Showing posts with label intelligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intelligence. Show all posts

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Wal-Mart Kool-aid

To see The Who. To see the Rolling Stones. To get a deal on DVDs. All stupid reasons to kill. And nobody makes that choice. But you push because the person in front of you is moving and you're sure it's not fast enough. And you have no idea that you're all pushing against one person. That you're pushing 4 people whose feet are about to step on a neck. You don't know. And so people die.

But mobs are not responsible for logistics. They can't be so they shouldn't be. They trust that someone else has it all figured out. Someone who has worked their way to the top of the Wal-Mart morning shift.

The stupidest thing about all this is that in our nation full of mindless action, people are in such a rush to go out and spend more money than we have to. Please let me spend. Please. That stupidity is the individual's responsibility. The material gotten in exchange becomes the only measure of success. Material that usually isn't wanted, isn't requested, isn't kept, certainly isn't needed.

My wife likes to defend a lot of her purchases by saying that without them she wouldn't have gotten the great deal. And when I protest against what is valued by that logic she hears me and understands me. She really does. Because we respect and admire each other. And we both think about our values and the actions they lead to.

But society doesn't listen. And mobs eventually act like the stupidest person in the lot. We're sick.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Endorsement Isn't the Point



Powell: I'm also troubled by not what Senator McCain says but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said. Such things as 'Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well the correct answer is he's not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.

But the really right answer is 'What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?' The answer is 'No, that's not America.' Is there something wrong with some seven-year old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?


I would have been pleased to see Powell make only this point even if he said nothing about an an endorsement.

Why is the voice of reason so conspicuous recently?