Confession By Gelett Burgess

Confession

By Gelett Burgess

Ah, Yes! I Wrote the "Purple Cow" —

  I'm Sorry, now, I Wrote it!

  But I can Tell you Anyhow,

  I'll Kill you if you Quote it!

History

A noticeable share of the surviving papyri and cuneiform apprenticeship contracts from the ancient world concern the apprenticeship of slaves.

Now, why would slaveowners pay for their slaves to be apprenticed in various trades? self-interest.
Since owners gained income from the… pic.twitter.com/ssNKq4NgzJ

— LiorLefineder (@lefineder) November 1, 2025

 

An Insight

Isnt this a wonderful one?
Clemenceau's full quote on Émile Zola that so resonates today and on X:
"Men have been found to resist the most powerful monarchs and to refuse to bow down before them, but few indeed have been found to resist the crowd, to stand up alone before…

— S Sebag Montefiore (@simonmontefiore) November 3, 2025

 

I see wonderful things

A woman experienced being captured when she came to photograph a school of sardines. pic.twitter.com/WzBjt4xhuT

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) November 3, 2025

 

Offbeat Humor

Unbelievable

One of the security passwords for the Louvre was...

"Louvre"

You can't make it up https://t.co/bQU5FYyp7d

— François Valentin (@Valen10Francois) November 3, 2025

 

Data Talks

fracking quietly it made the US into the world's largest oil producer in a very short time

at least some people stopped talking about it because we'd be a lot poorer and more beholden to Strange Countries if we didn't develop the tech https://t.co/cRSJZvzXV9 pic.twitter.com/lqT3y8Kn2Z

— Simon Sarris (@simonsarris) November 3, 2025

 

Blau by Wassily Kandinsky

Blau by Wassily Kandinsky (Russia, 1866-1944)

Click to enlarge.

The Sycophantic Fox And The Gullible Raven by Guy Wetmore Carryl

The Sycophantic Fox And The Gullible Raven

by Guy Wetmore Carryl

A raven sat upon a tree,

    And not a word he spoke, for

His beak contained a piece of Brie.

    Or, maybe it was Roquefort.

We'll make it any kind you please —

At all events it was a cheese.

Beneath the tree's umbrageous limb

    A hungry fox sat smiling;

He saw the raven watching him,

    And spoke in words beguiling:

"J'admire," said he, "ton beau plumage!"

(The which was simply persiflage.)

Two things there are, no doubt you know,

    To which a fox is used:

A rooster that is bound to crow,

    A crow that's bound to roost;

And whichsoever he espies

He tells the most unblushing lies.

"Sweet fowl," he said, "I understand

    You're more than merely natty;

I hear you sing to beat the band

    And Adelina Patti.

Pray render with your liquid tongue

A bit from Gotterdammerung."

This subtle speech was aimed to please

    The crow, and it succeeded;

He thought no bird in all the trees

    Could sing as well as he did.

In flattery completely doused,

He gave the "Jewel Song" from Faust.

But gravitation's law, of course,

    As Isaac Newton showed it,

Exerted on the cheese its force,

    And elsewhere soon bestowed it.

In fact, there is no need to tell

What happened when to earth it fell.

I blush to add that when the bird

    Took in the situation

He said one brief, emphatic word,

    Unfit for publication.

The fox was greatly startled, but

He only sighed and answered, "Tut."

The Moral is: A fox is bound

    To be a shameless sinner.

And also: When the cheese comes round

    You know it's after dinner.

But (what is only known to few)

The fox is after dinner, too.

