The Denial Of Death, Earnst Becker

 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/06/books/reading-and-writing-life-before-death.html

Like the NY Times reviewer, this was the 2nd time through the book for me, with the other being long ago. The book was published in 1973 when it was still permissible to claim homosexuality, gender dysphoria, coprophilia, pedophilia, and necrophilia as "perversions" rather than "identity".  Even in 1982, when the review was done, such a book was allowed to be published and used in college classes, as it was in my philosophy class.  Surprisingly,  it is still available on Kindle, and even hardcover on Amazon if you are willing to part with $621! How long before it is banned?

Becker knows that the problem of life is death, thus the necessity of  the  "causa-sui" (self caused) project. Most people try to deny death by distraction with work, pleasure, drugs, other nostrums and addictions. Some choose art or beauty. Page 33, "The ultimate horror for Swift was the fact that the sublime, the beautiful, and the divine are inextricable from basic animal functions."  

in one of Swift's poems, a man in love with a beautiful woman laments: 

No wonder how I lost my wits; 

Oh! Caelia, Caelia, Caelia shits!

Another common way of putting this regular reminder that we are physical beings with ugly smelly bodily functions is as Montaigne put it; "On the highest throne in the world, man sits on his ass". 

Mr. Becker asks us to be, or to try to be, heroic, and while this is a large order, it can be argued that we are constitutionally pointed in that direction. Also, it would seem that life is hardly worth all the anxiety, the frustration and the inevitable humiliation unless there is a hope of glory. Our movement toward glory may be a response to what Mr. Becker calls the "suction of infinity",  which I take to be a rather sophisticated substitute for the traditional notion of heaven.

So, somehow we need to deal with this most truly existential of problems.  Kierkegaard followed the Augustinian/Lutheran tradition said that education is facing up to this fact. Luther said, "I say die - taste death as though it were present". 

Becker is writing a secular supposedly "scientific" work, so he can't quote the bible, and I can: 

Romans 6:4-9:

6 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

"Science" denies the possibility of the metaphysical, which is why the book is a history of at best partial attempts to supposedly "deny" the stark fact of death. 

On 151, Becker says; "As philosophers have long noted, it is as though the heart of nature is pulsating in it's own joyful self-expansion". Indeed, J. Scott Turner has written a marvelous book on the reality of "nature pulsating in it's own joyful self-expansion" -- it is better known as LIFE! 

On page 198, we see Beckers summary of Kierkegaard's conclusion: "If neurosis is sin and not disease, than the only thing that can "cure" it is a world-view, some kind of affirmative collective ideology in which the person can perform the living drama of his acceptance as a creature". 

To put it more simply, we are BOTH saints(spiritual beings) and sinners (material beings). What we seek is transcendence -- once provided in the west by having and practicing Christian faith. Now tragically attempted by worshiping false gods of material possessions, wealth, political "wokeness", academic degrees, "science". etc 

On 215, we see; "A constant danger in science is that each gain risks abandoning ground that was once securely annexed. Nowhere is this more true than in the "role theories" of mental illness threaten to abandon the Freudian formulation based on bodily facts". 

"Bodily facts" = materialism. The assertion that everything, including us, is ONLY "stuff", the only thing to worship is the idea of "progress" -- it is getting "better" every day until ultimately the sun becomes a red giant and the earth becomes a cinder, or somehow we move to space and only cease to exist when the universe cools to absolute zero, or compresses to a mathematical point in the "big crunch". I have faith that if/when one of those things happen, I'll have no less time in heaven than the day I died. 

On 25, he paraphrases Kierkegaard and states; "faith is the hardest thing; he placed himself between belief and faith, unable to make the jump. The jump doesn't depend on man at all - there's the rub; faith is a matter of grace." 

Luther would agree. It is a GIFT from God through the fully human and fully God person of Jesus. 

For non-Christians, the book will ultimately be a disappointment. It is impossible for a human to succeed on their own to deny the fact of death. They can CLAIM that they are OK, but even in the case of Freud that results are bad -- irrational phobias, rage, mental illness,  addictions, etc  

The last sentence of this causa-sui(the search for immortality) project for a secularist is: "The most that any of us can seem to do is to fashion something - an object or ourselves and drop it into the confusion, make an offering of it, so to speak. to the life force". 

Order or chaos, God or the Devil. Choose you this day whom you will serve! It is the ultimate eternal "choice". 

Shapiro On "Unity"

 https://www.dailywire.com/news/shapiro-bidens-call-for-unity-means-shut-up-conservatives

My short answer to Biden's calls for "healing" is that he really means HEEL! 

