Insidious

“Hey old man, how can you stand to think that way?”

It’s an old Bruce Hornsby lyric with staying power, written back in the mid-80s. It has stood the test of time and has come around again, since it currently applies to Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation and their To Do List (i.e. Project 2025) that includes discounting the value of science and scientific theory and research, along with reading, and education in general.

Paula Poundstone, who is to be commended for being a thorn in this administration’s side since at least January of 2025 and probably long before, reminded her viewers in a recent post that the whole antisemitic excuse Trump rolled out in his threats against Harvard and Columbia and other universities is really just a means to dumbing us down.

The method to the madness is that if the means of learning and critical thinking are curtailed or removed, what will develop is a population of brainless sheep who can be told anything—that war is good, that vaccines are horrible, that any person of color is a lazy, criminal lowlife, or that old crock of shit about Donald being the only one who can fix things.

The idea is that if the means of maturing one’s thought processes are taken away, then people will be reduced to uniformity and ignorance, looking to their fearless leader for everything– guidance, answers, even sustenance. How messed up is that?!

That’s just the way it is? Better not be. Ever.