Wednesday, July 8, 2020

WHY LEARN ANYTHING?

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." Albert Einstein (and yours truly).

The problem for people is we don't know what we don't know. We think we know all we need to know, but we don't. And because of this, there will always be gaps in our knowledge. As a matter of fact, there are many, many areas in which we are absolutely clueless to our deficiencies, and if someone tries to point that out, they are met with scorn and derision.

Many people's depth of thought stops at their Bumper Sticker Mentality (BSM). When one understands what a BSM is, it is a lot easier to see why 'things' are the way they are today. Thinking is hard work. Accepting a BSM as gospel makes it all so much easier.

Urban Dictionary defines BSM as "An inability to examine an issue in depth. An inability to get beyond the basic thought, which sticks in their heads like a mantra, closing off all other avenues of consideration." Read that again (and again, if necessary) until you understand. (I fear, however, some never will.)

As I may have said before, I have great difficulty answering a 'Yes' or 'No' question. It's rarely that simple; there are manifold conditions and considerations - qualifications, if you will. People see things as a matter of choosing between two options when, in fact, there are many options. From lucidphilosophy.com: "You must be a Republican or Democrat. You are not a Democrat. Therefore, you must be a Republican. The problem is the options are illegitimately limited; you could be [an independent], libertarian, anarchist, or socialist." Even within one party name, there are shades and finer distinctions.


Following an incident in my life several years ago, I did some research and learned about narcissism, malignant narcissism, narcissistic injury, and narcissistic rage. Years later, when tRump was elected, my knowledge came into play. Seeing what I saw, I remember saying that down the road when we see what the country is like under his rule, I would either say, "I told you so" or "I am sorry - you were right, I was wrong."
So today, I say, "I told you so!" but who's listening. tRump has issues - he is a malignant narcissist, and he is destroying the America I thought I once knew. Their BSM ("He says what he thinks," "He's drained the swamp," "He has the business sense to make America great," "He's against everything the Democrats are for," "He's not a politician," "He will change a crooked and rigged system," "Our government needs a strong executive who recognizes the balance of the Constitution," etc., etc.) makes any reasonable discourse impossible. 
"I told you so," but I suspect you will never know why.

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