House of Eratosthenes

Logo Please note that in some places the words “he” and “his” are used, without the customary and politically-correct practice of grasping at a more androgynous set of pronouns. This isn’t done to irritate people or to make any kind of point, it’s done to make things a little bit shorter and more readable. Customarily, my practice is to go ahead and make things a little more bloated for the sake of following the rules I was taught in sixth grade, but in the case of this Glossary I found the bloat-factor was very high. One of the purposes of this glossary is to make things easier for people tripping across this blog for the first time, and the incredibly awkward sentences were threatening to defeat that purpose. I hope the ladies will understand.

Absolutism (n.):
1) An intellectual discipline in which one seeks to discredit, or otherwise remove, any Cognitions that do not comport with a pre-defined set of Axioms. 2) An Irrational impulse to champion a policy, or set of values, beyond any possible point of diminishing returns. We frequently make a deprecating reference to absolutists (2nd definition) with the catchphrase, “if a little of something is good, a lot of it must be a whole lot better.”

Analysis (n.):
An Editorial, with a different name so that editors can justify placing it where the news belongs.

Anarchy (n.):
An Irrational desire to expunge Justice from all human affairs.

Arguing in a Vacuum (v.):
An attempt to persuade another mindset which 1) has not agreed on the facts to be considered or 2) already agrees on the thing to be done (see Thing To Do).

Argumentum ad Authoritarian:
Appeal to authority. A logical fallacy in which an assertion is made, or supposedly strengthened, because a respected authority has claimed it to be so.

Argumentum ad Hominem:
Appeal to the man. A logical fallacy in which an assertion is supposedly refuted, because derogatory characteristics are observed in the individual who has claimed it.

Argumentum ad Populum:
Appeal to popularity, or the Bandwagon Fallacy. A logical fallacy in which an assertion is made, or supposedly strengthened, because a (seemingly) large number of people believe it to be true.

Argumentum ad Snobby-Studentum:
Appeal to logical snobbery. A logical fallacy in which the speaker shows himself to be schooled in logical fallacies, but uses them to discredit all of an argument, rather than just the part of it that is shown to be fallacious.

Article of Faith (n.):
The sixth Pillar of Persuasion. An assertion made without underlying proof or support, with an implied confession that such proof or support cannot be made and usually cannot be forthcoming.

Assertions:
The Second Triad in the nine Pillars of Persuasion. A statement showing why something unproven, is believed to be true. It can be a Cause and Effect Argument, an Observation of Aggregates or an Article of Faith.

Axiom (n.):
An assumption that comes from nowhere, surviving only by its own validity and lack of refutation, but drawing no benefit from evidenciary support.

Bathosploration (n.):
Opposite of Exploration. A progressive movement over time which endeavors toward an ideal, rather than toward a frontier. This makes fulfillment of the Exponential Growth Instinct absolutely impossible over the long term.

Bathosplorific Crash (n.):
The depressing and frustrating sensation people experience when they have been engaged in Bathosploration and realize they cannot fulfill the Exponential Growth Instinct without re-defining their goals.

Bias (n.):
1) A tendency to reconcile Facts a certain way, such that some facts are given greater importance than other facts, and this disparity can’t be explained logically in the immediate discourse. Measurable when it violates Occam’s Razor. It is due to Irrationality, prior experience, or some combination of those two. 2) In the narrower definition, errant Cogitation on the part of a thinker or arguer who has a desire for things to be a certain way, or for certain things to be done. It is demonstrable when certain Cognitions are subject to an assault from empirical facts that are hostile to it, and emerge unscathed. One of the most lucid depictions of this second definition is this: Your digital scale says you weigh two pounds more than you thought you did. You weigh yourself five more times…ten more times…finally, it says you weigh one more pound than you thought. Thus the weigh-in is concluded for the morning. The next week, it says you weigh one pound less than you thought you did. Stepping on the scale ten times is entirely unnecessary, one weighing will do just fine. You jump in the shower and start your day. Over, you way yourself ten times; under, you weigh yourself once. That’s bias.

Broadcast (v.):
The act of disseminating cognitions and cogitations, without necessarily being ready, willing or able to engage in resulting dialog.

B.U.F., as in “The B.U.F.”:
One of the tell-tale signs that an Assertion is either false, or Bullshit: There is a certain Breathless Urgency Factor in the objective of getting the idea out there. It takes very little Cognitive ability to see that if something is demonstrably true, people of even mediocre intelligence will come to realize it on their own. So when a protagonist is seen placing significant urgency and desperation of getting an idea communicated, it calls the veracity of the idea into significant doubt.

