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There was a young, charismatic candidate contending for leadership of a North American country who campaigned under the slogan of Hope-and-Change. At the time, the country was (mildly) flourishing, but the establishment was corrupt due to lack of proper checks-and-balances. As the old saying goes, the fox was guarding the hen house. Shady political, banking, and business cronyism lined the pockets of the very rich, shrunk the middle class, and did little to reduce poverty. For the sake of humanity, positive change was needed. After the anticipated savior came to power he made an over-arching declaration that rich people (except his backers) were evil and their wealth should be redistributed—classic have versus have-not strategy used by Marxists worldwide. He gained control of the media by sheer force of personality (1). The media willingly and eagerly abdicated their journalistic responsibility to be included in the inner circle; to be celebrities. They adopted, supported, and promoted the leader’s agenda. He and his cronies, aided and abetted by the media, also hinted that opposition parties were agents of malevolence, and those who believed in God were flawed intellectually. Paradoxically, the pop culture masses believed in magic, Satan, voodoo, zombies, and vampires. Further, inanimate guns (not people) were pronounced as evil, and therefore, targeted to be removed from the populace (2). (1) I recently listened to a sound bite that condensed three and a half hours of CNN coverage by Wolf Blitzer in 2006. The polls showed George Bush at his lowest approval rating of 36 percent. Blitzer announced over-and-over with great excitement, “President Bush has reached rock bottom.” ABC, CBS, and NBC also thought the event was a watershed moment. Similarly on October 9, 2013 Barrack Obama’s approval was quietly announced at 37 percent by the same poll. (cricket sounds) Not a peep except one buried AP story. (2) My October 1, 2013 article “Change It or Fix It” highlighted that the number of murders per 100,000 people in the US (according to the FBI) was 4.7, highest of the top six developed nations. The other five were 1.2 or lower. Here are statistics (January 12, 2013) from the World Health Organization (WHO) for NATIONS WHERE GUNS ARE BANNED!!! The South American front runner is Honduras at 91.6 with all others above 20.0. (Also verified by Alex Trebek on JEOPARDY October 9, 2013,) As an aside, I’ve personally witnessed shootouts in the streets of Columbia. How about some fun-in-the-sun tourist spots? Jamaica: 52.2; US Virgin Islands: 39.2; Bahamas: 27.4; Puerto Rico: 26.2; Bermuda: 12.3, etc. Surely after Mandela came to power South Africa became a wonderful example of gun control, right? Nope; guns are controlled by strict licensing laws, but the murder rate is 31.8. Remember Olympic blade runner Oscar Pistorius shooting his girlfriend? It turns out that accidental shootings of wives and girlfriends is practically an epidemic in that country. Hmmm... The WHO disagrees with the FBI rate for the US shown above. They put us at a bit lower at 4.2 proving at least statistically that banning guns is not “the” solution. The problem is that anti-gun advocates are not interested in statistics that do not back their cause-du-jour preferring instead to rely on tribal knowledge. Yes sir, sports fans, ignorance and superstition trumps science and virtue with that crowd. There’s more. The gun control advocates clamor for new laws yet do not hold the Feds accountable for enforcing laws on the books. From a senate committee hearing: Of the last 48,321 felons who have illegally purchased guns, only 44 have been prosecuted. The DOJ cites lack of resources. Still the government has plenty of resources to tell people to stop looking at Mount Rushmore during a government shutdown. Back to our intrepid leader: As a result of the leader’s socialistic policies, unemployment skyrocketed; the middle class shrank further; and the poor were worse off becoming completely dependent on government for a handout. The leader blamed all social problems on the previous administration years after he took office. This even though he promised immediate change that would result in the hope the people bestowed in him. The media promoted his message that anything wrong was the fault of someone else. Harry Truman’s iconic CEO slogan of The-Buck-Stops-Here was ignored or considered archaic and simplistic. Taxation increased dramatically and quality-of-life suffered. Free enterprise and productivity plunged, dragging the economy to new lows. While the foregoing scenario might portray the United States of today, the leader referenced is not Barrack Obama. The leader I write of is the original candidate who coined the phrase, Hope-and-Change, Fidel Castro. This is not new knowledge and is common to anyone willing to do a few minutes of research; however, the media and 50-percent of the population will deny, deny, deny, thereby demonstrating the human condition of “learned ignorance”. That is, throughout history mankind has intentionally ignored facts that do not support their particular agenda choosing intentionally to be ignorant. Example: Polar bear populations have increased over the past 12 years. According to the group Polar Bear Science, from 2001 to 2013 the population increased by 2,650 to 5,700 bears. Further long-term growth has increased from about 5,000 in the 1960s to more than 25,000 today. You never read or hear that in the media do you? And don’t even get me started about hydraulic fracturing (fracking). That’s material for another essay. More facts versus tribal knowledge… Me, I have no agenda. I believe that 90-plus percent of all politicians from both sides of the aisle are self-serving crooks. However, one side harbors the two biggest racists in the US, namely, Louis Farrakhan and Reverend (of what?) Al Sharpton. Apparently Farrakhan’s knowledge of Islam is lacking because within that religion there is no such thing as race; only the faithful and infidels. When I lived in Saudi Arabia the media there went to great pains to report the Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam was NOT a part of Islam. Sharpton, on the other hand, got blood on his hands by jacking-up a crowd to attack a Jewish business owner. He suggested a white guy must not be allowed to operate in Harlem. As I recall, about nine died in an arson-type fire, all either black or Latin. Nevertheless my scientific education and innate curiosity compels me to live by facts and statistics-and-probability. People like me are considered nerds and irrelevant by the too-cool-for-school, pop culture masses. We are in the main, ignored. I’ve noticed that when confronted by irrefutable facts the cool crowd resorts to name-calling and/or suggestions the messenger is crazy. Comedy Central cool dude, Jon Stewart, is such a person. I can see it now. Stewart leans toward the camera with a sly smile, “Psst, Myers is naked from the waist down and probably drunk.” Laughter ensues from his sycophants who later repeat the joke as fact. To save myself the pain of that experience, I’ll just fade into the background with pinball and pocket-pool. BTW, there is no truth to the rumor that I lost my fantasy football team because I wouldn’t build a new stadium. This is Gene Myers twerking off for now.
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charismatic candidate, media, guns, Castro, learned ignorance, Farrakhan, Sharpton,
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