Al Gore's Assault on Reason

He really did assault it, too, in my opinion.
(Is he trying to MAKE us think critically by intentionally lying so much?)

or, what I'm calling his (frequently erroneous, ironically enough) meaningful reflective rational cognitive thinking/reasoning idea-brain complexity process (from his higher-order logic mind). (!)

I'm reading his 2007 book, and, since he's so damn negative (which isn't necessarily bad, if he didn't come off as such a blowhard), I'll critique every damn point in this "manifesto for clear thinking" I disagree with, which I imagine he might love, if he has any integrity. I can't believe I voted for this guy. His book is wrong in ____ ways, in my opinion.

(I believe big Al is a bit stuck on himself/full of himself, and although I agree with alot of his book, there are more than a few points of disagreement, that I would be remiss to not mention, regarding a book that seems to tout itself as the height of rationality, if not genius).

Link to Wikipedia article on the book, including reviews (maybe I should leave this to the professionals, lol).

POINTS I disagree with:
Intro
1. the public sphere is hospitable to "the enemies of reason"

First of all, reason has no enemies. I believe anyone can be persuaded to any point of view, if the arguments hit home well enough. Reasonable reasoning (!) is tailored to each individual. Second of all, his assumption seems to be that some points of view are unreasonable. Well, maybe because we don't have iq's of 135 or whatever like Gore is said to have, he thinks people are stupid/unreasonable. I disagree. All points of view have their genesis. "Unreasonable" points of view are simply incomplete points of view, and, by that definition, all of us are unreasonable. Only (omniscient) God can make the right decisions. I think atheism is reasonable. So where does that leave us? Reality is like blind men around an elephant (I forget the exact analogy), and we each have our own (incomplete) perspective. Academics like to think they have a larger perspective, from all their cogitatin' and book-learnin'. The most reasonable perspective on any issue is the most informed, and then, only if the various arguments are weighted or prioritized. Who's to say a snap judgement is any worse than one that is extensively reflected on? This is because even the most "informed" perspective may be missing something (big). There is the law of unintended consequences. If things are not black and white, perhaps even supreme court cases could be decided by a flip of a coin. I'm just saying. Finally, I would hope that the public sphere would be hospitable to "unreasonableness." We live in a free society, and I wouldn't have it any other way. If there are actually "enemies" of reason that are actively trying to make us stupid or irrational, that may be bad, but that's their right.

2. goal to make the public more aware of the forces at work on our minds.

This sounds superstitious to me. "Forces", ooh. I am a robot. I am an automaton. I have no free will, no freedom. Is it like the matrix movie, where everybody is part of the machine...are we all completely predictable? Is there a collective unconscious (let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me), and is someone like me telling you what to think? Personally, I think I'm already somewhat on the same page as Al, cuz I mute commercials and eschew tv often and write this blog, but perhaps I'm still just as ineffectual an activist, a mere blip in eternity, a speck in the vast, amidst a sea of endless hypnosis. Stimulus-response. Action, Reaction. Cause, consequence. Rules and laws governing psychology and physics, etc. A perhaps sad sense of fate. My head shocks all the time...that's how I see this stupid "force", plus a voice interrupting and guiding my thoughts, for absolutely no (evident) reason. Maybe the public shouldn't be aware of this shit. It's fricking tragic. Maybe a lot (most? virtually all?) of us are already. Thus, depression.

3. persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy

Obviously, he's focused on the Iraq war. What else might he be referring to? I would like to believe that our legislators use solid intelligence in the vast majority of their decision-making. Hindsight is 20-20. I think Bush gambled that the U.S. would find some weapon of mass destruction to justify (after the fact) the invasion. If he did, then Al wouldn't be so persnickety about the lie. I think a reason we went to war just might be Hollywood...because we think terrorists are just teeming with malicious villains and supervillains who are out to destroy our way of life and make us all wear turbans and burquas. Terrorists are people, too. Maybe war is fun. Or getting riled up about a great satan or something is more exciting than moping around in life's daily tedium. That applies to both sides. Anyway, our thirst for excitement may be leading us astray, not a failure of logic. It's logical to want to feel alive, dude.

4. we have free speech.

We actually don't, in some very real ways. Free speech is being able to say anything to anyone at anytime. You can't do that with cops. Or in court. Or with what the law calls "fighting words", or slander/libel/calumny, whatever. Seriously, words are just words. We should all get over our sense of propriety, and start saying what's on our minds, even if that means swearing at babies or whatever. Sticks and stones. Grow a hide. Cowboy up.

