Aristotle

"By nature, all men long to know".

What a way to start a book...

And look at this bold statement, all you young "who needs liberal arts" fools:

For when several skills had been discovered, some having to do with necessity and some with indulgence, it is reasonable that the ractitioners of the latter were always more admired than those of the former because of the uselessness of their knowledge.


God is so good to us: He gave us Aristotle!

An Essay on The Ethics of Sex

My English assignment was to write about an ethical situation I recently encountered. I'm not very happy with this dense style I write in, but hopefully thats the reason I'm in English -I'm optimistic at this stage.

Some would say that sex is constantly on the minds of today’s young people, but it was in the context of the wellness class I took during winterim, rather than my free time, that I was compelled to consider the subject. The class’ text stated, “[Many young people today] go out in groups rather than strictly as couples, and each person pays his or her way. A man and woman may begin to spend more time together, but often in the group context. If sexual involvement develops, it is more likely to be based on friendship, respect, and common interests than on expectations related to gender roles. In this model, mate selection may progress from getting together to living together to marrying." Finding dating advice in a university textbook caught my attention, and it’s bold contradiction with the Judeo-Christian ideologies that I am indebted to forced me to solidify and justify my own understanding of the subject.
It would seem that most boys my age use their feelings and impulses as their guide in sexual matters. Yet feeling like something is right or really wanting to do it has never proved an entirely satiating reason for action. Many others use the Judeo-Christian prescription to avoid sex until marriage as their guide. I certainly fall into this group, though, as we believe in a reasonable, logical God, we know that His commandments cannot be irrational. Knowing that the 6th commandment had logic behind it, and that it was not an ethical consideration to be taken on face value, it became my job to figure out the logical explanation behind this moral precept.
I began with the assumption that sex serves three purposes, namely that of procreation, unification and pleasure. That sex serves a purpose is vitally important because it allows one to judge sexual actions with respect to an ideal, because an action ideally satisfies its intent perfectly. By way of example, food serves the purpose of nourishment, comradery and pleasure. There is a proper mean for each one of these purposes. As regards to nourishment, bulimics deny food its nourishing purpose, and we say that they have a mental illness. Oppositely, those who excessively indulge in food are harmed by food’s nourishment by way of obesity. We consider this gluttony a vice, and see obesity as undesirable. The mean here is to eat a balanced diet. All of the other purposes of food have similar means to it, as do the purposes of sex.
It was in this context that I evaluated my text’s statement. The text claimed that sexual intimacy could rightly spring out of friendship, yet this harms sex’s procreative purpose by placing children in the hands of a couple who are unprepared and often unwilling to care for the child. Many young people avoid this problem through contraception, but this even more directly denies sex its procreative purpose. I could not accept the text’s unreasonable understanding, and instead searched for the mean, which I believe can be found in a couple which is properly prepared and desirous to raise children. Secondly, the text claimed that friendship, respect and common interests were sufficient criteria in choosing a sexual partner. Yet people involved in daily life will have many relationships that fit these criteria. To have sex with somebody with whom you do not have a specific relationship denies sex its unifying purpose. Lastly, sex serves the purpose of pleasure. At first glance it seems that today’s youth who follow my text’s advise hardly have a problem with acknowledging this purpose of sex. Consider if some men granted a slab of roast beef the same attention they give sex. They would be looked at curiously, to say the least. Treating the pleasures of sex with the same reverence and attention we treat good tasting food is appropriate here – we’d eat whether it tasted good or not, but were none the less thankful when food tastes good. Eating food simply because it tasted good, and therefore not eating bad tasting food, would be physically harmful. I came to the conclusion that the text was wholly wrong in its opinion on sex for these three reasons.
Because we consider sex a matter of morality and ethics, an incorrect understanding can be called an immoral or unethical one. My line of reasoning led me to understand that to have sex in this way is immoral and unethical in nature. Rather, the only reasonable and ethical path for me to take is that of the one Judeo-Christian values have laid out.

Wise guy, eh?

As we are driving down a street with a lot of college kids living on it, my sister pulls out her iPod Touch and checks for a WiFi connection. Several come up, including the connection "davidswangislittle".

