Many times, over the last couple of days, I have heard someone saying that they have a right to have an opinion.
Well, I say that this right is also connected with a certain duty; if you want to have an opinion that will have any value in society, you must first get informed enough to be able to base your opinion on a reasonable argument.
It may seem obvious, but to many people it isn't.
I spent my weekend at grandma's. Me and her have different views on presidential elections that just ended in Czech republic. And that's okay. The problem was, she could not explain a single reason for her choice that was factually relevant.
Her candidate's campaign was aggressive, used false facts and was generally built around "low" instincts, such as nationalism, ad hominem attacks, rallying the good ole' country against the cities and its lazy bourgeoisie, attacking the other candidate's family...
and she admitted all that. She also well remembers when her candidate was a prime minister, how corruption rate multiplied several times back then.
Why did she vote for him then?
She couldn't really say. She blamed my candidate for not being Czech enough (he was forced to emigrate by communists for a long time), for being to old, for being too rich...
She said my opinion doesn't have any value, because I am not experienced enough, I'm too young. She said that everyone in her county votes for her candidate and there are many intelligent people.
Not only this was a personal attack, not a political argument, it was also completely irrelevant. It simply cannot be said that older = more experienced in politics. Neither it equals more intelligent = "better" political opinion.
Informed political opinion can be only built by one thing: getting informed. Getting information today is cheap and easy, so there is really no excuse. If you want someone to respect your opinion, you must build it on a certain knowledge.
It's not called political science for no reason.
Politics = science. A social science.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
After a not-so-very fruitful evening of remembering formulas, I have come to a conclusion that tabloids are more popular than sudoku or chess magazines is that people love stories with a bit of soul or personality. Mechanical knowledge is the most uninteresting thing one can learn. The only good thing about it is the feeling of kicking nature's ass you get when you finally start understanding what you need to do to solve what you need to solve.
For me that's a rather rare feeling. Not worth it.
For me that's a rather rare feeling. Not worth it.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Look at yourself.
"Methinks weed links drinks and meth
inks weed links drinks and meth
inks weed links drinks and..."
Police officer keeps rambling on and on and he screams in your ear from so far away and he grips your shoulders and your eyelids feel like boulders, slowly closing and he sings his good guy's cacophony, you hate him, he is just a phony.
Will he let you go?
"No. We'll notify your parents."
And he rants, he rants, and your teeth have dents and outside raindrops dance and you can see your body prance on your suburbian gallows.
inks weed links drinks and meth
inks weed links drinks and..."
Police officer keeps rambling on and on and he screams in your ear from so far away and he grips your shoulders and your eyelids feel like boulders, slowly closing and he sings his good guy's cacophony, you hate him, he is just a phony.
Will he let you go?
"No. We'll notify your parents."
And he rants, he rants, and your teeth have dents and outside raindrops dance and you can see your body prance on your suburbian gallows.
Blueser
Night's a chaser, sir.
If you run out of rum, run.
If you run out of rum, run.
Go, socialize, meet some fellow monsters on the prowl.
It's cold outside and you don't have anywhere to go.
Night's sky's sly and not a bit too fly.
It's cold outside and you don't have anywhere to go.
Night's sky's sly and not a bit too fly.
Beware of the war, whore.
Ideas and thoughts have never been so clear,
but in the morning you forget how to feel.
You found the meaning of life but it made you black out.
You had it. Man, you were so close!
But then someone hit your nose.
But then someone hit your nose.
And all you hate and all you love
mixes in your blood and in your epitaph.
mixes in your blood and in your epitaph.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Keeping up with the Johnsons.
Marx had a scientific theory. In his age it was believed that the world is going to only get better and better until it reaches the optimal state. He stated with scientific accuracy (or so he believed) that this optimal state is communism and collectivism.
Well, that failed. Though I blame Lenin for communism's failure more than Marx. Leninism was economically 100% fallible. Relatively most successful was communism on Cuba, free of soviet influence... but I'm going of the topic now. Back to what I wanted to talk about;
Believing in an ever-improving political system would nowadays be considered naïve at least. The illusion shattered to pieces with the ascension of Soviet Union - or maybe with the Great Depression? Who knows.
Both important and interesting is though the "new" anti-utopian thinking that came in years 1930-1950.
Two names:
Orwell
Huxley.
Two books:
1984
Brave New World
Both depict dystopian future worlds. And both are becoming or have become at least partly true, I'm afraid.
1984 is about communism, collectivism, socialism. Well, that happened. But we're over that now, right? Communism happened, but now it's gone, yes? We can have capitalism and all rejoice, true?
Well, that's where Brave New World gets in.
Is consumerism any better than collectivism?
Lots on lots of years ago, culture was only something educated people would enjoy. In consumer society, everyone wants to "keep up with the Johnsons". They have culture? We want it too! How did we come to this?
Well, we are always being told how quality of life keeps improving everywhere (sounds exactly like communist propaganda), especially in the 1st world. What political scientists really mean by "quality of life" is comfort. Actual quality of life is not measurable anymore. It used to be measurable - back in the days where even in rich countries satisfying one's physical needs was not a sure thing. But no one suffers nowadays from material crisis. A lot of people likes to say they do, but really, no one in 1st world countries does.
