Jeremiah Donaldson's Blog: This and That - Posts Tagged "dehellenization"
Dehellenization of the West
“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.” ― Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I
People like to think that things always move forward. That progress is always made. That once something is learned it can't be lost. None of those things are true. Things can and do move rapidly in reverse. Progress can be halted. Knowledge can be lost. And sometimes those things are due to intentional actions. Pope Benedict XVI first used the term 'dehellenization' first in a speech called “Faith, Reason, and the University: Memories and Reflections” when speaking of separating Christianity from Greek philosophy. The word has come to refer to the rejection of the use of reason in particular, which has befallen many in history. Currently, it appears the Western world, led by the US, has headed, at least partially, down such a road.
The biggest crack in logic is the first I'll touch on: climate change denial. Sure, Trump doesn't believe climate change. Neither do most the people relying on oil and other products that are implicated in the increase of green house gases. But also, neither do most other US citizens. Why? Well, basically, the problem is bigger than their TVs and cars and they don't understand, just use, those things, so why would they understand climate change? Especially with such common sense wisdom going around as 'it's cold today, so there's no climate change' and thinking that creating carbon emissions by manufacturing signs to wave is going to help anything. Reading between the lines on such things indicates the majority of people fall short of understanding the problem we face. Then there are those that deny to escape responsibility. They'd have to do something other than exist if they sat down and realized that their ocean front home will be worthless in another decade, or less, depending on the hurricanes. Easier to wait until water is lapping at the foundation to try unloading it on a sucker. Meanwhile, I'll side with the 97% of scientists that think we've screwed up, because it's pretty obvious we have, and if nothing else, the level of denial indicates we have because denial goes up in relation to immediate danger, just like the closer someone lives to a dam, the more in denial they are anything could happen to wash them away. I'll continue to prepare a plot of land to be as self sufficient as possible for when reality crashes down and people realize it's not a joke and their children and grandchildren aren't the only ones who have to worry.
Now to something that is a joke: flat earth. In 240 BC, Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth for the first time. In 1633, Galileo Galilei was charged with heresy, sentenced to imprisonment that was reduced to lifelong house arrest, and all his words were forbidden to be published. All because he defended a heliocentric solar system that contained a round Earth. All total, we've known the Earth was round for about 2250+ years, despite the fact some people have wanted to think otherwise at times. And it's nothing new for someone to think otherwise. The 'Flat Earth Society' was founded in 1956 and has continued into the internet age with their scientific heresy. If anything, Photoshop has increased the idea's popularity. However, if you look into the sky, you'll see a round moon, sun, and stars, so a few sketchy pics aren't going to convince me we're the only flat thing in the universe. Flat Earth theories don't even rank as pseudoscience since there's more chance of finding Bigfoot than of finding the edge of the Earth.
And speaking of sketchy, do you know what can kill up to 30% of patients if they don't have medical treatment and that can infect 90% of nearby, unvaccinated people? Measles! What's making a comeback due to anti vaxxers putting their kids and public in danger? Measles! What can survive in the air for two hours after a sneeze? Measles! Not getting vaccinated for measles is almost worth a Darwin award itself before anything else even happens. Not only are you putting yourself and kids at risk because of trumped up nonsense, but the public as well. Although I'd agree that SOME vaccinations are maybe a bit much, but the tried and true ones will save your butt. Besides, military people can get a lot of vaccines depending on deployment and anything majority wrong with vaccines in general would have showed up in that part of the population first. Anti vaxxers have even come to unbalance a video game since...they get taken out so easily. It's Lemming mentality. I'm not saying no one has the right to run into the sea, I'm just saying no one has the right to take others with them.
And not so easy to tackle is gender fluidity. Is it a fad? Is it a political movement? Is it an attempt to curb population growth? Or is it the offspring of the West's hubris? What it isn't, is real. Or at least as most news portrays it. Oh, it's real as in people get surgery and take hormone pills. But it also would curb population growth if a large part of the population were to buy into it due to jacking junk up so much it doesn't work. But it's also heavily connected to Liberal governments and became more popular as they rose in power. And people are reversing surgeries at a rate that makes one surgeon say there's a trend or regret. However, I personally see it all as hubris. As all great nations before us, we started as nothing, we rose, we plateaued...then we got bored, we started thinking we could do whatever we wanted, including spitting in the face of nature and basic economics until more and more propaganda fed people became consumer weary and more aware of the debt ridden economy and multiple prices racking up. And the prices for this particular fancy are great indeed, up to and including removal from the gene pool.
