tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post4176234965600470901..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: The Skeptic TraditionAlways On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-59534618881687439302018-11-20T16:59:46.168-06:002018-11-20T16:59:46.168-06:00"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.&qu...<b><i>"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."</i></b><br /><br />~ Solomon -KJVFranco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-56314960134620870282018-11-18T06:14:43.751-06:002018-11-18T06:14:43.751-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-64504503345641996392018-11-18T06:13:42.513-06:002018-11-18T06:13:42.513-06:00P________H________E________W________!<b>P________H________E________W________!</b>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-13343440943399328812018-11-17T09:38:41.120-06:002018-11-17T09:38:41.120-06:00On the right, there's always been a fine line ...On the right, there's always been a fine line between skepticism and stupidity. Write a letter to your descendants about your climate change views. I'm betting you will be thought of as the family fool within a few generations.<br />this onehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11625231829029347876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-87261451502264727932018-11-17T09:38:18.867-06:002018-11-17T09:38:18.867-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.this onehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11625231829029347876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-51327244345841070502018-11-15T08:33:55.957-06:002018-11-15T08:33:55.957-06:00There's an imortant difference between healthy...There's an imortant difference between healthy SKEPTICISM –– which I see as another word for CURIOSITY –– and the withering, cripplngs effects of sneerng CYNICISM.<br /><br />It's wrong to conflate the two, despite their having certain superficial characerisics in common.<br /><br />I would agree that the smug, smothering self-righteousness and willful blindiness of PHILISTINISM may be the worst of the three.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-90423991633840771932018-11-12T13:45:53.152-06:002018-11-12T13:45:53.152-06:00TODAY is VETERANS DAY or ARMISTICE DAY, so once ag...TODAY is VETERANS DAY or ARMISTICE DAY, so once again I post the poem written just yesterday to note the occasion. Make of it what you will, f course, but I hope someone discovers themerit and relevance in it.<br /><br /><b>___ A VETERAN’S DAY LAMENT ___<br /><br /><i>The thought arises once again:<br />That our brave men have died in vain<br />If in our now-degraded state<br />We see no more why they were great,––<br />And rattle on belligerently ––<br />Rejecting Thought that made us free ––<br />Embracing now with loud insistence ––<br />Malice threatening our existence ––<br />Tearing at each other's throats ––<br />While a leering Satan gloats ––<br />A sorry spectacle that wrenches<br />My heart thinking of the trenches<br />Filled with anguish, fear and dread<br />As bullets whizzed above each head,<br />And buried in the mud the mines<br />Lurked to shatter limbs and spines,<br />While in the distance cannons boomed<br />Inspiring fear that all were doomed.<br />Then to see a body shattered ––<br />One a buddy –– now "parts" scattered ––<br />In the mud with corpses strewn ––<br />Gruesome lit by sun or moon ––<br />More pitiful the wounded lie<br />In agony praying to die.<br />And all around the smell of blood<br />Vomit, –– urine, –– faces, –– crud<br />Defined the hellish atmosphere<br />But few if any shed a tear.<br />They knew they had a job to do ––<br />Protecting our land –– and you ––<br />From Tyranny, –– Brutality ––<br />Poverty –– and Slavery ––<br />Their Sacrifice –– Our Legacy –<br />Now relegated to the Fire ––<br />Ever the Enemy’s Desire ––<br />Because their precious Victory<br />Was neutralized by Sophistry <br />That promised Peace eternally <br />By ceding our Sovereignty<br />As a dumb ovine assembly <br />Always led too easily<br />To the abattoir where brutally<br />They end up slaughtered ruthlessly.<br />And so the Enemy has won ––<br />Not by bayonet, bomb, or gun ––<br />But by an ideology<br />Seductive, to those lazily<br />Imagining there’s an Easy Way<br />To stop becoming Satan’s Prey.<br />Thus lulled into a stupor we<br />Now feel a false Security.<br />Forgetting the we owe a debt<br />To those brave men who fought to get<br />Continued Opportunity <br />To cherish their fine legacy.<br />Because the Left runs Education<br />We’ve lost our great Emancipation ––<br />Betrayed great men through dissipation<br />Made worse by fruitless argumentation.