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6 <title>Do Not Accept the Weak State of Mind in Our Time</title>
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16 <h1>Do Not Accept the Weak State of Mind in Our Time</h1>
17 <div class="contents">
18<dl>
19<dt>
20<a href="#sec1">The Basis of My Philosophy</a>
21</dt>
22<dt>
23<a href="#sec2">The Current Economic and Political Structure Is Broken</a>
24</dt>
25<dd>
26<dl>
27<dt>
28<a href="#sec3">The Government of the Unites States</a>
29</dt>
4863a6da 30<dd>
31<dl>
32<dt>
33<a href="#sec4">Healthcare <em>Reform</em></a>
34</dt>
35</dl>
36</dd>
2aff8b5c 37<dt>
4863a6da 38<a href="#sec5">Capitalism is Intrinsically Evil</a>
2aff8b5c 39</dt>
40</dl>
41</dd>
42<dt>
4863a6da 43<a href="#sec6">Misc</a>
2aff8b5c 44</dt>
45<dd>
46<dl>
47<dt>
4863a6da 48<a href="#sec7">Long Term Copyright Causes Harm to Society (<code>Draft Revision 2</code>)</a>
2aff8b5c 49</dt>
50<dt>
4863a6da 51<a href="#sec8">Fewer Laws Are Better</a>
2aff8b5c 52</dt>
53<dd>
54<dl>
55<dt>
4863a6da 56<a href="#sec9">Individuals should not have their actions regulated</a>
2aff8b5c 57</dt>
58<dt>
4863a6da 59<a href="#sec10">Corporations must have their actions heavily regulated</a>
2aff8b5c 60</dt>
61</dl>
62</dd>
63</dl>
64</dd>
65<dt>
4863a6da 66<a href="#sec11">Social Ills</a>
2aff8b5c 67</dt>
68<dd>
69<dl>
70<dt>
4863a6da 71<a href="#sec12">Mass Culture</a>
2aff8b5c 72</dt>
4863a6da 73<dd>
74<dl>
75<dt>
76<a href="#sec13">The Talking Heads</a>
77</dt>
78</dl>
79</dd>
2aff8b5c 80<dt>
4863a6da 81<a href="#sec14">The Automobile</a>
2aff8b5c 82</dt>
83<dt>
4863a6da 84<a href="#sec15">Learned Ignorance and Weakness</a>
2aff8b5c 85</dt>
86</dl>
87</dd>
88</dl>
89</div>
90
91
92<!-- Page published by Emacs Muse begins here --><p>I have views that could perhaps be seen as odd. Do note that I am <strong>not</strong>
93a liberal; nor am I a conservative. I do not buy into the traditional
94socieconomic dipole scale, and I also reject the <em>political compass</em> two
95dimensional scale; my political belief system could best be described
9dcdb59d 96as <em>curmudgeonly bastard</em> if you must have a label for it. This is only
c2a3216c 97because being a curmudgeonly bastard isn't an ideology, but rather a
9dcdb59d 98broad set of ideas centered around the rejection of traditional
c2a3216c 99political and social structures (<em>i.e</em> hating everything). I reject the
100<em>ressentiment</em> (lookit I'm Nietzsche) of traditional anarchism and
101believe not that every man should have no master (for then <em>all</em> would
4863a6da 102be weak), but rather that he should be his own master (does that even
103<em>mean</em> anything? Eh, it sounds nice so who cares).</p>
9dcdb59d 104
105<p>These short essays are mere stubs I wrote a long while ago, and each
106will perhaps be extended in the future.</p>
2aff8b5c 107
108<h2><a name="sec1" id="sec1"></a>
109<a href="Wisdom.html">The Basis of My Philosophy</a></h2>
110
9dcdb59d 111<p class="first">I read some things and thought they were cool. Now I can make people
112think I'm smarter than I really am.</p>
2aff8b5c 113
114
115<h2><a name="sec2" id="sec2"></a>
116The Current Economic and Political Structure Is Broken</h2>
117
118<h3><a name="sec3" id="sec3"></a>
119The Government of the Unites States</h3>
120
121<p class="first">I feel that the government in the United States is very close to being
9dcdb59d 122broken beyond repair (perhaps this is a bit conservative, but one must
123hope). As it stands the government above the local level (and even
124there!) ignores the individual citizen and instead is only forced to
125do anything by large scale action. As far as the individual is
126concerned we no longer live in a Republic, but rather in an Plutocracy
127which is quickly descending into something far worse.</p>
2aff8b5c 128
4863a6da 129<h4><a name="sec4" id="sec4"></a>
130Healthcare <em>Reform</em></h4>
131
132<p class="first">Upon airing my objections to the current Healthcare <em>Reform</em> bill, I was
133asked: did you read the bill? To which I replied with action and read
134<a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3590&amp;tab=summary">the official summary of the bill</a>. And now I ask those who asked me if
135I had read it: have <em>you</em> read it. I received as a reply an unequivocal:
136<em>why should I have to</em>.</p>
137
138<p>Fun fact: it isn't as bad as some people make it seem, but guess what?
