EPIGENETICS

the whole notion of the powerful effects of epigenetics over genetics in the development of personality is going to be treated unkindly by history. it is promulgated mostly by people who believe they are self-made successes who will go to heaven when they die. 
of course we change our behaviors as we accumulate experience, otherwise why have a memory? but that is very much a second-level effect, and even the ability to change is limited by our genetic inheritance. when you remove the sentimental free-will bias toward life forms that life forms seem to get trapped in it becomes chemistry, and when you look in there it becomes mechanics, and that is no longer a suitable place for hopes and dreams — but it is a great place to learn something.

ASTRONOMY FOR KENYON

it is all well to study the relative motions of heavenly bodies, to learn some of their names, learn some of the history we have deduced from observation of how the cosmos has come to manifest itself in ways we can see and appreciate today, and i can help you do that. but to me the most important thing to learn from studying astronomy is the vast scale and incredible inhospitableness of the powerful forces arrayed in the universe against any notion of life, forces which are embedded in an equally inhospitable void of unimaginable dimensions, contrasted with the incredibly small habitable dots of safety for life, like the one we call earth; and worse, the wilful sacrifice of parts of this tiny arena of safety in a hostile cosmos by some humans who are engaged in making portions of it equally inhospitable to life by their own greed, ignorance and vicious disregard of others that they somehow perceive to be, even if only slightly, different and less important than themselves. 

if you can hold somehow in your head a map of the scale and size and overwhelming power of things in the cosmos, both (largely) empty space and the deadly convulsive radioactive clots of matter it contains, and never forget how vanishingly brief the role of living things is or how vanishingly small the percentage of the whole cosmos is that is safe for life to inhabit, maybe you will help find better ways for us here on earth to relate to our home and the others we share it with who, seen from any distance, are exactly the same as us.
h

OUT IN THE SUN

out in the sun
melting the frost
the grasshopper
is moving slow

THESE SHOES ARE MINE

these shoes are mine
these boots are mine
this cabin
these thoughts.
there is a simple world
before and beyond 
the great world of woe.

ENDS AND MEANS

the old end justifies the means argument rests on the assumption that neither one is fictional.  in reality the means are everpresent and ruefully if not brutally real while the ends never arrive, but are always just one more action away, retreating apace as the troops advance, like the mirage they are.

DISTINCTIONS

there are important distinctions that people need to make during life if common pitfalls are to be avoided. one is the distinction between getting along with others, which is laudable, and going along with others, which is problematic. 
another distinction, difficult for many people, is between blame and responsibility, both our judgement of others and subsequent reaction to them, and our understanding and judgement of ourselves. you are not to blame for being you. believe me, you did not design yourself, not even in some pretty trivial ways. but ultimately, you are responsible for your actions. that is the job of being human in a social world. however difficult it may be for you, ultimately you must take ownership of what you do and do your best to curb the worst excesses of brain chemistry, architecture and function you have inherited without choice. similarly, in reacting to others' actions, it is good to remember that they are just the first victims of their crimes, when crimes are committed. it is possible to condemn egregious behavior without committing unuseful behavior of your own by condemning the person being held responsible. a more useful and helpful reaction is to see if through a patient and rational response, you and society in general can in fact improve future outcomes for all.

KNOWLEDGE

as humans we know a pitiful small amount of what is going on in the universe.
death, which includes the death of the brain, will not enhance our understanding.

GOOD SCIENCE

good science improves our understanding of ourselves. it improves both philosophy and ethics. the inverse is not true.

HOW I GOT HERE

by now i am old. i am here. how i got here was not the product of a grand design; more, it was the product of a series of many very small decisions which almost imperceptibly directed me along a poorly defined path. that path was the path of my choosing. if  i were not happy now, it would mean merely that i am not inherently a happy person. if i didn't like my life it would tempt me to conclude that i do not like life. period.
fortunately, for me and the people around me, i am pretty much biased chemically, which is to say genetically, toward euphoria. i suppose there is noone really to thank for that, since my parents did not consciously elect which traits to give me or which competing traits would come to dominate my mental architecture and processes. but i think its ok to be just generally grateful that an evolution to such a state was or has become available. 

