The wisdom of madding
crowds
Never have we needed
a surfeit of expertise in these trying times, people who have not just an idea
of what they are talking about, but are ready, willing and patient enough to
take the time to inform and educate to the point that others begin to understand
and grasp the basic knowledge of things.
It’s been difficult
to navigate the deafening cacophony of those in captivity of the
Dunning-Kruger effect, those who have not even conspired to dilettantism that
enter the fray to pontificate and postulate as authorities in subjects where they
have no schooling but are so opinionated to the point that experts are
relegated to the inconsequential or forced into the feigned balance of pitching
their vocations against novices. Ultracrepidarianism
is rife.
Conspiring
conspiracies
With the Coronavirus
pandemic, the person we probably need most to shut is President Donald Trump,
he needs to get out of the way and let the experts take control. He speaks like
an idiot, spewing a multitude of jumbled words redolent of someone who has done
nothing in a long time to improve his faculties. [Jolted
by Her Own Illness, Pandemics Scholar Gains Insight into Botched COVID-19
Response - Scientific American]
Excerpted
from Scientific
American
Hitching a ride on
the Coronavirus bandwagon, 5G technology has now branched out into a deluge of
conspiracy theories promoted by every useful idiot from religious leaders
through politicians to celebrities.
I cannot begin to
repeat or perpetuate much of what I have read or heard, only that the ignorant
and illiterate have become willing hosts of propagating the contagion of
pseudo-science, fables and incredulous stupidity with property at risk of
destruction and possible loss of life and livelihood. They have become the
personification of a virus. [The
Coronavirus Collection: Conspiracy Theories – Snopes] [5G Conspiracy – Snopes]
The church online
I guess the only
respite I had was in the celebration of Palm Sunday, we have reached the end of
Lenten season and entered the Holy Week. Quite inauspiciously, we have now
completed 2 weeks of the intended 3-week lockdown to expire on Easter Monday. There
is a likelihood it would be extended. [Palm Sunday - Wikipedia]
The etymology of quarantine
is Venetian of the 14th to 15th Century spoken in the northeast
of present-day Italy, quarantena meaning 40 days anglicised to quarantine of
which the Lenten period is also 40 days. [Quarantine
– Wikipedia]
Yet, what a relief it
was that I would able to attend the online Palm Sunday eucharistic season of the
Manchester Cathedral, streamed life on Facebook from the homes of the clergy
presided over by the Dean of the cathedral. There is a daily morning (09:00)
and evening (16:30) prayer service streamed live too. [Manchester Cathedral –
Facebook]
Experts of mercy
In a week suffused
with the excess of illusory superiority, hubris, and cognitive dissonance
almost presenting as schizophrenia, here were people not given to the eschatological
incomprehensibility of those of another creed, but with humility, patience,
service and love for their congregation led us in worship, adoration, and
celebration of the day.
Was I glad to see so
many clerical collars? We must be thankful for small mercies. In other news, I
joined the Labour Party on the 19th of January, the day before the
close of eligibility to elect a new leader. That contest is over, and Sir Keir
Starmer was elected, my choice for deputy leader came second. It is my hope
that the Labour Party that I have voted for since 1992 now has the opportunity
of becoming a party of government after 4 straight electoral losses. I wish Sir
Keir, every success. [BBC
News]
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