Dear Friends,
It seems to me, truth tellers want their message out in the light of day, both so others can hear it and be swayed, as well as to test it’s veracity. A concept is tempered in the arena of ideas. They are forged and hardened by argument, consideration and insight. For any idea to be compelling it must have something good about it. That good sounding thing may, sadly, electroplate arsenic. Such can only be discovered if the idea is scratched at by society as a whole. Moreover, if someone has an idea that is solid through and through, they want it discoverable by everyone, to sway them. On the other hand, those who are selling dross, would seek to keep their ideas, teaching and actual proselytizing, hidden and targeted. So… why would university professors worry about their lectures becoming public?
If a truth is indeed truth, it can
withstand the eyes of many. In fact, I believe it was the inventor of
Linux, Linus Corvallis who said, given enough eyes any flaw becomes
obvious. He of course was talking about code, but that same insight
holds true of ideas as well. Unlike code, that must go through
registers, gates and down buses, proving it clean or flawed… ideas
are run on the complex system of humanity, economics, culture and
under the operating system of the pathological order. This is no
great secret. Those most learned among us must know this, if I do, so
one would think that if they want to purge their ideas of
flaws, they would expose them to the eyes of the world? Cleaning
their concepts of bad code so they can run perfectly in the morass of
humanity.
Pragmatically, if an idea is sent
through the complex system of humanity multiple times, and it always
produces calamity, resulting in millions of deaths, gulags,
oppression and want, one would have to deem that idea, bad. If one is
pragmatic, that socialism is a bad idea since it has always led to
disaster, is the only conclusion possible. Pragmatism is why you
don’t throw good money after bad, you cut your losses, keep friends
out of your business… and you don’t give government unlimited
power. Now, one could argue, why didn’t people see that socialism
would lead to such terrible outcomes, if Linus Corvallis was correct?
Well, they did. Edmond Burke called it, and is hated to this day for
being right. Showing the pathological nature of human governance
fights the truth… even after it’s proven.
If you believe in what you are saying,
you want others to hear to convince them of that truth, and thus
improve their life outcomes. That which is truth, when known
understood and practiced, always improves life outcomes, and those
who are human hearted seek to improve the lives of others. Because it
is manifestly obvious that the improvement in the lives of others,
added up, results in the improvement of everyone’s, and therefore
ours as well. On the other hand, if you are indoctrinating and
manipulating people into self harm, you would want your
manipulations, lies, and conniving, hidden from the world. Those
engaging in manipulation of people into self harm must follow a
different philosophy. Destroying the life outcomes of others gives
the worthless a sense of self worth.
There is a news story going around,
that the Wuhan Coronavirus, the Kung Flu has caused colleges and
universities to go online, to practice social distancing. Several
professors have voiced concern that “right wing” websites could
get a hold of their lectures and post them. Personally, I would love
it if a left wing website posted my articles, so if you run a left
wing website, please feel free to reproduce my articles, in their
entirety and unedited. These university professors worry that
exposing their lectures to the world could undermine their “lessons”
to the youth. This could only be done if their lessons contain
manipulations or deceptions. I would hate to think multitudes of
people are taking on unforgivable debt, to the tune of tens of
thousands of dollars, only to give the worthless a sense of self
worth.
Sincerely,
John Pepin