If conservatives and Christians just roll over and celebrate abortion, transgender, gay "marriage", losing freedom of religion, destruction of the family, BLM, speech restrictions, loss of freedom of association, loss of the right to bear arms, ever expanding government, fake "elections", and one party rule -- then we will have "unity". At least for those that are not in the Gulag or dead. 

Ben's take ...

No, “unity” in the Biden formulation isn’t a recognition of what we have in common; it’s a demand that we silence ourselves in order to mirror Biden’s priorities. Unity, you see, can be achieved one of two ways: through recognition of the other, through a determination to understand those who think differently than we do; or through ideological domination. It’s rather obvious which pathway Democrats will choose. After all, social ostracization is one of their most powerful tools. Why disarm now?

So what is it that we have "in common? We breathe and bleed? 

When one tribe has lost respect for life, liberty and the pursuit of meaning (which requires a higher power that has created a purposeful universe), then what do we "agree" on outside of basic biological functions? 

Are we ONLY animals, "red in tooth and claw"? 

Horowitz Article

 https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/fighting-words-by-david-horowitz.php

Little longish, well worth it ... pretty much 100% my thinking. Replacing "liberal" when referring to the left with "Fascist" or "Totalitarian" is important. 

Alito Federalist Speech

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/justice-alito-tells-it-like-it-is.php

A great speech ... worth your time. 

Covid Corona Great Barrington Declaration

If you want to know about lockdowns, stated by experts, here you go (short). 

If you want to spend quite a bit of time learning about viruses in general, and Covid/Corona in particular, the video  is good. The short answer is "it's the flu, and we don't know why the world went crazy." 

Naturally, even though the guy speaking ( Dr Sucharit Bhakdi) has great credentials and awards, the world wide media elite has decided his motivation is "money/fame" for spreading "lies". So a 77 year old that has WAY more marbles ih his head than Joe Biden, suddenly decides to cancel his reputation and career for a few bucks? 

I had a nice conversation with a local plumber/sewer guy the other day about a county sewer inspector that had finally been encouraged to "move on" after a lot of complaints. He said she really knew the rules and wanted them applied 100% in all cases -- no grace. She asked him at one point: "Why do you care? You make even more money when the rules say you need a more expensive system?" 

He didn't answer her, but the answer was that he knows people are not made of money, and they can't afford $15K vs $6K ... he wants to put in what they have space for and WILL work ... he lives here, and he wants BOTH clean water and decent people that don't get pushed out because of ever increasing regulation. 

So you ask, what does this have to do with Corona? The answer is, "follow the money". When bureaucratic power rules, there is no concern for "collateral damage". Money and power become the only concerns. 

If you read this blog, you already know that my guess at the answers are: 

1. A global "Davos elite" that combines, global corporations, global media, the UN, bureaucratic "woke" governments, universities, legal systems etc decided to "not waste an opportunity". 
2. This power structure speaks with one voice, and it's prime objective is power/control. 
3. The global health power structure (WHO) huge biotech corporations, etc saw an specific opportunity to flex their muscles ... think "military industrial complex", OPEC, the EU, Climate Change, etc.  Not to mention no doubt billions of dollars being made by people "in the know". Is this a "conspiracy"? No more than a stock market bubble or "fad" is a "conspiracy". 
   
4. Of course, Trump ... he is a threat to those global structures. Why he has not met a bad "accident" is one of the worlds great mysteries in my mind. They didn't want a martyr ? 

Covid Denial Fake News

https://www.wired.com/story/are-covid-patients-gasping-it-isnt-real-as-they-die/

One of the MANY things I find disconcerting about our time is the tendency to turn every disagreement into a strawman argument. 

Statement: "I think the response to Covid is excessive and damaging". 

Response:  "Oh, you are a crazy Covid DENIER!

As tribalism increases, this sort of strawman is more common, especially for Covid. 

The summary of the linked is that a nurse dealt with many patients gasping for breath and saying "it isn't real", "I thought this was a hoax" sort of things as they die. The MSM has widely spread this as part of the "tragedy" of Covid denial -- even Slate, not "right wing" in any sense, observes that this sort of thing is why media trust becoming non existent. 

I can imagine it is somewhat common for dying patients to say all sorts of things similar to this -- "I never believed this would happen to me", "I was so certain I'd beat this cancer", "I had faith the Lord would cure me", etc, etc, and often not very coherent for reasons I would think all would understand -- drugs, pain, extreme weakness ... I've never died and only have a sample of two that went peacefully under plenty of medication without gasping for breath. 

