The American writer Rob Henderson coined the term 'Luxury beliefs'.
Essentially, 'Luxury beliefs' are ideas that confer status on the wealthy or privileged while negatively impacting less affluent members of society who are less insulated from the consequences. Examples include supporting policies like "defund the police" from a position of privilege where one isn't directly affected by the resulting increase in crime, or advocating that marriage and the nuclear family are outdated, despite...
The famous curmudgeon H. L. Mencken once quipped that a person could never go bankrupt underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
On a similar note, I don't think a person could never go bankrupt overestimating the credulity of the American public.
Nietzsche wrote about the 'Will to Power'.
I think an interesting topic might be the 'Will to Believe'.
People appear to have a strong desire and need to believe in something.
I certainly do, but not being highly credulous myself, I'm...
Perhaps you, like I, have had someone say something like 'I lied' when what they have done instead is to have made a mistake.
This is sloppy language at its best.
In order for a statement to be a lie, the person making it must know or believe that it is untrue.
It is still a lie if the person thinks it is untrue, but it really is true.
Lying is all about intention.
'Oh! What a tangled web we weave
when once we practice to deceive.'
The idea that the universe is meaningless troubles some people for reasons which elude me.
If there were a meaning to the universe and our place in it, then it seems to me that a script has been laid out for us to follow and comply with.
Since the universe is meaningless however, you and I have an empty canvas upon which we can paint our own meaning.
If that isn't freedom, I don't know what is.
The greatest problem with dependency is that it is very easy to become dependent, but far from easy to break free from dependency once one has become dependent.
It is wise to avoid as many dependencies as is humanly possible. The withdrawal, like that of an alcoholic can be extremely painful if not fatal.
It has been noted that many who claim their boss is stupid would be out of a job if he were any more intelligent.
Likewise, many who decry government inefficiency fail to realize that it is only government's inefficiency which prevents it from inflicting more pain and injury upon us.
What is a person to make of those who refuse to hold the criminal elements of their society accountable?
Especially when their doing so harms innocent people. Recall 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska who was fatally stabbed on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The perpetrator Decarlos Brown, 34, was arrested shortly after the unprovoked attack and has been charged with murder. This person had been arrested and released 7 times before.
I am of the opinion that those...
As it has been noted, 'You are entitled to your opinions but not to your facts.
Facts are hard things, particularly when they contravene one's preferred viewpoint.
There are public figures, whom i will not name here, who claim that it is not a crime to enter the country illegally. Does that mean that illegal doesn't mean illegal?
A case can of course be made that entering the country without permission should not be a crime, but that is no argument against the fact that it currently clearly is a...
As the stupid person is more dangerous than the bad person, so the bullshitter is more dangerous than the liar.
The reason is that while the liar opposes the truth, the bullshitter simply has no regard for truth whatsoever.
For more on the topic of stupidity please see my book entitled 'Stupidity; 'The Enemy of the Good' which is available here: theotherdavidallen.com
If you're like me you have no doubt heard or seen in print the phrase, 'Too much democracy'.
What can that possibly mean?
The first hint comes from the fact that this phrase is almost exclusively used by those on the left.
I would proffer this as an explanation. 'When things don't go the way the lefties want, they blame it on too much democracy'
The phrase is completely ludicrous, but then, consider the source.
Why would you expect anything else?
Marc Anthony upon hearing that his beloved Cleopatra had committed suicide stabbed himself in the abdomen, only to learn that the account of her suicide was simply a rumor and probably spread by Cleopatra herself. He died in her arms, the victim of misinformation.
I am of the opinion that no person should be awarded a medical license who has not studied philosophy for at least two academic years and had better than passing grades.
For the philosopher Thomas Kuhn, scientific hypotheses are shaped and limited by the worldview, or paradigm, within which scientists operate. Most scientists are as blind to the paradigm as fish to water, and quite unable to see through it, let alone beyond it.
Hat tip to Neel Burton
It is unnecessary to attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by negligence, incompetence or stupidity.
‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’ Albert Einstein
I suggest adopting the later point of view.
Did you know that your sense of smell brings back the most vivid memories?
This is because The olfactory bulb has direct connections to the amygdala and hippocampus, which are heavily involved in memory and emotion. These three structures—the olfactory bulb, the amygdala, and the hippocampus—form part of the limbic system, a ring of phylogenetically primitive cortex that is the seat of memory, emotion, and motivation.
The Fascists were perhaps the first to recognize the fact that the state needn't own the means of production to control them.
This could be accomplished just as easily and with less cost through taxation and regulation.
The US has been moving in this direction for some time now.
Another way to think of it is 'Corporatism'. This is when the State and big business become bed mates.
Almost all legislation affecting major corporations, and especially regulations is written by lobbyists working for...
I wrote a book entitled 'Man's Search for Certainty' available on Amazon.
In the book I attempted to explain why a sense of certainty is so important to so many and often leads them to believe the factually unsupportable in an attempt to alleviate the anxiety uncertainty causes them.
This is one of the reasons religion has been so devoutly embraced in spite of its bloody history, inconsistencies and lack of evidence.
I understand this urge to remove all ambiguity, but consider it both a mistake...
It seems to me that many people do not really understand the idea of love. I wrote a book with that as the title, 'Understanding the Idea of Love'. You can find it here theotherdavidallen.com
Many people think that the emotions associated with love are love itself.
Essentially, love means to value something very highly.
I value the people I love very highly.
Those I do not value highly, I do not love. It really is that simple.
Also, in order to love someone, I must respect them since respect is...
It was called to my attention earlier today that the English language has a word for children without parents (orphans) and people who lose their spouse (widows or widowers) but no word for parents who lose a child.
I can conceive of no good reason why this should be the case.
I'm puzzled.