Edutainment with Ranting

I have aquired from the Dave “Russell: The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell” a man of amazingly wide tastes who’s prediliction to history makes me even more interested in what he has to save. Being a work that Dave is aware of it has an Atheist bent of course, not that I consider this a bad thing, other veiwpoints are the key to developing understanding. Reading it on one side makes me regret not taking more Philosophy in my Bachelor of Arts and at the same time makes me devoutly glad that I did not look into this at a point when I could have made it a large part of my educational path. I spend too much time thinking on things without grappling with what the nature of thought and reality is at its most basic level. Although these ideas are fascinating (And with another 600+ pages to read I will have more to say) so much of it falls under what some would consider not worth knowing.

I do not know if it is the intellectual climate of this City and Province or that of the Country or even world as a whole there just does not seem to be the respect for philosophers that we used to have. Maybe its because we all think now, not just those individuals of ability and station. Making the act of thought beyond the day to day drugery of society something anyone can do diluting the impact of genius in the modern age. Even look at this writing I am doing now, I am intelligent but I have never considered my lazy absorbtion of information something deserving of a term like Genius, like all intellectuals I am one part regurgitation one part actual idea and two parts bullshit. I find it hillarious that my earlier university essays are more coherent than those I write now because I have been taught so well to dodge around the point of any given thing. So much of what academia pushes out could be taken down to a solid sentence or paragraph with footnotes  for proofs, but instead we are taught to create gigantice intellectual monstrosities in order to demonstrate our ability to understand a given point. That last was lifted from Russell perhaps not directly but what I have read is influencing how I say it and what I think does that make this plagerism? I am not wholely sure but I would think not, an idea cannot be owned by one person, a thing or an idea for a thing certianly but the idea that, the Pre-Mycenean Greeks were the people who are depicted attacking Troy in the Illiad cannot, but it seems to me that many want that to be the way of things locking us out of the ability to look at others work and go “Yeah that was good but if I change this right here look at THAT”.

I worry we are trapping ourselves into intellectual stagnation, I look at my life and I compare it to those thinkers and individuals of the past and wonder how I could even aspire to their levels. Living moments in the present like one such as Hunter S Thompson is one thing, but as he himself proves that path leads to ones own destruction. One habit of life of Russell that he shares in one of his papers is that of reading History with his spouse and discussing it. I may lack the spouse but I do think that I need to stop letting myself get into an intellectual funk, I NEED to learn, and with how Education has conspired to only state the obvious maybe that is what I need to change in my life.  Sides I like writing papers and thinking, that will be the best part of teaching, is learning more and more about everything as one teaches, Social Studies is far to broad to know everything, although I plan to make a go of it.

Huh barely talked of the doings, suffice it to say I had a good time, and maybe I will write of it later.

What madness drives us to greed, can we not live a life of virtue and wholesomeness without some aspect of corruption interfering. This goes past the ideals of right and wrong, of ethics and ideas. Why do we seek to consume and some of us to consume for slightly less than others so we can talk about the “Deal” we received. The economy is moving to a global sphere and that is not a good thing for anyone in the world. There is no minimum wage world wide and even if there was there would be nations that ignore it anyhow. In this country today where we live thousands of people are screwed over by employers left destitute and worse every single day.

Society tells us that we have to get ahead, that we must own land, a car and so many other stupid things. Things we cannot make anymore, things we could not afford unless we have a man or woman living in another country working for a slave wage living in a hut. I am as guilty of that sort of consumerism as anyone else. I have made small stands, I do not shop at wallmart I try to reuse things, I fix cars as a hobby and sometimes as my job. I do my best as I can now in our society saturated in this to not be part of the problem. Even then I am, as to have what little I have I cannot but things I am sure of I cannot always know that people do not suffer so I can have cheap socks. No man or woman should suffer hardship working in conditions we made illegal in this nation fifty years ago so when you buy a T-shirt with whatever nonsense you decide yours must have upon it you can save yourself an additional five dollars.

We cannot even get things like that to stop here, even in the city that I live it happens, but we somehow think we can solve things elsewhere with legislation, mandates and “Rights”. We have to stop the process we have to stop demanding everything now but for a dollar less. We need to pay a fair price so a man or woman can make a fair wage.

But we are too trapped on the monster now. I once read that ruling the western Roman Empire near the end was like riding a mad bull. You were to busy trying to stay on to do anything else. So it is today with our leaders, and we the people, the bull. Are to busy worrying about where we will get the money to have our next vacation, our next TV to be thankful we do not live in a shack, making T-Shirts working everyday just to not starve as bad as the neighbours.

We are so far from the means of the production of anything now, people are more worried about the fate of a Dolphin or a Bear than a man or woman. Until the inequality of humanity ends, I think we as a race have a larger priority than worrying about the fate of an animal. Sentient life first, once we solve that the inequities to animals will be easy to fix as no man will need to kill them to survive as they do now.

There is alot going on around me now, large emotions lives changed and even the worst lies in the balance of things beyond everyone.

I am going to try to rant, we shall see how successful I actually am, my anger goes elsewhere as does my fear but this is a venue to drain both obliquely.

I have begun my studies in education and I am appalled by how easy things are, how low the bar is set is it any wonder they seek people with additional qualifications for administration, this is not to belittle those who have come before such as the John but rather to rant at the difference in the effort needed between Arts and Ed, I had to work my ass off to do well in Classics. Long papers hard work and reading of a scale shocking to me in retrospect. Here I have some short readings that talk about FEELINGS I have to write about the place Jesus has in my life as a teacher.

Yeah I am a little disenheartend, this is the path I have chosen for my life and I will do it.

I am too worried to Rant, God Bless those who need it another Rosary and sleep for me.