Posted on 03/03/2002 7:25:26 PM PST by Sir Gawain
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A recent hit, dramatic television series is "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." On this show, a group of Las Vegas investigators routinely piece together obscure or confusing clues as they try to discover who has perpetrated the latest murder in Sin City. Even if they sometimes fail to bring the guilty party or parties to justice, the men and women of CSI still succeed in establishing the identity of the miscreants by the show's end. "CSI" could easily have been merely one in a long tradition of police and crime oriented programs. It is a bit different in how it presents graphic visual recreations of what happens to a human body when, for example, a bullet slams through a chest wall. But special effects are hardly sufficient to elevate a story. For me, what helps sets this show apart from its many competitors is the head of the CSI: Gil Grissom. Actor William Petersen plays the single-minded Grissom, a man who keeps a firm but fair hand on his subordinates as he guides them through their toils. What most distinguishes and endears Grissom to folks like me is his utter dedication and commitment to objective reality. "Follow the evidence" is the dictum he drills into his coworkers. How the investigators "feel" about the clues they uncover does not matter. Whether they agree with one another's judgments is irrelevant. If there is the slightest contradiction in the evidence or in their reconstruction of events, then that is a clear indicator that somewhere, somehow they have erred. To express Grissom's approach, his attitude in Aristotelean terms: "A is A" (the Law of Identity) is his final guide for interpreting facts and making sense of the puzzles confronting him. Reality is what it is. Our judgments have to fit reality. Reality does not have fit our judgments. When what we know corresponds to reality, then we can be confident we have grasped the truth. Whether that truth is unpleasant or unsettling has no bearing on the validity of our identifications. The Law of Identity and the Law of Noncontradiction (not both A and not-A) are the foundation upon which all explanations must be built. In an era when all "opinions" are thought by the majority of people to be equally valid; when it is deemed "wrong" or "arrogant" to judge other people's actions or beliefs; when cultural and moral relativism ooze into the pores of students and teachers, citizens and politicians, it is refreshing — and rather astounding — that the lead character in a hit television program has the temerity to judge and to defend the absolutism of reality. What is even more surprising, perhaps, than hearing Grissom expound on the standards guiding him is the fact that audiences find this stance acceptable! I would like to believe that the prominence of "CSI" in the ratings is indicative of a shifting in the acceptance of the PC "principles" that have such a stranglehold on our country. It would be wonderful if the public took to heart what Joe Friday was so fond of saying on "Dragnet": "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts." Perhaps the current is shifting. The evidence, however, suggests that we still have a long stream to row before we reach the realm of widespread respect for and adherence to facts, evidence, logic, and reason.
Distortions of StateScores of freedom-oriented think-tanks devote and have devoted countless reams of paper and gigabytes of computer storage trying to counteract the flood of falsehoods, distortions, and lies spewed forth by their statist and collectivist opponents. Sometimes the tide of nonsense retreats a bit, but it swiftly surges back time and again to reclaim lost ground. While the corrections presented by defenders of liberty are, of course, important in this struggle, such evidence seems to have little effect except on the margins. Those individuals who are mired thickest in the swamps of fascism, socialism, and irrationality care nothing for facts. After all, when the evidence does not match their fantasies of the way the world should be, they merely make up what they don't have, ignore evidence that refutes their preconceptions, or twist facts into warped images of their illicit illusions. Let's face it: the concepts of "freedom" and "rights" and "morality" are not that complicated. Any reasonably bright child can grasp the essentials involved. It serves the tyrants' goals, however, to "complexify," if you will, these fundamental ideas of how people should deal with one another. After all, if such basic issues are not easily grasped except by the experts, then, by golly, the experts ought to be the ones in charge of making the decisions. A similar mindset besets the myriad problems politicians and citizens argue endlessly about. Respecting property rights, refusing to initiate force against peaceable neighbors, and acknowledging the moral autonomy of adults will set in motion processes that allow individuals to discover what works best in creating a decent society. Pretending that only "government" can solve our problems is a daft falsehood. Consider any of the hot button issues marching us towards the Total State and you will find that the evidence is in for anyone interested in examining it: Social Security: nation after nation, from Chile to Sweden, has learned that it is not possible to sustain the Ponzi schemes, a.k.a., social security programs, that were originally devised to buy