Mythomania and Idiocracy

Mythomania is a term to describe an abnormal or pathological tendency to exaggerate or tell lies. 

We immediately imagine Donald Trump's picture next to this word in the dictionary, but while he may be the poster boy for this pathology, many of his supporters display the same character flaw.

The November Presidential election provides a good example of how this inability to accept disagreeable facts is manifested.

In Trump's mind, he is a winner.  He never loses, even when he loses.  Forget all those failed businesses (casinos, airline, university, et al.).  They were part of the winning.   He is incapable of admitting to being wrong. He will never apologize for anything.  Why should he?  

Sensible persons recognize that all humans are subject to error (even your humble blogger), and that occasionally, we need to admit our mistakes.  Generally, we subscribe to Swift's famous observation - "To err is human..." - and we can realistically forgive ourselves for an occasional error.

But what if a person cannot admit error?  What psychosis allows them to be blind to unpleasant facts?  I guess it is the same chemical imbalance that convinces the resident of the loony bin to maintain that he is Napoleon.  Logic cannot fix crazy.

 Trump followers are likewise convinced, so much so that they would support overturning  the results (tossing out the legitimate votes) based on an unsubstantiated belief that the evil Democrats have committed  massive fraud.  That is not Democracy, folks.  It's Idiocracy.

Thud!

I have been writing on Blogger since 2003, and it has always mystified me that Blogger/Google has provided storage space free to any moron who can figure out how to post text.  The service does not require the author to make the blog public or to include advertising.  So why do they do it?

For years,  I've been wondering when the next shoe would drop.  Yesterday, I got a message that Blogger "no longer supports [my] browser," which happens to be Microsoft's Internet Explorer.  Hmm.

Somewhere, I heard the thud of a size 12 brogan hitting the floor.

The message suggested that I start using the Google (Blogger's parent) Chrome browser.  And sure enough, I had problems accessing the editing features for blogger posts until I caved-in and downloaded Chrome.

I fear we will be seeing more of this sort of extortion in the future, as the competition between Google and Microsoft becomes more intense and forces users to "choose a side."  This competition may keep the act of blogging to remain free for a while longer, but eventually someone has to pay....

I recall the early years, when Cable providers assured the public that "Pay TV" would be commercial free.  How's that working-out?  Most  cable and "free" TV today is unwatchable - unless you have a DVR and can skip through the commercial breaks.    Even "commercial-free" PBS is loaded with sponsored blurbs - which thankfully are run between shows and not in the middle of them.

I find it unsettling that most futuristic visions from Hollywood and in print literature portray a tomorrow that is either post-apocalyptic ( e.g., "The Road",  "Book of Eli")  or a society dominated by commercial advertising ( e.g. "Idiocracy", "I Robot").    

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Daddy always said: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!