RFK Jr.'s Response to Surges of Measles and Flu Foretell Future Health Crisis & Trump Tanks Economy
March 7, 2025
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: How pleasure is used to create a caste system in America.
RFK Jr. Response to Measles and Flu Surges Foretell Health Crisis in America’s Future: His lack of any knowledge of or trust in science predicts a future of needless illness and death for Americans.
Markets Fall After New Trump Tariffs Prompt Retaliation: China, Canada, and Mexico have all announced retaliatory tariffs that will cost Americans significantly more money. Billionaires can afford it; can you?
Jon Stewart Says Elon Musk Flaked on Interview Offer: “You Know That’s Bulls**t”: Musk offered to interview with Jon Stewart, then backed out because he knew he didn’t have the chops.
‘I was in shock’: DC gallery pulls exhibits of Black and LGBTQ+ artists amid Trump DEI crackdown: Trump is stifling newspapers, and now the arts. If it isn’t MAGA propaganda, he doesn’t think it should exist.
Kareem’s Kvetching Korner: White House Communications Director Steven Cheung Starts Pettiest Fight With Jen Psaki: You should be surprised by the level of pettiness coming from this member of the administration. Sadly, you probably won’t be.
Kareem’s Video Break: This is the kind of pleasure we wish we could have every day.
Kareem’s Sports Moments: This beach volleyball point is one of the most athletic and exciting sports moments ever.
Joni Mitchell Sings “Cactus Tree”: In celebration of Women’s History Month, this 1968 song offered a defiant alternative to the traditional view of women.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), English Utilitarian philosopher
[Note: Push-pin is an English child’s game popular from the 16th to the 19th centuries.]
You might ask, “Who cares how a person enjoys themself?” Turns out, we care a lot. Judging other people’s pursuits of pleasure reveals a lot about our society.
Aside from income, how people pursue pleasure is one of the main ways that Americans judge others—usually negatively. Our choices for “fun” reflect our status in America’s invisible caste system. A wine-tasting event or gallery opening is for the hoity-toity (and those aspiring toward hoity-toityness). Beer is the blue-collar beverage, though the social strivers lately have turned that into a status-climbers’ pastime with a bevy of fancy brews. Pabst is for working stiffs.
Other class war markers: Reality show watchers versus Masterpiece Theater aficionados. Opera lovers versus country music line dancers. Catered soirees versus backyard barbecues. Golfers versus bowlers. French cheese versus french fries. This kind of grading system on our pleasures is meant to separate those with “class” from those at the back of the class.
Bentham’s point is a democratic view of pleasure: It doesn’t matter what gives you pleasure because it all has the same effect on the human body and mind. Sipping a glass of 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru (at $558,000 a bottle) is the same reward as sipping an ice-cold Diet Coke ($1.07 for an extra large at Circle K).
The need to feel superior to others permeates our society. In general, men feel superior to women, good-looking people feel superior to average-looking people, the young feel superior to the old, the old feel superior to the young, Whites feel superior to People of Color, educated feel superior to the lesser educated, the lesser educated feel superior to the eggheads, and so on. It’s our very own caste system based on our petty need to feel better about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others.
It’s a natural reaction to favorably compare ourselves to others, especially when we see others we feel inferior to. The problem is not recognizing that this comparison is harmful to ourselves because it’s based on envy, not superiority. First, recognize it when it’s happening; then, don’t indulge in it. Ironically, it’s the crazed pursuit of trying to be superior which kills all pleasure. A FOMO-cide.
The point of life is to experience as much pleasure as possible while avoiding pain. That simple fact seems too complex for some, who inflict pain on themselves by trying to prove to others that they are really enjoying their lives more and on a higher level than others. Hence, the tsunami of desperate selfies declaring I’m having more fun than you are.
There’s enough pain in life that is beyond our control, but true pleasure is completely within our control. I realize now that much of my sneering youthful rejections of the pleasurable activities of others were based on my ignorance of what they were doing and my fear of looking stupid. Now, I try new things and get pleasure in just trying them, pleasure in laughing at myself, and pleasure in shared experience. (I also got a lot of pleasure from writing the word FOMO-cide.)