POSTS
A convenient reduction of truth
By hisham
Many of us have come across individuals that distance themselves from the truth so much so that it seems quite absurd. I wrote the following after encountering such an individual a few years ago. It was a bit long-winded, so I’ve revised it and cut it short. Read it if you will. As always, comments welcome.
A most strange occurrence in societies treading the almost always painful path to freedom and self-determination is the constant presence of the reductionist. A creature so accustomed to habits of disinvolvement and passive observance, he occasionally makes himself visible to the public, orating a few remarks that attempt to curtail the flow of fundamental logic and moral sensibility. There is a disinvolvement from critical understanding that underlies reductionism. This, it appears, is a direct consequence of selfish convenience and comfort.
There might not be such a thing as a right or wrong opinion, but there are opinions formed on ignorance, on half knowledge, on wit and on academic discourse. As Socrates states, half knowledge is worse than ignorance. And the problem with reductionists is that they are a product of half knowledge, a product whose identity is in a state of dysfunction, refusing to discern the true nature of the cause and effect of freedom struggles.
Of course, such refusal is a matter of choice. One is not simply born a reductionist, rather it is a choice one takes as a person who will adapt to the circumstances that best suit his comfort. A reductionist’s outlook belongs to the most comfortable personal viewpoint, rather than taking in a holistic viewpoint. An individual whose worldview is skewed in part by his choice of limiting himself to that which pertains to his interest and no more.
Through passive, uncritical observation, this avoidance of a social consciousness has a very worldly nature to it. Rooted at the base of reductionists is the very fact that they have directly benefited from preferential treatment by the unpopular, gestapo regime, be it at the expense of the subjugated populace or not. The reductionist is a stray soul, fed and owned, by the whiplashers.
Therefore, the reductionist is not a mere ignorant. The ignorant does not know, while the reductionist chooses not to know. He chooses to walk like a circus beast into the cage of his master. A choice that satisfies his selfishness at the expense of truth and social progress. For truth is beauty, and the reductionist is ugly, ugly, ugly.