Reason and Science

 

Conservatives and progressives mostly reject the epistemology of reason and science. Anti-Enlightenment, pre-modernist, right-wing conservatives mostly believe in the epistemology of dogma and faith. This leads to a life and society based upon religion, and thus away from reason and science. Anti-Enlightenment, post-modernist, left-wing progressives mostly believe in the epistemology of relativism and subjectivism. This leads to a life and society based upon collectivism, and thus away from reason and science. Pro-Enlightenment, modernist, up-wing true liberals, however, believe in the epistemology of reason and science. This leads to individualism and human greatness.

Reason and science also direct man towards social, economic, and political freedom. Under freedom, the society is harmonious, the culture is rich, the economy booms, and the life of the Holy Individual -- the cynosure of the universe -- becomes meaningful, purposeful, prosperous, magnificent, and happy. When it comes to government, reason and science point the way to the rights of man and laissez-faire capitalism. The bizarre welfare statist and Big Brother beliefs of the conservatives and progressives is highly unreasonable and unscientific.

Knowing the Future

 

Determinism and fatalism are remarkably false and foolish beliefs. Even if, like “Laplaces’s demon”, you had infinite knowledge about the current physical universe and its history -- which is impossible -- you still couldn’t determine the future because of the large and inescapable presence of randomness (or chance or luck). Some things simply happen without a reason or cause -- and there’s nothing you can do to force them to have one.

As for fatalism, all living creatures are self-guiding. All have free will. This includes the simplest, dumbest, and most mechanically-predictable microbe. So even if you had infinite knowledge of that creature and its environment -- which is impossible -- you still couldn’t perfectly predict the future of its behavior or fate. The life-form’s liberty to act at will is irreducible, untouchable, and inescapable. Thus the ancient “idle argument” about not bothering to get medical treatment, since your health fate is sealed and predetermined, is absurd.

Determinist and fatalist William James once said: “The future has no ambiguous possibilities hidden in its womb.” But as Cicero noted long before him: “ There is nothing so foolish but some philosopher has said it.” Determinists and fatalists are poor at logic and intellectual honesty. The future is what we make it.

You People

 

I’m an idealist. I have serious standards and principles. All thru my horrific upbringing I stayed loyal to my sacred soul and lofty idealism. No matter how much I suffered, I ferociously held onto them.

The rest of you didn’t. I watched the final bits of idealism die out from all of you by age 15 or 16.

Now you have nothing left. You people gave out and gave up long ago. There’s little left of your humanity either.

You folks are basically just empty shells. A poor simulation of what you once were. You’re all pretty much zeros -- dead men walking.

But your zombie philosophy, lifestyle, and persona are not for me.

* * *

I don’t like you guys very much -- obviously. And I certainly don’t respect you. Still, I sometimes dutifully study you. I view you all distastefully and from a distance. I regard you folks as the space aliens and bizarre mutants that you evidently are.

Of course, I’m not really all that interested. You both repel and bore me.

And bear in mind: I absolutely hate your fucking guts. I may reluctantly observe and analyze you all, from time to time. But I still want you devils to suffer hideously and die pathetically. You certainly deserve this.

Still, for all your remarkable evil and amazing hostility to myself, I’m still a part-time anthropologist. I’m still somewhat curious as to who -- or at least what -- you ridiculous, wretched, ghastly, pseudo-people really are.

You seem so similar to me physically. Maybe not mentally, psychologically, or spiritually. But at least on the surface, you appear to be moderately like me.

Hence I sometimes contemplate, and speculate upon, the nature of you deviants and clowns. Call it a morbid fascination.

You folks do seem more worthy of examination than gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. And even more so, perhaps, than generally noble cats and dogs. Thus I frequently interact with “my fellow man” (sic).

* * *

In the Game of Life, I sometimes like to talk to men. I sometimes like to have sex with women. But when I talk to men, I’m painfully aware of what animals and monsters you all are. And when I have sex with women, I’m painfully aware of how ultimately debasing it is to engage in such de facto perversion and bestiality. You people are all low, awful, repellent demons and insects.

And I’m aware of how you folks pretty much never stop verbally and physically attacking me. You continuously assault me with your foolish and malicious ways. With your irrational, illiberal philosophy. With your criminal, tyrannical, welfare statist government. With your general betrayal. And, of course, with all your evasions and lies.

But so it goes. Such is my life on earth. You zombies and mutants may have no idealism, but you rule.