History

The inscription on the tomb of Edward III (d 1377) sums him up thus "Here is the glory of the English, the paragon of past kings, the model of future kings, a merciful king, the peace of the peoples ... the unconquered leopard"

He can justifiably claim to be the "best" medieval… pic.twitter.com/Xc1tT4dzsp

— damnatio memoriae (@InDamnatio) November 1, 2025

 

An Insight

pic.twitter.com/YQMSqD8LOz

— 🜲 (@HereforVK18) October 31, 2025

 

I see wonderful things

Man in Indonesia captured exact moment the Dukono volcano erupted within its caldera.pic.twitter.com/uXx0HQZLh4

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 3, 2025

 

Offbeat Humor

I always thought that Chinese personal names should have been literally translated in the same manner as Amerindian ones (Red Cloud, Sitting Bull etc). I've read half a dozen books on Sinic history and still struggle to remember or distinguish anyone beyond Mao or Qin Shi Huang. https://t.co/Ap7fRUAJGq

— Yevardiaղ (@haravayin_hogh) November 4, 2025

 

When an ideology demands outcomes that reality will never produce, its followers must choose between two paths: Admission of error or lie

From Why Radical Ideologies Rise—and Why They Always Collapse by Michael Magoon.  The subheading is A Psychological Framework for Explaining the Rise and Self-Destruction of Radical Ideologies.  An interesting argument across the whole essay.  

Moral Corruption as a Structural Requirement

When an ideology demands outcomes that reality will never produce, its followers must choose between two paths:

1. admit the ideology is wrong, or

2. lie.

Radical movements always choose lying. Lying becomes a moral duty, a sign of loyalty, even an act of revolutionary virtue.

At first the lies are small—uncomfortable facts minimized, predictions overstated, enemies exaggerated. But as the gap between ideology and reality grows, so does the pressure to falsify. This is especially true when the ideology has become institutionalized. Bureaucrats must produce data that validates doctrine. Scientists must reshape experiments to fit ideological expectations. Teachers must instruct students in falsehoods. Citizens must affirm statements they know are untrue.

Moral corruption and dishonesty becomes the operating system of the movement.

This is not primarily because the people involved are evil or pathological—though some are. It is because the Visionary’s worldview cannot function without continuous distortion of reality. A false map requires false reporting, false measurement, and false behavior. No amount of sincerity can overcome physics, agriculture, demography, economics, or human psychology.

Thus the corruption is not a side effect. It is the natural consequence of aligning society with a mental delusion.

 

Coincidentally, I read earlier this morning, The end of the climate cult by Matt Ridley.  Subheading is It has been a long, lucrative ride.  In it he has a very partial list of some of the massive scare campaigns in the past few decades.  Emphasis added:

It has been a long, lucrative ride. Predicting the eco-apocalypse has always been a profitable business, spawning subsidies, salaries, consulting fees, air miles, best-sellers and research grants. Different themes took turns as the scare du jour: overpopulation, oil spills, pollution, desertification, mass extinction, acid rain, the ozone layer, nuclear winter, falling sperm counts. Each faded as the evidence became more equivocal, the public grew bored or, in some cases, the problem was resolved by a change in the law or practice.

Each of these were lucrative, long-lasting campaigns whose premises, through duplicity or honest error, were effectively a lie.  A lie that had to be repeated with increasingly shrill conviction up to the very point where it collapsed or inverted.  

Overpopulation was worth a couple of decades of government subsidies, academic study, grants, etc.. Then there was maybe a decades breather when the opeators could no longer sustain the overpopulation panic.  And now here we are, with an inverted emerging hysteria - Collapsing Birthrates and Depopulation.  

I have a running list of these manufactured panics somewhere but can't lay my hands on it at the moment.  I think the first one that was the catalyst for creating the list was the claims in the 1970s and 1980s regarding the dangers of living near power lines, then later the dangers from microwave ovens and then in the 1990s the dangers of brain cancer from cell phones.

I asked both Google AI and Grok to:

List all the major scare campaigns over the past fifty years which dominated public discourse and then collapsed.