The best we can hope for is fairly quick with minimal pain and panic -- trying to make it worse than it is has very little benefit. If the news spent half the time on the tragedy of a young person dying in a car accident, maybe their screams as responders tried to cut their broken body from a mangled vehicle, interviewing the bereaved family, etc, hopefully we would just shut off the news, steel our level of denial, etc. No matter how careful you are, it CAN happen to you, just like Covid. 

I doubt there are any lung damaging conditions that make dying from essentially slow asphyxiation much fun -- lung cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, CPD ...

Why can't we get along? One reason is tribalism. It is prevalent in our time and pretty much all of us are guilty because "tit for tat" is a natural tendency. Pro-lifers often say "you must want to kill babies", which is equivalent to saying to a smoker "you must want to get cancer", or someone overweight "you must want to die of a heart attack". All have elements of truth, but such a statement is not going to help anything. 

We are not going to fix human nature, but understanding it and tribalism may help us be a tiny bit more civil. 

Super Covid Thanksgiving Memes - Power Line

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/the-week-in-pictures-colonialism-protest-meal-edition.php

So good it must be saved.

Do Masks Work?

 https://spectator.us/landmark-danish-study-shows-face-masks-significant-effect/?utm_source=Spectator+USA+Email+Signup&utm_campaign=fa378186a4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_8_31_2020_19_27_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_edf2ae2373-fa378186a4-154689905&mc_cid=fa378186a4&mc_eid=43b2a02730

It has long been shown they have very little protection for YOU. 

In the end, there was no statistically significant difference between those who wore masks and those who did not when it came to being infected by COVID-19. Of those wearing masks, 1.8 percent caught COVID, compared to 2.1 percent of the control group. As a result, it seems that any effect masks have on preventing the spread of the disease in the community is small.

However, I fault the article for not saying anything about masks protecting OTHERS.  

Thus, one needs to look at the Rt rate, which is rate that the virus is spreading. You can do your own analysis quite easily ... the easy answer is that most of the states with mask mandates have WORSE Rt measures than those without. This is especially interesting for states like Minnesota that have larger cities. It seems that Iowa and Minnesota would be good comparisons due to relative population density -- perhaps one can throw out states like South Dakota with low density, which obviously helps slow spread.

So why is MN worse than Iowa?  

For some more detailed analysis, see this. 

The bottom line is that at least mask MANDATES don't seem to be effective. Naturally you can find "studies" that are all over the board. My experience is that the Minnesota people are being very compliant with wearing the masks. If they work to prevent the spread, they ought to work in Minnesota! 

Corona Forever At Home

Think that just because you have had Corona and recovered you are immune? 

Not according to the CDC -- you have to read down a bit under this link, it is the 3rd + after "transmission": 

CDC is aware of recent reports indicating that persons who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 can be re-infected. These reports can understandably cause concern. The immune response, including duration of immunity, to SARS-CoV-2 infection is not yet understood. Based on what we know from other viruses, including common human coronaviruses, some reinfections are expected. Ongoing COVID-19 studies will help establish the frequency and severity of reinfection and who might be at higher risk for reinfection. At this time, whether you have had COVID-19 or not, the best ways to prevent infection are to wear a mask in public places, stay at least 6 feet away from other people, frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and avoid crowds and confined spaces.

Therefore, if you have faith in the CDC, we are on perpetual masking and social isolation.  

So how far are Corona mandates going? In Pennsylvania they are going into your home.  

Masks are now required indoors wherever people from different households are gathered — even if they are physically distant, the state health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said Tuesday. The order applies to every indoor facility, including in private homes, but Levine acknowledged that officials are relying on voluntary compliance rather than on enforcement.

"Voluntary compliance" ... so far. In an increasing totalitarian state, the "experts" ideas are just so good they have to be made mandatory -- naturally for your own good! 

In Minnesota, the "Time to HEEL" includes ratting your neighbors out.  

Minneapolis encourages people to reach out to the non-emergency 311 line if they see questionable social distancing.

I know this is hard to remember now, but the old country called "America" was "the land of the free and the home of the brave"! We now live in a fascist state, "Wokeistan". Even gere in Emmetsburg Iowa, the sheriff showed up and prevented a land sale at a large facility with lots of room. 

The fact that number of cases is what is most reported (nearly exclusively) tells us there is an agenda. An honest scientist / statistician would report the rate of deaths if/when you get Corona. It is a very infectious virus, so the vast majority of us will get it. Of course 100% of us will die of something, and our chances of death rise dramatically by age. Sometimes in panic, we forget the obvious. 

