Think for yourself.

Around 250 BC, a guy named Zeno proved by logic, that a plodding tortoise could best the known world's fleetest hero. As long as the tortoise was given a head start. Zeno's logic went like this. Whenever Achilles caught up to where the tortoise was, the tortoise would have moved a bit farther. Ergo, Achilles was doomed to lose.

But wait a minute. A little voice tells you something's wrong about this. Yet another voice says, 'do you think you're smarter than Zeno, a bona fide Greek philosopher and big-time thinker?'

So you accept Zeno's logic. Maybe even repeat it, parrot-like, to all your buddies.

That's too bad. You should have gone with your instincts. The truth is, Zeno was having some fun with you, using a form of bad logic called reductio ad absurdum. Simply put, if you start with a stupid premise, good logic will always lead you to a stupid conclusion.

So, always check your premise. And for heaven's sake, think for yourself.

Here's to Zeno. And here's to common sense.

JDF

Friday, August 13, 2010

Pisces Rising

   First there were fish. They were stylized and tasteful; piscine outlines adhered to the reading end of one’s car.


   I got the symbolism. And the intent of the car’s owner to convey his faith to fellow motorists. Tastefully.

   Then came the eyes. They were little crosses, set within the outline of the fish’s head. Still tasteful, even if teetering on the verge of redundancy.

   But then I began seeing legs. Dissenters were displaying fish of their own, modified with evolved limbs, in mocking derision of the original symbols.

   I got the symbolism. And the intent. By what they considered a clever perversion of the original symbol, they were going to let the benighted Christians know what they thought of their superstitions.

   Is this really necessary?

   You may remember the Amalekites from the bible. They were the people that God ordered King Saul to annihilate. This was to include every man, woman, child, and domestic animal.

   What sin, you may ask, did the Amalekites commit that was egregious enough to merit this extreme punishment?

   Glad you asked. The Amalekites, seeking to undermine both the Jews’ own faith in God, as well as the respect other people had for The Chosen, attacked them relentlessly as they wandered across the desert.

   It was an act of ultimate cynicism.

   The lesson is this: You are free to believe what you want. But for those who believe in nothing, it’s not necessary to undermine another person’s faith in order to bolster your own beliefs (or lack thereof).

   It’s cynical.

   And anything but tasteful.
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