Mary, Seat of Wisdom; pray for us!

When Kids Open Their Mouth

College is far more effective at teaching you philosophies than giving you knowledge. Every class you enter has an ideological bend to it. Heck, it's probably in the title of the class: "wellness studies" and "modern social problems" are the only two I've encountered so far. The word wellness has a whole ideology behind it, and to say that social problems are modern claims that the problems Western Civilization has dealt with for thousands of years are no longer pertain, that the ideologies of today which have not taken full root in society are really evidence of a problem, rather than the entirely made up hopes and dreams that they are. But it's not just the classes that inundate unsuspecting college freshmen with ideologies, it is the students too. I like my solitude when I'm on campus - there are times that at 4pm I realize I haven't opened my mouth aside from saying the mass responses and maybe answering a question in a class. I wouldn't have it any other way, and I am further encouraged to hold fast to my contemplative existence when I do hear kids open their mouth.

My dad always told me that it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought foolish, than to open it and leave no doubt. If there is one thing college kids know how to do, its how to socialize, and this practical tip has not alluded them. For this reason, they have come up with some code words to see if the person they are talking to is friendly to their ideology. Perhaps some translation will illuminate the way: Asking "what did you do this weekend?" is a clear invitation to recount your partying exploits. The non-drinker is obliged to respond with the bore-butt things he did, for example, "well, I read St. Theresa in the deserted library on Friday night, and did my homework in a deserted library Saturday morning, and made soup and bread in a deserted kitchen on Sunday" clearly signals that you are uninterested in drinking. The initiator of the conversation then saves himself the embarrassment of recounting his exploits and follies to you.

It is entirely appropriate to display your liberal social doctrine openly and no code words are needed to disguise such leanings. But for the conservatives out there, be warned, you must now adopt the code words. It's not as if you really care to be friends with the liberals, but it's a matter of courtesy, lest you offend their subtle dispositions. You must always only hint at conservative doctrines. Perhaps say "well, maybe Plato thinks that there is a truth which isn't socially defined". Take note, you say "maybe" to allow them to spend the next 15 minutes reinforcing their Durkheimian BS, and you also put the blame on Plato. If you need to remain on friendly terms with this person, you can quickly add "but he lived 3000 years ago. Things are different now" when you see their nostrils change shape.

In both of these scenarios, it is crucial that you do not place any confidence in your companion - it is when college students really start to open up to you that it becomes frighting. I think I better let them speak for themselves:

We need to find ways to experience things [drug use, heavy drinking, unsafe sex...] safely. - April

This is a subtle one, but oh so pervasive. College students think that they can have their cake and eat it too. They think that they can party and maintain their respect. That is why one must be so cautious when dealing with people you just met: you could reveal yourself to be who you truly are, and that is usually a pretty ugly image. No, it is best to lie to yourself and don't let any sort of thinking individuals learn enough about you to dispel that. They think that they can party without consequences. They have a wildly innovative way to accomplish this one: you make all the consequences into desirable things. This is why college age kids are so obsessed with destruction. You are "hammered" on Friday night, and you are "fucked" on Saturday morning, and you repeat it again, so that on Monday morning you are "screwed". But these aren't bad things. "Man, I'm screwed" is said with a snicker, and heard with a laugh. "I was hammered" is said with only a trace of self-remorse, and heard with curiosity. It is an entirely desirable thing to be "hammered", "fucked" and "screwed", and your friends are only going to support you along the way. After taking the same "wellness" class I took, April was forced to realize that drugs, sex and whatever else the kids do these days is bad for you. She couldn't cloud it in their escapist language anymore, so she went back to square one: how do we live without consequences?

