Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for September 08, 2021

What is your definition of knowledge? A degree, a PHD? you can be quite knowledgeable without a formal qualification. While I agree with the intent, implementation would be the trick

The problem is people use their own data to make up their mind

Nice idea. But who decides?

That leaves out all politicians. Especially a certain one

I see nothing, I know nothing.

That would destroy the entire News industry.

But no knowledge is required to sign the petition or to vote.

That would ruin the comment section.

How about designating each one the Chief Executive Editor of their own opinions and then suing them for factual errors?

Those to which it applies will not know what it means.

That would make this world a very quiet place. Where do I sign?

That should be a “common sense law” but unfortunately it isn’t-especially with the internet and all the “accuracy” it offers. :/

I’d sign Bert’s petition…

Some people treat getting vaccinated like making up their beds. They think it’s easier just to just let it lie.

Actually, that was the classic definition. At one time, an uninformed enunciation was only a point of view.

I fear Bert’s going to be pushing sh*t uphill with a pointed stick before that gets through. Good luck to him and his half dozen signatures, all the same.

People would be signed up for blocks to sign the petition. Each absolutely certain that s/he had the scientific knowledge required to voice an opinion… I mean, all the truth is out there on FaceBook, right? How could anyone dare question the fact there are nanobot GPS trackers in covid vaccine? FACT!

King Solomon put it this way, “ A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.” (Proverbs 18:2 )

The First Amendment already says that the government can’t restrict your speech. Companies and private citizens can and should shut people up when they start spouting nonsense.

Opposing opinions are dangerous! Control! Control! We must control others! Besides, it’s easier than controlling ourselves!

The problem is not with the information that is being posted, it is with the information that is believed.

I used to think that only a small portion of the population was gullible enough to believe the absurd claims put out there. Now I know it’s about 1/3 of the U.S. population.

good luck with that.

I’ll sign it!

you trying to shut down washington d.c.?

From a Social Studies teacher I had in Jr. High School in the 70’s “If one has to resort to insults, obfuscation, lies, misdirection, a raised voice or force of any kind, they either do not have a valid argument or are the wrong person to make the argument.” I’ve been using this to sort politicians ever since. So simple, so effective.

OMG! How QUIET it would be. . .

Define knowledge. One persons knowledge is another’s hearsay.

I’ll sign that petition — but only if I get to be the one who decides what constitutes “knowledge.”

that would be such an impediment to me voicing my opinion…

YAWN We already have this on social media. You have to agree with the billionaires or you are deplatformed.

How about this one: Before claiming something violates your constitutional rights, know what your constitutional rights are.

Too tough a standard to meet.

Freedom of speech implies a desire for someone to listen. Apparently, if you say it they will come, is not far from the truth.

All U.S. citizens are required to vote. They must have read and agree with the Constitution. Finally, they must agree that violent insurrections to overturn elections are not permissible.

I know a lot about 19th-century sailing ships. Would that qualify me to comment on Formula One racing?

Makes too much sense. A too mature way of thinking.

There is nothing so invisible to oneself as one’s own ignorance and stupidity. In our own minds, we are all above average. That’s impossible, of course, which does not bother anyone one bit.

Once upon a time, they called opinion pieces, “Opinion Pieces”. Guess that was too complicated. If it wasn’t going to be called out, as too religious, I’d suggest. “Thou shall not bear false witness.”.

That never was our Founders intent. Nor their intent when making a Free Press. Our Founders made a “self government”. That means each of us has a responsibility to separate the fly-poop from the pepper ourselves. Make the effort. Read and study the opinions from individuals and the media (press) to make our own decision. And then vote because your conclusions and my conclusions will likely be different. In the very first presidential election between Adams and Jefferson, the media was filled with “fake news”, false accusations, real truths, mud slinging, and all the ‘politics’ that we have today. It is frustrating, irritating, divisive, gratifying, rewarding and unifying. 228 years later it still works as designed.

WE, the People… ARE the government. It was never meant to be given away.