GETTING LIGHTER

things are taken away.
my mother
my father
my sister
my brother.
i keep getting lighter.

THE VETO

The United States president enjoys the power of a veto, just as the members of the security council in the United Nations do, but the power of the president is not absolute - it can be overridden by a super- majority in congress. This has proved workable over the years in curbing the excesses of presidents who may be out of touch with a large majority of the representatives of the people. Such a system should be employed by the world body, which urgently needs to curb the excesses of powerful state interests in world affairs. If two-thirds, or some other number of a majority of nations represented in the general assembly, could vote to defeat the veto exercised by a security council member, the United Nations might finally become useful in improving the behavior of nations of the world.

Failing this, the only way forward will be to eliminate the veto - or the whole security council - which seems more unlikely than the prospect of limiting the absolute power of its members.

WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS?

IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, WHICH HAS BLED HEAVILY INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST, EVERYTHING IN  AMERICA WAS BUSINESS. IN MY YOUTH I HAD NO INTEREST IN IT.  I OPENED MANY DOORS THEN, LOOKING FOR SOMETHING ELSE; BEHIND EACH DOOR, INTO EACH ROOM I PEERED, I WAS DISAPPOINTED TO FIND JUST ANOTHER ENTRANCE TO THE GREAT HALL OF BUSINESS. THIS INCLUDED DOORS LABELLED MUSIC, ART, LITERATURE, FILM, MEDICINE AND EVEN MY PRECIOUS SCIENCE, ALSO SOME ITEMS I DID NOT VALUE PURSUING LIKE RELIGION. THIS WAS A CENTRAL DISILLUSIONMENT WHICH CAUSED MUCH OF MY ALIENATION AND HAS COLORED MUCH OF MY LIFE EXPERIENCE.  IN EUROPE  SO-CALLED EGGHEADS AND LONGHAIRS FARED BETTER, RECEIVING A LEVEL OF APPRECIATION IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SOCIETIES THAT SEEMED TO AMERICANS LIKE CRAZY ADORATION, RATHER THAN THE ADORATION FILM STARS AND GANGSTERS AND SPORTS HEROES AND ESPECIALLY WEALTHY PEOPLE OF EVERY CALLING INCLUDING MAFIA TYPES ENJOYED IN AMERICA.

MY SOLUTION WAS BASICALLY TO LEARN TO LIVE ON THE SMALLEST POSSIBLE INCOME AS A DEFENSE AGAINST SPENDING ALL MY TREASURE - MY TIME - PURSUING GOALS I DID NOT VALUE.  I READ AND REREAD AMERICANS LIKE HENRY THOREAU AND WALT WHITMAN, GAINING RESOLVE AND LESSENING MY FEELING OF ISOLATION. THERE WERE MANY OTHERS - ALAN PATON, TOLSTOY, JOYCE, DOSTOEVSKY, CAMUS; PLAYWRIGHTS LIKE ARTHUR MILLER, TO SAMPLE JUST A FEW; COMPOSERS LIKE CHARLES IVES, HENRYK  GORECKI,  RANDY NEWMAN; FILM DIRECTORS AND SCREENWRITERS, DE SICA, SATYAJIT RAY, JIRI MENZEL AND MANY EUROPEANS FROM EVERY COUNTRY.  THESE WORKS FROM THESE COUNTRIES WERE LARGELY MADE WITH SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, AS THE GREAT WORKS OF OTHER CENTURIES HAD BEEN SUPPORTED BY DYNASTIES AND RELIGIONS AND OTHER ELITES.  NOW IT SEEMS TO HAVE FALLEN LARGELY TO THE PROFIT MOTIVE TO FUND THESE WORKS AND THE GREAT BULK OF IT IS SHABBY AND CONTEMPTIBLE.  PAINTING IS A BUSINESS, A GALLERY BUSINESS, LITERATURE IS A PUBLISHING BUSINESS, ALSO LARGELY STEERED BY PERCEIVED PROMOTABILITY NOT LASTING WORTH, AND THE EFFECT IS BEING FELT AROUND THE WORLD.  PROSPERITY AS A GOAL HAS CONTRIBUTED TO OVERPRODUCTION AND USELESS PRODUCTION AND EVEN SUICIDAL PRODUCTION, LIKE NUCLEAR AND OTHER WEAPONS OF WAR, ALL IN THE NAME OF SOMEBODY'S PROFIT, EVEN OBSCENE PROFIT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.  THERE SEEMS TO BE NO REASONABLE LIMIT TO THE LUST FOR WEALTH AT ALL COSTS, INCLUDING HUMANS WASTING MOST OF THEIR TIME AND MOST OF THE PLANET.

