My Writing Process: Beta Readers

Let's start with a definition: A beta reader reads a manuscript before it's published and furnishes the author with a report, suggesting changes to the text. I have always used them and always will. I consider them an integral part of my development process.

Right from the beginning, dating all the way back to 2013 with my first attempt at NaNoWriMo, I recognised I didn't know what I was doing and sought the help of others. Over the years, I've used the platform Fiverr to find people. From the acknowledgements of my first novel:

Beta readers: they are too numerous to mention, but I sincerely thank each and every one of them. They pointed out things I didn’t see or couldn’t see. I wear glasses, however it turns out I’m myopic literally and literarily.

I can't say if I suffer from tunnel vision any more than the next guy - I can't see the forest for the trees. - but I remain delighted, surprised, and sometimes shocked by the ideas people bring to the table. Holy cow! I never thought of that!

For my last book, done through NaNoWriMo, I started with an outline of what I wanted to achieve and proudly crossed the finish line within the month of November, my required fifty thousand ending at fifty-one thousand. But then I started beta reads. The first few said, "I see you did A, B, C. But did you think about D, E, and F?" I made changes. The next group brought up G, H, and I. And so, I keep going, gradually going through the entire alphabet to Z. I couldn't get over how person after person brought up interesting ideas I incorporated into the text. In the end, my text was seventy-six thousand words, a substantial increase from my NaNoWriMo goal. Obviously, my original plan was incomplete for a complete novel. Hats off to all those people.

The Good and the Bad
Not all beta readers are the same. I maintain a list of who and when with an indicator of the quality of their work. Some I mark "use again", while some I mark as "NO", emphasis with all caps. Years ago, comically enough, one beta reader gave me a report which consisted of, "I liked your book." That was it, four words, nothing more.

However, some are terrific, delivering a detailed report and some providing inline comments. Those people have put in hours of work, and I always give them a substantial tip. They deserve it.

In between those two extremes, there is quite a variety of quality and style. However, I study their reaction to judge if I've imparted my message. I get something out of each beta read which guides me in making further edits to my text. Is any text ever perfect?

They hate it.
The first time this happened, I was unsure of what I was reading. Was my manuscript that bad? After some reflection, I concluded the reader was not critiquing my work. They did not just dislike it; they hated it. Yes, hated it. A couple advised me to throw out my manuscript and start over with another story. They hated the very idea of my story. Obviously, they didn't see anything as salvageable.

I still laugh about one hater who took exception to the first line of my novel. The first line? It wasn't as if I had written some purple prose like, "It was a dark and stormy night." I thought my line was, well, a first line. Not bad, maybe not terrific, just utilitarian in introducing the opening scene. It was not something anybody could declare right off the bat as unworthy. Obviously, the reader came to the table with some preconceived notion about my book.

I will now break into a Taylor Swift song: "And haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

Feedback
Somewhere, I read about movies first being presented to test audiences who are required to fill out a questionnaire. Then, based on those responses, the film is edited in the hopes of getting a more acceptable form.

I'm sure there are authors out there who have a fully formed story in their head and can sit down and type the whole thing out. I'm not that good. Heck, I'm not anywhere near that good. I may have an initial idea, even an outline, but putting ideas on paper may change what I intended to say and even reveal new ideas. But then, a beta reader has a different understanding of what I'm saying, which shows me I have failed to communicate my ideas.

It's been an amusing undertaking trying to be a writer. English may be my native language, but I discovered my ability to present a clear, logical, well-articulated story was lacking. I may be better than when I first start over ten years ago, but I still see mistakes that seem to be ingrained in me. Old habits die hard.

My editing process
As of this writing, I've published three novels and four small collections of short stories. - I write short stories and submit them to webzines for publication. After I've done a number of them, I gather them together and publish them myself as a short story collection. - In each of those books, I've followed the same procedure:

1. Write the book.
2. Edit.
3. Beta reads.
4. Two copy edits.
5. Poofread.

To expand on the above:

When I edit my own work, since I use Microsoft Word, I use the built-in spelling and grammar checker. That's a good place to start. From there, I make use of an online computerised system called ProWritingAid. I've tried Grammarly. It's good, but it's limited to five thousand words. ProWritingAid can handle a manuscript of a hundred thousand words or more. It warns you that it's going to take time to digest such the manuscript but at least it can handle it.

