zer0hue
Angel's Love Slave
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2003
- Posts
- 916
Genuine ignorance is profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open-mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish waterproof to new ideas.
-John Dewey
Some of you, and it is a very small minority, wonder about the long, stagnant tracks of silence between my posts. Inspired by a concoction of weariness and rage, I will divulge one principal reason. I seldom have anything to say worth considering. It requires a whole delicate mess of things to coincide before an intelligent thought escapes my head. Will and wit, passion and wisdom all must collide before I dare to type one syllable. The rest of the time, I am content to remain in silence, alerting no one to my ignorance. Reading and reflecting on the matters I care about occupy my time enough. It’s then when I often read the words of impulsive, chatty fools and notice how the internet is ever polluted with idle certainty.
The words of John Dewey are more fitting and focused than my own, so I see no reason to restate them. His observations are richer and more complete than anything I offer, so I feel no desire to challenge or appropriate them. I can only assume these are normal human reactions, so why am I in the diminishing minority? Common, abject ignorance can’t be the convenient scapegoat this time, as Dewey wisely notes. I’m convinced that all the shiny talk pits and comment heaps that clog the tubes have reverse-wired everyone’s brains to speak when they could be thinking and think when they could be speaking.
Here’s a question for democracy that’s seldom asked: If everyone has equal say, who listens? The tragic wreck of slogans and regurgitated, bitter noise that spew from people’s minds is worse than any dumbstruck silence. A subject for discussion cannot even remain undisturbed and in context without cartoon jokes and commercial slogans poisoning every response. These words never discover any real feeling or insight or humor, they only crowd the brain until personality and humanity are replaced by consumables and feral instincts.
To remedy this thriving blight upon mankind, I propose one effortless solution:
Stop offering your opinions.
Opinions are like popular sayings, they’re repeated endlessly and are seldom clever.
The time and work that genuine thoughts demand are made worthless when flooded by a market of cheap opinions. Pissing away you words in whim does more than just diminish you, it obscures the substance of great minds that lead people out of darkness. My own path teaches me to find peace in silence and resignation. The insignificance of my wisdom and experience is the only catalyst that permits me to speak with courage and conviction. Even with imperfect circumstance, fighting the creep of slumber, wading blindly thought incoherence, I arrive at an end with no conclusion, saying nothing, and still overshadowed by John Dewey. It seems I have more to consider, and to follow my own advice, I will return to silence until I have a thought worth reading.
-John Dewey
Some of you, and it is a very small minority, wonder about the long, stagnant tracks of silence between my posts. Inspired by a concoction of weariness and rage, I will divulge one principal reason. I seldom have anything to say worth considering. It requires a whole delicate mess of things to coincide before an intelligent thought escapes my head. Will and wit, passion and wisdom all must collide before I dare to type one syllable. The rest of the time, I am content to remain in silence, alerting no one to my ignorance. Reading and reflecting on the matters I care about occupy my time enough. It’s then when I often read the words of impulsive, chatty fools and notice how the internet is ever polluted with idle certainty.
The words of John Dewey are more fitting and focused than my own, so I see no reason to restate them. His observations are richer and more complete than anything I offer, so I feel no desire to challenge or appropriate them. I can only assume these are normal human reactions, so why am I in the diminishing minority? Common, abject ignorance can’t be the convenient scapegoat this time, as Dewey wisely notes. I’m convinced that all the shiny talk pits and comment heaps that clog the tubes have reverse-wired everyone’s brains to speak when they could be thinking and think when they could be speaking.
Here’s a question for democracy that’s seldom asked: If everyone has equal say, who listens? The tragic wreck of slogans and regurgitated, bitter noise that spew from people’s minds is worse than any dumbstruck silence. A subject for discussion cannot even remain undisturbed and in context without cartoon jokes and commercial slogans poisoning every response. These words never discover any real feeling or insight or humor, they only crowd the brain until personality and humanity are replaced by consumables and feral instincts.
To remedy this thriving blight upon mankind, I propose one effortless solution:
Stop offering your opinions.
Opinions are like popular sayings, they’re repeated endlessly and are seldom clever.
The time and work that genuine thoughts demand are made worthless when flooded by a market of cheap opinions. Pissing away you words in whim does more than just diminish you, it obscures the substance of great minds that lead people out of darkness. My own path teaches me to find peace in silence and resignation. The insignificance of my wisdom and experience is the only catalyst that permits me to speak with courage and conviction. Even with imperfect circumstance, fighting the creep of slumber, wading blindly thought incoherence, I arrive at an end with no conclusion, saying nothing, and still overshadowed by John Dewey. It seems I have more to consider, and to follow my own advice, I will return to silence until I have a thought worth reading.