I was surprised when I read that "at current rates, half of all young people [in the U.S.] will acquire an STD by age 25." Those rates are huge, and even though it would be a little exaggerated, I think, to say that every other person we sleep with will have an STD, it's still something to imagine so that we remember to use condoms and practice other methods of safe sex. - Jason

I find this fallacy most frighting: the sorts of kids who don't even bother to disguise the consequences, but try to conquer them. It's almost humorous in Jason's example: so your on the bed, ready to have sex with a gal, ready to make two bodies one, ready to make an unbreakable bond with her, and the thought crosses your mind "well, maybe she's got an STD?". Maybe she is just as promiscuous as I am? Maybe this means as little to her as it does to me! So what do you do? Do you tell the chick that you gotta put on a condom. No doubt she'll reply "I'm on the pill", and then you have to tell her that you have suspicion shes the town bicycle. Doesn't that offend a girl? Doesn't that make her think "if he thinks every other girl he sleeps with has an STD, what kind of girls does he sleep with?" That goes beyond having two or three serious girlfriends and leaves no doubt that he likes sex, not you.

The drugs and alcohol self-quiz was a good one for me to assess myself. I found that I have a strong likelihood of hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption. College is definitely a reason this score is so high; also, I just turned 21 a few months ago, so I’m still just enjoying being 21. I know drinking isn’t good for many reasons; however, after college, I will have to be serious for the rest of my life, so I figure I might as well have fun while I still can.

And lastly, when finding a way to make the problem desirable doesn't work, and you can't just forget about your stupidity, blame it on "college". You see kids walking around with shirts that just have that word on it, as if the word itself is an ideology, just like "wellness" and "modern". She doesn't blame her foolish actions on herself, she blames them on college, being of age and, the whopper of all college falsities, the idea that she'll live a boring life. I played 2 sets at the Dakota Jazz Club, and now I'm studying to be an insurance actuary: that is an example of going on to live a boring life. Most college age kids have been drinking since the 10th grade, and after a high school and college of drinking think that they are going to stop the day the graduate. It doesn't happen like that! You are the person you are: you are a drinker. But the number of kids who think that truth exists can be weeded out by saying "what did you do this weekend?", and then you'll never have to know.

Etymology

Etymology is really more fascinating than I give it credit for:

syphilis - 1718, Mod.L., originally from the title of a poem, "Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus" "Syphilis, or the French Disease," 1530, by Veronese doctor Girolamo Fracastoro (1483-1553), which tells the tale of the shepherd Syphilus, supposed to be the first sufferer from the disease. Fracastoro first used the word as a generic term for the disease in 1546 treatise "De Contagione." Why he chose the name is unknown; it may be intended as L. for "Pig-lover," though there was also a Sipylus, a son of Niobe, in Ovid.

Nows The Time

I love that time in a class where you can start to insert snarky lines in your lines in your assignments because your going to get an A even if you don't turn the assignment in, you don't care about the course material, and the teacher knows that the material is hardly worthy of being taken seriously. Today I had to write about the various ways in which addiction affects the wellness dimensions. My treatment of the ways in which drug addiction harms "environmental wellness":

And lastly, environmental wellness is damaged because the addict is likely to drive great distances in order to satisfy his addiction, causing large amounts of fossil fuels to be burnt, to the detriment of the Earth. Furthermore, his stupored state causes him to be wholly uninterested in planting trees, offsetting his carbon foot print, or eliminating trays from the cafeteria, all but negating his positive contributes the environment.


In celebration of liberal stupidity, lets preserve a truly endangered Bird! I'm glad bass solos have become more sophisticated over the years...

Recomended Movies for Health Class

Back in high school we'd watch really cool movies, because I had really cool teachers.

In college we watch really stupid movies, because I have really stupid teachers.

The recommended viewing list for UWEC Health Class includes SICKO - Michael Moore and An Inconvenient Truth - Al Gore. Aside from the fact that being sick is a necessary prerequisite for socialized health care, and the fact that breathing poluted air can cause respiratory problems, how do these movies even remotely relate to the class?

I'm inclined to think they only relate to the professors liberal agenda!

And I Quote

"To enjoy spiritual wellness is to possess a set of guiding beliefs, principles, or values that give meaning and purpose to your life, especially in difficult times. The spiritually well person focuses on the positive aspects of life and finds spirituality to be an antidote for negative feelings such as cynicism, anger, and pessimism."

-'Fit and Well' - Fahey et all.


If they only knew!