I'm not saying a computerised program is the be-all and end-all, but I find the system does a good job of bringing to my attention a variety of mechanical problems and stylistic issues. It helps me tighten my prose. I can babble, overusing certain words and phrases. Why say in ten words which you can say in a hundred? Ha!

Why two copy edits: In the beginning somebody told me they had heard Harlequin did two copy edits for their romances. I noted one editor did not necessarily find all the potential issues. One editor might find A, B, C, but the next editor might find A, B, and D. As humans, we're not perfect.

Why a proofread: I received a proof copy of my first book. Ooooo, it felt magical to hold it in my hand. I opened in up to a random page and started reading. In the very first paragraph, I found a spelling mistake. Ahhhh! I then combed through the entire novel and found another seven spelling errors. That convinced me, and I hired a proofreader. They found fifteen errors. Ahhh, again!

Despite the Microsoft Word spell and grammar checker, ProWritingAid, and two copy edits, mistakes get overlooked. My research has indicated that even with a proofread, on average, there may still be a number of spelling mistakes in any manuscript. Obviously, perfection is more of an unattainable ideal.

Inline Comments
Not everybody offers this service. Obviously, it's involved and takes time. However, I like these notes pointing to specific issues in my text. A report can give me the reader's general impression of my manuscript, and that's a good thing. But sometimes, they have a particular concern, and I find it much easier to focus on that concern when they introduce a comment in the document pointing to the place in question. I always note if a beta reader does inline comments so for my next project, I can preferentially choose them.

Cost
As I said, I use the service Fiverr. A beta read of a short story can cost $15 - $20 CAD. (I'm Canadian.) I aim for under $100 for a novel. There are other people offering services at higher prices, but it's been my experience the quality of the work does not necessarily go up proportionally with the price. Your mileage may vary.

Is all this necessary? Years ago, I had an email exchange with another indie writer. He thought I spent too much money on outside editing. I later noted in comments on Amazon for his books, people giving fewer stars complaining about sloppy editing, including spelling mistakes and grammar errors. So, is it worth it? I can't help feeling the reader deserves at least to have the mechanics of writing in the best shape possible.

Subjective
When I first started studying the topic of editing and working with editors, I learned about the objective part of writing: spell check, grammar check, maintaining a POV (Point Of View), limited the use of adverbs (rule: one adverb for every 300 words), dispensing with filler words like very and just, etc. The list can go on and on, but my point here is that objectively, a misspelled word is something that needs to be corrected.

Now, we get into the subjective: every person has an opinion; they have their own personal taste. It's not so much being wrong; it's more what that person likes.

Years ago, I submitted a SciFi short story to two webzines. Both publications rejected the work, but how they rejected it was curious. The first editor wrote back, "Too much action, not enough characterization." The second editor wrote "Too much characterization, not enough action." I think this was a defining moment in my understanding that I can't please every reader. Some will like a story, some will not. It's not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the story, rather a question of their own taste. I've had stories rejected by one editor only to have it enthusiastically accepted by the next. It's a question of personal preference.

Beta readers have revealed in passing a bit about their work. Some have complimented me on my spelling and grammar. Some have complimented the quality of my writing, saying they have had to read some real sh*t. Now, I'm not patting myself on the back, but I'm recognizing that me doing Microsoft Word's spell and grammar checker, using ProWritingAid to clean up my text, etc., may very well be more preliminary work than some beta readers are used to. As I keep saying: If I'm going to put my name on it, I don't want to embarrass myself. While I have to write the story, I also have an obligation to edit it. A beta reader or even an editor for that matter can only do so much. The final decision about editing rests with me.

Let me add that while I appreciate their work, I do not envy their work. I have on occasion read indie publications, and they were appalling. In the References section below, I link to my article about marketing, discovering that some legitimate publishers categorically refuse to look at self-published authors because they are, for the most, terrible. Despite my editing efforts, even paying for professional help, I've come to accept I have an uphill battle as an indie author because the word indie is, in some circles, synonymous with bad.

