October 3, 2008
Is it an illusion that reason and Western liberalism will win out over fanaticism? Truth or Lie?
Even when I take off the illusionary blinders of my culture, no real reason becomes visible that can explain why reason should prevail over fanaticism or why fanaticism should be thought of as culturally backward and something that will disappear over time.
Instead, I see myself as having been blinded by a cultural myth, blinded to the fact that the law of the jungle is very possibly stronger than reason and modernity and may win out in the long run.
What do you think?
September 22, 2008
Because its in print, because the majority believes it is so…
I’m wondering how many people think that if something is published or recorded either in a book, a newspaper or magazine, shown in a video, broadcast on radio, ( written in a blog [smile] ) or broadcast on television – I wonder, do they think that there is somehow more truth to it?
Do you believe news on television is more reliable in the area of truth than say the spoken word?
Do you think if a book is really old that it is somehow more true than a newer book, especially relating to religious beliefs?
Say you read a story in the newspaper and then hear the same story on TV but the story’s are a bit different, say some guy is accused of hit and run on TV but the newspaper accused the mans wife? Which do believe?
Say someone tells you a book they have read is the gospel truth or say someone tells you it is the word of God, will you believe them? Do you ever wonder how it is that they would know this as fact?
Do you think if more people believe something that that somehow makes what they believe more true, i.e. that the majority is somehow more right?
Remember at one time everyone thought the world was flat and it was only one man who said it was round. Now, you would be thought of as an idiot if you really thought the world was flat. Yet how do you know that many hundreds of years from now, people might not disprove and find laughable some belief everyone now-a-days currently believes to be true? Or, is it possible that people in the future will be the deluded ones, in which case, are you really sure the world is round?
How do you determine for yourself, what you think truth is?
September 13, 2008
Should McCain put Palin on the Supreme Court? Truth or Lie
From a recent Newsweek article, Dahlia Lithwick argues that McCain should put Palin on the Supreme Court rather than have run her as his Vice President.
After reading the article, I think Lithwick’s logic is sound and that this would be a great course of action for John McCain to follow.
Here is a quote to demonstrate just how sound her logic is:
Finally, Palin has revealed, both as the mayor of Wasilla and then as the chief executive of Alaska, a style of governance that features the not-infrequent firing of dissenters. Among the growing list of those dismissed or threatened with removal on Palin’s watch were Mary Ellen Emmons, the Wasilla town librarian and vociferous opponent of Palin’s proposal to dabble in book banning, and John Bitney, Palin’s legislative director, who was dating the not-quite-ex-wife of one of her husband’s friends. Palin is also the subject of an ethics investigation for firing Walt Monegan, the Alaska Public Safety commissioner, who declined to fire the state trooper divorcing her sister. I can’t help but wonder if following two years of scandals surrounding the Bush administration’s decision to terminate nine U.S. attorneys for their imagined disloyalty, John McCain might be nervous about a vice president with a proclivity toward doing the same thing. If McCain puts Palin on the Supreme Court, however, she has only a trio of law clerks and a secretary to hire, and each can be vetted for ideological purity.
No fair arguing that Palin isn’t experienced enough to sit on the highest court of the land. What matters—far more than experience—is one’s unyielding moral certainty, relatability and gender. And Palin has these qualities in spades. Washington’s old-boy problem hardly ends at the Oval Office. If ever there were a D.C. institution in dire need of a place to plug in a breast pump, it’s the Supreme Court. And Palin has already proven that neither the courts, nor precedent, nor even the Constitution itself will be a match for the force of her will. America has finally found someone suited to put the “law” back into scofflaw, and it’s Sarah Palin. McCain shouldn’t waste her talents on state funerals.
September 11, 2008
How bad are prevalent lies of Omission?
Being an American, this is what I have noticed about lies of omission:
- Every decade seems to encourage certain lies of omission and every decade seems to permit or encourage certain truths to be told.
- in the 1960’s young people were encouraged to tell the truth about their disdain for ‘authority’ and the ‘establishment’. This truth infected the society at large and there was a general disdain for authority and the ‘establishment’. Certain truths are also discouraged during each generation. In the 1960’s, people were discouraged from expressing patriotism or traditional religious beliefs.
- During the 1970’s people of all ages were encouraged to tell the truth about how much they liked sex. This truth also infected the society at large. Adult theaters called ‘Pussy Cat theaters’ were common in most towns as were nude bars, etc. ‘Open marriage’ was a common concept and there were many main stream movies that promoted these kinds of ideas like ‘Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice’. The one night stand was considered a normal, socially acceptable relationship. Prudishness about sex was discouraged. Divorce was encouraged. Therapists would commonly encourage people to get a divorce if there was any dissatisfaction expressed during counseling sessions.
