I hate school spirit

Then again, maybe Trump is as full of shit as he usually is:

Why don't we just leave it at that and then I won't even have to read that blind link?  If you want to know what Trump is (ha ha) thinking. then a better guide than facts is how that last Big Mac agreed with his gut.

The UN cannot call a cease fire unilaterally, both sides have to agree to it, and they don't agree until one side has what it wanted and the other side does not want to lose more.  Good and bad guys have nothing to do with it.


As I was writing that thing about school spirit I was reminded about something I learned way back in college when I was studying psychology.  They had these kids at summer camp and in order to inspire them to paddle their canoes faster and to make more wallets they divided them up into two groups, the blues and whites.  No criteria here, probably just a countdown one, two, and bam you are a white or a blue.  And it turned out to be a pretty nifty idea as far as faster canoes and more wallets were concerned, but then it devolved into a lot of trash talking and a bit of beating up and they had to stop it.

Back in high school a few days a week a group of us used to gather up a basketball and go out to the hoops a couple times a week, and choose up sides.  It was a good time except that every time, every last time one of the teams cheated, and furthermore, even though the sides were different each time and I would find myself on one side and then another, the side I wasn't on was always the cheaters, every last time.

Back in grade school I recall one of the teachers used to divide the class into sides and I employed it on a group of fourth graders one day.  It worked just great hands were flying up to answer questions, attention was rapt,  Then I pushed it too far.  There was a group of kids in the back and they were talking and not paying attention so I fined their group five points.  At that point one of them asked hey, what does the winning side win.  I tried to change the subject and hope nobody had noticed, but the next time I fined that group ten points, one of the kids piped up, hey Teach, make it a hundred.  And the jig was up.

Republicans and democrats are not blues and whites, they are not separated by arbitrary means, but by differences of opinions.  If only the other side would listen to our rational arguments why they would become like us.  There was a lot of politeness between them, they spoke of each other as good ,men who just had different opinions. 

Of course that is all gone now.  There is no more politeness just insults, and lies are just fine as long as they demean your opponents.  It is just one tribe against the other, blues vs whites.  I hate school spirit.