This reflects a poster on a bulletin board at a local college counseling center, The Essence of Destiny:
Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny. (Anonymous)
Maybe Carl Sagan is right with his perspicacity: “I worry that … pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us, then habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.”
David Hancock
Chester
Politicians and Diapers
Cogitating about our discombobulating political quagmires and debacles—especially during the lame-duck, quack-quack Congress—reminds me of Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell, 1946):
We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: The only check on it is that sooner or later a chimera (false belief) bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield.
Sadly, it appears that many of these mendacious, Machiavellian knaves (politicians) cannot think clearly enough to understand that they are not thinking clearly. The problems we face will not be solved by the minds that created them. However, reading One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future by Ben Carson, MD, seems to be a panacea, in my opinion.
Maybe Will Rogers was correct when he said, “Things will get better despite our efforts to improve them.” Or maybe Winston Churchill when he said, “Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.” Or maybe Voltaire when he said, “Every wo(man) is the creature of the age in which s/he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the times.”
Conclusion? Politicians and diapers need to be changed—often for the same reasons. What’s the opposite of pro? Con! What’s the opposite of progress? Congress!
David A. Hancock
Chester
Laughter Happens Too
One of my colleagues, who teaches political philosophy, invited me to attend one of his classes. The assignment was for students to think of creative definitions with humor. It was based on some of the writings of Henry David Thoreau, the brilliant, unconventional, iconoclastic heretic.
I hope that we all enjoy some laughter. His students did not disappoint us. Here they are.
The religions:
•Taoism: ___ happens.
•Hinduism: This ___ has happened before.
•Confucianism: Confucius says, “___ happens.”
•Zen: What is the sound of ___ happening?
•Islam: If ___ happens, it is the will of Allah.
•Jehovah’s Witnesses: Knock, knock, ___ happens.
•Atheism: There is no such thing as ___.
•Agnosticism: Maybe ___ happens, and maybe not.
•Protestantism: ___ won’t happen if I work harder.
•Catholicism: If ___ happens, I deserve it.
•Judaism: Why does ___ always happen to me?
•Televangelism: Send money or ___ will happen.
Politics:
•Conservative: The courts have allowed too much excrement.
•Independent: ___ happens.
•Democrat: ___ is a vast right-wing conspiracy.
•Republican: The rich deserve more ___.
•Moderate: We must also consider ___’s right to happen.
•Liberal: ___ will happen if we don’t spend enough.
•Reform: We can’t get our ___ in a group.
•Socialist: Support the equal distribution of ___.
•Communist: Come the revolution, ___ will not happen again.
•Libertarian: Legalize all kinds of ___.
•Green party: Compost happens.
There is no answer key.
David A. Hancock
Chester
Faith Needs No Proof
I would like to settle the quagmire, debacle, ad infinitum, ad nauseam of the creationism-evolution debate written by several polemics during the past year.
Check out www.skeptic.com and read the following: “How to Debate a Creationist: 25 Creationist Arguments and 25 Evolutionist Answers for Enlightenment”; the Baloney Detection Kit; Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science, both by Michael Shermer.
In conclusion, what is the relationship of science and religion? Evolution theory cannot replace faith and religion, and science has no interest in pretending that it can. The theory of evolution is a scientific theory, not a religious doctrine. It stands or falls on evidence alone. Religious faith, by definition, depends on belief when evidence is absent or unimportant. They fill different niches in the human psyche.
To fear the theory of evolution is an indication of a shortcoming in one’s faith, as is looking to scientific proof for justification of one’s religious beliefs. If creationists have true faith in their religion, it shouldn’t matter what scientists think or say, and scientific proof of God or biblical stories should be of no interest.
Enough said. Now let’s choose some other topics of interest and more important things to write about and discuss, OK? This nonsensical nonsense is nonsensical. Let’s discuss taxes, war, jobs, community environment, human behavior disorders, education, parenting, politics, public policy, health, legal issues, etc.
“A union of Government and Religion tends to destroy Government and degrade Religion” (Justice Hugo Black, Engel vs. Vitale, 1962).
David A. Hancock
Chester
Warning. Warning, Warning
The indelible Warning to Patriots by Naomi Wolf (social critic, political activist, cofounder of the Woodhill Institute for Ethical Leadership-American Freedom Campaign and author of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot) references the ten steps to a dictatorship: “All dictators: invoke an external threat; develop a paramilitary force; create a secret prison system; track ordinary citizens; arbitrarily detain and release them; harass citizens groups; target writers; intimidate the press; recast dissent as ‘treason’ and criticism as ‘espionage’ and eventually subvert the rule of law.”
At times, in our own history, our commitment to freedom has faltered. The Alien and Sedition Act of 1793 made it a crime for Americans to speak critically—to “bring into contempt or disrepute”—of then-President John Adams and other US leaders. But Thomas Jefferson pardoned those convicted under these laws when he took office. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, effectively declaring martial law in several states. Approximately forty thousand Americans were imprisoned by military authorities during the war, many for simply expressing their views. But when the war ended in 1865, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for military tribunals to try civilians.
Ruminating about these facts and reading The End of America, I thought about the following, which elicited cognitive dissonance:
“A patriot must be ready to defend his/her country against his/her government” (Edward Abbey).
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” (John F.
Kennedy).
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” (Howard Zinn).
“A dictatorship would be a lot easier. And without revealing the operating details of our (domestic spying) program, I just want to assure the American people that, one, I’ve got the authority to do this; two, it is a necessary part of my job to protect you; and three, we’re guarding your civil liberties” (George W. Bush, White House press conference, Dec. 19, 2005).
