Common Sense. Common Sense. Common Sense. What is it, exactly? It is in the title of my blog…in fact the title implies that you’ll find quite a bit of it on this blog. It’s a commonly used term – often subconsciously. It’s the title of a historic pamphlet written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. That was a great pamphlet…a true world-changer…and it was written in the plain down-to-earth style that I myself like to adapt at times. But perhaps I will post more on that another time. This post is about plain old Common Sense – the root of the concept itself. It is defined by Merriam-Webster as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.” That is not the only way of saying it. But it gets right to the point: Common Sense is prudent, it is simple and it is a conclusion one comes to based on given (usually obvious) information.
I like to base a lot of my beliefs and practices on Common Sense. It is what I use for my broad, down-to-earth, intellectual philosophy on life, love, politics and business alike. It differs in many ways from Conventional Wisdom. Conventional Wisdom is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the generally accepted belief, opinion, judgment, or prediction about a particular matter.” Plainly said. Conventional Wisdom does not HAVE to be contradictory with Common Sense. Often, they go hand-in-hand. “Don’t stare into the Sun for long periods of time without shades.” Here, Common Sense and Conventional Wisdom are in happy agreement. “Don’t wear all black and stand in the center of the highway in the middle of the night.” Again, Common Sense and Conventional Wisdom do not diverge.
However, a widely accepted belief is often blatantly wrong when one sees it plainly. It is then that Common Sense says one thing and Conventional Wisdom another. All too often, people are prone to follow Conventional Wisdom. In yesterday’s post I discussed the Drug War and how Common Sense said it was time to end it but after all these years the Conventional Wisdom of drug prohibition is deeply embedded into our culture. So, something can be both Common Sense and Conventional Wisdom and something can also be Common Sense but not Conventional Wisdom. When such an occasion happens, the opposing view is then Conventional Wisdom but not Common Sense. There are also some things that are neither Common Sense nor Conventional Wisdom. For instance, “Neptune has the strongest winds of any planet in the solar system, measured as high as 2100 km/hr.” This is not Common Sense, as it is not a based on simple perception. It is also not Conventional Wisdom, since it is a remote fact and most people don’t know (unless they’re astronomers) or, frankly care.
I see a writer who’s desperately on a quest for intellectual credibility. Common sense, in reality, is accepting the world for what it is (not for what you hope it could be like) and working within whatever advantages or limitations that are presented to achieve your personal ends. Try reading more Machiavelli and less Thomas Paine.
I am familiar with both Machiavelli and Thomas Paine.
“Common sense, in reality, is accepting the world for what it is (not for what you hope it could be like).” No, having Common Sense sometimes means setting unrealistic goals. If you work with unrealistic goals, you may not always hit the mark, but you do better than you do if you aim for realistic goals simply because you are trying harder. What if the Founding Fathers had accepted the world for what it is and had not dared to dream of what they hoped it could be like? Or Martin Luther King? Or Jesus? Or Moses? All these people worked with unrealistic goals and they proved mastery of their world vision only when incorporated with mastery of Common Sense.
“…and working within whatever advantages or limitations that are presented to achieve your personal ends.” While I’m a firm believer in incentives and free markets, I’m far from being all about myself. Everyone needs to follow a basic set of priorities. First, take care of yourself (otherwise you’ll be no good to anyone else either.) Second, take care of your close ones. Third, make the world a better place. There is a hierarchy of priorities, yes. But you can’t let emotional disillusionment be a reason for dangerous forms of cynicism. (Some kinds of cynicism are okay.)
“Sense sometimes means setting unrealistic goals. If you work with unrealistic goals, you may not always hit the mark, but you do better than you do if you aim for realistic goals simply because you are trying harder.”
That’s how stinking libs think. They are always setting idealistic and therefore, unrealistic goals as far the subjects of the haves and have-nots, race, ethnicity, gender, social justice, equality, etc, and “leveling the playing field.” You cannot force people to accept differences in others. All people are NOT equal, either. We are a sometimes brutal, warring, and xenophobic species. We have the ability to show mercy and tenderness but at the core, our brutal natures prevail. Religion and creating deities was a means to use fear to keep men in control.
“What if the Founding Fathers had accepted the world for what it is and had not dared to dream of what they hoped it could be like?”
The FFs had pragmatic reasons to break from England. They were rightfully sick and tired of forking over a portion of their wealth as a tribute to the Crown and receiving nothing in return but harassment.
Stop romanticizing American history! Between you and the Howard Zinn revisionists, I don’t know what’s worse.
Make the world a better place? You’ve got to be kidding.
That’s how stinking libs think as well. Make the world a better place for yourself and your family.
” Or Martin Luther King? Or Jesus? Or Moses?”
None of those three people mean anything to me.
“You cannot force people to accept differences in others. All people are NOT equal, either. We are a sometimes brutal, warring, and xenophobic species.”
