Looks like I have my answer as to what would happen with Catalonia…the separatist administration of the Province has blinked. The Madrid government is still making sure this isn’t a cutesy effort to avoid conflict and depart later.
So looks like we won’t get a test case to see how Europe/the EU would react to secession hitting a core state.
Oh…This makes it 0-2 recently, with Scotland, Catalonia not jumping ship. Calexit hardest hit?
“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.” – Walter Sobchack
Throughout history, among the various Big Questions of Philosophy – of Life, the Universe and Everything – were the Questions of ethics, morality and human nature. These may or may not have been supplanted by the query “are traps gay” in present, more enlightened times. But ehm… let’s focus on the older questions. What’s all this then?
There once was a saying, in some old language no one cares about anymore, “Homo homini lupus est”, which either had to do with aspects of human nature or was a warning against having wolves as pets. Either way, it gave me ideas for the title of this post.
What is human nature? What is wolf nature? How similar are the two? Is human nature immutable or does it evolve in time – if so, in which time-frame? Can it be change at will – just one gulag away from the New Man? Do some things never change? How many questions in a row can I ask before it gets annoying? How much wood would a woodchuck… Hell, if I knew all that, I’d be teaching at Oxford or Cambridge – whichever one is cooler and with hotter students. In the meantime, here we are.
The debate of how static human nature is revolves around the never-ending discussion of nature versus nurture in human development. Trying to fully answer this would achieve little, as it is as old as philosophy and yet to be resolved. Long story short, it’s a combination of both, and how much of each varies from person to person, society to society, time to time, in unknowable ways. Sociologists will investigate this further –whether we want them to or not – although, being sociologists, they are highly unlikely to find anything worthwhile. Also Steven Pinker and Nassim Taleb had a spat about it over the Better Angels of our Nature book. At least it keeps them occupied.
I am not a social constructionist, so I believe there are strong elements of human nature that are clearly innate, genetic. They may change over long periods of time, with the evolution of man and maybe human society; they may be softened by education or experience. But they are forever lurking in the shadows of the human mind. This is the nature part. Frankly I find the notion that human behavior has no significant genetic component ridiculous. Everything about humans has genetic influence – height, the color of various external components (and implicitly whether you have a soul or not), or liking coriander (or is it cilantro… anyway I sort of like it, but I don’t love it). Everything, it seems, except the brain. What amuses me is that people who claim that nurture is everything are also people who claim to believe in evolution and mock religious creationists. There is no way, after all, that evolution shaped behaviour.
By human nature, of course, I do not mean characteristics of a certain individual, but general characteristics of most humans. But can we truly know which parts of humans are nature? While there are differences between brains of humans, there are also similarities. This is to do with what the immutable part of human nature is, basic facts like response to incentives, wishing to increase satisfaction and decrease unease, wanting to achieve goals, needing friends and family, sex, drugs and rock n roll (since caveman time people have gotten high and created art, often at the same time).
Some things about human nature can be positive, others decidedly not so. This should be understood and fought against by each of us – the darkness within. Fighting it is hard and often useless, but fight we must. You will not eliminate these things, try as you might. Can you truly change your nature? Well, it depends on what nature is. An alcoholic can stop drinking, but is human nature to be an alcoholic? Probably not.
The ridiculous thing is that the Old left understood this on some level. They wanted to create the New Man, the Socialist man. Bigger, better, sexier, more obedient. They realized that the nature of the Old Man was not what they wanted. But did they truly believe they could do this, or was it demagoguery? Probably a bit of both.
Of course there are elements which greatly differ between individuals and which are also biologically determined – height, athleticism, intelligence, personality, socializing. They are, of course, a clear combination of nature and nurture, meaning they can be influenced and shaped by nurture, but not completely. In basketball you are either an explosive athlete or you are not, no amount of training will make old Pie into Russell Westbrook.
One should not be afraid to admit there both human nature and some difference between individuals. It is just that morality should not be based on such difference.
Now, assuming human nature exists, can we get a coherent system of ethics out of it, especially given subjectivity is inherent in human nature? We can at least try, which is precisely what I plan on doing.
