11/26/2014
WHAT IS TRUTH?
GOAFS II: #121
WHAT IS TRUTH?
11.26.14
In the Gospel of John, when Jesus is brought before Pilate,
the truth comes up:
Pilate said, “So you are
a king?”
Jesus responded, “You
say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the
truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
“What is truth?” Pilate
asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of
any crime.
You know the
end of the story—Pilate, knowing the truth, sacrificed it on the altar of
political expediency.
The nature of truth has been contested and
debated in the public square since the public square began. It is only in these
later days that the existence of truth
is questioned in many places; in religion, in politics, in the media, among the
chattering classes, in the universities, in the courts…you may add your own
items to this list.
The common
thread here is that progressive liberalism is always in the front lines of
discounting, dismissing, and attempting to destroy the very idea of there being
something such as objective truth. In 1997 John Fletcher’s book, SITUATIONAL
ETHICS, formalized and popularized what would eventually be recognized as
“Relativistic Ethics.” Here is Wikipedia’s summary of the concept:
Situational ethics, or situation
ethics, takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating
it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. In
situation ethics, within each context, it is not a universal law that is to be
followed, but the law of love…Fletcher, who became prominently associated with
this approach in the English-speaking world due to his book (Situation
Ethics), stated that "all laws and rules and principles and ideals and
norms, are only contingent, only valid if they happen to serve love" in
the particular situation, and thus may be broken or ignored if another course
of action would achieve a more loving outcome. Fletcher has sometimes been
identified as the founder of situation ethics, but he himself refers his
readers to the active debate over the theme that preceded his own work.
Pragmatically, progressive liberals on all
fronts loved this, it put God out of the public square, and allowed them, at
least philosophically, to escape any accountability to anyone or anything
outside of themselves. They deleted the first great commandment of God, “The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you
must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind,
and all your strength.” At the same time they busied themselves trying to keep
the second, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What they steadfastly refuse
to acknowledge is that we cannot perform the second commandment as God intends
without obeying the great commandment first.
The problem with the social gospel was not one of content, it was a case of
putting the cart before the horse and then shooting the horse so he didn’t need
to be fed.
The full
flowering of the ethical relativism of progressive liberal ideology has come
into sharp relief recently in the case of one Professor Jonathan Gruber,
economist, of M.I.T. and Harvard.
Since the
earliest days of the development of Obama Care Professor Gruber has been hailed
as the “The Man” to go to in the design of the Affordable Healthcare Act and
for expert testimony that all the rosy promises made by its promoters were
sound economics and every promise would surely come true.
In recent
weeks, Professor Gruber committed the politically unforgivable sin of telling
the truth about the way the biggest bait and switch ever pulled off was constructed
and sold to what he called the “stupid” electorate. (The offense was even
greater since the doubtful Democrats in Congress who were needed to force the
partisan bill through were fooled as well.) Gruber not only sinned once, Joe
Biden does it regularly, but he said the same things in broad day-light in
front of live mikes at least 4 times (and still counting). It was clearly not a
slip of the tongue.
Overnight,
Gruber became a pariah, an invisible man to all those who had hailed him for
years as a genius and the ultimate authority on health care systems.
Progressive liberals bent over backwards and went through wild contortions to
distance themselves from the mass of recorded evidence of their previous love
and adoration of Professor Gruber.
The question
today that is being asked, not only by conservatives, but by many thinking
people of all political persuasions is this:
How can a politician, for years, display a beautiful pet
rooster on a leash at his press conferences and fund-raising tours, sincerely praising
the wisdom and virtues of his pet; and then, at a press conference on a slow
news day be asked where is the Rooster, be unable to even recall the rooster?
Especially with an extensive recorded history of all the various assertions he
has made about this specific rooster.?
The answer to
this question is self-evident, at least to thinking people--it is found in the
core beliefs of progressive liberal ideology:
1.
Autonomous
man (Greek: auto=self, nomos=law)is the sole arbiter of all truth, the sole
judge of good and evil, right and wrong, and all related ethical/moral questions
and considerations.
2.
The
feelings of one autonomous man are facts.
3.
He
believes all sincerely held feelings are equal.
4.
There
is no objective truth, no valid standard beyond the present feelings and
judgments of autonomous men. Even empirically derived scientific facts are only
true if he feels they confirm his
position or argument.
These beliefs
are not unique to the to the progressive liberals in the Executive. They can be
found in Congress and in the Judiciary. In 1978 pragmatic relativism was well entrenched
in the Supreme Court;
Planned Parenthood vs. Casey
505 U.S. 833(1992), at 851
The
Court ruled that--
“At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of
existence, of meaning, of the universe, and the mystery of human life.”
The
effect of this decision was to propound a universal moral right not to
recognize the universal moral laws on which all rights depend. It is a liberty
of infinite width and zero depth.
In
practice this was interpreted to mean that there was, hidden in the
constitution, the absolute right of a woman to contract for the murder of her
own child in her womb at any time for any reason…to have it paid for by the
Government, and never to be criticised for the decision.
Some of the things that follow from this are:
1.
