tweet of the day:
Ross Douthat@DouthatNYTHas there been any investigation into the possibility that this Republican primary season is actually a Kobayashi Maru simulation?
via Betsy'sPage
Heh. Except of course the reporters obviously is not a Trekkie.
The Kobiyashi Maru incident was a test, where students at the StarTrekAcademy were placed in a "lose/lose" scenerio. The test was to see how they responded to stress.
But one James T Kirk became legendary as the only student who won the test: He reprogramed the computer.
as Driscoll at Instapundit noted
Perhaps, considering that the Kobayashi Maru simulation was bested by an oversexed chubby man in garish attire with a gigantic ego and a not-entirely-lifelike coiffure who went on to conquer the galaxy, in what could turn out to be an eerie bit of foreshadowing.Heh.
But real geeks know that when Kirk faced a "lose/lose" incident in reality, he also passed: The Corbomite Maneuver
the famous line is:
Mr. Spock compares the situation to a game ofchess: "In chess, when one player is outmatched, the game is over." He regrets to having no logical answer. Kirk, inspired by his argument with McCoy, replies that the solution is not chess, but poker. He bluffs, telling Balok that the Enterprisecontains Corbomite, a protective substance that automatically destroys any attacker.so what do you do when faced with a no win situation? You play poker...This was what Truman and Eisenhower did when confronted with a very aggressive Soviet Union in the 1950's.
It was called "Mutually assured destruction" AKA "MAD"...
this drove the pacifists crazy, and even the US Catholic bishops called at one point for "unilateral disarmament". Because they didn't really believe that those millions killed by Stalin/Mao etc really made these regimes worse than an "evil" USA, whose faults were openly proclaimed so good people could fix them, not hidden by those in charge or by the "useful idiots" in the west.
In other words, the evils done behind the Iron curtain were ignored, because the "pacifist" movement was filled with dupes who shouted the talking points, in the same way we see "conspiracy theories" taking over late night talk shows and the internet: Tell the lie often enough and people will believe it, and you can make money (never mind the truth, or that the really evil folks out there are laughing at your ignorance).
there is nothing new under the sun:
The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
Today we see this not only in the trumpetts, but more openly in the BLM or Occupy movements (and they may be more dangerous, because their talking points were taken up by the press without any critical analysis: the same press who decided that the TeaParty were white racists and ignored their concerns.)
So if I despise the PC activists, it is because I saw this one sided blindness to evil back then, and now
when I see what is happening now that their agenda, and what is happening when their beloved Nobel Peace prize winning president is actually basing his decisions on the talking points of the 1970's (i.e. America is evil. Remove America and we will have utopia).
Hence the resurgence of China stealing land that has been Filipino for 300 years, and the resurgence of Islamic terrorism, and of course, the fact that Russia is now seen as defender of the innocent in Syria.
In the US elections, what is going on is the revolt of the plebes. Well, as JFK said: If you don't let the moderates have a say, the radicals take over. Hence Trump.
No, it is not really the "kobiyashi maru" solution by those who are being ignored by their "betters".
But it might be the fact that they are voting for one who might be able to solve an "unwinnable" situation.
If the plebes choosing Trump, it might be because they see him as a pragmatic winner, like Ulysses of old...(both JTKirk in Startrek and Trump in real life are pragmatic tricksters) Trump has more in common with Ulysses than with Agamemnon (Hillary) or Hector (Cruz/Bernie etc).
Of course, if you know that story, Ulysses did survive everything thrown after him (but his entire crew died. OOPS).
ah but the press is still using fake polls to smear them plebes. But when the blogosphere is able to point out the small print, don't expect to get away with it:
Also from Instapundit: HEH: David Mastio: Think Trump’s troopers are racist? Don’t be so smug:
Goofy poll cited by ‘New York Times’ reveals 29% of African-Americans aren’t sure Emancipation Proclamation was a good idea. 40% of Hispanics agree
I tend to support Bernie, but the dirty little secret is that socialism doesn't work, because those running businesses will vote with their feet, and the (lower and middle class) workers who work hard see their salaries decimated by taxes to support the leisure class (e.g. rich students who got in debt studying useless subjects at expensive colleges, instead of going to community or state colleges or night school like the rest of us)
I know: I should talk. I am living on social security.
No comments:
Post a Comment