Et tu quoque

A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning and are often used in politics and marketing. But the question is why do people use this ridiculous preposterous piece of shit that is this logical fallacy and such a commonly used argument. It seems as though as a college student I find myself more and more repulsed that adulthood is very much like kindergarten but with smarter, bigger, more deceitful and awful people that can throw a lot more resources at the same damned issue. Henceforth I have come to inform you all, my dear logical readers, about the logical fallacy that is "Tu Quoque" pronounced "Too Kwo-kwee" this logical fallacy can be seen in many places from news, television, radio, politics, even your local pre-K will have examples of tu quoque floating all about the room of screaming children.
You see dear reader the logical fallacy of tu quoque has been imparted upon us since the very early times in our life when if we are faced with trouble and we can accuse the other person of the same error blame will inevitably be displaced. This means that to your smaller self gets away with whatever you did and don't have to deal with this anymore. Tu quoque is most often used in the world of politics. Picture it now a blue-suited, white-collared politician coming onto the stage prepped to speak about a very important world issue when, suddenly from the left appears a politician from an opposing part! *oh no!* The opposing politician asks the politician about money that has gone missing in a account the politician was handling when all of a sudden the politician blames the missing funds on the opposing politician! *gasp* This is only one of the many places that tu quoque invades our daily lives. What are some ways that you, my dear reader, are impacted by tu quoque?

Sakura, and what they are to Japan

When many Western cultures think of Japan many associate the country with sakura (桜) or Japanese cherry blossoms. However there is no official national flower of modern-day Japan and the Imperial seal was a sixteen-petal chrysanthemum. So why is it that we think of cherry blossoms when we think of Japan? Well it all started back in 710-794 in Japan during the Nara Period.

            Hanami (花見 lit. flower viewing) is a century old custom of holding picnics under blossoming sakura trees. However from the Heian period to the Edo period the practice of hanami became more common among the differing classes when before it was only common among the elite of the Imperial Court. The symbolism of the Japanese sakura blossom has commonly been representative of clouds due to the flowers nature of blooming en masse (blooming in giant somewhat separate bundles,) however they were also popularized as a constant example of the ephemeral quality of life. This concept is a central aspect of mono no aware (物の哀れ)  which is a Japanese tradition strongly associated with the Buddhist influence in Japan. Mono no aware is translated as “the gentle wistfulness of things” a concept that conveys an awareness of the transience of things in this world.  The sakura is used as an example for mono no aware due to the short life span of the sakura. The typical life span for a common sakura blossom is generally a week which demonstrates the beauty of them but also how one can have a wistful sadness since their beauty will fade within a mere week.

            While mono no aware lays claim to the sakura flower as a demonstration of its core ideas the sakura flower is also an example of the Japanese ideal of wabi-sabi (侘寂) which can be broken down into in two distinct ideas. Wabi (侘) can be thought of as the beauty in imperfection. Sabi (寂) can be thought of as the wistful sadness about the impermanence of the object. Wabi-sabi is somewhat similar to mono no aware , however the difference pertains to the object which has impermanence. Mono no aware is generally used to refer to living things such as plants animals and humans where as wabi-sabi pertains to objects and things that have no life such as rocks, tea cups, and brick walls. To insert a visual aid look at the picture below: 

This scene is absolutely stunning however the clay wall is stained with orang and brown spots. This reflects the aspect of wabi in the picture since it shows the perfection in the imperfection. Although the wall is stained it still is aesthetically pleasing, showing that although it hasn’t retained its original colour it still is still perfect geometrically.  The sabi element here is the rock garden that is beautiful and perfect, however it is easily messed up and since we don’t know how long it will last, this truly reflects the sabi in this scene.

            In all the sakura blossom is very important to Japan, and although it is not the official flower of japan the symbolic representations of the sakura flower have greatly popularized it since 710. Since the sakura flower was, and continues to be, an integral part of the daily Japanese experience (whether it be in art, poetry, or philosophy) during the formation years of the nation of Japan it is no doubt that when foreigners arrived they saw many depictions and writings about the sakura blossom and often wrote about it in their letters back home. This is why it is common for westerners generally tend to associate the sakura with Japan.

Knowledge

With Knowledge Man May Judge Himself

I am going to use the rest of this blog to focus on that one quote.

What is knowledge? Is it a GPA, a degree perhaps? What is it that constitutes some form of information as knowledge?

Perhaps it is the amount of reverence we give it maybe we control what the term knowledge means by putting emphasis on things we deem important and declaring them knowledge.

On the other hand perhaps it is something we are given, a trait, a recipe, a value passed down from a figure we respect. I think the term knowledge is extremely subjective as many people generalize it too greatly. Knowledge my dear readers in an individual thing. It's not what people tell you it is, no, it is what you find to be important in your life. Some knowledge can only be gained by experience such as social knowledge and other such things. We cannot teach social norms only enforce them we give children that knowledge by enforcing good behaviors and punishing bad ones.

We control knowledge. Yes that is completely true I know it may seem strange but all the knowledge that whoever you are that may be reading this blog right now has been controlled, twisted and possibly even manipulated depending on where you live. Knowledge is universal but it is in no way the same. For instance, why is it that in America we stress so much importance on the Holocaust and World War II yet in countries who were aggressors, such as Germany, Japan, and Italy the subject is only briefly covered? Thats right my dear readers, we are being fed knowledge this is true but how can we be sure that what we are being taught is the truth is the truth? These are questions that I will let you ponder yourselves and see if you get anything from it, I know I have but looping back to the original quote: With Knowledge Man May Judge Himself. This quote strikes me at a very deep level because it says that we can judge ourselves when we have attained knowledge but when have we attained the proper knowledge to judge ourselves? Furthermore I am consistently lead back to the simple question of "What is Knowledge?" I would give you all a definition here but this is counter-productive to my point. When I looked for a definition I was given thousands upon thousands of online dictionaries trying to tell me what knowledge was but none could agree on a single definition. So what is knowledge, and what kind of knowledge must we attain in order to be able to judge ourselves?

Freedom Of Speech: How Free Are the People Who Live in the Land of the Free?

Freedom Of Speech - noun The right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint. 

Voltaire once said, "I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This quote always struck me as an oddity. I mean we have freedom of speech in America right? But then why is it that we spend so much of our time trying to silence others? Whether it be the teaming masses that rally behind a cause and try to make their voices heard or perhaps the occasional controversial politician that says something people don't like. In a land that constantly boasts and brags about its citizen's right to free speech we are a culture of people whose core essential value is silencing others.

Rush Limbaugh and some of his "words of wisdom"

Yes it may be true that we are humans and silencing people is what we tend to do when we don't like another persons opinion, but how many people would be like Voltaire and defend, to the death, a person's (whom may not share the same values as your own) right to say what they want. It seems as though in the media and in politics everyone wants someone to, for lack of better phrasing, shut the (insert expletive of choice here) up! Now as a "free people" we built ourselves off of the idea that people may have different values and that we should respect those whom may have a different view on certain subjects, this is how progress is made people! Now its understandable that we may not want to subject ourselves to opinions of those whom we vehemently disagree with and that is a personal choice but to try to silence people for getting their words and using them is wrong.

Take Rush Limbaugh a prominent conservative speaker, yes it may be true that whenever a sentence leaves his lips I find myself cringing in the corner, however that doesn't give me the right to silence him. Yes, I have the full ability to walk away from his relentless moronic babble, and thats how you can easily silence whomever you want whenever you want. In no way shape or form does anyone who is not a government official whom has extremely sound reasoning for silencing someone have the right or power to silence anybody. Take a tip from this e-card: if you don't like what someone is doing/saying/posting you have the full control of yourself to stop looking or listening and to remove yourself from the situation. This is just a little food for thought in your daily life.

My reflection upon Chapter 1 of a half-history half-english book that we use in a college writing course

A Bust of Aspasia of Miletus

Do you know who this woman is? In case you were previously unaware this is Aspasia of Miletus. Also known as the foreign woman that intrigued and changed the Athenian mindset on foreigners rights and role in society. I was extremely interested to learn about Aspasia's role in introducing the concept of rhetoric to the Athenian public. She took the the world of rhetoric by storm when, upon her rival in Athens, Greece she opened a school that was focused primarily on women's education. This a concept that back then, and to the disparage of many today still continues to be a very unheard of and taboo subject. In particular she talked about the differences in "giving rhetoric" which was using language to give internal human qualities such as values, sense of honor, meaning in life, internal elements of noble identity a realisation in the real world. Much like explaining someones values or their sense of honour to someone else may change their view on something, so was the purpose of using the rhetoric of giving, or in essence, philosophy. On the other hand, Aspasia also talked about the rhetoric of "getting" which was using language to get external objects such as landholdings, slaves, wealth, things to enhance personal appearance and external appearance of identity. So this was in modern terms the language of persuasion. This was in essence a woman who started out as a second class citizen and rose in power through feminine charm as well as pure brilliance through the ranks until she died an Athenian citizen. Her ideas about rhetoric can still be noticed today when reading or listening to different news stations. For instance when listening to Fox News many reporters use the rhetoric of getting when describing events and how this affects a class of people or the reporters directly. I find the rhetoric of giving more often used on radio stations such as NPR where they don't talk about how they or a class of people are affected by a certain event but go into the more philosophical causation and effects of a particular event. As it is clear to see we here in the modern world owe a lot to, that's right, a woman who lived during the 5th century in Greece for teaching us all about the use of language and how language is not only an identifier of nationality or identity but a tool that can be used in everyday life to give knowledge or to get what one wants.