DIY: staying sane in crazy times

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle

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With reports of war, aggressive actions, tyranny, children in distress and increasing violence of all sorts multiplying exponentially, it's time for some psychological self-preservation.  One could just turn off the TV and radio and stop reading, or at least tune out the news, but that seems somewhat self-defeating. And, considering the current state of the world, it may be dangerous not to have some warning.

Another possibility for self-preservation is humor, particularly satire.  Dr. George Simon, psychologist and responder to Ask the Psychologist, writes "Satire [is] Snideness that Satisfies."

To me Jon Stewart's presentations of the news in The Daily Show feel like fresh air in the way he cuts through the feldergarb.

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Jon Stewart, Let's Buy CNN Kickstarter, The Daily Show

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Stephen Colbert's presentations in the Colbert Report are similar to Jon's but more clearly satiric, in that you're often not quite sure whether he's being serious or sarcastic.

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Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report

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Other resources for satire are The Onion, The Daily Currant, and National Report.

If you feel you must act out, here are "Fourteen Insane Ways to Stay Sane During These Crazy Times." Be warned: doing any of these things will probably get a reaction, maybe adverse.

-- Marge

DIY: just do it yourself, America

Will it take a revolution to fix Washington?  According to this article in American Thinker, titled "Time for a New American Revolution?," revolution is an American right.  It begins,

The United States of America was born in revolution. The Declaration of Independence asserted that people have a right of revolution. According to The Declaration, "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [such as "life," "liberty," "the pursuit of happiness," and "the consent of the governed"], it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Now seems the perfect time to start a revolution -- while the government is out of commission, sort of. Unfortunately the military is still being paid (it looks like Obama was prepaing for the shutdown), so there will be a fight.  State militias are still in operation, too.

We certainly have the gunpower for a revolution, do we have the will? Organization is pretty important, too. Where is Che when you need him?
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Che Guevara, Wikipedia

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Is the NSA still listening? According to Forbes, nope:

Given that the government shutdown makes an exception for “national security,” some employees of the National Security Agency may have been surprised Tuesday to get a letter telling them their jobs don’t fall under that category.

Seems right and left government hands are out-of-synch.  Perfect.

OK, where do we start? Here's a how-to from wikiHow.  First step is know your goal:

Know your Goal. You are about to dedicate your life to this goal. Decide well and make your decision from the heart. A good question to ask yourself is, “What about the political system in which I live do I think is wrong? And what kind of system do I want to create for the people of my country?” Remember, the goal you chose is the Heart of your revolution.

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How to Start a Revolution, wikiHow

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One short-sighted idea is as good as another, eh?

--Marge

Truthiness and the art of Stephen Colbert

Last week Stephen Colbert reported in his "Who's Honoring Me Now?"(August 9, 2012) segment of the Colbert Report that a study reported in the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review verified his concept of  "truthiness."  The researchers, scientists from Canada and New Zealand, said about their work:

"We wanted to examine how the kinds of photos people see every day — the ones that decorate newspaper or TV headlines, for example — might produce ‘truthiness,’” the lead researcher, Eryn J. Newman of Victoria University of Wellington, explained. “We were really surprised by what we found."

You can read about their project and findings in the article -- Cognitive researchers find truth in Colbert’s ‘truthiness’ -- by Eric W. Dolan at the Raw Story.

Stephen Colbert

Political satirist Stephen Colbert can sometimes be hard to watch -- he does his satire very well.  Truthiness was the subject of a segment called "The Word," presented during the pilot episode of his weekly program.  You can view that episode on his site Colbert Nation.
Since that initial broadcast the word "truthiness" has gained a foothold in the English language:

Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2006:

1. truthiness (noun)
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)

2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)

And it has been analyzed in the NY Times by Ben Zimmer in his column "On Language."

Not bad for an improv comedian from South Carolina.

-- Marge

Some sharp humor

Being in the mood for some humor I went trolling for political cartoons.  Here are some I found.

RJ Matson in the 99% category:

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David Fitzsimmons: 

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Daryl Cagle: "Newspaper Shakeup Down Under"

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Mark Fiore on YouTube, "Either Way" (he also has a blog with animated cartoons):

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Hope you enjoyed this little foray into political humor.

-- Marge