votes and keep the populace dependent on the State until death. Even the partial privatizations we have seen so far have indicated the path we need to follow to achieve financial security in retirement. Yet we still move only at a snail's pace towards wresting this scam from the hands of the politicians. Self-defense: study after study proves that when individual citizens are armed with the proper weapons, crime diminishes. In addition, anyone with the IQ of a pigeon can read what the Founders wrote regarding the meaning and application of the Second Amendment: that self-defense is an individual right, one that has the added blessing of helping to keep in check tyrannical impulses. Yet year after year, peaceful citizens are saddled with more restrictions, licenses, permits, and prohibitions that infringe on this natural right to defend ourselves, our loved ones, and our property. Environmental issues: endless examples of the "tragedy of the commons" show the damage that occurs when property is not privately held. Nations have always been the biggest polluters and despoilers of the environment. Government rules cost us billions upon billions of dollars and rob people of what they have rightfully earned Yet almost no one in power defends private property as the best way to protect the environment in which we all must coexist. Education: when this country had a primarily private school system, we enjoyed nearly universal literacy rates. This did not deter statists such as John Dewey who explicitly spelled out their agendas of creating a compliant, brainwashed populace. Regulation of ideas is the essence of what government-run schooling seeks. Yet we are soaked for more and more money while educational achievement sinks lower and lower into the muck of arrogant ignorance. Health care: when there were no licensing laws, no mandated insurance coverage, no "free" health care for seniors and the "poor," and no drug laws, citizens could contract for only the services they required. Since individuals had direct control of their financial relationships with health care providers, costs were lower and service was better. Yet despite soaring costs, longer waits, massive fraud and waste, and diminished competition brought about the State, we are offered only more State involvement. The Drug War: alcohol Prohibition gave rise to organized crime. When Prohibition proved to be an abysmal failure and was ended, crime dropped. When heroin and marijuana and cocaine were legal substances, problems were minimal. Now we have drug pushers targeting children while the State eviscerates the Bill of Rights and ignores our autonomy over our bodies. Yet the State continues to tighten the screws on dying patients who smoke joints to relieve their pain, locks up millions of nonviolent "criminals," and blames drug users for terrorism. The list is a long one: Affirmative action makes racism worse and is a travesty of justice. Tax-funded welfare creates a cycle of poverty that achieves the opposite of its goals. Regulation of electricity, cable and television, the airlines, energy, and telephones raises prices and restricts options for those it supposedly "helps." Subsidies for businesses destroy jobs, raises consumer prices, and rewards the inefficient. Fiat money — as opposed to gold — generates inflation and has stolen 95% or more of the value of money over the past century. Rent and price controls reward the connected and the wealthy while drying up supplies and increasing the costs for the few goods still available. Antitrust laws punish achievement, violate property rights, and diminish — not increase — competition. Taxation is not the route to prosperity; legalized theft is still theft. The evidence has long been in on what works and what does not in these and other areas of concern. Any honest person who has even minimal respect for the facts can see for himself what course Americans should follow in reaching our individual goals. But, of course, the statists and the collectivists and the irrationalists care not a whit for evidence. It is a waste of breath and energy to expect otherwise of these fascists and tyrants-in-training. We cannot convince them. We can only beat them. When average Americans begin to laugh at the double-talk and blather emanating from their "representatives" and vote the scoundrels from office, then I will begin to take hope that freedom is on the mend. Until then, however, I will continue to ask: "Show me the evidence." See Russ Madden's articles, short stories, novel excerpts, and items of interest to Objectivists, libertarians, and sci-fi fans at http://home.earthlink.net/~rdmadden/webdocs/. |
I'm not sure I've heard this argument. Perhaps someone can expand on it.
I'm not sure I've heard this argument. Perhaps someone can expand on it."
See: Reno; Microsoft
Friendly advice; You'd probably be more popular around here if you took an interest in things like "hobbit holes".
The evidence has long been in on what works and what does not in these and other areas of concern. Any honest person who has even minimal respect for the facts can see for himself what course Americans should follow in reaching our individual goals. But, of course, the statists and the collectivists and the irrationalists care not a whit for evidence. It is a waste of breath and energy to expect otherwise of these fascists and tyrants-in-training. We cannot convince them. We can only beat them.
Agreed.
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