Logic began with nature.
The basis for logic is the reality that a thing either is or it is not.
Humankind’s quest to explain the universe and our role in it began with observations of natural events. Eventually, the science of mathematics was invented as a tool to describe those events more accurately, how to explain them, and in many cases, how to predict them. Things like the orbit of the earth, the positions of the stars, the circumference of this planet and its spatial relationship with the other planets and the sun became known via logic.
When I use my observational powers, I see a pattern of modern “logic” that is little more than an attempt to separate true logic from its natural basis and substitute something that is best described as “not logic”. The contemporary formulation of this “not logic” is “A thing is what I want to believe (or say) it is, there is no “is not.”
If one considers a continuum from the basic natural events to the current premises that a thing can be anything the brain wants it to be, one can see the distance being put between things like transgenderism, the political gaslighting and economic theory and the “is/is not” formulation.
I had an interesting discussion with a couple of friends right after New Year’s in which they made interesting comments about my hobbies of hunting, shooting, mountain biking, running, as well as my dedication to college football and basketball.
They pointed out how different these were to their hobbies of art, theater, going to concerts, the party circuit, wine tastings and reading, even to the point of insinuating they thought my exercise routine was quite crude as compared to their participation in yoga, Pilates, choreographed workouts, and sports such as golf, pickle ball and tennis (and viewing of the same).
Rewinding and running that discussion over and over in my head for the days after, I realized they had a point. My preferences in hobbies and working out included components of life and death, combat, and elements of physical risk or danger and physical contact that was often violent, where theirs were less focused on conflict and more on a sort of non-confrontational competition and a sort of internal, participation is more important than winning, personal peace.
It’s not like I don’t enjoy scholarship, study, or debate. I enjoy going to the theater and art exhibits because I do but given a choice between an Ole Miss or Alabama football game and doing a walking tour of wine bars, I’m going to go for the former over the latter every time.
A few days ago, I dug up an analogy I’ve used many times, that of H.G. Wells’ conception of the Eloi and the Morlocks, and in the “Time Machine”, the Morlocks are portrayed as grim and savage as compared to the Eloi, but they are also engineers and the technical masters of the machines that are key to the survival of the planet, so the fact I like contests and activities that are descended from combat does not preclude the possibility that I could simultaneously be a warrior and philosopher (many great philosophers of history were also military leaders).
I began to consider the continuum that has evolved within our contemporary culture, and to consider how far from natural laws most of the modern theories of subjects like sexuality, gender, politics, and economics have drifted, and how this drift complicates our abilities to communicate with each other – and increasingly making it more difficult for us to even comprehend or understand each other.
When considering our political landscape, American Democrats, and the global progressives in general, see themselves as the righteous, learned, erudite, enlightened, and anointed beings, deserving of our fealty and destined to unquestionably to rule over the rest of us. They look down with disdain and revulsion at those on the rungs of the ladder below them.
The Establishment GOP is next, sharing the same delusions as the rank-and-file Democrats, but within a caste that has progressed as far as they are capable and are mostly suited to be palace servants.
The next to last rung on the political ladder are conservatives, beings seen as troglodytes, unfit and incapable of ruling anything, even themselves, because they are beasts fit only for hard labor, their only advantages are strong backs and a healthy constitution.
At the bottom exist the people who aren’t especially politically aware, even if they affiliate with one major party or the other. These people are the lowest caste, the untouchable and unseen, who only get noticed at election time when politicians are divining what false promises, they need to make to garner the votes from this caste.
If one considers my premise as valid, one will see that it follows a pattern that reveals the further one climbs up the ladder in this construction, the farther away from nature and natural law one becomes. The people at the bottom are the closest to the fight for food, clothing and shelter, the ones on the top rung, the farthest away.
It also follows that the beliefs and ideas of the people on each rung become more disconnected with natural logic the higher they climb. It is almost a requirement to disavow the “is/is not” model to gain access to the highest rung, not surprisingly where the contemporary Democrat Party lives.
Nature has always been (and still is) the ultimate teacher. When ignored, her lessons are often quite harsh. History records that every time a culture or civilization, no matter how great, ignores her basic laws and tenets, a fall is coming.
Michael - while reading this I had two thoughts, first was Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and second was that of a rubber band.
For the rubber band thought, it sort of came to mind that how historically as people went away from nature stretching the rubber band ever further, to the point that the rubber band would then snap back and we as a culture would return to a bit of normality closer to what it was like before the stretching occurred.
However today I feel like the rubber band has stretched so far that perhaps it has now snapped apart, having been weakened by all of the past stretchings. Just like in the Time Machine when Rod Taylor, playing HG Wells, destroys the Morlocks thereby snapping the rubber band and now the Eloi were going to have to start over again and fend for themselves.
Playing out the rubber band breaking, are the current day Morlocks (the elite) stretching the rubber band to the point of breaking and we - the Eloi, going to wind up starting all over again?
At least in the Time Machine, the time traveler had a 'Great Book' to re-learn from. All attempts today are trying to destroy that 'Great Book'...
My 2 cents.
Your hobbies are much closer to nature while theirs are synthetic human inventions.