“Beware those who try to win by muddling the details”  Eric Weinstein

I caught Eric Weinstein on the Modern Wisdom podcast with Chris Williamson recently and loved this thought of his.  He went on in detail, as Weinstein always does, to describe the state of the world these days.  We are living in an epidemic of uncertainty.

Things that we all agreed upon for many years are now up for debate.  Politics are cloudier and more deceitful than ever, regardless of which side of the aisle you stand.  Advertising has us consuming things that we don’t really need, just want.  We eat food that is banned in many other countries, foods that cause cancer and other health problems.  Our medical system treats symptoms versus addressing the underlying causes of the disease.  The media spoon feeds it audience the messages they want to push instead of presenting the facts and allow everyone to form their own opinion on a topic.  Weinstein covered all these points eloquently, and I was moved to jot some notes and expand on a few of the above points and share what I do to combat these things.

First and foremost, I do not care what your religious, political, or other affiliations are.  I respect whatever you wish to pray to, believe, or live by, assuming that I can do the same.  This country has always been based on this premise, and should continue to be so, otherwise we are taking huge step backwards.  But it does seem clear that as more and more people move away from structured religious practices that society downgrades with it.  I have never been one to attend church myself; I grew up in a Methodist family.  Or so I am told.  My father did not push this on us, but my grandparents were involved in the church and expected some level of the same commitment of us.  Candlelight services on Christmas eve seemed to be a reasonable compromise, and this became the extent of my church-going experience.  I grew up with a vague understanding of this lifestyle, but I can’t say that I ever connected with it to a large degree.  There are hypocrites everywhere, and despite the sanctuary of religious grounds, they reside there too.  And this really bothered me, at a family level and at the overall congregation level as well.  Personally, I concluded that where I went to pray and how I chose to do it was far less relevant than the fact that I did it in general.  When you boil down most world religions to their essence, there is a lot of overlap.  Be a good person, help others, be faithful to friends and family, etc.  Not rocket science, and not complicated in the grand scheme of things.

The idea that there are so many slight alterations of religious sects and philosophies baffles me.  Why does someone’s translation or personal slant on a topic make it more or less valid than any other?  Wars have been waged and millions of people died throughout history simply because of someone’s desire to have everyone see things the same way they do.  Was this a means of control?  Was it the ego of the people in power at that time?  I am not sure, but I can say that I am sure about the opportunity cost of devotion to the will or ideology of any Earth-bound person.  Blind faith is what religion is built upon, necessarily so, but this has been exploited throughout human history to the benefit of the few.  No wonder people get caught up in the mire.

Currently we have a President that half of the country disavows, just like they did for the last President.  Debates rage about election fraud and fake election fraud, and the divide is portrayed as insurmountable.  I disagree.  As fractured as we are at this moment in time, I still believe that is an attack from a foreign adversary happened on our home soil, instantly everyone would return to “American” status immediately.  We would set aside our differences and stand together, just like of September 12^th, 2001.  Sadly, short of something this far-reaching and impactful, we are going to continue to squabble amongst ourselves.  Some chose to expend energy arguing through social media with the world, others stick their head in the sand and hide from it.  It is easy to get lost watching football Monday night, Thursday night, all day Saturday and most of Sunday.  Dancing with the Stars and other mind-numbing reoccurring shows keep the masses sedated and compliant.

Our food system is so far off base that people get sick from the foods they eat, most of which are advertised as healthy.  Reduced sugar now means 5% less, less than the previous version.  Taco Bell’s “reduced fat” menu items were still far above the recommended intake of fat and other things like sodium and preservatives.  Advertising makes it seem like you are improving your efforts to eat healthy by choosing items from this side of the menu vs the other.  Not true.  Neither are healthy, just varying degrees of bad for you.  Walk through any grocery store and try to find things that are truly telling you what you are buying to consume.  Gluten Free has become a buzzword and a marketing piece that items that never had or ever will have wheat or gluten in them to now boldly display on the label.  Gummy Bears are labeled as Gluten Free…yes, gummy bears.  Solidified sugar, food coloring and some gelatin it make the concoction holds it shape and have an appealing texture are all that are in gummy bears.  Never once was there a hint of grains or gluten in a gummy bear, but a good advertising opportunity can’t be allowed to pass by.

Monocrop agriculture has depleted the soil to the point of vegetables and fruits having minimal nutritional value compared to what your grandparents ate.  Mass production of food has degraded the quality of nutrients in our food supply to the point were eating healthy is a chore.  It is more expensive, more labor intensive on your part to procure good food, and takes a fair amount of knowledge on how to read labels and understanding sourcing to stick to a good, clean diet.