Fyi this is a different Anon, so let us say this is
Anon2:
Be Here/Now. And do your best to be a decent human being from now on. I know, you are a decent person. So it's something to keep in mind. Another way of saying "Be here now" might be "Stay focused on what you are doing. Use discipline to stop your mind from wandering to other times and places, especially when you're trying to do serious work." Ram Dass was into meditation also, in fact, so I would not say that he meant stop the practice of meditation altogether.
more at: http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/sent-31914-staying-upright-response-to.html
I know you better than [to think you would suddenly not care about my mental health any more.] I knew what you meant. You are too kind above everything else with a child like belief in the good out there. [emphasis added--LS]
My instant reply to Anon2:
On 4/10/2014 12:19 PM, Larry Scott wrote:
[Posted at http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/sent-4102014-more-comments-and-pithy.html ]
Big mistake there. I just do not see the point in spreading more evil. Opposing evil with evil just does not sound right to me. I will be just as dead either way, whenever my time comes. :-) Larry
On 4/10/2014 12:19 PM, Larry Scott wrote:
[Posted at http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/sent-4102014-more-comments-and-pithy.html ]
Subject: more comments and pithy replies Re: comment and reply Re: the last word on climate change 30 min vid dead serious (message 1 of 2)I have been having some correspondence with a friend, correspondence triggered by the video linked below. I want to share it with you. It is in this context, and it is about the lack of necessity and even counterproductive effect of comparing oneself to others.
Two paragraphs are highlit.
Dear [Anon],
LS: I have answered all the parts of your message below to my satisfaction in my email "Subject: comment and reply Re: the last word on climate change 30 min vid dead serious (message 1 of 2)" (4/8/2014 2:27 PM) except that the following additions seem called for now: As far as I am aware, no one has a gun to your head to follow anyone else's advice. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and now you want to censor Guy McPherson??? Gasp!!!! lol
Anon: Just the opposite: I want to express my opinion that he is doing more harm than good by straying out of his area of expertise. By telling people the simplistic message "Be nice to each other", he is essentially telling them "prepare to do nothing". He is going to make it harder for the activists who come along and try to organize people.
LS2: "Doing nothing" means not getting out of bed in the morning. Obviously Guy McPherson gets out of bed in the morning and does some things. Therefore: it is clear to me that you have misinterpreted his advice, the meaning he intended with his words.
Anon: People will argue with the activists by referring to the "expert" who told them that nothing can be done (except being nice).
LS2: What part of "I hope so" didn't you get?
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LS: Yes I know people who want avoid hearing facts, meaning they prefer that people change the facts to fit what they would prefer to hear.
Anon: That is a lot different from what you originally said "like being lied to".
LS2: Substituting false "facts" for true facts is the precise definition of lying.
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LS: And you were the one complaining about Guy McPherson's advice having a bad effect on your mental health, or so I understand. That is how the topic arose.
Anon: I don't recall using the term "mental health". Can you find exactly where I said that? It's not the kind of phrase I introduce into a discussion.
LS2: It came from my understanding of your interpretation of Guy McPherson's advice that he was advising you not to bother getting out of bed in the morning. If you followed that understanding of his advice then and didn't get out of bed in the morning, at least some people would probably construe that as a mental health problem. You seemed to be saying that trying to follow his advice would mean staying in bed all day, meaning "His advice is bad for my mental health."
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LS: My point was, my mental health is my problem, your mental health is your problem
Anon: I disagree with that. We are in this together. One person's mental health problems belong to everyone. If you doubt that, ask the people whose kids went to Columbine or Sandy Hook schools.
LS2: Obviously what I said did not come out the way I intended. I certainly did not mean that all of a sudden I do not care about your mental health, guy. I meant that you are the first authority on what is or is not good for your mental health, over anyone else in the world. I have said precisely that to you many many times before.
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LS: and if someone cares to make a suggestion, hey, some suggestions have been known to help some people. I think your complaint is completely unreasonable. You don't like his advice? So ignore it and live in the past and don't be decent to other people. Whatever. I don't see your problem, and it is hard for me to believe that you are even serious. I refer you now again to 4/8/2014 2:27 PM.
Anon: Oh, I am serious. Someone giving bad advice is everyone's problem.
LS2: Again, I think the problem is in your interpretation of his advice. See above. Ram Dass, the author of Be Here Now did not stay in bed all day. He went around teaching groups of people. He did things, in other words.
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LS: [Having been questioned,] "Yes I know people who want avoid hearing facts, meaning they prefer that people change the facts to fit what they would prefer to hear....."
That is the topic of Barbara Ehrenreich's famous classic, Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. I thought you were familiar with that. See my message of 3/19/2014 12:18 PM among others.
Anon: Does she also use the expression "people like being lied to"?
LS2: I can't say precisely what wording she used. I got her meaning and have shared my understanding of her meaning with others who understood her the same way. Again, "Substituting false "facts" for true facts is the precise definition of lying," as in, "Everything's going to be ok." That's lying, unless you are hiding an unusual definition of "ok."
LS2: But she also focuses hard on part of the problem being people's failure to question experts and to get enough facts to be able to draw their own intelligent conclusions. [emphasis added LS]
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Anon: ....In your doctor experience, did you ever go to a specialist? Try asking one a medical question outside of his specialty and watch how fast he backs off from giving you an answer.....
