Seeds of Wisdom: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Golden Rule
Please note: I may not write often, but I make up for it in length <g>
Today's topic: Moral Cloudiness
In reading Shelley aka Burningbird's blog, as I do most days, I came upon this entry. Reading it, and the linked articles - (here, here and here) stirred up some thoughts that have been drifting around in my mind lately.
Shelley's blog entry points to arguments about "moral clarity." What is it? And is it simplistic or complex? I contend that it only exists in the minds of those who claim to possess it. I think it is a myth conjured up by those who need justification for their actions - no matter what those actions are.
IMO, the only morality that counts is the one stated above - Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. If you are doing anything else - treating anyone in some other manner, be they friend or foe - you have no claim to righteousness. Doesn't matter who did what to whom first. Doesn't matter who stands on the side of "right" - whatever that may be.
So where does that leave us common ordinary folk who give in sometimes to urges for revenge, to a desire to play the hero or the White Knight, to a need to convert everyone else to our point of view?
Lets face folks; we all want to be right. We all want to play on the winning team. I suspect that it's written in the DNA code of every human being. No one wants to be a loser - even the losers. And no one truly believes they are wrong unless they have come to see the light of another "right." So how do we apply the Golden Rule when the issues get cloudy? How do we let go of our burning need to be right?
Don't look at me. I don't have the answers. Sitting on the fence as I often do, I see both sides of nearly every story. From my vantage in the Treetop, I see the whole forest spread out before me, but I can't always see the answers. I have only questions, and I think asking questions is good. I think asking questions is more important than being right - but I could be wrong. <g>
I look again at that need we all seem to feel to be right - to play on the winning team. Take politics for instance. Be you Democrat, or Republican, right wing or left wing, Libertarian or Authoritarian or even independent - whatever position you espouse, you probably believe that your opinion is the only right-minded way of thinking. The others are all idiots, or mislead, or wacky.
Organized religion is the worst of all, IMO.
I was raised Roman Catholic. In that religion, believing that other religions are equal, or even worth looking into is a sin of "indifferentism." That's what we were taught. Don't eat that fruit - you might learn something that we think you're better off not knowing.
Personally, I don't understand how knowledge can be bad. Of course, knowledge makes you think, and most religious leaders would rather that their followers just blindly accept. They call it faith.
Knowledge leads you to ask more questions and if you question, if you seek the truth - you might just find it. I don't think they want that - it threatens their position on a loftier plane.
And most religions are that way. The leaders declare their religion is the one true way to righteousness and some kind of blissful reward in another life. Most religions - whether they admit it or not - look down on those who do not subscribe to the exact same system of belief.
So I ask you - how do you know you are right and everyone else is wrong? And is it really so important?
I think a more important issue to examine is where do you draw the line when one person's right to exist or to "pursue happiness" conflicts with another person's right to do the same.
I offer a few examples ?
You're in a movie theater or a sports arena. There are two armrests - one on either side of your seat. Which one is yours, and which one belongs to the person sitting next to you? I have pondered this question whenever I find myself sitting between two people who have both taken possession of the one on either side of me - leaving me with none.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" dictates that you look around you and make sure that you are not hogging two armrests. Everyone lean to the right or the left - but not both at the same time.
I had a debate recently with a friend of mine. I value freedom over safety. I find all of these post 9/11 searches an affront to my personal freedom. I find the idea of identity cards, and having the government or any other entity tracking my every movement to be very scary indeed.
My friend believes that safety is more important and he, like so many others these days, is willing to surrender freedoms to attain it.
I claim that intrusive searches - beyond a simple pass through a metal detector - at an airport violates my right to protection against illegal search and seizure. I'm willing to allow a reasonable limitation - like the metal detector - but I'm not willing to go much beyond that.
My friend claims that my demanding of my rights violates his right to what he values most - his safety. I claim that living life is a risk. You could get hit by bus while crossing the street. You could slip on rug and break your neck. You could get on the same plane as a terrorist no matter what safety precautions are put in place, short of requiring everyone to travel naked, with no luggage and no in-flight amenities that might be turned into weapons.
