User:OneSkyWalker

Regarding my handle OneSkyWalker, think of hang gliding, not Star Wars.

When engaged in discussion and debate, I try to keep in mind the aphorism attributed to Bertrand Russell, who is reputed to have said: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” What BR actually wrote was: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Probably cribbed from W. B. Yeats who a decade earlier had written: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” Which suggests to me that 99% of all creativity is just inadvertent plagiarism. 😃

On the other hand, unreasonable passion can occasionally be helpful. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

When browsing the World Wide Web, I am constantly reminded that never in human history has so much weight been given to uninformed opinion. 😃

I believe that all people are cousins. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe that Osama Bin Laden funded flying lessons for the Saudi clowns who brought down the twin towers. I believe it to be remarkable that ancient hogwash such as astrology and homeopathy occupies so much mindshare today. I believe conspiracy theories and theorists (see “Shadowland”: A New Project From The Atlantic on the Power and Danger of Conspiracy) to be an existential threat to democracy in the United States of America because the conspiracy constituency has way too much influence in politics today, particularly Republican politics.