morality

The End of Civilization…Maybe? A Minor Rant

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It’s hard to know who to blame, but modern Western Civilization is coming to an end. If there are textbooks in the future, the demise of Democracy and the 21st century world will be written by whoever survives. Historical museums and archives of apolitical thought will all have gone the way of the Edsal, and history will be whatever the New Order says it is. Research will result in facts dominated by the Group-thought of the Cults who survive and pour out of their bunkers after the mild-mannered Armageddon.

A paragraph like the one above usually starts a science fiction novel which begins with a sudden, apocalyptic fireball, world-wide pandemic, or alien invasion. But our current president and his minions are reshaping American Life without germs, radiation, or pointy-headed anal probers. And some of America supports them.

The dismantling of a federal Government that has historically held people together, kept them safe from external forces, won world-wide wars, and met nature’s tests, means…nothing. Nothing will be left for workplace safety, protection from predatory billionaires, bird flu, brain-eating amoebas, and the rest of the small things trying to kill us. Pollution will become the dominant problem before climate change, and both will conflate to end mankind. The Trump Administration will crow to the rooftops about how great they made America right to the bitter end.

Eh. Maybe not. This might be what you would call Trump Derangement Syndrome so it’s best to avoid any Trumpian news stories, but The Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts issue is astounding, prescient, and indicative of The New Trump World mentality. Trump made his usual off the cuff rants about The Kennedy Center not being Trumpian and then fired all 17 members of the Board of Directors and made himself temporary chairman. He then made the Kennedy Center into what he wants it to be.  You can read detailed reports of how it all happened for at least a little while longer since Trump monitors have not been able to erase all bad news, yet. But the funny-not-funny part is Trump put a butt-kissing crony in charge. The new MAGA governing body now has control of The Kennedy Center and will make it “great” again, “for everyone”…in their own, political image.

Oddly, some people disagree with the New Director and the New Board, and plan protests.

Ha. Funny, right? Wait, you haven’t heard the funny part, yet. The new, very sensitive and self-aware director of the center had this to say: “Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliations, won’t be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to “out” those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they hire—and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience.” Is that irony or hypocrisy?

The Kenedy Center was named after John F Kennedy, a war hero, and former Democratic President. It was established in 1971 and “serves as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, and hosts world-class performances, offers extensive educational opportunities, and is a unique public/private partnership.” -wikipedia.* And it has been for over 50 years without complaint or adverse action or lawsuit, or—screw it. It doesn’t matter. It catered to a world-class audience and Trump felt excluded. Something had to be done.

The astounding tone-deaf-ness of the new director’s statements is the problem, read it again. No one is right, correct, and morally sound but him. Now, with the old 17-member board and old director, and old programming gone, the New Board will get it Right. Literally.

For more, fun, Trump is even after Wikipedia and wants to put that impartial, publicly edited and monitored information source away.

We’ll have Trumpedia and The Trump Performance Center in our future.

Who’s vapid and intolerant?

And what a start for that End of World novella…

*The wiki entry has been edited since the date of this post.

Morality? Logic? God? Belief?

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The subjects listed above are “hot button” philosophy subjects debated, discussed, and verbally torn to shreds over the many centuries since man gained enough free time to stare at his navel. Morality is a major topic because it underpins the nature of society, at least a successful one. For my money, I always thought morality came from God. All Christians feel the same way, and it puts atheists in a bad jam: how can atheists be moral if they do not believe in, and hear the Word of God (WOG) directing them?

I did an end run around the conundrum by accepting full-throated agnosticism and allowed morality to be the WOG, if He actually existed. Lazy, lazy, lazy man. There are those among the enlightened who think the existence of evil negates the concepts of morality as the WOG and dumps the whole idea of Morality into a recycle bin for another generation to bring up and hash, I mean, hack to pieces.

At my age its hard to learn a new trick but just now I stumbled upon an article that sparked an “Aha” moment. Entitled “How a Huguenot Philosopher Realized That Atheists Could Be Virtuous” by Michael Hickson, the author exposed me to a philosopher heretofore not on my reading list: Pierre Bayle. In Mr. Bayle’s book “Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet” published in 1682, Mr. Bayle presented an argument for atheism that settled once and for all the question of atheism and morality.

“It is no stranger for an atheist to live virtuously than it is strange for a Christian to live criminally. We see the latter sort of monster all the time, so why should we think the former is impossible?”