5. Our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln ...

First off, he's telling us what to think. Stupid, in light of his premise, in my opinion. Secondly, here's some info from the Huffington Post:
He (Lincoln) vowed to uphold the draconian Fugitive Slave Act, which many Northerners considered unconstitutional. He promised to suppress slave insurrections. And he declared that he would never interfere with slavery in the states. Congress had just passed a new constitutional amendment in the hope of wooing Southerners back into the Union. Although it was never ratified, this "first" Thirteenth Amendment was the exact opposite of the actual one that abolished slavery (in 1865). It was an unamendable amendment guaranteeing slavery in the states forever. Lincoln affirmed it in his Inaugural, declaring: "I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable." Does Gore approve of slavery?

6. Cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason must furnish the materials, in particular, for a reverence for the Constitution and laws.

Hell, no. Where to begin. There are so many stupid laws out there. And what's wrong with having passion for the ones you agree with? I have a copy of the Constitution. One line I don't revere is this: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States..
I say NO ONE, not even convicted criminals, should be SLAVES. Slaves are property and have no human rights. Criminals, on the other hand, are human beings, and deserve happy lives as much as anyone, even if they made mistakes, or went against the moral majority and/or legal code. We're a country that believes in freedom, and we are animals, and animals in nature get to do whatever they want. People are not irrational, and much of crime is sensible to those doing it. For an anarchist, law itself is a crime. I don't recall signing what is referred to as a "social contract." Anarchism is reasonable, in the face of an unjust justice system (although perhaps not the MOST reasonable). Just look at the world. There's more slavery now than at any time in history. America is a party to this. We are terrorists to criminals, a group that has more passion than the rest of us automatons, I would say. Must we be so dead? Must we be so cruel?

7. senators don't feel that what they say on the floor of the Senate really matters that much anymore.

I imagine Al would know this better than I would. Still, if you believe in something, you want it on record (unless you're a global telepath, and merely thinking something ITSELF changes the world). Perhaps this is symptomatic of a wider anomie, in which pretty much everything doesn't seem to matter, in a world even the bible calls absurd. Also, it sounds like Al Gore thinks all decisions should be obvious conclusions of well-reasoned debate... I think senators aren't open to other points of view as much as they should be, and everybody is full of themselves -like Al Gore- to the point of debate becoming perhaps creepingly more moot. I believe if there was a common understanding that everyone (including senators) comes at every issue with an incomplete picture, they would be more willing to supplement and listen to each other's understandings. But egos are big, opinions are stubborn, and "facts" are ideological and even sometimes opposite. Ugh.

8. trust in the wisdom of a well-informed citizenry.

It depends on what they're well-informed with. Few people are trying, like me, to get a handle on every important issue, and then throw their weight around. Most people are into fluff and People magazine, for example, I would say, and celebrity culture. My wife is, anyway. There's nothing wrong with that, and Courtney Love's dress is more weighty to some people than nuclear agreements with India. So it goes. Gonna keep bitching, Al? Just deal. It's a mad world, with corporate sociopathy, like a mad crazy insane MCI. By the way, Is the democratic party a corporation? I liked in your movie how you like how the soil "gives a little" -consider it a corporate contribution from the "body politic."

9. in free countries, the law ought to be king and no other.

Law pisses me off. Reality is insanely complex, and I wouldn't trust a bunch of yahoos on a jury -or a judge- to make an objective unbiased fully-informed decision, ever. It's all mind control, goddamit, and I don't think we should trust the fates of the accused to these master hypnotists we call lawyers. Everyone should live under their own laws. I am my own king.

10. proverbial fish doesn't know it lives in water.

whatever, Al. Then again, you're the pisces.

11. 4:35 a day on tv (2/3 discretionary time)

Ugh. People are fat, retarded couch-potatoes. Is that what you're trying to say? Feeling superior, are we?

12. increase in av. time spent by Internet users watching tv while using net.

Trying to sink the ship of fools? I agree, though, some of us are scattered and overstimulated, and ought to pick up reading.

13. tv increases impact over printed word "by several orders of magnitude"

I get your point, but still, 100X+?

14. sighs controversy. "fine."

I don't know if I saw the debate you're referencing, but I remember getting frustrated with the moderator, like you, and expecting that to be an opportunity for you to show leadership by commenting on the poor moderating or structure of the debate, but instead you got pouty and superior and just said "fine" in a snippy and exasperated tone, and that showed -to me- resignation, underlying fury, and being pushed around instead of being a leader. Which I completely understand, but it was a disappointment. In my crazier self-centered moments, I wonder if that one word sunk your campaign.

15. "psychographic" categories

How do they gather the data on this? Scary. Which one am I in? Maybe a computer has read my blog and assigned me.. I actually think people can easily transcend that crap, with a little self-awareness. There's a hidden Robin Williams lurking in each of us, able to play any role?

16. we must create new ways to engage in a genuine and not manipulative conversation about our future.

I hope this blog post is meeting your need, sir. The "way", however, is not new. It's just a letter.