When I gaze upon you all, you don’t even seem real or alive to me. Definitely you aren’t human. Clearly you aren’t normal, decent, or good.

Basically you people are just traitors to yourself, humanity, and me. Just hideous vermin fit only for extermination.

Equity

 

"Equity" is unjust and evil. Equity means treating unequal people equally. It involves not distinguishing high-quality persons from low-quality persons. As a social ideal, equity violates merit, fairness, and morality.

Under a social or political policy of equity, members of one biological or social group are treated the same as another, no matter how different they are in reality. Thus if a group of black coal-miners dig up eight tons of coal a day, while another group of Asian miners dig up four tons, they both get paid the same. Similarly, if a group of white lawyers win 70% of their court cases and earn ten million dollars a year, while another group of Hispanic lawyers win 30% of their cases and earn two million per year, they both get paid identically.

Now this is unjust and evil. It’s like treating, rewarding, and loving a superior, spiritually-supportive, emotionally-caring, wonderful friend the same as an inferior, indifferent, hostile, cold friend. This improper and outrageous equality between two radically unequal phenomena is just as bad when done to groups as when done to distinct personalities.

Everyone is an individual. And everyone should be treated as such. It doesn’t matter what tribe or "identity group" a given person supposedly belongs to biologically or socially. Everyone should be judged and treated based upon their individual quality or competence or virtue. Everyone should get from his fellow man, society, and government that which is his due -- that which he has honestly and truly earned. Objective value and merit are everything.

Justice and morality should govern all human, social interactions. "Equity" constitutes rank injustice. It’s brazen immorality. It shouldn't exist.

Those who favor or practice equity -- that is, equal rewards for unequal persons and behaviors -- should be recognized for the social monsters that they are. People who love racial, sexual, or other types of equity need to be eradicated from civilized society. Advocates and practitioners of equity need to be terminated.

Summing Up Donald Trump

 

Donald Trump, personally and politically, was shallow and petty from beginning to end. He didn’t really know anything about politics when he started office, and he didn’t really learn anything during those four years either. Trump had no such desire – and perhaps no such ability. He just wanted to “win”. And he wanted it for himself – not America.

That said, Trump worked hard and did his best. He naively thought he could get the job done and sincerely wanted to “make America great”. But he was often frustrated in his efforts because he wasn’t allowed to indulge his natural inclinations toward fascism and tyranny. American laws, institutions, habits, and even his own subordinates held him back. This constant thwarting of Trump’s will was both good and bad for the country and himself.

Trump was often gleefully defiant toward those who mocked and insulted him, personally and politically. When people questioned his personal and political fitness for office, Trump openly called himself “a very stable genius”. In fact, he was only semi-stable, mostly due to his mediocrity; and only slightly smarter than the American average.

But Donald Trump was heroic. In the face of withering condemnation from all sides, he usually stood his ground and defended himself. He was a natural fighter who knew how to strike back, and often did so.

Trump's instincts and persona were mostly good. Without knowing why, Trump was a robust and even defiant defender of Western Civilization, America, capitalism, and freedom. But intellectually, he had no real idea of what these were, why they were good, or how to support them. So he did a poor job of this in relation to the likely skills of his rivals Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who he defeated in the 2016 Republican primaries.

Trump was militantly anti-philosophical. Unlike perhaps every other president before him, Trump never read books. The shallowness and pettiness of his policy research and thought was amazing.

Trump was a remarkably ‘consistent’ pragmatist and utilitarian. He had virtually no principles or morals – other than personal pomposity and self-promotion. To give the devil his due, Trump was a dynamic person, with a strong personality, and no filter, or need of one. He was an “alpha male” and "winner” of sorts. But he had a weak character and poor personal compass – and thus was easy to manipulate via flattery. Foreign leaders constantly conned him.

It’s good that Trump deregulated the economy so much, put three slightly libertarian justices on the Supreme Court, and (under duress) partially built his wall. But he spent like a drunken sailor, kissed up to practically every dictator on earth, and never remotely came out in favor of political liberty as a concept or ideal. Trump was a nationalist and populist guided by common sense – not a libertarian guided by political understanding and wisdom.

As a human being and public figure, Trump spent four interminable years with a hideous belly, butt, raccoon eyes, orange complexion – and beyond-hideous hair. And he never stopped being a buffoon, carnival barker, and slimeball who lied practically every time he opened his mouth.