LS307: This is entirely separate from and independent of anything else I've said, just throwing it in fyi: What you've said right there has not got the slightest application to this situation. You have referred to a special obligation that is imposed on medical professionals. To my recollection no one whom we've mentioned lately is or was one of those except for Eric Berne, M.D. You cannot sue any of the people we've mentioned lately for being mistaken any more than anyone can sue you for being mistaken. Please do your best not to tell me that you have this bit of information mixed up in your mind with anything else that I have said, which was all that really needed to be said.
Anon2: It is an example to demonstrate that when you are in a position of being educated in a certain field (like Guy McPherson or a medical specialist), you are expected to stay within the limits of that field, especially if you are on TV. To start giving solutions like "Be nice to each other" is very irresponsible.
LS2: Obviously people have different opinions on that. In this case your complaint might rather have been, "Sir, you should have explained better what you meant. You were just way too ambiguous!" Obviously his response would have been, "Sorry sir, the time was very short."
LS2: Another way of saying "Be here now" might be "Stay focused on what you are doing. Use discipline to stop your mind from wandering to other times and places, especially when you're trying to do serious work." Ram Dass was into meditation also, in fact, so I would not say that he meant stop the practice of meditation altogether. [emphasis added-LS]
Larry
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: comment and reply Re: the last word on climate change 30 min vid dead serious (message 1 of 2)
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 14:27:03 -0400
From: Larry Scott <larryascott@larryascott.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
big news, new tagline:Anon: ...[W]e all are faced with two futures. Future #1 that is going to happen to us no matter what we do. And Future #2 that is determined by what we do now in the present. Unlike [name, doesn't matter] Guy McPherson and other narrow minded people, I want to live in the second future. [emphasis added-LS]P.S. I disagree with Anon's characterization of the situation as being a choice of two different futures. Actually there are many more choices than that. And of course yes, how we act and what we do affects our present and future and the present and future of everyone else also..
LS: Ok, more power to you, [Anon]!
Anon: However, professors with zero political skills like Guy McPherson and James Lovelock are hurting that effort rather than helping it.
LS2: I thought I was going to just ignore this, let it go, but it has been bugging me. These people are to be given at least some credit for being dedicated to doing what they believe is right, which can be characterized as doing their best to learn facts and to share those those facts that they have learned with all who care to listen. I am very glad that there are those courageous enough to be doing that in the face of opposition from people who appear to prefer being lied to. Shit, you want these guys to be therapists? You want them to have a good bed-side manner? You want them to LIE at least to some extent about what they believe to be true? Well if so, you and I have a major disagreement. I want them to say what they have to say, tell it straight, and let me worry about taking care of my own mental health. Of course if there are disagreements among experts then I might take credibility factors into account in deciding which set of factual allegations to act upon, if there is any acting to be done on my part. But please spare me the personality analyses. What they have accomplished, finally, is, they have managed to pry some people loose from the "God will take care of everything, the earth can handle what we're doing, no problem, we have nothing to do with the changes of climate and/or global warming, so let us pay no attention" point of view that people who see things differently call "denial." I think they have done a good thing. Guy McPherson's effort to channel Carolyn Baker toward the end--they know each other--was extra, not really part of his job whether you think his advice was good or bad. I do not think he was there mainly to give advice. He answered because Thom Hartmann asked him. I do not at all think that you are are wrong in acting on the notion that survival is possible if we work together at it. I think we might as well be doing that and hey, you're right, people make mistakes and anything is possible. I just hate wasting my time thinking about and responding to your put-downs of people. As far as I am concerned I do not need those put-downs. In fact they get in the way of rational thought as far as I am concerned.
I still do not want to discuss further what you or I or we or others want to do next other than that "More power to you, [Anon]." Discussing what you or I or we or others want to do next is not what this message is about at all. It's about the lack of necessity and even counterproductive effect of comparing oneself to others.
Larry
On 4/6/2014 3:39 PM, Larry Scott wrote:
Subject: dead serious 30 min vid: the last word on climate change (message 1 of 2)
This puts the cap on one thing we've been talking about over the years, climate change/global warming. This very clearly appears to be the final word on the subject, at least for now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-zZtrZebRc (April 4, 2014). If you think you can stand this for the sake of information, nothing else,* then I recommend starting it at around the 27 minutes point and listening through to the end. The video is offset from the audio here, which is a bit annoying, but one does not have to watch all the time just to see who these men are, the well-known journalist and commentator Thom Hartmann, whose work I have cited a few times over the years, and ecology & evolutionary biologist Guy McPherson, author of the book Going Dark (October 2013). This high tech conversation took place April 4, 2014, two days ago. It is up to date. He talks about the new IPCC report, repeating here the 44pg pdf download link for the executive summary that I sent you the other day.
This video could comprise the most convincing statement of fact that you will ever see. Watch. I think you will be able tell for yourself. (Hint: human extinction in a startlingly short time due to loss of habitability.)
* I plan to offer some help with that in my next message. (Hint: Listen to Guy McPherson's words near the end. Paraphrasing briefly: Be Here/Now. And do your best to be a decent human being from now on. I know, you are a decent person. So it's something to keep in mind.)
There will be more.
love,
Larry
Be Here/Now. And do your best to be a decent human being from now on. I know, you are a decent person. So it's something to keep in mind. Another way of saying "Be here now" might be "Stay focused on what you are doing. Use discipline to stop your mind from wandering to other times and places, especially when you're trying to do serious work." Ram Dass was into meditation also, in fact, so I would not say that he meant stop the practice of meditation altogether.
more at: http://larryatblogspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/sent-31914-staying-upright-response-to.html
