Bill W and Doctor Bob founded Alcoholics Anonymous. The movie showed the life of Bill W. Doctor Bob died early. But Doctor Bob’s last words to Bill W are the most quoted in AA.
Doctor Bob’s last words were “Keep it simple.”
Those three words stopped AA from becoming a form of psychology or a religion or some kind of Wordism.
Confucius and Buddha were both practical atheists. Yet there are church services regularly in the name of each of them. Neither Buddha nor Confucius understood the tendency of so many peoples toward making gods. So they ended up BEING gods.
When you die, a lot of people start quoting you for their own purposes. The way the Mantra is going right now, which is GREAT, I may be quoted within the movement after I am finally hanged or put in the dingaling ward.
If I do gain any lasting repute, I want to be less like Buddha and Confucius and more like Dr. Bob.
If I do manage to get a group of people thinking in my own, Keep It Simple Terms, I do not want it to end up like Pythagoras or others whose names were used towards building religions, like the Trinity, or the Holiness of Numbers.
I am old and tired and have had to spend my life introducing the most thorough kind of common sense, basic arithmetic, to political discussion. I do NOT want anyone to make a RELIGION of this, I want you to go on to developing your own algebra, your own Calculus.
You don’t need complication for its own sake. My wife was impressed by the black board full of Calculus equations I was criticizing as the Discussant at the presentation of professors’ papers in economics. I LIKED to impress my new wife and at the time I didn‘t want her thinking anything but how smart and complicated my mind was.
But those equations were all based on the implications of supply and demand. Boards full of Physics equations are based on a few principles everyone knows.
In fact, the reason math is so essential to Western peoples is because we are rigidly calculating BASICS, not inventing new realities. What is grandly and rightly known as the basis of Western Science is Occam’s Razor which can be translated into one sentence:
No Bullshit.
As those blackboards full of equations demonstrate, “Keep it Basic” is not the same thing as “Keep It Simple.”
But with that distinction in mind, Mister Bob’s legacy should be very similar to that of Doctor Bob’s.
#1 by Dave on 08/10/2010 - 10:28 am
My head is deeply into Whitakerland. Robert Whitaker is the leading intellectual in the world today and if you do not know that, you do not know the state of the intellectual world today. That you can interact with him through the Internet is part of the magic of our times, but don’t be fooled. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal for something else. BUGS is transformational stuff.
For practical reasons I pay attention to why people fall into the cat chasing its tail syndrome and that is all Robert Whitaker is really talking about in this post, he doesn’t want a legacy of cats chasing their tails. That is what Buddha got and what Confucius got, and to a certain extent it is what Christ and Mohammad got also.
You have to realize it is possible to be ineffective for centuries on end. People are capable of pulling that off. The American Constitution is just more proof of it.
In my view it makes sense to fight and that gets you to personal bearing and how important it is. There is a difference between us and Mommy Professor’s talking dolls. Mommy Professor and her talking dolls are incapable of imagining the depth of our commitment. And that really and truly is the difference.
It all comes down to you get what you settle for and there is no way an outside force can prevent it if your brain is actually working for you. That is a yes or no question. White people either have the brains to win this, or they don’t.
We are going to find out and Robert Whitaker has been a big step forward in this endeavor.
#2 by Dick_Whitman on 08/10/2010 - 7:48 pm
Multiculturalism is the opiate of the masses.
The AA/NA “Big Book” says that addicts have an “amazing propensity for self deception.” The addict will come up with very creative reasons to use, regardless of the hardship using produces.
Addicts will tell horror stories about how they lost their job, house, spouse, money, dignity, etc to drug use. When the addict uses drugs/drinks they are powerless to it and nothing else matters. Rational thought is impossible with an addict(while using). If someone is an addict, they are guaranteed to screw up if drugs/alcohol are in their life. This is guaranteed.
I repeat: Its guaranteed! This is critical for addicts to understand. Drinking or using drugs is guaranteed to end up in failure for them. Something (family, job, money) will get ruined (if not all of life) when the addict uses.
I repeat: The use of drugs and alcohol by an addict is guaranteed to bring them to failure. It might take awhile, BUT IT’S GUARANTEED!!!
I see a similar dynamic as it relates to race. In history we see evidence that as a geographic space goes from White to non-white, its civilizational quality drops. This has happened from Egypt, to Zimbabwe, to Detroit. It may take awhile(depending on the non-whites), but (like the addict) its guaranteed to end up in failure.
This is guaranteed!
Perhaps its time that someone have an intervention with the anti-whites?