Still Here: Once an Optimist, Often a Realist, Presently Evolving
378 days have elapsed since my last post. For those of you who follow me (are there any of you left?), you'll know I've had some tribulations in the last two years – mostly health-related. And to say that these past two years have deeply affected my soul/spirit/chi is quite an understatement. Even more of an understatement is that my drive towards enlightenment and my appreciation of different worldviews has undergone even more of a radical transformation. This blog – the entirety of my dialogue with the public – was intended to be a intersection of important ideas and critical thinking. A place I could share my thoughts as philosophy, and elicit yours as learning points. For a while, it worked – and was gaining traction and depth. My ideas were out there, people were responding (publicly and privately), and the world of the Frank Spot was coalescing as I'd hoped. So much has happened since then, and so much of me has changed, that I had all but abandoned it. I knew my Katra had become so out of sync with the world that it was hard to hope for any connection. And I always wanted and hoped to connect.I've often pondered the difference between a philosopher and someone who just spouts off about ideas he thinks are better than those of the general masses. It's a tough nut to crack. Historically speaking, the only differences seem to be that:
- Philosophers retain gentler airs than loudmouths (even under "fire," so to speak);
- Philosophers have new and different ways of looking at things, that often fail to coincide with mainstream OR fringe thinking, and;
- At some future point, usually once a person has been published, widely read and debated, and often already died, others/history confer the title of Philosopher upon him. (It also seems to help if the person is destitute while plying his trade; living openly off of friends and family, and on coins dropped into a pail at his roadside pulpit...)
{ frank } Defrocked
Now, even though the philosopher door is closed, I still have opinions and ideas based on (what I'd call) my uniquely apt, ongoing critical analysis of everything. And in emulation of true philosophers, I feel that these ideas and opinions constitute "truths" which can withstand the weight of the heaviest scrutiny, and the most rigorous debunking. Hence, I still have stuff to write about. But again, Frank the author is much angrier and more out of phase with the world – I no longer care if anyone does any additional analysis of the world, or if they use my words as an invitation to self discovery. I'm just going to blog from time to time, and let the population churn as it will. In time, I may reach someone, or even posthumously attain a title of visionary, prophet, or my initially coveted philosopher. If not, oh well. A fully diminished { frank } is still frank...Why a New Post (or: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to this Post)
On Friday, I did something here that was an absolute first: I deleted a comment someone made on one of my posts. I've never done or felt the need to do that before. I've seen some lively debate here, but it trended towards civility in tone and word choice, even when the comments were harsh and heavy barrages against my ideas. This unnamed commenter was an ass. His post was everything I despise about the world of internet posters: it was directly insulting to me, sexist towards women, included few correctly spelled words or valid punctuation, and was grammatically equivalent to things written by my daughter's kindergarten classmates. So, I deleted it. And I'm happy about it. New { frank }, new rules: sell nastiness and incivility someplace else.But, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that the nasty post I deleted was what actually crystallized the final content of this post. It was the final push I needed to move these brewing ideas from brain to screen. So here we are...
Twenty-One Things I Know (That You Should Know Too)
I think the world is full of unwritten rules, and knowledge that's supposed to be common but really isn't. I think this discontinuity is at the heart of many societal ills. So I've cobbled together 21 morsels of wisdom/critique that should resonate for anyone still interested in trying to build a better world. I've kept them pretty bare for now. It's up to whoever stumbles upon them to decide if, how, and why to expand and use them. But be assured, despite my damaged psyche, I believe I have stumbled onto some fundamental truths here; they could be game-changers if seen or redelivered by the right few people.- Being angry/outraged/shocked/hurt doesn't automatically mean that your opinion on the matter is the right one. You can be "wronged" by decisions/laws/others' personal choices that are logical, rational, and the "right" thing to do for the majority.
- The adult population of the United States is MUCH larger than most people realize; so even when 100,000 people on the internet agree with you on something, you are not necessarily part of the majority. Try to remember this the next time you get ready to start a revolution, boycott a business, or burn down a building.
- In matters of opinion: for every person who believes something, there is a very strong possibility/likelihood that there are plenty of others who believe the exact opposite thing.
- Believing "something else" doesn't make somebody evil or corrupt. If it does, then you're corrupt and evil too.
