Hi reader,
Part one is here, part two is below.
As always - good luck.
******
BB: OK... we're back!
TOA: I can't believe it.
BB: It's time. Let's get to business.
TOA: OK, how?
BB: Like I was saying last time, several times, before being rudely interrupted, if we have a ballot we have to debate-
TOA: Nobody has to debate.
BB: We do, this is America, in America you debate, even if only because a debate is the one time we can talk about the same thing, at the same time, under the same conditions.
TOA: So what?
BB: So that means we understand each other, no fake news to hide behind, no second-hand opinion or recycled take, it's just two sides making statements, and everyone gets the same facts to start from, for once, no fake this or that.
TOA: But-
BB: But! And I agree, as you've pointed out over and over, I agree that sometimes one thing is much more relevant than anything else, that one comment can render all the other words moot, but it still means people should debate, if it helps you think about it the debate is the way to get to that one overriding remark, in fact we should debate often-
TOA: Debate often? We're gonna debate more? This isn't-
BB: Quiet! Often enough, will you let me finish? I say people should debate often enough until they get their differences squared away.
TOA: Pipe dream-
BB: Pipe dream?
TOA: Pipe down! Where is the moderator?
BB: What's a moderator?
TOA: It's the person who tells you to shut up.
BB: I didn't see any moderators at the last debate.
TOA: They had one back in... you know what, never mind, I'd hate to see who we'd end up with anyway, honestly some of the fools that end up on TOA-
BB: Do you have a point?
TOA: Yes, unity, it's a pipe dream, there isn't any consensus in some issues, and I don't know why everyone keeps going on about it, unity this or that, like if you favor guns, which you probably do, you don't just compromise, and say "guns on Tuesday, no guns on Wednesday" or allow people to carry guns in their right hands only.
BB: Well, guns are in the Bill of Rights. I don't favor anything, it's just-
TOA: It's not my point, what I'm saying is-
BB: Right, I know what you're saying, you want to start over, what you're saying is, even though you knew the rules, even though you played the game, since you lost, boo-hoo, all the news except mine is fake. You just want to start a new game.
TOA: No.
BB: Yes, it's the same story every time, someone else will say it even if you don't, boo-hoo, the popular vote should count, boo-hoo, the mail-in vote is a fraud, boo-hoo. That's not how it works, that's the system-
TOA: Well, that's actually closer than I expected, still wrong but closer, anyway I didn't say those things, what I'm saying is, the system in place supposedly leads to unity, but it only leads to division. Look at those things you said, those aren't coming from anyone actually interested in unity, or even capable of it, but supposedly that's where we'll get our unity, from them.
BB: Right, just complaining, naysayers saying nay, that's what they-.
TOA: No, it's that people talk about unity because it makes sense to them, and they believe in it, and they want it, but when you ask for the specifics, going one by one down the line, you see that for some issues it's always one or the other, only a yes or no, and when you have winners and losers, it only works if the losers are content with losing, if they accept losing.
BB: That's what I'm saying, just too much complaining-
TOA: No, it's more than that, it's like driving a car, and everyone votes on which way to go, but as soon as you start driving the people who were voted down try to grab the wheel. Where does that car go? And you think the solution is a debate, on TV no less-
BB: Trust me, this isn't on TV-
TOA: Right now, people would rather talk about unity than accept losing, and the reality is that with two parties, which most people support in terms of one or the other, no one is going to be content enough with losing to actually achieve any unity.
BB: What's this got to do-
TOA: You said it about debating, or the debate I guess, everyone saying the same thing in the same place-
BB: Well, with that, I meant is that if we all watch the same debate we can unify and talk and work together, or at least have a chance. It's an honest way for citizens to stop pointing fingers and have a chance to sit down at one table and say "let's figure this out" and a debate gives everyone the same information. You can talk until one side is content with losing, as you say.
TOA: Right, but at some point you reach the limit of the system. The debate is already at the limit, it only highlights the differences, rather than finding points of mutual agreement. How are you going to figure out climate change with someone who pretends it doesn't exist?
