Life

Authors Who Avoid Hasty Conclusions

Much of the information that we encounter, especially via the internet, is only partially true, if not completely bogus

Published

11 months ago

October 25, 2021

Jeff Davidson

So much of the information that we encounter today, especially via the internet, is only partially true, if not completely bogus. As such, I admire the work of selected authors over the past few decades. They remind me to check out what seems to be common knowledge, for the truth the lies beyond it:

Self-help author Denis Waitley observed Albert Einstein always scored quite well in math and science. Some “historians” noted that his top grade of six on a scale of one to six dropped to a level of one from one year to the next, and they arbitrarily assumed he had started to flunk those courses. The school had reversed its grading system, however, to make the highest grade a one instead of a six.

For decades, no one had bothered to examine the original “evidence” leading to the proclamation that Einstein was an academic failure.

Pop Trends

In her book, Backlash, author Susan Faludi told how “pop” market forecasters made a fortune by reviewing popular media, such as newspapers, television, movies and so forth, and then concluding what trends are looming in America. The extreme fallacy with this method of forecasting, Faludi noted, is that it tends to promulgate that which only a handful of editors, publishers and directors believe or perpetrate. No hard data supports the “forecasts.”

One such forecaster was credited with coining the term “cocooning” for the 1980s, where working men and women, particularly women, decided to spend more time in the household. Faludi shows that the assertion has no relationship to U.S. Department Bureau of Labor Statistics that indicated an increase in the number of women in the workforce and in the time each spent outside the home.

Nevertheless, corporations paid hefty sums to be told where we were all headed next. Because many other factors can obscure results, if the predicted “trend” then doesn’t help the corporate customer, it is rarely linked back to the forecaster. Such companies would do better, observed Faludi, to simply consult the U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other sources that independently collect data, presumably with no bias.

Dastardly Dads?

Faludi also uncovered this: The “fact” that an epidemic of divorced fathers refused to pay child care, which is a falsehood that distorted reality for decades. According to U.S. Census Bureau figures, the great majority of fathers with joint custody of their children – nearly 90% – paid their entire support obligation, in full and on time. Some 80% of fathers with visitation privileges, but not joint custody, paid regularly. Only when the courts deprive fathers of both custody and access do support levels drop to under 50%, the figure mistakenly attributed to all fathers.

Despite the strong correlation between a man’s ability to have joint custody or visitation with his children and his willingness to make regular support payments, most legislators and judges didn’t seem to see it. Their automatic and immediate response in cases of nonpayment was to blame the male, instead of enforcing the man’s right to visit his children and encouraging father-child relationships.

By continuing to make the majority of child custody awards to women, the courts systematically disregarded the role fathers played and all but ensured that the children would have adjustment problems. Even if a man legally wins visitation rights, his ability to visit his kids isn’t guaranteed. Judges don’t often put uncooperative mothers in jail. So, fathers end up going to court repeatedly – a costly venture. Sometimes after many attempts to visit their children, some fathers withhold support payments to force what the courts will not.

The media, charging to no one’s rescue and in search of thirty second sound bites, label such fathers as deadbeat, or worse. Hence, the widespread misconception about the true nature of what’s going on in this critical arena continues even to this day.

Abounded Influence

In his acclaimed 1990 book, Agents of Influence, author Pat Choate debunked the myth that the Japanese, as a whole, significantly contributed to the development of innovation and technology as evidenced by their annual lead in the number of U.S. patents they had filed and obtained. As Choate explained, the Japanese tilted the economic playing field, via the ruthless art of “patent flooding.”

When a U.S. firm, for example, applied for a patent representing an innovation on which the Japanese wanted to capitalize, Japanese firms issued a flurry of patent applications that surrounded the technology at hand. Thus, the original developer or inventor could not market his invention without getting clearance from the Japanese, who could tie up an invention in the courts simply because they held nuisance patents for a component or contributing element to the major patent.

After decades of such tactics, and with China included as a leading culprit, the U.S. government still has failed to install comprehensive, necessary protections to safeguard the toil and genius of the original American patent applicant. As such, our government has unwittingly contributed to the redistribution of billions of dollars in royalties and revenues to others.

– – – – –

We'd love to hear your thoughts about this article. Please take a minute to share them in the comment section by clicking here. Or carry the conversation over on your favorite social network by clicking one of the share buttons below.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Up Next

130 Things for Which to Be Grateful

Don't Miss

Friends: Real and Imagined

Life

Life is Not Perpetually a Piece of Cake For Anyone

Everybody, nearly all the time, is facing an array of problems

Published

2 days ago

September 22, 2022

Jeff Davidson

Everybody, everywhere, nearly all the time has a handful of significant problems. They could be related to relationships, health, career, finances, or unresolved traumas and dramas. Undoubtedly, millions of people are encountering some of the same problems that you are currently facing. Yet, it’s likely that everyone’s problems represent a distinct package – probably no one else, problem-for-problem, confront exactly what you face at any give moment.

