Looking Toward The Next High

[David Horn]

(06-05-2018, 07:02 PM)TheNomad Wrote: All of this is subjective

That is the whole generational disconnect.  Objectivity views things through a lens that sets aside the observer's "doctrine" so that he/she can make informed decisions NOT on what they already believe or want to believe but in rectifying things they don't believe with things they do believe.  There is very little of that happening in our culture and it is what causes alternate realities and alt facts.  To even say "alternate facts" and have that be a phrase we hear at the highest levels of those in power is insanity.  I am beginning to understand OBJECTIVITY is a concept diametrically opposed to many, possibly unable to comprehend what is even the difference between the two, therefore, unable to BE objective because it means a willingness to stop preaching and start learning.

That somehow ALTERNATE FACTS even exist.  Facts are facts, they can and are spun in any way possible to achieve the end of the person spewing those "facts".  Therefore, subjectivity is wrong and only causes problems leading to Crisis and all the flaming doom we keep seeing in every 4th Turning.  That you can't or don't see that is ITSELF proof what I am saying is true.

Subjectivity is simply another phrase for Culture Wars.  And we have to endure a whole generation of subjective people who cling to their subjectivity before all else - even over solving problems.  I think solving problems needs to be front and center and dogma needs to stay outside until you have a change to walk it.

My background is engineering, so what qualifies as objective fact in my mind is, perhaps, a more stringent definition than most people would employ.  That said, there is little room for pure objectivity in highly complex situations.  Why do you think there is even room for argument on the climate issue?  If anything has too many moving parts that interact to describe how they do so in a sentence or two, subjectivity is a given.  If anything, history is vastly more complex, and less tied to fixed rules, than any physical process.

As far as "alternative facts", George Orwell understood this very well.  Alternative facts are not intended to entice people to believe that 2+2=5.  They're intended to make belief in anything a dubious proposition.  If nothing is absolutely true then anything can be as true as anything else.  Not everyone is savvy enough to see through this, so it is successful far more often than it should be.  For others, it simply doesn't matter.  For example, if I hate the idea that burning fossil fuels is harmful, and someone puts forth "alternative facts" that say it's actually beneficial, I can adopt that position unless it's so roundly castigated that accepting it is embarrassing (or worse).  What makes Trump unique here: he's able to say totally outrageous things and continue saying them with no sense of embarrassment.  Eventually, they become part of the lexicon and acceptable … to some at least.

This is just the final phase of the indoctrination methods brought to us by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, among so many others.  If they lead to a disaster, they will stop.  If not, then this may continue indefinitely.