Trump was a hugely successful businessman-turned-politician. He was like Ross Perot, but with a few less conspiracy theories, and a bit less craziness. A rather desperate America wanted to see if great business acumen would translate to politics, even in the form of a rank amateur. It did not.

Trump was a social and political disruptor – as people wanted. He often gleefully stomped on the dominant American ideology of political correctness and multiculturalism – which was a joy to watch. He frequently attacked the political “swamp” and “deep state’. But he didn’t have any ideas in his head when he did so, and so this rarely worked or helped. Trump's footprint and legacy in advancing liberty and uplifting America will be slight.

Ultimately, what the American people wanted and needed was someone who was solidly and principledly pro-freedom, pro-capitalism, and pro-libertarianism. Donald Trump was never remotely thus.

Blah, Blah, Blah

 

Long talk is wrong talk. Teachers and intellectuals need to be clear, exact, and concise. They need to come immediately, directly, and powerfully to the point.

Educators and philosophers shouldn’t waste people’s valuable time and effort with their tedious, empty, long-winded blather. And they especially shouldn’t fool, seduce, or brainwash their innocent victims with droning or ranting. Mesmerizing and indoctrinating defenseless masses or naive students with overlong, tiresome, meandering nonsense is wrong.

If a person has something to say, he should say it. Verbosity is evil. Loquaciousness harms us the listener and reader.

People need to learn to make their point – assuming they have one, which is rare – and then shut the hell up. If somebody can’t say what they want to say quickly, strongly, and right on the money, then they’re likely spouting bullshit. 

Almost any lengthy commentary is an attempt to brainwash – whether the speaker or writer fully realizes it or not. He’s tricking the innocent listener or reader while secretly trying to get the mark to join his stupid, evil cult.

Once a person is fooled into slogging thru some large pile of rubbish, he’s trapped. The dreadful material is now part of him – because he’s committed so much of his valuable time, energy, and life to it. To deny the truth and importance of this recent intellectual content is to destroy a part of himself. And this people won’t do.

In today's world, and always, there are many ridiculous, loathsome, ideological groups and semi-cults out there spewing lies and hurting people. Their mind-warping beliefs are interminable vaporizing and not accurate. Their brain-washing thought-systems are ill-conceived and vicious.

And their winding, torturous folderol is rarely or never “the truth” which "takes time to explain”. In point of fact, their lengthy diatribes are almost invariably fatuous and depraved nonsense, as well as acts of destructive indoctrination.

Enlightenment Revolutions

 

The American Revolution of 1776-1783 mostly got it right. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 largely got it wrong. The Americans believed in and fought for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, and in deference to “inalienable rights”. The French believed in and fought for “liberty, equality, fraternity”, and in deference to “the general will”.

The Americans, and their Declaration of Independence, were mostly individualist; the French, and their Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, were largely collectivist. The American revolutionaries essentially thought that sovereignty lay with the individual, and eventually ended up with leaders like Jefferson and Madison. The French revolutionaries essentially thought that sovereignty lay with the nation, and eventually ended up with a leader like Napoleon.

The Americans had a high regard for true reason --  whose leaders were mostly deist. The French established a Cult of Reason -- whose leaders were mostly executed. The Americans overthrew a foreign and tyrannical rule by relatively-virtuous Britain. The French overthrew a local and tyrannical rule by a largely-vicious hereditary monarchy and established church.

But, ultimately, both Enlightenment-based revolutions did believe in, and advance, the cause of individual freedom; and of equal justice and liberty for all.

Communism and Religion

 

Communism and religion are the two great destroyers of Western history and the modern world. Both began in classical Greece. The first serious communists were found in the military dictatorship of Sparta, and the first serious religiosos were found in the mystery cults of Eleusis.

Plato made both false and evil belief-systems much more sophisticated and formidable. He did this with his “demiurge”, which is close to an all-powerful Creator, and with his “republic”, which is close to an all-powerful authoritarianism. Both hateful philosophies demand that the Holy Individual – the cynosure of the universe – sacrifice himself to some nebulous deity or collective which doesn’t truly exist. And other than a handful of oligarchs on top, both ideologies demand massive servitude for all.

Communism and religion are intensely illiberal and anti-modernist. They ruthlessly attack the best of Western Civilization over the past 2600 years. Intellectually, communism and religion essentially deny and reject the epistemology of reason and science. They deny and reject the ethics of individualism and self-interest. They deny and reject the politics of liberty and justice. And they even deny and reject the lofty esthetics and spirituality of heroism and triumph.

