Doug Huffman
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By John Brock Thursday, June 26, 2008
The age-old problem of truth versus perception keeps raising its distracting head. It seems that perception now trumps truth most of the time and this is causing real problems for traditional American culture. Ill-conceived perceptions are causing us to compromise common-sense right into oblivion because perceptions of right and wrong have blurred.
Here's the illogic behind it: We all know that 2 plus 2 equals 4. But suppose an alternative group of folks are under the "perception" that 2 plus 2 equals 6. Absurd, but there are those among us who adopt insane notions every day. After much discourse, the two sides decide upon a compromise: 2 plus 2 equals 5. From this "new" premise, we develop a whole system of faulty mathematics.
Unbelievable! Certainly, but this sort of fuzzy thinking goes on around us every day. What used to be unacceptable is now the norm because we have "compromised" an eternal truth with "modern," "progressive" or "evolving" perception — albeit a faulty consensus.
This process that has been called "Dialectical Materialism" is an undeniable product of the minds of folks, who, like Karl Marx, conclude that change must occur, even at the expense of truth.
In simple terms, the faulty reasoning starts with a "thesis" (2 plus 2 equals 4), but an "antithesis" is introduced (2 plus 2 equals 6). We conclude with a "synthesis" (2 plus 2 now equals 5). This compromise of reality is untrue, but the sheep-for-change people follow blindly along with their newfound "progressive" concept defying reality by applying the same sort of perception to moral principles. And it is all accomplished to the mantra of "Change" whether the changes makes any sense or not.
For instance: We start with the thesis that all life is sacred. Multiple antitheses are introduced: Some lives are not worth preserving, etc. We conclude (compromise) with a synthesis that it's OK to kill unborn babies for various reasons. What will be the next synthesis — euthanasia of old or handicapped folks?
Every day, groups of people meet, calling themselves legislatures, congresses, committees, courts, associations, churches, etc., to compromise the American Way of Life all the way into oblivion.
A handful of sensible men sat down in the late 1700s and composed a series of documents that set the stage for the formation of a unique way of life that would change the world. The authors of these documents, called the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, as amplified by the Bill of Rights, set into motion a government based on certain inalienable truths of common sense and liberty.
Our Founding Fathers recognized that there are certain eternal values associated with the individual human (thesis), and no government has the authority or right to abridge (synthesize) these rights.
Since then, alternative groups have spent the ensuing years trying their best to revise the principles set forth in these monumental documents. The courts have been the principal purveyors of this synthetic culture. Of course, not all judges are devoid of sane reasoning — just those who insist on legislating rather than justly interpreting the fundamental meaning of eternal values embedded in our founding documents.
The U.S. Constitution is very limited in powers ascribed to government. Basically, the federal government is bound to provide defense of our country's borders and its citizens. Add to that the regulation of Interstate Commerce and the responsibility of preserving individual rights (General Welfare provision) and you pretty much sum up the responsibilities of our federal government. The "Interstate Commerce" and the "General Welfare" clauses have been expanded by "progressives" to include just about every facet of American life. Present-day legislators are failing miserably in protecting our borders and curbing the supposed "rights" of illegal aliens at the expense of guaranteed rights of U.S. citizens. This course of reasoning compounds into values never perceived by those brilliant individuals who formed American society.
If you look closely at the dialectical process that has taken place in recent years, you get a bitter taste of how the original concepts have been adulterated.
We have, indeed, synthesized the original intent toward a more perfect union into a hodgepodge of gobbledygook that bears no resemblance in many cases to the original thesis of American government. We are now ruled by a whole system of compromises of eternal truths. Government is not the sole perpetrator of this demise of reason. Individual citizens must accept a major portion of blame. We have allowed special interest groups to monopolize the formation of a "New Way" as we sat silently by. Evidence can be found in many areas of American life: environmentalism, animal rights, same-sex marriage, religion, illegal immigration, etc. If you don't believe the morality of our lives has been undermined, then you don't read our print media or watch the daily diet of malevolence seen on our television screens. You have been synthesized!
Is it too late to return to rational reason? I hope not! But any thinking soul has to understand that we have moved far down the line from common sense.
There was a time in American life when illegal aliens would not have been the problem they are now. We simply would not have stood by and allowed it to happen.
There was also a time if enemies airplane-bombed our major city, we would have been totally united in our retaliation, at all costs, for such inhumane acts. But once again, we have been synthesized with reasoning such as: "Illegal aliens are only trying to find a better way of life," "Muslim culture is just different from ours," or "Promiscuous activity must be relieved by abortion," and worst of all, "Everything bad is America's fault."
Blah, blah — the list goes on.
Will we lose all reality of eternal truth to perception? Only time will tell.
