Jack Pelham

When politicians want to be elected, they need the support of the majority, generally speaking. But what’s the average cognitive state of the majority? Are they all highly-diligent thinkers with enough time on their hands to vet all the facts?

No!

The majority are busy, distracted people who don’t spend much time in reflection or in problem solving. They are given to biases, memes, and hearsay as their method of gathering information. And when they use logic, it’s not always sound logic, because they don’t put much thought into that, either.

I listened to a group discussion on a Bible podcast, regarding this or that controversial doctrine that the group is studying. And as they were each talking about whether they find the doctrine convincing, it was very instructive to notice their methods of thinking. I’m writing this short post now just to point out one of those methods, and what I see that’s wrong with it.

One of the participants said that she can see that the doctrine in question maybe has some merit, but that she was going to be darn sure to see it proven completely before she ever adopts such a controversial thing for herself.

You can tell when someone’s physically fit
Just by looking at them and watching them move—
Provided you know what physical fitness looks like.
Otherwise, you might think everybody’s doing fine.

And you can tell when someone’s cognitively fit
By watching how they talk, deliberate, and decide,
And how they navigate themselves in this real world.
But again, you’d have to know what good thinking looks like.
Otherwise, you might think everybody’s doing fine.

The way I see it,
He came to start a fire
In people’s hearts—
Even though he knew
That that sort of thing
Would only ever really
Interest a few.

When a person is the giving sort,
But not the forgiving sort,
He can only enjoy giving to those
Of whom he approves.

But when he learns to forgive,
He can give to anybody.

What the Party simply cannot seem to understand is that its own failures and errors are a substantial obstacle to the progress of whatever good is in its own platform. Let me repeat that: It’s own failures and errors are a substantial obstacle to the progress of whatever good things are in its own platform. They expend their energies in focusing on the failures and errors of the opposition party, but when has the sum total of all that griping ever resulted in a one iota of reform of the other party?

For as long as a man is clumsy with details and free-handed with his “proofs” of things, you may still be able to help him understand a topic better, but you’ll always be working against that unruly undertow in his mind. It can snatch down a point of fact or of logic and wash it out to sea, as if it had never been established in the first place—even as the waves above seem to be running in the right direction.

The old man is still alive on the outside—
And you can tell it because he is breathing.

And he’s still alive on the inside—
Which you can tell because he is learning.

It’s funny how a life lesson
That I ignored as a child
Can still be sitting
Exactly where I left it,
Waiting for me finally
To pick it up and
Start learning it.

I was mad at it, I suppose,
But now, it seems to be
A dear friend.

The vainglory of teaching has allured so many
Who don’t yet understand the subject matter.

They go on and on about things
They have never vetted—and never will vet—
For they have already got what they wanted—
To stand in the place of honor.