The Religion and Philosophy Room
Often when I return from the wearying world of daily chores to seek solace in the profundity that posters share, my mind goes haywire and only strong drugs would make it all better. Maybe it is too much to expect sanity when sanity is so darn confusing. That must be the appeal of science fiction and magic. As a different approach, I picked one quote from several OPs, I'll leave it to the reader to find the article of interest. Guess the topic too. Education and a bit of thought. Enjoy.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...jason-stanley/
"...In France, which has a right to be considered one of the modern birthplaces of the liberal democratic revolution, satire has long had a special role. Satire is the ultimate method by which reason can address power. With the use of satire, even those without control of resources can, with merely the use of a pen, bring figures of authority down to earth."
"...Madison rejected appointing unelected experts to solve the problems raised by factions, and offered, as the best solution to the thorny difficulty of competing interests, the idea of representative government as a way of “controlling its effects.” Madison’s solution to the problem of factionalism is a government of representatives, who are accountable to the people via the mechanism of elections."
"...The fairness of a system of justice is measured by the degree to which its laws are fairly and consistently applied across all citizens. In a fair system, a group is singled out for punishment only insofar as its propensity for unjustified violations of the laws demands."
"We believe that in the enterprise of uncovering truth, the paths of the scientist and the humanist must often intersect. Rather than argue in generalities, we will develop a specific example, though we assume that there are many others like it."
"...Plato argues that we cannot hope the multitude to achieve expertise in the craft of governing. They are too easily misled by sophists. It followed, for Plato, that democracy must be rejected as a just system of governance."
"...The expectation is that any statement made either by a politician or by a media outlet is a false ideological distortion. As a result, no one blames politicians for making false statements or statements that obviously contradict that politician’s beliefs. I believe that the unfolding presidential campaign provides a compelling demonstration of my previous claims."
"Our society is divided into castes based upon a supposed division between theoretical knowledge and practical skill. The college professor holds forth on television, as the plumber fumes about detached ivory tower intellectuals."
"...the claim I am making — that Fox News intentionally uses the slogan “fair and balanced” to undermine trust in news outlets generally — is false: The reality is just that Fox News has successfully tricked a group of gullible viewers into believing something false."
"We might wish politicians and pundits from opposing parties to engage in reasoned debate about the truth, but as we know, this is not the reality of our political discourse."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...jason-stanley/
"What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system which they are presumably part. Repetition, somewhat overrated in importance because of the common belief in the masses' inferior capacity to grasp and remember, is important because it convinces them of consistency in time." Hannah Arendt
A book by author of pieces above, 'How Propaganda Works,' Jason Stanley.
Reply With Quote
