Archive for July 4th, 2007

Al Parker, SysOps and Whitaker Thinking

When I wrote a piece below about how I rejected Whitakerism but I AM trying to teach Whitaker thinking, Al Parker wrote that he may not agree with me because “We the people” might include non-whites. I took the easy way out by pointing out that every state that ratified the Constitution had and enforced anti-miscegenation laws. They assumed “the people” were white.

But that was the EASY way out for me, because it was not the POINT. The POINT is harder to make, because it involves more work on my part. So I avoided it.

The POINT on which Al was wrong was not in asking me that question. He simply hadn’t thought of the point I made, which is exactly what I’m here for. In fact, ASKING me that was an example of the kind of thinking I am trying to encourage here. He was DOING Whitaker thinking.

What Al was questioning was Whitakerism, the idea that my opinions are the Only True Faith.

A Whitakerism would be a True Faith. That is EXACTLY what I am against. Whitaker THINKING should be a PART, and only a PART, of your intellectual tool kit.

SysOp and I disagree on evolution. In some cases, that makes us disagree on some of our conclusions. On the other hand, I pointed out that it is not true that “Things are not as they appear” or that “Men and women are the same.” It doesn’t MATTER whether evolution or God produced us; the point is that either God or evolution had a REASON for giving is two eyes and two sexes.

On that one’s belief or non-belief in evolution does not affect the conclusion you come to if you use Whitaker thinking.

On the other hand, when what I say depends ENTIRELY on evolution, SysOp simply disagrees.

THIS is the CRITICAL difference: SysOps respects me, but she does NOT regard me as The Authority she must yield to. So disagreeing with me is not some kind of trauma for her. It is routine that two good minds will differ.

Al was NOT disagreeing with Whitaker thinking, he was DOING it.

Rule One of Wordism is NOT to question. Rule One of Whitaker thinking is HOW to question.

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July 4 and REAL Traditional Values

Here is some history you do not hear about. You have heard that Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4, 1826. In fact, the only ex-president who had died before that date was George Washington over a quarter of a century earlier. July 4, 1926 was the fiftieth anniversay of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The critical point is that it was NOT a concidence that both men died on that day.

In fact, if you THINK about it, a forgotten art to historians, the date of the death of Jefferson and Adams provides an important insight into human nature. Before modern medicine, it was normal for very old people to decide WHEN they would die. My grandfather reached ninety during a recurrence of a scalp tumor, so he lived until his birthday in August of 1966 and promptly died.

My 86-year-old uncle by marriage lived alone in Florida, drove his own car, and had outlved two wives. Then a widow of 75 years he was courting told him she could not marry him because, in those days, her Social Sercurity from her dead husband would be reduced if she remarried.

He promptly died.

He HATED being alone, so no one was surprised at his death. Back then, it was taken for granted when a man that age gave up the will the live, he died. Today the idea that a very old person can decide on the exact date they will die seems like a superstition.

AND, back then, no one would have felt OBLIGATED to talk him OUT of it. It was his right.

“We’ll MISS you,” would have been an argument. “God demands that you live every last second you can, no matter how miserable you are,” would have been considered blasphemy, and no one even THOUGHT of it.

He died, excuse the expression, with dignity. He did NOT die being wheeled into an emergency room with an intern sitting on his chest pounding away.

AND the possibility that he and a 75-year-old woman might live in sin together never even came up. Modern Thought, both EXTREME Pro-Life and modern liberal, would have condemned the two choices we took for granted. His right to die was assumed and no one even suggested they “live together.”

Again, EXTREME pro-life and liberalism are on the same side in opposing REAL traditional values.

So most modern historians consider it to be a myth that Adams’s last words were, “Jefferson still lives.” If you understand the way people REALLY thought then, it would be exactly what he would have said. He and Jefferson both PURPOSELY stayed alive until that date, and both knew the other was doing just that. Jefferson had actually died a few hours earlier.

James Monroe was the next ex-president to die, in 1834. He ALSO died on July 4th! Now THAT you DON’T hear about. It says too much about REAL traditional values.

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