Now in regards to ethics the million silver dollar (screw inflation) question is – can a universal, objective system of ethics be derived directly from human nature? Not an easy question – this depends on where one stands in investigating the classics, like Hume’s is–ought problem or Moore naturalistic fallacy – writing tip: randomly name calling past philosophers makes you seem smart and well read. I sort of agree with C. S. Lewis on this on, that nature is about what is and ethics about what ought to be. But maybe you can use some solid facts as a starting point.
One thing is certain: ethic systems are generally based on a first premise – some basic axioms – which, cannot be easily claimed as universal. Not without extremly well though out arguments. This should be obvious by simply analyzing human civilization and finding wildly different systems.
The fact that there are different systems of ethics does not mean they are all equally valid. Is it that ethics is subjective, or that some people are just plain wrong? Are all systems equal, or are some better than others? The tendency is to say that, obviously, some are better – expecially the one the person holds, if we believe something we think it is correct.
Some axioms will be better than others, more rational, logically consistent and easier to apply universally and leading to better results, but in the end some things have to be asserted.
Ethics systems have changed. Has human nature evolved in time? Or did it reflect a changing world. I don’t think it changed substantially, and me it seems to me that systems who tried to change some very basic facts of human nature have failed to take hold. Humans have the need to eat and to do that they hunted, but after some time they learned how to satisfy hunger through agriculture – though some still claim we were better off as hunter gatherers. This often made humans much less nomadic then they were as hunter-gatherers – can this be considered a change in human nature? I think not.
As society evolves, some types of violence tend to decrease, but not disappear – is violence human nature or is it just one of several means to an end? Some people are inherently aggressive and that does not change, but as society evolves that aggression can be channeled differently or kept in check by isolation. Culture matters obviously, children learn from parents, society or religion affects people, and these evolve faster than the human creature.
A strong influence in modern times is availability of information. When people lived isolated in small town and villages, they didn’t know much about foreigners, so it was easy to view different as dangerous or evil, but as people learn that the inhabitants of other lands are people just like them, they may be inclined to more tolerance of The Others.
So the conclusion thus far: Humans have various views on morality, some better than others, and the views change in time. I will more clearly present my personal views in a future installment (should it be published).
Now, I feel every glib saying to itself, this is a pretty pointless article. Does not say much really. Which is true. But this here is a blog post, not a scholarly work, so the point is to basically do a survey of the audience. The question being “what is human nature” and how does it balance with nurture (50/50 60/40 that sort of thing). Discuss …
Something (not so) funny happened on the way to the 2018 World Cup. Seriously, USMNT? Seriously?!?!?! How do you go to the worst team in the tournament at their stadium that seats 10,000 people and they only have about 1,000 tickets sold in a game where you can’t afford to lose and play with such a lack of heart? I can forgive the fluky first goal. But a 45 yard shot in the open field that gets by the “greatest goalie to ever play for the USA”? And then the complete lack of effort going forward against Trinidad? They’re freaking Trinidad and you’re the USA. You can’t get hyped up enough to show a little energy in that game then you deserve what you got. And Bruce Arena, you’re an idiot that got fired the last time you were in over your head and you deserve to get fired again. Stupid bunch of prima donna assclowns. And in South America, Chile won’t be going either as a wild bunch of games ended up with them staying home. But at least they can say they lost to Brazil on the final day and not Trinidad.
Well the NHL has been playing for a week now and its time to update things. The St Louis Blues are off to a 4-0 start in the west, which should make one special Glib happy. Your boys are on a tear, Jake. Good for them. The Blackhawks should be tied but they lost their third game in OT to “settle” for 3-0-1. They look all but unstoppable. The Maple Leafs are enjoying their greatest season in the last 20 years and sit at 3-0, atop the east. That’s great since they’re usually looking to see how close they are to the last WC spot by the third game of the season. The Caps, Devils and Red Wings are likewise off to good starts, but its so early I don’t want to even look for trends yet. Well, except for the trend of twice as many whistles a game. Seriously, NHL front office, you guys need to reel these officials in. I know slashing was going to be a priority this year but they’re taking it too far.
