An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

awhile earlier in this thread, I had cited a moral philosopher about a particular issue, and the OP of the thread responded by describing how much he liked that philosopher's work.

Reading a bit more, an interesting exercise in moral reasoning came to me. It is presented in a way that seems "provocative" in the sense that it is designed to evoke an emotional reaction.

That emotional reaction in turn is a signal to us that we need to think things through a little more than we are used to. The results eventually will be fine.


The first step is to lay out an observation, purported to be empirically far more likely to be the case than not:

"Those people who are most adamant that Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection is the only right way to understand biology are also the very same people who are most adamant that the unfortunates of our society be protected from Darwinian pressures that otherwise would cull their existence."


It is deliberately phrased to sound 'harsh' to highlight the glaring intellectual contradiction.




Of course I pretty much agree with both premises of the statement yet have no sense of contradiction at all about it, because I can make one minor tweak in the wording of one of the statements that makes it work out after all.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Do you actually clutch your pearls when you post? Or do you have to tend to the wounds on your wrists, ankles, and rib cage first?

I guess a dry sense of humor is totally lost on some people....

[trixR4kids]

based on what evidence?

The irony

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

for some reason, your post reminded me of an article in Pravda during the Cold War.

From time to time, the USSR and the USA would have bilateral athletic competitions as a way of reassuring the rest of the world (and mutually ourselves, I suppose) that we actually could get along with each other every now and then.

The Pravda headline would sometimes read "USSR finishes second, USA finishes next-to-last."

In that case, they actually were telling "a" truth.....but "the" truth, so to speak??

Fish, the fact that you have to condescendingly recall this anecdote as if I'm some wide-eyed 18 year-old college freshman sitting in your Economics 101 lecture, is just silly.

I might be able to see Maddow for the pathetic opportunist that she is, but that doesn't mean I'm on your side here.

[Kepler]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

awhile earlier in this thread, I had cited a moral philosopher about a particular issue, and the OP of the thread responded by describing how much he liked that philosopher's work.

Yes. This is that man. For my money, one of the three finest ethical philosophers of the 20th century, along with him and the incomparable her.

[giwan]

Rachel Maddow debunked the earbud conspiracy. It's BS.

Really you believe Rachel? It does look like an ear bud but hard to be sure.

[joecct]

....I wonder if Trump's team is going to try to hack into the frequency during the debates....

IMF would jam it with high frequency sounds to incapacitate her.

See - it works!!

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cl...rticle/2601494

[Kepler]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

IMF would jam it with high frequency sounds to incapacitate her.

See - it works!!

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cl...rticle/2601494

Now we know what happened to the Marco 2000 unit.

[joecct]

Now we know what happened to the Marco 2000 unit.

Another thought - microwaves.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Now we know what happened to the Marco 2000 unit.

Bleep boop boop

[LynahFan]

"Those people who are most adamant that Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection is the only right way to understand biology are also the very same people who are most adamant that the unfortunates of our society be protected from Darwinian pressures that otherwise would cull their existence."


It is deliberately phrased to sound 'harsh' to highlight the glaring intellectual contradiction.




Of course I pretty much agree with both premises of the statement yet have no sense of contradiction at all about it, because I can make one minor tweak in the wording of one of the statements that makes it work out after all.

Congratulations on revealing your ignorance for the umpteenth time. Intra-species altruism is not incompatible with the Theory of Evolution. Altruism is not just a human trait - that behavioral trait has evolved thousands, and probably millions of times.

Nor does it make any sense to assume that "believers" in evolution say that weaker humans *should* be culled from the herd. Science deals in what is and is not, not in what should or should not be.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Let's agree that Trump is coarse and vulgar. Let's not debate how much or how many of the unsavory personality traits attributed to him by his detractors have a basis in his actual history of behavior or not.

One on particular issue, perhaps the most important issue of our times, I must reluctantly concede that Trump has nailed it spot on, even if he does not articulate it in a manner I would like.

At one time, government was supposed to serve the people, but now, people are servants of the government. There is an interconnected group of elites that control the government for their own profit and convenience. Even if these elites are not "trying" to benefit at the expense of the rest of us, neither do they care very much one way or the other whether we are suffering or well enough off.

Both parties are contribute to and are guilty of this problem; elections seem to be more about which side's elite will benefit from government action; the people are just an afterthought at best.

The phenomenon of regulatory capture¹ is now widely accepted: the only place that regulatory agencies can find the requisite expertise to staff their agencies is from people who work for the companies which they regulate. Over time, the agencies become sympathetic to the companies they are supposed to regulate and are no longer "even handedly" regulating them for the common good.

This type of "capture" has spread throughout DC: the same people move seamlessly between government agencies, lobbying firms, Congressional staff, White House staff, and big businesses that either do business with the government or are supposedly regulated by the government. They've made sure they are all well taken care of, no matter what is happening in the economy, in society, or the world at large.

People decry crony capitalism, which both parties practice equally well: one party's defense contractor subsidy is the other party's green energy subsidy, for just one example.

I can just hear Howard Beale (Peter Finch's character) from Network, speaking out for all the ordinary people: "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more!"

We can all wish they chose a more appealing spokesperson to bring their message to DC: there is no denying that the message itself is gaining widespread resonance.




¹ George Stigletz won a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on this topic, among others.

[LynahFan]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

That's not what I hear when I listen to Trump. That's what I heard when I listened to Bernie.

When I listen to Trump, I hear him making promises to expand the power of government in numerous despicable, unconstitutional ways.

[Kepler]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

When I listen to Trump, I hear him making promises to expand the power of government in numerous despicable, unconstitutional ways.

FreshFish simply wants his side to win, and he resorts to every device and feint to advance that. He has no other priority or morality. Ignore him, he is either a shill or a child.

Trump voices the age-old promise: "I know you are hurt. I will hurt the person you blame." It's a cynical method of turning others' panic and hopelessness into one's own power. The proper response is to call him out, be rational, be clear-headed, and work to stop him. Plato argues that it is not unjust to refrain from giving a weapon back to someone who is insane.

We are in a house with a rotten floor and a rabid dog. The first job is to put the dog down. Then we can fix the floor.

[FreshFish]

Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

FreshFish simply wants his side to win,

yet you don't care at all, eh? We are so very lucky to have your superior wisdom available to instruct the rest of us poor misguided souls.

I don't have a "side" in this race at all. No party and no candidate represents what I stand for.

I am disgusted by Clinton's moral depravity and repelled by Trump's bombast.

With Clinton we know we'll get more of the same old, same old.

Who knows what might happen with Trump?


100% certainty of loss is worse than 95% certainty of loss. Neither is very appealing.