Monthly Archives: May 2010

One of Frederick Douglass’s most poignant observations is that ingratitude can be a form of evil. In a country, such as the United States, where people seem to be far more interested in exercising freedom in the pursuit of ridiculous ends rather than aiming to live a meaningful life, we might just find a moment to stop and be grateful to those who have served in the military of the United States as well as those who are serving so that we might continue to have the freedom to live with the reckless abandonment to which we have become so very much accustomed. Continue reading →

Just as human beings are better-off having the capacity to speak a language, but must be taught a given language in order to speak that language, I am suggesting that there is a parallel with empathy. Human beings are better off learning the basic forms of day-to-day empathy that hold in the culture in which they are raise.

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It is manifestly clear that Ms. Gabriella Nagy is more distraught over having been caught than she is over having had the affair. It is just so much nonsense that her concern is to inform the world about the carelessness of the cell provider Rogers Wireless. Carelessness on the part of Rogers Wireless would have been something like the following: She opens up a separate account with them and the company mistakenly includes that separate account with the other phone bills for the family. That is a mistake. And we can see how a company which makes that mistake is liable to damages even in the absence of a private marital affair on the side. All that it would take is that the separate account is for private legal work. Owing to her own thoughtlessness, she did not get personal cell phone for her affair. And the simple truth of the matter is that thoughtfulness left her vulnerable and she, alas, is too wicked a person to own that moral reality of her life. Continue reading →

While I am glad, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, that you will changing the rules of Facebook so as to be more respectful of the privacy of the individuals who sign on to Facebook when privacy on the social network sight actually meant something, I am profoundly saddened by the reality that in point of fact you did not have enough respect for your fellow human beings to maintain the boundaries of privacy that were in place when they signed on or, in any case, to give them ample warning that there would be significantly less privacy on Facebook. There is a façon de parler that applies to this kind of behavior: It is called being a decent human being. Continue reading →

We typically get together as merely a form of friendship and then often enough that casual interaction transforms into a deeply affirming moment of friendship. Telephone conversations used to be just like that. Indeed, that is precisely what made them so wonderful. Alas, the backdrop for such meaningful conversations was the absence of telephone interruptus, just as in the typical case face-to-face conversations are not subject to interruption at any given moment.
Human flourishing is tied to meaningful conversation. Thanks to technology and the lack of self-discipline, we are having far fewer conversations. It is no surprise, then, that for all the knowledge that we have or to which we have access, human flourishing is not on an ever increasing positive trajectory. We very badly need the busy-signal once again. That simple annoyance to the caller can mightily contribute to the flourishing of two people engaged in a telephone conversation.
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There is something about the outcome of Seltzer’s research that does not seem quite right. At the very outset evolutionary theory privileges touch above mere words in the development of the human infant. This follows from the fact that no new-born infant can comprehend a language. Children feel loved by their parents long before they can understand the words “I love you”; and this is owing to the non-verbal behavior that children experience from their parents. Then, when I think of all the many ways in which adult human beings find a hug deeply affirming and/or supportive, it is next to impossible for me to imagine that for stressed girls from 7-12 years of age, words from mom are just as comforting as a hug from mom. Continue reading →

Whilst I in general rather critical of Pope Benedict, he is clearly right on target on pointing out that the Catholic Church has, and in a most fundamental respect, been its own worst enemy in the cooperative silence it displayed towards pedophilia. To be sure, it would be absolutely wonderful if things were otherwise. The reality, however, is that things were far from being otherwise. The defense of ebonics was none other than unwarranted effort on th part of American blacks to excuse blacks in the United States from not mastering the English language. And this is not unlike the morally morbid behavior on the part of the Catholic Church to excuse priests from their morally insufferable pedophiliac behavior.In both cases, we have the enemy within. Continue reading →

I hold that we can lead a meaningful life only insofar as we are the author of our lives. And it is not possible to be the author of our lives if we become the sort of creatures who have tremendous propensity to satisfy our impulses immediately. The best available evidence suggests that the enormous availability of technology is increasingly giving rise to just that propensity. Adults, who wants had self-discipline, are continually turning up empty with respect to self-discipline; and many children will never know it. We surely findable objectionable the idea that human beings should be subservient to other human beings. Not much changes in terms of things being objectionable if human beings become subservient to technology instead, as will surely happen given the widespread absence of self-discipline in the face of technology on the part of human beings. Continue reading →

I hold the following very, very simple view—a view which is born of the adage that there is a time and a place for everything: elementary schools and high schools should be about teaching students the basic necessities in life. First priority has to be teaching students how to read and write and do basic arithmetic. Learning these skills is far more important than promoting cultural awareness. And it is shame that the principal of Live Oak High School is not motivated to privilege these intellectual excellences over cultural awareness. Cultural awareness, as such, has never made anyone a good parent or paid a bill. Thus, on my view, the principal is a failure. Continue reading →

Do we, the denizens of Liberal Democracy, have the courage to shape Islam just as radical Islamists would seem to have the courage to shape us? A deep and marvelous saying of Western Culture, attributed to William Shakespeare, is that “Life is not worth living unless one has something worth dying for”. The irony of ironies would seem to be that radical Islam has a better grasped of this truth than denizens of Western Democracy. We continually want more and more all the while supposing that less and less should be demanded of us. Continue reading →