</i></b><br /><br />~ FreeThinke (11/11/18)Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-50292765174051572222018-11-12T09:00:19.100-06:002018-11-12T09:00:19.100-06:00How can we NOT be specialists? The division of la...How can we NOT be specialists? The division of labour DEMANDS it.<br /><br />And how can there be truth when there is no longer a king to tell you what truth is. The University discourse has become the Master's discourse. And who is the Master in a democracy? Why, its the prevailing opinion of 51%.Joe Conservativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02696367580635901992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-68975716992872367102018-11-12T07:33:22.366-06:002018-11-12T07:33:22.366-06:00The only Americans these days, who remain skeptica...The only Americans these days, who remain skeptical....are the intellectually curious. That is an endangered species. The demographic is further thinned when the erstwhile skeptic come up against their own 'politically correct' sacred cows.<br /><br />What should be a national pastime [skepticism], is now but a quaint notion....Constitutional Insurgenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03251746798758539951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-60442169721974797462018-10-19T07:54:42.625-05:002018-10-19T07:54:42.625-05:00One last thought in reference to the virtue of ske...One last thought in reference to the virtue of skepticism:<br /><br />Einstein told us<br /><br /><b><i>"QUESTION EVERYTHING."</i></b><br /><br />Walt Whitman advised:<br /><br /><b><i>"Be CURIOUS, not JUDGMENTAL."</i></b><br /><br />Saint Paul wrote:<br /><br /><b><i>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things</i></b>.<br /><br />~ St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-3277945168857472372018-10-19T07:44:51.543-05:002018-10-19T07:44:51.543-05:00I should add too that the farther away we drift fr...I should add too that the farther away we drift from Bedrock Moral <i>Principles</i> –– <i>i.e.</i> the Golden Rule, the Decalogue, the Wisdom and Encouragement found in earnest perusal of the books of Proverbs, and Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and particularly, the writings of St. Paul, the farther will get from any hope of achieving a society with a benevolent, unified sense of common purpose and an enlightened humane way of treating one another regardless of our individual attributes or economic and socal station in life.<br /><br />If our endeavors are not predicated ona devoted adherence to PRINCIPLE in an honest pursuit of TRUTH, we are DOOMED to live in an increasingly intense nightmare of rabid hostility generated by inappropriately by self-righteous bigots, arrogant knowitalls, and wily, short-sighted, self-serving interests who've divorced themselves from real concern for the Common Good.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-89298243017009895062018-10-19T07:07:35.535-05:002018-10-19T07:07:35.535-05:00Thank you Sam. It's good to get away from the ...Thank you Sam. It's good to get away from the "stock," enemedia-generated "concerns" over which the ubiquitous opinionmakers saturate the air every day. <br /><br />This incessant assault on our collective consciousnesss virtually <i>forces</i> us to obsess over topics the great masterminds who control the flow of inforation and opinion choose <i>for</i> us.<br /><br />Most of this I am morally certain is <i>agenda-driven</i> meaning an honest search for objective truth never enters into the mix. Every day our worldview is being <i>molded</i> by unseen, unknown, <i>unknowable</i> forces. We have been collectively mermerized into believing our understanding of reality <i>must</i> rely on the published or broadcast "findings" of "experts" many of whom function, as you said, in ever narrowing chambers of specialized, often obscure, recondite knowledge that makes little or no attempt to relate the given area of spcialization to the challenges rank and file citizens must deal with in the workaday world –– OR to explore the practical ramifications common sense should tell these exalted "specialists" their "findings" are bound to have on the way the vast majority live their lives.<br /><br />The fragmentation, as you indicated, of this overspecialization has been to create myriad <i>enclaves</i> each of which feels increasingly alienated from, –– suspicious of, –– and too often resentful toward –– the others. And so we have became a society increasingly dominated and governed by warring splinter factions.<br /><br />Given this is it any wonder we are all at each other's throats?Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.com