On nicotine — I just had a smoke on the back deck. I haven’t smoked my pipe in quite a while. Generally speaking, I think smoking is a bad idea, but it’s one of those things that’s probably only bad if done regularly — like eating a Pop-Tart, or drinking a soda. I don’t think I’m doing myself any great harm by smoking a pipe once a month. I may be wrong about that, but I’m probably not very wrong.
Having said that, nicotine is a strong drug. If it’s been a while and I smoke a full bowl of strong tobacco, it goes to my head!
The Speaker of the House — It’s been amusing to watch the spectacle of McCarthy’s efforts to become speaker. I’m a big fan of what’s happening and don’t want it to stop any time soon.
ISTM that Congress has been going in the wrong direction for a long time. Parties have all the power, and individual congresscritters have none. They can’t offer amendments. They can’t even debate bills. They’re just presented with the conclusions of the leadership and are expected to go along with their party. Sometimes they don’t even have time to read a bill before they vote on it.
I want more debate. More questions. More fighting. More voices. More variety. Less machine. Less establishment.
What’s happening is good for the Republic, although it might be too little too late. And if we don’t have a Speaker for a few weeks, who cares?
Russian literature — I was reading The Brothers Karamazov, but that got interrupted by One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which we’re reading for our next “shortcut to the classics.”
These books were obviously written for people with lots of time on their hands. They’re so slow!
My overall reaction is that I expected better. For example, so much is made of the section (in the first book) on The Grand Inquisitor, and … it’s really not all that interesting. The basic argument is that freedom is not worth the cost we pay for it (assuming that suffering is a necessary consequence of freedom).
Yeah. Okay. That’s the sort of thing you wrestle with in 7th grade and then you get over it. It’s not all that profound. It’s like when somebody in college asks you if you’ve ever considered you might be a brain plugged into a wall socket and everything you consider as reality is just an illusion. Yeah, sure. I thought about that when I was five. You didn’t?
Conspiracy theories — You’re more likely to believe a conspiracy theory if you’re isolated. What I want to know is whether you lose your ability to reason when you’re isolated.
Conspiracy theories have many different definitions, but one common aspect is that they’re an explanation that most people don’t accept. (What sensible person would argue that most people are right?)
Ask yourself this: which group of people know more about the Kennedy shooting — the people who accept the common explanation, or the people who believe some conspiracy about it? The conspiracy believers, of course. Most people don’t care, and they just accept the mainstream answer. The conspiracy believers have (on a guess) read 100x times more about the subject and know quite a lot.
What they’ve read might include a lot of bunk, but it’s absurd to say their opinions are based on ignorance. They know far more about the details than most people.
A case could be made that people go along with the mainstream view in about the same way that they follow fashions, or use the latest hip words, or watch the popular shows. They just want to fit in and be normal. They’re scared of being different.
Also, “everybody knows” lots of things that are complete nonsense — that people thought the world was flat before Christopher Columbus, that it takes seven years to digest gum, or that Marie Antionette said “let them eat cake.”
Why should we prefer the “normal” narrative?
I’m not defending conspiracy theories, but I’m realizing it’s a lot more complicated than people like to think. Conspiracy theorists are neither dumb nor irrational.
My New Year’s resolutions, so far — Only one, about my weight. I want to get back to 160 by the end of the month. I have some other ideas, but I haven’t refined them down to actionable, measurable goals yet.
If you want to succeed with resolutions, you have to make them measurable, attainable, specific, fun, positive, and they should piggyback on existing habits. But even if you don’t take a systematic approach, it’s good to have goals. Everyone can improve.
Happy new year…welcome back. As well, joyous soon-to-be 3rd anniversary of the return of Crowhill.