The
autonomous man is free to make up his own reality, his own truth, his own
standard of ethical conduct, daily if he wishes. If anyone is bold enough to
challenge his do-it- yourself morality, informed by personal passion rather
than old-fogey morality, they are written off as hateful, or worse—listed among
the enemies of the progressive liberal dream of a socialist utopia.
2.
For
the most part the autonomous man sincerely believes what he says, even though
it may change drastically at astonishingly short intervals. This allows him to
lie shamelessly and frequently, when others might expect he should be
embarrassed and ashamed.
3.
The
dominant characteristic of this progressive liberal mindset is the regular
plea, when confronted by the irreconcilable contradictions of his multiple
positions, to plead; “forget the past, that is just old news, we must move
forward to realize our vision and keep our promises. Once the new truth is
articulated, for them, it is as if yesterday’s truth never existed. But it does. They would love to be like the Controllers in “Brave New World” who
kept a vast bureaucracy of editors busy re-writing history in all the public
records to conform to the latest position of the present Government on all
things. In the days of 1984, not only would everything Professor Gruber had
ever written or said be already expunged from every printed or electronic
record, there would be no proof anywhere that Gruber ever existed. But Today’s
promoters of the Progressive Liberal Utopian vision don’t have it quite so
easy. They do not fully control the media, printed, televised, or social so
they cannot fully rewrite the past. Not they aren’t trying hard to do that. The
past keeps jumping up and nipping at their heels, pursuing them like The Hound
of Heaven, constantly embarrassing them with yipping and yapping about those
inconvenient, irritating things like truth and reason and integrity, promises,
commitments, and agreements, and what they solemnly affirmed to be truth
yesterday.
“The greatest challenge facing mankind is the
challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda.”
Michael Crichton in his speech “Environmentalism
as Religion”
Common Wealth Club, San Francisco, Ca Sept 15,
2003
“A lie gets halfway around the world before
the truth gets its pants on.”
Winston Churchill
Winston
Churchill was about 70 years behind the times. Today a lie gets all the way
around the world before the truth even wakes up in the morning.
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for
Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and
rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
11/18/2014
LAME DUCK EMPEROR:COMPLETE AUTONOMOUS MAN
GOAFS II: #120
LAME DUCK EMPEROR
THE COMPLETE AUTONOMOUS
MAN
11.19.14
This is a post-mid-term prayer request; if you pray, please pray for
Congress, it is not particularly popular these days but it’s all we have. Pray
that it will find the wisdom and patience in the next two years to deal with
the lamest lame-duck in living memory.
The day after
the voters delivered a resounding repudiation of six years of progressive
liberal theory and practice by a serially incompetent White house, a New York
tabloid carried a full page photo-shopped picture of the President wearing
nothing but a barrel, standing in a flood ravished landscape beneath the
headline:
MID-TERM
TSUNAMI TAKES THE EMPEROR’S CLOTHING
The next day this
lame duck sauntered out into the public square to resume business as usual—he
came naked as the day he was born, his royal costume swept away by a wave that
could not be denied. The only sign of royalty left was his favorite golden Arab
Harem Curtain backdrop in the White House briefing room. (A constant visual
pander to the homicidal sons of Allah who are committed to either convert or
kill all apostates and infidels, first in Jerusalem, then in America, then to
the uttermost parts of the world.)
In the face
of this, two weeks later, it appears that our would-be Imperial President clings
to his lofty self image--if he is not The God, surely he is number one of the
little gods on earth with all the attendant wisdom, power and glory that goes
with divinity.
At an extended
press conference The President assured the whole world that the election had
nothing to do with his policies and incompetence, but was only a communications
problem—the Masters of the Universe just hadn’t been able to adequately explain
to all those dummy’s out there the true wonders and values of his utopian
socialist fantasy. But all who behold him, enemies and friends alike, see that He
just has not got it yet, or refuses to admit he has got it, which for him
amounts to the same thing.
So far, it appears
that Obama and his staff intend to go their arrogant, willful, lawless way for
the next two years—armed only with a telephone and a deluxe fountain pen, even
if it means going out “with a whimper, not a bang.”
If President Obama
stays this course I can imagine a future visit to his Presidential Library. Due
to a paucity of money and accomplishments, it is all in a small converted co-ed
shower room at Harvard Law School. It has been remodeled into an iconic
inclusive restroom able to properly welcome up to 100 different politically
correct self-selected gender-confused visitors. There are only 62 different
categories now but with the gender-confused experts’ penchant for splitting
hairs, more will surely be discovered by the time the library is dedicated.
At one end of
the room the wall is covered with the President’s beloved harem curtain,
protected by glass to prevent the supplicants from soiling it. There is a small
token American flag but no flagstaff with its eagle, Muslims are offended by
such representations.
In front of
the harem curtain stands a concert-sized sound system cleverly designed to look
like an altar. It constantly fills the room with Frank Sinatra singing “I did
it my way.”
On top of the
altar sits The Presidential Golf Cart, gold-plated in honor of George Soros,
and containing the Presidential Golf Clubs with a life-time supply of erasable
score-cards.