“People need to watch what they say, watch what they do” (Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, 2001).
“Liberty, once lost, is lost forever” (John Adams, 1775).
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” (Adolf Hitler).
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and student usurpations” (James Madison, father of the Constitution, 1738).
“You can’t have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience” (President Barack Obama).
Conclusion: “As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air—however slight—lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness” (Justice William O. Douglas).
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
A City Says No to Drones
On February 4, the city of Charlottesville became the first in the country to pass a resolution against the domestic use of drones. “The rapid implementation of drone technology throughout the United States poses a serious threat to the privacy and constitutional rights of the American people,” the resolution states, calling for a two-year moratorium on drone technology. It also calls for “Congress and the general Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to adopt legislation prohibiting information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being introduced into a Federal or State court, and precluding domestic use of drones equipped with antipersonnel devices, meaning any projectile, chemical, electrical, directed-energy (visible or invisible), or other device designed to harm, incapacitate, or otherwise negatively impact a human being.”
As antiwar activist David Swanson points out, “The same City Council passed a resolution on January 17, 2012, calling for an end to drone wars, as well as ground wars, excessive military spending and any possible attack on Iran.”**
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Of Religion and War
Mark Twain spent the last ten years of his life fighting against the US occupation of the Philippines as a member of the Anti-Imperialist League. It was during this time that he wrote some of his angriest essays, including To the Person Sitting in Darkness and The War Prayer. He was criticized for having lost his sense of humor.
The War Prayer was a biting satire written around 1905 during the US war in the Philippines. Twain was disgusted with the patriotic and religious fervor that motivated support for the war.
On a Sunday morning in a church filled with the faithful, the preacher prayed that God would bless the young soldiers, keep them strong in battle, encourage them in their patriotic work, and help them smite their foe.
Then an aged stranger, Twain, dressed in white robes, walked up to the preacher’s side and spoke to the congregation. He explained that he was a messenger from God. “You have heard your servant’s prayer—the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it—that part which the pastor—and also you in your hearts—fervently prayed, silently. Listen!”
The War Prayer by Mark Twain
O Lord our father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle—be thou near them. With them—in spirit—we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells, help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead, help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out rootless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of the desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun, flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it—for our sakes who adore thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears; stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of him who is the source of love, and who is the ever faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek his aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
Mark Twain may still agree with what he said years earlier, “Nothing fails like prayer” (except The War Prayer) and “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
He would probably agree with the sayings, “Religions are cults with more members” and “As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion” (Butterfly McQueen).
He would probably join Freedom From Religion Foundation.
He would be singing the lyrics to “Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon.
“May we never see another war. For in my opinion there never was a good war or a bad peace”(Ben Franklin, 1783).
Read; War is a lie.
by David Swanson
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Watch for False Alternatives
February was Presidents’ Day and Black History Month. Our American government teacher, Mrs. Hotchkiss (1963–64), was very inspiring. I memorized President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the best short speech ever. I recall about 75 percent of the words now. Amazing! I read the speech again on Lincoln’s birthday from Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History by William Safire.
I learned the following a few weeks ago from “The Great Debates” by Professor Patrick Grim, State University of New York at Stony Brook. As Lincoln said in the first of a series of debates with his rival Stephen Douglas, “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”
Lincoln also said, “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend”; “This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave”; “There is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
And now the flip-flop statement by Lincoln: “I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races (nor of making) voters or jurors of Negroes nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.”
Stephen Douglas said, “I believe this government was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men, men of European birth and descent. Instead of conferring it upon Negroes, Indians and other inferior races.”
For independent inquiry, look for a video of a recent debate online at Elections.NyTimes.com, select the video tab, then search for “presidential debates.” Ask yourself, what precisely is the position? What precisely is the argument given? How good is that argument? Did the speaker commit any fallacies?
An example of a false alternative-dilemma fallacy is when a problem is presented as an either-or choice between two alternatives, when, in fact, those are not the only options.
Modern political philosophy: false alternatives.
“Either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists” (Former President George W. Bush).
“Either we cut education and medical research, or we’ve got to reform the tax code so that the most profitable corporations have to give up tax loopholes that other companies don’t get. We can’t afford to do both” and “Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes, or we’re going to have to ask seniors to pay more for Medicare. We can’t afford to do both” (President Barack Obama).
Assignment: Read What’s Race Got to Do with It?: Why It’s Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America by Larry Elder and The Miseducation of Black Children by Kmt Shockley.
David A. Hancock
Chester
Delusions Deserve Scorn
Emil Marino stated in another publication, “My pick would be Mike Huckabee. He has shown how very well informed he is on all subjects that affect our lives.”
Mr. Huckabee’s book God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy is No. 4 on the New York Times bestseller list. I wonder if Mr. Marino agrees and if Mr. Huckabee recalls his odious comment on Jan. 25, published by Planned Parenthood, “Women are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido without the help of government.”
Maybe Mr. Huckabee viewed or attended a performance of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. Maybe he could produce The Penis Monologues or The Viagra-Cialis Chronicles. I’m glad it’s not Ed Huckabee.
How do we discuss/debate rationally with someone who holds such delusional beliefs? Maybe give up on reason and resort to excoriating ridicule, scorn and lampoons.
The ability of the human brain to convince itself of just about anything is not to be underestimated. Let’s hope Will Rogers was correct when he said, “Things will get better despite our efforts to improve them.”
The Diary of a Mad Public School Teacher Page 10