Final Word
The prolific Belgian author George Simenon wrote over 400 books. I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing his manuscripts were so well formed, they required little editing before publication. On the other hand, I've heard stories of authors, famous ones I mean, agonising over a manuscript for years.

Somewhere, I saw a quote from an author of some renown (the name escapes me) who said that he hoped nobody ever saw his first drafts. Ha! I can identify with that!

Beta readers are a fundamental part of my development process. Another set of eyes gives me much needed feedback about hitting my target. I reminded of this amusing quotation:

"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
Attributed to Robert McCloskey, U.S. State Department spokesman,
by Marvin Kalb, CBS reporter, in TV Guide, 31 March 1984,
citing an unspecified press briefing during the Vietnam war.

References

my blog: I wrote a book. So what? - Oct 24/2021
I clicked on the Publish button on September 22, 2016. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup." I'm sitting here, five years later, realising, "So, what?"

my blog: Marketing My Writing: So far, a bust! - Sep 26/2023
I'll start with the classic joke: Look at what I've done, and now do the exact opposite, the supposition being that what I'm doing is wrong. I published my first book on September 22, 2016, and so far, any efforts on my part to market my work has been a bust. Research had turned up an article claiming that indie authors earn on average about $500 a year, and I'd say that just about describes my situation.

2025-01-19

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I turn 73 later this year. The end is in sight.

I'm sure such a title could make somebody think this is another weepy personal story about a person trying to come to grips with their mortality and obsessing about the end of it all. Life is what it is, and death is an integral part of the human experience. There's nothing we can do about it; our only choice is to accept it. So, what else is there to say?

First off, I'm not obsessing about this. I recognise it is there, but I'm certainly not spending every day fretting over my demise. However, once in a while, I do take a moment to consider the inevitable.

About twenty years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with terrible cramps. It felt like I had to defecate. I went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. The next thing I knew, I was laid out on the floor. I had fainted and fallen off the seat. Fortunately, I had not hurt myself like whacking my head against the wall. I subsequently did some research and discovered this was not an unknown phenomenon. It had never happened to me before, but it has never happened again, so this was a strange one-off, not a sign of some underlying condition requiring medical attention.

I remembered sitting on the toilet. After that, nothing. It was a complete blank.

That's how I imagine death.

Over the years, I've liked to say I'm agnostic: I neither believe in God nor don't believe in God. I'm sitting in the middle; I suppose trying to leave all my options open. I've noted that many philosophers, theologians, and writers have tried to grapple with the question of our mortality. People like Blaise Pascal (Pascal's Wager) have argued there are more benefits to believing in God than not believing in Him. Who's right? Obviously, we have no way of knowing, so debating the issue will never conclusively prove things one way or another. And so, we should talk about the benefits of the here and now; the benefits while we are alive.

It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us.
-Peter De Vries, "The Mackerel Plaza," 1958

I've never read Mr. De Vries' book but was stunned by the implications of this quote. God isn't an entity; God is an idea. And it comes back to the benefits of God while we're alive.

I've thought long and hard about fainting. Suddenly, I stopped thinking. Suddenly, I ceased to exist as a conscious human being. I can't help feeling dying is going to be the same thing. I will stop thinking. The neurons will stop firing and the synapses which define my personality, my thinking, my logic, etc. will cease to exist. I will become nothing.

Here's where we run into God, Heaven, the afterlife. How can anybody conceive of nothing? How can the lack of anything be defined as something? From what I understand, some early cultures had no concept of zero and had no symbol to write that particular idea. Thinking of the De Vries quotation above, would anyone invent God out of an inability to imagine nothing? We must think of something. I'm discussing fainting in terms of having regained consciousness and being able to think about it. What if I had not regained consciousness?

Science explains that our body's cells are replaced. The person we are today is not the person we were yesterday, or last week, or when we were two years old. Fat cells are replaced every ten years, but the cells of the inner lining of the small intestine are replaced every week. The lining of the stomach changes every five days and red blood cells change every 120 days. The neurons of our brains do not divide, so this is more complicated. They may die off, but under certain circumstances, other brain cells will become neurons. The point is that we exist independent of our physical self.

Science fiction has presented us with the concept of teleportation. Our atoms are disassembled in one place and reassembled in another. Those atoms are not the same. The cells are not the same. However, the configuration of the neurons and the synapses are the same, and consequently, our consciousness is the same. SciFi is echoing the real-world situation of our current cell replacement by saying we exist independently of our physical self.

