Neuro: Meme, 2 steps vs. 1, and disingenuity...
Nice set of pre-election (anything-to-help-Al-Gore-get-elected) figures from the Clinton News Network, Meme. But let's see how everything pans out worldwide, shall we?
Oh, yes, Neuro, and may I say that's a neat piece of spinism on your own part, since we all know that the original challenge was to come up with figures for this country, and not the whole world.
And it's not as if you haven't stooped to doing this before, either. You do it just often enough to keep it familiar, but just infrequently enough to make finding the last instance of it a pointless effort. Disingenuity even underlies much, if not most, of your self-described 'humor' (Well! I didn't realize you completely lacked a sense of humor and satire! Obviously, I was mistaken!!)
The real point (and I do have one, once I remove the MM ears) is that trying to go by the figures for one country, or even the whole planet, makes as much sense as saying that my brother could outshoot Tiger Woods, because during one week in 1967, he shot five eagles in a space of three days, and once made an ace on a par-4 without even being able to see the green. You have to take the very longest of views to see just how far you've come.
A million years ago, we were just learning to endure the backache we got when we walked upright for the sake of seeing what was coming. Today, we can put paraplegics back on their feet.
A hundred thousand years ago, everyone was wiry, ate mainly grains and fruits, had to be able to run like hell, and until they caught a communicable disease, got injured, or fell to a predator, were reasonably 'healthy'. Today, the majority of things that fell us in this most-First of worlds are maladies of plenty and diseases of insufficient exercise.
Ten thousand years ago, fire was high technology, and we all knew enough to get out of the way of a forest fire. Today, the only conflagrations we appreciate are the ones we create, and we still haven't learned to respect fire for the cleanser it is, and not the adversary it isn't.
A thousand years ago, the Ages were Dark, but monasteries kept a candle burning in the window. Today, we know why stars light up, but many have yet to awaken from a long night of the spirit.
Five hundred years ago, men and women were being burned at the stake for consorting with the Devil. Today, they're being vilified for keeping company with gods.
Ninety years ago, people spoke of the approach of the Human Millenium. Eighty years ago, after a world war and pandemic, they made note of a Lost Generation.
Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan was "The Great Communicator", and everyone wanted to find AIDS "Patient Zero". Today, we know that a good deal of that avuncular charm was the early onset of Alzheimer's, and we're counting up to Patient One Billion.
It's all in the perspective.
I'll take today, though.
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