Grok's was the better list by far, though still woefully incomplete.  Multiple reprompts would likely fill it out.  In terms of public policy, economics, and education, virtually every major initiative over the past fifty years have all failed.  Failed completely, failed to deliver as promised, or failed to cover the costs of implementation.  Here's Groks opening list:

Here are some of the major scare campaigns over the past 50 years (roughly 1975–2025) that captured widespread public attention, dominated media and political discourse, and ultimately collapsed, fizzled out, or were proven overblown or debunked. These include environmental doomsday predictions, moral panics, health scares, and tech-related fears. I've focused on those where the hype far exceeded the reality, leading to public backlash, discrediting, or quiet abandonment. Note that "collapsed" can mean the predicted catastrophe didn't occur, the issue was mitigated without apocalypse, or evidence showed the fear was unfounded. This isn't exhaustive, as scares often overlap or evolve, but these were among the most prominent based on historical analyses.

Environmental and Doomsday Scares

Global Cooling/Ice Age Fears (1970s): Media and scientists warned of an impending ice age due to pollution and climate trends, with predictions of sharp global temperature drops by 2000. Publications like Newsweek and The New York Times amplified this, but it shifted to warming concerns and was largely forgotten as no ice age materialized. 

maciverinstitute.com +1

Mass Starvation and Famine (1970s–1980s): Predictions by figures like Paul Ehrlich forecast global famines killing hundreds of millions by the 1980s due to overpopulation, with India, China, and Africa hit hardest. Books like The Population Bomb drove the hype, but agricultural advances (e.g., Green Revolution) averted this, and the predictions were discredited. 

aei.org +1

Resource Depletion/Peak Oil (1970s–2000s): Warnings that oil, metals (e.g., copper, zinc), and other resources would run out by the 1990s–2000s, leading to societal collapse. The 1972 Limits to Growth report fueled this, but new discoveries, technology (e.g., fracking), and efficiency improvements made it collapse as a dominant fear. 

aei.org +1

Acid Rain Destroying Ecosystems (1980s): Fears that industrial pollution would wipe out forests, lakes, and wildlife across North America and Europe by the 1990s. It dominated environmental discourse, but regulations (e.g., Clean Air Act amendments) reduced emissions, and impacts were less catastrophic than predicted, leading to its fade. 

aei.org +1

Ozone Hole Catastrophe (1980s–1990s): Panic over a growing Antarctic ozone hole causing mass skin cancer and ecosystem collapse worldwide. While real, the 1987 Montreal Protocol phased out CFCs, the hole stabilized, and the scare diminished as a doomsday narrative. 

aei.org

Y2K Bug (late 1990s): Widespread fear that computer systems would fail at midnight on January 1, 2000, causing planes to crash, banks to collapse, and societal chaos. Billions were spent on fixes, but the event passed with minimal issues, turning it into a symbol of overhyped tech panic.

2012 Mayan Apocalypse (2000s–2012): Based on misinterpreted Mayan calendar, predictions of global cataclysms (e.g., solar flares, planetary alignment) dominated books, films, and media. It peaked in 2012 but collapsed immediately after December 21 passed uneventfully.

Moral Panics

Satanic Ritual Abuse (1980s–1990s): Allegations of widespread Satanic cults abusing children in daycares, schools, and rituals, fueled by books like Michelle Remembers and media frenzy. It led to wrongful convictions (e.g., McMartin preschool trial), but lack of evidence caused it to collapse as a hoax by the mid-1990s. 

en.wikipedia.org +2

Dungeons & Dragons and Fantasy Games (1980s): Claims that role-playing games like D&D promoted Satanism, suicide, and violence among youth. Groups like BADD campaigned against it, but studies debunked links, and it faded as gaming normalized. 

en.wikipedia.org +1

Video Games Causing Violence (1980s–2000s): Fears that games like Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto turned kids into killers, leading to ratings systems and lawsuits. Multiple studies found no causal link, and the panic waned despite ongoing debates. 

en.wikipedia.org +2

Gangsta Rap and Hip-Hop (1990s): Music by artists like Tupac and NWA was blamed for promoting crime, violence, and moral decay in youth. It sparked congressional hearings and censorship pushes, but cultural acceptance grew, and the panic subsided. 