Bullshit (v.):
Smells like bullshit

The act of disseminating Cognitions and cogitations, with apathy toward what is true. It is different from lying, which involves a careful observation of what is true and communicating something different. One cannot bullshit unless one absolves onesself of any concern at all about personal costs involved in disregarding truth — costs absorbed by other parties, are quite alright. (n.) The ideas communicated by a bullshitter when he is bullshitting. Bullshit can only be detected in two ways: 1) by proving it to be Invalid, or 2) by demonstrating the purveyor of the bullshit carries apathy about the true state of affairs, which would make all of his product bullshit by definition.

Bush-Haters’ Club Card (n.):
A figurative expression referring to the approval one receives from other people who hate President George W. Bush, whenever one announces new and improved ways of hating President George W. Bush. Usually invoked when commenting on the fear people having of having their card revoked if they don’t say the right things about hating President George W. Bush.

Cadence of the Noble Savage:
A dichotomy that continues to occur over and over again in human affairs. We are given a challenge, and we know we cannot meet it without protecting others, disabling others, taming a frontier, eradicating a threat — or some combination of those. We ultimately meet the challenge by relying on our most primitive skillsets, ambitions, aptitudes and values. This obstacle, now met, proves to be the zenith of all that confronts us for the foreseeable future; the trials that come afterward are relatively insignificant. And so, we begin to celebrate a set of values that have very little to do with what we have achieved, and indeed, are antithetical to what we have achieved. We do this even to the point of showing hostility to the “brutes” who were responsible for that past success, or to those who somehow reflect what was done there. This is the most naked and intense of all hostilities: the sincere desire that a person should cease to exist, or at least cease to be what he is. Tragically, as nature continues to remind us again and again of the incompatility between this, and continuing our survival — like lemmings, we seem to be more and more determined to do it again. It’s almost as if factual events are somehow reinforcing the behavior, when in fact, they’re counseling us toward the opposite and we’re ignoring the lesson. This is summarized in Thing I Know #130.

CALWWNTY:
An eight-letter acronym that stands for (We’ve/You’ve) Come A Long Way, We’re Not There Yet. It is what the leader of a movement tells his constituents, when he has lost all respect for them. I know of no example where anybody has used a derivative of CALWWNTY, and gone on to commit to meaningful milestones by which the success of the project under discussion could be effectively measured, either beforehand or afterward. CALWWNTY is an unmistakable sign that, if the project were subject to the exigencies and demands of the private sector, it would have long ago either been declared a success or failure, and all resources diverted elsewhere. It is, simply, a demand for a blank check. Once the voice of the movement indulges in CALWWNTY, that movement will be intertwined with CALWWNTY for as long as the contributors continue to tolerate it, decade after decade. The average age of a movement that is subject to the blatherings of CALWWNTY is somewhere between 40 and 70 years.

Cause and Effect Argument:
The fourth Pillar of Persuasion; an observation that when certain things happen, there are reasons why certain other things will almost certainly happen as a result. Usually invoked when discussing economics and human behavior, although this isn’t always the case. “When you change the color of the walls in the factory, you have to observe what happens to productivity as a result. It will naturally increase, because when people feel they are being watched, they tend to work harder.”

CBTA:
Can’t Be Told Anything. Applied to an individual who might actually be quite intelligent, but barring some drastic change in mindset, can never know any more than he knows right now. This is a condition brought about when a Dogma has been awarded greater weight than any Facts can ever be, so that the facts are reconciled against the dogma instead of the other way around.

Circular Reasoning:
A logical fallacy referring to an argument that proves nothing, because vital parts of it depend on itself. Often comes in the form of two arguments, each of which depend on the other.

Civil Rights (Violation of):
An ethereal concept of some kind of a rule, said to be violated because the person speaking simply doesn’t like something. Unlike a constitutional or treaty provision, it cannot be cited. It’s just an expression of frustration and extreme dislike.

Clean Thinking:
An intellectual discipline in which the observer prefers ignorance over acquiring factual information from a “dirty” source. It tends to be manifested when people brag about not reading certain things, or scold others for reading certain things.

Cogitation (n.):
An intellectual activity in which one forms Inferences from their own Biases and from Facts, or other inferences.

Cognition (n.):
The act of 1) acknowledging a Fact exists, or 2) arriving at an Inference.

Cognitive and Cogitative (adj.):
The process of forming solutions to problems, minus the final act of declaring the thing to be done (see Thing To Do).

Cognitive Dissonance (n.):
Flawed cognitive process which, in the same argument, recognizes two Cognitions, which both can’t be valid because they contradict irreconcilably.

Collective (n.):
A set of individuals who are supposed to be doing some On Your Left Nut Thinking, and are entrusted with some kind of authority that assumes this to be the case. The set can be identified by a specific nose-by-nose designation, for example some kind of acceptance process; or it can exist as a class, distinguished by definition alone. On the way to a collectivist mindset, this set first becomes a Peerage in which members come to realize they share material interests. With the desire to remain in good standing with the peerage, all members begin to think like Yang, surrendering their individual Cognitions to the coercive political currents in the group. At this point the group membership neither aspires to nor achieves the Critical Thinking beyond what is endemic to a hive of ants or bees, and has become a collective.

