tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post5972082913174642416..comments2024-03-28T12:10:26.197-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Absolutist Philosophy and Totalist NecrophiliaGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79597572856330970912010-02-10T07:14:54.795-08:002010-02-10T07:14:54.795-08:00God's fairness is to forgive everyone.
That&...God's fairness is to forgive everyone. <br /><br />That's not socialist 'fairness' - their system resembles more a worship of the wheel of fortune: 'What is up must come down! It's only 'fair'!'Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42312371862253909152010-02-09T16:58:30.588-08:002010-02-09T16:58:30.588-08:00Derbyshire linked this at NRO
First Things ^ | F...Derbyshire linked this at NRO <br /><br /><b>First Things ^ | February 9, 2010 | Stephen Barr </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/02/the-end-of-intelligent-design" rel="nofollow"><b>The End of Intelligent Design?</b></a>Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07033051400545893690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-48687147431623193942010-02-09T16:07:32.772-08:002010-02-09T16:07:32.772-08:00Don't get me wrong, I think fairness has a pla...Don't get me wrong, I think fairness has a place. It's just that to many people, particularly to leftists of all stripes, the notion of "fairness" has come to trump the Absolute standards of right and wrong. It's become a morality based either on equality of outcome or simply on whatever anyone feels is <i>unfair</i>. Unfair = doubleplusungood, therefore it's perfectly okay to hack off the tall guy at the knees so the short guy doesn't <i>feel</i> bad. In short, fairness is usually envy disguised as a moral form.<br /><br />So screw fairness. And if any of youse guys ever catch me whining about the unfairness of anything, I hereby demand that a cluebat be used to put me out of my misery.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20120747390514555822010-02-09T15:59:00.569-08:002010-02-09T15:59:00.569-08:00Grants said: The religious fundamentalists are not...Grants said: <i>The religious fundamentalists are not the problem; they just don't grasp the big picture. </i><br /><br />Indeed -- my friends don't like to think too much, but they are generally better than their theology. In the end, most of them will side with personal freedom over the government control. If more libertarians would take Van's approach -- put down the Ayn Rand crack pipe -- we could all work together and put <i>los federales</i> in their place.mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07651027035577798096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-53080818392430834792010-02-09T14:05:42.046-08:002010-02-09T14:05:42.046-08:00Julie said "Fairness is vastly overrated.&quo...Julie said "Fairness is vastly overrated."<br /><br />Ohhh... come now, that just not fair.<br /><br />ahem.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88983961495765298642010-02-09T14:04:11.251-08:002010-02-09T14:04:11.251-08:00NB said "For the umpteenth time socialism is ...NB said "For the umpteenth time socialism is being given a go, this time in Venezuela. Despite being blessed with a huge abundance of fuel, this country is currently experiencing the collapse of it's power grid."<br /><br />Even more of an irony rich die it, showed up whn Venezuela, home of the Mountain Grown coffee bean... has a coffee shortage.<br /><br />No coffee... no oil... that's a lot of irony to digest without a morning cup of coffee....Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-16201433539259128592010-02-09T13:55:30.931-08:002010-02-09T13:55:30.931-08:00What Walt said @08:44:00 AM, lining up right off t...What Walt said @08:44:00 AM, lining up right off the bat.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64914785528792405822010-02-09T13:53:05.874-08:002010-02-09T13:53:05.874-08:00"Again, the American political system was des..."Again, the American political system was designed in order to prevent this from happening. It did not anticipate an Andrew Jackson, FDR, or Obama, who all diminished individual liberty at the price of increased personal power."<br /><br />Well... it did anticipate and fear a debased posterity harking to a 'man on horseback'(Jackson personified), but it trusted to the American's love of Education, to keep them from being susceptible to such a one's siren song. What they didn't anticipate, was a system of 'education' that suppressed truth and imposed falsehoods as ideals, or the possibility that the state would mandate that everyone should slip it's noose around their own necks.