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Sunday, October 10, 2004Progress or Regression
1. Progress
Out of the Middle Ages came the Renaissance. From the Renaissance came the science and rationality of the Enlightenment. From the Enlightenment came the Constitution of the United States of America. From that constitution, a great nation was born, a nation which blossomed and flowered in the late 20th century. And in the late 20th century, from amidst that blossoming and flowering, it was tempting for Americans to look back at the Middle Ages with scorn and pat ourselves on the shoulder in recognition of our progress.
2. Regression
But have we come that far? Have we really come all that far? Or is this just a story that we tell ourselves, a story to let us think highly of ourselves, a story to let us sleep at night.
Do we not live in a world filled with superstition, greed, violence, inequality, hatred, war, death, disease, starvation? No, you say? Look around you, you say? Look at the differences, you say? I understand your point. I see the differences. I see them, and I see them dwindling away.
We are regressing.
3. Helen asks a question
In the 8 October Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Helen Thomas asked,
[Post-Intelligencer/Thomas]: How else can one make sense of the fact that the president continues to do well in the polls despite the total collapse of his credibility about the reasons for invading Iraq?
(Hat tip: Common Dreams.)
The mistake she makes is assuming that the people are responding rationally, that they are forming their opinions based on a reasoned look at the evidence. They are not. Reason and rationality and details examinations of the facts have nothing to do with anything.
We are regressing.
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A Different Gospel
In the 10 October issue of the Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail, Denise Giardina has 20 verses from the Gospel of George Bush:
[Gazette-Mail/Giardina]: 15. And if anyone oppose you, yea even if they wear an insulting T-shirt, shake the dust of your shoes in their face, have them arrested, fire them from their job and confine them in a pen called a free speech zone where they may enjoy their freedom in security.
My politics lean left, but I don't think I'd have the courage to write or say anything like this in public today. Is it just me, or has the tenor of the press changed of late?
Hat tip: Common Dreams.
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2:00am
Just finished listening to Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast. He apologized for running longer than an hour. Have I really been listening that long?
Across the street, Bill's elephant ears are standing motionless in the still night, lit up by his porch light. Somewhere between here and there is the Blackfoot daisy we planted this afternoon, its white blossoms invisible in the dark.
I turn my head to look to the bed where we planted the daisy. But it's night. It's dark. There's nothing to see -- nothing but the silhouette of our cat stretching on the rocks and walking back to the garage to go to sleep.
Going to sleep. Trudy did that hours ago. I guess it's my turn, now.
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