- Not all Republicans are rich people, and not all rich people are Republicans. (Hello, Hollywood! I'm looking at you...)
- Fairness doesn't favor one side/person over another, and doesn't take more from or give more to anyone; in best practice, fairness imparts equality and the uniform treatment of others, and the uniform disbursement of rights/benefits. If there are ten people and ten one dollar slices of pizza, the only fair division is one slice per person, at a cost of one dollar per slice. It is not "fair" to tell the fat person to take only a half a piece, and give a skinny person one and a half pieces. It's also not fair to ask anyone to pay more than a dollar for his slice so somebody else can pay less. This relates directly to:
- The United States uses a progressive income tax code; people who make more, pay more. People who don't make enough (roughly 50% of us) pay absolutely nothing. If you're arguing fairness, this is basically wrong – it means that many people are getting something (government service) for nothing. Everyone who gets something should pay something. Many people try to argue this by pointing out that poor people pay other kinds of tax; but other kinds of tax are not income tax, and the debate is about income tax. In the current world, everyone pays sales tax and such; but where all rich people pay some income tax, many non-rich people don't.
- There are about 55 million registered Republicans and 72 million registered Democrats at last count. That means there are 22% more Democrats than Republicans. This does not constitute a "vast majority" of the population, and Democrats should stop pretending it does. It means that there are roughly four Republicans for every five Democrats. There are also about 42 million registered Independents, who, when voting, can easily change the outcome if all the Democrats and Republicans vote the party line.
- Anyone can look so closely at a problem that they can believe they are right about its nature, scope, causes, and solution. This is great way to feel absolutely right about something, but still be completely wrong.
- Most people are ignorant about hate. They imagine and project hate onto candid statements of simple disagreement, honest retellings of personal beliefs, or others' adherence to almost any kind of principle; then they absolve or deny it when it comes from someone with a compatible point of view. Not-so-ironically, the people who cry "hate" the loudest and most often tend to be the ones whose words best fit the hate template.
- It's wrong to be uncivil, no matter who you are, or what side of a debate you're on.
- Keeping your promises and sticking to your principles is an inherently good thing; it's not good only when your champion does it, and bad when someone else's champion does it. Remember this next time your least favorite politician keeps a promise.
- Compromise doesn't mean that you get everything you want, and the other guy only gets a little of what he wants. Furthermore, not every principle or idea lends itself to compromise. Reread number 12 for clarity.
- If you can't afford it, or don't know how you're going to pay for it, you shouldn't buy it. This goes for the individual, the corporation, and the government. Don't ask/expect the government to give you something it can't afford to pay for, no matter how important a thing you think it is.
- Corporate tax loopholes and outsourcing are basically bad. However, the big companies that benefit from these things also tend to employ a lot of Americans. Don't mess it up for them because you're angry about their company's profits or practices. If that "hated" corporation packs up shop, a lot of American people will lose their livelihoods (and possibly their houses, cars, families, etc...) And there's one less company to hire you next time you're out of work.
- There are a lot of great and noble ideas out there, and most of them will never give rise to anything.
- Most opinion polls are irrelevant. They are not a good representation of anything EXCEPT the opinions of those polled. Remember what I wrote above: the population is huge. We should never trust that the opinions of 1000 people could accurately stand in for the beliefs and leanings of 350 million people. Divide 1000 by 350 million – all those zeroes between the decimal point and the two should tell you something.
- The internet makes people believe they have more complete information than they really do, and that they are in the majority when they really aren't.
- Ridiculing someone's faith or deeply held spiritual beliefs (such as believing in a God or the teachings of the Bible/Torah/Koran) is wrong, childish, and mean. And let's face it: until you die, you really won't know what's true anyway.
- The law is not a collection of guidelines and suggestions; you are expected to obey them all. You do not actually have a "right" to choose which ones to obey. Sadly, a vast number of people seem to do so anyway.
- The country is in a bad way because of the people in it – politicians and the general public alike. We take when we should give, want more than we deserve, horde what we should share, ridicule what we disagree with or don't believe in, and think much too highly of ourselves. And we are still surprised at the bad, immoral, and destructive behaviors that are borne of those traits.