<br /><br />"Another problem with philosophical Darwinism is that it is not really about life -- which it does not even pretend to understand -- but Death. Death becomes the absolute, the great shaper of mankind."<br /><br />What else could a system which opposed integration possibly revere, but that greatest of disintegrators, Death?<br /><br />"Nor is stupidity the purpose of intelligence, at least outside liberal academia."<br /><br />ROFLOL!!!Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-75100569414258910252010-02-09T13:51:49.963-08:002010-02-09T13:51:49.963-08:00"A Raccoon is first and foremost an absolutis..."A Raccoon is first and foremost an absolutist. Perhaps we need to come up with a better word, since this one seems to be tainted by certain unwelcome associations, but it is the key to the whole existentialada, i.e., that the Absolute exists and that it is prior to us. "<br /><br />Cooncur, the Whole Truth must come first, or only fragmentation would be possible (and truthfully, not even that). <br /><br />"A key point is that the Absolute does not deny our freedom, but is its first and last guarantor. Once you understand this, then you should immediately understand the danger of the left, which again replaces the Absolute with its won totalistic and coercive philodoxy."<br /><br />and,<br /><br />"Thus, metaphysical Darwinism has its own kind of absolutism, but I think a better word is "totalism," which has the intended association with "totalitarian." It is a total explanation that is anything but liberating, if for no other reason than it renders spiritual freedom an illusion. Or, you could say that it can only be total at the cost of excising what is most dear to us -- eg., freedom, truth, unity, etc."<br /><br />As your great great grand uncle William drew Rousseauism out into Necessitarianism, it necessarily denied the possibility of free will, putting society and the environment into the roll of the pin ball wizard whose supple wrists alone would be responsible for batting the individual pinballs into scoring positions. That also meant that any attempts by individuals to think without conforming, to attempt to make individual decisions and purposefully develop virtuous habits, was something which only hampered the wonders which would 'just happen naturally' if you'd just shutup, stop being so uptight and let the totalism totally take over. Like most later day enlightenists, Godwin praised the words 'truth', 'reason' and 'justice'... but their philosophy gutted them of any and all meaning, one where people obviously needed to be 'forced to be free'.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-7303396561291519292010-02-09T12:12:50.499-08:002010-02-09T12:12:50.499-08:00Fairness is vastly overrated.Fairness is vastly overrated.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77591810241651277352010-02-09T11:23:55.281-08:002010-02-09T11:23:55.281-08:00The quintessential leftist commentator.The <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2010/02/09/frank_rich_and_the_state_of_liberal_commentary" rel="nofollow">quintessential leftist commentator</a>.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63139199858547202232010-02-09T11:17:02.337-08:002010-02-09T11:17:02.337-08:00Sowell:
"Unfairness is often blamed on somebo...Sowell:<br /><i>"Unfairness is often blamed on somebody..."</i><br /><br />Hence the utility of the concept.walthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388218390016612051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-25433559193417474532010-02-09T11:03:17.835-08:002010-02-09T11:03:17.835-08:00But socialism is fair!But socialism is <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/02/09/the_fallacy_of_fairness?page=full" rel="nofollow">fair</a>!Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2244819232539777982010-02-09T10:49:20.124-08:002010-02-09T10:49:20.124-08:00It never ceases to amaze how impervious very smart...It never ceases to amaze how impervious very smart left-wing people are to rudimentary common sense. For the umpteenth time socialism is being given a go, this time in Venezuela. Despite being blessed with a huge abundance of fuel, this country is currently experiencing the collapse of it's power grid. Predictably the Chavez leftists are cracking down hard and fast on anything remotely free or democratic. <br /><br />Does this change the mind of even a single leftist about the desirability of this form of government for America?Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27732761949902281542010-02-09T09:41:07.795-08:002010-02-09T09:41:07.795-08:00Well, I'm (finally) grasping exactly which bel...Well, I'm (finally) grasping exactly which beliefs, and the people who actualize them, are "the problem" as studied on this blog.