This is what I have been waiting for. I don’t think he goes far enough with the non-violence idea, but it’s a start. Please read the entire thing. If Pres. Obama’s presidency accomplishes nothing else than changing the tone regarding U.S.-Islam relations, it will have shifted the world in a critical direction.
Archive for the ‘World History’ Category
A New Beginning
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Illogically Ideologic
Originally posted by me at Cause of Liberty blog.
For millenia, logic (the ability to make step-by-step arguments and arrive at the same conclusion as another) was assumed to be a sound avenue for arriving at truth (an epistemology).
However, during the 19th and 20th centuries, this assumption fell into disfavor as society slowly replaced the pan-human capacity for reason with “group-think” ideologies that assume that different races and different socio-economic classes somehow have different “logics” (polylogism: multiple systems of logic).
Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
I’ve been thinking recently about why we have such intense divisions within humanity. I think I have part of the answer and it comes down to the way conservatives and non-conservatives (liberals, libertarians, anarchists) see themselves and others.
The American Founding: Conservative or Radical?
Conservatives in the U.S. like to put forth the idea that those who founded the USA did so on conservative principles. Of the fundamental tenants (not dogmas or doctrines, according to Kirk) mentioned in the previous post, which are in agreement with the principles of the American Founding? A Whig in the British Parliament, Edmund Burke joined the Radical Whigs (there’s that darned r-word again) in support of the American colonists’ rights to self-government and to fight against an over-reaching monarch. And although most of his conservative writings were in response to the bloody French Revolution and the “radical” ideas of “liberty, fraternity, and equality”, conservatives promote Burke’s opinions on the American revolution and the fundamental principles of the American Founding as being, well, conservative. Let’s see how conservative those ideals were.
Gandhi: Desirelessness
I haven’t written much recently because of a heavy reading load. However, I hope to write a lot this summer. Much of my writing will contain themes from Mahatma K. Gandhi, Leo Tolstoi, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The relations will become apparent as the writing progresses. Hopefully there will be a depth and power in their words that will carry my weak words to my intended point. Read the rest of this entry »
Imperial Democracy: How the history of Athens may foreshadow the future for the U.S.
During the 4th century BC, Athens dominated the Eastern Mediterranean artistically, economically, politically and philosophically. Sparta remained a power because of its military structure and political stability, but economically she exerted little influence. Fast forward 2500 years. The U.S. dominates the world politically, economically and sadly, culturally (Michael Jackson, Brittney Spears, etc.). There are a few militaristic nations that remain a power (China and Russia), but the U.S. is the sole superpower. Does Athens’ behavior have any correlation with its fate, and is the U.S. falling into the same situation?