139<em>It does nothing beneficial to the individual</em>. All it does it require
140that anyone over 30 purchase insurance, severely restricts the usage
141of Health Savings Accounts (which, may be not so bad&mdash;I have no
142opinion on their usefulness... but <em>Republicans</em> created them so they
143<em>must</em> be <em>evil</em>), and is generally a piece of hey-look-I-did-something
144(but nothing goes into effect until I am out of office)
145legislation. This has never happened before, obviously. We are on the
146surface of Mars now too didn't you know.</p>
147
148<p>Meanwhile there is what amounts to no price controls, an actual <em>ban</em> on
149the formation of State run healthcare (until 2017, and then only at
150the discretion of the HHS secretary), and token (unfunded) support for
151the formation of healthcare cooperatives. There are some taxes on
152large drug makers, but the research required by the FDA for drug
153approval is <em>tax deductible</em> (and so the larger drug makers can avoid
154most of the new taxes, har). And... an excise tax on overly fancy
155healthcare plans... more or less, a nice bill that, if it manages to
156not be overturned by 2018, will do absolutely nothing one way or the
157other.</p>
158
159<p>It is obvious that I am indeed a dirty Nazi redneck terrorist
160teabagger Republican piece of shit who hates the poor and black
161people. I guess it's time for my white ass to move to Iran and see how
162I like it there!</p>
163
164
165
166<h3><a name="sec5" id="sec5"></a>
2aff8b5c 167Capitalism is Intrinsically Evil</h3>
168
169<p class="first">Cooperation is better than exploitation. How can one justify an
170economic system based upon paying others as little as possible in an
171attempt to make the most profit from their labor so as to make some
172profit?</p>
173
9dcdb59d 174<p>But then again, what does <em>evil</em> mean?</p>
175
2aff8b5c 176
177
4863a6da 178<h2><a name="sec6" id="sec6"></a>
2aff8b5c 179Misc</h2>
180
4863a6da 181<h3><a name="sec7" id="sec7"></a>
2aff8b5c 182Long Term Copyright Causes Harm to Society (<code>Draft Revision 2</code>)</h3>
183
184
185
186
187
188<p>It is straightforward to calculate a fair cost for material goods. The
189material cost follows from the materials, and the labor cost generally
190derives from the complexity of construction. The fixed price for each
191item consists of both of these factors. Thus it is trivial to ensure
192that a craftsman is fairly compensated for his effort.</p>
193
194
195
196
197<p>Creative works must have their value calculated via a more circuitous
198route. The physical form of a creative work is of little importance;
199the ideas it represents are. The material and direct labor costs
200(printing, binding, etc.) are thus so small as to be of negligible
201importance when calculating value. There is effectively no objective
202way to place value on abstract work; all the value judgements we can
203make are subjective. We must then rely on irrational human valuations
204to determine the value on their own.</p>
205
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213
214<p>Creative works are fundamentally different from concrete works. A
215painting may inspire others start a new stylistic movement, the
216structure of a story may cause the formation of a new literary form,
217an essay may incite a new political movement, etc. Creative works
218weave themselves into the mental fabric of each individual exposed to
219them in a way that material goods cannot. A book may change your life;
220a table will never do that. This suggests that the abstract concepts
221which compose a work have a strange nature and great value. Those who
222control the distribution of creative works wield great power as a
223result of the ability of ideas to change the individual.</p>
224
225<p>After a certain period of time the physical manifestation of a
226creative work loses commercial value. New art is being created
227continually, and no one can be expected to read every important book
228written, see every film, and so on for other areas. When a work ceases
229to be profitable to publish distribution ceases. Allowing abstract
230works to simply drop from the market creates a serious problem. New
231ideas are built upon old ones, and after ideas have assimilated into
232the collective concious it is important to be able to go back to the
233old ideas and analyze them to understand the present culture. If a
234work is no longer available it is impossible to do this. Thus works
235that are no longer being commercially exploited should become the
236property of the public so that any worth preserving will be preserved
237by <em>someone</em> and avoid death.</p>
238
239
240
241
242<p>Copyright manages to work fairly well for ensuring creators are
243compensated for their effort, preventing abuse of creator rights to
244the detriment of society, and ensuring that works will become public
245property after they are commercially unprofitable. Irrational human
246judgements over time often work well, and so giving exclusive right to
247copy a work makes sense for a period of time to allow society to
248determine its monetary value. The fair use provisions of copyright
249give society reasonable leeway in the use of the ideas contained
250within a work while the work is protected, and this allows society to
251continue enriching its creative culture. The limited term of copyright
252and ensuing reversion to the public domain prevents the cultural
253stagnation and the loss of history that would result from works
254becoming unavailable.</p>
255
256
257
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259
260