But I have a curious observation. I have a reading light beside my desk. It casts light across the desk and the entire room. Periodically, the bulb burns out. I click the switch, nothing happens, and I have to replace the bulb. The light bulb still exists, the glass, the filament, etc., it just no longer lights up. I throw it out, get a new one, and life goes on. The concept of light continues to exist even though the physical part of light - the blub - changes.

Regrets I have a few
This is where I burst into song à la Sinatra. I've been given to understand that older people tend to reminisce, reflecting on their lives, and assessing what they've done. I have regrets. But I also have things I'm embarrassed about. Stupid is as stupid does. Hold my drink. Fortunately, some things get buried in the past, fade with time, and memories forget. We are not forgiven; we are forgotten. Any 12-step program would advise to make amends, but sometimes the circumstances never present themselves, and it ends up not being a question of making amends with somebody you've wronged but somehow forgiving yourself and moving on. We carry our baggage around with us for the rest of our lives, and it can be a heavy load.

I'm tired.
Uncle Bill lived until he was 101 years old. Quite a feat. However, he said to me on more than one occasion to not live beyond 85. A curious statement. But when I thought about it, 85 was when his physical problems started becoming overwhelming. Incontinence, macular degeneration in his left eye, inoperable cataract in the right eye leaving him with 50% vision, slow developing cancer in his right hip causing chronic pain, overall weakness of mobility requiring a motorized scooter. If you have quality of life, quantity of life can be a good thing. But when quality of life goes down, quantity then becomes more a question of stamina than enjoyment. If you remain healthy, why not continue? But if you're not healthy, you don't want to continue.

I've heard of the idea of being spiritually tired, lacking a will to live. I'm sure our physical condition plays a part in this, but I can also see us being unable to see how to navigate life. I've come to realise there's a part of me that thinks, "I'm looking forward to this being over." I'm not suggesting anything as dramatic as being suicidal, it's more a question of lifting a weight.

In 20 days, I will be celebrating seven years of retirement. - Congratulations to me. - Two weeks ago, I had lunch with an old colleague from work. We talked about the company, the current status of work, and the trials and tribulations of the business. I'm glad I'm out. The pressure never stops. Just as soon as you complete one thing, something else pops up. It never ends. At one point in my life, it seemed like a challenge. Now, it seems like an overwhelming burden. There seems to be no sense of achievement, for a new mountain to climb is just around the next corner. It never stops.

We become our parents; I'm turning into Uncle Bill. I have health issues at the age of 72. What am I going to be like when I'm 82? Heck, what am I going to be like when I'm 73? I've had some unpleasant surprises in the past ten years which now make me worry about every ache and pain. Is this a sign of some bigger issue?

Politics worries me, angers me, and exhausts me. I should stop paying attention. I should stop writing about it. I should give up and be ready to blithely say "Que sera sera" when they blow up the world. I sit here shaking my head; I can't believe what's going on. We are the authors of our own fate. I mention this because I feel powerless. We're all in the same boat, and I worry those people over there are going to sink the boat and take me with them. Kill yourself if you want, but I would suggest - no, I will demand you don't kill me too. Unfortunately, I'm powerless and can't do anything about any of this. I can only try to stay out of the line of fire.

"The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
-Thucydides (460–395 BC), Greek historian, general (The Peloponnesian War)

I had lunch with a friend a while back, celebrating our mutual milestone of 72 years of age. We joked that we were getting out just in time, that is, our lives were ending before they inadvertently, or should I say stupidly, take the Earth out in one final blaze of glory. Or is it gory? The next generation is in for a ride.

Final Word
I'm agnostic. I can't say with 100% that God exists or doesn't exist. But I have suspicions, and I suspect there's nothing. Never mind nothing being inconceivable, nothing also seems pointless. What is the purpose of the whole thing if in the end there's nothing? It doesn't seem like we've achieved anything, and that doesn't seem satisfying. Do I invent the afterlife because I'm dissatisfied with nothing?

