Perfect, Mike. A viewpoint is a single view from a single point. The proposition that “the more viewpoints considered, the more accurate and complete is the picture of the thing viewed” (something Bari Weiss might say) requires honest or accurate observers who describe what they actually see. This is the task of describing and understanding reality, the work of journalism, science, and epistemology. Those who do not honestly or accurately observe and report what they see, but who describe what they wish or hope to see or what they wish or hope others to see, are influencers, pundits, polemicists, and propagandists. There is ample room and need for both types of observations or normative commitments - one that seeks to accurately describe reality, one that seeks to alter it or the perception thereof.
But knowing which is which is knowing the difference between what is true or real and what is spin or illusion. Weiss either doesn’t know the difference or she thinks the rest of us won’t notice her quiet (though not invisible) substitution of preferred opinions over inconvenient truths…
I appreciate this perspective. Something that I hold in tension, and I think its partly due to my early childhood trauma that impacted my perception of reality for a long time, is the recognition that we are viewing reality through lenses that distort our sense of truth. The fact that we see through lenses and we understand that we see through lenses is what is exploited by people like Bari Weiss, and others who look to materially gain as a result of information assymetry. People who recognize that they are operating with an information assymetry use that to either exploit others for material gain or seek to serve others as a result of the insight. The second motivation is altruistic the first is certainly not.
From an economic perspective, I think there is a need for more market entrants who are seeking to serve like Mike is serving through this substack to bring people into reality.
The question I struggle with is how do you solve the human challenges that cause people to prefer a perceived reality that is actively reinforced through both postive and negative conditioning. I've personally been able to get back in touch with reality as a result of getting in touch with the somatic reality of how my body experienced the altered perceptions.
True Cold chills and spine tingling from the serious systematic yet artistic writing in this essay. Amazing. The best in a while. (In my humble opinion-I am no one famous nor infamous ☺️)
I am in the habit of selecting my favorite paragraphs from journalists’ writings I admire and posting them in the reply … but I have too many here to post all.
Here is one excerpt
…”We stand. We see. We name where we are and what we see.
We submit our seeing to each other, and in the coordination of our honest, partial, committed perspectives, we produce the only knowledge a self-governing people can trust:…
It is well known that if you live in the Berkshires in a vintage house with a garden next to a large field, you can expect small field mice to try to enter your house during the winter months. I set up mousetraps in some of our rooms, and recently, I caught a mouse. Two days after catching the mouse, I had a terrifying morning dream. I was sitting in my big recliner, and what I thought was a mother mouse appeared on the far side of the room and started hopping toward me. As she got closer, I realized it was not a mouse but a tiny white kangaroo heading toward me. I was frozen in my chair, unable to move, scared, and immobilized. I forced myself to wake up. As a psychologist, I respected dreams for the insight they offered into the working internal thinking. My immobilization is that I live in an immobilized country, one that is not fighting to save itself. I am living with a useless Democratic Party and a powerful enemy, the super-funded Heritage Foundation and its 300-page Project 2025.
I am looking for someone who will help me fight this think tank, a 70-year-old conservative organization. My friend Bernie is a mainstream fighter, and with his sidekick, Representative AOC, they are holding “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies to draw crowds of 10,000 people in Republican states. Back in 2016, when I was mobile and 82, I would stand on the corner with my sign: "Beep for Bernie.” Now, at 93, all I can do is write the little articles that I email to my polite friends.
My question is, where are our fighters? They are not in our congress when the democrats are still referring to the Republicans as “my colleague”, they are your enemy and the enemy of our country. They are not on the news and cable channels owned and controlled by aristocrats. They are not the democratic governors who are hiding away from the fight and unwilling to announce that, at least, they will hold a conference of democratic governors.
The place I found fighters is on Substack and in podcasts, excluding mainstream television. The following is a list of some of these fighters:
Chris Armitage, Anne Applebaum, Wendy A. Lawrence, Steven Beschloss,
Jim Acosta, Steve Schmidt, Michael Cohen, Wajahat Ali, Joy-Ann Reid, Brian Tyler Cohen.
Some of these names may be familiar to you because they were once on cable news, but for whatever reason, they are no longer on that station. These are just a few of the fighters I found; there are many more.
I've had Bari Weiss's number since her disingenuous, grievance fueled days as a NYT opinion columnist. She is essentially an empty vessel, afraid that people who's opinion that she once cared about would see what she really is. Now that she has fuck you money the power hungry RW propagandist servile to corrupt patriarchal power playters can openly be seen. Zero respect.
The question I have about a “bothsiderist” like Weiss… are they utterly mendacious, know full well that their undermining of objective reality is in service to the side that would be reviled if truth were honestly told? Or are they merely products of a Darwinian selection process by controlling interests that reward their moral and intellectual nihilism?
Thank you so much for this, for adding your voice to looking at things. I did not know that I needed philosophy to help me understand, but I absolutely do need it! I have this feeling of being pulled out of the gutter.
I understand. There is a very sincere effort, I suspect I am better informed. The lies filter through, but daily response seems only to get us caught in a morass.
Perfect, Mike. A viewpoint is a single view from a single point. The proposition that “the more viewpoints considered, the more accurate and complete is the picture of the thing viewed” (something Bari Weiss might say) requires honest or accurate observers who describe what they actually see. This is the task of describing and understanding reality, the work of journalism, science, and epistemology. Those who do not honestly or accurately observe and report what they see, but who describe what they wish or hope to see or what they wish or hope others to see, are influencers, pundits, polemicists, and propagandists. There is ample room and need for both types of observations or normative commitments - one that seeks to accurately describe reality, one that seeks to alter it or the perception thereof.
