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"Unreason" is like "cold". Neither word represents a physical or intellectual entity, but, rather, the absence of one — "reason" and "heat", respectively. The latter's complete absence is a possible final state of the universe, in which it has reached maximum entropy, otherwise known as heat death. The former, if accompanied by an absence of accountability, has been suggested, presumably in jest, as the defining characteristic of femininity.
Our immediate concern, however, is not evolutionary elimination of the y-chromosome (which, by the way, is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility) but how to address the burgeoning dissipation of reason from our midst. Dissipation of reason begets further dissipation. It is a form of feedback loop that mimics the shrill high-pitched headache-inducing sound when a switched-on microphone is brought too near a switched-on speaker (Al Gore comes to mind).
Our age of unreason has already had enormous impact on our notion of reality. Reality-based TV has infected the world psyche, along with the obsession for ever more "realistic" computer-generated imagery, such that virtually every aspect of current "normality" bears the imprimatur of reality as depicted on TV. Consider the Presidential campaign, currently unfolding (unraveling?) on television. Are the candidacies of various aspirants to the, arguably, most important position of power in the world distinguishable from a third-grade popularity contest? Vote for me if you favor a woman; vote for me if you favor a person of color. Never mind if your choice for the office is reasonably qualified; what matters is how closely does the candidate resemble the voter.
Not only have the (m)asses lost their capacity for reasoning, but, for the most part, so have those who wield power (Bill Richardson, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi et al. come to mind). What about the "intelligentsia"? As I recall, the Nobel-Prize Committee saw fit to honor Al Gore, thereby giving him the cachet of an Einstein, basically for out-shrilling the competition. In a society where cheese food has subsumed the role of cheese, where Michael Moore is the documenter of record, and where reality is an extension of reality TV, who but the blind are left to search for vision?
Post #200 Cheese Food Nation
We appear to have entered a new age of unreason, which threatens to be as economically harmful as it is profoundly disquieting. It is from this, above all, that we really do need to save the planet.Yes, indeed. But how?
"Unreason" is like "cold". Neither word represents a physical or intellectual entity, but, rather, the absence of one — "reason" and "heat", respectively. The latter's complete absence is a possible final state of the universe, in which it has reached maximum entropy, otherwise known as heat death. The former, if accompanied by an absence of accountability, has been suggested, presumably in jest, as the defining characteristic of femininity.
Our immediate concern, however, is not evolutionary elimination of the y-chromosome (which, by the way, is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility) but how to address the burgeoning dissipation of reason from our midst. Dissipation of reason begets further dissipation. It is a form of feedback loop that mimics the shrill high-pitched headache-inducing sound when a switched-on microphone is brought too near a switched-on speaker (Al Gore comes to mind).
Our age of unreason has already had enormous impact on our notion of reality. Reality-based TV has infected the world psyche, along with the obsession for ever more "realistic" computer-generated imagery, such that virtually every aspect of current "normality" bears the imprimatur of reality as depicted on TV. Consider the Presidential campaign, currently unfolding (unraveling?) on television. Are the candidacies of various aspirants to the, arguably, most important position of power in the world distinguishable from a third-grade popularity contest? Vote for me if you favor a woman; vote for me if you favor a person of color. Never mind if your choice for the office is reasonably qualified; what matters is how closely does the candidate resemble the voter.
Not only have the (m)asses lost their capacity for reasoning, but, for the most part, so have those who wield power (Bill Richardson, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi et al. come to mind). What about the "intelligentsia"? As I recall, the Nobel-Prize Committee saw fit to honor Al Gore, thereby giving him the cachet of an Einstein, basically for out-shrilling the competition. In a society where cheese food has subsumed the role of cheese, where Michael Moore is the documenter of record, and where reality is an extension of reality TV, who but the blind are left to search for vision?
Post #200 Cheese Food Nation
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