Dear Friends,
It seems to me, our culture’s abandoning of common sense… can only lead to catastrophe. Common sense is the result of our species grasping the philosophy of causality. That our actions cause outcomes. It is common sense, for example, to believe that if I jump off a cliff, I will be dashed to bits at the bottom, but it is a violation of common sense to believe that if I jump from that cliff, I will learn to fly without wings. Common sense has allowed us to survive in a world where we are in many ways the most fragile animal around. In an effort to replace causality with pure logic, our leaders have utterly abandoned common sense and causality, and have instead embraced absurdity and the illogical. There is even a prize for those who have proved their lack of common sense… it is called the Darwin Awards. The more people that abandon common sense and embrace foolishness the more tragic will be our outcomes.
The logic chart for common sense goes something like this… We recognize that action A has always led to result B, then acknowledge that if we engage in action A we will have to deal with result B. Therefore if we don’t seek result B we withhold taking action A. It’s pretty simple actually. Common sense tells us that if we engage in action A, take drugs, it will cause us to become addicted to drugs, result B. If our neighbor shouts at us all day every day, how he will kill us and rape our daughter, it would be a violation of common sense if he burns down his own house, NOT to take him in and let him sleep in the same bed as our daughter. It is the same as taking in a rattlesnake as a pet and being shocked when it bites your child. Our leaders on the other hand, claim that he, (or the rattler) will realize what great people we are and instead of making good on his threats, (or biting) will embrace us and we will live together singing kumbaya.
Our leaders prefer pure logic to common sense. Pure logic ignores past results. Hegelian logic dictates that just because every time I have raised a pen over my head and dropped it, there is no logical reason it will fall, it could just as likely float away. Or, just because I bought the carton at the store that says “milk” in it, doesn’t mean there will be milk inside it. Pure logic need not take into account causality, as it is only a mind exercise, a thought experiment, and as such is not the least predictive. Pure logic in fact is in the realm of fantasy, anything that can be imagined can by logically commented on. Take socialism as an example of pure logic, every case of socialism has led to disaster, from the Acts of the apostles and the Mayflower pact, through the French revolution and Modern day Venezuela, socialism has always resulted in poverty and famine, but the elite today believe that if we had world socialism, it would work this time, because pure logic says so. Pure logic allows our leaders to believe in such absurdities, that are based on their living in a fantasy land, which can only result in catastrophe.
The elite in our society have lived in a fantasy for so long they have disconnected from reality. Their lives are disconnected from their actions. When a congressperson can legally engage in insider trading, they must therefore loose their understanding of how real people, who are not allowed such violations, have to live. A member of the elite can imagine a world where no animal has to die so someone can eat, because they get their meat cooked to perfection by top chefs, and never need to see or understand the backstory of where their food came from. The elite pretend they can take people from a place where it is unsafe to walk the streets, move them enmasse to Europe, and they will be peaceful… because the elite don’t have to live with the violent newcomers. The elite can act like printing money in the billions will jump start the economy for the working man… because the more money Central bans print and give the elite,,, the richer the elite get. Fantasy land is only a good place to live if you are protected from the negative consequences of your actions, as the elite are.
Common sense is an ugly truth and most people, especially those who are disconnected from reality, prefer a glittering lie to an ugly truth. If I put my finger in a fire.. it will get burned. The result is fast and undeniable, which is an ugly truth. If I put someone else’ finger in a fire, I will feel nothing but perhaps a sense of compassion, but the results of my actions are felt by others, not me, and so I can imagine that it is a good thing, I can believe a glittering truth. Yet, the result of the action is still there, it’s just that the person who engaged in the action didn’t feel the pain… and so common sense can be ignored. The more immersing the fantasy one lives in the easier it is to deny common sense, and pure logic can easily take the place of common sense where people live in a fantasy. For the common person however, common sense is the means to stay alive. As more and more of us follow our leaders and abandon common sense for glittering lies, inevitably, there will be more and more people putting their wagging fingers in fires, jump from cliffs, move rattle snakes into their homes… and our society that has abandoned common sense, will deservedly win a Darwin award.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
