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March 18, 2003
the going-ons..
so i FINALLY played some ball yester--it was literally the fifth time i played since movin up to baltimore. i say that not to lead into mentionin how poorly i played--it is an absolute that i suck--but just to state how infrequent the opportunities have been for me here. i guess if i had really wanted to, i couldve just gone down the street to the park--course, i probly would be dead by now..
anyways..
- i hafta say for the first time i am genuinely excited about the ncaa tournament. not because duke is in it and not because of the office pool, but really for the purity of the ncaa game..
last yr in durham, i used to listen to phil jacksons weekly radio show. and when he was asked for his thoughts on the tournament he said he tries to watch wutever game he can catch cuz its interestin to see so many teams play basketball w/ different styles and philosophies. and for some reason this yr, that is would i wanna see..
i actually wanna watch the podunk team is playin the middle-of-nowhere team for the right to play the #1 seed just because i wanna see how they play basketball. so many teams, so many players, so many coaches, so many sets. its gonna be fun..
- by the way, i have no clue who will end up in new orleans. kentucky looks good, but thats about it..
- so we re goin to war--how surprisin. like the decision was really made just 24 hrs ago. why do i sense the administration never really considered not invadin iraq as a possibility?
actually, i really had no thoughtful stance on the situation until two days when i read up on all the news and analysis in sundays washington post. and now, i cant believe the white house sincerely believes good is gonna come out of declarin a pre-emptive war against the decision of a good number of european countries. i can understand the notion of america chargin in as big bully cop while throwin diplomacy out the window..
but wut do i really know..
- a co-worker asked me today wut my thoughts would be on if the govt called for a draft. ill tell you, before sunday (when i read up on all that was messed) i thought id definitely go off to fight w/ little hesitation. cuz if im gonna die anyways, dyin in a way isnt a bad way to go..
but now the question is, would i still go despite my stance? and i really dont know. i mean, how can you fight--or do anything--for somethin you dont really believe in? man, i wonder wut it wouldve been like to be alive for the vietnam war..
i dunno, its tough..
- why am i writin about such serious matters? when did i become so opinionated? man, i should stop readin altogether..
- i have a question for you: can you believe in somethin you know is true or real? for instance, if you absolutely KNEW god existed could you 'have faith' in god?
doesnt havin faith in somethin require acknowledgin the very real possibility that that somethin doesnt exist? otherwise, 'havin faith' would have no meanin..
right?
- check out this assertion: "This Statement is False"..
this is called a self-referencin loop meanin it creates a state which is neither true or false--or one that is both true and false. cuz if the statement were true, then it would really be false. and if it were false, then it in fact would be true..
things like this make me realize how great life is. the uncertainty of it all..
Posted by chars at March 18, 2003 06:07 PM
Comments
I would argue that having certainty is precluded by already having faith in whatever you are certain of. The reason for this is that as finite human beings who are not omniscient, we do not have every piece of information in the universe available to us to arrive at an empirically certain conclusion. Thus everything that we believe to be true requires faith at some point in the cognitive process -- be it faith in our own ability to reason, faith in our senses rightly discerning reality and the world around us, or faith in the veracity of the so-called objective data placed before us. We can have overwhelming data to support our conclusion, but so long as we remain non-omniscient creatures, faith is a prerequisite to certainty. Therefore, the question is not whether or not we have faith... but what do we have faith in?
As for Iraq... many of the countries are actually being very non-committal about the whole thing. Most nations simply pass the buck and say "Well, if the security council approves then we will support the war." Ask the members of the security council, and most of them will say "War is not currently warranted, but if the council decides to support it, we will go along with it." So the only real holdouts are France, Germany, and Russia. Interesting to note that these nations have no resources to contribute to a war, therefore the only way they can really make their influence felt is via the political process.
As for Bush... he is in a tough position. If he doesn't call for war, and it turns out Saddam Hussein has weapons and he ends up using them, where is the victory in Bush saying "I told you so?" The damage will have been done, and lives will have been lost. If Bush does go to war, and he does disarm Saddam Hussein, then the world will never know what they have just been saved from. It's a no-win situation.
Personally, the guy has had 12 years to comply. His delay tactics are getting ridiculous. Let's end this now.
Posted by: ji at March 19, 2003 01:48 PM
whoa, i can't out-do ji if i wanted to... no time...
yeah, dude. our nation's at war and you're talking about ncaa like it's such a big deal? ...man, i hope i take revenge on my early exit of the football playoffs
Posted by: mungmungdog at March 19, 2003 04:00 PM