Committee (n.):
This is defined in Thing I Know #90. It is a group of four or more people, each of whom are invested in an all-consuming mission to appear more important than the others. Through their dedication, good judgment, and continued persistence in these efforts, they have an excellent chance at making the committee itself utterly useless.

Conservative (adj.):
In twenty-first century America, an adjective used to describe people who express the tiniest scintilla of skepticism about even the most extreme, radical left-wing pursuits. Fifty years ago, it described people who thought segregation might be a good idea. Twenty-five years ago, it described people who had reservations about negotiating with the U.S.S.R. about arms reduction treaties. Ten years ago, it described people who might have been reticent about cheering on President Clinton as if he were some kind of a rock star in a shiny-glittery outfit diving into a mosh pit. It is obvious the term is highly dynamic. This blog predicts that within eighteen months, “conservative” will be used to describe people who believe maybe, just maybe, someone might be qualified to share credit with Al Gore about developing the Internet, electricity, TCP/IP, various medicines, alternating current, the internal combustion engine, the printing press, gunpowder, the English language, the wheel, and fire.

Critical Thinking (n.):
An intellectual pursuit in which one follows the Cognitions in a Thesis, while keeping track of what has not been proven or satisfied, and maintaining awareness of Inferences used to provide greater support for subsequent conclusions than what they logically offer. The term can be applied to effort as well as to achievement. The effort to screen out Bullshit, successful or not, is an exercise in critical thinking.

Dispassionate But Reasonable Space Alien:
Recalling a subgenre of American prime-time television from the 1960’s to early 1980’s, in which a silly but somewhat-intellient alien would visit Earth and take up residence with a somewhat-ordinary American family. He would then require things to be explained to him that we regard as sensible and ordinary, only because we’ve become acclimated to them. It’s used here as a hypothetical to illustrate how incredibly brainwashed we have been, by clever talking-points carefully designed to dovetail with high-profile events in recent history. “Dispassionate” refers to not giving a damn about Democrats or Republicans. “Reasonable” refers to an ability to arrive at a sound conclusion after cogitating on the available Facts. Example: A dispassionate-but-reasonable space alien would look at Saddam Hussein, in the same light as a druggie flushing his weed before the cops broke down the door. A dispassionate-but-reasonable space alien would be amazed that we kept Bill Clinton in a position of trust after he was caught lying to everybody, under the flimsy justification of “what he lied about was nobody’s business but his.”

Diversity (anachr.):
A condition applying to an aggregate entity, of being composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities.

Diversity (modern):
A political value, said to be satisfied when white males are the first to experience pain and the last to experience fulfillment, gainful employment, approval or any kind of pleasure.

Dogma (n.):
A body of Cognitions and Cogitations formed, not to recognize truth, but as litmus tests to be applied to strangers. Strangers found to adhere to the dogma can be recognized as peers, and by clinging to this peerage the arguer can continue to practice Clean Thinking.

Doofus Dad (n.):

A paternal character in a movie or television show, which in turn is usually from the “Family Comedy” genre, contributing heavily in comedy relief but in little else. Typically, the Doofus Dad is the father of the story’s main character. If he has some common sense, or skills, or any other positive characteristics, these are manifested with a tone of irony, or else contributed to a storyline that is decidedly secondary. His character’s primary mission is to amuse, create problems, or some combination of those two. A recurring meme with the Doofus Dad character that has resurfaced again and again, to the point of parody, is that his presence has been expected at some kind of ceremony. The Doofus Dad may have created this expectation actively by promising to be there, or in some passive way. But at the critical moment he’s not there. This causes some kind of psychological trauma to his offspring. This ludicrous, predictable and thoroughly exhausted cadence was parodied in Austin Powers: Goldmember, with a whole new musical number called “Daddy Wasn’t There.” A distinctly secondary recurring theme to the Doofus Dad fom is his parental desire to instill in his child or children a competitive spirit, invariably fused to a none-too-subtle undertone that there is something undesirable, or even destructive, about such a thing. Of all the products our movie industry insists on calling “comedy,” the Doofus Dad character, packaged with the associated threadbare themes that orbit around him, constitute the most hostile and vicious. It’s also mostly unsolicited; Hollywood has always been far more desirous that we should consume this product, than any of us have been about so consuming. It has little to do with commercial appeal. The less fathers & children identify with it in Year Zero, the more we see of it in Year One.

Editorial (n.):
An opinion piece written for a newspaper or other printed media; the subjective opinion of that publication’s editors. Customarily placed in a certain page or section reserved for such things, and thus kept isolated from news and other material where readers can expected to be enlightened on Facts. Often called Analysis so it can be mixed up there without anything appearing to be out-of-place.

