I thought my colleagues would have something to say about whether life was nastier, more brutal, and shorter before we had organized governments. One would think libertarians would have something to say about that, but libertarianism is sort of like socialism these days, it is whatever the current speaker says it is. It was, of course Thomas Hobbes who was quoted. I often confuse him with David Hume because of the similarity of the names.
Logic is based on cause and effect, if this than that, but Hume asked how do we know what is the cause. All we really know is that two incidents occurred closely in time, one after the other, but that doesn't necessarily mean the first caused the other. Walnut-brained cats may think the sound of a knife on a grinder causes food to appear, but we humans like to think we know better. Of course generally the first action causes the second and we huge-brained apes, go along with that because we can't be philosophical all day because we will never get anything done.
That's why people especially nowadays,. especially Americans who are doers not thinkers don't think much of philosophy. In truth not even me, who puts on airs like he is some deep thinker, is that crazy about them. Oh it's nice to pluck out an idea here and there for speculation, but when I realize that that idea is just a generalization of what is described in greater detail in this big fat tome that should be read to fully understand, I lose interest.
We weren't taught any philosophy in grade school, nor in Gage Park High. It's just a little too free-thinking for a public high school. If you think too much about things you will realize that most of them don't make any sense, and that is not good for young minds. I should have learned it getting my liberal arts degree in college, but I managed to avoid it. But when I applied to edukashun school, of all places, they required it. It was kind of a stupid course where you watch an educational tv show every day, go in to class once a week for discussion, and maybe four times to take multiple choice tests, and there you are, a master of western civ thought. Oh and you had to buy a rather thick book, which I just this morning plucked from the shelf to be sure I had Hobbes and Hume right, and since Society forced me to take this course I am boring my colleagues with it, because it will be good for them, Trust me.
And look I've completed a whole post without addressing was life nasty, brutal etc. So it is still fresh and unsoiled for my brothers to don the robes of contemplation, and whip out their quill pens and contemplate the matter. And if they don't I certainly will in next week's posting, because as the dawgs well know, I am relentless.
So how about those security clearances? Once again I am shocked, shocked, that no office-holding republican dares differ with their king, and even more so that their argument is that it is a fitting punishment for shooting off their mouths against the king. It's like Vietnam when it was argued that you shouldn't criticize the war effort because that was giving comfort to the enemy. Our boys were fighting for the first amendment and therefore you shouldn't use it.
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