Friday, March 19, 2021
Trade Wars
Sunday, March 14, 2021
“Law and Order” vs. “Honor and Justice"
The Impossible Dream
This is
my quest, to follow that star
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To be willing to give when there's no more to give
To be willing to die so that honor and justice may live.
“Law and Order”
may only mean supporting the existing system.
We have elections to determine
who controls the government, i.e. the system.
“Law and Order” supports those who control the existing system. “Honor and Justice” supports the system, no matter
who controls it.
If there are protests against
the system, those may not be supporting “Law and Order.” However if those protests are on behalf of “Honor
and Justice”, isn’t that better than
supporting “Law and Order”.
It brings to mind the opposition
to protests when I was young as “My country, right or wrong”. The best response that I remember agreed with that
statement, but acknowledged that it was incomplete. ”My country,
right or wrong. If it is right, keep it
right. If it is wrong, make it right." That is supporting “Honor and Justice”, even
if it is not supporting “Law and Order”.
Second Chances
I
am changing
Yes I know how
I'm
gonna start again.
I'm
gonna leave my past behind
I'll
change my life.
I
make it up
And
nothing is gonna stop me now.
Is America is the Land of Second Chances?
There is a popular tale used by certain groups, the Scorpion and the Frog. A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. The frog lets the scorpion climb on its back and then begins to swim. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I couldn't help it. It's in my nature."
If you accept the "moral" of this fable , then even
though the scorpion knows that he will drown, you believe that he can’t change his nature. You believe that the frog was “foolish” to give the scorpion a
second chance. Blaming nature is saying
that one can’t change. The problem is
that the scorpion lied when he said he knew that they both would drown and would act to prevent that. The frog would have been foolish to believe that
the scorpion wouldn’t sting him on land, but the frog acted reasonably in believing
that the scorpion would not sting him in the water where they both would drown.
If you believe in second chances, then you believe that people can change their
nature.
Friday, March 12, 2021
Cancel Culture
Imperfection
Hardly. Six out of his almost fifty books will no longer be published by his
estate, but the remaining books will be treasured by readers in the years to come. This decision not to publish was not made by
the government, or by any political party. It is purely a business decision.
Is Dr. Seuss a racist? That is a complicated matter. He certainly drew things in ways that can be considered
offensive early in his career.
https://www.businessinsider.com/before-dr-seuss-was-famous-he-drew-these-sad-racist-ads-2012-3#-3
"Wife on vacation, King?”
“Vacation nothing. Nice girl, but I simply had to swap her for this Flit Gun.”
He avidly supported the WWII wartime Japanese internment camps, but later came to view the post-war occupation of Japan as tragic and that is thought to have inspired "Horton Hears a Who".
Like Saul, Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, appears to had his moment
on the road to Damascus. If we don’t honor Paul’s older offensive letters from when he was called Saul, why are we troubled that
older, offensive Dr. Seuss images and words will no longer be published by his estate. There is a difference between honoring the
past, and remembering the past. Let us
honor the person that Dr. Seuss became, and not remember the racist images and words in some
of his early works. Not publishing those
images or words is not cancelling Dr. Seuss. It is honoring him.
Monday, March 1, 2021
Trust
Oriental Sadness
She's been talking to somebody. Who told her lies? She'll never trust in anybody no more. Who told her lies?
If those governing
tell lies, how can we trust them?
The US one dollar bill carries the motto "In God We Trust", but we are also
trusting those who govern, control, society, including those that issue
money. Capitalism assumes that there is
perfect information available to both the buyer and the seller. However this is an average over time. It does
not apply to every transaction. Over
time, those transactions that are unsatisfactory will fail and those that are beneficial
will succeed.
Like all statistics, this does not apply to each individual transaction. Knowing that a
fair coin flip will be heads one half of the time, provides no information on
what the next coin flip will be. Information is unlikely to be available for
every transaction. The buyer and seller have
to trust each other for their transaction to be satisfactory.
It would be great if complete information were available
for every transaction and trust was unnecessary. However, economics shows that users will seek
the lowest possible cost/price. If that
cost/price includes using tainted products, child labor, etc. then users will
seek this cost/price regardless of their own long-term interests. That is why
laws are passed to ensure that harmful outcomes, whether child labor, tainted
or counterfeit products, wages below a minimum, etc. can not be considered. However buyers and sellers still need to trust
that the enactment and enforcement of these laws will be in their best interests. That is why lies matter. If you can’t trust someone about one thing,
then you may not trust them about anything.
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Private Property
Come on all you people
standing around
Our life's too fine to let it
die
We can be together
All your private property is
target for your enemy
And your enemy
Is we
Is private property Godly and public property Godless?
Communism is defined in the dictionary as “a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned, and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.” I happen to be a Marxist myself, but I aspire to follow Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx. Karl Marx also espoused that religion was the opiate of the people and his followers are considered to be Godless. My college chaplain, who hardly could be called Godless, was a Franciscan priest who took a vow of poverty. He believed that all property was communal, public. Thus while Communism might be claimed to be Godless, public property, can also be considered to be property owned by God’s people, and is thus by definition not Godless.
Similarity private property is not Godly. In fact, Christians believe that the “love
of money
(a measure of private property) is the root of all evil”. The Bible might have said that God gave man dominion
over the earth, but that that should be taken to mean all mankind, and not an individual
man.
While I live in private property, I only have to take a few steps outside my door to be on public property, a street. Even those who believe that private property is Godly, do not think that travelling on a public street is a Godless action.
Neither private nor public property is Godless
in its own right. It is how that property
is used, which determines whether it or not it is Godly.
Friday, February 19, 2021
Zero and Infinity
My Hero, Zero
When we talk about zero or infinity, we should understand what is meant by these terms.
Zero is not just the smallest number. It is the smaller than the smallest number that can be imagined. The smallest observable length is the Planck Length, which is 1.62× 10-35 meters. At the speed of light, it would take 3.34 times 10-9 seconds. Zero length is even shorter than this length. Zero time is even shorter than this time.