For those who missed it, my new ink is displayed in yesterday's journal!
So, I think I'm really scraping the bottom of the employment barrel now. I have a thing at UPS tomorrow. I could be a package handler! Yay!
That sounds kind of perverse. "Package handler." I can see it now, people asking me, "Ah, so you're a gay pornographer?"
All right, all right - so I'm going on about silly things. I haven't quite woken up yet. I need nicotine in order to become coherent. Until then I just don't make much sense.
I do actually have something worthwhile to write about this morning; I must rant about it. But I'll get to it in a little while.
__________
I'm back now, and a little more coherent. The rant, then.
Today's subject is post-modernist, self-righteous, pseudo-intellectual hackism. This is a term I have coined for a certain kind of super-liberal.
Now, I am an advocate of many liberal ideals - equality, human and animal rights, freedom of speech, and the rest. My issue with the PMSRPI crowd is that they also claim to advocate these ideals, but in reality only seek to replace the current system of various injustices with their own, and with themselves in power.
A wonderful example of this type may be found in Stephenson's Cryptonomicon in the form of the ex-girlfriend and her colleagues. As I attended a private liberal arts school, I also encountered many there. They make me angry. Even more angry than I get at the characters in an Ayn Rand book.
Here's why.
I believe censorship is wrong, no matter which side of the political spectrum uses it. However, many conservatives will at least come right out and say they're censoring things. The PMSRPI will clamor for freedom of speech - but only as long as they agree with what is being said. I have always loathed hypocrisy.
Also, like a religious fundamentalist, they often have no argument other than that based on their own self-righteousness. That is, "I believe I am right, and that is enough. Everyone else had better agree with me." I don't take this sort of thing from fundamentalists, and I won't take it from anyone else, no matter what their beliefs. It makes bad beliefs worse, and it trivializes good beliefs.
There's also something idealistic about the whole thing that doesn't sit well with me. As a realist, I've accepted that there are bad, evil things in the world. I deal in "what is." I have difficulty with those who deal exclusively in "what I think it should be." It is all right to a point, but some carry it too far, and their beliefs have absolutely no basis in reality, nor do they have any hope of ever being realized.
I have already mentioned how they wish to replace the current injustices in the world with their own. Such is often the case with revolutions.
I just want to be left alone.
I'm probably not doing the best job at explaining it all, and I'll likely offend a great number of people. In my defense, it is not my intent to attack all liberals, but only those extremists who have lost rationality and embrace hypocrisy. This should also not be construed as my being a conservative. I am not.
All right, that's it for today. Feel free to tear into me; in part, I'm thinking aloud, and as such I welcome argument.
Have a great day!
So, I think I'm really scraping the bottom of the employment barrel now. I have a thing at UPS tomorrow. I could be a package handler! Yay!
That sounds kind of perverse. "Package handler." I can see it now, people asking me, "Ah, so you're a gay pornographer?"
All right, all right - so I'm going on about silly things. I haven't quite woken up yet. I need nicotine in order to become coherent. Until then I just don't make much sense.
I do actually have something worthwhile to write about this morning; I must rant about it. But I'll get to it in a little while.
__________
I'm back now, and a little more coherent. The rant, then.
Today's subject is post-modernist, self-righteous, pseudo-intellectual hackism. This is a term I have coined for a certain kind of super-liberal.
Now, I am an advocate of many liberal ideals - equality, human and animal rights, freedom of speech, and the rest. My issue with the PMSRPI crowd is that they also claim to advocate these ideals, but in reality only seek to replace the current system of various injustices with their own, and with themselves in power.
A wonderful example of this type may be found in Stephenson's Cryptonomicon in the form of the ex-girlfriend and her colleagues. As I attended a private liberal arts school, I also encountered many there. They make me angry. Even more angry than I get at the characters in an Ayn Rand book.
Here's why.
I believe censorship is wrong, no matter which side of the political spectrum uses it. However, many conservatives will at least come right out and say they're censoring things. The PMSRPI will clamor for freedom of speech - but only as long as they agree with what is being said. I have always loathed hypocrisy.
Also, like a religious fundamentalist, they often have no argument other than that based on their own self-righteousness. That is, "I believe I am right, and that is enough. Everyone else had better agree with me." I don't take this sort of thing from fundamentalists, and I won't take it from anyone else, no matter what their beliefs. It makes bad beliefs worse, and it trivializes good beliefs.
There's also something idealistic about the whole thing that doesn't sit well with me. As a realist, I've accepted that there are bad, evil things in the world. I deal in "what is." I have difficulty with those who deal exclusively in "what I think it should be." It is all right to a point, but some carry it too far, and their beliefs have absolutely no basis in reality, nor do they have any hope of ever being realized.
I have already mentioned how they wish to replace the current injustices in the world with their own. Such is often the case with revolutions.
I just want to be left alone.
I'm probably not doing the best job at explaining it all, and I'll likely offend a great number of people. In my defense, it is not my intent to attack all liberals, but only those extremists who have lost rationality and embrace hypocrisy. This should also not be construed as my being a conservative. I am not.
All right, that's it for today. Feel free to tear into me; in part, I'm thinking aloud, and as such I welcome argument.
Have a great day!
and! you just provided me with a full 20 minutes of enjoyment, when you gave me that link to the geek t-shirts website! i had never seen that before! so RAD! i bet you saw alot of those shirts at school, being a math major and all.
rant! bring the rant!
you know, any kind of job is still a job. they're good to have, and if they're bad enough, the desperation will push you to get creative about your next employment destination.
post-modernist, self-righteous, pseudo-intellectual hackism
. in my world, i call them theoryheads.
got their heads all full up with thinking something to pieces, so that they lose contact with a lived reality. and with their own personal integrity.
anyone whose words and actions don't match up is pretty damn worthy of your scorn, i do think.
and i agree, the people you're refering to in Cryptonomicon are an excellent portrayal of how some liberals just don't deserve respect, even if you consider yourself a liberal as well.