The Folly of the Flag

Post & Courier: Before his June 17, 2015, mass shooting at the Charleston church, Dylann Roof photographed himself waving the Confederate flag as a symbol of his white supremacist beliefs. Roof now awaits execution for killing nine black worshippers.

​PLEASE NOTE: The links to Dr. Tim Ball's site, as well as his article about Ocasio-Cortez, appear to be inaccessible. This may mean that he has shut down his site for repairs, or that links from YayaCanada have been banned. That would be a first for me.

UPDATE: Looks as if Dr. Ball's site is either down for repairs or is perhaps suffering a DoS attack. In the meantime, PJMedia has articles he wrote about Ocasio-Cortez.


The Folly of the Flag

It can turn us into a mindless herd of lemmings.

Oh, wait ... Sorry to have to admit this folks, but even the myth of suicidal lemmings was reportedly created by Disney - which actually proves my point herein, I think.

The following is not really about Dr. Tim Ball, whom I admire greatly, but about something he said, clearly in a state of pique and discouragement, that I feel I can no longer allow to stand without comment.

Anyone with an open mind can't help having huge respect for the views of Dr. Tim Ball. He was one of the first Canadian doubters of the official position on "climate change". I recall him appearing in the earliest videos on that topic over a decade ago, and he has given lectures and appeared in many videos since then. Here's one of his talks (YouTube).

The BBC actually did a video report (YouTube) that included Dr. Ball, but later began to adjust its stance and a CBC Video (YouTube) about that attracted more viewers than the earlier BBC one, whereupon a commenter pithily responded: Climate change is real. It's been going on for millions of years.

Dr. Ball is professor emeritus from his own alma mater the University of Winnipeg, Canada, and he went on to earn his Ph.D. in Geography with a specific focus on historical climatology from Queen Mary University of London in England. (Wikipedia)

There's no doubt in my mind that he knows whereof he speaks. But I was disappointed that he recently chose to belittle US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a mere barmaid who therefore has no right to speak about such weighty matters as "Climate Change".

He was apparently so upset he even spelled her first name incorrectly:

DrTimBall.ca: An Age of Insanity When an Ex-Barmaid Has a National Voice

• It is a disturbing experience to listen to the rambling comments of 30-year old ex-barmaid, Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). As you listen to the ignorance, inaccuracies, and naïve views, you understand why the Founding Fathers limited the age of eligibility for President to 35. The question is why do her views receive so much attention?

I find it hard to believe that Dr. Ball, who is a kind and gentle guy from all appearances, would also appear so elitist. I certainly do think his anger was justified -- because she is a darling of many Dems and therefore has the power of influence -- but not the demeaning way he expressed it.

Why does she receive so much attention? I can tell you why, but first I'd like to emphasize that Ocasio-Cortez is no "mere barmaid" (Wikipedia), nor is she totally ignorant of science (which can be suspected of many other "climate change", band-wagon, proponents these days).

In High School:

• She came in second in the Microbiology category of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with a microbiology research project on the effect of antioxidants on the lifespan of the nematode C. elegans.[19] In a show of appreciation for her efforts, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a small asteroid after her: 23238 Ocasio-Cortez

In University:

• She graduated cum laude from Boston University College of Arts and Sciences with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2011, majoring in international relations and economics.

The reason Ocasio-Cortez receives a lot of attention is that there are probably not many things she doesn't do well. With mixed feelings, I can tell you she reminds me of myself when I was young.

My parents and my sister always accused me of talking too much, but I always won first prize in the public speaking contests in upper high school. In grade school, I was given a part in a radio play, which was very exciting, and my grade six teacher gave me the job of reading the daily book chapter to the class because I could make a story come alive. So, the joke was on my critics, I guess.

I never did things halfway, and it seemed there wasn't any project I undertook that I couldn't excel at in order to earn a living and where I didn't inevitably move upward because I always took on more than was actually mandated in the job description. Having to support myself, and becoming a single mom, was how I came to realize the true extent of my abilities.

