Sense & Nonsense
The news media feed us a daily diet of impending doom. Bankrupt nations, drought or flood, budget deficits, debt limits, murderous mothers, corrupt politicians, climate change, epidemics, earthquakes, pirates, insane dictators, bankers run amok - the list is endless and changes every day. Did you ever get news that a single one of these problems has been solved?
No, they haven't been solved, they have simply been passed over in favor of newer, more exciting problems or more strident descriptions of the old ones.
Even personal conversation gravitates to the problems of the week. Lamentations, doom and gloom become a part of our daily life. But many of the problems we worry about are beyond our power to solve. We may fall into cynicism (see rule 7 below), anger or depression depending on our personal tendency.
It is amazing how fast a gripe session ends when someone asks, "What are you doing about it"?
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- Created: 18 March 2010
Part of the problem facing America is widespread disagreement on what is ethical and what is unethical. The following offers a good working definition of ethics and some limited discussion of where the ideas came from. I did not write it, I found it on the internet somewhere. It the author will let me know, I will attribute credit.
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Ethics, principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called morals, and the study of such principles, sometimes called moral philosophy. This article primarily concerns ethics in the second sense in Western civilization, although every culture has developed an ethic of its own.
In the historical development of ethics, three principal standards of conduct have been proposed as the highest good: happiness or pleasure; duty, virtue, or obligation; and perfection, the fullest harmonious development of human potential.
Three distinct authorities invoked for good conduct include the will of a deity, the pattern of nature, or the rule of reason. When the will of a deity is the authority, obedience to divine commandments is the accepted standard of conduct. If the pattern of nature is the authority, conformity to the qualities attributed to human nature is the standard. When reason rules, behavior is expected to result from rational thought.
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- Created: 20 February 2010
This essay was written by Louis Beam in 1983 and published at that time. It was republished in 1992. It is presented here with Mr. Beam's explicit consent.
Louis Beam, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in Vietnam, was tried for sedition (acquitted in 1988) for his outspoken criticism of his own government's abuse of power. During the Clinton years he was again in the news pointing out the abuses of power by Attorney General Janet Reno at Waco and Ruby Ridge. He doesn't lead a placid life.
I would add that maybe the Tea Party movement doesn't need a leader. So far, it looks a lot like normal Americans doing what they think is right without any big shot telling them just what to think and do.
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- Created: 20 February 2010
The fundamental problem facing the United States of America today concerns the relationship between freedom and responsibility - between entitlement and obligation.
These are old questions, dating back at least to the seventeenth century when Thomas Hobbes and John Locke began to question whether human beings belonged to the church, to the state, to themselves or some combination of the three.
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- Created: 17 September 2001
Interesting ... Maybe Useful Article Count: 6
Things you might not know that may or may not matter.
Collapse Experiences Article Count: 4
Personal stories and pictures of social collapse in the United States of America, Argentina, Russia, and Chile.
About Sense & Nonsense Article Count: 5
The Who, What and Why of Sense & Nonsense
Greek Report Article Count: 1
Real- time account from a typical Greek citizen as Greece collapsed during 2011 and 2012.
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