The Rational Ram

I have a perverse need to deconstruct memes that convey political or ideological messages that strongly resonate with large numbers of people. Many of these memes are long on emotional appeal and short on logic, which is why I feel compelled to deconstruct them. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that there […]

It’s worse. Let’s properly define the often misused word “socialism”. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the primary definition of socialism is “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”. The secondary definition of socialism is “a system of society or […]

If you are wondering why I chose a picture of “William Strannix” (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the 1992 film Under Siege) to open this post, it is because the Strannix character delivered a number of witty, yet thought-provoking lines. The most poignant of these lines was the following: Yes, of course! Hence the […]

I feel totally blessed today! There are few milestones in life, but hitting the “Big 5-0” is certainly one of them and I am grateful to not only see this milestone, but to be a happier and healthier version of myself than I was at 40 or even 30. I made a lot of choices […]

Greetings to my readers and I hope all of you are doing well and protecting yourselves and your families. I wish all of you the best during this trying time. I learned during my military career to find the positives and the lessons that difficult times present to us. I learned that needless worries are […]

Today’s post will likely not endear me to my female readers, but the uncomfortable truth is not as welcoming as a comforting fallacy. The 2020 Democratic Presidential field was quite promising if you were rooting for a woman to be nominated for the second time in our country’s history and elected president for the first […]

And why they are all wrong. I wrote a piece on this blog about what constitutes a “real alpha male”, so I won’t go into detail about those specifics here. You can read about that at the link below: https://therationalram.blog/2019/08/25/traits-of-a-real-alpha-male/ To summarize my real alpha male post ever so pithily, an alpha male is a […]

Tribalism, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “tribal consciousness or loyalty” with a secondary definition of the term being “strong in-group loyalty”. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tribalism The key word in both definitions is “loyalty” Is everyone worthy of your loyalty? Is loyalty freely given in undying, unyielding perpetuity just because the person or persons you are […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden swept Super Tuesday this week to vault past Senator Bernie Sanders to become the front runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Let’s just say that I’m surprised, but not surprised. I’m surprised because I thought millennials would turnout in droves to support Sanders. I’m not surprised that the expected […]

You have to shake your head in wonderment at the political messages you see on Facebook and other social media during an election year. Take the above political messages… Seems rational and straightforward, but like 99.99% of political messages, it is grounded more in emotion than fact. I thought I’d take the time to deconstruct […]