Quotes Along the Murdock VII

 Quotes Along the Murdock VII

Quotes Along the Murdock I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII

Everything on this page was previously published or posted, elsewhere:

Not all ordinary disturbances bring ordinary things.

Restating what I've said in these quotes years ago:

Ignorance is noble.

But as practiced today, it's disgusting.

Ignorance is noble.

Everyone starts out ignorant.

Sustaining ignorance, however, especially in this day & age, is a cancer that's easy enough to fight against...with knowledge.

But we have to want to fight against our own (& our group's) biases & agendas.

Which is yet another cancer.

Knowledge, by definition, is verified information—facts proven true, not just what sounds good to us or aligns with our beliefs.

Telling isn't bragging. Know the difference.
Doing good, then holding it secret to avoid labels such as "braggart" does yourself, but also US ALL, a disservice.
Of course, always those who claim "telling" is bragging.
But their weak ego or narcissism shouldn't keep others from examples to emulate.

In making our situation better, it can have a distributed effect upon others. At times doing for yourself betters the lives of friends and family. Though at some point, it merely enhances your own life.
Know the difference.

Beware who you "are" as it may be who you're not

History leads to the future. Hiding from it disorients.

Be brave enough to live the lies you want to.

Revolutions are in education.
Society's lost the art of patience.
Too many things anymore evoke overreactions.
We're purposely killing ourselves in our attempts to fix everything, instantly.
It's madness.
It's unnecessary.

Fascism and authoritarianism can perpetually serve as a potential ‘grout’ within the framework of democracy. If not vigilantly guarded against, they possess the power to topple that very framework. Their most destructive actions, often occurring out of sight, to disable the system in unforeseen ways. Sadly, this is often misunderstood and unforeseen by those most committed to such ideological changes.

"Sewage" owns only the "sewer".

We have always been an extremely bigoted country.
What bigotry we see today doesn't mean we're horrible or broken.
It means we're 100s of years into healing from our European theistic bigotries in our newly blended society of various cultures with another 100-300 to come.

I've never seen such a time
when so many
think they know so much
about so little & yet
are utterly clueless
about just how wrong they are
about so very much.

America was based upon the concept of a free people who can govern themselves guided by common sense & belief in a Greater Good. Sadly, Republicans today decided to forego common sense AND that greater good for their minor one, through which they will force govern all by, their few. This is not a liberal democracy or a republic. It is autocracy enforced by self-desire.

Democracy is good for everyone if you keep capitalism under control from becoming toxic. While fascism is good only for the Fascists until they finally get around to eating their own.

Any form of the "Great Stupid" remains dangerous until it stops moving.

We work hard all our lives so we can retire and begin again to act like children in the best of ways.

People are made obvious by their pets & children.

Rules are not there (contrary to common belief) to be broken.
They are there as our guides.
Petty tyrants always follow rules...rather, they make others follow them, while decent people do what's right.
Even when breaking a rule sees them damned for it.
Rules are not people

Right on the edge of comedy is...Trump. I mean, tragedy. 

When giving those of questionable character, and power, one can only expect in return a never-ending variety of gifts of abuse and corruption.

Motion requires friction, but functional abundance requires balance.

"Corporate thought", toxic capitalism aimed at profit as a primary focus, supported by law, when we have got to mature into our reality, rather than maintain the mindset that the world is our resource to destroy for profit at our whim.

America's biggest problem today seems to be that we need to get politics out of the way of our decision making. Base solutions on Problems! Carve away all those basing All Our Reality on Their fantasies. Fixes for Problems are based on Reality. Fantasy is not a basis for "problems"

I would disagree that atheism is the flip side of the same coin from religion.

It is more like walking into a forest and appreciating it's existence and existing within it, noticing what is beyond it. Religion is taking that walk and making up fantasies about it.

With the advent of the first national power grid, high tech was inevitable to where it's now on the order of electricity itself.

I never thought I'd see the level of ignorance of one's willful and selective ignorance rise to this level of popularity.

Donald Trump. Our greatest dullards expend neverending energy mis-ascribing disdainment upon those having utterly nothing to do with their pains & trials, perpetrated long ago by others, in order to attain their greatest possible distances from intellect, decency, or humanity.

 

Discovering ice cream is fun, but eating it for every meal is murderous.

I agree that it's not as much some 1 vs "Other" but Sane vs Crazy.

Us ("normies") vs (any demonized) "Other".

Clickbait mentality polarized us into Stupidity.

Either/Or.

Black & White.

Binary.

Contrast ruling so we can quickly "see" (not understand) who/what to support. Ignoring nuance or reality. Avoiding taking time to dive deep. Rather being shallowly aware of many topics, not well aware of our most important ones.

"TDS" is an illusion dreamed by those who prefer Delusion over Reality.
Instant destructive change.
Preferring delusion than the hard work of democracy.
Preferring fantasy that one day will go rancid against all.
But they do not care.
Because delusion is Fun & Easy.
For now...

