Citizen Logic
No
No
You’re
not Thinking !
You’re just being Logical.
(Kneels Boar)
Logic is a poor model of
The If…Then Addiction
if…then with re: to statements
can be timeless, consistent
eternal, logical;
if…then with re: to Cause &
Effect hap-ens in times
that are a-changing: a-
logically, bio-logical:
if you like— or Zoe.
if…then with re: to
Because and Affect
is arbitrary, self-serving.,
and psych-logical ]
I might could & ought not collapse,
conflate, & confuse these 3 “logical”
IF-THEN’s and if I could help it:.
then I wouldn’t.
But “If-Then” is handy & all-purpose
for explanatory needs & reasons-why
& if it makes sense to me, then I’m
going to use & abuse it.
If I want to, then I will.
If I need to, then I will, too.
How could I suspend my if-then habit? .
What would be sufficient cause?
Because?
If IT makes common sense to citizens,
then IT’ll be called “logical,” bet you
5 dollars. Not that there’s anything
wrong with that.
The word “logic” (in the vulgate) indicates,
suggests, connotes something like:
Ok with me.
Makes sense.
Yes, sounds good.
I vote for that!
And even:
“cool.”
[ wish I were cool
like Heather McHugh
profound on a bed-pan
and even shoots pool.
Mimetic Desire ]
Be logical! we say.
Imagine standing up in forum
imploring for a little less logic
please for crying out loud.
Tearfully.
We love “logic.”
Worship the logo.
Who wants to be accused of ill-logic?
Raise your hand.
Are we agreed?
If so,
then we can
proceed.
I suggest it is the attempt to deal with
life in logical terms and the compulsive
nature of that attempt which produces
in us the propensity for terror when it
is even hinted that such a logical
approach might break down.
It is as if the tight coherence of the
logical brain even in persons who
notoriously think with a great deal
of muddle-headedness must
still be sacrosanct. (G. Bateson:
Mind and Spirit: A Necessary Unity)
You can call me anything but don’t
be calling me logical, damnit, or
even rational, not that there’s
any thing wrong with either ,
and I’ll use & abuse both best
I can on a regular basis to try &
get my way & do good & correct
and make the world a better place.
Call me Procrustean.
Hospitable as I am: perfect host
as long as it fits my bedrock values.
How could it be other wise?
No myn does wrong knowingly.
(Socrates)
It’s only logical:
if it is the case that any live
system will optimize it’s self.
And Myn is a live system. Well,
then: Myn will optimize: do the
best they can at any point in time.
Grass dies
Myn die
Myn are grass.
Citizen Pain.
Sam,
ReplyDeleteHow to disturb the common-sense
when most people do not like to be disturbed? Suppose that people
and their common sense are something like a live-system of a
particular type: a conscious system
able to partially reflect upon itself, loopy thinking. Systems are self-optimizing seeking to maximize upon a whole series of implicit taken-for-granted assumptions upon which we do our daily reality constructions, we desire things to be orderly predictable-we want to live in a safe world where we we dont have to worry for our backs.
But you, Sam, question those very same taken-for-granted fundamental assumptions generating a whole series of reactions from the different live-conscious systems that integrate the wider-system of your class which in turn forms part of a larger system called Warren Wilson College. Students and Professors alike have acted with displeasure, accusing you of intelectual terrorist or simply as it seems to be case, don't take your rumminations seriously.
Not that you want to be taken seriously anyway. You are trying to frame this as a ludic mental
fight club game. Sometimes people get on the same page, almost SEeeing what you are trying to tell, telling vs. showing, the aesthetic-intelectual pleasure one attains by attaining a vision of one-self as his/her self goes about daily business as usual. Seriousness would be counterproductive.
Irony and parody are two of the best ways I know of putting things in question marks, a resource that you use and abuse in all of your writings. It's all a joke, don't take my spam writings seriousliterally for whatever I try to write about It is always inadequate. A joke.
Dear David,
ReplyDeleteI see How-to-Disturb-The-Common-Sense
as a "Liberal Art" question, though--having said that--
it's probably monumentally presumptuous to attempt
to disturb IT for anyone else but one's own self.
Nevertheless: I try & put it in play, at least.
Disturb and Be Disturbed:
I see "School" (schola: leisure time) as the context where that
kind of "terrorism" seems appropriate.
Or what's a college for? The liberal art part, at least--if
not the liberal arts.
Thanks for your good comments. Do I know you?
Sam Scoville