261<p>The term of copyright must be finely balanced between the need to
262ensure creators have enough time to receive fair compensation for
263their effort, and the desire to avoid cultural stagnation from
264unavailable works. The term must be short enough that a work will not
265be unavailable for too long after commercial interest dies. Every year
266that passes where the work isn't being published tends to reduce the
267number of copies in existence. It must also be long enough that a
268creator can profit according to the value that society puts upon his
269work.</p>
270
271<p>A term should be just long enough that a work will fall out of
272copyright when physical copies are still likely to exist. A man may
273keep his book collection unto his death, but his children may simply
274sell them off or discard them after he departs the mortal
275coil. Intuitive judgement says that things that are worth entering the
276public domain will be preserved by someone for at least his life. A
277person who has creative works in his posession is often attached to
278them and will keep the ones he likes the most for as long as possible
279(e.g. my music collection is backed up in flac so that I will be able
280to listen to my music forever). After he dies there is a large
281increase in the chance that the works will perish unless he by chance
282made special arrangements to have them preserved.</p>
283
284<p>A generation then seems to be a reasonable term; how many things are
285really commercially viable after thirty years? Some works may be
286relevant to the children of the generation who created them; it seems
287reasonable then that if a work is still commercially viable after a
288generation then the creator deserves to retain copyright for a second
289generation. It is questionable whether more terms would be good
290(issues of supression of information, right to profit, etc. come into
291play), but they can't quite be ruled out. A renewal system with a span
292of roughly thirty years ensures that a work will be out of publication
293for at most a generation's time. This appears to be a good balance
294between the right of the creator and the desire to keep knowledge from
295dying (from my eyes).</p>
296
297<p>The works of the current generation, their parents, their
298grandparents, and their great-grandparents are still copyrighted in
299the US. Works created in the present will be copyrighted for the
300lifetime of the author and seventy years after; a span of roughly six
301generations.</p>
302
303
4863a6da 304<h3><a name="sec8" id="sec8"></a>
2aff8b5c 305Fewer Laws Are Better</h3>
306
4863a6da 307<h4><a name="sec9" id="sec9"></a>
2aff8b5c 308Individuals should not have their actions regulated</h4>
309
310
4863a6da 311<h4><a name="sec10" id="sec10"></a>
2aff8b5c 312Corporations must have their actions heavily regulated</h4>
313
314<p class="first">Corporate power disrupts the functioning of a free society. If the
315power wielded by a corporation were merely the sum of the individuals
316that composed it there would be little issue; the fundamental problem
317is that the benefits of gaining access to mass production facilities
318and a huge workforce that can be forced to cooperate on certain goals
9dcdb59d 319gives a large corporation much more than this.</p>
2aff8b5c 320
321<h5>Corporate Personhood should be revoked</h5>
322
323
324<h5>Corporations should not be allowed to influence politics</h5>
325
326
327
328
329
4863a6da 330<h2><a name="sec11" id="sec11"></a>
2aff8b5c 331Social Ills</h2>
332
4863a6da 333<h3><a name="sec12" id="sec12"></a>
2aff8b5c 334Mass Culture</h3>
335
336<p class="first">American culture in the early 1900s began to homogenize, and now there
337is a single massive culture that almost all three hundred million
338people in the country share. This presents problems to those who do
339not fit in; in the days of the self sufficient village one could move
340to another location to find people similar to him, but now there is
341nowhere to go. Everywhere a <em>social deviant</em> goes he will feel alienated
342and have his social options severely limited.</p>
343
344<p>A monoculture reduces the rate of idea formation, and ours is actively
345hostile toward anything not falling in line with the
346mainstream. People are trained to act as a mass instead of as
347individuals; this results in far less creative people. Critical
348thinking is not encouraged; no, it is far worse! Critical thinking is
349discouraged, and those of us who wish to argue our points with logic
350are met with the undefeatable enemy of a closed mind that has been
351exposed to propaganda from birth.</p>
352
4863a6da 353<h4><a name="sec13" id="sec13"></a>
354The Talking Heads</h4>
2aff8b5c 355
4863a6da 356<p class="first">Poison the well. Burn a strawman.</p>
357
358<p>This is real argument. Real thought.</p>
359
360
361
362<h3><a name="sec14" id="sec14"></a>
2aff8b5c 363The Automobile</h3>
364
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4863a6da 390<h3><a name="sec15" id="sec15"></a>
2aff8b5c 391Learned Ignorance and Weakness</h3>
392
393<p><a href="Old%20Viewpoints.html">obsolete</a></p>
394
395<p><a href="TRUTH.html">TRUTH</a></p>
396
397
398
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424
4863a6da 425<p class="cke-footer">Corinne: this is why we should have designated bath buddies
426Corinne: to get places you cant reach because youre slippery and in
427 case you get a lil tooo slippery and crack your head open
428 someone can call the coast guard and save you
2aff8b5c 429</p>
430<p class="cke-timestamp">Last Modified:
4863a6da 431 April 4, 2010</p>
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