I am mad as hell and I am NOT going to take this any more

[Xue Sheng]

That is a good analogy. I like that. And but the worrying notion for me is knowing what to do when faced with the solvable equation X+5=9 on the one page and seeing on the answers page, the solution advising: X=3 if we know what is good for us.

Interesting point and sadly all to true, I was once involved in a statistical analysis of racial distribution in a certain state office, not because it was my job but because the guy doing it did not know thing one about statistics and he discovered I did. After a whole lot of questions I realized what he was attempting to do which petty much came down to saying in the problem of what is X n X+5=9 that x=15. I told him I would have no part of it and walked away.

 

[Live True]

two quick responses as the day is vastly outpacing me as we speak....

On the overgrown yard of weeds..that is why we need as many folks as possible to do something...if it's only a small few DOING anything, they are overworked and outpaced. But if everyone (or at least a lot of folks) did a little..the yard would always look nice. Maybe not it's best...but definately nice.

It's true we can't have all the information, and what we have will be coloured by our experiences and the information available. All of us sometimes come across the feeling that it's just too much work to tease out the facts from all the disparate sources. And...as Xue so sadly points out...some folks will try to make 2+2 =5 no matter what the actual truth may be.

That said, I think we simply do our best to find dependable sources, take all news with a grain of salt and apply some thought to us if it's important. Finally, we should remain open to discussion and other viewpoints. That doesn't mean we are willy nilly and let anyone change our mind. It means we apply the information we have to the beliefs that are important to us, and form an opinion and stance. We are open to reviewing new data and other's opinions against our own. If it has merit after consideration, we add or adapt to our sense of the world as it is. If we find it does not. Then we discard it and move on.

or...if the source is open to it...we debate the topic and see if we can both learn something new.

I think, you are trying to tackle a mountain all at one time...which, while admirable, may be self-defeating.

I didn't say radical change was impossible. I simply think that building up to radical change starts with small things. you know...a trip of a thousand miles begins with the first step.....