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The Culture Wars need a touch of sincerity
As I reflected on the things that frustrate me in Australian politics and the “Culture Wars”, I made two resolutions: 1) believe they are sincere, and 2) be sincere.
Overview
In all areas of life, we need a framework to think about things. Some set of propositions that encapsulate our perspective of reality. A philosophy.
I enjoy thinking about and ‘deconstructing’ such philosophies. Not for the purpose of questioning everything and being left with nothing, but for the purpose of understanding the world better. I’m mindful of the dangers described in this brilliant quotation from C.S Lewis:
It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.
C. S. Lewis, The abolition of man
In today’s post-modern era it is not popular to value Truth. Instead, most people value perception. Much more important to them than whether an idea corresponds to reality, is whether the idea promotes the internal feelings that they want to have. Hence ‘mental health’ has become such a buzz-word; to measure our internal sense of satisfaction as if it were in a ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ state is very 21st century! Underpinning this all is the belief that I am at the centre of existence (at least, from my perspective, and perspective is all that I have). I get the impression that previous eras were not so doctrinally narcissistic.
My worldview, however, is shaped by the Christian worldview, which does not put man at the centre, but God. And, believing mankind to be in a fallen state, it grants very little credit to man’s ability to predict the true triggers for his own happiness.
You will find, then, that most of my writing here applies a Christian worldview to explore frameworks for thinking about things. While truth is the highest ideal, I also value simplicity. Sometimes complexity is mistaken for depth, but the two are independent. It is always worth seeking out the simplest, true perspective, an objective that I often fail to achieve.
On this page, you will find links to my various philosophical articles. I must note, however, that the other topic pages include articles that could fall into this category too.
Links
Favourites
Welcome to the post-post-racial world
What insights can we gain through thinking about the race hoax perpetrated by Jussie Smollett? Our society is being poisoned by a view of racism that is self-perpetuating and provides no solutions. Welcome to the post-post-racial world.
Here’s to the risk-takers (short read)
“There is a minimum level of risk that must be taken across society. Reducing risk will always, eventually create risk.” Here’s to the risk-takers.
Discrimination, or just good brain function?
Is unconscious bias really a problem? Or is our brain doing exactly what it ought to do to protect us as we interact with society in a well-adjusted way?
Gender anarchy for Christmas? (short read)
Can we really afford to discard objective truth as a standard? What would happen to our legal system? Is this as insane as it sounds? Yes. Yes, it is.
The DEI Agenda
Diversity is a Trojan horse
Diversity is increasingly treated as a ‘value’ in the corporate world, despite little evidence of its benefits. Yet if you dig deeper, this movement is not really about valuing diversity, but destroying it.
Inclusion is immature
The call for inclusion in the corporate world says a lot about our culture. Including others is a virtue, demanding to be included by others is juvenile.
Equity is destructive
Equity is a newfangled bastardisation of the idea of ‘equality’. It shifts the focus from recognising equality that already exists, to trying to create equality where it doesn’t. That’s a problem because its, ah… communism. Yeah, its communism.
Recommendations
Read Post-modern Times by Peter Veith. Just read it. I have written a review of this book here.
I also recommend the writing of the more philosophical Christian writers over the years, such as Orthodoxy by G K Chesterton and pretty much any non-fiction by C S Lewis. More recently Notes on a tilt-a-whirl is a bit of a brain-teaser. For brilliant non-Christian thinkers, you can’t go past Jordan Peterson – just watch a handful of videos of him on YouTube.
I must be honest, however. Though I enjoy writing about philosophy, I rarely read it. Most writing on it just annoys me because it feels like everyone is keen on making differences without distinction or complicating things that could really be quite simple. Aristotle was a moron, he got nothing right ever.
I would, finally, recommend taking a scroll through https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ and https://yourbias.is/. Modern media reporting is basically an exercise in committing logical fallacies to support a pre-existing bias. Learning how to rigorously spot logical error will help everyone.