These are just some of the oddest social fads that caught traction in the last decade as it becomes clearer that the 90's and early 2000's were the West's peak, specifically the USA's, and we're coming down from the high. We have a serious arrogance problem that is out of sync with our ability to perform. We lost sight of our old ideals that actually worked. We have no collective goals. We have a bored, entitled population that is putting themselves at the mercy of the government and those that pay taxes. Our military is sprawled across the globe in resource wars. Celebrities want to pretend they have the right to tell people what to do and think...just for attention and a sound bite. Like animals that eat, sleep, and screw, a good portion of the West has regressed to the minimums of eating, sleeping, and screwing. Fewer add work to that. Fewer still add work and secondary goals. This creates a lot of time. You can only watch so much. You can only play so much. You can only buy so much. Eventually, you have to create something to feel of value...and then the focus on weird ideas start because you've not spent any time to develop goals and hobbies. Currently, the East is set to overtake the West in economic terms. This isn't just because those countries are producing more. Not just because they're bringing more of their population into urban living. Not just because they're copying the old things that we did that worked. Not just because they're showing a *gasp* inclination to learn from our mistakes. But also because we're awfully busy wasting time with silly ideas that are better tossed in the hamper and exporting all our work. Like a used car salesman coke addict that wakes up from a month long binge to find $20k in cash and three car titles gone, we need to figure out our next step to get out of the hole we've dug.
Additional reading
Climate Change Denial: Facing a reality too big to believe.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
More than half of Americans don't think climate change will affect them
https://www.ajc.com/news/science/more...
Psychological Denial and Dams
https://www.jefftk.com/p/psychologica...
Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious?
https://www.livescience.com/24310-fla...
Transmission of Measles
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/tra...
One More Time, With Big Data: Measles Vaccine Doesn’t Cause Autism
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/he...
Which Vaccines Do You Get When You Join the Military?
https://vaxopedia.org/2018/06/24/whic...
Pandemic Video Game Ushers in the Apocalypse by Adding Anti-Vaxxers
https://slate.com/technology/2019/03/...
Political party is closely tied to views on transgender issues
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/...
Transgender Surgery: Regret rates highest in male-to-female reassignment operations
https://www.newsweek.com/transgender-...
People like to think that things always move forward. That progress is always made. That once something is learned it can't be lost. None of those things are true. Things can and do move rapidly in reverse. Progress can be halted. Knowledge can be lost. And sometimes those things are due to intentional actions. Pope Benedict XVI first used the term 'dehellenization' first in a speech called “Faith, Reason, and the University: Memories and Reflections” when speaking of separating Christianity from Greek philosophy. The word has come to refer to the rejection of the use of reason in particular, which has befallen many in history. Currently, it appears the Western world, led by the US, has headed, at least partially, down such a road.
The biggest crack in logic is the first I'll touch on: climate change denial. Sure, Trump doesn't believe climate change. Neither do most the people relying on oil and other products that are implicated in the increase of green house gases. But also, neither do most other US citizens. Why? Well, basically, the problem is bigger than their TVs and cars and they don't understand, just use, those things, so why would they understand climate change? Especially with such common sense wisdom going around as 'it's cold today, so there's no climate change' and thinking that creating carbon emissions by manufacturing signs to wave is going to help anything. Reading between the lines on such things indicates the majority of people fall short of understanding the problem we face. Then there are those that deny to escape responsibility. They'd have to do something other than exist if they sat down and realized that their ocean front home will be worthless in another decade, or less, depending on the hurricanes. Easier to wait until water is lapping at the foundation to try unloading it on a sucker. Meanwhile, I'll side with the 97% of scientists that think we've screwed up, because it's pretty obvious we have, and if nothing else, the level of denial indicates we have because denial goes up in relation to immediate danger, just like the closer someone lives to a dam, the more in denial they are anything could happen to wash them away. I'll continue to prepare a plot of land to be as self sufficient as possible for when reality crashes down and people realize it's not a joke and their children and grandchildren aren't the only ones who have to worry.