Life's a series of risk analysis.
Hiding from all bad, isn't livable.
One considers a quality of life & living with oneself (unless you're a narcisistic sociopathic).
A lack of paranoia is delusion.
Just live so you can live with yourself.
While being someone worth living with.

Be the child in the adult, innocent, rather than the adult in the child, corrupted.

Let's understand...what IS the existential threat about AI?

It's people. Just like "Soylent Green"?

The problem America is running into with Christian nationalists is "unyielding faith", which doesn't WORK in a country of mixed cultures & religions.
Either Grasp THAT, or leave! Get with the program, or get out.
Because, destroying US for YOU?
Just isn't tenable in the view of MOST OF US!

To even disingenuously conflate "social programs" with "social-isms" is to abdicate one's right ever to claim either education, intelligence, awareness, or...sanity.

In one's life we must find a paradigm to adhere to, be affectionately faithful, be fully loyal to it, but then also remain alert, with eyes wide open, always prepared to if not better one's life, better one's paradigm of it.

We cannot allow ourselves to merely be reduced to a set of code, then judged by the code that governs that code.

Life is just stolen moments of time, time that is matter, matter that is energy...moments stolen, fragments stolen, transient and elusive until the inevitable return of the thief.

Greatness and Madness forever confront one another from opposite sides of a coin intimately familiar to them both. Is it the Coin of Destiny? Is it not?

Were we to vanquish "small man" (or woman, or whomever) syndrome from the face of the earth, those such as Donald Trump, his MAGA, Putin, Kim Jong Un, etc., etc., would dissipate in a puff of their own putrefactive effluences, emanating the odor of rancid, pork.

We are All one being, HumanKind.
Yet we are often not very kind to one another.
While it is merely a choice, we too often fool ourselves to choose elsewise.

We use "shorthands". They govern humanity. Language is a shorthand. To understand we make shorthands. Complex topics require building kernels of info strung together to assimilate the entire concept or field. If you don't reorient from time to time you can get off track. This is how people get into conspiracy theories. This perspective underscores the need for critical thinking and regularly revisiting and updating our understanding of complex topics. It reminds us to approach information with a discerning mindset, continually seeking out reliable sources and evidence-based reasoning to avoid falling into unfounded beliefs.

The only way to end the fear, the anger, the grief addiction... is as it is with every addiction.
Stop feeding it. Find...a way.

The inexperienced fight obvious battles, the wise fight essential battles.

It occurs to me people have become shallow anymore. At least a 1/4 America as exemplified by MAGA. Low information is correct. But not in ways people think. A lack of respect is a lack of depth, of info, references, history & wisdom. Be deeper. Feel other's pain.

 Most would prefer to be loved by the most, hated by the least. Beware the ones who want to be hated & despised. Beware the ones who wants to be loved by the few, hated by the most. For therein lie your autocrats, psychopaths. So I give you... easily, Donald Trump. And friends...

Drink not from the easily supplied, overflowing cup of cowardice, rather eat from the hard earned plate of democracy.

 

The greatest stories are never about closure but the search for it. Because so often in life, we have such a tentative relationship to it.  Which for some is a destructive force. And not infrequently, unnecessarily so.

Understand that comments indicating "They" are "doing" this or that conspiracy, are observed in hindsight as assumptions in "seeing" an "Other" in processes, showing intense desire to ascribe intent.
While most of this is simply change & progress, be it good or bad.

 
Conservativism means conserving progress, carefulness. In its worst state, protectiveness, fear, anxiety, greed...paranoia.
Leaning into that forces people to be proactive as we're seeing...in many or all the wrong ways.
But it's very Authoritarian.
Then Fascist.
Then de rigor.

Debate is great.
Argumentation is fun & exercises your mind.
Don't bother with people who cherry-pick "facts", that make them not facts.
Don't both with people who bicker, that's not argumentation. Or debate.
Finally, don't fight with fools.

Too often what some people claim as "tough love", is really simple laziness and avoidance (if not outright abuse) on their part. 

When walking uphill into the wind, lean forward.

Evil and responsibility for its actions, and inevitable unrelenting Justice should never know age or demographic, simply that it endlessly executes its primary reason for existence.

My ex and I had two different orientations. I wanted my kids to grow up knowing I'm human and can make mistakes, not growing up and then one day have the shock of, "Oh, my parents aren't perfect and know all." That disillusionment seems unnecessary to me and as well, in showing them yourself, it allows the parents to teach a child how to think for themselves. Many parents avoid that as it is harder to raise kids, not on automatic.

Also, remember when you're raising kids or have kids in your house, when you have to deal with them in a parental or adult to child sense, consider your second reaction to the situation and then weigh it with your first reaction. Because your first reaction is often the right reaction. But many times you'll later realize it was your third reaction that could've been best.