So where do reasonable people draw the line? How do I keep my right to freedom while my friend retains his right to safety? In this case, our Golden Rule dictates that I give up my quest for freedom to allow him to have safety, but he must also give up his safety so I can have my freedom. Again - where do you draw the line?
We have smoking and non-smoking sections in restaurants. Perhaps we need safe flights and free flights to meet the needs of all.
To live free requires a large measure of trust that others will adhere to the Golden Rule. I think that deep down most people abide by it. We just have to take our chances or hide deep in a remote cave for the rest of our lives.
Following this train of thought, I come to the question of the Middle East conflict, and the current Blogverse discussion of the incident at SFSU.
The Israeli supporters claim that Israel is right, and that their version of the SFSU incident is the correct one. The Palestinian supporters claim that the Palestinians are right, and that their version of the SFSU incident is the correct one. I support the truth, and claim that it lies somewhere in the middle.
Read both sides with an open mind - here and here. Eliminate the rhetoric from both sides. Eliminate the emotion from both sides. Look at the middle, and see if you can find the truth. It's there somewhere; I'm just not quite sure where it is.
The situation in the Middle East is a similar quandary. There are a number of realities in this situation that no one on either side seems want to accept.
Reality number one: Israel and the Jewish people are not going to go away. The Arab world and any other anti-Israel or anti-Jewish thinking people just have to accept that. They can try to destroy either or both, but anyone who does will either fail, or take the rest of the world down in the attempt.
Reality number two: The issue of the "occupied territories." I shake my head in wonder each time I hear someone say that Israel should withdraw from them. Why?
Should the non-indigenous people living in the US - or Canada too for that matter - withdraw from this land that we fought many nations - including the indigenous people - to acquire?
Should those living in England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland go back to wherever their Celtic or Norse ancestors lived before they invaded that land?
Should the French move out of the Alsace Lorraine region?
I could go on forever and way back into history. Whether it is right or wrong - to the victor belong the spoils - is a fact of life. A reality if you will.
In its brief history, sometimes Israel has been the aggressor, but more often they have been attacked. They won the battles and claimed the land. Unless we change the rules for everyone else - they get to keep it.
Reality number three: The issue of the Palestinian people. Where do they go? How do they live their lives as we all desire to live our lives. Are they less entitled because they have been disenfranchised by what was basically a coin toss by the British when they pulled out of Palestine/Israel in 1948?
If I recall my history correctly, the present day Palestinians are decedents of the Philistines who came to the land that is now Israel from somewhere in the Aegean region during the Late Bronze Age. So where do they belong? Who will take them in? And are they entitled to their own country?
Seems to me that throughout history, if your people want their own country they have to fight for it. Fight to keep it, or fight to take it away from someone else. That's what the Palestinians claim to be doing.
IMO - they are fighting a losing battle if they hope to take the land of Israel back. And they are going about it in a completely wrong way. They need to examine their methods.
They have no armies, no tanks, no airplanes, so for some bizarre reason they think they will win if they blow themselves up in the middle of a group of civilians who may or may not agree with their mission. They blow themselves up, taking many innocent bystanders with them. This makes no sense. It is definitely not the way to win friends and influence people.
They need a leader who will lead, not a leader who will merely allow or egg on suicide bombers. If they want to fight the Israelis and win others to the help them in their plight, they need to think in military terms. Killing civilians accomplishes nothing but making the other side more angry and solidifying their resolution. If you're going to blow something up, why not pick a tank or a fortification of some sort. Soldiers fight soldiers not civilians. Doesn't matter whether or not you wear a uniform or carry a flag, you go after soldiers - not civilians. There has to be some code of ethics no matter what kind of battle you are fighting.
So again - are they entitled to their own country? I have no answer to that question, but I do think they are entitled to live their lives in peace, to pursue happiness in peace. I also think that they are not going to find that in the land that at this moment in history belongs to the Israelis.
I don't think these two peoples can coexist. I don't think the Israelis will ever accept having Palestinians - or anyone who hates them living in their midst. History has taught them that this is not a workable solution. Nor do I think that the Palestinians could ever accept living in a country with a Jewish government.
So how do we resolve all these problems?
I think in the end, John Lennon had the answer - Imagine.
