Today’s offering from Quote of the Day
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) [Thanks go to The Quotations Page for this one].
Choosing to choose; deciding to decide
We can’t really act freely unless we can think freely, it seems. But none of us can really choose what we will think next. Thoughts occur to us. I’m not the guy who puts the records in my own jukebox; at best, I merely punch some buttons. But can I…
Maybe we’re feebleminded
As a nation, we seem to be making one boneheaded decision after another.
Iraq has to be the top of that list. We attacked Iraq because we couldn’t let “them” get away with what “they” did on September 11. I have heard numerous seemingly intelligent people utter this other nonsense. The only way this justification works, however, is if all people living in the Middle East are the same. There’s no basis for believing that everyone in the Middle East is “the same,” yet this truly seems to be the foundation of the thought process of many people. Someone from the Middle East attacked us, therefore we must attack someone in the Middle East. And by someone they mean anyone.
By this same logic, when someone in my neighborhood steals my car, I am justified asking the police to throw anyone from my neighborhood in prison. Anyone at all! The important thing is that I am mad or frustrated or embarrassed and I want to cast judgment some more quickly and see something done.
It’s truly amazing that intelligent people can fall for this kind of thinking, but many of us do.
Perhaps it’s because we have trouble categorizing. Take, for instance, the category “the poor.” I know many right-leaning people who claim that all poor people are deservedly poor. And they are lazy, as well as immoral and stupid. This allows many social conservatives to justify social Darwinism at the highest levels of government.
On the other hand, I …
Unequal justice protects Iraq war criminals
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Anatole France The point is that even theoretically just laws can lead to de facto injustice. But how much more injustice can result from laws…
That other disasterous war: the “War on Drugs”
This documentary by Penn and Teller characterizes the "War on Drugs" as "The new prohibition." The documentary is a no-holds-barred presentation that includes some coarse language. Here is Part II and here is Part III. The statistics are compelling. Alcohol causes 50,000 deaths per year. Tobacco causes 440,000 deaths per…