The Internet, a deep well of logic and limitation. (paraphrase off a comment by John Lithgow's character in, "The Tomorrow Man" (2019, writer/director Noble Jones).

Two important things I've learned in studying criminal evidence & SOVIET (& GOP) style espionage techniques & history: Sometimes ONCE sets a pattern. And, Certain types should NEVER get a 2nd chance. By the way, this is also true in romantic relationships.

When n we had only three TV channels it pulled America together. We all watched mostly the same shows. Politics & religion, were private in order to avoid today's tribalism & derisiveness. See, we WERE aware of how this could go wrong. In having such variety in our news & entertainment today, the hones of our commonality therefore now has GOT to reside with We, the People. We ARE a single nation. We need to ACT like it!

"Romance", is historically and generally in the distance from it. From the moment, from the act, from the scene. Until it becomes the general consideration of it. Which is why it so often fails to satisfy when its' pursuit is completed. Thus for instance, throughout history the pursuit of one's achievements in "war" are seen later on more by others as "romantic" in notion, rather than in the direct experience of it.

Speak intelligently, or silently.

To clarify, as many of us made this mistake not differentiating...these people (many or most) are not stupid per se, but referring to them as "stupid" refers not to their (lack of) intellect, rather their actions & effects on democracy & America in death & destruction it entails.

An absence of doubt, is an absence of clarity. Absolute faith eliminates absolute clarity.

The vain, narcissist's forever conundrum: the birthday.
Bring attention to it, and receive praise?
Or hide from it and avoid claims of growing yet another year older?

One needs to believe to "see" something. Sometimes we can't see what's right in front of us, albeit out of context. Just be careful that in seeing what you believe, it's actually there at all. Always strive to see what's there, whether or not you believe in it. In telling that to others, in how you tell it in interesting ways, is an artform and a career.

Listen, if you like, to the siren song of popularism in entertainment. NOT politics. A different more profound sensibility is needed for that.

The world will suffer history's recriminations for allowing Ukraine to have been devastated as it has, been by a petty anachronistic ex-SOVIET, Russian dictator & his delusionally over propagandized citizenry.

The energy in disease control is in effective & appropriate knowledge & actions, not in magical thinking.

Prayer & wishful thinking dissipate that energy in ignoring science. 

Dis & misinfo for power/wealth eats energy, stifling saving people through medicine, techniques & PPE.

Winning in politics is your side not getting exhausted and sharing a narrative that attracts. It's sad that just doing good isn't enough.

Stupid, isn't racist. It crosses all borders.

Using Judd Apatow's term about comedy...

"Everyone should be 'goofed' on."

But... we really have to be more aware at times when 'goofing' on some groups, who are at that time in their social evolution (meaning in the social evolution of all of us regarding them) when they are at too delicate of a time to be making fun of them.

But... we all need to be knocked down, 'goofed' on, from time to time and we should (as a goal) be able to take it. 

IF it's actually funny.

To exemplify that, right now trans people are being brutalized by some groups. In an ideal worlds, we could see a comedy in a \theater where there is a (& not a mean spirited) joke about trans people, where everyone in the theater laughs at it, even if it's a half trans audience. Because the trans people there are secure and happy enough to take it and laugh at themselves, knowing they are being compassionately laughed with by others and not laughed at, while the non trans people there are accepting enough of them that they can appreciate it and laugh with them, but not at them. 

I tire easily of those whose enlightenment leads only so far as the alphabet. 

Fear & hatred of socialism is ignorance applied to past failed human efforts with it.

The problem isn't socialism, capitalism, democracy, or communism.

The problem is, the answer has always been in a hybrid as pure examples of any of them are toxic. But together they can be humane.

It won't be a civil war that destroys America.

It will be doubt.

Manufactured by conservative manipulations and fear.

Their Party. The GOP. For power.

Do everything you can and never allow anything you do, be useless. Find a way for it to be useful, in some way, any way.

What I see from many gun owners today is a lack of respect, awareness & responsibility.

When you aim a gun at someone & pull the trigger, hitting them, you change both your lives forever. Be correct, be decisive, but don't make a mistake. Because too many do anymore. Willingly. Years ago people respected guns out of awareness & ignorance, training, or in how they were raised. Today we've become so familiar (we think) from films, TV, & games we lost that reasonable fear & respect as a culture as Narcissism dictates to some of us we're owed others' lives.

One appreciates an indivdiual of optimal discernment.

I have two things of which I'm sure.

I am here. I am real.

As for the rest of you, I have no definitive proof one way or the other...best of luck.

Entropy. All creation requires destruction. Just some are more cavalier than others about that destruction. So let's try to minimize that destruction. Economy of motion is a beautiful thing.

One man's democracy is another vile man's autocracy.

Whenever we get to the point of covering the nakedness of ancient statuary, of burning books, of preferring our own lies to truth, we can clearly know we've "jumped the shark", "screwed the pooch", are showing to ourselves & others what fools we have truly become.