The Hinges of Destiny
I've been hitting the Newsweek again. This time I'm left wondering, what is with the desire of post-God scholars to have everyone remain alive for as long as possible?
Because it pathologizes practical decisions made within a cultural context, the desire of folks like Keeney to protect everyone from "early death" ironically furthers our collective acceptance of the coercive expression of cultural authoritarianism. We enjoy our lifestyle. We've accepted that taking unallocated personal time can cost us a job. Unfortunately, substances that facilitate our desire to meet our daily demands are also deleterious over the long-term.
Fast food, frozen food, junk food, cigarettes, soda, Red Bull, donuts, doctor-prescribed stimulates, etc. Most everyone is touched by a harmful substance. Ban or tax the hell out of one of them, people will grudgingly accept reality, move on to another, and forget about their resolution to start exercising.
Instead of advocating pedagogy that involves "decision making," a high-cognitive process that cannot be imparted to students by teachers, Keeney should be burning down the fucking schools. Unfortunately, when the technology is borne, folks like Keeney will want the government to relieve the anxious of their distressing thoughts by restricting access to the relevant memory banks.
However the experts explain our tendencies to self-destruct, they all agree that we could use some help negotiating these choices better—and that government can provide it. For Keeney, it's by adding "decision making" to the standard curriculum in public schools so that more children grow up empowered to recognize and mine all their options, rather than accept those presented by others. "Imagine if they taught World War II as decision making," he says. "That'd be fabulous."We participate in a culture that demands instant performance and instant access and we slowly kill ourselves to remain competitive in this environment. So, it's 5 minutes before a meeting, you're hungry for lunch and you're tired. You can sleepwalk through the meeting, lose the deal, and lose your job or you can drink another soda and develop diabetes in 10 to 20. Since you'll need money for insulin anyway, you opt for the pick-me-up.
Because it pathologizes practical decisions made within a cultural context, the desire of folks like Keeney to protect everyone from "early death" ironically furthers our collective acceptance of the coercive expression of cultural authoritarianism. We enjoy our lifestyle. We've accepted that taking unallocated personal time can cost us a job. Unfortunately, substances that facilitate our desire to meet our daily demands are also deleterious over the long-term.
Fast food, frozen food, junk food, cigarettes, soda, Red Bull, donuts, doctor-prescribed stimulates, etc. Most everyone is touched by a harmful substance. Ban or tax the hell out of one of them, people will grudgingly accept reality, move on to another, and forget about their resolution to start exercising.
Instead of advocating pedagogy that involves "decision making," a high-cognitive process that cannot be imparted to students by teachers, Keeney should be burning down the fucking schools. Unfortunately, when the technology is borne, folks like Keeney will want the government to relieve the anxious of their distressing thoughts by restricting access to the relevant memory banks.
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