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DE's avatar

"It’s as if the communist left has a wall inside their mind that separates the impact of their beliefs on physical reality."

How else could they survive being failures at absolutely everything? Discard results as sensational outgroup propaganda and huddle safely with the rest of the pure-hearted flock.

Thanks, again, Brandon.

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jesse porter's avatar

We have forgotten, or more likely never learned from, the observations that Lord Acton wrote about a century and a half ago about the nature of power. Power tends to corrupt. Not that it always does, but it tends to. Thinking deeply about a catchy phrase like that, we can test it, and if it stands up to testing, we could look further into it. One thing appears to be true; those who have been entrusted with power over others seem to be very likely to be corrupt. We might then ask, why is that?

In the first place, those who are best able to test things in a reliable way are trained investigators, scientists. Now, rigorous testing costs time and effort, and someone has to decide when and where funding is to directed, and what, in the end, gets published. A certain amount of power is required to assure that the funds given or taken from others is used effectively. In turn, the donors, willing or not, will exert a certain amount of power in how those funds are disbursed. So, when we consider whether or not power tends to corrupt, an amount of potentially corrupting power is exerted on the studies, not the least of which is applied by the person or persons directing the tests. And, if power does corrupt, it could end up blocking the studies. And other people who exert power over others would likely take an interest in the proceedings.

We might even consider whether Lord Acton had a corrupt motive for making the original observation. Like many human activities, it all take the shape of "Round and round the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel." But, it is also true of human activity that some take very seriously the search for truth. Sometime, eventually, someone with the abilities to do so, will address the issue thoroughly and honestly. In the approximately six to eight thousand years of recorded history many have taken note of the harm that has been done by corrupt application of power. One would think that the question would come up.

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