In 1682. It is a statement loaded with Logic. (capitalized to show how important it is). Logic. What a wonderful thing. Logic. No matter how many times I say it, it keeps its meaning. Logic is “a particular way of thinking, especially one that is reasonable and based on good judgement” says an unknown google writer, probably an AI personality. No, they didn’t have AI in 1682, nor did they have the benefit of instant communication. Mr. Bayle’s statement, therefore, about the “sort of monster” he sees “all the time” must have been from first hand experience. Sadly, it is a statement as true today as 1682…343 years later. Religion, belief, morality, all seem unchanged after nearly four centuries. Why?

I’m getting the book and reading it, but–with apologies to Spock and all offended Star Trek fans–we might be better off with lives based on Logic instead of Belief. As a possible Clue, The Bible’s WOG “Golden Rule” is loaded more with logic than faith. You have to wonder why.

As usual, a short space makes for an oversimplification, but is it?

Of course it is, since the modern sophists among us can easily rip apart the “reasonable” and “good judgment” parts of googe’s AI statement, But will the rest of us let them?

In this day and age, Logic is taking a beating. Forget–for example–your politics and wonder how many good, reasonable, and moral people there in the world waiting for…aw, forget it. We pay football players more than we pay police. Is that logical?

We’re doomed, but I’m going to find out about that comet.

Philosophy For Dummies

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As a young man attending a small, Liberal Arts University in 1971, I took great pleasure-and invested lots of time–in reading, studying, and debating Philosophy. Full disclosure, my heart wasn’t in the winning of late night debates, or even in the final, complete understanding of Kant’s Moral Imperative. I was a young man with young man hormones and young man desires: my main purpose in “debating” was to make new friends, especially those of the opposite sex. You are then, entitled to wonder with the 1970’s drug and sex culture if any of us remembered the substance of the all-night-long “debates” and associated dalliances. I learned early on some of my contemporary females enjoyed being supported in their arguments and some enjoyed being challenged so I seldom argued the same philosophical “position” two nights in a row or slept in the same bed. All the more support for the notion “youth is wasted on the young.”

It came to pass then, by accident, that I became proficient in understanding, regurgitating, and arguing for or against the entire curriculum, and passed daylight tests with ease. Profligate, with benefits.

The main thought, or belief system gained from the best year of my life was the amount of bullsh##, I mean sophistry, ahem, surrounding Philosophy. There is no right or wrong philosophy. No right or wrong view of the world. No single, unifying theory of the origins or purposes of life. (It should be noted there are extreme cases of minorities having severely dangerous and “unproductive” theories of how to live life, but are they wrong?)

I left college for life on the road, but never lost sight of the nature and innate absurdity of professing a belief in anything unknown or unverifiable. And living life to follow that absurdity. Debating anything related to life’s secrets became a game of Devil’s Advocate over the next few decades, the simple ability to be a Devil’s Advocate proving its need. Res ipse loquitor, legal but succinct.

You’re obligated to read about all this because there is currently a ton of bullsh@# being manufactured and spread about. While Kant’s Moral Imperative is not the end-all of philosophies, its simple premise is one all modern citizens should learn: “Act in the way you want others to act.” (Way over simplification, but if you’d care to debate, leave a comment.) A variation is the Golden Rule. (Matthew 7:12) which came directly from God as noted in the Bible.

Any one of the 70 per cent of Americans not dumb, (see older post) could argue forever about right and wrong, and throw some pragmatism, and utility into the word salad but could anything be simpler than The Imperative? The Golden Rule? Imagine a killer stopping in his/her/their tracks because he/she/they realize he/she/they don’t want anyone to kill him/her/them? Or a politician voting against the minimum wage, but for a raise to his own pay? You see the breaking of the Imperative/Golden Rule most often in politics and many religions. The modern term for it is Hypocrisy. It should be noted, too, The Golden Rule and Kant’s Moral Imperative have been expunged from Capitalism, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.

The lesson learned in debating (unfaithfully and unabashedly) for both side of a philosophy was that nothing mattered, anymore. It’s all just words. Modern civilization is at that point. We’re not talking nihilism, here, after all life has to go on. But there is way too much of people doing to each other what they would not do to themselves. Why? (Capitalism, again?)

Organized religion is an existential trap, but each and every religion has good points. Personal reflection, investigation, and faith can do wonders for life. But don’t let dogma, creed, screed, belief, or an inflated sense of one’s worth cause a loss of vision about what life is really about: people living together.

The entire world should be locked in a student dorm and not allowed out until they reach agreement on…hm…what?

Let’s start with The Golden Rule. Nice and simple.