Writing this down, anybody&;#063;

Anybody Writing This Down&;#8230;..?

Essays on Truth
By Joseph Baron Pravda

You Can't Handle the Truth

Don't believe it, go find some Plato, any Plato
really&;#8230;&;#8230;.no, not PlayDough&;#61666;; that's
right, while he was involved with young children, rest assured it had
little to do with the Truth (other than the sad truth that pederasty
was the national pastime of his countrymen).

The Greek
guy&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;.
loved Socrates (possibly in more ways than one, see: loose-fitting
clothing, women with facial hair, not to mention menstruation, it gets
ugly), easily the most influential Western philosopher in recorded
history, that's all.

Pushed for something called the 'noble lie', useful in that ancient
game known as politics, not to mention all things and transactions
human, in other words, everything. Forget that bone thrown to
truth-telling in that rag The Republic----most likely, from what I
hear, the product of some funky mushrooms mixed with too much aqua
vitae; besides, when is the last time you saw a politico even vaguely
resembling a philosopher king; see what I mean? (Hey, put more than two
people in a setting with a limited supply of something as simple as
toilet paper, watch what happens).

Fast forward to the present day. There's even a mathematical theory
describing this: Game Theory. Basically, there are two scenarios: 'I
win, therefore you lose', zero-sum games and 'Hey, we can both win if
we cooperate in some way', nonzero sum.

Zero sum, big favorite with the status quo crowd, hereinafter
"they"[see next essay: "Why Does the Status Quo have a Latin Name?"];
they even point with pride to chess, the brainy game, as their model.
Smart guys (sorry gals, if these guys keep getting their way, only way
you're getting in the club is if you leave your distinctly different
brain pan at the door) play chess, therefore chess is the smart way of
doing things, everything actually.

Nonzero, well, that's a real threat to said crowd, like things just the
way they've got them, just trust them and everything will be alright,
at least for them. (Sorry, take it up with Darwin, nothing personal).
There are exceptions, though and, you may have guessed it, when it
comes to commerce and its hemoglobin, money. Call it free trade,
globalism its latest model, complete with the whole Pox Americana
package: hey, everybody wants to be like Mike. In fairness, there are
growing applications in such realms as world peace, all highly
theoretical, lots of Institutes working hard on the problem, funded, of
course, by the 'go slow' folks who might just have an iron or two in
the odd region or so of instability. In even greater fairness, until
the capability exists to get off-world to a really sweet other-world
destination, ripe for condos right on the whatever is status-giving
there, hedge strategy (that's right, one of those zero sum money
strategies) says, 'give peace a chance.'

Let's review: by their design, you're that particular brand of person
native to North America, peurilus perpetualis, adolescent adults who,
well, are just too busy with your busy lives in pursuit of business
(they thought by changing out the 'y' for an 'i' it would misdirect
your attention: bingo) to take the time to use that usually unequalled
wetware (yes, that thing between your ears no one really taught you how
to actually use independently-----anybody hear 'so sorry, got to build
really expensive stuff with which to keep the 'peace' in those
never-ending regions of instability, all too sad, really, why can't
they, won't they just be more like us' Note: that last term does not
actually include you, the 'consumer class', have other uses for you,
just keep buying stuff and no one will get hurt, okay? Further Note:
'no one' only includes you who keep buying that stuff) to figure out
that not only can't you have 'it all' but, gee, you really don't bloody
well need it, much less want it. Don't believe it, actually have an
actual conversation with your kids for more than 60 seconds that
excludes platitudes, shopping, entertainment or sex (should have
subsumed that last one into the former but, you're already conditioned
to attentively respond, so, when in
Rome&;#8230;&;#8230;especially when the cause is so
desperate).

One final note of fairness: look, I suppose they really would hold
their noses and sell the very same consumer goods(?) to all those sadly
unstable wog populaces but, well, may take a really long time to
condition them, with all those darn primitive ,messy ,ages-old customs
and 'cultures' [whatever those are, right?] getting in the way; go to
Plan B: sell the really high-end stuff to their more aggressive leader
types and, without taking sides (see: hedge strategy, above), in all
fairness the marketplace has as a built-in virtue, to the pesky Rebels
that seem inevitably to crop up, somehow (see: tongue-in-cheek, as in
'they have their&;#8230;.').