BB: How do you know it's pretending?
TOA: Who isn't? We have a "once in a lifetime" weather event every six months. Who thinks this is normal?
BB: Well, who says it's once in a lifetime? Whose lifetime?
TOA: You'd have to be a fruit fly-
BB: Please, the buzzwords, these things are all made up, programs and models, it's statistics not science, these programs only regurgitate the information someone writes into it. There's no such thing as a computer that comes up with an idea, OK? You run a model, it only spits out the conclusions some intern programmed into it, big deal. Once in a lifetime, says the computer, which someone told it to say. What's that prove?
TOA: Like-
BB: Like, someone is making money from climate change.
TOA: Please, like that matters, and besides, even if that nonsense were true, it's better than making money from the climate, oil under protected land isn't a market waiting to be freed, OK, there's no such thing as a free market when you free it by stealing-
BB: Oh, very clever-
TOA: It doesn't matter, my point is that when you have temperature records shattering every year like pint glasses in an earthquake, or you have your fifth "once in a lifetime" storm in a decade, you don't need a fancy computer model to tell you that climate change-
BB: OK, forget it, look I know that debates are not going to solve every problem-
TOA: It doesn't solve any-
BB: Wait, OK-
TOA: It creates more problems-
BB: They are a start, at least, they are just like the masks, the masks don't do anything and everyone knows it-
TOA: What are you talking-
BB: Wait! OK, everyone knows this, come on, people are constantly touching themselves and scratching their eyes anyway, and everyone's sitting around inside, outside, alongside restaurants, with masks like chin hammocks, little hammocks, like they think COVID takes lunch breaks.
TOA: It works if you wear them.
BB: That's like saying the cure to insomnia is falling asleep-
TOA: Well, that's what the science says, it reduces transmission-
BB: Please, what are you talking about, just look at what is going on all around you, no one really knows how it spreads, OK? And everyone in a mask is all high and mighty, until they find some excuse to take a mask off, which of course they'll conveniently forget about when they lecture people, "I always wear a mask", what nonsense, mask people-
TOA: Mask people?
BB: Right, they always wear a mask except when they don't, that's just like it is for anyone-
TOA: Wait-
BB: And of course, it's science, right, ignoring that if masks are so great, why are the countries where everyone wears a mask still seeing new cases?
TOA: Well it still works, it makes it better, those places have fewer cases-
BB: True on average, but always wrong, those places are more careful, which means they do everything associated with being careful, it's like that point you stole last week about corporations-
TOA: I didn't steal-
BB: You did! You lie, you said companies lose people they need for change because daily life weeds them out, you stole that from me, and it's just like masks, if you wear a mask it means you aren't doing the other stupid stuff, it's a signal-
TOA: Well, if you want people to stop wearing-
BB: No, I'm talking about the attitude, not just masks, I'm talking about using masks to represent commitment, of course you'd rather hide behind a computer or a spreadsheet or a diploma, it's science, you'd rather tell people what to do and then talk about unity, and blame everyone but yourself-
TOA: Well, look, mask truther-
BB: What?
TOA: You over there, saying you shouldn't wear a mask-
BB: Wrong! I didn't say that, I say wear a mask, wear one as big as your last post, print it out and wrap it around your face, someone might even read it for once, but let's be clear, it's a symbol, not a tool, it shows your loyalty to your family, to your community, to your country, OK? And it should never have been presented in any other way, because when you say it's science and then someone wearing a mask gets sick, how do you not see the way it undermines your point?
TOA: It is science, and no one guaranteed-
BB: It doesn't matter, when it's about safety, and getting everyone on the same page quickly, which is a task utterly beyond science, science is one of the most divisive things in human history, forget science, this is about safety, it's about a government that should have sent ten masks to every American, with the American flag printed on it or maybe Uncle Sam's face or just "USA", and a note that says "wear this", OK? Forget science-
TOA: Forget science?
