I’ve been sitting on the topic of obedience for awhile now, trying to tease it apart in a way that redeems the phrase, “obedience is a virtue.” But alas, I cannot. Obedience, in my view, is not a virtue. Obedience is abhorrent.
Tag: behavior
Safe Spaces Make Sense, but Not Always
Conflict regarding the desire for safe spaces is no different on a fundamental level than conflict regarding speech and behavior. Case in point: the hue and cry for “safe spaces” on college campuses. Should college campuses have safe spaces? Should the entire college campus be a safe space?
How to Become a Self-Help Rock Star
Today I would like to say something about the value of enthusiasm and optimism, but the chances are high that you’ve already heard a million quotes about the virtues of whistling while you work or the value of doing everyday chores with a sense of pride. Instead of giving you another quote about this topic, I’ll share an important distinction: Inspirational philosophy versus Inspired practice.
The Best Way to Get Started is by Blessing Your Starting Point
In order to make things better, you have to demand better things of yourself. In order to demand better things of yourself, you have to believe that you’re actually better than your current patterns of behavior. You need to be able to say “I am not my story. I am that which authors my story.”
Misplaced Trust
If someone hated you and wanted you to die, would you follow their health advice? Would you let them talk you into behaviors you knew were risky? Would you listen to them at all? Yet, people let government employees tell them what rights they have.
Individualism, Liberalism, and Verbal Accuracy
If you value liberty and morality, please do not misuse the word “individualism” by suggesting that it has anything to do with anti-social behavior, and do not misuse the word “liberalism” by suggesting that it has anything to do with libertinism or welfare statism.
Unschooling Has No “Last Day”
For unschoolers, learning is woven into the continuous, year-round, natural process of living. It is not separated into certain subject silos or reserved for a specified number of hours or days. It is not orchestrated by a linear, sequential curriculum determining how, when, and in what ways a human will learn. It is not pre-determined. It is not forced.
Rule by Majority Unfair to Minority
Allegiance to a group shouldn’t be assumed, mandatory, or dependent on where you live. Let people choose their own groups, and let the groups’ territories overlap the way those of clubs or churches do. Let people switch between groups, or opt out, as their needs and circumstances change.
Impatience
I am extremely impatient for humankind to start using their brains, and consequently the gift of logic, to end behavior such as war, greed, and territoriality. But now I am reading a book that is making me take a much longer view. The book is titled This Will Make You Smarter, edited by John Brockman.
Encouragement as Bad as Discouragement
In our society, we commonly and appropriately demonize discouragement because we see it as someone interjecting themselves into this exploration. Discouragement is a tool to distort the exploration of a child in favor of the insecurities and self-interest of the discourager. It is a means of the adult trying to live through their child. Discouragement is someone trying to tip and distort the scales within the ecosystem of a child’s discovery process. The last paragraph also perfectly describes the problems of encouragement.