Dogmatism
July 22nd, 2024
It just occured to me that I'm incredibly dogmatic and self-assured, yet at the same time lacking all the self-esteem to reveal any of those ideas to the public. It's a strange description, but under an anonymous guise here I'd be willing to admit it.
I forgot how to be skeptical, how to offshore belief and suspend it when hearing some radical news. I think I've been greatly influenced by the western propaganda machine for the past decade and a half. When I was younger and more impressionable, surprisingly, I was more critical of the information I heard, received, and synthesized on my own.
I think it is in my best interest to ask and criticize in my mind every since piece of written text I consume. It is probably better to protect my own values, my own sense of self as well, to ask deeply of what others tell me, and to not let it enter my soul and taint it however the outside world may please.
I should be careful what I read, and I should be careful of what and who I hear. It is a dangerous game to let words infiltrate and control my mind and soul through everything. Lee Kuan Yew was very smart when he mentioned the dangers of globalization and the "information highway." What it meant to him, as paraphrased, is that the youth will lose touch with their parents and communities values and identities and be subsumed by global forces.
And, it's true. I feel I can relate more to a Russian teenager who watches Gachimuchi than I can to a fifty so year old man down the street. I've been raised as a citizen of the internet, rather than a citizen of my community. Partially, there are racial and social factors to consider why that is the case, and why I feel isolated from my greater community. Additionally, there are parental factors at play that are influenced by things such as diet and exercise. It is a shame that I have not interacted with my community, rather by my peers on the internet and by my parents.
Wealth, additionally, is brought about by strong, careful connections, and the internet was supposed to tighten those connections. It has only diffused and dispersed it, making the few connections weaker by giving access to millions of potential connections. Dunbar's number is small, and the internet has only exacerbated the problem.
In my eyes, my issues are in living a warm, balanced life. My problems lie in affording housing and a good living, and contributing to the community around me. My problem lies in living an alienated, isolated life, but trying to extend outwards and foster a sense of strong bonds.
The Reality of It
My parents overprotected me, and I say that with a feeling in my heart that I am responsible for their control over my life. I do hold myself accountable for having let them grip my neck for so long and thrash me around, especially now that I have been grown enough to make decisions on my own for quite some time.
I move to another city in a few days. I'll be out of the physical demands and control of my parents, and for the first time in my life, I'll be in charge of my own decisions. I pray to God that I don't screw this up horribly, because I have a history of being reckless, unreasonably risky, and emotionally impulsive. All these traits, to be blunt, are highly unattractive and have led to a fair amount of poor decisions on my part.
And, it is my fault for being so dogmatic about my thought processes. It's my fault for not being more analytical about my beliefs, reassessing them in the given context of the world. Context is key, because one fact may be entirely true or false given the surrounding facts. No fact lives alone in isolation, and I think that is the addendum I would make to Wittgenstein's structure of the world.
The world is not a set of facts, rather, it is a graph of these facts, where one node cannot live without the edges that extend out from it. So in that line of belief, I have to question everything I think. But, at the same token, not to question everything too much where I believe in nothing. I think I have to believe in something with the reasonability of logic.
For example, democracy is an effective government given a responsible elite of media outlets and an educated mass of people. Unlimited government is not the issue, as Nixon recounts, rather it is the issue of unlimited power of the media. The media is free to sway voter vote however they want, and reword any truth to untruth or any falsity to unfalsity as they please to do whatever they'd like. And, if the masses are poorly educated, as I am, and lack the critical thinking required to stop the media from reinforcing their confirmation biases, then it is only a matter of time until this country becomes the oligarchy it is today.
The context is key. Singapore is not a poor democracy not because of its lack of media freedom, but an effective democracy because it enforces responsible media.
On the topic of Singapore, I think one of the core features of Lee Kuan Yew's success is the often overlooked component: his willingness to learn, emulate, and reform and mold to his liking. He had highly educated ministers who made responsible decisions. Additionally, he sent people in his government all over the world to study other forms of governments and corporations around the world and asked and learned from them. He asked the corporations what they were looking for in terms of regulations, and met expectations to attract those companies. He went to other states and took the best modes of government, and he learned in particular what were the best of each form of system. He even allied with communists as the context asked for, until the end when he smushed out the faulty economic system. The key characteristic was a lack of dogmatism, a keen eye for context, and the ability to communicate clearly and ask and learn how Singapore could help and be helped.
To me, success is gained by learning from as many people as you can. Talk to as many people as you can, and pick out the qualities that best suit your context. Advice will always come free if you ask, but the question is how to pick out what suits your context. Lee Kuan Yew modeled his system off of Hong Kong and the British, and China did the same modeling themselves off of Singapore.
Keep an open mind, and learn a lot. Ask frequently the reasoning of others, and pick out their opinions and sift through them. Perception is key for success. LKY recommends the Singaporean youth to not grow complacent in wealth, and to keep the system running as effectively as possible. But if you look in the meta-game, he is applying the same concept he has followed his whole life. He looks carefully at the current state of society, and then offers advice for that context. The real advice, I think that he could give for statesman, is to look and ask before deciding. Don't rely on a dogmatic vacuum to make decisions, especially ones based off of faulty abstraction and ideology. If people are hungry, they are hungry!
In the book, Acres of Diamonds, the author emphasizes asking your neighbors their needs and supplying them is the fastest way to become rich. Frankly, Singapore did exactly that. It asked its neighbors what was needed and supplied it as quickly as it possibly could. Helping others creates wealth and good.
A strong work ethic, one that deliberates and cares for others, and asks of others what they need, one that is honest, and a strong, unyielding character of gold, that is what will go far in this life. I recognize now that if you want to go far that is what you need.
Our current oligarchy in the USA, our out-of-touch billionaires, corrupt politicians, and greedy CEOs, they are not the characters of gold that lead to wealth. And, frankly, it's clear to me that they are responsible for the downfall of this nation. So far distanced from reality and entrenched in staunch abstractions, I'm afraid that this country does not have a strong future ahead of itself and accelerating its downfall.
The fact of the matter is this: people in the USA are having fewer children and we cannot afford housing. The minimum wage income does not let a person afford a decent living to eat. Inequality is creating a massive issue.
Yesterday
Yesterday, I went to church. Then I ate out with my cousins and played pickleball. It was a nice farewell day, and maybe the last time I see them for a month or two.