Now to something that is a joke: flat earth. In 240 BC, Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth for the first time. In 1633, Galileo Galilei was charged with heresy, sentenced to imprisonment that was reduced to lifelong house arrest, and all his words were forbidden to be published. All because he defended a heliocentric solar system that contained a round Earth. All total, we've known the Earth was round for about 2250+ years, despite the fact some people have wanted to think otherwise at times. And it's nothing new for someone to think otherwise. The 'Flat Earth Society' was founded in 1956 and has continued into the internet age with their scientific heresy. If anything, Photoshop has increased the idea's popularity. However, if you look into the sky, you'll see a round moon, sun, and stars, so a few sketchy pics aren't going to convince me we're the only flat thing in the universe. Flat Earth theories don't even rank as pseudoscience since there's more chance of finding Bigfoot than of finding the edge of the Earth.
And speaking of sketchy, do you know what can kill up to 30% of patients if they don't have medical treatment and that can infect 90% of nearby, unvaccinated people? Measles! What's making a comeback due to anti vaxxers putting their kids and public in danger? Measles! What can survive in the air for two hours after a sneeze? Measles! Not getting vaccinated for measles is almost worth a Darwin award itself before anything else even happens. Not only are you putting yourself and kids at risk because of trumped up nonsense, but the public as well. Although I'd agree that SOME vaccinations are maybe a bit much, but the tried and true ones will save your butt. Besides, military people can get a lot of vaccines depending on deployment and anything majority wrong with vaccines in general would have showed up in that part of the population first. Anti vaxxers have even come to unbalance a video game since...they get taken out so easily. It's Lemming mentality. I'm not saying no one has the right to run into the sea, I'm just saying no one has the right to take others with them.
And not so easy to tackle is gender fluidity. Is it a fad? Is it a political movement? Is it an attempt to curb population growth? Or is it the offspring of the West's hubris? What it isn't, is real. Or at least as most news portrays it. Oh, it's real as in people get surgery and take hormone pills. But it also would curb population growth if a large part of the population were to buy into it due to jacking junk up so much it doesn't work. But it's also heavily connected to Liberal governments and became more popular as they rose in power. And people are reversing surgeries at a rate that makes one surgeon say there's a trend or regret. However, I personally see it all as hubris. As all great nations before us, we started as nothing, we rose, we plateaued...then we got bored, we started thinking we could do whatever we wanted, including spitting in the face of nature and basic economics until more and more propaganda fed people became consumer weary and more aware of the debt ridden economy and multiple prices racking up. And the prices for this particular fancy are great indeed, up to and including removal from the gene pool.
These are just some of the oddest social fads that caught traction in the last decade as it becomes clearer that the 90's and early 2000's were the West's peak, specifically the USA's, and we're coming down from the high. We have a serious arrogance problem that is out of sync with our ability to perform. We lost sight of our old ideals that actually worked. We have no collective goals. We have a bored, entitled population that is putting themselves at the mercy of the government and those that pay taxes. Our military is sprawled across the globe in resource wars. Celebrities want to pretend they have the right to tell people what to do and think...just for attention and a sound bite. Like animals that eat, sleep, and screw, a good portion of the West has regressed to the minimums of eating, sleeping, and screwing. Fewer add work to that. Fewer still add work and secondary goals. This creates a lot of time. You can only watch so much. You can only play so much. You can only buy so much. Eventually, you have to create something to feel of value...and then the focus on weird ideas start because you've not spent any time to develop goals and hobbies. Currently, the East is set to overtake the West in economic terms. This isn't just because those countries are producing more. Not just because they're bringing more of their population into urban living. Not just because they're copying the old things that we did that worked. Not just because they're showing a *gasp* inclination to learn from our mistakes. But also because we're awfully busy wasting time with silly ideas that are better tossed in the hamper and exporting all our work. Like a used car salesman coke addict that wakes up from a month long binge to find $20k in cash and three car titles gone, we need to figure out our next step to get out of the hole we've dug.
Additional reading
Climate Change Denial: Facing a reality too big to believe.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
More than half of Americans don't think climate change will affect them
https://www.ajc.com/news/science/more...
Psychological Denial and Dams
https://www.jefftk.com/p/psychologica...
Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious?
https://www.livescience.com/24310-fla...
Transmission of Measles
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/tra...
One More Time, With Big Data: Measles Vaccine Doesn’t Cause Autism
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/he...
Which Vaccines Do You Get When You Join the Military?
https://vaxopedia.org/2018/06/24/whic...
Pandemic Video Game Ushers in the Apocalypse by Adding Anti-Vaxxers
https://slate.com/technology/2019/03/...
Political party is closely tied to views on transgender issues
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/...
Transgender Surgery: Regret rates highest in male-to-female reassignment operations
https://www.newsweek.com/transgender-...
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