Unfortunately that is sometimes true. Human nature has often pitted us against each other, but we have made progress over time despite all the noise around us. We can only hope that over time we can get ourselves closer and closer to an ideal world.
I said nothing about liberal causes such as social justice or empty rhetoric about leveling the playing field. Stop attempting to put words in my mouth! Also, I did not say that all people were equal in practice. That’s obviously a falsehood. The best we can do is have all people equal before the law and allow people to make the best of themselves in a free environment. That is the vision the Founding Fathers strove for, which, for all you claim to know about them, you seem to know nothing about. Go read a history book or two.
“The FFs had pragmatic reasons to break from England. They were rightfully sick and tired of forking over a portion of their wealth as a tribute to the Crown and receiving nothing in return but harassment.”
Yes, you’re right on the money about that. They were sick and tired of the injustice of the world and they did something about it. You-are-proving-my-point.
“Religion and creating deities was a means to use fear to keep men in control.”
Sometimes that has been true in the past (and in the present.)
“We can only hope that over time we can get ourselves closer and closer to an ideal world.”
Keep thinking like a dewy eyed lib, Mike, that will increase your conservative cred, I’m sure.
“That is the vision the Founding Fathers strove for,”
Let’s get one thing straight, you don’t know what they strove for except for what’s fed to you in the history books. I know wealthy people very very well, being one that’s lived among that class for most of my life. They are not all the altruists you may think. The FFs knew they were getting hosed by England so if they broke away and created a society to keep the farmers and the shopkeepers happy while being able to hang on to their own wealth, then it would be a win win for everyone. It’s no different from someone working for a company and realizing one day they can do better by running their own company, thus becoming wealthier as a result. The FFs needed to ensure that their lifestyles were preserved first. Once that was accomplished, they could address the needs of their constituency, which really is no different than how all politicians regard the general public today. I represent you, I do you favors, you vote for me. Patricians need the underclasses to do their heavy lifting, so if keeping them happy with some sense of hope, then it made their lives ultimately easier and hence, more profitable in the long run.
Political ideologies are really no different from religious ones. They are both systems to keep people at bay and to provide some measure of services to ensure comfort, security, and personal well-being. However, there is always a trade-off. These services never arrive without a price. They all depend on declaring some fealty to figureheads, whether mortal or immortal.
“They were sick and tired of the injustice of the world and they did something about it.”
They were only sick and tired of what was happening to their power and wealth. Stop believing that these patricians were altruists. That’s a myth that history perpetuates because again, our system depends on setting up figureheads to put on pedestals. Those in power know that the farmers and shopkeepers need that.
David Black – please, direct me to one credible historical or scholarly source which supports your view of the Founding Fathers. I got plenty that support mine and if you can give me one I promise I’ll read it.
*I* am my own scholarly source, pal. I don’t need PhD pinheads to tell me how to analyze history and draw conclusions from it.
When you grow up and gather your own experience, Mike, you’ll learn to trust and follow your own intuition. You clearly aren’t there yet. What you know about human behavior you could fit into a thimble, that’s quite obvious.
Reality isn’t run like a classroom where you have to supply an annotated bibliography to please some pinhead who has never worked a day in their lives in the real world, either. You need to get out of that mindset.
Someday, you may also arrive at the conclusion that all the money you or your parents have spent on “higher education” has been complete wasted. At this point, you’re little more than a parrot, taught to supply preconceived responses to certain questions or ideas. You likely have had some paleo-con or LOSERtarian demagogues influencing you as well. You think being a “conservative” requires adherence to a set of rules set by a collective majority, basically a bunch of followers. Basically, conservatism needs only to be one thing … anti-bleeding heart and collectivist liberal who see the world hoping it could reflect an ideal which may not be able to be attained.
I follow no one or nothing. I don’t have time for ideals. Self-preservation at all cost is my goal. That was my father’s goal as well. He had no time for anything else after seeing what happened to our people in the Holocaust. I agreed with him completely. The world is a foul and festering sty, so the best thing to do is amass wealth and tell most everyone to f- off.
Actually, the “I follow no one or nothing” edict isn’t completely accurate. You can say that my unconditional support for Israel and my general agreement with the PNAC plan for democratizing the world constitutes a “following.”
I can’t believe that you are seriously calling this guy out about his definition for common sense. You need to get a life and quit criticizing others’ work, you douche.
Yes, jennifer, I suppose I should be like you, another Gen Y narcissist who believes the everyday minutiae of their life is worthy of expository treatment on a world wide forum.
It’s clear that you don’t know what “common sense” is either, since you didn’t offer your own definition. You’re too busy ruminating on your bathroom habits and snack preferences. I know, that’s not exactly what you’ve written on your blog, but it’s at the same level of banality.
Purenonsense isn’t old enough or experienced enough to form his own ideas, so he parrots what he reads or hears from others. He’s like most of your generation, self-deluded and too self-confident, likely from a lifetime of being told he’s “special.”