I’m skeptical of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, hypnosis, and other tricks of mental manipulation involving triggers, rythms, repeating phrases, rhymes, etc. But I enjoy watching Derren Brown’s performances because I wonder how much is stage “magic” and how much is mentalist tricks. My guess is, it’s mostly stage magic.
So, when I saw this I thought it was very interesting because it’s somewhat similar to the kind of treatment Brown supposedly uses on his subjects.
On the subject of totalitarian impulses in today’s US, I am moved by the whole Gabby Douglas kerfuffle. As a mid-50s guy who would simply die if I contemplated gymnastics …
When does authoritarianism shift to totalitarianism?
Politically, authoritarianism is a system in which the state asserts its supreme power over a region, then uses that power to dictate rules and behaviors. There are a variety of authoritarianisms, including Stalinism, Maoism, Putinism, Fascism, Kimism, dictatorship, tyranny, aristocracy, monarchy and so forth.
Now that I’ve established a few of the basics of data reliability, and I can see that many of you understand the problem fairly well, I have a couple additional points I’d like to make on a related topic.
(It’s dark and quiet.)
SPOCK: Captain.
(There’s a red jacket draped across a console, with white crystals scattered in and around it.)
KIRK: Just their uniforms left.
(source)
Whenever I encounter someone saying that Texas should secede, I counter that the US should give Texas back to Mexico.
In my previous entry I described the process of front-loading and political engineering in DoD procurements. As I was writing it, I happened to look over at PZ’s blog and saw there was discussion of Ray Kurtzweil… So I thought I’d maybe Kurtzweil a bit about the DoD.
Conservatives will tell you they favor small government, reduced taxes, and traditional social values. Oddly, in the US today, that somehow translates into “there is no amount of money that is too large to spend on the military.” We’re treated to a constant barrage of pleas for financial assistance from the pentagon, particularly, and its bootlickers, in general, in spite of the pentagon’s claiming it doesn’t have any way to tell where the money is going. Basically, the taxpayers are pouring money into a bucket that has the bottom knocked out, and the crooks holding the bucket keep shouting “It’s EMPTY! Pour FASTER!”
This staggers my brain and leaves me flailing around for words. 1% of the population of the planet are refugees.
The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government.