Amazingly, finding death rate by age is quite hard. I wasted a lot of time this AM on what in a rational non-paniced nation would be the chief reported number. Here is data on that from this source: 

Some believe that the shift in infections from old to young is the primary explanation for the drop in mortality. A recent medRxiv preprint concluded that the relationship between infection fatality rate and age may be exponential. The researchers found that the age-specific infection fatality rate was extremely low among children and young adults, measuring 0.002% at age 10 and 0.1% at 25. However, the rate progressively increased with age, growing from 0.4% at 55 to around 15% at 85.

 As rational people know, it is a Henny Youngman world: "How is your wife? ... Compared to what"? Data without comparison / context IS useless ... "I lost 50 lbs", GREAT news for me. Very bad news for a 100lb woman. 

So let's compare the Corona death rate to flu: 

So at 50 to 64 years (a range I'm strangely interested in), the death rate for flu is 10.6 according to this chart, compared to previous Corona chart rate of .4 at 55. Yes, I wish the granularity was better, and I'm sure the rate goes up as one gets closer to 65, but it seems an interesting data point. 

 I find that suspiciously high, I understand that if you go 65+ with no upper bound, of course it is 100%, it would be for ANY disease or injury ... say a stubbed toe. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics! That does not mean they are "useless" it just means that like driving, you must pay attention! 

So let's look at more data. Here is flu 2010-2011: 

In my similarly age group of interest 50-64, we are looking at 10.1, which again seems really high to me ... however, I might not be completely objective here for some strange reason!

So I'm neither a doctor or a statistician, so NOT an "expert" (eg always certain, frequently wrong). My conclusions: 

1. Unless you are quite old and/or have an underlying condition, Corona is a pretty mild flu. 
2. The reporting on Corona is absolutely tragic. "Cases" is useless metric, even if you accept the accuracy of the various tests (which very suspect.  For the fast tests, flipping a coin seems to be close to the same accuracy. 
3. The collateral damage from Corona is "large" in deaths, not just economics. 
4. Panic and fear cause a LOT of bad things. 
1. People rushing to the doctor because they are scared (who could blame them given the media/government reporting/reaction-- and the hospital is a dangerous place.  
2. Health workers being uselessly quarantined -- don't treat at risk patients for "some time" after a diagnosis, otherwise if you feel well, you ARE well. As indicated above, the CDC says you are not "safe" even after you had it! Not that I believe the CDC, but many do
3. Families, friends, communities being separated both physically and because of different views. We NEED to gather, for this level of risk, the "cure" is more damaging than the virus. 
4. Panic causing worse symptoms -- as a panic attack sufferer, I can testify that panic is not conducive to breathing. 

I could ramble on of course. I would like to think that the panic was caused because a lot of old people died very quickly, and it tore through nursing homes at an alarming rate. For little things like death, people tend to personalize and project. "A plane crash killed a lot of people, therefore it is dangerous for me to fly". 

Like a stock market bubble (or crash), people quickly lapse into mania, "I've got to get IN right now no matter how expensive it is! Followed by "I've got to get OUT right now to stop my losses!" 

While I sincerely hope that these very human reasons are the cause of the panic, the timing is at best concerning relative to politics and mass control.  

For practicing Christians, at least the Confessional sort, we are admonished to not follow the crowd, but rather step back and attempt to take an eternal perspective. We are eternally free, no matter how totalitarian the state becomes. (John 8) 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Our time here is short, and we have faith that to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If you are a practicing even 90 year old Christian, fear not! Enjoy the holidays with the family as much as you can, and judge not. If this life is all one has, adherence to what is currently proffered as "undeniable science" belief in that is one of the main "virtues" one has. In that case, then fear, masks, isolation, etc are very understandable. Show grace, be gentle in stating your views. 

One of my current prayers is that more people will realize that our (or our government, "experts") to "control" anything, including our next breath is an illusion. You WILL believe in something -- choose wisely!

 

Three Whiskey, An Eye For An Eye

 https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/11/podcast-the-three-whisky-happy-hour-milk-the-trump-dividend.php

I generally love this podcast, and think this one is especially worthy. The bottom line (even though they don't say it this way) is that we are back to Old Testament morality (and worse) in our culture. Republicans tend to be very leery of dealing with Democrats - and the Deep State/MSM, why be repetitive? Republicans tend to want to be "country club civil" and at least have the patina of "consistency", morality, and such -- the sort of thing that enlightenment, Constitutional, traditional, and other now defunct principles used to be respected by a large majority of Americans. 

We don't live there anymore. 

What is a Christian to do? I'm really not sure -- I think each case needs to be evaluated prayerfully. I covered some of this here.