Twelve years at the same job and facing impending layoff due to sequester.

[fromwyoming]

3. Delusion reigns

I was part of a team that brought a number of Ukranian students and professors to the U.S. in 1991. During the course of their studies here, they encountered American accounts of the 1920's Ukranian famines. Millions died. The American explanation, totally supported by empirical evidence, noted that Ukranian farm production had been appropriated by the Soviet (Russsian) government. Ukranian farmers starved so Russian urban citizens could survive. Our students and professors totally rejected this information as merely U.S. propoganda. I think subsequent information has shown that the deadly Ukranian famine in the 1920's was caused by Soviet policies. I came away from this encounter understanding that people rarely understand the events and policies that create their personal conditions but that they latch onto the explanation that seems most plausible to them. In the case of this posting, people with no historical understanding and no interpretation of their own circumstances other than blaming someone they are predisposed to dislike are certain to attribute their misfortune to the person or administration they are predisposed to dislike. We need to figure out ways to educate them.