How to Fix Everything (or at least Stupidity)

I recently read an article titled "Abstinence is Unrealistic and Old-fashioned." You're probably thinking the same things I first thought when I saw the title: "Why the heck is a Christian guy posting this on facebook? Is there something I don't know about him? Has he fooled us ALL???"

Or something like that.

The article is actually a critique of the issue and in support of abstinence. It was a very interesting read, and made me think of the messages that our culture is sending us. Why would a teacher (spoiler alert) tell his student that abstinence isn't practical anymore, and it's better to explore sexuality? That's pretty alarming.

However, I found something even worse. One of the comments said something along the lines of, "I wouldn't have a problem with this is you stated it as your opinion, not as truth. Sex is important in a marriage, so you should practice. THERE IS NO RIGHT AND WRONG! I'M A BIG STUPID IDIOT! BLAH BLAH BLAH!"

At least, that's how I remember it.

Several other people had the same or similar issues with this comment as I do, judging from the endless list of replies to this person. A lot of them said exactly what I was thinking, but none seemed to touch on my biggest issue: the claim that there is no right or wrong. Yes, this person actually said that (in all caps, too). It's an issue I've had in some of my classes at the U of S here as well. The belief that there is no right or wrong, only personal experiences and mentality that shapes our individual morals.

Do you see the contradiction?

If you don't, that's ok. I was in a Philosophy class when this idea was first brought to me and it blew my mind. The contradiction is that to say there is no right or wrong is based on the belief that this statement is truthful, or right. So you shouldn't actually be able to say this with a straight face. It's a similar phrase to "There is no absolute truth," which is an absolute truth statement. It's an immediate contradiction, which renders the initial statement false. Even to follow the statement with everyone has their own morality is saying that right and wrong exists, just on an individual level.

Ok, so what about ignoring the first statement and focusing on personal morality? Consider the example of Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot. These people acted on their own judgement. They believed that they were helping their nation/people by getting rid of the opposing force. For Hitler, it was the Jews; Stalin, political enemies; and Pol Pot...ok, so I don't know much about him, just that he's considered evil for some sort of genocide thing. Google it (I will later). Some researchers have even claimed mental impairments that allowed them to do these unspeakable atrocities, because no regular human could do that. This points to the existence of a universal standard to which people can be considered evil.

Therefore, if something can be considered evil, there must also be it's opposite, or at least the idea of it, which provides an understanding of what evil is. Evil is a comparative claim. We only consider Hitler to be evil because he is so far from our understanding of what good is. So if there is a universal evil, there is also a universal good. It is through this good that we base our understanding of evil from, not vise-versa. The Good is a topic that has been discussed since the time of Plato and Socrates. In fact, the beginning of Plato's Republic goes through this argument also exactly by taking three popular views and then refuting them one by one. These views are still almost parallel to the majority of views expressed today on the Good.

Hmm...that's interesting.

So, really, societal beliefs really haven't changed much since ancient Greece. It's all repeats through history. The only thing that changes is the technology we use to express it. Every generation seems to believe that they are the best and most advanced, and the previous generation regards the present generation as the worst and most degraded people. Since people killed each other for sport in Rome and there were celebrations to gods that was basically sleeping around with everyone, I don't think we're getting that much worse. It's all our narrow perception.

So why do we still believe/do all these things if it's a) happened a million times before and b) been proven to be false by Philosophy?

Simple: education.

I believe our high school education could use the addition of philosophy classes. This might be in the form of an ethics class, or framed more in a historical context (history of thought). It could even be added to present courses, like Health or Social Studies or English. This would provide the basic knowledge of some elementary philosophical principles that would help students become much more knowledgeable and wise adults.

"But Dayton! Philosophy is hard! The language is difficult and the concepts can leave people even more confused! Even if they didn't, they would still need to find teachers qualified to teach these subjects! Your idea is impractical!"

Yes, so maybe this is a little impractical, but not as much as you might think. First, our generation is in the mess it's in now because of laziness. We don't want to work hard for our rewards. We want instant fame through a viral video. We want the instant pleasure of sleeping with dozens of people before marriage. If it's easy, we want it. But since when did something worth while come from not working? The YouTube celebrities put in hours and hours on projects. They spend their money on equipment in order to make better content and travel to spread their brand. It's not lazy stuff. Hard work=better rewards. Ask anyone who's ever worked for anything ever.

Besides, teens already look at Shakespeare in class. That language is tough and there are layers upon layers of thought and analogy that is definitely not all looked at in school. Yet we study it anyways in order to get a better understanding on literary works considered to be some of the greatest of all time. So throwing in a little Plato and his analogy of the Cave or discussion with the three perspectives on the Good wouldn't be that big of a stretch. As for effective teachers, well, maybe this would help get rid of the crappy ones like the one mentioned in the article I read if they were required to have taken Philosophy courses in college or university. Teachers should be developing minds in order to think for themselves, anyways, not shoving facts down throats. That's why I want to be a teacher. I want to get kids to think about things and discover the joy of learning. Cause learning is so cool. Getting your mind blown is awesome.