The Cubs-Nationals game was rained out yesterday and they’ll play Game 4 today. The Yanquis-Indians series-clincher will also happen today in Cleveland. Meanwhile, the Dodgers, who I was so wrong about heading into the Diamondbacks series, and the Astros are calmly waiting and getting their pitching staffs rested in anticipation of their league championship series, which will start Saturday and Friday, respectively. And elsewhere in sports news that was just too funny for me personally not to share, Paul Finebaum went on the radio yesterday and told it like it is. I’m not so sure his paymasters at ESPN will be happy that he went against their “golden boy” narrative in such strong words. But they’ve got bigger problems to deal with than that little, bald turd shooting his mouth off.
Right-o then. You guys ready for some links? I bet you’re ready for some links. Then let’s give it up for…the links!
California permanently eliminates exit exam requirement for high school graduation. The reason given was that it didn’t align with the new common core standards. I guess they couldn’t have changed the questions? Either way, the public school system there is an absolute joke so I don’t think this is going to matter any unless there was a rider on the bill that snuck merit-based pay and retention for teachers. And we all know that will never happen in the Golden State.
Remember that cop who arrested the nurse in Utah because she refused to break the law? Well he got fired yesterday. Want to get an unfortunately all-too-real laugh? Read this bit from the article (emphasis mine):
Attorney Greg Skordas, who represents Payne, said his client plans to appeal a firing he considers unfair and over the top. Skordas said Payne would still be employed if the body camera footage hadn’t generated so much attention and blown the events out of proportion.
“Blew it out of proportion? You mean shown what really happened rather than allowing the cop to be the only official version of what happened? His supervisor that let the whole thing happen got demoted. And as far as I can tell, nobody will face prosecution and the taxpayers will eventually be on the hook for some sweet, sweet settlement money.
And speaking of idiot cops, explain to me how this doesn’t constitute a criminal conspiracy to cover up a crime. Do we have a dunphy signal over here yet? Or is he still touring in the far east since his wife Morgan Fairchild is filming there?
Was that wrong? Was I not supposed to do that? Because if I’d have known… What a dickhead.
Harvey Weinstein is off to sex rehab in Europe. Not quite sure where, but my money is its on to a nation without an extradition agreement for the types of crimes he has all but admitted to. Roman Polanski was not available for comment as he was spotted building an addition onto his chalet yesterday.
If you’re gonna bang your parishioners daughters, be prepared for this to happen. DAAAAAAAMN!
Germany will not recognize an independent Catalonia. They fear if the Sudeten Catalan people are torn away from the Fatherland the rest of Spain, bad things could happen.
Halfway through the week and today is the last day of me being a single parent. I think I’m gonna make it. Hope your week is going as well as mine is.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Playa Manhattan for stepping up to the plate yesterday. Sunday and yesterday I was sicker than I’ve been in a long time. Today its just cough syrup and whiskey toddies. I was so sick last night I had a dream where I went to a Glibs meetup and STEVE SMITH showed up. Woke up feverish, shivering, and clenching my anus against the oncoming rapelopithicus “caress”. If my hats start talking to me, I may have to go cold turkey.
I believe this is what they call “taking the piss”: “Israel ought to offer her services to Spain and the EU as an ‘honest broker,’ and negotiate an end to the Catalonian crisis on the basis of ‘land for peace.’”
An interesting analysis of Universal Basic Income and the relationship between government and the governed.
How in the fuck can a country that doesn’t have a functioning electrical grid hack our war plans? This is just more of a type of baseless story that is modeled on the old Red Scare. Russians/Norks are starving, half-literate, and have no real army, but are magically super spies that makes them a threat. I’m just going to say it, if you can’t secure your information from the North Koreans, you are doing it wrong.
I see all this pearl grabbing about some young man shooting a cop on a college campus, with much discussion of “campus carry”. *Reads story* Wait, they arrested him for possession of drugs? I didn’t realize Texas had campus carry for drugs. If only they would pass a law against having drugs on campus, a cop would be alive today!