I've jokingly said that when the end comes, I'm going to be on my knees, weeping for forgiveness, just like anybody else. I can write these words on a calm afternoon, sitting at my desk while sipping a comforting cup of coffee, but that doesn't mean anything I say now is going to provide whatever psychological or spiritual support I'll need when I take my final breath. Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned. Pshaw. In the grand scheme of things, I am more insignificant than a grain of sand on the beach.

The bulb burns out. Throw it in the trash (recycling) and replace it. And replace it with something better: LED for incandescent.

I'm sure whoever comes after me - sure? I hope whoever comes after me will not make my mistakes, will be more successful, and will achieve more. That won't be as big a deal as you may think. I'm just average. That's pretty easy to equal and not difficult to surpass. Old joke: If you get out of bed in the morning, you're ahead of half the world.

As I look back on it all, I can't help feeling I've really not done much. I was born, I've lived, and I will die. If I hadn't been born, it would have had no effect on the world at all. I think I've wasted my opportunity. In retrospect, I was pretentious. I thought I was destined for greatness while it's turned out I've been at best ordinary. No Nobel Prize, no Oscar, no Pulitzer. Heck, not even a Guinness, but so far, luckily, not a Darwin.

My father was a good man. I'm sure anyone would say he was an ordinary man, but he was a good man. I've come to realise being good is quite the accomplishment. I have not always been good. In these later years, I try to make up for it, but when I look back on my life, I see a wasted opportunity. I could have done a much better job and accomplished more. Oh, well. This is where I joke, "Next time!"

2025-01-13

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MAGA and Abortion

Same sh*t, different day. There really isn't much point in discussing this topic as I've said it all before. One of the reasons I stopped writing here was because I began to realize I could take an article from several years ago, copy and paste it into a new article, change a few dates, and have a new posting. In other words, we are all dealing with the same issues; it seems like nothing has changed. However, I did think I ran across two points worth noting.

Anti-abortion
C is a long-standing friend. We normally don't talk about politics, but it has come up a few times and I've learned he's Republican, and I'm suspicious he's MAGA.

In a discussion about abortion, he said this: He and his wife had a beautiful daughter. His daughter had beautiful grandchildren. In light of the beauty these births brought into his life, he could never be pro-choice.

That sums it up quite nicely. People see the world through the lens of their own experiences and can't imagine anything else. C can't picture any circumstances where an abortion would be justified. Time and time again, I've seen pro-life advertisements with the picture of a smiling baby, usually a white baby by the way, as if every gestation is destined to wind up in a similar fashion. Since Roe vs. Wade was overturned, as of this writing, 17 states have banned or severely restricted abortion access. There have been numerous headlines of women dying because they were denied a life-saving abortion. And it appears those same states have banned or impeded any investigation into deaths attributable to their abortion laws.

So much for freedom. Pro-choice says have an abortion or don't have an abortion, it's your choice. Pro-life says we make the law, and nobody gets an abortion. Is it murder? I can't think of anybody other than a mother who loves a child, cares for it, and protects it with her own life. And yet, millions of women all over the world have abortions and do NOT feel they are committing murder. My body, my choice. Hello, Christian Taliban! I'm right and everybody else is wrong.

The Economy
In mid-2024 on Facebook, I got into a back and forth with a MAGA. He said the most important thing for him was the economy. I'm not sure why he thought t**** was gong to solve all our problems. However, he added that for him, abortion was an unimportant secondary issue. Economy first, nothing else matters.

How curious for a man to say abortion is not important. - Did I manage to write enough sarcasm into that statement? - Once again, people are only concerned with what's important to them, and they will ignore anything else, even voting against it because they're not affected by it.

I've seen a number of reports and interviews where MAGA women have said the economy was their most important concern, and they, too, would vote Republican essentially voting against their own sex. How curious.

A Personal Note
In 1937, abortion was illegal. My grandmother got pregnant for a third time and decided to have a backroom abortion. It was botched. She died. My mother lost her mother at the age of eight. My grandfather lost his wife. I lost the opportunity to ever meet my grandmother. I'm sure if she had had proper medical care, things would have gone well and she would have lived.

I posted this story here on my blog and somebody commented that my grandmother was a murderer and deserved to die. People can be cruel.

