Post-rationalism in America, an Example…

Okay, by now you’re used to me saying we now live in a world where rationality is dead, facts don’t matter, and expertise is irrelevant.
 
Here’s an example…
 
I’m sitting here not watching TV, but Property Brothers is playing as background noise, and I’m catching bits and pieces. This is the piece I just caught.
 
The Property Brothers just finished a walk through with the homeowners, the couple has had the house listed at $1M for seven months, with no offers. The brothers tell the couple that, in their expert opinion, the house is worth $900K.
 
What do you think the couples reaction was? Thank you both for your expert opinion, you guys are the professionals, you obviously know what you’re doing, I guess we will just have to adjust our expectations.
 
No. Of course not. Their reaction was: No, absolutely not. That is unacceptable.
 
This couple, based on literally zero knowledge, simply out of hand rejected the findings of experts who are so expert at their job, that the have their own TV show.  (Not that that means anything, but these guys are widely regarded as experts, with or without a TV show.)
 
Facts don’t matter. Rationality is for losers. Experts have no value. My uneducated ignorant opinion is every bit as valid as yours, even if you did spend literally years of your life closely studying the subject at hand as your profession, that means nothing. I can yell just as loud as you, therefore my words are just as relevant. Everyone gets a trophy.
 
Welcome to Post-Rational America.

Thoughts on Religion…

Lately I’ve been trying to prepare myself mentally for a Trump presidency. (Yes, I know the latest polls show him loosing, but… the Trump phenomenon has so far defied the conventional logic of polling as effectively as Kirk whooping Spock’s ass in three dimensional space chess.)
 
Trump has made his feelings on Muslims made very clear. Step one, don’t let any more into the country. Step two, register and track all the ones that are already here. I can only assume the unspoken step three involves rounding them up and/or shipping them off.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, Trump has said he wants to force everyone to say “Merry Christmas”. How he intends to do this is unclear, but that Christianity is his preferred religious group seems clear.
 
From this we can extrapolate that Trump intends to establish a new American caste system based on religion, with Christians enjoying all the benefits and privileges of being on top, and Muslims being kept very firmly under foot on the bottom.
 
My question is, where do the rest of us fit in? In Trump’s America, what is the status of the Jew, or the Buddhist, or the Hindu? Are they near the bottom with the Muslims, based on their non-Christian tradition? What about Catholics and Mormons? Are they “Christian” enough to be near the top? And what about the Atheists/Agnostics/Nones/Others? Where do they fit in Trump’s America, if at all?
 
Of course, we could all follow Trump’s example, and say we go to a Christian church, without the bother of actually attending. (No seriously, the church Trump claims to attend actually went out of their way to issue a statement saying that despite a long history with the Trump family, Donald himself is not a member of their congregation.)
 
Anyhow, I propose the following Trump American Religious Caste Hierarchy (Trump ARCH™), let me know what you think…
 
Pretend Christians
Pretend Catholics
Actual Christians
Actual Catholics
Pentecostals
Mormons
Snake Handlers
Agnostics
Jews
Zoroastrians
Atheists
Scientologists
Buddhists
Hindus
Gays
Mentally Handicapped
Physically Handicapped
Democrats
Muslims

 

(photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid) 

Welcome to the Irrational Age

Side effect #1 of the Internet… because information is available to everyone, expertise is no longer valued. The ironic part is most people dismiss expertise without ever availing themselves of the information available on the Internet, because of side effect #2… because everyone can publish an opinion, everyone’s opinion is thought to be equally valid, therefore information is irrelevant.

Facts are nothing more than the archaic relics of an outdated way of thinking. Belief is all that matters now, and we will bend and shape the “facts” to fit the belief. The very idea that facts are immutable, or can and should be used to shape belief, is an unnecessary absurdity from a bygone era.

Our country was founded in an Age of Rationalism. Today, our country may well fall in an Age of Irrationalism.