- in my opinion, the 1980’s showed signs of overt manipulation of peoples values, wherein citizens were bombarded via TV and radio with government promotion of a return to traditional Family and Christian values. This came about at a time when most people were already fed up with many of the excesses of the 1960’s and 1970’s that were impacting our society in negative ways and this bombardment had a strong effect.
- The 1990’s seemed to be about Globalization, multicultural-ism, Big Box Retail Stores, Windows95 and, leveling the playing field. It was a new post cold war world we lived in. The conservative values fostered in the 1980’s by the Reagan Administration seemed to take root during this period. There was this idea of ‘tough love’ floating around.
- This new American Century was marked and largely defined by 911, Anti-Terrorism, War and rising prices. The brand of conservative family values and christian values so heavily promoted in the 1980’s during the Reagan Administration and after 911, becomes a fundamentalist force to be reckoned with by those who would favor liberty and democracy over an authoritarian and theocratic interpretation of the primary founding documents of America, our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and, our Bill of Rights.
- This is what confuses me so about having lived through these nearly 5 decades: If you were to follow the life course of average American’s that I have known, you would find a majority of people who used drugs in the 1960’s and called the police ‘pigs’, who in the 1970’s got divorced or cheated on their partners or participated in ‘group gropes’. You would find many of these same people in the 1980’s, seeing themselves as Christian Conservatives who believe in ‘traditional values’ and who by the time the 1990’s came around, would not admit to having been hippies in the 1960’s and/or swingers in the 1970’s. Then after 911, these same people changed once more to some kind of person I hardly recognize as an American or even a friend.
- Then there are people like me. I was slightly influenced by each decade but never gave in to the excesses of what became normal behavior in each decade, including this one. I carry forward the parts of each decade that influenced me. Those influences make me who I am today, which is way outside the mainstream. Not hippie, not swinger, not traditional, not authoritarian. I am a quienticential product of the American way – not a product of any given decade I have survived.
- In my opinion, there are lies of omission about the personal transformations most middle age Americans have gone through to ‘fit in’ during some of these rather bizarre periods of radical transformations in American culture. I think that if middle age Americans started being honest about who they really are rather than pretending and going with the flow of these ‘movements’ (and I think this ‘New American Century’ after 911 IS just another ‘movement’) we would see that America is not what it pretends to be now. I am not sure what America is and, I can only speak only from the perspective of my unique generation, but I think all this pompous authoritarian fundamentalist stuff at least when worn by Americans over the age of 50 is not flattering considering their ‘real’ histories and is a dangerous pretense that hides a generation of adults who are too easily influenced and have few core values that can withstand peer pressure. I think if tomorrow, the majority of people started calling the police – ‘pigs’, these same conservative old people would go with the flow and do the same things they have done in the past, they would start seeing me as ‘establishment’ rather than liberal because I would be supporting the police and think these instant liberals were jerks.
September 10, 2008
Do we make too much of the similarities between people of different faiths? truth or lie?
World Religion Research
Conclusions reported by Professor Obvious
For the last 15 years our comparative religion department at WASU has been studying world religions.
We have reached a few preliminary conclusions:
- People of all religions die at some point as do their family members, their friends and loved ones.
- Many people of all religions tend to have sex and have children.
- People of all religions tend to eat, sleep and drink liquids.
- People of all religions tend to have bodies that look strikingly similar to bodies of people in other religions. For instance, we usually observe, two legs, two arms, two eyes, a single mouth, a single nose, a single head, genital bulges under clothing when worn, two hands with five fingers on each hand, two feet with five toes on each foot. This is not always the case, but common enough that it should be noted. There are many other similar details – see separate appendix.
- Living people of all religions seem to breath, have hearts that beat and, have blood flowing through their veins.
- The living people almost always have a complex system whereby they take food in, mash it up and, digest it.
- Once food or liquids are consumed, it seems that people of most religions do not retain all of what they consume.
- Universally, we observed regardless of religion people defecate and urinate.
- We have not physically observed this but based on behavior we think most people in most religions have a brain.
We will continue to study this subject to see what other amazing similarities we can find!
September 4, 2008
Is the end near? – Truth or Lie
Professor Obvious of WASU gave a lecture today on the state of the world:
Look toward our future! Today there are approximately 6.7 billion people on this little planet. In the next hundred years all these people will be dead, well most of them anyway. What a tragedy! Who will dispose of all these bodies? Think about this too, more people will be born during the next one hundred years and many of those people will die! And what about all the animals? Think about the great blue whales, how many of them will die? What about the lions and tigers and bears? We worry about war, oil, poverty, terrorists and politics but who thinks about the great disaster that is facing us all other than those of us here at WASU?
At WASU, we are thankful to those professor’s who both seek and expose the truth! Obviously, our favorite professor received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the appreciative audience here at We’re All Screwed University.
Lie of the Day 