises when we do things for ourselves and at the same time ignore the needs of those around us or when we fulfill our needs at the expense of others.
When you make life difficult for others to meet your own ends, then that kind of selfishness is the selfishness that you’d like to avoid."
I get it: minorities have been under-represented in western movies for decades. Funny word really 'minorities'. Because 60+ caucasian males are heavily outnumbered by other 'races'. Filmmakers wanted to make up for the mistakes their predecessors had made. For instance: how many Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese and African-Americans do you see in those old westerns? Yet, in real life they made up for the majority of all 'real American' cowboys. Yes, it's true: None of the first cowboys were (non-Hispanic) white (click).
It took them a while but in recent times filmmakers tried to make their movies more inclusive. And often failed: Johnny Depp playing The Lone Ranger's 'Indian' sidekick? Come on! Johnny Storm, the twin brother of (caucasian) Susan Storm (whose superhero name had gone from The Invisible Girl to The Invisible Woman) inThe Fantastic Four was portrayed by an actor with a dark colour skin. A bit weird. Like seeing Muhammad Ali being brought to life on the silver screen by a caucasian actor.
Just make something original (with maybe a niece or nephew from the original character. Or like the writers did with Ms. Marvel: the one from the series being an Indian girl who just happens to be a big fan of the original caucasian character, instead of trying to be politically correct by trying not to look racist or misogynistic and thereby acting racist and misogynistic.
You only end up with a world full of frustrated people like a former chef of mine. Who wasn't suited for the job and knew very well she only got it so the company could say: 'Hey, we are not racist or misogynistic. See, we even have a black woman in management!' They look like ultra right wing political parties who love to put a - usually not very bright - person with a dark skin colour in a top position within their group. So the sword cuts on both sides: 'See, we're not racist!' and 'This was the smartest black person we could find. That proves blacks are a stupid race.' Recent example: Herschel Walker.
"If we evolved from apes, why are there still apes?" can only be asked by really stupid people. 1. We share a common ancestor and evolved in different ways. 2. Electric cars, busses, trucks and tanks all evolved from gasoline fueled cars. According to Walker's logic, regular cars should have disappeared.
Like the Republicans have a token black guy, the nazi's had a token jewish boy: Werner Goldberg. Just like with Herschel Walker, this group of white supremacists did not pick the britest of people to be their 'mascotte'. For instance: 'Mr. Goldberg was surpised to hear his father was a jew.'
In the Netherlands the Dutch party that attracts most white nationalists, Forum for Democracy, had Suriname born Yernaz Ramautarsing to state that 'everybody knows black people have a lower IQ than white people!' So Baudet could state: 'I never said that; the black guy did!'
Mr. Ramautarsing had to step down because of his racist remarks (and a violent incident) and Thierry Baudet could play innocent: 'But he was such a nice guy!?'
In most countries, people who lie a lot, love to use violence and are really, really stupid, have a hard time finding in job. In the USA they can become senator. And look just slightly less intelligent than the average colleague:
I like the way Gene Roddenberry handled things: instead of apologizing for treating POC's and women like garbage in his younger days, he realised apologies are not enough and put a woman as luitenant on a ship. But the collective women in 'the land of the free' were furious: 'A woman should know her place and take care of her husband and children, not run a ship or do some other man's job!', forcing Gene to replace Star Trek Enterprise's 'Number One' with Spock. Who he originally intended to have a red skin and a tail but was advised that people who call themselves 'christian' may wish him to hell if he did.
His great move was introducing Lt. Uhuru. Nichelle Nichols was an amazing character. On and off screen, where she single handedly made tens of thousands of people people realize: 'Wait...yes! Why not? Women cán be communication officers, engineers, physicists, carpenters...! Gene's legacy was continued in Star Trek: Discovery with the introduction of gay and non-binary characters.
It looks like we are slowly moving towards a world in which 'I want everyone to have equal rights and every individual to have the freedom to pursue their dreams.' is more than a hollow phrase.
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, I lost a few dozen followers in a matter of weeks. Because thousands of accounts got suspended by the self proclaimed 'champion of free speech'. Reporters and others who wrote negatively about the man who was once the richest individual on the planet, were suddenly not allowed to question his actions or motives.
Musk only wants freedom of speech for people who agree with him. People spreading the true story that he only destroyed Twitter to impress his favourite ex, Talulah Riley, were driven to competitor Mastodont. Prompting Musk to ban any tweet that linked to that platform. A very, very childish move...
It seems I'm not the only one thinking he really is not the smartest guy on the planet:
His erratic behavior (allowing known fascists back unto the platform, having people pay to 'prove' their identity...) made many advertisers leave the platform and firing half the staff on his first day of work did not turn out well as Musk found out when the software needed maintenance and he found out that just having a lot of money does not magically fix things; actual skill is required.
Granted, he has put out some fantastic ideas. But does anyone remember the Hyperloop (click)? 'Transportation for the future!' Yes, but not in a future you and I or even our grandschildren are going to see. Unless trillions of dollars suddenly appear: just building a first track of 500 miles would cost an estimated $105 billion.
It's the same problem with each and everyone of Elon Musk's projects, even counting his ex-wives and ex-girfriends (click) and their - by the latest count - ten children: they cost more than they yield.
"Yeah, but he's doing great with stuff like SpaceX and Tesla, right? They're multi billion dollar companies!" True. And all paid for by the US government and therefore by the American taxpayer. Funny that Elon Musk doesn't want the rich to get taxed 'because the government should keep its hands of capital and not hand out subsidies to anyone!' but his companies received billions (click) in government support. Tesla alone received half a billion (click) dollars in 2010, a 'loan' that Tesla has not yet paid back. As a matter of fact: Tesla has suffered a net loss every single year, for the past ten years. Yet, its CEO receives millions. Mainly in trading stocks in the company.
Let's face it: without the millions he received from his parents (Musk's story (click) he started life with a student debt and 'just borrowed some money from his father and some friends' is most likely fabricated. Here is a more accurate story (click) than Musk wants to share) and the billions he received from the US taxpayer, we would never have heard from Elon Musk.
Strangely enough, I kind of like the guy. Maybe because he seems like a nerd - and I have a soft spot for nerds - and because I feel sorry for him for obviously lacking love and attention in his childhood. He also does not seem to realize that even buying a new face, buying companies (he didn't build Paypal and Tesla but basically just bought them. Here's the full PayPal (click) story. It tells you a lot about the man and the myth) and even buying politicians (click) (just like that, the State of Nevada decided to invest billions in electric vehicle makers like Tesla, despite the pressure of the old boys network called 'oil and mining industry') could not get him a nice girlfriend or even make him populair amongst non-nerds.
Once a nerd, always a nerd. Sorry, Elon.
(BTW: if you tweet this picture of the younger him, he could suspend your Twitter-account)
'That right wing populist is not a racist at all! Look, he even married a person of colour/is of African descent/has black friends/had a jewish girfriend. So you are just lying!'
'So he just makes racist and antisemitic remarks for fun or out of boredom, travels to other countries for meetings with known racists and people who actually studied his behaviour unanimously agree he is a racist are all wrong?'
'Yes! You lefties all just want to make him look bad!'
'Yes, you're right. We forced him to invite racists to his meetings and made those racists wave a flag with a swastika on it to discredit your Great Leader.
Which - by the way ' translates as 'Führer' in German. Speaking of Führer: did you know that Hitler was married to a Jewish lady and was of Jewish ánd African descent himself?'
But sure, I guess it's possible to have season tickets for your favourite football team, go to the world cup every time, talk to your friends about football all the time but still not count as a football fan.
