Once more, it’s time to get caught up on my videos.

Ambition level seems to have dropped lately, and I am going to try to fix that. Towards that aim, I am writing my blog entry before supper again, and I hope to make this my new pattern,

That way, I have all evening free for the daily video.

I had been doing everything in the evening, which meant I ended up doing the video at around 10. That tended to make me panicky about posting the thing before midnight, and that led to highly counterproductive hastiness.

And it’s not like doing nothing all afternoon is particularly fun.

OK, videos, in the order of their creation.

I have shared that theory (well, two theories, sort of) of why we humans love celebrity gossip before, but not, as far as I can recall, in video form.

I think the “fascination with the alphas” is a larger factor than the “lack of neighbors” one. I think it plays a large role in the social value of information, period. The more important (in others words, the higher status) the players, the higher value the information accrues, regardless of content.

Most people would be a lot more interested in hearing about the mayor’s affair than the dogcatcher’s.

The other variable is salaciousness. This seems to rely on shock and/or titillation value. Our social instincts give us a thrill when we learn social information, and that thrill can be enhanced or even multiplied by the contents giving us another kind of thrill, like a sexual thrill or something for us to tut-tut about and thus reassure ourselves and our peers that we are normal and have the normal emotional responses to things.

This other variable can overcome the social status factor if it is high enough. People might not care about the dogcatcher’s affair…. until they hear his lover was one of his dogs.

Celebrities fill this role so well because they are very clearly socially dominant, yet there is absolutely no chance that gossiping about them will have any social consequences to us. They are not actually connected to our lives. That’s why people are so willing to ignore their humanity. They’re so much higher status than us that, for a lot of people, it is impossible to imagine them being hurt by things like paparazzi or TMZ.

It is very hard for humans to care about the feelings of those we envy.

Next up, we have this juicy subject :

That video may or may not have been inspired by recent events, but the subject has been on my mind for over a decade. The rampant childishness and blatant counter-populism of modern conservatism only exists due to a clear lack of competent or even interested opposition. The right has only been able to drag things so far in their direction because the left is a bunch of squabbling, diffident cowards who are only liberal in the Team B sense, and when it comes time to have courage, resolve, and the ability to make tough decisions, they are nowhere to be found.

Hence, herd mentality sets in. That is what happens when there is no strong leadership. When everyone is following the herd and trying to fit in, the movement turns into something as fickle and insubstantial as the wind.

The irony and tragedy of our times is that courage and resolve are found almost exclusively in the hands of the people who represent the side of stupidity, cruelty, and moral devolution.

Clearly, this has to stop. The world needs liberals capable of not just passively resisting the ethical imbeciles of the right, but disciplining them like the spoiled children they are. Liberals who are not so afraid of seeming aggressive or mean that they are incapable of dealing damage to the enemy.

Liberals who can hit hard and just keep punching.

To do this, one must separate from the herd. Do things they might not like. Risk scaring them. And that might happen. The true liberals may be viewed by the mainstream left as “too aggressive” and too “strident”.

But if you stay true to your ideals and firm in your commitment to the fight, they will get over their fear and begin to follow you. People need leadership, even liberals, and a strong enough leader will gain followers from the disenfranchised and the disillusioned on the left.

Then there’s my most recent video :

Clearly, I have politics on the mind lately.

This y axis business is another thing I have been pondering for a long time. This whole notion of left versus right is ridiculous on the face of it. It’s practically useless as a political measure. I’m mostly left wing, and yet I don’t feel I have any commonality with the science deniers who decry the evils of modern medicine and talk about things being “unnatural” with absolutely no basis for comparison.

A modern city is no more “unnatural” than a beehive or a beaver dam.

That;s why my Y axis is science. I have long thought that I might very well have more in common with moderate conservatives than radical hippie dippy lefties, and adding a “belief in science” axis might clarify that. It could be that there are moderate, sensible conservatives who actually do believe in science and therefore would align with me on many subjects better than the loonies on the left, whom I view as being as irrational and unsuitable for leadership as any bible thumper.

We can disagree on a lot of things, but if you do not believe science produces truth and doctors heal people, then I don’t want to associate with you. It is too fundamental a disagreement. My world view is entirely scientific, for as far as science goes (it sure as hell doesn’t cover everything), and I view people who don’t trust scientists as people who have an instinctual sense that anything representing objective truth might reveal the inherent ridiculousness of their beliefs, and they would rather choose the easy way out and shoot the messenger.

My, I’m feeling strident and aggressive today!

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.