Nah, we need to be able to spot the idiots.

Who gets to decide which “alternative facts” are correct?

There would appear to be no precedent.

The whole problem of the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell

Ever notice it’s easier to pretend to be knowledgeable in print than in person. Nobody can see your shifty eyes. :) :(

“Life is so much better making up one’s own data: 27.4% better.” (Adapted from today’s Dilbert.)

…possibly add a subsection for “protecting a child’s right to live”…..

Wonder how many "X"s there are on the petition…

In anticipation of this passing, “knowledge shops” are opening up all across town

good luck with that.

I’m right there with Bert. So-called “social media” is a social disease. Commenting on comic strips is entirely sufficient.

knowledge – intelligence = 46 supporters

If this passed in California, no one would be eligible to vote!

Can we make up our own knowledge? I think that is loophole a lot of people are using.

There goes FOX News

That’s some phunnie S**t

Voting is probably the most pure expression of one’s political speech. We got very upset when certain States put restrictions on voting based on ‘literacy’.

Now, legally, social media can put any restriction on the speech they host that they care to. They are private entities, and no more need to publish material they don’t want to than Simon and Schuster do. Yet the way they filter speech is detrimental to the public good. The benefits of a common social media platform are greater enough than a competitive market that MySpace and Facebook can’t exist in the same market. Sounds like a natural monopoly to me, and we have a long tradition for managing natural monopolies. Thus social media, should be public utilities, and managed for the general welfare.

I’d make much the same argument about operating systems.

" If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Scottish proverb

I grew up with the phrase, “Be sure brain is engaged before operating mouth.” Too bad so many people don’t follow that.

Any proposal to amend the US Constitution to do things like, say, get big money out of politics or guarantee a right to vote faces the same hurdle as Bert’s idea, namely that, in order to get it passed, you have to appeal to the very legislators who have been tremendously successful under the status quo and are understandably personally leery about tampering with it.

The silence would be deafening!

Everyone has knowledge about something. How to change a car’s oil, how to bake croissants, how to dig a ditch, how to rewire an old house, how to sew a quilt.

In today’s environment it should be renamed to “anti-social media” as there is nothing “social” about most media!

“A Little Learning”

by Alexander Pope

A little learning is a dangerous thing ;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.

Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts,

In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts ;

While from the bounded level of our mind

Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind,

But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise

New distant scenes of endless science rise !

So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,

Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky ;

The eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last ;

But those attained, we tremble to survey

The growing labours of the lengthened way ;

The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,

Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise !

If I have knowledge of spelling, can I express an opinion about politics?

I hope he succeeds.

Phony Shearer seems to forget (I’m sure accidently – cough, cough) that websites and forums are privately owned and thereby subject to the rules and guideline of the owners. Paying taxes has nothing to do with it – what you posted was just BS. They are not public property and therefore they can bar posts and ban posting and users who post lies, hate speech, disinformation, racist and sexist posts, etc etc. No one’s rights are violated like that – that’s why there are things you have to read and then acknowledge everywhere on the net before you can post.

Boo hoo. Too bad. Wrong again at least twice in these comments alone, troll.

A bad translation into Latin but the sentiment is clear -

Vos autem iniuriam si putas habere privilegium clamant “ignis” in theatrum simpliciter propter oblectamenti. Quod non est libertas loqui.

Si putas, oportet quod tibi est brunneis oculos, quia tu es plene pecus stercus.

At the very least, they could revive the Truth in Advertising laws and make them applicable to “Nooze” sources.

Oh man, that would be awesome – Where do I sign!

What kind of knowledge? Accurate knowledge? Knowledge gained through credible sources?

It will never pass constitutional muster.

Life would be so much better right now if the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled — twice — that deliberate lies are protected by the First Amendment.

How shall one prove said knowledge? Knowledge of what?

It’s going to get very quiet.

Seems appropriate.

Given what is being voiced in the day and age, I am trying to figure out what an alien civilization would rate society’s intelligence level……