Ah, the Internet. Harbourer of all that is garbage, a vast wasteland of the worst of humanity. Delicious!
Back in Peterborough for a few days before I head back to the joys of school. Er, ya. That’s it…
So, I think I’ll start updating Jimmy The Crack Corn a little more often. It’s actually fun to draw, rather than the tedium of Ridiculously Unrandom (which, frankly, just isn’t ridiculous enough). I’ve also decided to put the comics on this blog as well. So here it is:
I’m liking the new coloury-ness, methinks.
Oh ya… almost forgot. Despite the similarity to real-world events, none of these characters are actually supposed to be me, or anyone else for that matter.
Ahhh. I have redesigned the site, and on the whole I am pleased with the results. It feels cleaner to me now, and I like the higher-contrast colour scheme.
Along with the redesign has come a blog aspect to the site. The primary purpose of my blog will be for me to examine my own views on a range of topics. These topics might, without doing my intentions full justice, be summed up as “philosophy and politics.” However, it is very much not my intention to write “yet-another-political-blog” in which I spout my particular opinions on the topics of the day (and decry all others).
My purpose, initially anyway, is to break down those opinions. I intend to be as honest in this as possible. To start, I will make the one admission many people find difficult, and which applies to all — my opinions are not absolute, unchanging, or correct. Nor is the entirety of my belief set based on logic (an even more difficult admission for many, and equally universal in my opinion). Therefore part of my goal is to identify the irrational basis for many of my opinions. I would like to find my own core belief set through a (potentially lengthy) process of self-examination.
This will involve searching for an irreducible set of non-rational beliefs that I can point to and say “the rest of my beliefs can be derived from this set.” My first goal is to find this set. Alternatively, I may discover that such an irreducible set is infinitely large — that irrationality permeates so many new opinions for so many new situations, without having some logical basis in a previous set of beliefs. As an example, one could take the ever-popular issue of abortion legislation. Can I find a core set of irreducible beliefs, my core set of beliefs, that would allow me to form a logical path from that smaller set to the larger question of abortion legislation? Now, can I find a similar path from that same core set to my opinion on every other topic?
I sincerely hope that I discover this to be the case. For it will become the basis of the second part of my “adventure.” I wish to build those pathways, and thereby reform my opinions. This will involve discarding thoughts and beliefs I now hold and replacing them with opinions that are, in fact, more true to my irrational belief set. Thus, I will be able to say:
“If one agrees with this core set of beliefs, according to reason, one must agree with this set of opinions. If one does not, either one’s core beliefs are different, or one’s self-examination is inadequate.”
In my opinion, this type of self-examination would make many discussions of politics more fruitful. It is impossible to have a useful conversation with someone concerning their politics without some idea of how their basic beliefs differ from your own. I have no illusions that my core beliefs, whatever they are, are necessarily “correct” in an absolute sense. Perhaps there is no absolutely correct set of beliefs. Therefore, it is better that partcipants in a discussion know both their own others’ core beliefs, so a more relevent discussion of the proper application of those beliefs can be had. For if your effective position involves attempting to convince someone to change a core belief, the discussion is pointless.
Another part of my goal is to begin building, based on the core beliefs from the first part, the basic principles of a society. As I look around the world today, I do not currently believe that any system of government or societal structure is close to what I consider to be ideal. I have no illusions of ever implementing an ideal society, however I would like to form some conception of either what I consider ideal or a more practical manifestation of it. Through my examinations I may discover that some society today does represent a practical implementation of an ideal society. Though I am sceptical that this is the case, I am open to the possibility.
In the end, that is my main concern — to conduct this process with an open mind. That is why I have decided to use a blog format, because any comments and criticisms gained from others will facilitate the discarding of bad ideas. As well, such comments could give rise to ideas I have not considered and will incorporate into my process.
A final note: In parallel to my abstracted “breaking-down” approach for reaching the first goal, I may also make some posts concerning the application of some of the ideas I am forming to real-world problems. These posts will help me to identify areas where the abstraction has detached itself too far from reality, and may need some rethinking. It may also keep me sane.