Torture Considered One important thing to get straight right off...There is no absolute morality. Universals, categorical imperatives, non-negotiables all have an important place in the cesspool of philosophic reclamation centers. Context matters. Interestingly enough, context matters most to those who battle with nauseating sincerity and vigor that context matters not at all, the so-called idealists. This is because these misguided idealists tend almost always to be the most emotionally ... Read Full Story
Technology is at once the lifeblood and kryptonite of the human race, veering dangerously close to becoming its own end. Increasingly frequently, technology is being accepted over thinking, often with the excuse of personal or national panic This is an axiom steeped in the day to day final rehearsal that is real life. It is not social commentary. As the ranks of the wayward begin to include our family and friends, our own role in the fight to counter “Technology as a God” and fer... Read Full Story
(It must be noted that a close reading of the OLC Memorandum from the previous post is indispensable to a minimum level of informed thinking concerning the moral dimensions we are hoping to pursue.)Is Abu Zubaydah an Islamofascist? Why not torture a man like Abu Zubaydah?What is al-Qaeda? Does it have a command and control structure like that of the Democratic or Republican Parties in the Senate, for instance? Was Zubaydah really the Number Four man? How would a person who values thinking ... Read Full Story
To follow is the predicate for thinking about morality within the product line that is the War on Terror. The OLC Memorandum must be understood as an epiphany or inflection point. If they are to bottle Islamofascism, Islamofascists must be treated like a bottle of Aquafina. Your charge: Segment out ten minutes of your time and read the OLC Memorandum closely. Turn on your intellectual labido with this little nugget of "justice."The original memo in its entirety can be found here. Read Full Story
Emanations from the GodheadThis is the wellspring of ReduxMatters topical existence. From this moment forward, we will dedicate the lionshare of our thinking to matters real and real-time. To be sure, time there will be to wax pristinely philosophic, but let us now proceed to thinking, really thinking, about the life we perceive before us. The objective is to provide the platform for all concerned, thinkers and voyeurs, activists and isolates, to dialogue on topics fundamental to us all. ... Read Full Story
Luddites we are notTechnology is a means. Never, under any circumstance, can we permit technology to become an end. Whether personal existential emergency or public cataclysmic panic, no moment grants to technology the right to triumph over thinking. This is an axiom steeped in the day to day final rehearsal that is real life. Because so very many of our friends and family have been infected with the confusion, your own stand against “Technology as a God,” is demanded. The scope of the d... Read Full Story
Thinking, properly understood as a drug, requires some explanation and quite a lot of justification, if we are to choose the right pill. Trust me; you do want to choose wisely. What is thinking? Why is it a drug?Because thinking requires emotional force on the part of the individual, it demands power. Where is the power to be generated? Unlike the voyeur monk’s power, produced by plugging-in to something without, the thinker’s power comes strictly from within. No help. No welfare state... Read Full Story
This is the opening salvo in defense of the very nearly lost great art of thinking. Between the “good,” indolent need to believe anything and the myopic arrogance to doubt everything lay the new, fundamentally monastic, dull-eyed voyeurs. Quite literally, their eyes are more akin to the catatonic, Chinese-made Anglo dolls with grim smiles peddled at the local Wal-Mart at low, low prices than real, vibrant animate eyes. These voyeurs-- maybe even you--pose the clear and present danger to al... Read Full Story
