Politics According To Krauthammer

Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago to Politics
310 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

I just finished Charles Krauthammer's last book, "Things That Matter." It is so brillian that I literally found over 100 topics to discuss in this forum. But I won't. At the very start of the book he makes the point that no matter how much effort he puts into writing about science,medicine, art, poetry,architecture, chess, space, sports, numbers, in the end they must "bow to the sovereignty of politics."In trying to move the spectre of politics off the table he got into the Voyager probes and whose voice narrated but Kurt Waldheim, a former NAZI. It prompted me to ask the Gulch one simple but extremely profound question: What one thing would you send on Voyager 1 and/or 2? Krauthammer finally winds up saying what biologist and philosopher Lewis Thomas proposed as evidence of human achievement ;the Complete works of Bach.(Personally, I would have chosen Beethoven). So, am asking this forum, if you were allowed to send only one item on Voyager 1 or 2, what would it be? Remember you are representing all of earth from fauna to flora, from philosophy to nonsense, from math to quantum. Just one thing. Music? Science? words? go for it.

All Comments

Previous comments...   You are currently on page 10.
  • Posted by term2 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You have to admit that on a scale, Trump is a hell of a lot better than the liberals of today. If you rate him relative to a john galt, wouldnt he be higher than Hildebeast for example? We all have to live in the here and now, so a choice of lesser evils doesnt make it "good", but its just that-lesser of two evils. Means not as much of your money will be stolen, and the government might regulate your life a bit less.

    We still have the destruction of the medical system with Obamacare, which I blame on Obama, and now the establishment who wants to "replace" it. I say REPEAL it period, but that does to show how much effect I have.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by term2 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    talks wrong but does right. I think trump gets off on tweeking the liberals with his outlandish tweets. Then while they are ranting and raving, he just does what needs to be done.

    Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me- my mamma used to say.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by ewv 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A lot of people voted for him as the only alternative. The lesser of two evils does not make the lesser evil good. Voting against Clinton did not make Trump "the last stand for what’s left of American constitutional values" and is not a reason to broadcast his head shot photo to the universe like the promotions of Lenin and many more.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by term2 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    WE are still somewhat free in the USA, which is to be appreciated. The government does a lot of controlling and takes a lot of our money, and has direct control over transportation, finance, health care, food production, communication, etc. As long as we are quiet and live under their radar, we can go about our daily lives pretty much unmolested.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by ewv 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That is a false alternative, one part of which is impossible. Correct action requires correct thought. A lot of what Trump does, or would do if he could, is not right.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by term2 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Hmm. interesting idea that the only way to save humanity is to escape from it
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by term2 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Its a rational choice, however, given the available alternatives. He is a hell of a lot better than Hildebeast, even though he is not an objectivist or close to it. An Objectivist would never be elected now, so thats not a choice unfortunately.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by ewv 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ayn Rand was a very clear writer. There is no honest excuse for the misrepresentations.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by ewv 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This personal mudslinging invective is all nonsense. Ayn Rand lectured, appeared on TV and radio interviews, and wrote non-fiction books and articles until the end of her life. Those who attended Branden's collapsed 'institute' were attracted to it through Ayn Rand. They were seeking more information from what they had read in her work -- for its conceptual content, not just "inspiration". Among the most valuable articles and lecture appearances by Ayn Rand and others were after Branden left. To say that Ayn Rand "had nothing to do with the spread of Objectivism" beyond an "inspirational book" is a vicious injustice.

    Branden was thrown out in the late 1960s because of his dishonesty and irresponsibility, not as a rejected "sex slave". If anyone cares he can read the documented account in James Valliant's The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics: The Case Against the Brandens.

    Branden's subsequent life, including a foray into New Age mysticism, demonstrates what he became, and it surely was not Objectivism. He was publicly known because of his prior association with Ayn Rand, which he exploited for the rest of his life in repeated attacks on her to bring attention to himself.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Buckley was a snob. But he was also very smart. One can disregard the upturned nose if the words are the truth.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    There are several ways being proposed to travel faster than light, but they are all ideas without implementation. But so was the quantum world before Einstein. It was there all the time, running the universe but we didn't realize it until Albert did a thought experiment and knew just enough math to back it up.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    What it boils down to is Talks wrong but does right versus talks right but does wrong. Which do you want?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It just popped into the ancient skull. What if there aren't any aliens? What if we Are alone?All of this and no one to show off to.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    What a great variety of music suggestions.
    There are a few other philosophers....are there not?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    There are as many genres of music as there are variations of language. Hell, humanity confuses me
    can you imagine whit it will do to the aliens living in a giant Jupiter-like planet breathing methane? Even our music would sound pretty weird to them what with the heavy gravity and strange gases emanating from winds.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Too bad. You missed one of the greatest political minds, not to mention an acute observer of everything from sports to a love of dogs..
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    What will happen post Trump? Sliding down the icy slope toward socialism? How to rule ourselves. Is strict domination by government the only way man's baser images can be kept in check? I was fortunate to live in an era which was the closest humans came to realizing freedom then any other time in history. It lasted so short that it couldn't even be considered the blink of an eye. In cosmic time it passed so quickly it virtually didn't exist. Yet it did. And how can you explain freedom to people who never experienced it or only saw it as too much responsibility?
    Reply | Permalink  

  • Comment hidden. Undo