Momentum

Momentum. There is no getting anywhere without it. The Vikings and Broncos didn’t win because they were better teams. They won because their opponents were unable to muster up any momentum. Starting is easy. Anyone can call up a blank screen or make his way to the start of a long trail. It’s the next step that can be a bummer. You need a spark to drive the soul to some momentum.

That’s what I have been lacking. No spark to turn the one paragraph into a two page paper. No momentum to make the workplace better. The spark is escaping me and preventing me from worthwhile accomplishment. Some loss of strength is inevitably caused by the deteriorating condition of the American intellect. It may very well doom us all. A country where Sarah Palin is respected as a national figure by anyone is probably not a country for me. No amount of philosophical or practical wisdom may be able to dig us out of the pit we have fallen into it. In the absence of momentum I close with words of manufactured wisdom.

“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. … More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives.” (V for Vendetta, 2006)

Masochism and Jesters

As much as I am a bleeding heart liberal and a Jesus lover, I am also an ornery, sarcastic bastard. I am also sick and, apparently, feeling somewhat masochistic. I get the feeling that it is time to turn on Fox News, or whatever appropriate pseudonym you use for it, and comment on whatever idiocracy I thus encounter. Doctors would probably note that getting yourself into a rage would have little benefit on your health. I wouldn’t disagree, but maybe there is some greater telos in this experiment.

I turned on Fox News to find Huckabee interviewing two former Presidential Press Secretaries; nothing interesting here.

About a week later I consider revising this experiment, but fearing Fox news I consider examining the top story on their website. I am spurred on by a quote from Hitler: “… the one means that wins the easiest victory over reason: terror and force.” (Mein Kampf, Volume I Chapter 2) I am not, as some might assume, comparing Fox News to Hitler. This quote was in reference to his adversaries, so if I am comparing anyone to Hitler it would be MSNBC. Fox News is clearly victorious over reason in some parts and terror and fear are the tools that they use. So, it seems that on this one point the devil was right. The devil is usually wise and will inevitably be right on some points. Surely a moron couldn’t trick a nation into genocide.

Times are different now and it seems that the devil’s knowledge has eroded over the eras. The genocidal seem to have almost faded away and the Fear mongers stand in their stead. The devil en vogue has the passion but lacks the reason. He is a Fool and a Jester who juggles imaginary balls that he uses to deceive a good many.

If a wise man fools someone, he will inevitably feed some reason in his attempts to overcome it. The same cannot be said for the Jester. He can cry and rant and read snuff cans, but no quantity of reason will be passed to his audience. The man fooled by the wise man is thus left with a chance to escape and turn reason around. The Jester’s fools have no such hope. Res ipsa loquitur.

Heidegger's Worlds and Existential Responsibility

Heidegger comments that we all inhabit various worlds. They may be the worlds of students, teachers, businesswomen, artists, or whatever else. We are able to move comfortably in whichever of these worlds we inhabit and will find ourselves awkward in whichever we don't inhabit. For example, Teachers will move comfortably in classrooms, but not in boardrooms.

In addition to feeling comfortable in these worlds, we also help define them. As I blog, I move in the world of bloggers and when I hit 'publish' I will further define/refine what it is to be a blogger. Every world is in a state of existential metamorphoses. This leaves the actors in worlds with some existential responsibility. As the actors actions mold their respective worlds, they have a responsibility to those worlds.

Each of us, then, must make sure that we are being responsible to the worlds we inhabit.

What is a 'thing'?

Only Heidegger can make me think about what a 'thing' is. All information that we get about things is from our senses, so we only have our perceptions. However, I do not want to say that essence is perception. I have typically gone with a Kantian view that all we have is our perceptions; however, there is a 'thing' there that is causing those perceptions. Heidegger points out, however, that what we first see (or hear/feel/etc) is the 'thing-in-itself' and not our perceptions.

The real question seems to be is why (how) we group these perceptions or does the 'thing' come before our perceptions?

Thoughts on the "other sex"

It has occurred to me that the etymology of the ‘other sex’ is always as a part or lesser simulacra of Adam. Adam is the ideal of which the other falls short; after all, Adam is one bite short of God. Whatever such word is used to identify the ‘other sex’ serves largely to delineate it from the status quo of humanity or consciousness or however else you will define this self-awareness. More than delineate it from the status quo, it serves to make it subservient. The ‘other sex’ has no existence on its own as it is etymologically dependent on Adam. As our ability to think is limited by our language, it seems that it is time for a new word to signify this ‘other sex’ as a part of the whole with Adam.