Local (to me) afternoon bonus link: This guy needs to learn how to use Porn Mode on his browser. Maybe he could google it.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug — Tuesday 80s Dance Edition
“It was really terrible to go through, but I have to admit that I feel better after detox,” the hat admitted. He was sunning himself on the floor in the Oval Office, a bottle of Perrier beside him. He never went anywhere without fancy fizzy water.
“I’m really glad to hear it,” the hair said from his perch on a napping Donald’s head. “I thought we might lose you there for a little while.”
“Yup, you was powerful sick there, brother,” the USA hat said from Donald’s crotch, hanging there on an erection driven by erectile dysfunction meds and a filthy dream about Barbara Bach.
“OH MY GOD, SHUT UP YOU RETARD!” the hat screamed.
FLOTUS hat giggled from the back of the couch and Windbreaker One laughed hollowly from the coat rack.
“It’s getting crowded in here,” the hair said. “I liked it better when it was just you and me.”
“It hasn’t been just you and me in a long time,” the hat snapped. “It didn’t get to go to Puerto Rico, I didn’t get to go to Las Vegas. America is starting to forget all about me.”
“Nonsense. You’re the hat they love. You’re the hat that triggers college students all across the country.”
The two other hats and the jacket all made noises of agreement.
“I just don’t know…” the hat whined.
“Besides,” the hair said, “You hate Puerto Rico. I tried to get Donald to Agent Orange the whole island back in March.”
“But I really hated missing throwing paper towels to the downtrodden and destitute,” the hat whined. “It was Donald’s ‘Let them eat cake’ moment and I missed out.”
“Yours is the name that will go down in herstory, dear,” the FLOTUS hat cooed.
The USA hat giggled.
“You have something to add, Cletus the Slackjawed Headgear?” the hat asked.
“Naw, I was still thinking about whitlin’. And what Donald would do with this here i-rection ifin we had a comely lass of anal virtue true.”
“We could just order a girl,” Windbreaker One said in his deep, rich tones. “I haven’t been draped over an unconscious whore in what seems like months.”
FLOTUS hat gasped. “My Donald would never do such a thing!”
The hair and two other hats and jackets all laughed uproariously.
Donald stirred in his sleep, sat up and reached for the USA hat as it slid onto the floor. “What’s going on? Are the nig… football players still not standing up? Mike said he’d put those dirty nightfighters straight!”
The three hats, jacket, and hair said nothing.
“Answer me, dammit. I heard you all talking about me.” His voice, still bleary from sleep, rang out in the Oval Office.
“ANSWER ME!”
In the silence that followed he began to mash the Diet Coke button repeatedly. He was still pushing it when a frightened intern pushed open a door into the office with her foot and ran in carrying a dozen Diet Cokes.
“Sir,” she said, “I brought all the ones we had cold.”
Donald pushed the button a few more times, slowly, deliberately, staring at the intern as she squirmed under the baleful glare of his piggish eyes.
“Set those on the desk,” he said. “And get me some cocaine, a pound of bologna, the Presidential Pimp, my haberdasher, a cordless phone, an overhead projector, three mannequin heads and the Nuclear Football.”
“Sir?” the pale girl asked.
“Now! And make it four mannequin heads, goddammit!”
We are now moving on to day 2 of the Sloopy Single Parent Experiment. Day 1 was an adventure but I managed to survive it intact and everybody remained fed and (mostly) clothed. Hopefully I can keep the place together for the next two days while Banjos “works” in Chicago. All I saw from Day 1 were sightseeing photos and pictures of italian casseroles. But whatever. I still think I’ll win the bet that the house will be in one piece when she gets home tomorrow night.
A pair of teams punched their ticket to the next round of the MLB playoffs yesterday. The Dodgers got the brooms out and swept the D-backs back to the desert, I’ll be honest, I thought they’s beat the Dodgers. But to get swept and be all but humiliated? Jeez, that’s rough. They await the winner of the Cubs-Nats, which sits at 2-1 Chicago after the Cubs won yesterday. They’ll be the lone game tonight. The other team was the ASTROOOOOOOOOS!!! They brushed aside a game Red Sox team in an action-packed game that included a bottom-of-the-ninth inside the park homerun to cut the lead to one. The Yankees won last night, despite Aaron Judge getting his second golden sombrero in four games and hitting a measly .067 in the series. Dude needs to have them sacrifice a live chicken in the clubhouse or run to KFC. They’ll play the Indians in the deciding Game 5 tomorrow night.