But knowing which is which is knowing the difference between what is true or real and what is spin or illusion. Weiss either doesn’t know the difference or she thinks the rest of us won’t notice her quiet (though not invisible) substitution of preferred opinions over inconvenient truths…
I appreciate this perspective. Something that I hold in tension, and I think its partly due to my early childhood trauma that impacted my perception of reality for a long time, is the recognition that we are viewing reality through lenses that distort our sense of truth. The fact that we see through lenses and we understand that we see through lenses is what is exploited by people like Bari Weiss, and others who look to materially gain as a result of information assymetry. People who recognize that they are operating with an information assymetry use that to either exploit others for material gain or seek to serve others as a result of the insight. The second motivation is altruistic the first is certainly not.
From an economic perspective, I think there is a need for more market entrants who are seeking to serve like Mike is serving through this substack to bring people into reality.
The question I struggle with is how do you solve the human challenges that cause people to prefer a perceived reality that is actively reinforced through both postive and negative conditioning. I've personally been able to get back in touch with reality as a result of getting in touch with the somatic reality of how my body experienced the altered perceptions.
Top notch.
True Cold chills and spine tingling from the serious systematic yet artistic writing in this essay. Amazing. The best in a while. (In my humble opinion-I am no one famous nor infamous ☺️)
I am in the habit of selecting my favorite paragraphs from journalists’ writings I admire and posting them in the reply … but I have too many here to post all.
Here is one excerpt
…”We stand. We see. We name where we are and what we see.
We submit our seeing to each other, and in the coordination of our honest, partial, committed perspectives, we produce the only knowledge a self-governing people can trust:…
Thank you
So much
💙🇺🇸💙
FIGHTERS NEEDED!
It is well known that if you live in the Berkshires in a vintage house with a garden next to a large field, you can expect small field mice to try to enter your house during the winter months. I set up mousetraps in some of our rooms, and recently, I caught a mouse. Two days after catching the mouse, I had a terrifying morning dream. I was sitting in my big recliner, and what I thought was a mother mouse appeared on the far side of the room and started hopping toward me. As she got closer, I realized it was not a mouse but a tiny white kangaroo heading toward me. I was frozen in my chair, unable to move, scared, and immobilized. I forced myself to wake up. As a psychologist, I respected dreams for the insight they offered into the working internal thinking. My immobilization is that I live in an immobilized country, one that is not fighting to save itself. I am living with a useless Democratic Party and a powerful enemy, the super-funded Heritage Foundation and its 300-page Project 2025.
I am looking for someone who will help me fight this think tank, a 70-year-old conservative organization. My friend Bernie is a mainstream fighter, and with his sidekick, Representative AOC, they are holding “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies to draw crowds of 10,000 people in Republican states. Back in 2016, when I was mobile and 82, I would stand on the corner with my sign: "Beep for Bernie.” Now, at 93, all I can do is write the little articles that I email to my polite friends.
My question is, where are our fighters? They are not in our congress when the democrats are still referring to the Republicans as “my colleague”, they are your enemy and the enemy of our country. They are not on the news and cable channels owned and controlled by aristocrats. They are not the democratic governors who are hiding away from the fight and unwilling to announce that, at least, they will hold a conference of democratic governors.
The place I found fighters is on Substack and in podcasts, excluding mainstream television. The following is a list of some of these fighters:
Chris Armitage, Anne Applebaum, Wendy A. Lawrence, Steven Beschloss,
Jim Acosta, Steve Schmidt, Michael Cohen, Wajahat Ali, Joy-Ann Reid, Brian Tyler Cohen.
Some of these names may be familiar to you because they were once on cable news, but for whatever reason, they are no longer on that station. These are just a few of the fighters I found; there are many more.
I've had Bari Weiss's number since her disingenuous, grievance fueled days as a NYT opinion columnist. She is essentially an empty vessel, afraid that people who's opinion that she once cared about would see what she really is. Now that she has fuck you money the power hungry RW propagandist servile to corrupt patriarchal power playters can openly be seen. Zero respect.
The question I have about a “bothsiderist” like Weiss… are they utterly mendacious, know full well that their undermining of objective reality is in service to the side that would be reviled if truth were honestly told? Or are they merely products of a Darwinian selection process by controlling interests that reward their moral and intellectual nihilism?
Thank you so much for this, for adding your voice to looking at things. I did not know that I needed philosophy to help me understand, but I absolutely do need it! I have this feeling of being pulled out of the gutter.
https://bsky.app/profile/jeetheer.bsky.social/post/3mdqo2ticjk2x
Bari Weiss is trying to rehabilitate Epstein's cronies.
You just defined true PATRIOTISM.
Which unlike the kleptoblinded scum which now direct the American VIEW, is able to see clearly which side you should stand with.
Your own.
Minneapolis.
The West's
Ukraine.
Was it Einstein who said that you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that was used to define the problem?
Thx Mike - your writings warm my soul. "The coordination of the "seeing" produces knowledge" - democracy! Loved it.
Simple. Turn off the TV. I did years ago. We all should.
That is choice of course if there is a sincere effort to supplant with information from other sources.
I need to know the lies.
I try to respond quickly to expose the lies.
I don’t know if it helps.
I just know I must sincerely try
💙🇺🇸💙
I understand. There is a very sincere effort, I suspect I am better informed. The lies filter through, but daily response seems only to get us caught in a morass.