Seeds of Wisdom: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." --Robert Frost
This is just going to be a mish-mash of general stuff today. I have no coherent thoughts due to allergy season. It's a time of year I can barely keep my brain functioning. I try to avoid allergy medications because they make me drowsy and/or give me nose bleeds (more information than you wanted, I'm sure.)
To my fellow tree-related allergy sufferers, I recommend, Nasalcrom. Keeps me from getting all sneezy and totally stuffed up without feeling drowsy. It does give me a headache and the aforementioned nose bleeds though.
I read that there are more and more people suffering from tree-related allergies these days. I also read that one of the reasons is that the people responsible for planting trees in our tows, have taken to planting mostly male trees. It seems the female trees make a mess - what with their flower blossoms, and seed pods (think polly noses). The male trees, being typically male, do not directly produce tree offspring. They do however release the pollen that fertilizes the female trees. It is the pollen that irritates. Typical male behavior <g>. Thus ends the biology lesson for the day.
Everybody's doin' it, doin' it, doin' it .... writing about blogging that is. Check out the latest article on blogging at Alternet.
AlterNet.org is a project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and alternative journalism. (from their "About" page) I check it out on a regular basis. Interesting stuff to be found there.
Speaking of interesting stuff ... here are a few more goodies from the Evolt chat list.
The Virtual Solar System is a really neat depiction of the solar system done on a web page. Check it out.
Also check out the Micro$oft commercial (spoof) at Idleworm. Some really fun games and movies can be found at this site.
In the "annoying songs you can't get out of your head" department. Check out the winner of the Star Wars fan films - Christmas Tauntauns. I saw this the other night on the Sci-fi channel and have been humming it ever since.
Seeds of Wisdom: "Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young." --W. Somerset Maugham
I intended From the Treetop to be a deep philsophical place, but often I don't have anything deep or philosophical to say - or I don't have time to really do justice to my more serious thoughts, so I'm thinking of doing a spin off blog where I can put my more whimsical thoughts and fun stuff. That sort of entry doesn't seem to fit in here. Since I haven't had time to really set any new blog up - watch out for the boom, because we're coming about on a completely different tack here today.
I recently got a new refrigerator - one in a series of major appliances we've had to replace because ours are all breaking down at the same time. I suppose a new refrigerator is not all that exciting, but I've enjoyed the new features and extra space (the old one was very small).
After the delivery men left, I went outside to put some stuff in the trash, and I noticed the large box they had left standing in the corner of the driveway. The sight of that box immediately sucked me into a flashback.
I can't remember how old I was, when my parents went through a similar bout of buying new appliances, but I was probably around 7 or 8. I thought it was wonderful! I could have cared less about the new frig or the washing machine with the latest gizmos, all I wanted was the box. I'd plead with my parents not to throw it away. My father, who nurtured my budding imagination from the time it first appeared, gave in easily and the box was mine. All mine!
A few cuts with a knife (under parental supervision, of course. Actually, I was the supervisor/designer and my father was the wielder of the knife) and some crayon work instantly transformed the box into a vehicle for my fertile imagination. It was a house and a fort and a castle, or sometimes a submarine. Stood on its end, it was a rocket ship blasting me off to explore outer space - where no box or kid had gone before! It was even a washing machine and I was the clothes (what can I say - I was a strange kid!)
I'm sorry I never thought of using my multi use boxes for a "duplicator" or a "transmogrifier" like Calvin in Calvin and Hobbs. Those would have been very cool to have!
Standing before this new box as an adult, I wished I was a child again with a brand new appliance box to treasure and to take me on wonderful adventures. I thought seriously about asking my husband not to throw it out with the recyclables. But as I gazed on the box with a strong yearning, I realized that my adult-sized body would require a much larger box. (I can hear the Taco Bell dog, now - "I think I need a bigger box!"). Hmmm - what can I buy that comes in a much bigger box?
Seeds of Wisdom: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." --Edmund Burke
Meryl Yourish posted this entry in her Blog. It's about a near riot at SFSU after a Peace In The Middle East Rally which was organized by some Jewish students. Meryl has asked her fellow bloggers to link to this entry in the hope that word will spread as it usually does through out blogdom.
