How Did We Get Here?
The psychological stress caused by cognitive dissonance is something that has caught my attention. How could it not? You don’t have to go far to find people getting upset over things that likely would never have bothered them in the…
Illegitimate Truth?
I wonder how many of us ever consider the concept of legitimacy. Maybe we catch the cover of a magazine at the grocery checkout and think, “Oh, her. She’s beautiful.” Perhaps the image, instead, elicits an eyeroll, because we simply…
The Compartmentalization of Attention
Thanks to the attention-span-killing Internet, it becomes harder to pay anything the attention it deserves. This works well for those who exploit it. What was earthshattering news last week can barely be recalled today. We more easily forget and, to…
Groupthink
Groupthink: A Study in Self Delusion turned out to be rather a different book that what I thought I was in for. I sometimes buy books impetuously, skimming descriptions as quickly as possible, glancing at a review or two, and…
Discernment and Desire
If nothing else, the last year has taught me to be more discerning. I have learned that little is as it seems and nothing that comes out of the mouths of the ruling elite or their propaganda machine is to…
Who Does Your Thinking?
A very short poem from Robert Louis Stevenson ran through my mind this morning: The world is so full of a number of things,I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings. Now, I can’t personally vouch for the…
Who Wanted It First?
Yesterday, I tried to put my finger on what separates me from so many people I encounter. I tossed around one notion after another, but none felt quite right until I hit upon the word “quest.” Yet even that misses…
Sifting and Sorting the Pretty and the Beautiful
I have got to get some semblance of a writing routine wedged into my days. So, here I sit, with headphones plugged into some of the classical music offerings from Halidon on Youtube. Luke shares my studio. At the moment,…
My Own Thing
How often do I change my mind, my outlook, my convictions? Yes, my convictions. If I don’t blindly hold onto a belief my entire life, it doesn’t mean that I am a moral relativist, and if I don’t keep up…
Reality Recognition
One of the big takeaways for me when I read Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae was the notion, common throughout all time, that women are akin to nature/earth/chaos (cyclical and unpredictable) and men are akin to civilization/sky/culture (linear progression and stability).…
My Thoughts
My computer (owned for less than two months, mind you) is now telling me it does not like the browser I’ve chosen for cruising the Internet. I understand that the monopolizing tyrants of Microsoft would rather have me use one…
