December 13th, 2005
I have one of the kindest friends in the world with Ken. He doesn't always realize it, I have to remind him, but he always seems to sense my pain and point it out to me.
Note I didn't say such useless crap as, "He's a good ear" or "He is always friendly" or (God help us) "He puts up with my crap". No, this does not constitute a good friend, just a tolerant one. He is the best and gentlest friend I have because he has an intellectual-emotional band that is synchronous with mine. We click ... we grok (man).
Right, so he responded to my identification with the character of Cassandra. Here is my conclusion to what I said in my last rant:
You know, I think that is my problem. I'm starting to think that I don't have the Self Delusion Circuit that resides in most other peoples' brains. I think that I might be a genetic cul-de-sac because I can't pretend everything is all right, when I can clearly see it isn't.
And here is what he had to say about it:
And you think that is a problem? It is only a problem because you are surrounded by people that have not turned off that mechanism (or have not had that mechanism turned off).
It is a problem in terms of not being able to ignore the evil that is done, or the lies that are told, or the way that we are manipulated and deceived daily, or the undermining of our freedoms and the slipping away of the civilized culture—i.e., you can't just go out there and wallow in the shallow self-indulgences presently available to us in the greedy First World (okay, Second World in the case of Canada).
It's only a problem because you can see for yourself what is going on when you are not supposed to, which isn't a problem either, unless you actually try to do something about it.
I refer you again to A Brave New World, which is frighteningly pertinent to this day and age, especially considering when it was written.
From amongst those burdened with perception,
K
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