17. we rely more heavily now- for good or ill- on electronic images that can elicit emotional responses, often without requiring relective thought.

It's okay to feel, Al. (Should thought balance feeling 50-50, say, in your opinion?)

18. fullest and freest comparison of opposite opinions.

The internet is ideal for this. I think there should be a really advanced politics.org or something that allows chat, collects arguments, and stimulates thought and debate on EVERY SINGLE issue, ANYWHERE. This was a brainchild I had back in 2000, that I never followed up on. It could have a function where it asks your views on all the issues, tells you if you're liberal or conservative or moderate (graphically?, and indicates which candidates you are most aligned with, and why. It could also be a resource for politicians seeking innovative solution ideas from the public. All those letters to politicians could be categorized by ideational content, separated from the sender and receiver, and presented purely on the basis of the ideas they represent.
I must admit that sheeple can be dumb, and emotional arguments or poor ideas (well presented) might perhaps sway people away from an ideal solution.

19. explosion of knowledge...to masses of people who had previously had received no knowledge whatsoever that wasn't transmitted from above by some hierarchy of power, either religious or secular.

No knowledge whatsoever? Come on, now.

20. With the print revolution came a hunger for wisdom and culture that elevated the power and possibility of individuals to seize more control over their destinies.

On the most fundamental level, in my opinion, we're just animals trying to survive and pass on our dna. In that respect, uneducated yahoos controlled their destiny as well as we do. I don't necessarily see how more words and ideas in your head gives you more control over your destiny.

21. knowledge as a source of power to mediate between wealth and privilege.

what?

22. "we the people" made it clear where the ultimate source of authority lay.

um, people give others authority over themselves, they relinquish it, people are already naturally in charge, and some political document at the Smithsonian doesn't tell us where the "ultimate source of authority" is. As if the leaders of our country aren't people, too.

23. meritocracy of ideas.

hmm. Ruled by the most meritable ideas.. How's this: freedom (no rules). Silliness.
Seriously, though, we take law as an article of faith. What would America look like without any law in this day in age?

24. I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against evrly form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Priests at the altar have been known to tyrannize the minds of many men...

25. increased cynicism toward and distrust of the integrity of our national institutions and processes.

Integrity is living up to your own values. If it's all about money and re-election for example, I'm sure politicians have shown plenty of integrity.

26. Jon Stewart, the brilliant host...

I don't know about brilliant.. But okay, why not. Some internet site says his iq is 119.

27. printing press made the idea of America thinkable.

Uh, if you say so, mr. omniscient one. Sounds patently absurd, to me.

28. logic, reason, and reflective thought...truth

I think truth is probably more along the lines of an acid trip. But I've never taken acid, lol. It could be like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, though, processing everything in his field of vision. Truth is the entirety of human experience, from complete love of life and being in love to being possessed or suicidal. Truth is the void in space or a rich world in your imagination while comfortably reading a book. Death is truth.

29. letters have no intrinsic meaning themselves

they can
Must I do this? A is a grade, evokes the Ace card, thus Ace hardware...B looks like a butt or breasts...C sounds like see or si or sea...D is an emoticon smile, for example...E could be ecstasy..F is flunk or 6 (the sixth letter) and so, similar to sex or fuck (f you) or the note F...G is whatup, G?, G-Unit!...H is Honda and Hannibal or Hospital...I is me, myself, and eye...J as in wwjd, or 10, as in Tennessee, K is for k-street or kill or kwell, ha...l is elle or a knight or el (lord) or..m is mcdonald's or male..n is 14 (troop 14, rah)...o is god (omg) or zero or offense or orgasm or oh or oxygen or or..p is pee or ack..q is a star trek character...r is what a pirate says..s is allah or a hiss or sibilance or serpentine slithering snake of the house of slytherin...t is a cross or the drink with jam and bread...u is you...v is a tv show..w is a president or double-you...x is a kiss or an ex or generation x...y is why..z is sleep or zorro.

What I'm saying is letters DO carry meaning for some of us, and many associations besides.

Politics of Fear, ch. 1
1. Fear is the most powerful enemy of reason. (I think fear sometimes sharpens it)
2. Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be. (we have nothing to fear but fear itself? phobophobia! Plus, you're not paranoid if there's really someone out to get you. No Fear brand t-shirts is just stupid. Fear is good (especially for a soldier). Unreasonable fear is maladaptive, perhaps.)
3. Fear is ubiquitous and universal in every human society.
4. what we call our conscious life is usually an elaborate post hoc rationalization of things we do for other reasons. (living in the past, don't stop thinking about tomorrow)
5. George W. Bush is my president, and I will follow him, as we all will, in this time of crisis.

Ch. 2, Blinding the Faithful
1.

p. 16. (one-direction)

post in progress...