PASSING FOR NORMAL

Calm the fuck down

It's bigger than us. Well of course. Nothing new. We always know as Lebanese that our internal issues are a mere reflection of anything that is happening in the region. We're cursed with geography.

I have posted Alex Jones' terror storm earlier on this blog but check the rest of his links here.
The only lesson to get out of this is how pre-planned and how big of an operation all this is. The troubles that resonate throughout the ME right now being nothing but a reflection of a larger power struggle in the world is not a reason for us to lose our principles or not to take a stand against it. However it is worth to stop and think. It is worth not to fight each other over matters that get planned by the leaders and get inflicted upon us. It is worth to look at the big picture and rise above our differences and take a stand together. Let's not self-destroy in the process.
I wish we just calm the fuck down. As hot headed as we are, thugs carrying guns on the streets are not going to solve our problems.

Descartes tells us, "Science in its entirety is true and evident cognition. He is no more learned who has doubts on many matters than the man who has never thought of them; nay, he appears to be less learned if he has formed wrong opinions on any particulars. Hence it were better not to study at all than to occupy one's self with objects of such difficulty, that, owing to our inability to distinguish true from false, we are forced to regard the doubtful as certain; for in those matters any hope of augmenting our knowledge is exceeded by the risk of diminishing it."

I think Descartes is an elitist bastard. Of course his maxim could be applied to science as we all know that the more we discover and learn, the more we know how much we still need to learn. That does not mean that the lack of initiative towards a better understanding on an individual level as well as a collective level is something we should give up on.
In politics as well, Descartes' warning fits nicely with the Orweillian state of mind that most uninformed people are left with. In the extreme case, people are getting informed on a portion of the facts and discarding facts that do not serve their blind loyalties or oppose to their system of belonging and beliefs. Emotions are very dangerous when they interfere with a thought process and only result in a state of cognitive dissonance where one believes in the facts that serve one's emotions.

What's the solution?
I would never say listen to Descartes and remain passive in this case. Learn the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth? That could be a start. Think and don't be emotional.

So it's bigger than us. That doesn't mean it's beyond your scope of understanding. Politics should be a science for the people. That means get the full story and get a full knowledge before you react. No one should be thinking for you and taking your decisions for you. However, you have to look at all the facts before you go on fighting each other. You have to pursue all the facts and make your decisions with moderation and plan your reactions away from emotions since if we learned anything from science is that we never know everything. We don't know all the facts.

We will as they go down in history books. We will as secret files become declassified. Maybe 50 years down the road. We will all find a piece of truth that we missed out on.

Does anyone feel confident about their knowledge enough right now to go and fight based on it? Does any leader inspire enough confidence to us right now to be followed blindly?
Did any religion ever tell you to fight?

Let's calm the fuck down!