With the influence that media has on our society today, I think this is more important than ever. To add philosophy in school would be to combat the negative trends that are consuming the youth. What is the Good? What is Justice? Love? Wisdom? Prosperity? Philosophy addresses it all. They may seem basic, but the basic is always the last thing to be considered.

All the Kings Men, pt. 3

Saul woke everyone up at the crack of dawn. “Everyone up! We have some to Philistines to get rid of!”

All the soldiers groaned and pulled themselves out of their sleeping bags. Their stomachs were still empty and sleep had been the only thing that stopped them from thinking about it. Now that they were up, the entire camp was filled with the growls of hunger. But no one complained because no one wanted to make Saul angry.

All day they chased the Philistines. They found them in caves and bushes and trees and swamps, and Saul made them get every single one. At last, they killed the final ones that evening. They had been keeping all the supplies for the rest of the army at a small farmyard, but now that they wouldn’t need it anymore, the Israelites took it. There were enough sheep, goats, cattle and calves to feed an army, which was good, because a hungry army had been starving all day and was ready to EAT. They were so hungry that they killed the animals and starting eating them right there.

Saul stood over a fire, cooking his meat and watching his army enjoy a feast.

“Uh…Saul? Shouldn’t we…you know…drain the blood first?”

“Mmph?” Saul said, a huge chunk of steak hanging out of his mouth

“You know, drain the blood. Like what Moses commanded?”

Saul spit out the meat immediately. “Right! Drain the blood!” He looked down at the chunk on the ground, heard his stomach grooooawwwwwwl, and felt a little sad for a second. Then he shouted to his army,

“STOP! Don’t sin against God and eat meat with blood in it! Bring the animals over here to be butchered first!”

So the soldiers did what they were told. Then Saul built an altar to the Lord for sacrifices.

After everyone had filled themselves on food, they began to set up camp. Saul, his highest generals, and the priest were relaxing by the fire while their tents were being set up.

“Hey,” said Saul, “I head there’s some more Philistines to the south. Lets surprise them during the night and destroy and plunder the rest of them tonight!”

His generals glanced over at each other. “Is he serious?” They thought. But instead, they said, “Whatever you think is best.”

“Hey, I think we should ask God first this time,” said the priest.

So Saul asked God. “Shall we defeat the Philistines tonight? Will you help us kill them all?”

No answer.

Saul asked again. “My Lord, should we plunder and destroy the Philistines as soon as we are ready to? Will you help us?”

Nothing.

Then Saul became worried. “God’s not answering me! Something’s wrong!” He looked at his generals. “Go and figure out what was done. I want to know who sinned, what they did, why, and how. Every detail. I swear that whoever did this will die, even if it were my own son!”

The generals glanced over at each other and thought, “Is he serious?”, but they said nothing and simply followed orders. Everyone was woken up, but no one claimed they did anything wrong. The generals took this information back to Saul.

Saul had an idea to find out the culprit. “Jonathan and I will stand on this side, the rest of you on that side.” No one objected. Then Saul prayed, “God, show us who is guilty and who is innocent!”

The priest took 2 stones and scratched one side of each. He gave one to a general on the soldier’s side and he took the other. “Whoever’s stone shows the scratch, that side is guilty and the other is innocent”

He threw them in the air and when they landed on the ground, it was Saul’s stone that showed the scratch. It was either Saul or Jonathan. Then the priest cast the stones again to decide between them. Saul clenched his fists in anticipation. Jonathan swallowed hard.

The stones flew up in the air. Both men watched them fall to the ground. Then they hit with a soft thud.

Jonathan was guilty.

Saul glared at his son and crossed his arms. “Boy, what did you do?”

“I…I tasted a little honey when I was off fighting Philistines. But it was only a little! And I never heard your vow before? Does that deserve death” Jonathan was shaking, and he wiped sweat from his forehead.

Saul glared even angrier. “Yes.” He began to reach for his sword at his side. “May God strike me down if I don’t obey my own vows!”

Then his best generals burst out of the crowd. “Saul! Don’t do this!” They pleaded. Two of them stood in front of their angry king, while another reasoned with him. “Jonathan is the reason we did so well against the Philistines! Would you kill the hero of Israel?”

Saul paused. He opened his mouth to reply, “Y-“

“No, of course you wouldn’t!” His general continued. “As sure as the Lord lives, not one hair on his head will be touched! He is a hero! An instrument of God’s power! Three cheers for Jonathan!”

