WHY PEOPLE ESPOUSE THE STATE: Because they believe that anarchy won’t work or because they are evil.
Tag: wisdom
Is Home Ownership Really the “American Dream?”
Is home ownership the embodiment of the “American Dream?” Are Trump and Biden trying, in their own ways, to deliver the goods for you? Or are they just beholden to special interests whose members make larger campaign contributions than you do — for example, realtors, developers, and mortgage lenders?
Silence is Stupid, Argument is Foolish
Public debates aside, I now only engage in intellectual arguments with thinkers who play by the rules. What rules? For starters: remain calm, take nothing personally, use probabilities, face hypotheticals head-on, and spurn Social Desirability Bias like the plague. If I hear someone talking about ideas who ignores these rules, I take evasive action. If cornered, I change the subject. Why? Because I now realize that arguing with unreasonable people is foolish.
The Easy Road Does Exist, But It Is a Scam
Always be on guard when someone offers to make something easy for you. Run like hell. They are stealing away an opportunity for growth. Of course, they aren’t promising you something that isn’t real. The easy road does exist. Most everyone takes it.
Stories Open Doors
When someone tells you, “I’m an engineer”, instead of filing this as a fact in your mental Rolodex, you immediately want to know the story. How did they end up an engineer? Is this the end of a long journey, the beginning of a new story, or the middle? Curiosity drives you to ask good questions, good questions make connections, and connections lead to opportunities.
POTUS Thirteen Through Eighteen
With the exceptions of the monstrous pair, Lincoln and Grant, the other 4 are bound for the abyss of the forgotten. But, to me, there is no such thing as a great President. To have been a POTUS places a black mark on that career. Few (ie none) have risen above.
Why Logic is Unpopular
The ancient Greeks spoke of three perspectives: pathos, ethos, and logos. From a pathos perspective, emotions and feelings take center stage. From an ethos perspective, reputation and tradition are what really matter. From a logos perspective, reason is what guides to wise action.
I Was a Fool vs. I Am a Fool
Given that embarrassment and growth in self-knowledge is coming down the line, I probably shouldn’t speak in any way to suggest that foolishness is a one-time mistake on my part. Instead, when I apologize for my foolishness, I should recognize the foolishness of now as well as the foolishness of the past.
Curiosity: The Master Impulse
Curiosity is the greatest threat to concentrated power and prestige, so those who have power and prestige labor endlessly to create the mind-killing opposite of all curiosity. Consensus. Obedience. Being seen as “normal”, “in the know”, “respectable”.
On Authority
Our society has a sickness. No, not COVID-19, but a lack of real authority. I’m not talking about the chattering heads in State and national capitals, the authoritarians.