Emotional (adj.):
Applied to arguments that find justification in the way one or several people feel about a given situation, as opposed to truth.

Entitlement Mentality (n.):
A mental state in which things to do (see Thing To Do) are pronounced without a prior Cognitive and Cogitative process taking place, so that the line can be erased between Objective and Subjective viewpoints. It is engaged so that disagreements can be settled for the material benefit of a pre-identified individual, group or class of interested persons.

Exploration (n.):
Opposite of Bathosploration. A progressive movement over time which endeavors toward a frontier, rather than toward an ideal. This makes fulfillment of the Exponential Growth Instinct possible, and likely, over the long term.

Exponential Growth Instinct (n.):
The desire endemic to the human condition, to achieve something on par with what’s been achieved before, but on a more massive scale. This compulsion has a symbiotic relationship with the health and vitality of the human spirit; neither one can truly thrive without the other.

Extravert (n.):
A personality trait in which one loses energy in solitude and rejuvenates it in the company of others.

Fact:
The first Pillar of Persuasion. In the narrow sense, it is a Cognition that can be proven. In the broader sense as it relates to an argument between individuals who disagree, it can be an Opinion that is agreed upon by all participating in the argument, thus rendering any residual disagreement about the veracity of that opinion effectively moot.

False Consensus:
The effect that takes place when an observer gathers the sense that the people he knows, have a measurably complete agreement with a certain Cognition — and comes to the conclusion that a similar consensus exists among all persons qualifying for a similar membership class. It arises from the unfounded notion that the observer’s everday associations have been sufficiently random to provide a statistically robust cross-section, and that he can therefore measure the consensus of the overall class by sampling the consensus of his everyday associates. The mistake arises when he assumes the necessary randomness to have been achieved, when it was never his primary goal in seeking out those associations.

False Unanimity:
A type of Circular Reasoning in which one seeks to support an Assertion by observing “all” authorities regard it to be true — and then handily dispensing with any dissenting authorities with some argument that they really shouldn’t count. It’s a marriage between the Circular Reasoning fallacy and the “No True Scotsman” fallacy.

First Instinct Fallacy:
A flaw in the act of Cognition, in which an observer’s set of Prejudices have a filtering effect on the Facts and Inferences gathered: Those that comport with the prejudices are used in the resulting Cogitation, and the ones that would be more hostile to them, are effectively discarded.

Gawd is Bad, Mmmkay:
An Irrational Dogma embraced by some that the Judeo-Christian God is not only non-existent, but further, that belief in Him has been responsible for much, or all, of misery in human history. The term pays homage to the hilarious parody of school counselors on the popular South Park cartoon, in which the caricature Mr. Mackey warns the students to stay away from drugs by telling them, “Marijoowana is bad, mmmkay.”

Global Warming
Properly called “global climate change,” it is an Instruction To Believe that not only is the earth becoming warmer, and not only is man-made technology the cause of this warming, but that drastic policy changes must be made on an international scale — or else a calamity of some kind is sure to unfold (see Harbinger of Doom). It is an issue of great importance, as it highlights what has happened to contaminate science in modern times (see Science, both definitions). As radio commentator Neal Boortz has said, “The scientists know that as soon as they acknowledge the role of increase solar activity in global warming their research funds will dry up.”

Harbinger of Doom:
The ninth Pillar of Persuasion, it is the assertion that a certain Thing To Do is so important that failure to implement it will surely lead to something catastrophic. Alternatively, it could be a doctrine that the course of action is a bad one, and even if conventionally-accepted intellectual pursuits result in the sense that it’s the right thing to do, it must not even be considered because of this dangerous possible outcome. Usually, Cognitive and Cogitative processes, which would be better accepted in a different scenario, will be eschewed because the time involved in pursuing them might cause this apocalyptic event to take place. It is usually a logical fallacy, but in some everyday situations there can be merit to it, which makes it harder to detect. (For example, driving down a backwoods road you might think to yourself several times a minute, “if I don’t turn the wheel right, I’ll end up in the ditch on my left.”) Harbinger of Doom often is identical in substance to the Fourth Pillar of Persuasion but with entirely different ramifications to the discussion at hand.

Haut Monde Hoi Polloi:
A Cognitive Dissonance a person has about the Thing He Wants To Do, or things he wants to do. In twenty-first century America, it tends to take place most frequently with electronic devices, and is produced when the following Cognitions and desires are in effect:

A lot of people have X (the device);
Among the people who do not yet have X, most of the people I know want to have one;
The X does one or more things that would be useful to me;
If I had X, the thing that it does, would be at my disposal;
Furthermore, if I had X, people would notice that I have it.

