I concur with these lines atrributed to Einstein: “Science without
religion is lame; religion without science is blind”. I also think that
if you were to replace “science” with “reason” and “religion” with
“faith”, the aphorism would still be applicable. With that in mind,
consider this excerpt from the New York Times Sunday Magazine’s article, Without a Doubt:
In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that
the White House didn’t like about Bush’s former communications
director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush.
He expressed the White House’s displeasure, and then he told me
something that at the time I didn’t fully comprehend — but which I now
believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.
The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the
reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe
that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible
reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment
principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the
world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and
when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that
reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other
new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort
out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to
just study what we do.”
The arrogance (“We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to
just study what we do.” — smacks of Denzel’s “King Kong ain’t got nuthin’ on me!” from Training Day, doesn’t it?) and the sheer insanity (“Reality-based
community?”) sounds more like satirical dialogue written by a
first-year Political Science student trying to be funny in the school
paper than something a grown mental-problem-free adult would say.
If you’ve read 1984,
the “we create reality” line will sound familiar. In a scene
which takes place after it is revelead that O’Brien is actually working
for the Party, not agaist it, O’Brien brags about how reality is
whatever the party declares it is.
Let me state for the record that I am a proud member of the reality-based community. Maybe a web button is called for…
From the American Spectator:
Whine whine whine Jon Stewart whine whine whine.
Whine whine whine Atkins Diet whine whine whine.
The Guardian
turns into Slashdot for politics! Uhm, guys, it’s called “trolling”. Or, prior to the internet, “baiting”.And finally, for your listening pleasure, the George W. Bush version of Liam Lynch’s United States of Whatever [1.3 MB MP3]
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I lost my respect for Atkins when I read on a message board, "eat low carb white bread instead of whole grain, it has less carbs."
Arrogant and insane just about sums it up. It's one thing to say "we're powerful, so what we do is important", but it's kind of crazy to think those things actually alter the nature of reality.
And hearing "Empire" and "reality" juxtaposed so closely makes me think of Phillip K. Dick: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." and the "The Empire Never Ended" schtick from his weird visions.
I'm currently linking to the USoW mp3 and to your button on my journal. If that's not cool, let me know and i'll change it. Thanks for both!