Why Ask Why?

this is one of the best things I've read in this thread.

I do ask why, but not always. Sometimes I just don't need to know. How? seems like a more useful question.

 

Actually you got that very wrong. I am financially independent. I go where I want, when I want. I have absolute freedom. I am self employed and my income is constantly increasing.

BTW: I do not watch television. In my house in America I do not even have a television. In Central America I do but I am not usually the one watching it.

You see I do not need to know why in order to design my life the way I want it. I have taken responsibility for my life. That is why it does not matter why.

Do I have to know why electricity works to flip a switch and get light? No, I flip the switch and the light comes on.

Do I have know why the USA gouges me with taxes? No, I just know that they do. That is why I take action to protect my assets. All I need to know is how I can pay as little as possible, legally.

Do I have to know why the the computer works. No, I just have to know how to use it.

Does it do me any good to know why most people at retirement age live in poverty and rely on Social Security? No, I just have to know how I can retire with plenty of money.

I am not the one who is being fooled here. I laughed my ass off when you said I had been manipulated by television.

Are you happy? Do you provide for yourself or is that in someone else's power? Do you have freedom to come and go as you please?

If you don't it is not me that is being controlled and manipulated by others. It is you.

Wake up man!

Why does not matter. If you see something you do not like about your life or the world around you....change yourself, change your life that is where the power lies.

I control every aspect of my life. I am afraid I am not the victim here

 

no, there is no such thing as destiny. there is only circumstance and choice.
part of circumstance, a large part of it sometimes, may be the unknown, and that is where we get this effect we see as fate. and part of that unknown may be or include awairnessess. yet be that as it may, the avoidance of screwing everything up for each other remains entirely up to us, and thus the moral responsibility to question everything rather then taking anything for granted.

undesirable, unhealthy or even unsruvivable conditions are the resault of arbitraryness of policy, and every idiology and economic theory motivates, contributes to and is used to justify and excuse that arbitraryness. there are no exceptions. some beliefs, especially dominant chauvanistic monotheisms such as christianity and islam, while not specificly nor primarily their intention, do so as well.

hierarchy need not be attacked, it simply needs to not be supported any more then what it contributes to only such infrastructure as we each perceive as useful and bennificial. and even then, the social organization neccessary to create and maintain those, can, at least potentially, be achieved without it.

=^^=
.../\...

yes, there is another parallel universe that works more like the way we mysticly fantacize. many of us often visit it in our dreams, maybe its more real and this one the dream, maybe, but in this one, the one you and i are awaike in while posting things to this forum and others on this internet like it, the priorities we in practice value, whether we recognize doing so or not, collectively create the conditions we, every last one of us, experience.

whatever else, may or may not, also exist.

=^^=
.../\...

 

The question why does not need to always be answered...knowing why the light pops on when you move that piece of plastic a bit may or may not be of any interest to you... but you should always wonder *why* it works, even if you don't seek the answer. Anything less is the acceptance of ignorance.

You may not change yourself without a why.. you must always first ask *why*, then do something... given your position I assume you have asked and answered many Why questions in a very beneficial way, but go back to How you did it and try to explain your actions without explaining *why*. If you can prove your arrivance at this point without why, then you have most definitely been blindfolded and lead - why is the only seperation from slavery and freedom... we may not all be free or slaves in the same regard.

I did have prior knowledge of what bits of your life have been recently noted on these forums, I do happen upon your posts every now and again... and frankly, I have infinite respect for you and where you are. But in denying why and only following how, you are being lead by outside influence to your decisions... positive/negative it doesn't matter. I wasn't referring to anything specific, I was making a general point... *something* or *someone* has lead you in the direction you have chosen, or you have/do in fact ask why.

I believe you have figured out the right time to ask *why*, so that you may know what you need to know to be where you are.

Go back to the very beginning... whenever you decided what you have decided... whatever you can say lead the direction of your life. What possessed you to do what you did?

 

Gramsci gave good reason on the futility of why with his concept of hegemony.

