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Thread: The voice of ordinary people

  1. #11
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    The problem with non-scientific "Truth" is that people call all sorts of things that are unverified true. Another problem with "Truth" is that people consider that lots of things to be true because a leader / company etc says so. I am all for the pursuit of truth, but having said that, the unbiased objective truth.

    I must admit that I am a total sceptic and that I am unwilling to accept things at face value. As soon as the human mind is involved in a judgement then the notion of truth becomes obsure. I for one have serious problems with my memory and I am honestly unable to remember many many things. The implication is that I know that I can't trust my own mind / memory. The problem is that I might believe something to be true that may or may not have happened. Given all of this I am very weary of considering other peoples opinions to be "True". The fact that the masses believe something to be true doesn't mean that it is so. The masses believed that the earth was flat, to them it was true.

    Maybe I am too ridgid in my thinking given that I look at things from a logical / mechanical point of of view. I find it very hard to look at things from a belief point of view because I see the different sides. One religious group believes this, anoother that, who is right, who is wrong, I don't know, should one side with one or the other, I can't say for sure either.

    My dominie, many years ago, once said a great thing to me: he said "You don't have to believe as I do, but at least give me the chance to show you what I believe" I will read your book and try to see the world through your eyes.

    Where can I buy the book?

  2. #12
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    Smile The voice of ordinary people

    adrianh: -The first response I penned to your post was –

    “Take your list and pin it up.
    Then have a vleis, wors and pap braai, with lots of Klipdrift.
    When you are all really “happy”, go through the questions.
    When you seem stumped by questions like “Were the God aliens?” and “Is love chemical?” just start singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby Mcferin. Such matters are of little consequence to our lives.

    However, as regards questions like “Did Zuma take a bribe?”, “Is Shabir Shaik dying of cancer” and other questions that have meaning to our lives, and social justice, you do need to take a view and decide for yourself where the truth of the matter is.
    If you do that, you will have retained your right to vote.”
    ______________________________

    My stance is that we must be rigorous about tackling the issue of the “peddling of convenient untruths” and “suppression of inconvenient truths” which is the mode of bad government. I think that this is what occurred in Tunisia and Egypt and they got it right.

    I agree that truth is elusive. Bad governments make it their business to make it even more elusive. I am very happy about WikiLeaks and the Palestinian Papers. I really don't care if Julian Assange has red eyes, a forked tongue, cloven hooves and a tail. He is giving us information that we need to pursue truth.

    In my book I have a chapter that is titled: “New madness - truth is rarely pure/never simple” and another titled: “Some are good, even the bad - some are bad, even the good”. This latter Chapter induced SA publishers to give it a miss.
    The book is available at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperbac...udice/14857391. Just order by surface mail - takes about 3 weeks.

    PS: You have refined my thinking on the issue of truth. I do tend to be a bit tunnel visioned about it.
    Let us have the conversation!
    Blog: http://coginito.blogspot.com Cognito ergo sum

  3. #13
    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    Well 'Wikileaks' made rather a splash of truth then?
    "Nobody who has succeeded has not failed along the way"
    Arianna Huffington

    Read the first 10% of my books "Didymus" and "The BEAST of BIKO BRIDGE" for free
    You can also read and download 100% free my short stories "A Real Surprise" and "Pieces of Eight" at
    http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/332256

  4. #14
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisNG53 View Post
    PPS: As a direct consequence of the book, I have just been invited to address judges and advocates in the UK on "Justice and Equality", having already done this in Namibia.


    What concerns me though is it's the politicians who frame the laws... For great strides that's the mob that needs fixing.

  5. #15
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    Cool The voice of ordinary people

    Well 'Wikileaks' made rather a splash of truth then?
    I watched Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia being interviewed by David Frost. She was right on point. I was most impressed. I was also so impressed by Helen Zille when interviewed on CNN. But then again I am very biased in favour women as leaders.

    What was notable was that Ms Gillard, though not happy about WikiLeaks, was unable to proffer one reason why. In particular she was unable to dispute Assange's claim that disclosure has caused no one harm of prejudice.

    Dave -
    What concerns me though is it's the politicians who frame the laws... For great strides that's the mob that needs fixing.
    Politicians make laws in accordance with the mandate that they claim or imagine to have been voted in on, e.g, the media laws that the ANC now wants to pass. All political parties make grandiose statements about justice until they are in power.
    Such laws may have only a nodding acquaintance with justice. The two are not necessarily the same. Bad laws often frustrate justice.

    I have learnt more about justice from life experiences, including that gleaned from human experiences as revealed in the courts of law.
    Let us have the conversation!
    Blog: http://coginito.blogspot.com Cognito ergo sum

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