6.18.2010

Absolute Certainity vs. Logical Reason

George Monbiot's article in The Guardian, 'Bogus and misdirected, yes. But the Tea Party has a lot to teach the left', does a great job of laying out the political absurdity of the Tea Party, of their ridiculous positions and arguements while still congratulating them on their commitment to their absurd causes and their 'direct action' as opposed to the political left's endless debate and inaction.

The Tea Partiers have the huge advantage of 'Absolute Certainity' that the causes they support have god on their side, unquestionable, unimpeachable, absolute. The Tea Partiers believe thay are doing the work of their god, they have something messy-many sided-reason can never have, 'Absolute Certainity'.

We poor fools who try to use logic, debate, experimentation to inform our worldview can never be 100% certain of anything. We know that once in awhile anamolous shit happens that can change our worldview. We poor fools hold ideas to be true until some new information comes long that refutes those old ideas and we subsequently form new views. We who believe in reason use: thesis + antithesis = synthesis to constantly inform and evole our worldview. Our ideas and ideals resemble Sideshow Bob's hair, the 'Absolute Certainity' folks sport a more Pat Boone look.

What a huge advantage the religious zealots have in the marketplace of minds. The zealots offer easy answers, the reasonable offer difficult choices. Little wonder that as education standards drop, as the rich get richer and times get tougher that the Evangometer is heading for an apex. To a poor fool like me all this uneditable belief crap sounds like silly horseshit used to bilk the weak of their meager means. Often a fool like me reasons that actions have reactions [another unfortunate feature of logic] and that one day the growing darkness of 'Absolute Certainity' will be replaced again by the malliable mind of reason.

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains
seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we
must be aware of change in the air, however slight,
lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas