Misanthropic Musings

Misanthropic Musings

Just ran into this earlier today. Can't say that I agree on every point but I appreciate the overall spirit and tone of this mans writing. 

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking. 
     I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious. 
     I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty... 
     I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect. 
     I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech... 
     I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run. 
     I believe in the reality of progress. 
     I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

H.L. Mencken

First attempt to fly

Well...

Just wondering why so many people that i know that voted for Obama are continually using the word "hope" in reference to his expected performance. I find this to be rather disheartening. 

Did they vote for him because they believed him to be a better candidate or because he was the best alternative to four more years of  republican rule? If they felt his positions and policies lined up best with their personal views and that is the reason that they voted, fine. But I'm afraid that most American were so sick of Bush and the mere mention of republicans that they jumped for the only other alternative that they felt they had. 

So now we have another leader that we "hope" will do the right thing. "Hope" that he'll be better than Bush. I believe that after his first term is completed that people will be happier with him. But at what cost? Four years from now the federal reserve will be just as powerful. We will still be occupying Iraq at some level. We'll still have over 700 bases around the world. the EESA will still be in effect. Our presence in Afghanistan will likely be strengthened. Sure the world will like us a bit more but who cares if they like us? Honestly the best thing we could do for world peace would be to withdraw all our troops from overseas. I think that would be a truly positive message of "hope" and "change". 

Just sad to see smart people that I respect and call my friends do stupid things out of emotion.

I abstained from the presidential part of the election entirely.

Shame we don't have any heroes anymore.