In my last entry, I wrote that we must use extreme caution that we don't abuse this power, that bloggers have, to push things to the top rank in Google. I think this is an example of when the use of this power is not only acceptable, but necessary.
In Germany during the 1930s good people allowed evil to flourish because they didn't speak up. In Kew Gardens, NY in 1964 good people allowed the murder of Kitty Genovese because they chose to do nothing. Throughout US, too often people have been attacked and killed because of race, religion and sexual preference because good people knew and did nothing to stop it.
We must not be afraid to take a stand. Preferably, we must do it for noble reasons, but if we can't muster up a noble reason, we should at least do it because when they finally come for us, there might not be anyone left to object. Think about it.
Seeds of Wisdom: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." --John Emerich Edward Dalberg, 1st Baron Acton
In Shelley Powers' last entry ( also here), she writes about the ethics of weblogging. Knowing the effect of many bloggers linking to one story or to one site can have on that site's rank on Google, Shelley asks, "How is this not dangerous?"
In and of itself, a group of bloggers choosing to promote an idea, or a cause, or even just a bit of fun is not dangerous. It's neither inherently ethical, nor inherently unethical. What is dangerous is the power that ensues. There is power in numbers. We've seen this time in and time out. How that power is used is the key to the ethics.
Power has a way of getting out of the control of even the most well-intentioned people. Power does indeed tend to corrupt, and possessing power can become very addicting.
I offer a seemingly innocent example.
When I was in high school, my history class got into a discussion about mob rule and mass hysteria. My teacher claimed that no matter how strong willed you are, no matter how independent you may think you are, you can get caught up by the collective spirit of a mob. We didn't believe her. With the passion of youth we clung to our ideals.
She suggested we do a little experiment. At the next assembly we were to sit in different parts of the auditorium. No matter who the speaker was; no matter what the subject, at the end each member of our class would stand up and applaud. She told us that within minutes we would have the entire audience up on it's collective feet in a rousing standing ovation.
"Yeah, right," we thought, "We'll look like fools and everyone will laugh." But we agreed to try.
The assembly was about some dry, rather uninteresting topic, but at the end we stood. We applauded and soon, just as our teacher had predicted, everyone was on their feet applauding along with us. We were impressed, but not entirely convinced.
We tried it again and it worked - again. No one else even suspected what we were up to. We had the power. We were euphoric with the feeling that we could bring our classmates to their feet. We were the leaders; they were the sheep.
For the next couple of weeks, wherever we went, standing ovations followed, until our teacher put her foot down. There were to be no more standing ovations.
To this day, I remember the heady feeling that power gave us. And to this day, I can remember how hard it was to stop. How hard it was not to give into the urge to try it one more time.
We learned many lessons during that time about power, and abuse of power, and how easy it is to influence a crowd of well-meaning people.
I think most of us learned to recognize the effects of mob psychology and mass hysteria. Over the years, I've heard charismatic speakers and felt the many minds of an audience merge into one. Fortunately, none of these masses were urged to do wrong, and none of them got out of control, but I knew that they could. I knew first hand how easy it was. That kind of power is indeed very dangerous.
The question then becomes, should we ever use it. I think the answer is yes, but like anything dangerous, it must be used with extreme caution. Bloggers working together can have a lot of power and this is not necessarily bad. We must always question our motives, however, and make sure we don't surrender to the Dark Side of that power.
Seeds of Wisdom: "Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop-offs at tedium and counter productivity." --Erma Bombeck
I'm with Erma on this one folks. I don't want it written on my tombstone, "She kept a tidy house." I'd much rather they write, "She made web sites," or "She Blogged," or "She created," or "She read," or "She learned neat stuff," or"She saw things from a different perspective." Of course, I really don't have to worry that anyone who has seen my house will write "She kept a tidy house." Far from it. I'll never win the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." And I'm quite sure that one sight of my house would send Martha Stewart running off to a mountain top to pray.
I don't consider myself a slob. My house isn't messy because I'm too lazy to do anything about it. I'd just rather be doing other things. Housework is low on my priority list. I try to keep dirt at bay, but I don't bother the dust; the dust doesn't bother me. My piles of stuff, have piles of stuff. And I tend to leave things wherever I last used them, because I've moved on to something else.
