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#denial

2 posts2 participants1 post today
Continued thread

I saw these signs in my yard today. I don't know why we didn't take them in. But it felt like a metaphor for democracy itself. So I wrote the haiku, trying to capture how disorienting it is to try to look back at that time, which isn't that long ago in days, but seems a lifetime away in traumas.

A haiku often captures a seasonal element or a change of seasons, and a senryu a human issue, sometimes comedic. If there is anything comedic here, it is tragicomedy. But certainly we are in a new season, where only Climate Change itself can be an apt metaphor for a too-hot political summer to come, one for which spring has given us only the barest hints of how bad it could be.

We need to start tending our gardens better. There are limits to what we can withstand in the climate, and the political climate. These are not just words.

My mind goes once again to a favorite quote from the excellent Asimov & Silverberg novel Nightfall (not the short story), when, after a complete disruption of society due to a global cataclysm, a psychologist named Sheerin who'd predicted social chaos reflects on his earlier predictions and how he feels about the way they played out:

«"It's one thing to predict it. It's something else to be right in the middle of it. It's a very humbling thing, … for an academic like me to find his abstract theories turning into concrete reality. I was so glib, so blithely unconcerned. 'Tomorrow there won't be a city standing unharmed in all [the world]' I said, and it was all just so many words to me, really, just a philosophical exercise, completely abstract. 'The end of the world you used to live in.' Yes. Yes." Sheerin shivered. "And it all happened, just like I said. But I suppose I didn't really believe my own dire predictions, until everything came crashing down around me.»

I’ve just signed the petition, sponsored by former Labour MP Chris Williamson, to “repeal the 2000 and 2006 Terrorism Acts and review other legislation” to prevent police-state abuse and enable real safeguards”.

We need 100k signatures to get this debated in Parliament!

Please won’t you sign using this link ⤵️?

petition.parliament.uk/petitio

Petitions - UK Government and ParliamentPetition: Repeal the 2000 and 2006 Terrorism Acts and review other legislationWe urge the Government to repeal the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006, and for it to commission a review into how other existing legislation could provide the necessary safeguards for society.

Those of us who refused to adopt the “back to normal” Covid denial narrative are used to witnessing mental gymnastics by folks who need to believe the pandemic is over.

The new US Covid website is peak denial and conspiracy theory misinformation.

It reminds me of the AIDS denialism websites of the late 90s and early 2000s. They spread the lie that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS … that the real culprit was the medications to treat HIV.

You know who’s repeated that lie over the years? RFK Jr.

Lastly, how can they reconcile believing it’s a bioweapon yet also “mild” and “no big deal”? Surely if you believe a virus was weaponized to cause harm, you should take steps to avoid getting it repeatedly?

Mental gymnastics. When a person has no substance or facts to back up their position, logic goes out the window.

…climate change deniers…may be seen as denying the very real possibility of the planet’s destruction… Denial, whether at the individual or group level, is the most primitive defense the mind employs to protect itself from psychic pain.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
#climatechange #denial

In a PhD exam about atmospheric chemistry three weeks ago ,I asked the candidate what would happen if the US stopped collecting the data of the kind she had used in her thesis. A good discussion followed. Now here it is.
As expected from the Project 2025, the Trump administration prepares to completely gut NOAA and eliminate its climate monitoring and research. #climatescience #denial #vandalism

eenews.net/articles/white-hous

E&E News by POLITICO · White House outlines plan to gut NOAA, smother climate researchThe agency’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would be “eliminated as a line office,” according to a memo from the Office of Management and
Replied in thread

@dazo Couldn't agree more Compensation and projection seem to be hallmark traits for #MAGATs They are a natural and expected logical development of a #USCulture of #Fantasy #Escapism and #Denial It's #USPolitics #USReligion it's a sick culture Why else would most in the US chose to travel to stand in line and pay for overpriced food and tickets to see a #FantasyMouse and #FantasyPrincess when they could travel to see #Art #History #Music #Theatre: the #Foundation of the World and #Reality

#AlternateFridayMusic
Feb 14 2025

The prompt is #Denial

10cc, “I’m Not in Love” from The Original Soundtrack, 1975

This is THE classic denial song; the speaker’s denials of feeling for the presumptive object of his affection growing progressively weaker, hinting at the real truth.

The melody is simple, the sonics gentle, but as with the lyrics, if you listen closely, much more is going on. This track is a sonic splendor, using multiple layers of vocals to create an otherworldly effect, and weaving elements together into and out of the whispered break, without any of the digital effects and tools available today.

Drummer #KevinGodley and guitarist #LolCreme would break away from #10cc a couple years later and record as a duo, but their most noted breakthroughs were in video: Their video for “Cry” simulated face morphing (again before computer technology could do this for us) and they’d go on to create the celebrated video for #HerbieHancock's "Rockit.”

youtu.be/cgJckGsR-T0

Hey! It's _still_ #AlternateFridayMusic 🎉

Hosted By: @MarkIngs @bborn
Subject: #Denial
Submission: Smells Like Teen Spirit
By: Nirvana
Song Link: youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg

Time for me to go a little more obvious:

🎶 Hello, hello, hello
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido

A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial 🎶

Hey! It's #AlternateFridayMusic 🎉

Hosted By: @MarkIngs @bborn
Subject: #Denial
Submission: Denial Works for Me
By: #TISM
Song Link: tism-this-is-serious-mum.bandc

(Trippy, fun fan video: youtu.be/zPsygsZvtj0)

🎶 Life is full of problems and here's the remedy
Denial works for me
There's a freight train coming loaded with anxiety
You're tied to the tracks, don't worry (Denial works for me)
Why put off till tomorrow, responsibilities
They'll just come back to haunt you (Ignore them totally) 🎶

“NHS doctor punished for speaking out on Israel’s genocide is taking legal action”

by Ed Sykes in The Canary @thecanaryuk

“The Canary has spoken to a doctor who is crowdfunding a legal challenge after his NHS bosses sought to punish him for speaking out on Israel’s genocide in Gaza”

thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/

Canary · NHS doctor punished for speaking out on Israel's genocide is taking legal actionDr Nadeem Crowe was suspended by the Royal Free for "potentially upsetting posts about the Israel - Gaza conflict". Now, he's fighting back.