Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.
Over the years I’ve made observations of people’s behavior. One of the places where this has taken place is in the grocery store. The observation concerns their behavior pushing the cart around the store and how it translates into their everyday lives and may help many of us possibly understand how people constantly vote against their own self interest without understanding they are, or why they do.
How many times have you been shopping and are constantly irritated by one or more fellow shoppers? What is it that they’re doing that’s bugging the piss out of you? Are they moving too slowly? Are they blocking your way? Cutting you off? Or one of several other behaviors that tells you they don’t give a shit about you? Sound familiar? (You may also observe this behavior in traffic.)
Some of the behaviors we’re talking about above may be pushing their cart down the middle of the isle, totally ignoring other shoppers as though they’re the only one in the aisle. Everyone else has to modify their behavior because this shopper refuses to modify theirs. They are totally unaware of others. This behavior can also be seen with the asshole who parks their cart on one side of the aisle, while looking for an item on the shelf on the other side of the aisle, thereby blocking the entire aisle with their cart and their body. Or, while you’re standing at the deli counter, politely waiting in line, this person comes up and starts barking out their order as though the person behind the counter should wait on them first. Or, other such behavior.
All of this behavior described above, and many more, shows signs of general selfishness and a failure to recognize others in the world. The people described above don’t see the world as we do. Their world consists of only themselves, family, friends, colleagues and maybe their fellow congregants. And even those others exist only when they think about them, otherwise, nada.
We recognize some of these behaviors in our political lives. I haven’t asked the questions to see who is most egregious, Democrats or GOP’ers. However, I’m willing to bet that the most egregious of these would be GOP’ers and maybe some self described independents. IMHO, some of these self described independents use that label to justify their disengagement. A classic cop out.
As Democrats, most of us are more aware of not only ourselves, but others in the world. We show concern for how others feel, how things affect them. We don’t give lip service; we also back it by action. We don’t try to impose our world view on others. We do try to educate. We may feel someone is an idiot by their behavior, attitude, and how they express their world view. Whereas, our political counterparts, as recently observed in the House of Representatives and the state houses around the country, find it insufficient to accept the views of others, but dismiss them and then attempt to impose their own view upon everyone.
I must admit that this is still a theory in process, but I see confirmation almost daily. Now I open the floor for discussion. Debate away.
On with the games!!
Mojo Friday Guidelines
1) If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to receive mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
2) Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
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4) You don't have to comment to recommend.
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8) TexDem (that's me) is not bound by the guidelines. Heh
Mojo Friday Goals
A. At least 300 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
B. 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
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E. And always, fun fun fun.
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G. (New) Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 200 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
For those of you new to MF (Mojo Friday) we have our own lingo about a few things. Thank's to MF'er Jez (the link will explain) go to this diary for a little more fun and explanation. Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.