Behind the
altar, painted black, lurks a 4 drawer file cabinet containing all of the
Presidential Papers that have not been lost, strayed, stolen, or sealed by a sympathetic
judge for a thousand years. The cabinet itself is welded shut-- to prevent
adoring fans making off with one of the 10,000 mounted selfies of Obama and the
Beautiful People of the World stored there. On the top drawer front, there is a
bronze plaque with lines from The Rock, and
The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot:
And the wind shall say: “Here were
decent godless people:
Their only monument the asphalt road
And a thousand lost golf balls.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
This message
approved by Michelle Obama
Pray for our ersatz
Imperial President;, that he might finally learn to play well with others and
be able to leave something of value behind.
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for
Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and
rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
11/11/2014
SWEERS' LAW
GOAFS II: #119
SWEERS’ LAW
11.12.14
Most of you
will have encountered Murphy’s Law at one time or another. Murphy's law is an
adage or epigram that is typically stated as:
Anything that can go wrong will go
wrong.
This law has
a long and distinguished history, many claims to original authorship, many
corollaries, and references in literature, especially technical literature. Murphy
may or may not have been a real person but his law and its imitators have taken
on a life of its self. The corollary that comes to mind is:
Once something goes wrong, anything
you do to make it better only makes
it worse.
I have not
pursued the study diligently but have read several small books about it and
never have found what I years ago began calling “Sweers’ Law of Lines and Lanes.” This law seems to be operating
wherever someone in a hurry is confronted with a choice between two lines, say
in the grocery store, or two or more lanes on a multilane highway—especially
lanes leading up to toll booths. From here on, I will refer to the Kroger Store
since that is where I had my most recent encounter: Sweers’
Law
The fast line becomes the slow line,
the instant you commit to it.
I do the
grocery shopping these days. Two weeks ago I went to the nearby Kroger with a
short list. I am seldom in a hurry, but on this Tuesday morning we had an
appointment deadline and we really needed what I went to buy. Any other time I
would have zipped in, picked up what I needed, zipped through the self-check
machine, and had time to spare.
But not this
time. Kroger had just finished a 3 month total makeover of the store and it
took me a little longer than usual to find my short list of stuff.
When I got to
the self-checkout machines, six of them were dark and there was a long line of
people with huge baskets of stuff waiting for the 4 that were operating. I
looked down the line of regular checkout stations and saw long lines of loaded
baskets waiting in each open one.
This was not
“Geezer Discount Day” but there was a clump of three Geezers at the “12 items
or less” register—I committed to that line. Several folks fell in behind me
before it became clear that these three each had a nominal “12 items or less,”
all in the same basket, all requiring a separate bill. What had looked like one
customer and friends was really three people, but I was committed. It reminded
me of that opening scene in Top Gun where two U.S. carrier planes were
scrambled to intercept a radar contact that looked like one MIG—the last minute
the 1 became 3 and then 4 or 5 and there was a fierce dogfight to protect the
carrier…but I digress.
What had
looked like one customer turned out to be one Geezer and two Geezerettes, all apparently
related, each one with a separate batch of groceries, each requiring a separate
bill. It was slow work sorting out the Geezer’s groceries but when that
transaction was finished, the Geezerette heading this merry band collared a
carry-out person and sent the old man, and his stuff to wait in the car. With a carry-out boy pushing the basket they
went off. But they soon returned—probably tripped up by advancing senility—the
old gentleman had no idea where the car was, or even what kind or color it was.
After a lengthy and tense discussion, the two geezerettes decided they couldn’t
trust him with the car keys anyway, so the lady in charge took him to the car--we
all waited patiently, because she had the credit cards.
After a while
the first Geezerette’s groceries were done and paid for and she stepped out of
the way. The checker whipped what was left through with grim efficiency but
another snag developed--there were a number of items that were group priced
(10—for $10.00). Kroger prices these differently. Sometimes you can buy just
one for just $1.00, other times you have to buy all 10 to get the price posted.
The head
Geezerette did not like this, and she fought like the last person at the Alamo
over every item. Finally a customer behind me in the line (who apparently knew
her) said to her “this is the way it works here dear, so let’s get on with it.”
The bottom
line is that the last person in every other line I could have chosen was long
gone before I got out of the store.
I could
probably have written a formal corollary to Sweers’ Law long ago, but Murphy’s
stated above pretty much applies. When the trap of my law catches you, it
sticks to you like superglue. Once you have made your choice and committed to a
line, you can change lines all you want, but there is no way will you get out
of the store any quicker than if you stay right where you are. I can verify
that with many years of experience—you just
can’t beat Sweers’ Law.
P.S. There
are lots of this kind of thing going around especially among the older folks.
Here are three good examples from the wit and wisdom of an old friend of mine.
You could walk through my deepest
thoughts and not get your ankles wet.
Grampa Bob’s Morning Observation
It's harder to find stuff after you
lose it than before.
You know you are getting old when everything you
hear reminds you of something else.
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for Pilgrims
of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and
rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