Communism and religion are evil incarnate. These fatuous and depraved philosophies need to be annihilated.

The Invention of Religion

 

The Greeks invented reasonism, but they also invented mystery cultism. These two categories of philosophy are based upon rational thought and unreasoning faith, respectively, and they’re diametric opposites. There’s no way to reconcile or combine them. But that didn’t stop the classical Greeks from trying.

The science-oriented Greeks wanted to gain the broad-based knowledge, prosperity, competence, spiritual power, and personal liberty which a life based upon reason generates. They wanted to be fully alive, dominate their environment, become great, feel strong pleasure, and experience true happiness.

But they also understandably sought to live forever. The Greeks wanted the infinite quality and quantity of life which the mystery cults brazenly promised them.

The nearby Hebrew nation was aware of all of this. So they crafted a religion which attempted to integrate the thought of the pre-Socratic philosophers with that of the cultist Orphics, Dionysians, Demeterites, and Pythagoreans. Later on, the Jewish fathers increased their ambition, and tried to combine mystical Platonism with highly rational Aristotelianism.

This bizarre amalgamation sort of worked, at least in some senses. The hybrid and gargoyle of mature Judaism was developed. Soon after came the similar philosophy of Christianity.

Both early religions replaced the Greek logos (i.e. reason and explanation) with the Jewish and Christian “logos”. Jewish and Christian “law” – which was various arbitrary assertions and commands – also replaced Greek natural law, in which the reasoning human mind deduced objective truths about the real world and discovered rational virtues to be used to achieve human greatness and personal happiness.

But Judeo-Christian “virtues” – unlike rational Greek ones – involve self-sacrifice and self-destruction. You have to become a kind of slave to “god” in order to achieve their claimed immortality. To successfully become this holy servant, you need to believe in god with all of your “heart” – which is a sneaky, lying way of saying with all of your drives and passions. You also need to commit to god with all of your “soul” – which is a sneaky, lying way of saying with all of your mind and will.

Many do this, alas.

So the reconciliation and combination of Greek reasonism with Greek mystery cultism – as manifested in the mature philosophies of Judaism and Christianity – has taken place and is still with us. But the philosophy of reasonism has suffered in the mix. So has mankind.

Cooperation and Harmony in Society

 

Even if all one cares about is social cooperation and group harmony – and to hell with individual greatness and happiness – then it needs to be known that the best way to get social cooperation and group harmony is thru non-coercion. Don’t make people interact. Don’t coerce them in that direction. Let them remain free.

If cooperation and harmony between people is society’s primary goal – which is fundamentally absurd – then it needs to be realized that the best approach to this is, as it were, roundabout. Don’t seek this ideal directly. Let it happen. Allow the social cooperation and group harmony to develop naturally, organically, peaceably, and freely. Don’t attempt to force it via government tyranny.

Grant each individual in society his full liberty. Respect the rights of man and allow everyone to interact with each other as they will and choose. Because the fact is: People have more than enough sweetness, goodness, common sense, and rationality within them to cooperate harmoniously with their fellows naturally and easily. This practically happens automatically.

Or at least it does if the social cooperation and harmony is allowed to happen and develop freely. But if some ingenious and saintly social engineer chooses to coerce the social interplay – if he wisely and virtuously elects to force friendship and brotherhood down people’s throats – then that pretty much kills all high-quality cooperation and harmony in society.

Just as people quickly and easily become friends and brothers under individual liberty – as the history of Britain and America in the 1800s proved – so too they naturally become enemies and destroyers under government compulsion. When the rights of the Holy Individual are protected – when all members feel safe and secure from societal attack – then social interactivity flourishes.

Tyranny, in contrast, makes everyone hostile to everyone. People rightly see their fellow man as their slave-master which they must now serve. They accurately view their fellows as their hated lords and masters which they now must cooperate and live in harmony with – or else. People inevitably regard these folks with revulsion, and as their evil enemies.

They even tend to see such hostile forces as bizarre, fascist space aliens – and not human beings at all. People they once would have welcomed, and gladly called friends, they now naturally view as noxious insects which need to be squashed. Freedom-loving individuals properly regard these moral slave-masters as vermin fit only for extermination.

Thus if one is personally and philosophically stupid and slimy enough to favor social cooperation and group harmony above the proper and noble goals of individual greatness and happiness, then one should at least try to realize that far the best way to achieve the ideal of cooperation and harmony is via pure individual liberty with zero coercion of the society and collective.