Starting from the beginning

This past weekend, I was discussing the nature of explanations with some relatives. I argued that to explain anything completely, one would have to explain absolutely everything, given the need for context in a complete explanation and given the inter-connectedness of all that we know. Many explanations falling short of explaining everything work, at least on a local level, because on a local/pragmatic level an explanation is merely a description that makes us feel good. Today, I came across a quote by Carl Sagan that relates to the above:

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Oscar Wilde on war

As Christopher Hedges has written, war is exciting and carries its own meaning, regardless of the flimsy excuses that politicians bandy about.

The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Only when we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. Trivia dominates our conversations and increasingly our airwaves. And war is an enticing elixir. It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meaning in their lives, the impoverished refugees in Gaza, the disenfranchised North African immigrants in France, even the legions of young who live in the splendid indolence and safety of the industrialized world, are all susceptible to war’s appeal.

I've previously written about the power of how we frame war; how is it that human slaughter can be seen as glamorous? Oscar Wilde also touches on this issue of how we frame war: As long as we uncritically bandy about horribly vague phrases like "Support the Troops," we will not expose America's needless wars for what they are.

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Another batch of my favorite quotes

I make a habit of sharing my favorite quotes at this site. Here is another batch: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle "They’ll say we’re disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war.” Howard Zinn "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." William James. “Activism is my rent for living on the planet.” ― Alice Walker "Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie." Russian Proverb "Thompson is equally vociferous on matters of faith. [...] "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Koran, and I refute them." She knows she's being controversial, but she believes passionately in what she says, and passionately believes it needs saying. "I think that the Bible as a system of moral guidance in the 21st century is insufficient, to put it mildly, she continues, frowning a little. I feel quite strongly that we need a new moral lodestone if we can't rely on what is inside our own selves. Which I think, actually, is pretty reliable." " Emma Thompson “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” Mark Twain “I want an avowed atheist in the White House. When time comes to push that button, I want whoever's making the decision to understand that once it's pushed, it's over. Finito. They're not gonna have lunch with Jesus. Won't be deflowering 72 virgins on the great shag carpet of eternity, or reincarnated as a cow. I want someone making that decision who believes life on this Earth isn't just a dress rehearsal for something better -- but the only shot we get.”― Quentin R. Bufogle “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Malcolm X “I don't even call it violence when it's in self defense; I call it intelligence” Malcolm X “The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess SUCCESS. That - with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word 'success' - is our national disease.” William James "Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do." Voltaire "I don't want to believe. I want to know." Carl Sagan "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." Frank Zappa "It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle "When I give food o the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian Archbishop "I'd boycott everything Wall Street made if they actually made anything." Someecards http://www.someecards.com/ “I was a loner as a child. I had an imaginary friend -- I didn't bother with him.” George Carlin

Continue ReadingAnother batch of my favorite quotes