Some more soccer teams punched their ticket to Russia 2018 last night, but the most interesting development was Ireland beating Wales on the road 1-0 and sneaking into the playoffs. Th interesting night is tonight, with CONCACAF and CONMEBOL both playing their final round of games. Will the USA get in (if the field is even playable)? Will the Mexicans and Ticos dump their games in order to give the Hondurans and/or Panamanians a chance to pass us? Will the Argentinians sneak back in on the last day? Lots to shake out.
OK, we gotta talk some serious stuff now. Well, kinda. You decide for yourself what’s serious and what’s a joke as I present…the links!
Lena Dunham bitches about the silence of men surrounding Harvey Weinstein. And she regales us of a similar tale that happened to her with another Hollywood producer…who she refuses to name. No word about sticking her fingers into her pre-pubescent sister in the story or falsely accusing someone of rape while in college. And no word about her sexually harassing Odell Beckham at a gala event where she was grinding all up on him when he wouldn’t give her a moment’s attention. Maybe they’ll come up in the next installments. Maybe not. Clinton, Obama and other Democrat power players are conspicuously silent.
Wine Country in California is ablaze. At least 10 dead and well over a thousand structures burned. Stay safe NorCal Glibs. SoCal is in the same boat as the Anaheim Hills fire grows to 6000 acres and forces evacuations. Stay safe SoCal Glibs.
Audit warned that Florida Hurricane Response System wasn’t prepared for Irma. I’ll be honest, I thought they’ve done a pretty good job with the national resources stretched after Harvey. Floridians may beg to differ but the ones I know haven’t complained that much.
Remember how Colorado legalized pot? Not everybody got the memo. The four arrested all “have ties to Cuba” and the local cops arrested them with help from there FBI and DEA. At a “street value of over $1,000,000”, we can assume it was all really worth a couple grand and is more about the state strictly enforcing their oppressive licensing and taxing scam. Which, when you think about it, is ironically what the Cuban growers were probably fleeing in the first place.
Woman posts picture kissing her kid. People become judgmental assholes.
And, oh yeah, the police made a minor change in the timeline of the Vegas mass shooting. And by minor change, I mean they make a fucking earth-shattering alteration to the timeline and release that THE SHOOTER SHOT A SECURITY GUARD OUTSIDE HIS ROOM A FULL SIX MINUTES BEFORE HE STARTED TO OPEN FIRE ON THE CROWD. A full six minutes before he opened fire, he shot someone, without a suppressor, in the hallways of a huge Las Vegas hotel right at the time people are heading out for the night. And the hotel and/or police never came up to investigate for another 76 minutes? Never got a call down from a curious guest that happened to open his door and see a security guard bleeding after hearing a loud bang? Well congratulations, LVMPD and FBI. You’ve managed to make pretty much anything else you say questionable. In further news, they’re still 100% certain he had no ties to any extremist groups and that he for sure, without a doubt was the only one in the room. Jesus, what a fucking disastrous fuckup.
Getting deeper into the week. And into the groove. (no, its not Madonna).
Good luck out there today. I’m gonna try and keep the place in one piece as I work and as Banjos enjoys a mini-vacation work conference in the Windy City.
According to the CDC website, the most recent published estimate of lifetime HIV treatment costs was $367,134. That’s just one of many things to keep in mind as Jerry Brown signs a bill downgrading the punishment for knowingly exposing someone to HIV in California to a misdemeanor. WTF? I’m all for decriminalizing behavior that doesn’t have a victim. This is NOT one of those cases.
As people struggle to assign a motive to the Las Vegas shooter, this seems to be a very promising lead. He does, in fact, seem to be evil and crazy. FTA:
The woman, who spoke anonymously, said she would spend hours drinking and gambling in Sin City with Paddock, who she described as ‘paranoid’ and ‘obsessive’.
