Thought and Judgment

I think the criticism of American thought is not so much that it is derivative -- everything is -- but that it is not properly to be seen as "theory" in the sense of providing a vision of a new way to live but more a handbook on a specific way to govern.

Me? I think this is good. Most people that feel strongly about how other people should live (see below for qualifications) are assholes and when those assholes live in places with weak institutions and few competing centers of power and large numbers of disaffected people willing to listen to them they move from the "asshole" category to the "murderer" category.

I thought a lot about judgment of the political system of others while in Russia -- especially at the times when I had to describe our own -- and came away with the very boring conclusion that judgment must take place -- I think we are incapable of living in a world without praise or blame or comparison -- but it needs to be open to surprise. So, for example, it is facile to say in Russia "this is bad -- this is bad we do this better" but it is equally facile to say "Everything is really the same everywhere". Of course there is corruption here in the US but it is different in scale, content, and effect -- so the word "corruption" is used in both places but mean different things -- and judgments must be made or we cease to think.

If you want to read more about my impressions of my Russian visit my Russian Trip Blog.