pam-mentations.com

December 5, 2020

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. “Does he not there as much accuse mankind by his actions as I do by my words?” Thomas Hobbes.

It may seem strange to some man that has not well weighed these things that nature should thus dissociate and render men apt to invade and destroy one another; and he may therefore, not trusting to this inference, made from the passions, desire perhaps to have the same confirmed by experience. Let him therefore consider Continue reading

Pam-Toons

camera, cartoon, cctv, drawing, fear, graphic, Hobbes, internal, key, Leviathan, lock, nature, Philosophy, photo, political, safety, security, sketch, social, spy, surveillance, trust, war
November 21, 2020

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Retrain?

Resume EduCCATION — Grade 8 WORK EXPEANE (experience) – Labour 49 YRs [The writing is authentic.] Continue reading

Pam-Toons

art, cartoon, children, economy, energy, future, gas, graphic, green, Greta, industry, job, laborer, labourer, laid, lay-off, loss, male, man, off, oil, old, pencil, renewables, retrain, sketch, Thunberg, transition, unemployed, vulnerable, workers
November 20, 2020

Of Flocks and Wings

Lurking somewhere in the back of our adult brains is every mother’s admonition If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you? Don’t blindly follow your friends. Sometimes this warning is made explicit. When I went to university in my 40s, my seventy-five-year-old Dad worried that I would cease to think for myself. And so he gave Continue reading

Catch-All

children, fear, growing up, love, parent, parenting, peer pressure, think for yourself, worry
November 16, 2020

Thoughtlets .xxvi.

What fascinates me about Speakeasies was the mingling between and relative equality of rich, poor, women, men, black and white. These illicit clubs helped with the momentum and success of civil rights movements. The current Prohibition with its categories of prohibited speech are liable to create a new kind of Speakeasy. I’m curious about what kinds Continue reading

Thoughtlets

autonomous effects, civil rights, critical thinking, moral, myopia, prohibit, prohibition, solidarity, speakeasy, speech
November 15, 2020

A meditation on the character of a political speaker and, by extension, a voter (Oct. 31/20 with Nov. 15/20 addendum)

Loosely put, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. More specifically, on Aristotle’s definition, rhetoric is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” We all use rhetoric to convince others of some thing or other, but some of us are more skilled than others to this end. Some become especially Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

aristotle, armagedon, Biden, character, dark, election, ethos, evil, extreme, foreign, good, goodness, interference, light, logos, media, pathos, rhetoric, Trump, truth, Von Clausewitz, war
November 9, 2020

What’s in a name? A face, a voice, laughter, habits brought readily to mind.

The names of the people we love are like beads on a Rosary, well-worn worry stones oft-fondled for comfort and reassurance. Continue reading

Arts and Leisure, Catch-All

epistemology, love, matters, memory, name, Philosophy, social, social epistemology
November 5, 2020

Understanding Political Rhetoric and How It Works With Our Mental states to Persuade or Dissuade

Rhetoric is, broadly put, the art of persuasion. Whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re all persuaded by rhetorical tactics and use them ourselves to persuade others. Some people find this notion unconscionable, as if there is some cognitive and/or character defect involved in persuading or being persuaded. There isn’t. Others think they’re immune Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

anxiety, assumptions, cognition, emotion, examine, fallacies, fear, hope, humility, rhetoric, speeches, Thinking, unexamined
October 31, 2020

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Over or Under?

Continue reading

Pam-Toons

America, ballots, Biden, candidates, cartoon, choice, choose, commentary, election, mail, mail in, November 3rd, policy, politics, rules, social, Trump, US, USA, vote
October 31, 2020

Philosophy is a Knee-Jerk Reaction Clinic

In this high-charged social and political climate, remember to slooooow down. Continue reading

Catch-All

careful, deliberative, examined, outrage, Philosophy, reaction, reactive, reflective, reflexive, slow, system 2, think
October 31, 2020

Thoughtlets .xxv.

If you like something a political speaker has said or the way she’s said it, ask yourself who her target audience is and whether you are a member. If so, remember the politician is soliciting your vote. It would not go amiss to slow down and inspect her wares for incorrigible defects, a most difficult Continue reading

Thoughtlets

bias, critcize, critic, deliberate, discern, emotion, inspection, judge, oratory, partisan, perspective, politician, politics, prejudice, rhetoric, scrutiny, slow, sophism, sophist, speech, think