Final Word
I could go on but why bother. Nothing I say is going to have any effect one way or another. People are going to do what they're gong to do. Who cares who dies? Who cares about freedom? I'm right, and everybody else is wrong.

I started this blog in 2010 as my soapbox to spout off about what I think. We are quite literally talking about the same things. Nothing has changed.

References

my blog various artticle on abortion

my blog Pro-lifers are morally superior to the rest of us.
1,200 words, 6-minute read

Full disclosure: I'm a libtard, a badge I wear with great pride. To borrow from the 1960s hippies, I'm a peace, love, and understanding type of guy. And if you haven't guessed, I'm pro-choice but let me add a seeming contradiction: I, too, am anti-abortion. This is elective surgery and represents an unwanted pregnancy. If all babies arrived at the right time, if all pregnancies were wanted, nobody would have an abortion.

2025-01-10

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He Won.

I lost. We lost. Bigly. If you're a trumper, you can chuckle, gloat, and even yell Nah! Nah! Nah! Nah! Nah!, all while giving me the finger. F*ck my feelings.

As a libtard, one of those woke goodie two-shoes, I am forced to admit that at long last, you have finally owned me. Do what you will; you've got the keys to the car, and you can do anything you want. Well, let me be a bit more precise: you can do anything he wants, he referring to one Donald J. t****. It's his show. Not your show exactly, but you did vote for him, so I guess indirectly it's your show.

The people have spoken. I must accept their decision. To say anything else would make me look like a sore loser.

But I think this is a mistake. The people have spoken but they have made a mistake. As I've said elsewhere, the average voter is uninformed, knowing little or nothing about politics, their country, and how the world works. Their vote is based on gut instinct, not a thorough understanding of the issues. They vote according to the last sound bite, the last slogan, or the last meme which confirms their bias about the world. And as such, they vote against their own best interests, perpetuating the problems they love to complain about.

I must compliment the Republicans for being unified, organized, and relentless. Through sheer repetition, they have used their message to reshape reality to the point where a significant portion of the population think black is white, up is down, etc. The world has been so obfuscated, people no longer know what's going on, what's truly going on.

Freedom of Speech
My complaint isn't what some people say, it's that other people listen. There seems to be no critical thinking skills left anymore. People blindly repeat or repost whatever they hear out of some uncontrollable compulsion to be first with new information, all without assessing the veracity of what they're repeating.

At a family gathering, I hear a relative say that they had heard teachers are putting kitten litter boxes in classrooms so that students who identify as cats can take a leak. Think about that for a moment. Without doing any research, just by mulling over the possibility that any teacher, any educated, qualified, intelligent human being would agree to do such a socially unacceptable, absurd, and outright stupid thing in public. When I first heard this story, I dismissed it as the hyperbolic right-wing inflammatory rhetoric designed to enrage people into believing liberals have gone too far. I'm liberal and just because I'm liberal, I am no longer a reasonable human being but some sort of crazy person trying to undermine our society. I'm sorry. I may be liberal but I'm not f*cking insane!

Think about this. The enemy is no longer the Russians, the Chinese, or ISIS. It's your fellow Americans, your colleagues at work, your neighbors, or even members of your own family. Those woke, commie socialists want to destroy American and bring about the downfall of the Republic. Really? The other side of the aisle is evil personified, the anti-Christ.

Healthcare: The Concept of a Plan
While t****'s answer to having a plan was laughable, it does represent the Republican goal in the debate: the return to the way things were. Get rid of Obamacare and return to full-on capitalism: pre-existing conditions rejected, everyone has to pay, no freebies. Their plan is no plan; healthcare is a free market.

In the leadup to Obamcare in 2010, I read several analyses which determined up to fifty thousand people die each year due to a lack of health insurance. Because they couldn't afford preventative care, they waited until the situation was critical and consequently, fatal. If Republicans have their way, death will be the price to pay for profit. I don't believe those voting Republican understand what they voted for.

Tax Cuts
In 2017, t**** managed a $1.7 trillion tax cut, most of which, according to financial experts, went to the top 1%. He's promised to deliver another cut.

I pay approximately 30% in tax. At the start of the t**** presidency, corporation were paying 27%. The tax cut lowered their rate to 21%. The new promised tax cut would further lower the rate to 15%.