I want it so bad!! The confusion that takes place is that the social standing one would achieve by acquiring X, is intermingled with a perceived magnification of the everyday functionality the device would remit, to justify the other material objectives that would be sacrificed to acquire it. It is such an intoxicating effect, that a singular demonstrated function is thought of during the purchasing decision as a plurality.

It is tested easily in a number of ways: If there was a hypothetical alternative, a Z, that does everything X does but lacks the name recognition — would the prospective buyer want a Z? If the dissonance is having an effect but concealed by a subconscious denial, which is usually the case, the decline in desire will be quite surprising. Also, suppose the market is saturated and everyone already has X, save for the prospective buyer. In other words, the social standing to be achieved by acquiring X, has dwindled to virtually nothing. Is it too late to justify buying X? And this is where the effect qualifies for the funny name: The answer is invariably yes.

So the justification has a great deal to do with social ingratiation, and very little to do with the functionality of the device. Within the social aspects, the dissonance has to do with how one is to ingratiate onesself by acquiring the product. “Haut Monde” refers to becoming part of an elite layer. This is demonstrated by the lack of excitement involved in finally acquiring something everybody else already has. Instead of doing this, there is a desire to be better than most other people, by having something other people would like to have, but can’t have. “Hoi Polloi” is a reference to being just like everyone else. This is demonstrated in the other hypothetical, where the subject is offered something else that fulfills all the functionality desired, but lacks the name recognition. People tend not to want things, that other people don’t understand or don’t want.

Because it’s a cognitive dissonance about what to do, rather than the more conventional dissonance about what is so — unhappiness is guaranteed. It’s simply impossible to be better than everybody else, and at the same time to be just like everybody else. They are mutually exclusive, and even a partial fulfillment of both of them is logically impossible.

Human Spirit (n.):
What gives life hope and meaning for humans. It is a “package deal” that feeds off the Perpetual Development Cycle and consists of a number of primitive impulses to: 1) learn new Facts; 2) derive Opinions from those facts; 3) figure out Things To Do from those opinions in order to a) raise one’s own standard of living and b) position onesself to more easily learn other facts. This is one of the characteristics that sets humans apart from animals. A healthy and vibrant human spirit leads to a happy and robust human, and a desolate and despondant human leads to a dying human spirit. This is all unavoidable.

I Have Been Instructed To Believe…
A simple acknowledgement that nowadays, people don’t hand hard information off to each other, quite as often as they dispense instructions to each other about what to think. That is in spite of what we may pretend to be doing. The distinction is a very simple one to maintain. Someone gives you an opinion, you take the time to verify it before passing it on, you have informed somebody. If you pass it along without verifying it first, you are instructing them on what to think. It’s not only an easy difference to keep in mind, it’s a very important one. A lot of other commentators will gloss over it, but that doesn’t mean we have to do that here. So when people tell us what to think, we’ll go ahead and repeat it, but we call it what it is. It’s instruction about what to believe, nothing more, nothing less.

Inference (n.):
A Cognition of the state of affairs that cannot be economically proven. They are derived from 1) Facts, 2) Assertions or 3) other inferences.

Innernets (n.):
Slang word we use around here. Jocular reference to one of many “Bushisms,” heard when President Bush responded to a question regarding rumors of a military draft in the Presidential debates of 2004. The meaning is obvious. The point to be a made in using it, while subtle almost to the point of being an inside-joke, is still self-explanatory.

Introvert (n.):
A personality trait in which one loses energy in the company of others and rejuvenates it in solitude.

Invalid (adj.):
The quality of an Inference, or other Opinion, that is found to be in direct contradiction with one or more known Facts.

Irrational (adj.):
Applied to arguments that have no justification at all, or find it in something besides truth.

Judicial Activism:
A delusional system of discharging judicial duty. Faced with the challenge of deciding how a law applies to a specific case, and vested with the authority speak to the question with finality, the jurist practicing judicial activism subordinates the sensible questions of precedence and meaning — and promotes over these the unrelated question of which of his possible verdicts can be predicted to have the most beneficial effect on society, as he sees it.

Justice:
1) A Subjective viewpoint of what should happen to people who put themselves in certain situations. 2) The delivery of that thing when it happens to them. Both definitions of the word may be applied to the delivery of good things, although it’s usually applied to the delivery of bad (but just) things. 3) The opposite of Mercy.

Kiss of Death:
A rhetorical device in which the speaker uses the text of his words to say something nice about somebody, but has the intent to harm their interests. Usually conveyed in situations where the audience has residual sympathy for the person or faction that is to be harmed. The Kiss of Death may be used when an out-and-out scolding may articulate all the intellectual elements the speaker wishes to convey, but fail to achieve the desired effect.

