for thinking people
January 2, 2018
It is said that if you drop a frog into a pot with boiling water, it will naturally jump out, trying to escape. Conversely, if you place it in one with lukewarm water which you are heating gradually, the frog will remain there until it boils to death, oblivious of the situation. I don’t know if this is actually the case, but the boiling frog problem is a stunningly accurate metaphor for the state of affairs in the world today.
December 30, 2017
In a previous article, I spoke of idiocy of a particular kind, that of people who are too self-centered to bother about the world around them. Of course, this kind of idiocy and selfishness also leads to mediocrity. Furthermore, there is a certain paradox in the phrase “the world around them”: it implies a certain separation between those people and their environment. This is obviously untrue. These people’s decisions and actions (or, rather, inaction), affect their environment, a fact which in turn affects them too. And still they remain apathetic and refuse to take responsibility.
The problem is, since we all occupy the same world – and in our era of globalization it is impossible to truly become isolated – even those who do think and act, and are responsible, are also affected.
December 19, 2017
The words “idiot” and “idiocy” originate from the ancient Greek word ιδιώτης (“idiotes”), which has sadly lost its meaning in modern Greek. Nowadays, it means “a private employee” (i.e. in contrast to a public employee). But in ancient Greek, its meaning was far more intriguing: it meant someone so self-centered and absorbed with private matters, that he neglected the duties of citizenship: to discuss, vote, and participate in matters of public interest.