Human Encounters

Often we are so steeped in our own problems that we fail to recognize that no one gets to skip along day-after-day without issues and challenges of vital personal concern. Everyone you meet is grappling with something.

The most successful, confident, and healthiest among us might be adept at conveying the image of a relatively problem-free life. Meanwhile, they are concerned about their issues as you are with yours.

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato once said, “Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Sometimes the battles of others are apparent to us; more often, such battles are not. Still they do exist.

Awareness and Balance

If you’ve ever attended a group therapy session, or a gathering where people focus on spirituality or self growth topics, then you know first-hand that others you meet have issues much like yours.

With the above in mind, we can choose to be a bit kinder in our encounters. The driver who cut you off in traffic, or the store clerk who is short with you, are exhibiting manifestations of their problems. Everyone is fighting a battle and some are fighting very hard battles. Our awareness of such allows us to stay better balanced, more empathetic, and ultimately more effective in the world.

– – – – –

Family

Send Boatloads, Not Plane Loads, of Migrants to Eastern Seaboard Sanctuary Cities

Ultra-wealthy liberal communities don’t want to handle an ultra-thin fraction of border-crossing illegal immigrants

Published

1 week ago

September 17, 2022

Jeff Davidson

The Über-Liberals of Martha’s Vineyard got a tiny, tiny taste of what Texas and Arizona endure every hour, of every day, with no end in sight. What a wonderful glimpse for all the world to see: how an ultra-wealthy, sparsely populated island, in a virtual sanctuary state, handled a thin fraction of border-crossing illegal immigrants, yearning to be free! They sent them away in less than a day.

All those yard signs, all that virtue-signaling, and it all added up to what? Gross hypocrisy. Then the blame game started. DeSantis and Abbott… they are simply evil men, using the poor as political pawns. How do we know? The liberal press is blasting out this message via bullhorns.

As any thinking person knows, the blame lies in Washington, DC thanks to the lax administration of Joe Biden, his lackey Kamala Harris, and the super-incompetent Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.

Making the Dollars Go Further

Apparently Governor DeSantis had to pay handsomely to fly the 50 “exploited souls” to Martha’s Vineyard. However, here is a solution for sending even more, at a far lower cost per person. Buy or rent one of the many cruise ship for sale from the cruise companies which have been hit hard over last 30 months and that now seek to reduce some of their inventory.

Personally, having cruised 39 times, and I can tell you that the these big ships can comfortably accommodate between 2500 passengers. The mega-ships can accommodate 4500. For a short trip up the Atlantic coast, doubling and tripling the number of family members in each room would sum to nearly 10,000 on one voyage. From Texas, navigating the Gulf of Mexico, or directly from Florida, heading up the Atlantic Ocean, a ship could reach Massachusetts within three days.

During the time of the voyage, the facilities on board are excellent. There are health clubs, saunas, steam rooms, a running track, and even a swimming pool or two. These guests of Joe Biden, transported by governors, would actually enjoy themselves on the way up, and then, by golly, be rewarded via the largesse that represents the good people of Massachusetts.

Fulfilling Sanctuary Dreams

Governor DeSantis, as well as Governor Abbott, employing cruise ships could then supply all the sanctuary cities along the Atlantic Seaboard with exactly what they’ve been begging for. After all these years, hey, why not make a wonderful delivery to Baltimore, and then Rehoboth Beach, Delaware where the Bidens frequent?

And how about 1,000s of migrants delivered to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Hamptons in Long Island? Don’t forget Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut before proceeding to Newport, Rhode Island, Nantucket, and Boston. For good measure make some deliveries to the resort towns in Maine.

What a marvel to behold, as these self-described caring destinations welcome thousands and thousands of migrants, all at once, and artfully absorb them. Sure, there will be some adjustments; such locales will have to spend big bucks for food, shelter, and clothing for these new arrivals… and then find them longer term homes and jobs. So what if local schools are not equipped with foreign language teachers and curricula so that the new children can get up to snuff? Isn’t that what sanctuary cities are all about?

Just Checking In

Let’s revisit all of these places one year later and see exactly how these welcome guests have feared. How about crime? Have they had run-ins with the law? What about the schools? How about public health? Let’s take a very accurate snapshot of what happens on the day they arrived, versus one year later, two years later, and three years later.

Having people dumped into your community, or your home for that matter, despite liberal virtue-signaling, represents a huge change in how you live, and how they live. It’s humanitarian to help a migrant in need. Thousands of migrants, or tens of thousands of them, all at the same time, dropped into a community is not a humanitarian gesture, it is an attack on your way of life.

As Henry Kissinger famously advised then German chancellor Angela Merkel, helping one person in dire need to come to Germany is a humanitarian gesture. Having great masses come to Germany threatens your culture.

– – – – –