BB: Yes! Like you said, sometimes one thing matters and the rest of it is irrelevant, in the case of masks it doesn't matter what you believe, and it isn't enough just to wear it, you need to wear it and do everything else, honestly people around here brushing by me because they have a mask on like it's a cloth vaccine-
TOA: So you think we should have just sent masks to people and made it easy?
BB: Right, that's the American way, that's American unity. You don't believe in unity-
TOA: Well, what's the point of this, if you end up in the same place?
BB: The point is that when it's yes or no, one side or the other, the solution isn't to throw your hands up and cry about how you can't compromise, the point is to debate, and keep looking for new angles until you can't see the dispute anymore.
TOA: Well-
BB: Look, a mask is not just for you, you know, it's so everyone around you can buy into the problem and become part of the solution rather than part of the pollution.
TOA: Lame.
BB: It's true, we need everyone to do it, just like voting, but you over there are all high and mighty about masks like it's "science", listen Bill Nye, if you'd made it about unity we'd be a lot better off, and of course meanwhile you don't see the hypocrisy of talking about "mask science" while you sit around not voting-
TOA: I do vote.
BB: OK, same thing, like you said, everyone needs to do it, it doesn't matter how we get there-
TOA: I do vote, OK, but hold the interruptions, because I want to know who is this "other person" I'm allegedly voting for by not voting, hypothetically, I mean like suppose I'm not voting, how can that be for another person? There's a word for when you vote for another person, OK, it's called "voting". So if I'm not voting, how is it then a "vote for the other person"... I vote by not voting?
BB: How is it not?
TOA: It's a half-vote, I think. If it's A or B and I vote for A and you don't vote-
BB: I always vote, and I vote for whoever you-
TOA: Will you? Play along, for once, OK, I vote for A and you don't vote, it's not a vote for B, it's a half-vote. It's the same thing, because A wins by one vote, whether the final tally is 1-0 or 1.5-0.5, it doesn't matter-
BB: OK, look, first of all what is a half-vote, is that like the new way millennials are being clever, like threatening to move to Canada-
TOA: And you said it earlier, sitting at a table with everyone singing songs, please, how am I supposed to show unity with someone about guns when I can't make a compromise vote? Complete nonsense.
BB: Compromise vote? Hey, also there's no debate on the guns, like I said that's in the law, OK, Bill of Rights, what is the matter-
TOA: Right, because something written hundreds of years ago is more important than my right not to get shot-
BB: There are other laws-
TOA: Whatever, look, this idea of unity is crap, OK, and you business bros show up with this solution like that's the way, "disagree and commit" like everyone is just going to go along after one debate, no one is building toward change, no one sees incremental progress, trust me, there are many middle ground myths, these places that don't exist, unity just isn't realistic at all, maybe there's middle ground in some cases but a lot of our issues are really one side or the other, and you can't talk about working together with someone who is on the other side.
BB: Oh please, like you keep going to one example about guns-
TOA: You brought up the guns, just now, OK? Anyway, tell me about this stat, I got it from Michelle Wu's mayoral campaign website, in Boston the median net worth of a white family is almost $250K, what do you think it is for a Black family?
BB: Uhhh-
TOA: $8.
BB: OK, like any of us are going to read these websites-
TOA: You're too busy watching TV to read, for you a debate happens and that's the most important thing in world history, look at it, $250K to $8, let me crunch the numbers for you, there are only two possible conclusions when you look at it, that's either a symptom of a systemic crisis that requires an immediate solution, or you believe it accurately reflects some underlying reality.
BB: What reality?
TOA: It means you are a racist.
BB: Hold on-
TOA: It's true, and not even on average, it's a median, so half the families are below it. Below $8! Do you understand what below $8 means?
BB: OK, so maybe-
TOA: I'm not even going to let you, honestly, I'll do you a favor here, I'm not letting you make another terrible point, I'm going to point out instead that if you think the solution there is some series of sensible changes, with roundtables and town halls and incremental compromise and all that, let me remind you that those solutions create nothing, invent nothing, bring nothing new to the equation, it's only the very same system playing itself out again, and the system only produces what's in the design-
BB: Right, like I said earlier-
TOA: What?
