Some post-U.S. election thoughts
I won't go into too much detail about yesterday's U.S. elections. I think I can illustrate my feelings on the (apparent) results by saying that I was up at 2 am crunching numbers on Ohio votes in a desperate hope that things weren't as they seemed. It looks like they were, and I will just have to live with that.I have been reading a lot of blogs these last few weeks, particularly on American politics. There is lots that I agree with and lots that I definitely don't, but this morning I came across something that really made me stop and think:
I'm advocating people dusting off their better judgment and using it for once. If you think something, no matter what it is, you ought to be able to say it (because an idea can't be examined unless it is expressed), and say why you think it. If you can't say why, you ought to have the self-discipline to admit that it's a "gut feeling". Either way, you ought to have the honesty to examine evidence for and against and admit any flaws in your argument, and the courage to change your mind if you are wrong.
This was written by aeschenkarnos and comes via Metafilter (and made a nice change from the 'your guy stinks', 'no, your guy stinks' discussions). This is just an section from a longer comment that I would recommend reading.
The ideas in this comment seem to pull together some thoughts I have been having myself, and took them to some conclusions I hadn't reached. In fact I decided to start a blog partly because I realise that I have many opinions and beliefs that aren't as well supported or examined as they should be - and this seemed like a good way of trying to examine and support a little better.
posted by Patrick ASD @ 1:42 PM
2 Comments:
Patrick,
You seemed to have jumped to conclusion. Well, I did mention people cannot speak more than two lines of English but I also mentioned how I admired them for conducting business inspite of that. I was talking about people in very posh malls, stores, the Gems Gallery and the airport. That makes it extremely difficult for tourists like me. And I come from India, which is also non-English speaking, but the government officials at such public places speak a fair bit of understandble English. I am tourist, not a travel show host or a resident, I will mention things as they are and how they affected me.
Did you even read what I said? Of course, not. I had also written...'I don't look down upon them but rather it's with wonder that I ponder on how they conduct business.'
I presume you just read the first three-four lines, and left your comment without even perusing further.
I don't care what you think of me or my entry, but the last thing I need is someone who does not even know me, passing a judgement without even reading properly what I said. Period.
If you can't quite make sense of Kavitha's comment that is because it belongs in the comments here and has nothing to do with this post at all. But I decided not to delete because a) That seems a bit too much like censorhsip b) It is the first comment on my new blog, so I am rather attached.
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