• About me (Gary L. Herstein, Ph.D.) / Contact form
  • Furious Vexation (general questions here)
  • Statement of Intent
  • With regard to Comments and Spam

THE QUANTUM of EXPLANATION

~ Science, logic, and ethics, from a Whiteheadian Pragmatist perspective (go figure)

THE QUANTUM of EXPLANATION

Tag Archives: Race

Privilege … *MY* privilege

21 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Gary Herstein in Logic, Personal History, Race, Racism

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Personal, Race, Racism

Usually I take more time to compose my thoughts, but there are times when that is exactly the wrong thing to do. I’ve been trying not to think about white privilege too much of late, precisely because it has been overwhelming my thoughts. foolBless me, **ther, for I have sinned

My first genuine experience of my white privilege was when I was 18, and in Basic Training in the Army. Continue reading →

Until It Bleeds – Until It Burns

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by Gary Herstein in Ethics, Ferguson, General Philosophy, Race

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

being human, Ferguson, Morality, Race

The predictable, self-righteous clucking by privileged White commentators of various stripes that followed especially upon the Ferguson rioting (which followed upon a grand jury result that shows every sign of having been aggressively manipulated so as to avoid, even preclude, any indictment of the White cop who killed an unarmed Black teenager) betrays a level of willful obtuseness that is truly beyond all measure. Add to this now the similar refusal to indict in the Garner case in Staten Island, and the shock and outrage in minority communities has reached levels not seen since the 1960’s. This rage continues to leave many people – almost entirely White people, and regardless, almost certainly members of some significantly privileged collection of people – completely dumb-founded as to the reason why this rage is fulminating in so many minority communities, a rage that often expresses itself blindly in violence. Why are black people, especially, so angry? Why do they lash out so violently at their own communities? These respective cases went before their grand juries, and when presented with all of the evidence, the grand juries said that there was not evidence enough for an indictment. Isn’t this how the system is supposed to work?

Bloody_X_Acto_Knife5_by_Wrotne

But that, of course, is precisely the problem: that IS how the system is supposed to work. The system IS supposed to dismiss the value of minority, especially black, lives. Because the system that we live in is one of monstrously institutionalized racism in which black people can be safely viewed as not even human by people who insist that this is not a problem. Yes, the system “worked.” Such “working” is the moral catastrophe of our age.

I wish to make two points here, the first is quite patently clear, while the second and longer point will be far more problematically speculative. Point #1 is that, while rioting – which is not at all the same as civil disobedience – is almost certainly not helpful, it is understandable. The second, far more speculative, point is an approach toward such an understanding that I’ve not seen suggested elsewhere.

Continue reading →

HERSTEIN’s FIRST LAW

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Gary Herstein in General Philosophy, Philosophy of Logic, Psychology

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

being human, Climate change Denial, Critical Thinking, Race

Never underestimate human capacity for denial.

I first formulated the above phrase – and flattered myself by naming it – some decades ago; so long, indeed, that I’ve no clear idea when I first said it. Other people have probably said similar things, long before I ever first quipped the idea. But my first contact with the phrase was in my personal act of formulating it. The second person to invent the wheel still invented it if she didn’t know about the first person. The earliest example of the exact quote (it is important that you search on the quote, otherwise the search registers all the words, regardless of their order) that I can find on Google brings up the pseudonym of “Logic Deferred” as first stating the phrase publicly back in February of 2010. Feel free to click on the pseudonym to see who it is that comes up. But as I said, I’ve used the phrase for many decades now.

DerpAnd I am quite sincere about this statement: Never underestimate human capacity for denial. Smart people can be the worst cases when it comes to denial, because rather than using their intelligence for inquiry, they will use it to justify their ideology.

Continue reading →

Follow THE QUANTUM of EXPLANATION on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blogs I Follow

  • Cote du Golfe School of Fencing
  • Professor Watchlist redux
  • Free Range Philosophers
  • The Non Sequitur
  • Blog Candy by Author Stacey Keith
  • Philosophical Percolations

Goodreads

Copyright Announcement

© Dr. Gary L. Herstein and garyherstein.com, 2014 -- 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dr. Gary L. Herstein and garyherstein.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. (In other words, share but acknowledge.)
“But in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. The importance of truth is, that it adds to interest.” – Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality

Archives

Spam Blocked

62,898 spam blocked by Akismet

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cote du Golfe School of Fencing

European Sword Arts in SW Florida / Fencing Classes & Lessons Naples, Bonita, Estero

Professor Watchlist redux

Free Range Philosophers

Loving Wisdom Beyond the Academy

The Non Sequitur

Your argument is invalid

Blog Candy by Author Stacey Keith

Science, logic, and ethics, from a Whiteheadian Pragmatist perspective (go figure)

Philosophical Percolations

Science, logic, and ethics, from a Whiteheadian Pragmatist perspective (go figure)

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×