I spat it with a quiet intensity I usually save for enemies: “We buryin’ kids and you worryin’ about a popsicle!” The object of my wrath was no enemy of mine, however, but a kid who lives at the group home where I work. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken to one of […]

As soon as we take for granted that there are better and worse ways of doing things, we create a hierarchy that implies perfection at the top. I’ve written that “modern society has a predilection for centralization;” modernity obsesses over perfection by collecting what are perceived as the best ways to do things into what is […]

Tsze-lu asked,
“If the Duke of Wei made you an advisor,
what would you address as the very first priority?”
Confucius replied,
“The most important thing
is to use the correct words.”
“What?” Tsze-lu replied.
“That’s your first priority? The right words?”
Confucius said,
“You really are simple, Yu.
The Sage keeps his mouth shut
when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about!
“If we don’t […]

Modern society has a predilection for centralization–the consolidation of resources. This has clear roots in Enlightenment thinking: use natural science to discover and build on the best ways to do things, and ultimately strive toward perfection. This crippling singularity does not reflect the complexity of the human experience.
There is no best form of government. There […]

It’s happening a lot more these days, this blurring of the lines between dystopian fantasies and the world I see around me. I used to absorb those works of fiction which let me bathe in the tragic absurdity of what the world could become. It might even have seemed remotely realistic, but it was still […]

This didn’t make any sense to me until I watched it for the fifth time and noticed the huge Mentos ads in the background. I guess I should change the title of this post to “evidence that society is run by companies,” but that might be want for subtlety.
But seriously, don’t we have better things […]