Fog of Stupidity?

Stu•pid•i•ty*
   noun
       - an idea, act, or expression that shows a lack of good sense or judgment

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.”

―Albert Einstein

“Human beings always[?] do the most intelligent thing … after they’ve tried every stupid alternative and none of them have worked.”

― R. Buckminster Fuller

Which brings us to 1) the bathroom uproar; and 2) to a tangentially-related matter―the US political landscape. First, let us consider

The Bathroom.

Here we are, living in a world of increasing violence toward and objectifying of women (the evidence fills our headlines¹), yet we pretend that gender-neutral, multi-stall bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms will not attract the worst kind of deviants on the coattail of tolerance for transgender and gender-variant persons. There may be nothing to fear from the latter, but the former will not be long in abusing the naiveté and romanticism of the most liberal-minded. And do not misinterpret: I am not equating transgender with deviants. I use “deviant” to describe sociopaths/psychopaths of every gender (or variant) who live without conscience vis-à-vis their fellow human beings.

So, this open invitation may seem charitable and compassionate:

“Please use the restroom that feels most comfortable to you”

but in amended quote of Bertrand Russell:

“A [deviant] man's report of what a [tolerant] man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand [or justify].”²

The University of Toronto has already experienced such an “understanding.”

University of Toronto Dumps Transgender Bathrooms After Peeping Incidents³

So how about we actually:

▪ use our heads;
▪ consider centuries-long and current observations of human nature and gender-dynamics;⁴
▪ remember that the world is FAR from a level playing field of moral development;
▪ quit pretending that our “high-minded” solutions will change human nature;
▪ quit pretending that the “low-minded” are not part of this picture;
▪ inform ourselves about porn addiction statistics⁵ and the manifest dangers for others;
▪ admit how quickly memes⁶ (especially inappropriate ones) can become viral—like the recent obscene, public harassment of many female TV reporters;
▪ acknowledge that we are in the midst of a plague of psychopaths⁷ and sex-addicts who aren't going away any time soon;
▪ acknowledge that the increasing violence toward and objectifying of women (and increasingly children and men) does not bode well for sharing gender-neutral bathrooms (in their present or any multiple design) with strangers of the opposite sex;
▪ realize that genderless restrooms will not secure a safe, comfortable place for anyone because an open invitation allows everyone to be followed or confronted in any restroom by any bully or deviant;
▪ quit playing into the manipulations and machinations of social engineers;
▪ consider the safety, privacy, and feelings of EVERYONE.

Does this have to be so divisive and pandora-like? What is so intolerable about maintaining gender-specific, multi-stall washrooms for those who are OK being gender-specific as we seek to accommodate other needs by adding gender-neutral / family-friendly, lockable rooms for the private use of anyone who wishes to use them (including anyone gender-specific). Many sites already have these genderless, private facilities. But to pretend the entire, happy, costless solution is to rip the gender sign from the door (as Stephen Colbert did⁸) is to be naive at best and ____________ (?) at worst; or, in words from The Peter Principle:⁹

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” ―Laurence J. Peter

And to those who think that normalizing men in womens' restrooms does not compromise safety, feelings, and/or privacy, consider this:

if a woman walks into a womens'-designated restroom and finds a man (or men) out-of-place, she can rapidly exit and report it without feeling she is being intolerant or impolite;

compared to:

she walks into the only available restroom labelled gender-neutral and encounters the very same, but if her instincts warn of danger, she now battles with social expectations and judgments.

Don't we already have too many “polite,” scarred women who didn't heed instinct?

And what of a man's wish for privacy? Does he want some stranger with her 4-year old daughter barging past his urinal?

In fifty years, at some historical review—if we manage to survive this age of tolerating stupidity (as in geoengineering, CERN, HAARP, GMOs, psychotropics, corporatism, Objectivism, NINJ loans, fiat money, media-complicit propaganda, science-for-hire, etc., etc., etc.)—will our descendants label the first two decades of the twenty-first century as an age of full-blown idiot-savants?—the prelude to an age of darkness?

As we are out of space and time for topic #2, here are three brief questions for the “right” half of the entire wind-blasted, despoiled

US political landscape.

How in the world can citizens fantasize that this corporate tyrant (with his history, mendacity, and bully-posturing) will lift a finger to save anything of the Constitution or its Bill of Rights or to make America “great” again? If ever there was a time of “seeing they see not and hearing they hear not,” it must be this age of blind ambition (within and about both parties).

Has the face of Babylon ever been so transparent in any candidate, ever? But no! we remain fixated on Socialism as if that were the worst enemy!! Maybe we should take time to review what God had to say about each.¹⁰

It seems far too many don't care to honestly inform themselves about the truth of their tragic state of the Union, both to the right and to the left. Do we really think that a choice between two great evils is really a choice??

_________________________/
*The “stupid” quotes are from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/stupidity.html and http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/stupidity. Here are a few extra:
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. ―Albert Einstein
“Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.” ―Jim Butcher, Vignette
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” ―George Carlin
“The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.”―Harlan Ellison
“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” ―Margaret Atwood, Surfacing
“This cures everything except stupidity, which is an epidemic on the rise.” ―Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Angel's Game
“It is only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves.” ―Franz Kafka
“The earth is a great piece of stupidity.” ―Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” ―Napoleon Bonaparte
An American prophet even wrote this observation to a newspaper editor in 1833:

Mr. Editor:—Sir, … For some length of time I have been carefully viewing the state of things, as it now appears, throughout our Christian land; and have looked at it with feelings of the most painful anxiety. While upon one hand I behold the manifest withdrawal of God's Holy Spirit, and the veil of stupidity which seems to be drawn over the hearts of the people; upon the other hand, I behold the judgments of God that have swept, and are still sweeping hundreds and thousands of our race, and I fear unprepared, down to the shades of death. With this solemn and alarming fact before me, I am led to exclaim, "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night." … I think that it is high time for a Christian world to awake out of sleep, and cry mightily to that God, day and night, … (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Deseret Book Co., 1976, 13.)