<br /><br />Darwinism per se is not the problem; it has a limited truth. Rather, it is the idea that stems from it that random chance is sufficient to run the show, that there is no guiding consciousness in the cosmos.<br /><br />The clueless nonreligious mass consumers are not the problem; they just haven't thought things through. They follow the creed of meeting their needs and desires as best they can. Another partial truth.<br /><br />Scientists are not the problem; they just work with partial solutions also.<br /><br />The religious fundamentalists are not the problem; they just don't grasp the big picture. <br /><br />The people who ARE the problem are the "intentional atheists." They have thought things through. They are intelligent. They make choices based on the premise that there is no God. They have carefully considered whether their might be a God and have determined there is not. They seek power for power's sake. They do not care about other people, because ultimately nothing matters to them, because we're all going to die. So they might as well grab as much power, prestige, money, and sensual delight as they can, and damn anyone who gets in the way.<br /><br />Oh, THOSE people. <br /><br />Then there are the people with the whole picture; the Absolutists (raccoons of any stripe). The Absolutist believes in God and acts accordingly; her first principle will be love. The Absolutists oppose the Atheists and vice versa, just as Matter and Antimatter must be antagonistic. It is a natural antagonism.<br /><br />In balance is the fate of history.black holehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07366633817665791528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-16135669126973820262010-02-09T09:25:50.462-08:002010-02-09T09:25:50.462-08:00Exactly. Very few Democrats are actually leftists...Exactly. Very few Democrats are actually leftists -- which is why independents are fleeing Obama in droves. I don't excuse them for being seduced by this demagogue, but that's hardly the same as being evil.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31662333024131133002010-02-09T09:20:24.001-08:002010-02-09T09:20:24.001-08:00And before the trolls come spilling out of the mun...And before the trolls come spilling out of the municipal sewage system: it is the <b>hard Left</b> we -- or anyway I -- despise and resist, not everyone calling themselves "liberal", and certainly not everyone who voted for Obama.<br /><br />The point-source of hard (pure) Leftism (the metaphysical phenomenon, not individual human beings) is Hell.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63918516923144093132010-02-09T09:12:13.333-08:002010-02-09T09:12:13.333-08:00walt:
Richard has demonstrated a level-headed, fa...walt:<br /><br />Richard has demonstrated a level-headed, fair-minded consistency and overall level of integrity matched by few people I've come across.<br /><br />When Glenn Beck attacks the Left it's time for a yawn (even if I agree with much of what Beck says).<br /><br />When Richard Fernandez characterizes the Left in this manner (from your link) it really makes me sit up and take notice. Too often we feel the need to be "respectful" of the hard left, when history is replete with reasons to treat them instead as possessed by demons.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-90680641120093824282010-02-09T08:44:52.602-08:002010-02-09T08:44:52.602-08:00A few days ago, you replied to a question about &q...A few days ago, you replied to a question about "proper aim" by suggesting that one "align oneself with the Absolute."<br /><br />Sometimes I notice the <i>extent</i> to which 2.5 years of exposure to your ideas has aligned the "directions" of my thinking, making it more congruent, I'd say.<br /><br />For instance, today you wrote:<br /><i>"We locate mind, life, and Spirit at the top ... so that, for example, mathematics is discovery, truth is recollection, and spirituality is a recovery of Self."</i> And it's not just that I agree, but that my thinking about those -- and many other -- subjects, <i>line up,</i> i.e. work together to -----> "coherence."<br /><br />Such things are important to me, so, "Thanks, again!"<br /><br /><a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2010/02/08/from-this-moment-on/" rel="nofollow">Here</a>'s an illustration from Belmont Club's Richard Fernandez about how the philosophical underpinnings of the Left play out in Real Time.walthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388218390016612051noreply@blogger.com