Philosophy
I have no problem with Joe the Plumber as a person. Even though I disagree with virtually his entire ideology, I'm sure he's a decent fellow who means well. The problem is he's not smart enough to realize he's not very smart. So, when he decides to open up his mouth and pontificate on matters about which he knows virtually nothing (and about which he's most likely dead-wrong), I sort of feel bad for him because he doesn't realize he's making a fool of himself in front of the entire world, and he probably thinks that when people laugh, they're laughing with him and not at him...
I am angry, however, with the media that continues to treat his ignorant brain droppings, knowing they're worthless, as if they were worth anyone's time, and who continue to pollute the airwaves and the interwebs with the opinions of a man who could probably get schooled by a fifth-grader.
Of course, the irony of my dedicating this blog entry to him is not lost on me, but the purpose here is to showcase the fact that there is a great difference between being popular, for whatever reason (and especially for bad reasons), and having something worth saying or listening to. When he was asked about his thoughts on the Bible and science, for instance, this is the kind of stupefying answer he came up with:
I don't even know where to start dissecting the deepity just inflicted on all of us, but I feel like my IQ just dropped significantly, derp!
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- Corrupting The Youth, Sorta
Great story from Hanno: OK, so I teach a course on Political Philosophy, and in part of that course we read Marx's Communist Manifesto (not related to the Comedist Manifesto). And I have a student taking this course who happens to be a Christian,...
- Philosophy Versus Science
Julian Baggini interviewed physicist Lawrence Krauss in the Guardian on ?Philosophy v. Science: Which Can Answer the Big Questions of Life?. Baggini suggested that "We have no reason to think that one day science will make it unnecessary for us to ask...
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From an early age, most of us simple assume that we will have children. ("I'm never going to make my kids wear sweaters they don't like!"). And this assumption continues to influence our thought in early adulthood ("Well, I think when I have...
- The Tedtalks Woo-woo Speech - The Science Delusion
When they first became publicly available, I instantly fell in love with TEDTalks (as you can tell from all the presentations I've posted in this blog). Having leading thinkers condense their various ideas and deliver them in powerful 18-minute presentations...
Philosophy
Joe the Plumber on Why He Prefers the Bible to Science
I am angry, however, with the media that continues to treat his ignorant brain droppings, knowing they're worthless, as if they were worth anyone's time, and who continue to pollute the airwaves and the interwebs with the opinions of a man who could probably get schooled by a fifth-grader.
Of course, the irony of my dedicating this blog entry to him is not lost on me, but the purpose here is to showcase the fact that there is a great difference between being popular, for whatever reason (and especially for bad reasons), and having something worth saying or listening to. When he was asked about his thoughts on the Bible and science, for instance, this is the kind of stupefying answer he came up with:
I don't even know where to start dissecting the deepity just inflicted on all of us, but I feel like my IQ just dropped significantly, derp!
- Larceny Week: Buridan On Fundamentalism
Jean Buridan was a fourteenth century thinker whose theory of impetus began the march away from Aristotelian physics and towards Newtonian. Consider an arrow. While the bow is pushing on it, we can understand why it moves forward, but the instant it leaves...
- Corrupting The Youth, Sorta
Great story from Hanno: OK, so I teach a course on Political Philosophy, and in part of that course we read Marx's Communist Manifesto (not related to the Comedist Manifesto). And I have a student taking this course who happens to be a Christian,...
- Philosophy Versus Science
Julian Baggini interviewed physicist Lawrence Krauss in the Guardian on ?Philosophy v. Science: Which Can Answer the Big Questions of Life?. Baggini suggested that "We have no reason to think that one day science will make it unnecessary for us to ask...
- Why Have Children Of One's Own When One Could Adopt?
From an early age, most of us simple assume that we will have children. ("I'm never going to make my kids wear sweaters they don't like!"). And this assumption continues to influence our thought in early adulthood ("Well, I think when I have...
- The Tedtalks Woo-woo Speech - The Science Delusion
When they first became publicly available, I instantly fell in love with TEDTalks (as you can tell from all the presentations I've posted in this blog). Having leading thinkers condense their various ideas and deliver them in powerful 18-minute presentations...