reddit.com

Harry Potter and Occultism (1990s–2000s): Books accused of luring kids into witchcraft and Satanism, with book burnings and bans in some schools. Religious groups drove it, but popularity exploded without evidence of harm, leading to its collapse. 

en.wikipedia.org +1

Online Predators and Internet Dangers (1990s–2000s): Panic over strangers grooming kids online, amplified by shows like To Catch a Predator. Stats showed most risks were from peers, not strangers, and the fear shifted as social media normalized. 

en.wikipedia.org +1

MySpace and Social Media (mid-2000s): Fears of cyberbullying, predators, and teen exploitation on early platforms. It dominated news, but regulations and user adaptation reduced the hype. 

en.wikipedia.org +1

QAnon Conspiracy (2010s–2020s): Claims of elite Satanic child-trafficking rings, spreading via social media and tying into politics. It peaked around 2020 elections but collapsed amid debunkings and platform bans. 

en.wikipedia.org +1

Health and Pandemic Scares

Swine Flu Vaccine (1976): U.S. government warned of a deadly pandemic like 1918 flu, vaccinating 45 million, but the outbreak was mild, and vaccine side effects (e.g., Guillain-Barré) caused the program to collapse in scandal.

AIDS as a "Gay Plague" (1980s): Early stigma portrayed HIV/AIDS as divine punishment or confined to marginalized groups, leading to discrimination. As science advanced and treatments emerged, the moral panic aspect collapsed, though the disease persisted. 

en.wikipedia.org +2

Mad Cow Disease (BSE) (1990s): Fears of a human epidemic from contaminated beef, with UK banning sales and global panic. Cases were rare (under 200 worldwide), and controls ended the scare by early 2000s.

MMR Vaccine and Autism (1990s–2000s): A fraudulent study linked vaccines to autism, sparking anti-vax movements and measles outbreaks. The paper was retracted in 2010, debunking the link and discrediting the panic. 

abcnews.go.com

Bird Flu (H5N1) (2000s): Warnings of a global pandemic killing millions, with stockpiling of antivirals. It caused limited human cases, and the fear faded without mass outbreak.

Swine Flu (H1N1) (2009): Declared a pandemic, with fears of 1918-level deaths; vaccines rushed out amid hype. It was milder than seasonal flu, leading to criticism of overreaction. 

abcnews.go.com

Ebola Outbreak (2014–2016): Media portrayed it as a global threat spreading via air travel, but containment in West Africa and few cases elsewhere caused the panic to collapse.

These examples often stemmed from media amplification, expert overstatements, or political agendas, but advancements in science, policy, or evidence led to their decline. Some, like climate change or immigration fears, persist or evolve and aren't included as "collapsed."

Dramatically incomplete, but a starting point.  As above, in terms of public policy, economics, and education, virtually every major campaign over the past fifty years has ridden a hype cycle originating in bad initial academic research, commercially and ideologically driven fear campaigns, discovery that the claimed benefits are non-existent or negative AND that the costs to achieve those non-benefits were dramatically greater than anticipated.

I'd be comfortable estimating that probably 80-90% of major panic campaigns in those fifty years are failures whose lifecycle was extended by cooption into an ideology which then, as per Magoon, lied its way into an few years of profitable hype cycle.  

Data Talks

The amount of time network television spent on Arctic Frost…

CBS: 0 seconds
ABC: 0 seconds
NBC: 0 seconds

Nothing.

Not covering news is the same as lying about the news.

The Media is the enemy of the people.

— C3 (@C_3C_3) October 31, 2025

 

Girl on a Red Carpet by Felice Casorati

Girl on a Red Carpet by Felice Casorati (Italy, 1883-1963)

Click to enlarge.

