Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Absolutes
This post reminded me of an online conversation I had recently.
The forum I typically inhabit is awash with liberals gloating at their candidate’s impending victory. The gloating is becoming downright rude and obnoxious.
Then, someone comes along and says that a vote for Obama is unconscionable, simply because the guy is a socialist and such policies are doomed not just to failure, but to actively work to the detriment of the entire country. Man, you want to see a bunch of libs simultaneously get their panties in a bunch, that is the way to do it.
I was shocked to hear people not argue the merits of socialism, but to argue that it is impossible for one to say that one political or economic system is provably better than another. The conversation literally dissolved into “there is no objective reality, you can’t prove anything”.
I had to bow out at this point, before my head exploded.
How does an adult get to be an adult and still deny that reality exists? I can understand how one might argue that the moral judgment necessary to declare one economic system over another is arbitrary. I would contend then that how one makes that moral judgment determines if one is a sociopath or a well-adjusted human being, but at least the ambiguity has been pushed down to the morality of the issue at hand as opposed to the existence of reality itself.
Politics is a popularity contest. Reality is not. It is this misconception that has screwed over academia, our cultural values, and our political system for decades. I don’t think people have become any more wise over time, on average, but I do think they are far more willing to ignore the very real and very observable downsides of the fairy-tale land they want to take us to, while playing up the gumdrops, rainbows, and drum-circles aspects of it. They are more willing to take this collectivist ideal and beat their neighbors over the head with it, using government coercion to bring everyone into the fold.
That, in itself, is scary.
Do I think Obama means the end of the world? No.
I do however feel his ascendence signifies a very dangerous throwback to hippie ideals and collectivist political thought. I haven’t heard the phrase “the end of capitalism as we know it” spoken in polite society ever until this past month. And I was shocked and dismayed to see how many people pranced with glee at the prospect.
With Obama, the fox is getting the keys to the henhouse. It remains to be seen exactly what he will do with them, but there is no way anything good will come of it.
Comments
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Mrs. DT:
I was saving the Audacity of Hope links for a time when I could read them all at once, and am unable to. Through both IE7 and FF 3, every link in the navigation pane points to http://www.americanfarmerblog.com/index.php/amfarmer/single/ , which means I can’t get at those tasty archives.
Is it something I can fix, or something you need to?
Thanks
LSU_NonlegLSU_Nonleg | 10/15/2008 08:10 AM CDT -
Connie, the phrase “ There is no objective reality, you can’t prove anything”, struck me hard because it is such a perfect description of the leftist response to counter- argument. For example, I have a friend who is a leftist- anytime I counter anything she says,citing a source, her comment is not to argue the point, just to say “you can’t believe anything you read”. Now of course, any source needs to have some context and validation, but she is saying “everything is feelings, because nothing else can be trusted” In my life, I have found “feelings” to be the thing least deserving of trust. They can drag one to a place where all judgment and rationale is gone. I fear for a nation where so many can put fact aside just because a con man makes them “feel” good.
raven | 10/15/2008 09:59 AM CDT -
American Farmer- sorry about the heading on my previous post, I mistakenly thought I was reading Mrs. DuToits blog- too much coffee perhaps!
raven | 10/15/2008 10:02 AM CDT -
LSU,
You threw me for a minute, but then I figured out what you meant.
One little word and the links don’t work. You’d think the system would have known what I meant, rather than what I entered.
And the smileys weren’t working either.
All should be working now. If you see anything else strange, let me know.
Mrs. du Toit | 10/16/2008 09:58 AM CDT -
Regarding the post…
This nonsense was confirmed when I was looking for a “critical thinking” course for our kids.
Most of the stuff out there, and the way it is taught in Education departments, has critical thinking focused on examining one’s feelings… which is exactly the opposite of what critical thinking means.
So these aren’t ideas and methods that folks came up with all on their own. They were taught that feelings were valuable, or as valuable, as facts.
You can’t critically think about someone else’s feelings! They are what they are. A critical thinking discussion about someone’s feelings would go something like this:
Person 1: I like the color blue.
Person 2: No, you don’t! You like the color green.
Person 1: Nu uh.
Person 2: Uh huh.
Etc.It’s mind boggling how stupid it is.
Perhaps this is why we also get into so many stupid discussions about someone’s preferences, as if they are up for discussion. They’re not, because they’re not objective. That’s what differentiates facts from feelings. One exists in the mind of the person who has them and are based on their experiences and desires. The other exists outside of a specific individual, and can be evaluated for their scientific worthiness.
Mrs. du Toit | 10/16/2008 10:05 AM CDT -
I think this whole “denying reality” thing, in part, springs from a growing disconnect between people’s lives and the hard facts of what makes those lives possible.
People don’t work hard and get handed cash anymore. First it was checks, then direct deposit, then credit cards and online banking and those new swipe cards that you don’t even sign for.
People don’t grow or kill their own food anymore. First it was grocery stores, then eating out more, then home delivery.
People are so far disconnected from the beginnings of what enables them to live that they’ve begun to believe that reality is whatever they want it to be.
To everything there is a season. I figure it’s like climate change - I believe climate change happens. Look at the geological record. But we sure as hell don’t control it. I figure that societal change follows a season that’s controlled by whatever human characteristic is ascendant at that time.
- We live a brutish existence,
- We work hard to produce more comforts,
- We begin to organize to protect those comforts,
- We begin to feel entitled to those comforts rather than feeling required to work,
- We become decadent,
- We crash,
- We live a brutish existence,
- Et cetera.I think the desire for comforts kills the ability to maintain those comforts in its achievement.
Gobs of those liberals are very comfortable. The poor folks who are trying to vote themselves a raise are trying to achieve that comfort with the least amount of work.
Weetabix | 10/17/2008 09:10 AM CDT -
I was in Germany in May, before Obama had been annointed by the Dems, and I was asked who would win: Hillary or Obama? When I reminded the lady who asked that there were three choices at that point, she said, “oh”. I then explained to her that we were being given a choice between a skunk, who would stink up our house and we’d never get the smell out, a badger, who would not only stink up the house, but undermine the foundations and eat us out of house and home and a wolverine, who would do what the badger did and then turn and eat us. She laughed and said, “Oh, my Gott, just like in German elections!”
Shaney | 10/19/2008 09:20 PM CDT