If he hit a winning streak, he would take her back to his room for ‘really aggressive and violent sex’ including living out rape fantasies, she said.
Spot the bullshit: Las Vegas Killer Had Better Rifles Than the U.S. Military. How many falsehoods can you find? I only got halfway through, and I’m already in double digits. I’ll get the ball rolling: “Paddock also outfitted his weapons with some of the best optics available to the public.” Hey, there, goalposts!!! Get back here!!! Available to the public???? Lemme run that through my lying liar translator: The military has much better optics. Let’s see how many more of these we can find. I’m betting at least 20.
All of the news emerging about Harvey Weinstein is horrifying and disgusting, except for this little gem… Judi Dench has a Harvey Weinstein tattoo on her ass.
Things in Catalonia could be coming to a head, soon. Actually, tomorrow. The central government in Madrid has not been shy about making somewhat pointed threats. As with any political strife, there are lots of stresses involved, beyond borders, laws and trade. Rumblings from some news sources are pinning this recent drive on the Left. But a small far-Left movement would not be enough to push this over the line, into a full blown secession. There appears to be a sizable part of the populace in the region does appear to want out of Spain.
What this will end up looking like will have a possibly large impact on “Europe” – the EU, NATO and the like. I will be watching for several things:
Here is hoping the whole thing ends up a non-story and there is no violence…but that ain’t the way I am betting.
Stay tuned, as they say.
UPDATE: Splitting from the splitters?
Boy was I ever wrong about the Dodgers-Diamondbacks series. But seriously, what was the manager thinking with his pitching decisions? I mean, throw your best pitcher opposite Kershaw. Dude doesn’t have the best track record in the postseason and you all but give them that game? Elsewhere in the NL, the Cubs and Nationals are deadlocked at 1. Meanwhile, the AL East finally stepped up as the Red Sox and Yankees both clawed a game back in their divisional series. Indians and Astros will each get a chance to close out again today, as will the Dodgers. And in Chicago, the Cubs and Nats will seek to get the upper hand in Game 3.
In football news, the Oklahoma Sooners laid an egg. The Longhorns set a big OT win. There was a 7-OT game. THE Ohio State University absolutely pulverized Maryland. But there was one in-state game that gave me the lulz. Congrats to the Spartans for going into the big house and taking care of TTUN once again. What’s that make Jimmy in rivalry games now, 1-4? And at $10M a season…
I’ll get y’all a hockey update later in the week. I wanted to get a little more into thew season before talking shit. Four days isn’t enough. Anyway, let’s go ahead and roll into…the links!
Trump lays out his immigration enforcement plan. Dems lose their shit because he’s actually said they’re going to have to compromise if he’s going to give them DACA amnesty. I guess they’re not used to someone actually holding them to the same standard of compromise they demand out of Team Red (which is “you give us all this and we promise to give you something later”).
The Weinstein Company has fired their namesake. I wonder when the next wave of people will come out and say on the record they knew he was serially harassing and abusing women while they sat silent for decades. So far the Nuremberg defense seems to pass muster for the left. No comment yet from any of the talk show hosts or SNL. Big fucking surprise there.
New gun legislation on the move through the House. And its not what you think.
We might want to get those military bases set up in Israel or wherever else over there. Because our relationship with Turkey is getting a little frosty to say the least.
Any hurricane-caused death is tragic. But when your throat gets slashed during a brawl, I think the hurricane designation might be a little off. Global Warming: it’ll lop your head off if you’re not careful.
Austin City Limits kicks off. And there was eye candy.
Have a great start to the week. Don’t forget, this is the day we celebrate Columbus finding the new world.
STEVE SMITH GOING TO BE QUICK ABOUT LINKS TODAY. STEVE SMITH THINK HE HEARD LOCAL EVIRO-WEENIE GROUP GOING TO CHAIN SELF TO TREES, AND STOP …SOMETHING. ALL STEVE SMITH CAN SAY IS “TOO EASY”. AND BY TOO EASY, MEAN RAPE.
STEVE SMITH GO NOW, NOT MISS EASY OPPORTUNITY. BY OPPORTUNITY, MEAN RAPE.