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defacto7

defacto7's Journal
defacto7's Journal
October 6, 2019

Good morning blues

I get up very early, around 5:30 more or less, and step out on my porch to see how the sky had progressed since the previous morning. Sirius blazes just off the lower eastern corner of Orion before dawn right now. I got in my car and drove over to Village Inn like I usually do on Sunday. I like this ritual breakfast where there are very few people and no elevator music crunching noise into an otherwise simple atmosphere. What few people are there graciously allow me to evesdrop on their waking conversations. Sitting in a booth by an eastern window, dripping a little Tabasco on my eggs, I see the sky transform from night darkness through a spectrum of blues contrasted behind the bright orange of the restaurant sign until the sun breaks over the mountains.

If I were in Manhattan I would follow a similar routine walking to the neighborhood Greek diner feeling the movement and rumble of delivery trucks, the squeaking brakes, the rush of air from the downtown #4 rising through the sidewalk grating. The conversations are loud and fast offering a bonus of personal information to the inquisitive. Red Tabasco drips onto yellow egg yolks as I'd watch the sky transform from night darkness through a spectrum of blues contrasted behind 220 57th Ave until the sun breaks over the city skyline.

We live in a varried and beautiful world that is so much greater than the poisonous political actors we are surrounded with day in and day out. Those who shall remain nameless do not own us or the sky or the blue behind the backdrop of our morning interactions and sounds. I feel a sense of peace knowing that I have moments that are free of the ugly mirage and instead are filled with real life, beauty and the simplicity of just being.

Here's wishing all you DUers your own moments of freedom each and every day.

D7

March 30, 2019

I want to make informed decisions. Who's going to do the informing?

After reading an op that undermines my candidate my first reaction is a strong one. I'm disappointed and my knee-jerk reaction is to sink the ship. On the other hand there are some good rebuttals. But the good lesson for me is to think through the manipulations in the last elections.

The bots and deceivers were powerful in the time leading to those elections, this we all know; a lot of people were duped. It would be irresponsible on my part to dump any candidate on this or even a few negative tweets or bites just as much as it would be irresponsible for me to disregard them because their messages don't meet my standards for a candidate.

If you think the descievers were rampant and somewhat successful last time around I have no doubt the perpetrators have worked hard to improve since then.

I'm holding all info and judgements until I see and hear the real thing in action at the debates and in person. I'm not letting any tweets or hearsay dictate my position but I will compare notes and make my conclusions based on experience, not strictly on what I'm fed by the media or anonymous promotion.

That's how I see it.

D7

March 29, 2019

On Lying

My complete bafflement over the persistant and grandiose disinformation disorder permeating the country right now got me to do a little research on the psychology, philosophy, ethics and neural correlates of lying. It's was rather enlightening and in a way relieving to find so much material online characterizing the phenomenon of conservative political lying and the science behind such human behavour. Let me say this... We are not alone at DU in recognizing the madness. There are so many studies and articles that define and clarify the asininity of right wing lie pathology that I'm just going to leave you with three fascinating links on the subject.

I'll start with: Why We Lie: The Science Behind Our Deceptive Ways Deceptive Ways

This is a great general read from National Geographic that covers a wide view of why we all lie and why some are compelled to believe lies more than others... and much more.

Second: BBC Ethics Guide - Lying

This is a very nice compilation of ethical studies covering these topics:
Lying and truth-telling
Lying and ethical theory
Philosophers on lying
Lying under serious threat
Other types of lying
Lying and medical ethics

Some interesting philosophical points of view include St. Augustine and his graduated list of lies ranging from the pardonable lie to unpardonable mortal lie. I found it thought provoking that his number one most damnable lie was "lies told in teaching religion" Hmmmm! Another was Thomas Aquinas where he states that "Officious or helpful lies are pardonable". I guess that would make them purposeful if you needed to promote a "cause". It also covers Consequentialism and Deontologists.

Lastly: Neural correlates of deception: lying about past events and personal beliefs (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov PMC) about past events and personal beliefs (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov PMC)

This is a more "brain science" approach to lying. I came across this in the pursuit of philosophy and ethics but it's very interesting science.

I hope this stuff is useful; it's a whole lot more interesting than my writing so don't equate my blather with these well written articles. They do give insight into why it's such a shit storm out there.

D7

March 6, 2019

My dog threw up on the floor today.

After which he went back and ate it which seems disgusting to me personally. But then I realized that his condition imparted a deep philosophical lesson. The holy bible says, "As the dog returns to his own vomit, so does the fool to his own folly." I think that's Ecclesiastes or maybe it's Proverbs I don't know. But then I realized something even more disgusting. My dog may not only be an evangelical but he may be a Republican as well.

OMG

Profile Information

Name: Defacto7
Gender: Do not display
Hometown: Portland, OR
Home country: not sure anymore
Current location: depends on which proxy I'm using
Member since: Wed Aug 1, 2012, 01:44 AM
Number of posts: 13,485

About defacto7

Humanist, Classical musician, Linux hack, Liberal, Cosmology enthusiast, Refuse resurrectionist, Living with you in purgatory
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