Law:
A societal mechanism used to make Justice into an Objective device instead of a Subjective one, by defining violations and prescribing penalties, or assigning duties to individuals and agencies. Formed by dictatorships, houses of representation, oligarchies and committees.

Left Brain:
1) Personal aptitudes that assist an individual in overcoming “hard” intellectual challenges, e.g., math, reasoning, spatial cognition, puzzles, etc. 2) As an adjective, affixed to individuals who show these aptitudes, or activities that demand them.

Liberal:
In the United States, a cranky and delusional individual who:

frequently arrives at things to do (see Thing To Do) without first pursuing Cognitive and Cogitative processes to arrive at them;
out of consideration for historic wrongs done toward minority classes, eschews any deliberation about the fourth (Cause and Effect Argument), fifth (Observation of Aggregates) or eighth (Rhetorical Questions) Pillars of Persuasion, without explaining or understanding why;
maintains and brags about an Irrational fear of losing his Bush-Haters’ Club Card;
clings to Clean Thinking by seeking out other individuals equally committed to liberal Dogma, and ostracizing everyone else from political discourse;
while nurturing a deep distrust toward the military, maintains virtually unlimited faith in everything else the Government does;
shows unwavering fidelity to the Mushbucket o’Liberal Goodness;
rejects On Your Left Nut Thinking during the Cognitive and Cogitative processes, and displays vituperative attitude toward anyone who doesn’t do the same;
practices Omerta for the benefit of other liberals;
when handing out compliments and congratulations to others, consistently avoids 1) mentioning anything that might give someone a feeling of achievement as an individual; 2) including white males, unless they are handicapped, have accomplished something of benefit to the Democratic Party, or have suffered some terrible malady that can be blamed on President George W. Bush;
likes to argue, and when doing so, demands accolades as some sort of “open-minded thinker” who appreciates “nuance” — but consistently avoids anything resembling a bi-directional exchange of ideas, and does nothing to open his “proofs” to any sort of challenge;
consistently promotes Mercy over Justice, but only for the individuals and groups meeting his approval, thereby engaging in selective Anarchy.

Liberals are explained in much greater detail here.

Memo For File:
Posts that Morgan Freeberg writes for his own benefit, usually for the sake of marking some resource of interest on the Innernets. It is made visible to others only for to draw benefit from collaboration with others who may contribute something further.

Mercy:
The opposite of Justice. (See Thing I Know #3.)

Mushbucket o’Liberal Goodness:
A figurative term meant to be applied to the panoply of liberal agendas. The subtle implication of sloppiness is a reference to the haphazard nature of all the things liberals want done, and the absence of any rhyme-or-reason one would expect of a platform produced by principled thinking. For example, the denial of a voucher program to poor inner-city kids who are otherwise trapped in failing public school districts, doesn’t seem to have a whole lot to do with slandering our fighting men and women as “baby-killers” and “rapists,”, nor does slandering our fighting forces have an awful lot to do with performing abortions on underage teenage girls without their parents’ knowledge or consent. None of those three agenda items, in turn, have a great deal to do with outlawing hundreds of thousands of jobs that happen to pay less than seven dollars an hour. And none of those, in turn, have anything whatsoever to do with taxing all the post-tax dollars in some dead guy’s estate, all over again, as if those dollars haven’t been taxed already, when they have indeed, just because he died. Those items are all philosophically and intellectually unrelated…not only a little bit, but completely. Yet our liberals are in favor of them all. Without reservation. “Mushbucket” is a metaphor used to highlight, metaphorically, how incredibly disorganized this belief system is. This blog used to call it the “toothpaste tube chock full of soldier-slanderin’, baby-killin’, tyrant-appeasing liberal goodness” until it was pointed out to us that a toothpaste tube is a device used to dispense sludge that has some liquidity and viscosity and quality to it. Furthermore, once stuff comes out of a toothpaste tube, it is a chore of excessive difficulty to squeeze the stuff back in. Contrasted with that, our liberals retract and redact their stuff all the time…it’s just expected of them nowadays. All they have to do, is meet up with someone who might not appreciate the comments they made the day before — and they’ll pretend they didn’t say it. You can’t nail ‘em on it, our willing liberal-accomplice press won’t let you. Liberals define what they’re all about, minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day. That’s just the way it works. So the “toothpaste tube” analogy doesn’t quite fit — “mushbucket” fits much better. Mushbuckets are bits of farming equipment, used to feed pigs. Pigs are gluttonous animals. If a pig is hungry, and his ass is on fire, and there’s food to be eaten, the pig will eat the food and let his ass fry away while the smell of scorched bacon fills the air. A pig thinks about his empty belly all the time…anywhere…in all conditions and seasons, dry, wet, cold, hot. If a pig’s belly is ninety-nine percent full, the pig’s brain is one-hundred-percent consumed with that missing one percent. That’s a gluttonous animal. Feeding gluttonous animals, is what our liberals have put themselves into the business of doing. So you see, “mushbucket” fits all kinds of ways, metaphorically and otherwise.