I DOUBT AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY WAS AVAILABLE AT THIS STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE ANIMAL, I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT A SUBSEQUENT STAGE WILL ARRIVE BEFORE THERE IS NOTHING LEFT BUT ASHES.

EVIDENCE OF FREE WILL

THE SOCALLED DEFEAT OF THE FREE WILL CONCEPT BY NEUROSCIENTISTS DOING fMRI, WHICH SHOWS THERE IS A SPIKE OF ACTIVITY IN YOUR BRAIN BEFORE YOU WIGGLE YOUR FINGER AND IT IS ONLY AFTER A DELAY THAT YOU ACTUALLY WIGGLE YOUR FINGER, AND THAT, FURTHER, YOU ARE ALSO NOT CONSCIOUSLY AWARE OF THAT SPIKE, WHICH TO THEM REPRESENTS THE DECISIVE MOMENT, UNTIL AFTER IT HAS TAKEN PLACE,  SUGGESTS TO SOME SCIENTISTS THAT THERE IS NO FREE WILL.  BUT IT IS A RIDICULOUS AND ANNOYING ASSERTION.  YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A MECHANISM  - THE IDEA SPIKE THAT IS IN YOUR BRAIN IS CAUSED BY YOU, THE TIME LAG BETWEEN THE MOMENT THAT THE SPIKE WHICH IS GENERATED IN YOUR BRAIN FIRES OFF AND THE TIME IT ENTERS YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND IS ANOTHER INTERNAL DELAY, BUT IT IS ALL YOU - THE SPIKE IS YOU, IT IS CAUSED BY YOUR MIND, IT IS CAUSED BY YOUR WILL, AND THE CONSCIOUS RECOGNITION OF THAT DECISION TAKING PLACE AFTER  ANOTHER SMALL DELAY IS YOU, WHETHER OR NOT THE DELAY IS MORE THAN THE DELAY IN THE TIME IT TAKES FOR YOU TO PERFORM THE ACTION - BUT REALLY, WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT SOME OTHER FORCE CAUSING THE WIGGLING, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE TIME LAG BETWEEN THE TIME YOU DECIDE TO WIGGLE YOUR FINGER AND THE TIME THAT THE THOUGHT  BECOMES CEMENTED IN YOUR MEMORY AND RECALLABLE  IN YOUR SUBSEQUENT MENTATION. THE DELAY IS IN FILING THE INFORMATION FOR RECALL, NOT IN INITIATING THE THOUGHT.  SO IT IS ANNOYING WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO USE THAT AS  PROOF OF ANY SORT OF PHILOSOPHICAL NOTION.  IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHILOSOPHY, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FREE WILL.  I THINK FREE WILL IS A DICY CONCEPT FOR MANY REASONS BUT THAT IS NOT ONE OF THEM, THAT IS NOT EVIDENCE OF ANYTHING EXCEPT THE MORE OR LESS MECHANICAL DELAY  IN THE PROCESSING AND STORING OF INTENTIONAL ACTIONS, IN THE TIME WE ARE MADE AWARE OF THEM IN THE FORM OF RECALLABLE RECOGNITION.  FOREGROUND OR BACKGROUND, IT IS ALL US, THERE IS NOTHING FROM OUTSIDE.  

WHERE FREE WILL REALLY RUNS INTO TROUBLE IS WHEN ONE LOOKS AT THE INFLUENCE OF DNA MATERIAL ON ALL DECISONMAKING.  IT BLURS THE LINE MOST UNCOMFORTABLY BETWEEN INHERENT ACTIONS AND INTENTIONAL ACTIONS; ALSO, THE ABILITY TO CHANGE OUR BEHAVIOR OVER TIME, CONSCIOUSLY AND/OR EPIGENETICALLY, IS A CHARACTERISTIC INHERENT IN OUR GENES IN A VARIETY OF STRENGTHS FROM BIRTH.  

