“In reading The History of Nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first...
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”
Charles Mackay
“The true measure of a man is not his intelligence or how high he rises in this freak establishment. No, the true measure of a man is this: how quickly can he respond to the needs of others and how much of himself he can give.”
Philip K. Dick
"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death
Stocks finished mixed on the day as the earnings reports for the 2Q are starting to roll in.
Their valuations seem a bit thick at these levels, and are vulnerable to news that does not support ideal pricing.
Gold finished unchanged, while silver was off a few cents.
The dollar finished slightly higher.
There will be a stock option expiration on Friday.
Watching or reading any of the specialty news outlets is like observing a group of people who exist within isolated conclaves, on ideological islands, engaging in insular feedback loops of simulated conversations, and bending the events of the day to fit their particular hysteria of the moment in their own parallel universe.
One can only step back and wonder what it is that has driven them to run in a mad herd from one place to another, seemingly without self-awareness. And unless you drink deeply of the particular flavor of their kool-aid, it makes little sense because it has become unmoored from the common experience.
Truly, life imitates high school.
Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
Have a pleasant evening.