The Preference Declared by Eugene Field

The Preference Declared
by Eugene Field

Boy, I detest the Persian pomp;
I hate those linden-bark devices;
And as for roses, holy Moses!
They can't be got at living prices!
Myrtle is good enough for us,--
For you, as bearer of my flagon;
For me, supine beneath this vine,

Doing my best to get a jag on!

History

Athens added a legal twist to this practice. in 317 to 307 BC Demetrios of Phaleron tightened funerary rules, so slipping defixiones into graves became risky; Athenians pivoted to tossing them into wells instead. a bathhouse well at kerameikos has yielded 30 lead tablets, many… https://t.co/JnLy4AL64M

— Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) November 1, 2025

 

An Insight

Obama: ObamaCare is going to mean keeping your doctor but receiving better care while paying less, at least $2,500 per household; also, reduced federal health care spending, trimming $4 trillion from the national debt; streamlining Medicare/Medicaid, reducing waste, fraud &… https://t.co/rKgrrZ1yBI

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 1, 2025

 

I see wonderful things

A few years ago ten-year-old Erik Briskerud found an old wooden object stuck in sand when he was going to swim in River Glomma, Norway 🇳🇴. After removing the sand it looked like a bowl. It would have been easy to throw away the wooden bowl, but Erik noticed someone had taken the… pic.twitter.com/6CuprOzYzh

— ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) November 1, 2025

 

Data Talks

The breadth of Alejandro Mayorkas' global human importation program remains underappreciated.

He flew them in from every random country in the world. With no legal or even humanitarian justification. pic.twitter.com/soNkqaPoNO

— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) October 31, 2025

 

Maid in the Hallway, By the Window A Red Geranium by Henrik Nordenberg

Maid in the Hallway, By the Window A Red Geranium by Henrik Nordenberg (Sweden, 1857-1928)

Click to enlarge.

The Harbinger of Autumn, 1922 by Paul Klee

The Harbinger of Autumn, 1922 by Paul Klee (Switzerland, 1879-1940)

Click to enlarge.

Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe by Maurice Sagoff

Robinson Crusoe 

Daniel Defoe 

by Maurice Sagoff

Wrecked castaway

On lonely strand

Works hard all day

To tame the land,

Takes time to pray;

Makes clothes by hand

For eighteen years

His skill he plies, 

Then lo! A footprint

He espies - 

"Thank God It's Friday!"

Crusoe cires.

Take heart from his

Example, chums

Work hard, produce;

Complete your sums;

Eventually,

Friday comes.  

History

When Maj. Richard Bong shot down his 26th enemy aircraft, breaking WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s record to become America’s leading ace of WWII, congratulations poured in. Rickenbacker promised him a case of Scotch, and Gen. Kenney sent champagne.

When CBS asked Bong about his… pic.twitter.com/aT9rAbYwI0

— Air Power (@RealAirPower1) November 1, 2025

 

An Insight

In just seven generations, 254 ancestors stood before you—warriors, mothers, builders, wanderers. Each one fought for their survival, carved their path through hardship, and carried forward the line that would one day become you. Every breath you take honors their endurance.… pic.twitter.com/BYp0gVXMh6

— Dr. M.F. Khan (@Dr_TheHistories) November 1, 2025

 

I see wonderful things

#SarcophagusSaturday - Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women from the Royal Necropolis of Sidon (Lebanon). All sides of the sarcophagus are decorated with reliefs of women in various postures, dressed and portrayed between Ionic columns, with sad faces, all in accordance with Greek… pic.twitter.com/7oEIt07fqH

— Following Hadrian (@carolemadge) November 1, 2025

 

Offbeat Humor

This is what I came to the internet for pic.twitter.com/J6h03mzZHd

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 31, 2025

 

Data Talks

This is really something. New England's six states vote about 40 percent Republican, and have literally zero republican representatives in Congress. https://t.co/1DgmOvaFl6

— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 18, 2025

 

The Ambush by Karl Friedrich Lessing

The Ambush by Karl Friedrich Lessing (Germany, 1808-1880)

Click to enlarge.