IT COULD BE ARGUED ON A PHILOSOPHICAL LEVEL THAT DNA DOES NOT REALLY BELONG TO US, WE DIDN'T INITIALLY, AND CAN NEVER DURING OUR LIFETIMES, CHOOSE ANYTHING ABOUT IT, IT COMES DOWN TO US AS THE COLLECTED SURVIVING STRATEGIES OF OUR SPECIES AND WHAT THAT REALLY LEADS TO IS NOT A DISCUSSIN OF FREE WILL AT ALL BUT A LARGER AND MORE RADICAL DISCUSSION OF WHAT EXACTLY CONSTITUTES AN INDIVIDUAL.  THIS INDIVIDUAL, UPON WHICH THE MORAL AND GOVERNING PRINCIPLES OF OUR MODERN WESTERN STATES IS BASED, IS ITSELF A FICTION.  THERE REALLY IS NO SUCH THING - A PERSON EXISTING WITHOUT OTHER PEOPLE OR THE COLLECTED EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST BOTH EXTERNALLY BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY INTERNALLY.  THIS IS AN UNSTABLE CONCEPT.

STUPID MEN

STUPID GUNS.  THE RHETORIC IS NAUSEATING.  IN TERMS OF GUN DEATH THE UNITED STATES HAS 10.20 GUN DEATHS PER 100,000 PERSONS PER YEAR - 3.2 HOMICIDES, 6.3 SUICIDES, 0.2 UNINTENDED AND 0.1 UNDETERMINED.  THE UNITED KINGDOM, A COUNTRY MUCH LIKE THE US IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT AND LITERACY RATES AND EXPERIENCE OF SO-CALLED DEMOCRACY, HAS 0.25 OVERALL DEATHS, 0.04 HOMICIDES, 0.17 SUICIDES, 0.01 UNINTENDED  AND 0.02 UNDETERMINED.  THAT IS 40 TIMES AS MANY GUN DEATHS IN THE US.  FORTY TIMES!

THE EXPLANATION IS SIMPLE:  THERE IS NO PERCEIVED RIGHT FOR PRIVATE CITIZENS TO CARRY FIREARMS IN UK  AND THERE ARE VERY FEW GUNS THERE.  THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY THE SAME NUMBER OF VIOLENT PEOPLE, PSYCHOTIC PEOPLE, SUICIDAL PEOPLE, HOME INVADERS, SCHOOL INVADERS, CURIOUS CHILDREN, PETTY CRIMINALS AND THE LIKE, THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IS THE NUMBER OF GUNS THAT ARE FOUND WITHIN ITS BORDERS. 

WAKE UP AND LOOK AROUND!  AND DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION, A DOCUMENT FROM A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TIME WRITTEN BY ELITIST MEN FROM A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COUNTRY, WILFULLY GROSSLY MISINTERPRETED IN THE PRESENT WITH OUTRIGHT LIES BY STUPID STUBBORN MEN WHO FEEL STRONG ONLY WHEN THEY CAN WITH A FINGER KILL ANYBODY THEY CHOOSE.

IT ISN'T AMERICA THE STRONG AND FREE, IT'S AMERICA THE PARANOID BULLY.  AND WHERE ARE THE GODDAMNED WOMEN?  WHERE ARE THE BRAINS?  ALL I SEE IS COWARDS AND FEAR.