I hope this makes some people take heart that life may be difficult, but if you look hard enough you'll see that it also provides you with compensations and skills to survive well. Ocasio-Cortez was no ordinary bartender; she very likely pretty much ran the place to the delight of the owner.

Dr. Ball accuses her of "rambling" and speaking gibberish, but she certainly communicates well with the voters. Meanwhile, Dr. Ball is not being taken as seriously by the CO2 crowd as he ought to be, and that's a shame, because I think he's right and Ocasio-Cortez is wrong.

She seems like everything you'd want in a politician. Intelligent, brave, hard-working, resourceful, educated, democratic to the core, sincerely concerned (from her own past experiences, no doubt) with protecting the interests of "ordinary" Americans. You know, all that good stuff that seasoned politicians talk about at election time, but rarely act upon.

Even GWB said he wanted to "put food on your family". Video (YouTube)

Unfortunately, she also has the same patriotic fervour that I used to feel. I really got sucked in by Pierre Trudeau, for instance, but I've since come to realize that the follower tendency is not inborn (small children are self-centred; Mother Nature makes them that way for their own survival) and we have to be taught to obey.

That's always been used to advantage in the so-called education system. To give their teachers less trouble, the need to be a good citizen is encouraged every day from Kindergarten on.Total flag-waving obedience to recognized authority figures, to God and Country and, in the case of Canada and the UK, to the Monarchy, is consistently drummed into the maleable minds of school kids.

Meanwhile, reading, speaking, and writing have gone seriously downhill.  It seems that psychologists have basically run the education show since Bernays, as they most certainly also do with regard to TV commercials. 

Consequently Ocasio-Cortez has this implanted conviction that one should be prepared to die (and kill, of course) for the good of one's own country.

In my opinion, Jesus of the Bible made a similar mistake himself, in that modern Christians interpret his sacrifice as their duty to fight to the death against "heathens" in other lands in order to honour God and Country and protect their own way of life, which they consider superior to any other.

Ocasio-Cortez has been pre-conditioned to blame CO2 for "Climate Change" by being taught in school to respect Authority. So, for her, if the UN says it's true, it must be true.

Later in life, like myself, her eyes may open as to how she's been duped. With any luck, the conditioning may eventually wear off, and she will see how she was encouraged -- by the education system (and perhaps also by religion) and then reinforced by the "Authorities" she was taught to respect -- to think some very stupid and dangerous things. Unfortunately, by that time a lot of damage may have been done if she achieves too large, and too dangerous a following.

It's a good thing I never ran for Provincial or Federal political office way back when I might have. I was, however, on some municipal committees in my 40's and that certainly helped to open my eyes to dirty politics and how it caters to the rich, not the workers for whom it claims to exist.

Let's hope Ocasio-Cortez clues in also. But, until such time, she remains intelligent, hard-working, well-intentioned, and resourceful, but sadly, as much a product of her country's education (read "indoctrination") system as I was of my own.

I'd like to see Ocasio-Cortez at the age I am now. With any luck she will have become disillusioned and even more outspoken, especially about who really runs the world. Until then, Americans who support her will have to suffer the myth and, if she gains even more power, we all, including the rest of the world may well suffer the fallout.

We're all on this globe together, people. Distance is an illusion, considering the size of the Universe and especially in terms of the speed of nuclear weaponry. It's time we started to try to acknowledge apparent differences and make an effort to work with our many, many similarities.

Below is an American Point of View (make what you will of it). Suffice it for me to say that, in battle, the flag always went before the troops. Psychiatrists would (should) call that a brain-washing trigger symbol.

National Review: Men Literally Died for That Flag, You Idiots

• There are countless such stories of men risking everything, not for the idea of the flag or any abstraction but for the actual piece of fabric itself​

​Related Discussion at PennyForYourThoughts
Pre-Emptive War on China, Russia, India as the ONLY Solution to Climate Change?

Penny is a long-time blogger friend, and it was a comment she made on my previous post - Global Cooling Has Begun - that inspired me to finally write my thoughts about Ocasio-Cortez. Thanks, Penny!