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[orwell]

40. This is actually not new...

...my own very leftist brother has spouted this line. We have had arguments at family parties about this. I think this latest incursion has given him pause.

If you go to outlets like Democracy Now or websites like Counterpunch, listen to far left economists and political thinkers, like Hedges or Chomsky, there is an underlying desire for socialist/communist ideals. It has been there for decades. Some of them are simply incapable of recognizing any benefit from capitalism and/or free markets. That doesn't make everything they say wrong or right, but the information must be viewed with an understanding of the bias involved.

When you see yourself as a hammer, everything is a nail.

Most people bring their ideology to a cognitive frame and then try to force all the data (facts) to fit it, no matter how twisted they need to make the logical construction. When there is such a pure example of theory vs. reality (Socialist Putin invading a smaller country and inflicting civilian casualties) those that back him can see him blatantly operating counter to their theory/ideals, so they go into cognitive dissonance mode. My own brother rails against the 1% and lauds the spectacularly unsuccessful Occupy movement while being in the 1% himself. That is classic cognitive dissonance.

It's easy to be anti war until someone points a gun in your face...

In the end, there is no perfect system or viewpoint. They all have advantages and disadvantages. What tends to happen is systems fail when they become self reinforcing, when they "get high on their own supply." That is likely what is going on right now with Vlad the Inhaler and his inner circle.

That is not to say there is not truth. Data and observation inform truth, at least truth up to the limit of your observation. That is what science is for. That is why, in this era of false facts, duplicity, propaganda, infantile opinions, and situational morality, science, data, and facts are under constant attack.

In war, the first casualty is the truth...