Maslow's Hierarchies of Matters - March 2025

I had a busy weekend topping off a busy month, but I'm hoping to get this out before Trump's speech to Congress (Update: Success!).

So what are the MAIN things that matter going into March? What is, and isn't, worth our valuable attention?

Major: Very important, will be impactful.

The ongoing genocide in Sudan and China.

Tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and upcoming counter-tariffs. America's greatest strength is our positive relations with our nearest neighbors. A trade war will disrupt that, and hopefully won't be step one in a multi-step deterioration. That they are higher than the tariffs on China is real mud in the eye.

Appreciable: Good context to keep in mind, but don't sweat the details.

Nothing, actually.

Incidental: Good to know, but of limited use beyond its own topic.

DOGE, unless of course you are or know someone who works in the federal government.  Same with the ongoing ceasefire in Israel/Palestine and the hostages being returned.  The stories are heartbreaking and I don't mean to minimize that.  But there are lots of heartwrenching stories all over the globe.  Giving them all our attention would exhaust us without providing an ounce of relief to those experiencing it.  Donating to causes supporting the victims is a better response than in-depth consumption of the information.

The televised Trump/Zelenskyy meeting.  Even though both Presidents are about as practiced in public performance as can be, given their backgrounds in television, this is a good reminder that doing international diplomacy in public is stupid.  Anyway while initially I thought this would be Major having now watched the whole meeting this news story is really of limited use.  This meeting isn't as important as the tariffs.  Is it funny to see the President of the United States say “Oh, 2014? I was not here,” "It's wonderful to speak badly about somebody else," "What if anything!  What a bomb drops on you're head right now?" and repeatedly say "Raw Earth" when he means "Rare Earth"?  Yes, dammit, it is.  But it's not worth our valuable attention much beyond that.  It is considerably more spectacle than substance.

Negligible: Ignore this as much as possible.

Gaz-a-lago.  Aside from the horror of an American President trying to spin genocide for its economic benefits there's just no way this will happen.  None of the Arab states want the Palestinians, the Palestinians don't want to move further away from Israel (because that would undermine their claim of "right of return"), Hamas doesn't want their people to be dispersed, and nobody is willing to send troops to forcibly move them from Gaza or into another country.  This won't happen, and we shouldn't pay attention to impossible things.

Airplane crashes are tragic.  However, flying isn't getting more dangerous.

Don't waste your time with boycotts like this.  Single-day boycotts are performance art - you're just moving the purchase to another day.  If you're mad at Trump call your congress rep.  If you're upset with something a particular company does then boycott them and make sure you're loudly announcing you're taking your dollars elsewhere.  And make sure you spend lots of dollars there to begin with.  Chick-fil-a doesn't care I boycott them because I never spent a lot of money before, and I don't spend a lot on fast-food anyway.

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Disagree with something I've said?  Did I miss a news story you'd like my opinion on?  Feel free to let me know in the comments!


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