So I have to say that this bizarre urge I've been having lately to put things in their place, organize and generally clean up strikes has me wondering what's up.
It started with the new stock pot I bought (Anolon Classic series, if you're interested. Normally, I would have just pushed aside some other stuff to fit it into a cabinet, or simply left it sitting on the stove, but instead, I tore apart an entire cabinet and rearranged it.
We're having a drought here in north Jersey, so I've been really trying to conserve water. My usual method of washing dishes (after there is no more room to put any in the sink, of course) is to run water in the sink while I soap and rinse without stoppering the sink. Can't do that in good conscience with our reservoirs at less than half full, so I bought a small basin. I put the dishes in there with a little water, then wash them soon after like I would if I had filled the whole sink. So the end result is that I've been washing dishes 3 and 4 times a day. Not like me at all.
We got a new refrigerator delivered yesterday. I spent all morning cleaning out where the old one was. I finished before the delivery men arrived so I moved on to the entry hall that goes from the back door to the kitchen. I also tore apart my microwave cart - which got a good scrubbing - and I had the strongest urge to tackle the cabinet over the refrigerator as well. I didn't, but only because I'd mostly run out of time. I think I'm sick. There's something wrong. This isn't like me at all. I didn't even sit down to read my e-mail until late afternoon.
Perhaps, my husband has been playing subliminal tapes while I sleep. Perhaps, he's studied hypnosis. Or maybe it's something in the water. Some plot to domesticate all women who'd rather be out conquering the world rather than conquering dust bunnies. I don't know. I just know it's weird.
Seeds of Wisdom: "Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later." --Mary Bly
I'm baaaaack. Did you miss me?
As usual I am doing too many things at once. I've been helping a local reporter set up a blog. He was fired by our local "Shopper" paper for digging too deeply into local politics. These little "Shopper" papers - the only source of local news in many cases - have been gobbled up recently by a regional media giant. I'm not naming names because I don't want to be sued. They have been leaning quite heavily on anyone who dares to speak out against them by unleashing their mega-crew of lawyers.
I see a disturbing trend here with big company bullies ruling the playground and running things the way they see fit. A lawyer I know told me that an opposing lawyer recently told him. "I know my client hasn't got a legitimate complaint, but we'll have your client's kid's college fund, his life savings and his house before weeven get to court."
A sad state of affairs indeed! If you want to read about one reporter's struggle to unearth the truth, go here.
I've also been trying to get Moveable Type set up on my own web space, since Blogspot is down so frequently. I know I can host a Blogger blog on my own space, but I figure "in for a penny, in for a pound," - I'll try to tame the wiley CGI application (sorry if any non-tech people are bored by this, but it's been occupying much of my mind and time lately).
The web host where I have cyber-kat.com started out as a small fish - a nice local company. They got eaten by a larger fish, which in turn got eaten by a very large fish (quite possibly a whale.). The large fish is focused on large businesses, naturally, so small guppies like myself hardly make a ripple that they'd notice.
They prefer their customers to use "trouble tickets" when they need tech help, even if you're not having trouble. It took me 2 trouble tickets (ignored), three emails and two phone calls just to find out what version of Perl they were running. The techs that handle the email inquiries had no clue what I wanted, so they "escalated" (bizarre choice of word, IMO) my inquiry to their administrators. I got an email from the administrator asking me to call. I did.
He asked what I wanted. I told him, "just what it says in my email - I need to know what version of Perl you're running."
"You don't need us to do anything?" he asked.
"Just answer my question," I replied.
He didn't know what version of Perl they were running, but promised to find out and get back to me. He did, but the whole process took several days.
As did my attempt to get them to install db_file and my inquiry into whether they support cgiwrap or suexec. In each case I had to provide more information because they didn't understand what I wanted.
I am now attempting to get them to change permissions for the db directory. We have exchanged several emails (I've given up on the "trouble tickets"), and two faxes. Such fun!
Anyone want to take bets on whether I get MT installed before my "lease" runs out in October <g>
The other thing that has been occupying my time of late is my new PC - 1.8 gig Pentium 4, Win2000 and new flat screen monitor - sweet! I love getting a new computer, but I hate dealing with reloading software, getting all my settings and customizations back in place.
So that's what I've been up to.