Name calling? Me? Nah, just the facts and only the facts.
And it is in that interest I submit to you how duped we've been, how absolutely duped by visions of candy canes, unicorns, and fairies, that we've foolishly viewed under the banners “World Peace,” “multi-culturalism,” and “environmentalism.”
Make sure you see the dots I am connecting here because it's metareality, the top layer of reality, of man's Progressive humanistic stupidity that I am writing this to address.
Ice cream, and particularly how we scoop it, is the subject of today's “history lesson” on #ProgressiveStupidity.
If we go back in time to, obviously, after we discovered using dry ice, ammonia (still used in commercial refrigeration), and of course freon to assure freezing temperatures we find smooth, creamy, cooling on a hot day with ice cream.
And here's the scoop:
Notice the long handle? Leverage! The actual mated gearing of gear teeth, and yes we'd use wood for a handle.
Now, the big deal here about this ice cream scoop: What part of it isn't “biodegradable?” Answer: The whole thing is biodegradable. If it were buried in the ground, this ice cream scoop would break down into its original elements and dust. If buried in moist ground, it would break down much faster due to the rusting of the metal components and water's natural solvent attribute with many elements, including the wood handle.
Of course, it might take longer if portions of this ice cream scoop are brass or made of some precious metal, but the fact is, what you're looking at is 50+ years old and still works, still scoops ice cream, and will do so until it breaks, and only if irreparable will this scoop find its way to a landfill somewhere.
So now let's look at a retro of the above ice cream scoop, a “vintage” one of “Progressive Design:”
See that it has a plastic chemical non-biodegradable handle? Notice the lever mechanism is by a group of holes, easier to manufacture and using less metal than the geared lever in the first image. And of course to further save on metal cost the ice cream scoop must be shorter, which means the person using it will not have as much leverage in scooping out ice cream. Will those drilled holes, last anywhere near as long as that antique ice cream scoop with actual gearing on the lever that is matched up to the gear teeth surface to surface? Doubtful.
Yet, in the name of environmentalism, less metal is used to make the second one, and more plastic, and usually these wear out at the outer edge of the scoop, where that pin goes in for the scoop release, as it is not fitted to the hole in the scoop either, or, due to the cheaper metal used, it just rusts at that “wear point,” and that's assuming the handle doesn't crack in 10 years or less. The reason for which is the pressure point of leverage and how it takes on more torque pressure due to being so much shorter than that old wood handle on the older ice cream scoop.
So in 100 years, the old scoop still works and has no reason to be replaced, while that new scoop, 10 of them or more have found their way into the landfills, into the dumps across the world.
Now you're saying, “Littman, this is stupid, you're gonna say that the making of more disposable ice cream scoops proves Progressive Stupidity?” And I reply, “Yes. Better amplified and understood when you replace “ice cream scoop” with antique automobile versus modern day cars; with iPhone, iPad, Galaxy, etc, versus copper land line telephone that you don't upgrade every 6 months to 2 years with a new plan that comes with a new iPhone, iPad, etc., and almost always causes you to discard your old devices as they are slower, have less memory, and networks stop working with them, as well; with desktop computers often holding information that, when compiled, documents your life, your work, your photos, but, which needs to be replaced every few years with a new computer because the operating system upgrades fix security breaches as discovered (and usually doubles the operating system size beyond your current computer's capacity) versus a paper file cabinet with backups of your most important information and items in a safe or bank safety deposit box; with digital books or record systems such as Lexis-Nexis for lawyers where your selection is limited to what's been digitized versus a library with volumes on the shelves, where you can find whatever information you want without a “protected area rope” barring you from reaching for a book even in a Federal Repository – your feet your only limit to the information you receive. And make special note with all these electronics that this isn't including the cost of the bandwidth, servers, and personnel to manage these digital records, all of which, even if entirely wind, solar, etc., is still using more energy than that book sitting there on a shelf, usually in the dark in a cold library, and that this list of #ProgressiveStupidity isn't exhaustive.
Sure, the speed of access is diminished. Sure the ability to look up trivial information is hindered by volumes of significant and important information. So the question is: Are these things, when combined and 90% of the use of technology today, speed and trivial information, really worth the cost of 10 ice cream scoops?; going on 2 decades of digital devices from phones to computers in landfills, some of which are being combed by thieves looking for a way into taking over and stealing others’ property?; losing your lawsuit or being incarcerated because some “standards” of a centralized source of information denied digitizing law or cases that would help you prevail or be found “not guilty?” And this is aside from the idea of a “reasonable expectation of privacy” and how we waive that by using, and acknowledging by some click of an “I accept” that one is usually presented with the first time they use the Internet, to something to the effect of “...by using the Internet you understand and agree that there is no guarantee the information transmitted or received will not be viewed by third parties,” a backhanded license to government or anyone else to get whatever they can and leave you with no legal recourse!
I submit to you that the #ProgressiveStupidity in Democratization of American Government, the Progressive “movement,” by Unions, and business people, such as Kevin O'Leary's statement on a recent episode of SharkTank, “I'd sell crap if it makes money,” indicating an absolute embrace of Marx view of Capitalism without even the slightest idea of its difference in comparison to subject servitude under a Crowned head, and how that fact is the difference that would stop any scrupulous and good business person from doing exactly what he just said he'd do, the fact that Capitalism is not about making money but is about having a product or service to sell in a free market of free people, people who want and or need that product or service to make their lives better is the whole and entire reason Capitalism works (something the #ProgressiveStupidity of modern day planned obsolescence “environmentally conscious” ice cream scoop designs with a short in leverage handle yet long in biodegradability, 5,000 yrs, clearly fails to do).
And, that this #ProgressiveStupidity has been able to accomplish selling incompetent design because the People of this nation are so busy paying for the services in relation to these items, be it access to the Internet, the device upgrades, the software to run on them, etc. That it is a flurry, an induced #ProgressiveStupidity fog of “Gruber voter/consumer war” that we must pause and take a step back from (maybe a leap or 2) for a more objective view before we are lost in an overarching reality with a mind of its own, to which we, Individual People, are the disposable minority.
God Bless you and thank you for sharing and reading this,
Toddy Littman
P.S. Note: Any copyrights on the above photos weren't mentioned on the search engine I used, so I can't name those to whom credit should be given, but do recognize and well understand that if such copyrights exist they belong to those respective holders, whether I know their names or not.
