Perhaps the most common trait among those seeking the job of U.S. president is being terrible at what they currently do. The fact that so many of us take so many of them seriously is not helping improve the situation. When the job of POTUS isn't attracting our most successful, and the public isn't demanding better, it's hard to image our path into the future being something other than hideous.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Dectrators Of Advancement
Story: For Same-Sex Marriage Opponents, The Fight Is Far From Over
This is the same unfortunate strategy that has been employed after a political loss in other cases that include abortion rights and Jim Crow. Instead of embracing positive change that brings a better life for more people, opponents of such advancements instead somehow motivate themselves to keep awful policies and prejudices alive. Such people make it difficult to be proud of humanity when we take steps forward, a state of mind that shouldn't have detractors.
This is the same unfortunate strategy that has been employed after a political loss in other cases that include abortion rights and Jim Crow. Instead of embracing positive change that brings a better life for more people, opponents of such advancements instead somehow motivate themselves to keep awful policies and prejudices alive. Such people make it difficult to be proud of humanity when we take steps forward, a state of mind that shouldn't have detractors.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
An Assertion Is Not Its Own Proof
A few tidbits I've been mulling over lately...
It seems that we are willing to accept ideologies based on hypotheses rather than what's demonstrable. This is part of an overall point of view that allows assertions to prove themselves through "common sense" or a distorted set of personal experiences warped by time and biases. We are falsely conflating an assertion with its potential proof.
There are people who are okay with the assertions made by a person as proof of that assertion. It's the appeal to authority argument that logicians deny as being valid. But for those who use it, they also tend to attack the person who brings up something that challenges that original person's assertion. With the frame of mind that what comes out of a person's pen or mouth is proof enough of what's being declared, then the challenger is the point of attack, not the actual ideas. If we could only make ourselves pay attention to ideas rather than the people who share them, we would so much better off and nothing would be personal. This would put humanity's advancement in overdrive.
We seem to find all kinds of ways to avoid taking responsibility for ourselves. They include the "free market" (the Invisible Hand), the Garden of Eden (no knowledge), shootings (we have to have guns, so killings are something we have to accept), "blind" justice, we must obey the Constitution (or any set of rules someone wrote down once), tradition ("we've always done it this way), it's God's will.
One of the things that keeps popping up in my head is the similarity between the privateers of the pirate era and today's one-percenters. Both use the authority of the government to take whatever they can from anyone they can.
It seems that we are willing to accept ideologies based on hypotheses rather than what's demonstrable. This is part of an overall point of view that allows assertions to prove themselves through "common sense" or a distorted set of personal experiences warped by time and biases. We are falsely conflating an assertion with its potential proof.
There are people who are okay with the assertions made by a person as proof of that assertion. It's the appeal to authority argument that logicians deny as being valid. But for those who use it, they also tend to attack the person who brings up something that challenges that original person's assertion. With the frame of mind that what comes out of a person's pen or mouth is proof enough of what's being declared, then the challenger is the point of attack, not the actual ideas. If we could only make ourselves pay attention to ideas rather than the people who share them, we would so much better off and nothing would be personal. This would put humanity's advancement in overdrive.
We seem to find all kinds of ways to avoid taking responsibility for ourselves. They include the "free market" (the Invisible Hand), the Garden of Eden (no knowledge), shootings (we have to have guns, so killings are something we have to accept), "blind" justice, we must obey the Constitution (or any set of rules someone wrote down once), tradition ("we've always done it this way), it's God's will.
One of the things that keeps popping up in my head is the similarity between the privateers of the pirate era and today's one-percenters. Both use the authority of the government to take whatever they can from anyone they can.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Being An Ass For Jesus
I have joined others who have often said that one of the reasons atheists have such a hard time with a lot of conservative Christians is their personal behavior. There are the broad examples of misogyny, anti-LGBT hatred, racial discrimination, a push for theocracy, and more. But there are also cases of individual experiences that reinforce the view that those who tout Christianity the loudest are often the worst kinds of people.
The hotel where I'm staying this week provides one of these examples. The wifi password is J4life, which I assume is a reference to Jesus, but the woman who runs this independent hotel tried to charge me $15 more than I was quoted when I made the reservation. I didn't see the rate change until after she charged my card at check in, so she was pissed she had to reverse that transaction and do a new one, giving me the worst fake "I don't know what happened" face. But she also then moved me to a worse room (near road noise) and took away my complimentary continental breakfast coupon.
Being a Christian should not go along so easily with being an ass if they want any decent level of respect.
The hotel where I'm staying this week provides one of these examples. The wifi password is J4life, which I assume is a reference to Jesus, but the woman who runs this independent hotel tried to charge me $15 more than I was quoted when I made the reservation. I didn't see the rate change until after she charged my card at check in, so she was pissed she had to reverse that transaction and do a new one, giving me the worst fake "I don't know what happened" face. But she also then moved me to a worse room (near road noise) and took away my complimentary continental breakfast coupon.
Being a Christian should not go along so easily with being an ass if they want any decent level of respect.
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