SIGNIFICANT PAPAL TRIVIA

IT HAS BEEN DIFFICULT THIS PAST WEEK OR SO TO AVOID A BARRAGE OF SPECULATION SURROUNDING THE ELECTION OF A NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC POPE WHEN TRYING TO ACCESS CURRENT NEWS, BOTH WORLDWIDE AND LOCAL.  NOW THANKFULLY THE CORONATION IS OVER AND SOON WE CAN REVERT TO THE USUAL DIET OF SEX ABUSE AND FINANCIAL ABUSE SCANDALS WITH A CATHOLIC FLAVOR.  THE SPECULATION HAS BEEN INTENSE AND HAS COVERED MUCH TRIVIA IN ITS EFFORT TO PREDICT THE DIRECTION OF THE CHURCH UNDER ITS NEW LEADER BUT THERE IS SOMETHING I PERSONALLY FIND VERY SIGNIFICANT WHICH HAS SO FAR BEEN COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED — THE FACT THAT THE NEW PONTIFF PREFERS BOXER SHORTS.  THIS I FIND DEEPLY IMPRESSIVE AND TO ME IT INDICATES A SHARP BREAK WITH THE PAST, A BREAK WITH TRADITION WHICH SUGGESTS THE CHURCH WILL SHORTLY BE UNRECOGNIZABLE TO OLDER MEMBERS OF THE FAITHFUL, A BREAK WHICH SUGGESTS THAT IN FUTURE THE CHURCH WILL NO LONGER BE AN ASSEMBLAGE OF CYNICAL AND AMBITIOUS INSIDER INVESTORS AND HYPOCRITICAL MISOGYNIST PATRIARCHAL CHILD MOLESTERS AND THEIR CRIMINAL APOLOGISTS, A CHURCH VAINLY DEDICATED TO STOPPING THE FLOW OF REASON, TO STOPPING THE CRITICAL PASSAGE OF MANKIND FROM AN IGNORANT AND SUPERSTITIOUS PAST TOWARD AN OPENLY INCLUSIVE, INTELLIGENT FUTURE.  

IF ONLY.

IDEALOGUES

EXCERPT FROM NOTEBOOK FOUR — ALBERT CAMUS, SEPTEMBER 1944

...abstraction is evil.  It causes wars, tortures, violence, etc.  Problem:  How does the abstract view continue in the face of physical evil, ideology in the face of the torture inflicted in the name of that ideology?

THIS NOTE COULD BE APPLIED WITH JUSTIFICATION IN THE PRESENT TIME IN AMERICA TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WHICH IS INFLICTING MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING ON THE GREAT BULK OF CITIZENS WHO ARE NOT AMONG THE ONE PERCENT.  THAT THE PAIN IS REAL AND THE PEOPLE INJURED MORE COMPELLING THAN AN ABSTRACTION WILL SHORTLY BE WIDELY REALIZED.  THE REPUBLICAN LEADERS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS IN THE FINANCIAL AND ENERGY SECTORS WHO HAVE SYSTEMATICALLY DENIED THE GREAT MASS OF PEOPLE RELIEF FROM THEIR INCREASINGLY PAINFUL INDEBTEDNESS ARE GUILTY, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, OF INHUMANITY.  THEY DESERVE TO BE CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION AND THE HISTORY BOOKS, WHERE THE LESSONS LEARNED WILL BE TAUGHT TO FUTURE GENERATIONS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISTS.  THE REPUBLICAN PARTY — AND THOSE IT REPRESENTS — IS VICIOUSLY OBSOLETE.

WE ARE CRAWLING OUT OF DARKNESS

WHEN PEOPLE EVIDENCE VARIOUS LEVELS OF DESPAIR ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING OR IRANIAN NUCLEAR AMBITIONS OR ECONOMIC HEGEMONY OR WALL STREET HUBRIS AND DISPARITY OF INCOME OR CANCER RATES  OR THE WARS IN SYRIA AND ELSEWHERE, AND OTHER EXAMPLES OF INHUMANITY, I LIKE TO ASK THEM TO PICK A TIME IN HISTORY WHEN THEY WOULD RATHER HAVE A BABY.  AFTER THINKING A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME, MOST PEOPLE GIVE IT UP AND GO OFF MUTTERING TO THEMSELVES.  

WE ARE CRAWLING OUT OF DARKNESS AND HAVE A WAY TO GO BEFORE WE MAY BE BLINDED BY THE LIGHT.

RULES

RULES OF GRAMMAR ARE THE LAST THING TO CHANGE.  