BB: Never mind.
TOA: Right, well we already know the design, we already know the outcome, $250K to $8, we run that again and who knows, $500K to $16? So I'll say that if you can't imagine a solution that doesn't involve some significant change to the system, then the only other option is that you are a racist, and you think this is right, so where is the middle ground in this-
BB: Whatever. You've stood on the coast for so long you don't know what the middle looks like anymore. Refusing to admit you watched a debate is hardly an example of "rebel rebel" going against the system, OK? I don't know why you sit around wringing your hands about every problem in the world, just pick one you can deal with it and get to work on it.
TOA: What-
BB: What are you going to do about median incomes, or masks, or the climate, or half-votes, or unity? Maybe you can do a lot, anyone can accomplish anything here, but surely no one can do something about everything, not for all of those, so just pick one.
TOA: Why-
BB: Hold on, OK, everything else, literally, isn't your problem, just vote and go away, stay away, like you said accept it, win or lose, because when your whole idea of voting is that unless you get your way you'll "resist", then of course nothing gets done, and four years later the rest of us end up worse off.
TOA: Well, that's a great attitude, because while you decide to "see both sides" of some racist idiot's Tweets, the rest of us "standing on the coast" like you say can see the waves coming, it's obvious if you look, but you don't see waves from the middle, not everything deserves a middle ground, sometimes you have to go one way or the other, and the way we are going, well-
BB: Well?
TOA: These waves are going to send this city and all of your stupid "Business Bro" columns back to the Atlantis age.
BB: That's better than doing nothing except taking a break from complaining to check off a few votes every four years, or maybe skipping them like you probably do. Like if you hate voting so much, hate the system, hate democracy so much-
TOA: I don't hate-
BB: Right, well do what you want, but you should find something you can do, and suffer for it. Forget voting for the next promise machine, just find a problem to solve, and solve it, suffer for a problem that's within your reach, which can be solved with real effort, real suffering. If you don't suffer for something, you'll suffer for nothing.
TOA: Oh, what a load of rubbish.
BB: Another soccer expression?
TOA: I'm definitely suffering for nothing here, I'll tell ya that much-
BB: Please. You make it sound so difficult, living in America, it's really very simple. Go volunteer, go to the food bank, go sit with sick people, go and get a job at someplace important, work on something people worry about instead of worrying yourself. If things go really well, you can start a business or even a nonprofit. Then you go vote, or not, in your case not, obviously. Stop worrying about the politics. Imagine if politicians back in March had to agree on video conferencing? Half of us would be on Google Hangouts, the other half would be on Skype, everyone would hate everyone else, lucky for us someone had already invented Zoom. That's America.
TOA: That's not America.
BB: It should be-
TOA: It isn't, and everyone hates Zoom, by the way.
BB: Well-
TOA: And everyone hates everyone else.
BB: Please-
TOA: No point talking about this, none of it makes sense, honestly what you say would take most people forever to do any of that, if they could, and besides, these problems are because America isn't just a place to make money, it's a place to steal money, and all this stealing is creating some problems that are very serious, which you want to ignore-
BB: The only-
TOA: No, these grassroots, individualized solutions sound good, but they don't add up to real solutions. Climate change, that's a problem caused by companies, by the corporations you love so much and the countries that won't stop them, this isn't a problem caused by individuals, who have no choice but to drive around and use up energy so they can keep up with the commitments and routines that let them get on with their disappointing lives.
BB: A billion people choose to drive, and it's the fault of a business?
TOA: It doesn't matter. These days, a billion people, two billion, the problems are still from corporations. What you are talking about is a way to get everyone to stop worrying, so we don't have the support of numbers, the support of people, even though getting those numbers is really the only option remaining. You're talking about something dangerous, because you're talking about isolation, people isolating themselves into tiny little spheres of focus to solve problems they can solve, it's the benevolence of MAGA, but that means we ignore the biggest problems, and we're losing the collective edge we need for cutting into these issues before it's too late.