Contained in that theory exist people that have asked why and experienced to the fullest effect the futility of posing the question.

After all, we are all fairly secure in a liberal democracy are we not?

 

Well put, I was hoping you would offer such insight

Following your logic we may all benefit infinitely... and this is very much so a part of what I'm saying, and is perhaps the most important ideal for anyone/everyone in the world to have.

If there is no why and only how, someone must come up with how and it must be followed... following without why, even on the most trivial levels, is the demon that has raped society.

Exactly...

A recognition of what may be, but a focus on what is... a mentality that must prosper

 

Only futile if an answer is not truly sought. A non-answer to why is just as useful as a factual derivation of its meaning.

I assume there to be a sarcastic tone to your post... but its hard to get across over the net

The sacasm tags are awesome[/sarcasm]

 

You may only ask how.

Why is the answer to how.

If you wish to only be told the answers, you wish to be lead blindly.

 

I feel like I'm back in seventh grade with this thread.

 

Exactly

For many of us the mere question points to a time when "why" was at once socially accepted to be futile...not by chance, by media.

To remember why Why is important, we must all look back to a point where it was the ONLY question.

 

We ask why because we are mortal. We are thirsty for knowledge, it makes our seemingly random lives more interesting.

 

You assumed incorrectly. I was being completely serious.

The point is that we, as the western world, have covered the basics of why thanks to Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Now we can only concern ourselves with how.

How to get the government to make concessions. Or, for the futuristically driven, how civil society can reconcile individual moral autonomy with the need for public order.

 

How has no meaning without why.

There is no reason for change without why.

We are here solely because billions of people have lived without asking why.

Power is not assumed... it is given. How is what they want you to do, why is what they don't want you to think.

The military is not a magical force, it is entirely on the shoulders of those who carry the guns... one general is still one man... he just happens to have many men who do exactly what he says.

To truly remove power from these people we need to stop handing it to them.

If nothing is done, the whole of humanity will suffer a grim fate.

You want an answer to how, thats why.

 

Again, you've failed to miss the point that I and most people in this thread seem to be making. That is that we understand the why of our current world. And we are happy with the way it is.

We are all pretty secure in western liberal democracy, are we not?

 

The western world is not the whole world.

To draw the seperation is to not understand the world.

What is the "why" that drives the world you refer to? Where will it put us in 1000 years?

 

I've already told you where to find the why.

I've already offered an explanation to the operation of the how.

Its in the library under the names I've mentioned.

If you want a fortune told, go find a fortune teller. And if you are not happy with the current way of the world go start a thread in the politics forum.

Or get to the point.

 

Like Yelbow said, you have falen victim to the plague.

The world's troubles are so over bearing that at times, gets people to the point of thinking there is nothing we can do about it. That we must live as happy as we can before we go, but this is not the case.

If everyone always thought we couldn't change the world, we would still be cavemen. Like Unknown previously mentioned, it is about the How. Although Why may not be a factor to him, it is equally important to me.

It is the Why that leads to the How. Now everyone here is very aware and conscious of the injustices served fresh in today's world. After first asking Why, then ask How. Not "How can I be happy while these things are simultaneously occuring?" But "How can I help to stop this from happening?"

Hmmm.... I think the moral of my reply here, is that Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How are all equally important. It can all lead to downfall though, it just depends on asking the right questions.

BTW, Great thread Crank, as usual.

 

I strongly believe in acting upon your morals and beliefs. I also believe that one has to start small before going big.

You can sit there and ask "Why?" all day, or you can go out there and actually do something. "Why?" is a redundant question. I'm sure that you'll understand this as you grow older and life becomes more clear and obvious.

I thought the exact same thing as you did when I was your age. As I said, you outgrow it.

 

Maybe you can identify with some of my ways of thinking when you were my age, but this by no means, means I will end up like you.

One does not need to start small. Start Big and fuel motivations, progress, and success with smaller goals, until you ultimately reach that Big goal.

 

What?

Start big while expecting success with smaller goals? That makes no sense.