![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thoughts, and a meme.
Nov. 22nd, 2008 07:48 amWaking up from a dream in which aliens were taking over the world through lifecoaching--making us all take tests and fill in forms in order to be better and more fulfilled people, i.e. do what they wanted--I realised that there are a number of inconsistencies and illogicalities in my worldview, and one of the principal ones is that I don't think that necessarily makes me wrong.
I have, in these days of semi-regular postings and website updatings, been wrestling with a low- to mid-level anxiety (like I needed another one of those) that at some point in my endless stream of nonsense I either have issued or am about to issue a post A which contradicts a previous post B, and that some diligent soul among those with whom I find myself arguing will suddenly produce post B and go "AHAH!!" What my brain usually tells me in a vain attempt to calm the turbulent waters is that yes, this is very likely, my views have evolved over the years, and the slant I put on them when I am expressing them depends on the particular issue that's got me all fired up. What it should be telling me is yes, and so what? (Actually, what it should be telling me is yes, but nobody cares, but I don't listen when it tells me things like that, because IIII am the Centre Of The Universe, you know.)
For one thing, I believe, and have said on a number of occasions that I believe, that there are things a human can do that are simply wrong wherever and whenever you are, whose wrongness is not dependent on local cultural guidelines. Female genital mutilation springs to mind as an example (but not male infant circumcision if done properly, and I am not going to get into the whys of that, so please don't ask me.) Do I think then that that gives people from outside the right to wade in and eradicate the wrongness? I don't know. Sometimes I think yes, sometimes I think no, depending on the particular wrongness I'm considering, but either way I think wading in will cause more problems down the line. I don't have a right answer to that one. Doesn't mean I don't stand firmly by the principle.
I'm in favour of freedom except when it encompasses the freedom to do certain things, like toting around deadly ranged weapons. I'm in favour of religion except when it tries to prohibit science, and vice versa. I'm in favour of a plurality of ideas except for ideas that exclude the concept of plurality. And it may be that something I say a few months down the line may seem to contradict any or all of that. It happens.
I'm just saying. I don't believe anybody should be hanging on my words, looking for answers to life, the universe and everything. I don't trust any philosophy that is completely coherent and self-consistent, because that doesn't leave a gap for reality to get in. And I'm actually rather glad that mine isn't, because it keeps me honest.
In other news:
Spot on first time, without even trying to slant the answers. How much more perfect could that be?
I have, in these days of semi-regular postings and website updatings, been wrestling with a low- to mid-level anxiety (like I needed another one of those) that at some point in my endless stream of nonsense I either have issued or am about to issue a post A which contradicts a previous post B, and that some diligent soul among those with whom I find myself arguing will suddenly produce post B and go "AHAH!!" What my brain usually tells me in a vain attempt to calm the turbulent waters is that yes, this is very likely, my views have evolved over the years, and the slant I put on them when I am expressing them depends on the particular issue that's got me all fired up. What it should be telling me is yes, and so what? (Actually, what it should be telling me is yes, but nobody cares, but I don't listen when it tells me things like that, because IIII am the Centre Of The Universe, you know.)
For one thing, I believe, and have said on a number of occasions that I believe, that there are things a human can do that are simply wrong wherever and whenever you are, whose wrongness is not dependent on local cultural guidelines. Female genital mutilation springs to mind as an example (but not male infant circumcision if done properly, and I am not going to get into the whys of that, so please don't ask me.) Do I think then that that gives people from outside the right to wade in and eradicate the wrongness? I don't know. Sometimes I think yes, sometimes I think no, depending on the particular wrongness I'm considering, but either way I think wading in will cause more problems down the line. I don't have a right answer to that one. Doesn't mean I don't stand firmly by the principle.
I'm in favour of freedom except when it encompasses the freedom to do certain things, like toting around deadly ranged weapons. I'm in favour of religion except when it tries to prohibit science, and vice versa. I'm in favour of a plurality of ideas except for ideas that exclude the concept of plurality. And it may be that something I say a few months down the line may seem to contradict any or all of that. It happens.
I'm just saying. I don't believe anybody should be hanging on my words, looking for answers to life, the universe and everything. I don't trust any philosophy that is completely coherent and self-consistent, because that doesn't leave a gap for reality to get in. And I'm actually rather glad that mine isn't, because it keeps me honest.
In other news:
Spot on first time, without even trying to slant the answers. How much more perfect could that be?