Tuesday, November 06, 2012


1942 POLITICS AND EINSTEIN

Let's start with the big story of the day.

The election.

Just a few things before I get back to Einstein.

As I have followed the news on this- over the past few weeks there has been some question on whether or not the media have manipulated any of the numbers.


How?


Going in to today’s election- if the media are correct- Obama will no doubt win.

Why?

They have shown polls that have the president winning in enough states [battle ground states] that he should win.


Are any of the polls wrong- or possibly skewed?

That the question.

It’s hard to say that all pollsters would have some inside conspiracy to do this.

Actually I don’t believe that they would [they do have reputations you know].

But- we do have some actual evidence that some have done this.

It’s hard at times to filter out the bias- on both sides- but let’s try and take one example of possible skewing.

Most of the polls we have seen these past few weeks have shown the sample of people that they use.

For instance- you might have one say they polled a thousand folk- then they’ll say 39% were Democrats- 31 % Republicans.

Now- some on the right were saying ‘see- they are cheating’.

Would this be cheating in a poll?

No.

Why not?

Because the pollsters are trying to get an accurate picture of the electorate- that is- if they ‘think’ that more Dems will vote- then this would be a fair way to poll.

So- how do they figure out who the likely voters will be?

They usually look at the last election [presidential].

But- everyone who watches politics will tell you that the last election- 2008- had an historic turnout of Dem’s.

Why?

Many were not only voting for a man they felt would do a good job- but they also felt like they were part of an historic thing- the possible election  of Americas first Black president.


Everyone [well most] will admit this- and it’s not wrong to admit this- that many came out to be part of an historic event- fine.


So- did some of the pollsters do this- did they use a larger number of Dem’s in the polls?

Yes.


Now- a case can be made that you would not have the same type of turnout this time.

Why?

Because you don’t have the same historic significance- it’s not historic to say ‘yeah- we voted for the first Black president in history- the second time’.

See?

Okay- but the pollsters do have a reason to have more Dems than Repubs- sometimes.

But- there were some polls that showed twice as many Dems [as a percentage- that is if you had 7% more Dems last time- this time they were showing about 14%- something that would be next to impossible].

So- yes- in this few cases- we do have some evidence that some pollsters were rigging the system to benefit one side.

Okay- said all that to say this.

If Romney wins- and big [which I doubt] then you just saw a good example of media bias- because according to most of the media- Obama should win.

Lets see what happens in the morning.



Okay- just a few notes on the Einstein biography I’m going thru.

The book is an older book- I picked it up a few months ago at half price books.


But it’s a good book- not written from a religious perspective at all- the author- Walter Isaacson- is a top notch writer.

The reason I say ‘not from a religious perspective’ is because it’s kind of amazing how many times Einstein- and his companions- either speak about God- or outright quote him!

Yeah- over the years I have heard views from both sides [Atheists and Theists] who have tried to make Einstein more like them.

But the actual quotes from him- and how many times they allude to God- is really more than I thought.


I’m at the point in the book [about halfway] where you begin seeing the anti Semitism rise up in Germany.


As most of you know- Einstein was a Jew- who came from Germany.


He lived at the time of the rise of the Nazi’s- and the anti Jewish ‘ness’ of the times would affect him.


Einstein held teaching positions at various universities of his day- one was in Berlin.

Some of his contemporaries- men like Max Planck- were indeed all in for the German nationalism that was riding a wave at the time.

Einstein on the other hand resisted the mixing of science with nationalism- he believed more in a global type citizenship- that the great breakthrough’s they were making at the time- were for the world- not just for the benefit of one nation.

Einstein would refuse to sign a declaration signed by many of the thinkers of his day- one that supported German nationalism.

Instead he was part of a smaller group who drew up a sort of pacifist declaration- one which would fall by the way side because of its lack of support.


A few notes.


I find his insight into war- where it ‘comes from’ to be enlightening.


I’ll give you a quote- it comes from “a biologically determined feature of the male character” “What drives people to kill and maim each other so savagely” “I think it is the sexual character of the male that leads to such wild explosions”.


Einstein saw a sort of genetic ‘defect’ in man- something within him- that was the root cause of war.


In the book of James- in the New Testament- the brother of our Lord writes ‘from whence come wars and fighting’s among you- come they not hence- even from your lusts that war in your members’.


Yeah- I think James and Einstein were on the same page.


Eventually Einstein would oppose the war- that is- the initial aggression that was sprouting from his homeland.

The book does not go into detail about the actual war [WW2] at least not yet.

But we know from history that the Nazi’s would be part of one of the most heinous mindsets the world has ever known.


Hitler’s idea that a certain race of people were inherently ‘less human' that others.

Many do not know that some of his thoughts were formed by the popular idea of Evolution.


The teaching that all humans are on a scale of the ‘most evolved’ and the ‘least evolved’.

Yes- I have gotten into this in the past- and don’t want to do it again right now.


Eventually the allies would also cross a line of war- a line that divided the U.S. and the British for a short time.

The line of bombing urban centers- and targeting civilians.


Some of the correspondence that came out after the war showed that certain American military commanders objected to the bombing of civilian centers.

They would eventually do as they were told- but they did make their objections known.


The British were more willing to engage in the bombing- after all- Germany had already bombed them.

The first city center to go was Hamburg- a convenient target- right across from the British on the North Sea.

Above Belgium and the Netherlands.

 War has a tendency to take all sides further than their conscience would allow at the start.

There seems to be something within the nature of man that always leads down a road of more destruction- not less.


One of the greatest minds of our time- a man who was brilliant- and also struggled with his own passions- saw it as some type of inner flaw of man.


A sort of ‘sinful nature’.

Yeah- James- the Lords brother called it ‘the lusts that war in our members’.


On this point they agree.


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