A TALE OF HOPE FOR A DOG WAGGING ITS TAIL

A TALE OF HOPE FOR A DOG WAGGING ITS TAIL 
By Andy Weddington
Wednesday, 07 March 2018

How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg. Abraham Lincoln

The book presently capturing some of my task time and nearly all my thinking time is 'Thinking Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman. 

A single sentence, a quote, from well over a week ago haunts.

"The emotional tail wagging the rational dog."

Those seven words by behavioral psychologist Jonathan Haidt summarize his assessment of a parameter of (human) thinking and decision-making. 

But the thought strikes me as more important. 

It summarizes our present national mind state. 

To point ...


Weeks before the 2012 election President Barack Obama was caught on a hot mic telling a Russian diplomat he'd have more flexibility after the election. And the Russian replied he'd relay that message to Mr. Putin.

I did not make that up. It is fact. Rational. It happened. 

Media et al., emotionally wagging their tail for President Obama, for all intents and purposes ignored the conversation.

To what flexibility was President Obama referring?

His opponent, Mitt Romney, stated Russia was the greatest threat to America. 

President Obama scoffed and laughingly mocked Mr. Romney.

Four years later things (but not the Russia dynamic) change. 

A long shot wins our presidency. 

And all of the sudden Russia is Enemy #1 and our new President is accused of colluding with the red nemesis.

But there's a problem. 

Not an iota of evidence supports the allegations.

And certainly there are not words, uttered by the accused, captured via hot mic. 

Rational folks, dogs, accept the facts.

Emotional folks, tails, cannot accept the facts. 

And they are wagging the dog.

The question: Why is the stupid dog succumbing to the ignorant tail?

One (tangential) thought is because our DOJ has yet to shift out of the partisan politics and meandering crime monitoring business back to their founding charge of blind law enforcement. 

I am sick and tired of hearing about the Russians and President Trump. 

Dammit dog, do the rational leg work (use all four) then wag your tail with emotion; a purpose amongst purposes.

Arrest and charge Barack Obama.

And pull the short hairs for the truth. 

That's rational not emotional.