BB: No, you're the one talking danger, you're talking about something dangerous. You're talking about ideas that you don't believe should exist. And when you do that, you are getting very close to saying that the people who have those ideas shouldn't exist. That's actually not just dangerous, that's violent.
TOA: How is an idea violent?
BB: How is it not? You said it yourself, ideas that are one side or the other, there's no unity. So if there's no unity, there's going to be violence.
TOA: No, that's not right. Nothing is destined.
BB: You mean-
TOA: What I was getting at is avoiding the mess of forcing unity. What I meant was that when it's obvious there is no unity, you need to find another way to make it work.
BB: Well, that's what I said, OK, but maybe it's not obvious to you. But I don't believe you, I think you've given up. You don't want to push, and I know that if no one is pushing, then of course pushing won't work.
TOA: I think we've pushed for ages, and I don't know why we think more pushing is the answer.
BB: Well.
TOA: Well?
BB: So what do you want?
TOA: I don't know.
BB: Right.
TOA: What?
BB: You talk all this talk, but you have nothing. You're like a toddler, you sit there and you point and you yell, but you can't tell us what's wrong, or why, and you can't tell us what would fix the problem. Do you want more parties? No parties? Vote on everything? No more voting? You have no idea.
TOA: No more debates, maybe-
BB: Oh wow!
TOA: That's not it.
BB: It is. You're like a toddler. Maybe it's good you won't vote-
TOA: I'm voting!
BB: Right. Well don't, children shouldn't vote.
TOA: See, you business bros, you don't get a simple thing, sometimes you just need to stop.
BB: Stop? We stop all the time.
TOA: No, you just find a new way to keep moving.
BB: Same thing.
TOA: No, not the same thing, OK? You said it last time, people should wear masks just so they don't make other people anxious. You know what? People should just move out of the way, or just stop moving. A lot of these people on the street, they just keep moving, no matter what, and they create all kinds of problems, maybe even anxiety, because they run into each other instead of waiting for someone to pass.
BB: Right, but-
TOA: It never even occurs to them that stopping is an option. Look, it's the attitude, OK, you said America is in the "business business", well in business you would know, you business bros all do it, you keep moving, if it's going poorly you don't stop, you pivot, you find a new direction-
BB: I don't understand this at all.
TOA: Of course you don't.
BB: I don't.
TOA: Well, I'll make it really simple, we elected one of you idiots, a business bro for the ages-
BB: I didn't vote for him!
TOA: Of course not, but you're just like him, so many of you who claim to be against him, but act like him, a guy so stupid that he couldn't even, couldn't even print his own money, like you were saying earlier about the masks, he could have just printed off his MAGA masks, like with the hats, done it all again, if he were a great businessman he would have had half the country paying to wear these masks, instead he's so incompetent, the very definition of a business bro, he can't do what you said, and bring everyone around to a mask, which would have made him rich, and maybe president again, instead he just goes on yelling about China this or that-
BB: Hey-
TOA: And the most dangerous idea of all, is that so many people are in denial about being just like him, so we aren't going to be back here in four years saying "well, we know a business bro is actually an idiot-"
BB: Who are you calling-
TOA: Look, OK, we won't learn the lesson from these four years, or goodness maybe eight, that we just worship business too much, OK, that the religion of business is killing us, at the very least we should never pretend, ever again, that a business background makes you fit for leadership, but I think in four years we'll have people saying "Trump proved we just needed a better business man". Same crap. You want more pushing, I say stop-
BB: You know something?
TOA: What?
BB: Despite all these personal attacks-
TOA: These aren't-
BB: You had one good idea.
TOA: What?
BB: Let's stop.
TOA: Stop?
BB: For now, this debate. We've been here for ages, we haven't even looked at the ballot.
TOA: Oh, right.
BB: So we should stop, come back, and try to figure out the votes.
TOA: OK.
BB: Same time, same place?
TOA: Next week?
BB: There's certainly nothing better to do.
TOA: OK, next week.