1. ▪ How Washington is trying to stop daily street harassment of women by Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News posted May 22, 2016, 5:00 AM ET at http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/women-harassment-washington-1.3587568?cmp=rss&cid=news-digests-canada-and-world-morning
▪ Catcalling happens to most women between the ages of 11 and 17 by Radhika Sanghani, 9:50 AM BST, 29 May 2015 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11637697/Catcalling-Women-sexually-harassed-on-the-street-from-puberty.html
▪ BuzzFeed writer’s harassment just the latest example of why Twitter is broken for women by Shane Dingman - Technology Reporter, The Globe and Mail, Published Monday, Feb. 22, 2016 6:25 PM EST) at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/harassment-of-buzzfeeds-koul-shows-how-twitter-is-broken-for-women/article28845004/
▪ Harassment at work: 52% of women report bullying by Katrina Bishop, Wednesday, 2 Apr 2014 | 9:22 AM ET at http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/02/harassment-at-work-50-of-women-report-bullying.html
▪ Workplace Sexual Harassment at http://www.aware.org.sg/training/wsh-site/14-statistics/
▪ Twitter Is Bringing In Reinforcements to Help Fix its Harassment Problem by Valentina Zarya, February 9, 2016, 1:34 PM EDT at http://fortune.com/2016/02/09/twitter-online-harassment/
▪ Sexual harassment toward female sports reporters is far too common at http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/08/16/female-sports-reporters-sexual-harassment-norwood-teague-rio-olympics-ryan-seacrest
▪ Thousands protest violence against women in Argentina after 3 girls slain, The Associated Press, posted Jun 03, 2016 11:59 PM ET at http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/argentina-niunamenos-protests-violence-women-1.3616373?cmp=rss&cid=news-digests-canada-and-world-morning
▪ See also footnote 4 below.
2. ORIGINAL QUOTE: “A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.” ―Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy
3. ▪ University of Toronto Dumps Transgender Bathrooms After Peeping Incidents by Pardes Seleh at http://www.dailywire.com/news/330/university-toronto-dumps-transgender-bathrooms-pardes-seleh
▪ University Of Toronto Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Reduced After Voyeurism Reports, The Huffington Post Canada by Jessica Chin, posted 10/06/2015 5:43 pm EDT at http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/06/u-of-t-bathrooms-voyeurism_n_8253970.html
▪ See also: The Case Against Fully Shifting To Gender Neutral Bathrooms at http://socawlege.com/the-case-against-fully-shifting-to-gender-neutral-bathrooms/
4. ▪ Sexual assault in the United States military at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault_in_the_United_States_military
▪ Sexual assault in the Canadian Forces at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault_in_the_Canadian_Forces
▪ Military sex assault and misconduct investigations increase in 2015 by Murray Brewster, CBC News, posted May 24, 2016, 5:00 AM ET at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-sex-assault-misconduct-canadian-forces-1.3592501?cmp=rss&cid=news-digests-canada-and-world-morning
▪ More women alleging harassment want to join lawsuit against RCMP by Natalie Clancy, CBC News, posted May 31, 2015, 2:00 PM PT at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/more-women-alleging-harassment-want-to-join-lawsuit-against-rcmp-1.3089534
▪ RCMP's recent history of harassment, abuse and discrimination by John Paul Tasker, CBC News, posted Feb 18, 2016, 7:27 PM ET at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-sexual-harassment-history-1.3453413
5. ▪ Internet pornography by the numbers; a significant threat to society at http://www.webroot.com/ca/en/home/resources/tips/digital-family-life/internet-pornography-by-the-numbers
“The societal costs of pornography are staggering. The financial cost to business productivity in the U.S. alone is estimated at $16.9 Billion annually; but the human toll, particularly among our youth and in our families, is far greater. ¶ According to Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D, psychologist and former Deputy Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary, “two recent reports, one by the American Psychological Association on hyper-sexualized girls, and the other by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy on the pornographic content of phone texting among teenagers, make clear that the digital revolution is being used by younger and younger children to dismantle the barriers that channel sexuality into family life. ¶ Pornography hurts adults, children, couples, families, and society. Among adolescents, pornography hinders the development of a healthy sexuality, and among adults, it distorts sexual attitudes and social realities. In families, pornography use leads to marital dissatisfaction, infidelity, separation, and divorce.”
▪ Pornography Statistics: Annual Report 2015 at http://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/
6. A meme is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme
7. Psychopaths: http://dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2014/10/public-enemy-1.html
http://dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2014/05/a-plague-of-psychopaths.html
http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2014/12/without-conscience.html
http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2014/12/the-pity-ploy.html
8. Colbert Tests Trump’s Claim About The Cost Of Gender Neutral Bathrooms at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colbert-tests-trumps-claim-about-the-cost-of-gender-neutral-bathrooms_us_57471210e4b0dacf7ad41abf
9. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle ~ Quote: The Peter principle is a concept in management theory formulated by Laurence J. Peter in which the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence."
10. Do your own research, but you can begin here: http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2014/12/deception-inc.html ; or here http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/search/label/Socialism