I pay 30%. Now, Republicans will explain trickle down, however, I can find no financial expert who agrees trickle down works. It's a myth. It would seem the only ones believing in trickle down are those benefiting from the tax cuts. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

2 + 2 = 4
I can't help feeling there's a "truth" in air quotes. It's not liberal; it's not conservative. It's not Republican or Democrat. If do the math, you arrive at the answer of four. That answer has nothing to do with political ideology. If you say the answer is five, I have to conclude you haven't done the math or you don't understand math.

My example of two plus two is simple, making easy for anybody to see my point. However, other issues are not so cut and dry. As I said above, I see a lack of critical thinking skills. Instead of recognizing one's ignorance, people go with what they know or what they've heard with no fact checking and jump to conclusions, usually erroneous conclusions. Old saying: If you can't properly assess an issue, how can you properly address it?

Project 2025
If you voted for t****, you didn't read this. Holy cow! You are not going to end up with what you think you'll get.

My New Reality
One day, I find myself in a China shop with a bull. At that particular moment, it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s right or wrong for the bull to be there; the fact is, it is there. It seems academic to ask how or why the bull ended up in the shop as I’m faced with the more important question of how to deal with the bull. It is a massive animal with great power. Like it or not, right here, right now, might is right. A bull is temperamental and can be capricious. I don’t want to get gored or trampled and will do my best to not get its attention. At some point, I will contemplate what I can do to not end up in such a predicament, but until then, I’m going to try to stay out of the line of fire. Maybe if I had a red cape, I could distract the animal and lead it out of the shop. Whatever the case, people are going to be hurt and that very well could include me.

I don't believe MAGA knows what it's doing. They're angry. And t**** and his minions like Fox News have manipulated them and got their anger focused on the Left. In fact, their angry has blinded them to the damage already wrought by t**** and the damage he's planning on doing.

Editorial Cartoon by Pat Bagley
(used without permission)

Final Word
I'm wasting my breath. My words fall on deaf ears. MAGA is gloating over their win without understanding the consequences of that win. And as I said in the meme above, by the time they figure out their mistake, it will be too late.

In the fall, I saw memes on social media saying that people voted for t**** because they were worried about the price of eggs. Already, t**** has said he can't lower the price of groceries. How soon before the voters have buyer's remorse?

Just today, I read an article talking about how the Democrats failed to capture the hearts and mind of the electorate, that they were not on message, that they were condescending to the deplorables, or whatever. How exactly do you campaign with a public who prides itself on being ignorant? How do you compete with Fox News and other right-wing sources who relentlessly repeat alternative facts to people who can't be bothered to fact check anything, oblivious to being manipulated?

I've wondered if smoking could be held up as a metaphor for politics. The science is overwhelming in proving tobacco to be detrimental to one's health and yet tens of millions continue to light up as cognitive dissonance sees them reject anything contradictory to their addiction. My own family smokes; some of them like chimneys. All I can do is try to stay away from their second-hand smoke. I can't stop them; I can't change their behaviour; but I must keep the peace by accepting their behaviour. Likewise, Republicans vote against their own best interests. All I can do is try to protect myself. People have to learn the hard way. I can only make sure that when they go down, they don't take me with them. Unfortunately, the idea of we all being in the same boat makes that just about impossible.



References

my blog: MAGA, Anger, and Critical Thinking - Dec 25/2023
If one thing has struck me over these past years, it's that MAGA is angry. Although, the word angry seems insufficient: livid, furious, raging, foaming at the mouth, I could go on but I'm trying to express that this anger is right off the charts. And because this anger is so out of control, I believe MAGA can no longer think straight. It's not about finding "the truth" in air quotes, it's about winning any and all arguments. I'm right, and everybody else is wrong. Evidence? Schmevidence! I don't have to prove anything because I'm right, and you're just a stupid sheeple!

my blog: Freedom of Speech, Jordan Peterson, and I believe therefore it's true. - Oct 20/2023
Never have so many knowing so little said so much.

Covid: What if the U.S. was like Canada? - Feb 3/2022
Comparing the death rate of Canada with the U.S. and its individual states as of February 3, 2022. I believe t**** and Ron DeSantis should be held criminally negligent for their handling of the Covid pandemic.

2025-01-05

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