Tag: Elections

Alternate “news” sources give us alternate realities

On By Hitting BregmaIn 2016 Election, How I see the world1 Comment

The sustained popularity of Donald Trump has been making me very sad lately. His twitter feed is just one horrible statement after another. He’s said that he would consider shutting down mosques, that he wants surveillance of mosques, and, perhaps the worst of it all, he has walked the line of advocating for, or at least not refuting the idea that we have an identification system for Muslims. That last one is a bit complicated, and there might be room to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, but that’s a bit of a tangent for this post. What this post is about is how different views of the world can be, depending on where we get our “news,” and how that difference can actually make me feel much better about my fellow Americans.

Continue reading “Alternate “news” sources give us alternate realities” →

Addiction is a disease, but we don’t treat it that way

On By Hitting BregmaIn 2016 Election, How I see the world1 Comment

Chris Christie has been getting a lot of (well-deserved) attention for a speech he gave recently about addiction, and it’s easy to imagine looking back at this as a turning point in his campaign, like those featured in Slate’s Whistlestop podcast. I think there’s a lot to applaud here, but I think we have to recognize that it is an immensely complicated issue.

Continue reading “Addiction is a disease, but we don’t treat it that way” →

The fight against Planned Parenthood, the Pledge of Allegiance, and other made-up controversies

On By Hitting BregmaIn 2016 Election, How I see the world3 Comments

Planned Parenthood has been getting a lot of attention in the media these days. “Defunding” Planned Parenthood has become a key point in the campaigns of many GOP Presidential hopefuls, and Carly Fiorina scored big points at the last primary debate by calling attention to videos that allegedly showed human dissections by Planned Parenthood. [She was accused of making up the videos, but it’s more likely that she saw some stock footage that was inserted into a video about Planned Parenthood, even though it likely didn’t accurately portray what happens at Planned Parenthood.] A piece at Salon argues that this is part of a long string of attempts by the right wing to “defund the left.” I think this argument is compelling, but in a conspiratorial way that I think is hard to pull off in today’s world of transparency and whistle blowing. Although it may have started that way, it seems to me that it’s become much more about dividing the country into us vs them, and trying to define who the us is in that division.

Continue reading “The fight against Planned Parenthood, the Pledge of Allegiance, and other made-up controversies” →