Not So Self-Evident After All

In my last blog (several weeks ago; so much for posting every few days), I put a list of some of my favorite quotes towards the end. Three of them were these:

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
-Voltaire

"The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists exists; what is is. From this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced. Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality--it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see."
-Richard Rahl

"Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent."
-Kahlan Amnell Rahl

Now, everybody knows Voltaire, but I'd be willing to bet most of you reading this aren't familiar with the last two people. Richard and Kahlan Amnell Rahl are the main characters of my favorite series of books, The Sword of Truth series. You may have heard of the show they made from it, Legend of the Seeker (don't watch it; it's terrible). I recommend these books be read over any other book. They changed my outlook on life (or, rather, solidified and clarified it for me) in a profound way. The last several books are fairly preachy, but I didn't mind. But this isn't a book review.

Over the past decades, there has been a major shift in the American culture. Since the 60's (and 50s in some cases), values, materialism, fiscal ideas, and parenting has changed significantly.

No more "firm hands." Children became more and more pampered, as New Age values replaced the 40's and older style parenting of more "hard knocks" style. My generation is the most pampered and cooed-over generation in human history, and I have absolutely no faith in them. It is a trend that has been proven over and over in history with most great civilizations, that each successive generation becomes a little more complacent with their position of wealth than the last, and takes it more for granted.

We have lost our way. I listed those three quotes at the beginning because, to me, they should be core beliefs of everyone. They also seem to be the ones missing from too many people. Go to the top and read them again. Seriously, I'll wait. Done? Good. Now, please bear with me, once more. I did. Each time I wrote for you to go up, I did and read them again.

The first is Voltaire's famous quote, the one that coincides with the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. Sometimes, people say things that make me want to bash their heads against a wall and yell "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" But I don't. Because it is their right. It is a fundamental human right, the freedom of speech.

That freedom, I'm sorry to say, is rapidly going away. Every day we are told how to say things, so that we don't hurt people's feelings. Acts of terrorism are no longer that, but "man-caused disasters." What? I could post dozens of things like this, but this blog will be long enough. But you get my point. We are increasingly expected to act sensitively towards every single human being. Apparently, it is not our right to dislike other people or their lifestyles anymore. I call bullshit! I can go on for a long time about how much I think our current situation with freedom of speech is crap, but if I do, it'll be in a different blog post, for the sake of some sense of brevity. But let me say this: when you are thinking about what you are saying before you say it: why are you thinking about it?

This brings me to the third quote. Another trend I've noticed in our society is that the concept of "pity for the guilty" is not only becoming okay, but is becoming commonplace. Poor people that develop drug addictions and kill for crack money. "But it's not their fault, they're a product of society!" Nobody is a product of society. You are a product of yourself. Let's see that again:

YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF YOURSELF

Some things are out of your control, but even then, what you do in response to those situations make all the difference. We, as a society, have seemed to have lost the concept of personal responsibility. The rampant lawsuits over inane, inappropriate issues are one good example. Everybody is ready to blame somebody else for problems. Sometimes, problems just happen. Deal with it.

But again, this whole pity for the guilty thing. When you pity somebody that is guilty, when you feel bad for somebody because they did something wrong, you are committing "treason to the innocent." Men who rape and murder and steal because their mommy didn't raise them right do not deserve pity (there are cases where this is not true, because abuse does screw up people psychologically. Unfortunately, these days, too much is labeled abuse that is simply crappy parenting, etc.) but punishment. Justice. If you catch yourself feeling sorry for someone being sentenced to life in prison because they murdered their family in a fit of rage because the toast was burnt, wind back and give yourself a nice hard slap on the face. If you're not comfortable with that, I'll do it for you, free of charge. Anytime, that's what friends are for. Just, from now on, don't dishonor people's memories, don't betray the innocent. Think about your feelings towards people, and whether they deserve those feelings.

Now, for the second quote. The mother of all quotes. There's not much I need to say on this. Also, it'd take to long to type. I'd be happy to discuss it in person. Not over email, etc, because I don't type as well as I speak, and it'd take to much of my free time up. Feel free to put your own thoughts down in a comment or send me an email, but don't expect a good argument (if that's what you're looking for) until I see you in person. Just read it once more. And think about it. Think about how that applies to the way you live. Reason is the only thing that must be allowed to rule your soul. Anything else is slavery of the spirit.

Signing off,
Tiberius Jones