So, what is there really improving? Education? No, not really. People aren't generally smarter than they were 30 years ago. Wealth? Yes.
What does a human being do, when they have surplus of time? (Which is a direct result of being rich. You don't need to work so much, therefore you have more free time. We have a paradox now that rich people generally work more than poor, but look at it historically - poor farmers used to work 12 hours a day. Nowadays you can do just fine without working at all).
Time starts losing value to them. But that's just a minor problem. While wealth increased, variety of important goods money can buy didn't improve little bit. Purchasing power theoretically got better. Now you can buy more food for the same relative wage than years ago. But this doesn't really apply to education, or even healthcare. Healthcare is always getting better - but its accessibility is not.
Bottomline is; not even the ever-increasing wealth can buy anyone self-improvement. But even though no one can really buy anything valuable, the money still needs to be spent. Voila, consumerism! Action movies? Check. Repetitive and intellectually inferior pop music? Check. Mainstream videogame shooters? Check.
All of these only drive us away from the really important things. I admit, I am guilty of it myself. I could go out more, if I played less videogames. But I've grown up in an environment that taught me to appreciate the damn things. It's got a tight grip on me. I used to jump around the Stormwind square in World Of Warcraft even when there was nothing for me to do. Why? I keep asking that myself.
Consumer society is much more pleasant than any other society. But that only makes it more dangerous. There is a difference between something truly beautiful and only pleasing.
Democracy gives many rights. But just as many obligations. Everyone needs to accept their place in the world but also try to improve it. Making "simple culture" for the uneducated, telling them their empty ranting is just as important as an educated opinion - that's wrong. Holst (the music composer) once said that only few can master the art of music, but to find that few, one must give music to everyone. True. But please - if you can't understand something, just accept that it's more likely your fault than that thing's fault. Making things dumber helps everyone and no one at the same time. You know what also helped everyone and no one at the same time? Communism.
POINT MADE.
Well, that failed. Though I blame Lenin for communism's failure more than Marx. Leninism was economically 100% fallible. Relatively most successful was communism on Cuba, free of soviet influence... but I'm going of the topic now. Back to what I wanted to talk about;
Believing in an ever-improving political system would nowadays be considered naïve at least. The illusion shattered to pieces with the ascension of Soviet Union - or maybe with the Great Depression? Who knows.
Both important and interesting is though the "new" anti-utopian thinking that came in years 1930-1950.
Two names:
Orwell
Huxley.
Two books:
1984
Brave New World
Both depict dystopian future worlds. And both are becoming or have become at least partly true, I'm afraid.
1984 is about communism, collectivism, socialism. Well, that happened. But we're over that now, right? Communism happened, but now it's gone, yes? We can have capitalism and all rejoice, true?
Well, that's where Brave New World gets in.
Is consumerism any better than collectivism?
Lots on lots of years ago, culture was only something educated people would enjoy. In consumer society, everyone wants to "keep up with the Johnsons". They have culture? We want it too! How did we come to this?
Well, we are always being told how quality of life keeps improving everywhere (sounds exactly like communist propaganda), especially in the 1st world. What political scientists really mean by "quality of life" is comfort. Actual quality of life is not measurable anymore. It used to be measurable - back in the days where even in rich countries satisfying one's physical needs was not a sure thing. But no one suffers nowadays from material crisis. A lot of people likes to say they do, but really, no one in 1st world countries does.
So, what is there really improving? Education? No, not really. People aren't generally smarter than they were 30 years ago. Wealth? Yes.
What does a human being do, when they have surplus of time? (Which is a direct result of being rich. You don't need to work so much, therefore you have more free time. We have a paradox now that rich people generally work more than poor, but look at it historically - poor farmers used to work 12 hours a day. Nowadays you can do just fine without working at all).
Time starts losing value to them. But that's just a minor problem. While wealth increased, variety of important goods money can buy didn't improve little bit. Purchasing power theoretically got better. Now you can buy more food for the same relative wage than years ago. But this doesn't really apply to education, or even healthcare. Healthcare is always getting better - but its accessibility is not.
Bottomline is; not even the ever-increasing wealth can buy anyone self-improvement. But even though no one can really buy anything valuable, the money still needs to be spent. Voila, consumerism! Action movies? Check. Repetitive and intellectually inferior pop music? Check. Mainstream videogame shooters? Check.
All of these only drive us away from the really important things. I admit, I am guilty of it myself. I could go out more, if I played less videogames. But I've grown up in an environment that taught me to appreciate the damn things. It's got a tight grip on me. I used to jump around the Stormwind square in World Of Warcraft even when there was nothing for me to do. Why? I keep asking that myself.
Consumer society is much more pleasant than any other society. But that only makes it more dangerous. There is a difference between something truly beautiful and only pleasing.
Democracy gives many rights. But just as many obligations. Everyone needs to accept their place in the world but also try to improve it. Making "simple culture" for the uneducated, telling them their empty ranting is just as important as an educated opinion - that's wrong. Holst (the music composer) once said that only few can master the art of music, but to find that few, one must give music to everyone. True. But please - if you can't understand something, just accept that it's more likely your fault than that thing's fault. Making things dumber helps everyone and no one at the same time. You know what also helped everyone and no one at the same time? Communism.
POINT MADE.
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