Must-Tard:
A bumptious individual, usually from Europe but not exclusively so, who talks at length about things other people should do (see Thing To Do) but is curiously silent about the Opinions upon which such arguments rest. Must-Tards are also quiet about what strategy is to be engaged if the things are to be done, or the consequences involved in those things not going to be done. One remarkable characteristic of the Must-Tard is he seems to be constantly frustrated that people aren’t doing things the way he’d like them done, but at the same time, it’s highly unusual for him to articulate why it would be a good idea. Reasonable observers invariably start to wonder if he himself knows. Another thing that is often left unstated among all these things he thinks other people should be doing, is exactly what stake he personally holds in all these things being done a certain way — what “skin off his nose” is involved. This, too, tends to be left unstated.

Myers-Briggs:
A Pseudo-Scientific methodology of recognizing divisions in the personality types of different classes of people, achieved by facilitating a series of either-or tests across four (formerly three) axes. These axes are 1) Introvert/Extravert; 2) Sensor/iNtuiter; 3) Thinker/Feeler; 4) Perceiver/Judge. A descendent of the Jungian personality test, which made all these determinations except the last one.

National/Cultural Discourse (n.):
1) An intellectual arena that spans all parts of the United States, in which people located there have the ability to mass-communicate with Americans in other parts of the country. Causes people to think differently, in subtle ways, than they would think if they weren’t part of it. 2) At any given point in time, a set of issues that are “hot” in the discourse, such as social programs, war, family configuration, and regulation.

Nihilism (n.):
The notion that in the long term, nothing really matters. Often used to justify Anarchy. People who believe in nihilism, are nihilists; their behavior is somewhat manic-depressive. They alternate between a sullen, morose behavior when alone or in the presence of other nihilists, a betrayal of the dead Human Spirit within them that they’ve made a conscious effort to kill off; and, a wild-eyed, passionate, Spittle-Flinging shrieky demeanor when in proximity to someone who is not a nihilist.

Non-Correlation:
A condition that exists when two properties are not related to each other, even though they may at first appear to be. Non-correlation is proven when four possible scenarios are defined, by means of the presence and absence of each of the two properties, and all four of these scenarios are demonstrated to be likely. Example: Some men like football; some men hate football; some women like football; some women hate football. Liking football, therefore, is non-correlative with gender. Note that non-correlation does not necessitate equal distribution (as football is far more popular among men than women).

Not Articulated Outright (NAO):
A phrase often used around here on Axioms that 1) are defined by statements used elsewhere, usually running high in passion, quantity, and frequency encountered — which cannot be persuasive to any skeptical individual unless such an axiom is uncritically accepted; and 2) are not actually articulated on a word-for-word basis anywhere, usually because they do not make sufficient sense to be so articulated by anyone with a reputation worth defending. The best examples can be found in the Picard vs. Tazmanian Devil situation, in which a protagonist facing an antagonist, capable of using both force and diplomacy, is implored to deploy the latter. For such an idea to make sense, there have to be reasons to believe diplomacy will be effective, and the primary ingredient in that is going to be a Cognition that the antagonist will follow the superior and more civilized example. The flaw in this thinking is revealed when no one bothers to step forward to say such a thing, although to someone open to all ideas and invested in a safe and healthy outcome for the protagonist, everything that could be meritorious about the diplomacy angle depends, completely, on such a thing. Other examples are found in arguments dealing with minimum wage, the death penalty, affirmative action policies, Judiical Activism and the legalization of drugs.

Objective (adj.):
Opposite of Subjective. A Cognition that does not depend on the Biases of an individual or group of individuals.

Observation of Aggregates:
The fifth Pillar of Persuasion. An Assertion depending on the personal experience of the speaker with instances of a defined class. Example: “I notice when a woman’s head doesn’t come up very high above her steering wheel, she’s almost always a terrible driver.” This kind of thinking can obviously be used to enforce and reinforce racial stereotypes, so our Liberals won’t let us use it.

Occam’s Razor:
An intellectual doctrine that shuns extravagant, complicated and fragile explanations of phenomena, in favor of simpler explanations that account for the same things. Example: Last night I saw a light in the sky that behaved like an aircraft, but was like no aircraft I had ever seen before. This can be explained by 1) aliens who came here from another planet, 2) experimental military aircraft, that I wasn’t supposed to have seen, 3) an aircraft with which I’m unfamiliar. Occam’s Razor says that if I’m placed in a situation where I must pick one of those, 3) is the least extravagant and so I shall favor that one. If my knowledge of aircraft is so current and so encyclopedic that 3) becomes difficult to consider, eventually 2) becomes the least extravagant. Both of these are favored over 1) which remains the most extravagant.

