Don’t take Zoloft, take out your math book and do some simple arithmetic. That might help you to feel better because 2 + 2 = 4.

There is a lot of chaos and confusion being sown all around us these days. There are so many simultaneous contradictory stories on-line and also in the news on the radio and television. At the end of a Sean Hannity broadcast the other day, a caller said that he’s sick of listening to Hannity’s conservative views being juxtaposed with left views from mainstream media during news updates. They occasionally directly contradict each other. The listener said that he thinks that it’s appalling and he wanted Mr. Hannity to fix it. He seemed to want Hannity to stop broadcasting on networks that have left leaning propaganda. Sean Hannity said he’d look into it. I think that means that nothing can change because Mr. Hannity has to broadcast wherever he’ll get paid and he doesn’t own the broadcasting station. In fact Rush Limbaugh was stymied just before he died when he wasn’t allowed to say that the election of 2020 was stolen on the air or he’d lose his sponsors and his platform.

Cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable. As social beings we crave to belong to some sort of consensus about narratives, but that consensus today is nearly impossible to achieve. Many interests are in opposition to each other and some of those interests directly oppose your own and affect the information that is available. Whereas in the 1970’s news broadcasts created a shared social narrative, some of today’s news providers want to confuse you. So you probably can’t agree with your neighbors and relatives about everything because popular narratives are inconsistent and in disagreement with many others. Social media and the way that people get information has put people into different camps of information. Politics is hard enough with factional political differences but with the added complexity of several camps of people getting different sets of information, it can be pretty impossible to get the story straight once and for all. This can throw political consensus-making out the window. People have not just an intellectual but also an emotional connection to whatever they are believing. Facing the gamut of conflicting ideas and coming to any kind of conclusion can then make people less willing to entertain even more confounding information from you if you disagree with them. And you may feel strongly about whatever you believe too.

Buy a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries available at Amazon.com. It will explain politics and economics to you and you won’t be puzzled by today’s problems anymore.

Do you feel anxious? Well, no wonder. I suggest that you review your old mathematics texts. There are numerous exercises that can be a kind of meditation on a reality based world. When I went to school as a youngster, even though I tried my best, I had only an average aptitude in mathematics. I couldn’t figure out the practical uses of mathmatics at a young age. Math seemed like nothing that I would have thought up for myself out of a need to use mathematics as a tool for life. But I’ve been a late bloomer in some areas and mathematics is one of them.

If you dive into any topic that has complex information, you will find that mathematics is your friend. I first noticed this when I was planning my first garden and curves using geometry helped to create a balanced use of space that was more beautiful. When I did research about the economy and politics, my mathematics brain woke up, finding a new practical way of sorting information that involves quantity and time. We are facing problems in our complex social, economic and political systems today. As complex adaptive systems, their trajectory is impossible to predict. As you face fast changes in your life, mathematics will comfort you with ordinary arithmetic, lovely geometry, trigonometry that covers all the angles, algebra for solving inscrutable problems and calculus for discerning trends. All of that is available and the answers are sure answers. You can do some math problems everyday. You’ll feel better. Because 2 +2= 4, no matter what the news jockeys are saying today.

Last week I heard a strange argument. And by argument, I mean a statement about the state of affairs that we find ourselves in. I heard the argument that covid vaxines had 3 batches, each with different outcomes. I heard that there was a batch with no side effects, another batch with a small number of a few bad side effects and and third batch with a larger number of more terrible side effects. I find this argument puzzling because we are now dealing with multiple rounds of boosters for many people, not a single shot. It isn’t the case that you can describe a single batch outcome. It is an absurdity.

When I ask myself why this strange argument for some of the C-19 vaxines being safe is being made, I can only imagine that it is an attempt to reassure a worried public. The public is worried because they were promised a safe and effective C-19 vax and we now know that the vax is neither.

People who are scared about the future because they took an experimental vaccine wish that there is an outcome of no harm for at least some of the people who received the experimental treatment. Of course we’ll see who over time is harmed, but because of boosters, the safe lot argument sounds immaterial.

Also, as far as I know, the actual contents of each experimental shot haven’t been published. And probably many people don’t know what their C-19 vax lot # was. I suppose they may have a shot record somewhere on hand but I bet they don’t pay a lot of attention to the lot #. In any case, it’s still a waiting game. Let’s not try to undermine the real world with a specious argument. Let’s keep learning about consequences as they happen. That way, we can see clearly and make a better plan for the future.

Fingers crossed that everyone who is alive today and who took the C-19 vax will be ok. And they may be ok, especially if stop taking the boosters and they adapt their health practices for better health outcomes in spite of the C-19 vax. Recommendations for natural health supplements and practices that can better each person’s chances for a benign outcome are being published and formulated every day. Fermented natto as a dietary supplement is one example.

If you are interested in learning more about our history and the way that politics and economics work hand in hand to create everyday outcomes that affect everyone, buy a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries available at Amazon.com.