LANGUAGE HAS BEEN SPOKEN FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS, WRITTEN FOR A COMPARATIVELY VERY BRIEF TIME.  AFTER EARLY USE IN RECORDKEEPING, WRITING BECAME A VEHICLE FOR PERMANENTLY STORING THE SPOKEN WORD SO THAT THOUGHTS AND UTTERANCES COULD BE ACCURATELY RECALLED AND SHARED OVER TIME.  THIS PROVED OF INESTIMABLE VALUE TO THE PROGRESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY.  BUT THE WELLSPRING OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE WAS, IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.  THAT IS WHY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IS THE VEHICLE OF CHANGE IN ALL LANGUAGES, WHY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IS THE MOST DYNAMIC AND FLUID FORM AND WHY IT TAKES TIME FOR PEOPLE TO REFLECT IN THEIR WRITTEN WORDS CHANGES ALREADY WELL UNDERSTOOD BY SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS.  

BRINGING UP THE REAR ARE THE RULES AND RULEMAKERS.  THERE IS AN INEVITABLE LAG WHILE ESTABLISHED PROTOCOLS AND THEIR DEFENDERS GRADUALLY YIELD TO THE NEW AND INNOVATIVE ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE, BUT EVENTUALLY THE RULES AND RULEMAKERS WILL CONFORM, BECAUSE THE CHANGES ARE EVOLUTIONARILY USEFUL ADAPTATIONS NOT UNLIKE THE ADAPTATIONS OCCURRING IN BIOLOGY.  FOR INSTANCE, IN THIS PARAGRAPH 'RULEMAKERS' IS NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE GRAMMAR AND SPELLING PROGRAM RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND AS I WORK, THOUGH IT WILL CERTAINLY BE UNDERSTOOD BY ALL READERS AND CONFORMS RATHER USEFULLY TO THE WAY THE THOUGHT IT EXPRESSES IS UNDERSTOOD IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

RULES OF GRAMMAR IN ENGLISH ARE HOPELESSLY CONTRADICTORY — SELF-CONTRADICTORY.  THERE IS NO INTERNAL CONSISTENCY IN THEM AS THEY ARE BACKFORMATIONS FROM AN ESSENTIALLY AD HOC PROCESS THAT PROCEEDS CONTINUALLY AMONG ALL SPEAKERS WITHOUT CONSCIOUS ORDER OR OVERALL GUIDING PLAN.  FOR INSTANCE, ONE COULD BACK VARIOUS FORMATIONS SUCH AS POLITICAL PARTIES OR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT BUT TO BACK FORMATIONS MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MEANING IMPLIED BY THE WORD BACKFORMATIONS, ANOTHER WORD MY GRAMMAR PROGRAM DOES NOT BLESS WITH ITS CONDESCENDING ACCEPTANCE.  AND YET IN SPEECH IT IS CLEAR AND UNIQUE IN ITS MEANING.

NEXT TIME SOMEONE SAYS YOU ARE BREAKING A RULE OF GRAMMAR, QUESTION WHETHER WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN IS CONSISTENT WITH SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND CLEAR IN MEANING, ALSO THAT IT CAN BE USED CONSISTENTLY. IF THE ANSWER IS 'YES' STICK TO YOUR GUNS — YOU HAVE THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE COSMOS ON YOUR SIDE.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

A GUN IN A HOME IN AMERICA, THAT IS KEPT IN MOST CASES FOR HOME PROTECTION, IS FORTY-THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE USED AGAINST A FAMILY MEMBER THAN IT IS TO BE USED AGAINST AN INTRUDER.  WHY IS IT SO EASY FOR PEOPLE OUTSIDE AMERICA TO LEARN SUCH THINGS AND BE OPEN TO HEARING SUCH THINGS, AND ALSO TO HEAR THE OBVIOUS COMMON SENSE IMPLICATIONS OF SUCH THINGS, THAN IT IS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, WHO ARE THE ONES SO THREATENED BY THOSE GUNS?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE RATIONALITY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE AND, ESPECIALLY, AMERICAN POLITICS?  IGNORANCE OF REALITY IS NO PROTECTION AGAINST ITS CERTAINTY.  

THERE IS NO INDUSTRIALIZED NATION LIKE THE UNITED STATES.  THAT USED TO BE A GOOD THING.