The crowd of soldiers surrounded Jonathan and carried him away, cheering him and God’s power. Saul was left all alone, in silence, sword in hand, glaring at the departing crowd.

He looked around at the abandoned camp and clenched his jaw. “Fine,” he said and sighed. “But I’m going home,” and he crawled back into his tent and fell asleep.

Back at home, a letter waited on Saul’s desk of a new threat against Israel and God’s final test of its king. 

All the Kings Men, pt. 2

Saul and Samuel had just gotten back to Saul’s home and started to do some fieldwork when they heard someone shouting, “King Saul!” Way out in the distance, they saw an army messenger running as fast as he could directly toward them.

“Oh, good,” thought Samuel. “A test for Saul.” He looked around and smiled. No piles of bags to hide in anywhere.

“King Saul!” he cried when he reached them. “I have terrible news! King Nahash of Ammon has captured the town of Jabesh-gilead! He is threatening to gouge out all of their right eyes for a truce, like he did to all the Israelites east of Jordan!”

Saul was silent for a few minutes. When Samuel looked over at him, his face was completely red, and Samuel swore he could see steam leaking from his ears. Suddenly, he grabbed his two plowing oxen, killed them right there and cut them up, and then gave a bunch of pieces to the messenger.

Samuel was terrified.

“Ew,” said the messenger.

“Suck it up!” yelled Saul. “Take these pieces all over Israel, and tell everyone you see that if they don’t join me against these monsters, they’ll look like my ox too!”

The messenger was so afraid that he picked up the pieces and ran off as fast as he could. Samuel stared at the rage mountain of Saul. “Impressive,” he thought. “Scary, but impressive.”

The next day, Saul traveled to Israel’s barracks in Jerusalem. When he got there, there was 330 000 men waiting for him, but no one would look at him because they were so scared of his anger. With his generals, he devised a sneak attack on the Ammonites and the next morning, secretly marched to the captive down and defeated them with ease. When Samuel heard, he knew that God had caused Saul’s anger and the people’s fear. “Humph,” he sighed. “I guess God knows what he’s doing. Maybe he won’t be so bad after all,” he grumbled.

Then came the Philistines.

The Philistines were very powerful and had for a long time hated Israel, but when they heard that this new king Saul was winning battles and threatening their power, they decided to destroy Israel for good. Saul and his men marched out to battle, but when they saw how many Philistines there were, they panicked and ran and hid in caves and holes and anything else that would fit a trembling soldier.  

Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days before they attack so he could get there and offer God a sacrifice to bless the battle, but after 7 days, there was still no Samuel and Saul’s soldiers were beginning to run away. This made Saul mad. He demanded, “Bring me the sacrifice stuff! If Samuel won’t do it, I will!”

Just as Saul finished, Samuel walked up over the hill. Samuel stopped, looked around, and saw the smoldering fire and smell of cooked meat.

“Saul…” he growled. “What…did…you…do?”

“My men were scattering, and you were no where to be seen, so I did the sacrifice and asked for God’s help to save my men, like a good king.”

“You idiot!” screamed Samuel. “You disobeyed God! And to think, I was beginning to like you! Now your kingdom will end and God has even already chosen someone else to take over, a man after his own heart. Not like you!” Then Samuel left the battlefield.

But Saul was determined to fight. “Never mind him!” yelled Saul. “We are ready to fight! Who’s left with us?”

“600, sir! And you and you son have the only swords!”

“Oh my.”

“How are we going to beat an enemy so big?” asked his soldiers.

“I have no idea,” Saul admitted, “But from now on, no one eats until we get our revenge!”

However, Saul failed to realize that there were only 598 soldiers around him. His son, Jonathan, and his armour bearer, had gone off to spy on the Philistines. While they were hiding, God gave them a sign that they could fight and win, because Jonathan had faith that God could.

Suddenly, the ground shook!

“Earthquake!” cried the soldiers, and they began to panic. 

“Wait!” yelled Saul. “Do you hear that?”

In the distance, there was the sound of fighting. The soldiers creeped closer and saw that while they were busy running around, someone had freaked out the Philistines so much that they were killing each other.

“Charge!” cried Saul, and everyone rushed in and scattered the massive Philistine army, saving Israel once again.

At the end of the day, everyone was tired and weak from not eating. Since they hadn't killed ALL the Philistines yet, no one was allowed to eat yet. When Jonathan and his servant got back to the main group, he was confused at why no one was eating. He had found a bunch of honey in the forest and eaten some, but wondered why no one else had.

“Because your dad told us we couldn't until all his enemies were dead.”

Jonathan just shook his head. “Seriously? He’s going to screw over all of Israel with those kind of ideas.”