Philosophical Crime

Philosophical Crime
Philosophical Crime: Not a true crime, as in breaking rules/laws outlined and proscribed by a governing body, but a crime in a sense that it breaks with a philosophy, a belief, a viewpoint, creed, some practice, failure to assist or help (negligent or non-malicious depravity...) or other abstraction. Today (yesterday, in particular, Wednesday, October 28, 2009) we became aware of Andre Agassi's stunning and saddening admission of meth use - apparently in his new autobiography. (See our entry: Chemicallball [Era]). To us, the philosophical crime here was that the athlete was once portrayed as a rebel. We were once taught - instructed - that true rebels shun drugs and drug use. Thus, the basis of the charge of a philosophical crime in this instance - the failure of a rebel to shun drugs and their use.


The penalties for said crime or crimes? Disappointment, effects on reputation and conscience, history, the now dreaded asterisk...and possibly more. Don't get us wrong, we like Andre and wish him no harm.


Another Philosophical Crime might be the sin of omission or neglect. Where an individual, group, entity, population or other body fails to recognize or assist in urgent matters that demand attention. For example, we found it interesting to hear of the asteroid impact event in Sulawesi the other day...even though the event took place 3 weeks ago. Where are we - as a race, a people, a species - on this? How few of us recognize and treat an impact event with the deadly seriousness of this. Why are we asleep at the wheel? (Actually, we've written a position paper on asteroid tagging, see our Homeland Currency Security website. We also regularly post updated links to this danger).


World hunger - or hunger, famine, malnutrition in general - are also Philosophical Crimes in that they might be adequately addressed. Over a billion people go to bed hungry each night. Thousands starve to death everyday. Why aren't we doing more about this problem? (Actually, we've started a new concept, called The Food Corridors as a potential solution to this deadly problem. And World Focus and the CBC News does a pretty good job of covering this problem).



Suicide Bombing and Suicide Terrorism we also judge to be Philosophical Crimes. It is wrong (particularly in the name of a religion...) to kill others and oneself in acts of terrorism. It is particularly deplorable - and despicable - for any religious body or governing body to develop schemes of manned suicide attacks. For example, we recently did some historical research (of local interest to our senior editor) into the phenomena of the Japanese Kaiten and the destruction of the U.S.S. Mississinewa...


Sometimes suicide is wrong...particularly in the above cases. In some cases, where it is meant to save lives, it can however be the right option or action. We know this position to be provocative, but look at the case of Jesus Christ.


Warmongering is also a particularly deplorable - and despicable - Philosophical Crime. One or two famous examples are here. Think of the teacher in the scene (All Quiet on the Western Front) who encourages his students to join the war and give up their studies. Specifically, the educator convinces his students to give up education for war and death... We can also think of a recent more modern example given us by a recent US Administration...


Oh, and more on the failure to assist or help: The apparent footdragging see in the current debate on Health Care Reform in the US...such delay may be justifiable in order to write a good law, though.More on this topic later...

Bit.ly: http://bit.ly/4zSvG8

Please note: This posting appears simultaneously on sister publication, The Anti-Zen Dictionary.

From the staff: We thought it odd that our senior editor would want to discuss this topic on today, his birthday, but we gave up the ghost.

Recovery Realism or Post-Crash Realism

Image licensed under Creative Commons by conorwithonen

Recovery Realism / Post-Crash Realism http://bit.ly/2XwdVo Recovery Realism / Post-Crash Realism: The portmanteau(s) of Recovery 2009-2010 / Post-Crash 2009 and Critical Realism. We just have to say that we feel vindicated. What we seek to promote here is a "new" version of critical realism. This branch of philosophy is largely based on the teachings (yes, teachings...) of the likes of: Larry Klayman, Joseph Grano, John Derbyshire , Larry McDonald and (most importantly...) Barbara Ehrenreich. These folks are teaching us (largely through their appearances promoting their books on Book TV).

Though Mr. Klayman comes across as a little cranky, we really appreciate his informative views and look forward to following him through various media outlets. Mr. Klayman is also the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch. We tend to agree with Mr. Klayman's observations that the American political, judicial and court systems are largely corrupt. We admit that we have experienced some of that corruption firsthand. We hope you pick up a copy of Mr. Klayman's book: Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment‎.

Joseph Grano gave an excellent presentation on Book TV regarding his work; You Can’t Predict a Hero. Although it relates mainly to the 911 tragedy (we prefer the term atrocities...), Mr. Grano still makes very fine and high-minded points about the role of upper management in crisis. Mr. Grano is a decorated veteran.

Mr. Derbyshire appears to be a likeable, curmudgeonly, largely unapologetic, unabashed conservative thinker with background in the sciences and maths. Mr. Derbyshire largely uses scientific data and empiricism to convincingly make his conservative arguments. Mr. Derbyshire might be seen as abrasive and counter intuitive to some, but he does make some very intelligent points. A largely bemused, but still affable Alan Colmes delightfully appears with Mr. Derbyshire after presenting his book: We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.

Their pithy arguments related more by realism than by context, Barbara Ehrenreich (on the negative aspects of positive thinking) and Lawrence McDonald (how positive thinking brought down Lehman Brothers, and possibly all of Wall Street...). Both persons' arguments are solidly related by their negative position on positive thinking and the negative effects of corporate positive thinking on us all. Positive thinking probably brought down Lehman Brothers, the financial and housing markets, your employer, your job, your career, your 401k, your stock portfolio, your pension, your home, your entire city (see: Urban Wasteland...) and state. And, this power of positive thinking's negative aspects is still at work. Time for a dose of reality. Read Ms. Ehrenreich (Bright-Sided) and Mr. McDonald (A Colossal Failure of Common Sense). Our editors, too, have lost jobs over this extremely pernicious presence of 'positive thinking'. Thanks to Book TV and these authors for bringing us a much needed dose of reality. We just hope that the people pick up on this trend and fight for it or against it.

Bit.ly: http://bit.ly/2XwdVo.

FOM: Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment‎, Freedomwatch.org, Judicialwatch.org, Joe-grano.com, You Can’t Predict a Hero, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, Bright-Sided (Book), Critical Realism / Economics and We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.

Please note: The editors and authors have received no endorsements from these authors, their publishers, and so on...