I'm trying to rouse myself from this stupor I've been in lately. It's not easy. I see that foreclosure king and former Goldman banker Steve Mnuchin is going to be our next Treasury Secretary. My personal view is that Mnuchin, like so many others taking positions of "responsibility" in our government, is a reptile.

I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned this "person" doesn't belong the same species as I do.



Reptilian humanoid?

I've looked at research which indicates that reptiles have certain traits which distinguish them from others, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. There are only a couple of things I'm sure of in regard to reptilian humanoids.

Naked self-interest, however expressed, is so pronounced in such "people" that more subtle human characteristics which promote social cooperation and thus disguise or compensate for innate selfishness (shame, gossip, guilt, embarrassment, empathy, etc.) are simply missing. Entirely absent.

These "people" revere strength (aggressive and successful self-interest) and despise weakness (anything else).

In short, reptilian humanoids are drawn to other reptilian humanoids, and seek to dominate those outside their type (or "species"). No surprise there, I guess.

Despite the arguments of Jonathan Haidt, there is no discernible sense of morality in reptiles as far as I can see. While I understand that Haidt is talking about conservatives generally, among whom reptiles are a subset, Haidt's definition of "human" is still far more inclusive than mine

I mean, c'mon! — Mitch McConnell is just like you and me? Give me a break!

It's not that such "people" are more unconscious than others outside their type—the Flatland model precludes that (i.e., everyone lacks self-awareness to more or less the same degree).

So it must be the case that unconscious drives are simply organized differently in reptiles, and not in a good way for anybody else. They are more primitive than "us" in this respect, as the metaphorical descriptor "reptile" implies.

Or maybe the Flatland model really only applies to mammals, and primates in particular

Just kidding.

So whaddaya do when reptiles are running the show? You got me. I'm stumped. I have noticed that I'm starting to tune out a lot of stuff now. I'm filtering like crazy! I hear about stuff, but I don't really take it in. I really don't know what to do with that information. I'm becoming like a deer caught in the headlights.

Maybe the Good News about the human condition is that nobody gets out of here alive.