Omerta (n.):
A tacit agreement among a classification of individuals devoted to problematic Dogma, to refrain from discussing certain details that contribute to weaknesses in said dogma. This is usually fulfilled by a changing-of-the-subject at a judicious time, mostly by means of a Snarky Snippet. Omerta is a far cry from proof or strong evidence that a particular set of ideas is wrong, but it’s definitely a red flag that something is fishy.

On Your Left Nut Thinking:
The kind of thinking a man will do when he is forced to draw one or several Inferences, which he personally lacks the ability to prove or refute, the verity of which will determine the continuing attachment and function of his left testicle. According to the stated hypothetical, drawing the wrong inference will involve the destruction or amputation of this appendage, presumably without anesthetics, and ideally with a crushing blow from a hefty percussive device. The corporal punishment is not the point, nor is the uncertainty-factor involved in the inference, since all inferences carry some uncertainty. The point is the quality and style of thinking. The necessity that arises to change the way one thinks, when something personal is at stake, is a sign that lower-quality thinking has been accommodated. One shouldn’t have to change the way one thinks just because the stakes become higher or more personal.

Opinion:
Something that is Subjective. It is 1) the second Pillar of Persuasion; it can be a) a Personal Preference, b) an Inference, or a Relative Measurement. Or, it is 2) a Thing To Do.

Paralysis by Analysis:
1) A problem that currently seizes all levels of the electorate in the United States, who collectively understand there is something seriously broken in the way meaningful public issues are debated, but are more and more handicapped in arriving at a solution to the breakage, the more they think about it. 2) What stops Morgan Freeberg from actually posting about 90%, give-or-take, of the material that is considered for this blog.

Peeking Into Wells:
What we do here. It is named in honor of Eratosthenes himself, specifically, his experiment to establish the size of the Earth by measuring the angular difference of a midday sunbeam into two water wells several miles apart. The activity refers to many things, notably:

Remaining fully receptive to all nine Pillars of Persuasion, while abusing none of them.
Maintaining awareness of the difference between Objective and Subjective viewpoints.
Rejecting no more of an argument than is discredited by a logical fallacy, once a fallacy is found to apply to part of it.
Applying Occam’s Razor where appropriate.
Calling out Bullshit.
Rejecting Invalid Opinions, and Inferences that depend on them.
Relying on onesself to learn Facts first and foremost; where this is not possible, or is economically ludicrous, applying Critical Thinking in gathering information from others;
In arriving at conclusions, observing the Doctrine of Brittle Extremes.
Validating Biases by ensuring they are produced by personal experience and not by Irrationality.

Peerage (n.):
A group, or class, of individuals who must be concerned with a common threat or set of threats, and/or share one or several common interests.
Peer (n.):
1) A member of such a group. 2) One who shares common concerns or interests with another.

Perpetual Development Cycle:
A cycle people exercise by means of specialized aptitudes they have in abundance (or lack). Confronted with an everyday problem, they will select a strategy for solving it according to the strengths that would become meaningful in that strategy, and how these required strengths overlap with what they know they have on hand to supply; put another way, when you have a shiny expensive hammer, everything looks like a nail. In implementing the chosen solution, they strengthen the aptitudes that have been identified, and further atrophy the other aptitudes that are not relevant to the chosen strategy. So the aptitudes choose the strategies, and the strategies reinforce the aptitudes. Because of this, it’s part of the human condition to more and more indelibly define the profile of aptitudes as we become older and more experienced.

Personal Preference:
A type of Opinion dealing with personal tastes. To argue over it is completely pointless. Example: “My favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry.”

Picard vs. Tazmanian Devil:
A paradigm that Liberals seem to want to talk about, but that they never actually do: What would happen if the most “civilised” fictional character ever devised in modern literature, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship Enterprise, were to engage in “negociations” with the most brutal and primitive character, the Tazmanian Devil? According to liberal Dogma, Picard would set a superior example for the cartoon animal, who would then forcefully repudiate his habits and his natural instincts, and reward reason and fair-play with more of the same. According to reality, on the other hand, the result would be a giant Tazmanian-Devil turd with four rank pips sticking out of it. The scenario just goes to show: our liberals are on one side of a given equation, and reality is on the other. They believe in brute-force being defeated by superior examples of civility and decorum. Real life just doesn’t work that way.

Pillars of Persuasion:
Nine distinctly different strategies for arguing any given point, to any given audience, although of course “victory” can never be guaranteed. The theory is that if you take a full transcript from any debate about any given topic, distill all the comments made into a list, and filter out any Snarky Snippets, what remains can be easily categorized item-by-item into the nine pillars. The nine pillars are arranged into three Triads: Vitals, Assertions and Refutations.

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GlossaryTuesday, January 16th, 2007

Glossary
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007