John Brock is a retired professor, newspaper publisher and film producer who lives in Georgetown County. He can be reached by mail at this newspaper or via e-mail at brock@johnbrock.com. http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/26/negotiated_morality_could_lead_ruin45649/#comments
By John Brock Thursday, June 26, 2008
The age-old problem of truth versus perception keeps raising its distracting head. It seems that perception now trumps truth most of the time and this is causing real problems for traditional American culture. Ill-conceived perceptions are causing us to compromise common-sense right into oblivion because perceptions of right and wrong have blurred.
Here's the illogic behind it: We all know that 2 plus 2 equals 4. But suppose an alternative group of folks are under the "perception" that 2 plus 2 equals 6. Absurd, but there are those among us who adopt insane notions every day. After much discourse, the two sides decide upon a compromise: 2 plus 2 equals 5. From this "new" premise, we develop a whole system of faulty mathematics.
Unbelievable! Certainly, but this sort of fuzzy thinking goes on around us every day. What used to be unacceptable is now the norm because we have "compromised" an eternal truth with "modern," "progressive" or "evolving" perception — albeit a faulty consensus.
This process that has been called "Dialectical Materialism" is an undeniable product of the minds of folks, who, like Karl Marx, conclude that change must occur, even at the expense of truth.
In simple terms, the faulty reasoning starts with a "thesis" (2 plus 2 equals 4), but an "antithesis" is introduced (2 plus 2 equals 6). We conclude with a "synthesis" (2 plus 2 now equals 5). This compromise of reality is untrue, but the sheep-for-change people follow blindly along with their newfound "progressive" concept defying reality by applying the same sort of perception to moral principles. And it is all accomplished to the mantra of "Change" whether the changes makes any sense or not.
For instance: We start with the thesis that all life is sacred. Multiple antitheses are introduced: Some lives are not worth preserving, etc. We conclude (compromise) with a synthesis that it's OK to kill unborn babies for various reasons. What will be the next synthesis — euthanasia of old or handicapped folks?
Every day, groups of people meet, calling themselves legislatures, congresses, committees, courts, associations, churches, etc., to compromise the American Way of Life all the way into oblivion.
A handful of sensible men sat down in the late 1700s and composed a series of documents that set the stage for the formation of a unique way of life that would change the world. The authors of these documents, called the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, as amplified by the Bill of Rights, set into motion a government based on certain inalienable truths of common sense and liberty.
Our Founding Fathers recognized that there are certain eternal values associated with the individual human (thesis), and no government has the authority or right to abridge (synthesize) these rights.
Since then, alternative groups have spent the ensuing years trying their best to revise the principles set forth in these monumental documents. The courts have been the principal purveyors of this synthetic culture. Of course, not all judges are devoid of sane reasoning — just those who insist on legislating rather than justly interpreting the fundamental meaning of eternal values embedded in our founding documents.
The U.S. Constitution is very limited in powers ascribed to government. Basically, the federal government is bound to provide defense of our country's borders and its citizens. Add to that the regulation of Interstate Commerce and the responsibility of preserving individual rights (General Welfare provision) and you pretty much sum up the responsibilities of our federal government. The "Interstate Commerce" and the "General Welfare" clauses have been expanded by "progressives" to include just about every facet of American life. Present-day legislators are failing miserably in protecting our borders and curbing the supposed "rights" of illegal aliens at the expense of guaranteed rights of U.S. citizens. This course of reasoning compounds into values never perceived by those brilliant individuals who formed American society.
If you look closely at the dialectical process that has taken place in recent years, you get a bitter taste of how the original concepts have been adulterated.
We have, indeed, synthesized the original intent toward a more perfect union into a hodgepodge of gobbledygook that bears no resemblance in many cases to the original thesis of American government. We are now ruled by a whole system of compromises of eternal truths. Government is not the sole perpetrator of this demise of reason. Individual citizens must accept a major portion of blame. We have allowed special interest groups to monopolize the formation of a "New Way" as we sat silently by. Evidence can be found in many areas of American life: environmentalism, animal rights, same-sex marriage, religion, illegal immigration, etc. If you don't believe the morality of our lives has been undermined, then you don't read our print media or watch the daily diet of malevolence seen on our television screens. You have been synthesized!
Is it too late to return to rational reason? I hope not! But any thinking soul has to understand that we have moved far down the line from common sense.
There was a time in American life when illegal aliens would not have been the problem they are now. We simply would not have stood by and allowed it to happen.
There was also a time if enemies airplane-bombed our major city, we would have been totally united in our retaliation, at all costs, for such inhumane acts. But once again, we have been synthesized with reasoning such as: "Illegal aliens are only trying to find a better way of life," "Muslim culture is just different from ours," or "Promiscuous activity must be relieved by abortion," and worst of all, "Everything bad is America's fault."
Blah, blah — the list goes on.
Will we lose all reality of eternal truth to perception? Only time will tell.
John Brock is a retired professor, newspaper publisher and film producer who lives in Georgetown County. He can be reached by mail at this newspaper or via e-mail at brock@johnbrock.com. http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/26/negotiated_morality_could_lead_ruin45649/#comments