Sun, good points! I've noticed lately, as though it has become a fashion [over a year or a few], that arguments seem to be 'won' by changing the meaning of a word to include other things in a category which is definitely bad, and thereby making the newly-defined thing bad too.
For example, 'racist' is a popular accusation to make and as soon as it's made, the argument is thereby won. Similarly sexist. And 'abuse' not to mention 'violent'. There are better examples, but I can't think of them right now.
Exaggeration is a popular way of creating a winning argument too. If that Lincoln bloke <Abraham Lincoln understood this well, which attests to his genius. He used to ask his companions that if we all agree to call a dog's tail "leg", then how many legs does a dog have?> was going on about it, I suppose it was a problem even then and to ensure the cars they produced were high quality, they had to ensure there was no misunderstanding or self-deception. Neocon thinks we should all learn history, but I think [boast, boast] that our brains are too small to learn about all the old geezers, such as carmakers, what they did and what they thought about things which don't even exist now. It's hard enough thinking what to have for lunch [though a lot of people don't seem to have a problem with it, judging from obesity popularity]
<"Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so">
I have some sympathy with that idea. Sometimes I decide to think about something, get positioned, maybe with a nice cup of tea, to have a jolly good think about it.
Then my stupid brain just sits there and nothing happens, like downtown Auckland on a Sunday thirty years ago. Not asleep, not meditating and not awol, just sitting. I try pushing the accelerator and it's as though the cable has broken or, these days, the wire or radio link has lost electrical supply.
After a while I figure that I might as well go and have a game of golf.
Even worse, now that you mention it, and I actually think about it, I would rather die than think. For example, I think I should really think about incoming comets, a world currency, a New United Nations, what makes everything exist anyway and is there an escape hatch somewhere, or even just what makes a healthy diet, and what I should do about them to ensure I and my family and everyone are okay.
After not very much thinking, I decide that it's all too difficult and why doesn't somebody else do it and we're all going to die anyway and what the hell. There have been umpty petatrillions of dead things. Check out how much oil, coal and limestone there is, not to mention CO2 being recycled in the atmosphere and how many things are alive right now [and dying right now by the petabillion]. Why not add a few more which seem to be going that way anyway.
Then I realize we don't have a choice, it's do or die. If whoever running the show was an employer, they'd be up before the employment court judge in a New York minute. There's the death penalty for nearly everything and if you don't show up to work and get the job done right, it's Game Over.
So, I have to admit to being in the category of "I'd rather die than think". Which isn't quite true, as I'd rather not die, but couldn't the thinking be easier or at least I should be allowed to have a cheat sheet or a bigger brain.
I'm in favour of genetic engineering and Google getting really smart. It would be cool to have all the genes there are for intelligence, and have Google and cyberspace hot-wired [via wireless] directly into my brain. Then I could think. Excellent thinking would take an instant and would be like doing weight lifting with polystyrene weights [painted black with 500 kg written on each weight].
That's my kind of thinking.
Some people think in slogans. My favourite slogan "Don't let a slogan do your thinking for you!" A very successful one was "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit", which had the added advantage of rhyming [in a rapster kind of way] and if a thing rhymes, then hey, it's gotta make sense.
Happy little moron,
Sitting in the sun,
Doesn't know he's moron.
My God! Perhaps I'm one?
Mqurice |
