What is a worldview, and where do you get it?

One of the participants in a podcast on media that I follow for my professional life made a comment about people getting their worldview from the New York Times or Fox News. I replied with this video.

That got me wondering about the function and components of a worldview.

The function seems to be the easy part. A worldview is a cognitive orientation towards the facts of life that attempts to make sense of it all, or at least to put it in perspective.

Our brains do something worldview-like automatically. When we see a thing, we interpret it in the context of what we know and what we ought to do in relation to that thing. Some (like James Gibson) would argue that we don’t actually see things. We see “affordances” — actionable possibilities. But that’s getting slightly far afield. The point is that something like worldview thinking is fundamental to everything we do. It’s not a luxury for egg heads. The way we perceive the world is influenced by a broader perceptual, moral context.

Every component of a worldview would influence all the other components, so no matter where we start we find ourselves asking more questions. We could say that it makes sense to start with metaphysics, but I think it makes sense to start with man.

What is man? It’s a broad question that would encompass our origin, purpose, and destiny, but also questions of nature vs. nurture, identity, and so on. It would also address inter-personal relationships, like the family.

Any attempt to answer those questions begs answers to several other things, like …

  • what is the natural of reality,
  • what are the sources of knowledge, and how we know the things we know,
  • what is the nature of good and evil,
  • how do we interpret aesthetics,
  • what is the role of God and religion,
  • how does all this affect our social structures,
  • how do we reconcile the individual and the collective,
  • what are the primary “grand narratives,” like freedom or justice,
  • what does all this imply for politics and economics.

There are also questions of idealism, like to what extent a worldview should be constrained by real-world experience.

The New York Times and Fox News have a squishy sort of perspective on all these things, but they’re not well thought out or explained — which is the absolute worst way to pick up a worldview. You just absorb it without thinking it through.

How do you solve a problem like Iran?

You may have heard that the Iran-backed Houthis have killed some U.S. servicemen. Or, as the idiot White House press secretary puts it, “folks who are military folks.”

My natural inclination is that when some country attacks the United States, we should punch them back so hard that everybody on the planet craps their pants. Proportional response is nonsense. Disproportional response is deterence.

However, a case can be made that this is precisely what the lunatics in Iran want. They believe (so I’ve heard) that some sort of “everybody against the Muslims” war will bring the second coming of whoever.

Deterence only works if the other person is sane.

In addition to all that …

  • I’m sick of the U.S. getting pulled into these stupid wars,
  • we’re not quite as powerful as we used to be,
  • I don’t trust Biden or his generals to manage such a thing,
  • I am suspicious of the people who are calling for a strong action against Iran, and
  • thanks to Obama, Iran might have a nuclear weapon, or something nearly as bad.

So I’m not sure what to think about this, except that I would trust any random person drawn from the phone book to make this decision (after getting briefed, of course) more than I would trust the moron in the White House.

Normalizing Trump

Rod Dreher has an amazing article called “We are normalizing Trump. Again.” I’d link to it but it’s on Substack.

I don’t like Trump. If you’re going to complain about Trump, I will probably agree with a lot of what you say. Not all, but a lot.

The disconnect is that you may think Trump is uniquely evil, and I think Biden and the Democrats have him beat by a country mile. Biden is a traitor and the Democrats are insane.

For me, we’re facing a choice between a shit sandwich and a bullet to the head. I don’t want the shit sandwich, but it’s better than the alternative.

Among the points Dreher makes about “normal” …

Remember the trans dude fondling his own breasts at the White House?

Remember the Biden official who got off on stealing women’s luggage?

Have you noticed the behavior of his pride and joy, Hunter?

Have you noticed that recruitment for the Armed Services has fallen off a cliff because of the cross-dressing, trans-affirming BS from this White House?

Have you seen the empty retail shelves, and the prices of ordinary goods?

Are you ready for the Biden black outs, when we get the downsteam effects of his fantasy energy policy?

Have you seen the U.S. border?

Have you noticed that Biden doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing?

Are you concerned with the rise of Nazi, anti-semitic beliefs in academia and the public?

Trump is not my cup of tea, but Biden is a cup of cyanide.

The very smartest people are in charge. The very, very smartest.

This article is discouraging.

The eve of Apple and Tesla’s destruction in China: American CEOs rarely outwit Beijing

The basic point is that China took the long view, lured in American business with low prices, learned all their secrets, and have either already or are about to eat their lunch.

One interpretation is that they outsmarted American businessmen, but another interpretation is that the American businessmen weren’t fooled at all, but were happy to take the short-term win even if it meant long-term losses. After all, they weren’t going to be CEO forever, and the investors want returns now.

That is probably the most likely scenario. Tim Cook and Elon Musk knew it was a short-term play, but it worked. For a time.

But now I’m going to turn this question completely on its head.

China is facing a serious population crisis, and people who allegedly know such things say they’re headed for a hard landing fairly soon.

It’s possible (although, IMO, quite unlikely) that American CEOs saw the even longer game — that China was planning for a future that is never likely to happen because they’ve planted the seeds of their own demise.

China has long-term plans and America can’t see past the 2-year election cycle. Sometimes it seems that American businesses can hardly see past the next quarterly report. That seems to give China an edge. But does it really? Are these long-term plans realistic? A lot can change in a decade, and a lot of things can’t be foreseen.

There’s no question that a lot of these billionaire businessmen are geniuses. That doesn’t mean they’re always leading their companies — and, to some extent, the United States — in the right direction.

I would like to see more long-term planning on our side, in business and in government. But I’m really hoping that evil carries the seeds of its own demise, and that China’s long-term plans will amount to very little in the end.

On the other hand, it’s not like the United States is righteous.