coberst,
I’m approaching this from a broad perspective…; still not taking my eye off your motive.
It seems you’re looking for a shift in the whole organism (good judgement, intellectual character). I assume you espouse this because you perceive something lacking (well, that being good judgement and intellectual character). Fair enough. You wonder how this can be attained; I believe my little tangent on systems covered some of my opinions on that matter…more to come.
My interest? Seeing how such a proposition functions in application, examples of past and existent occurrences, ramifications (I’m partial to this one), …and so much more -if I only had time enough.
I don’t know coberst; if all the minds here in the US were cultivated, we would be sitting ducks. Paralyzed from deliberation. In the interim, fundamental zealots would, I imagine, be hurling themselves into whatever buildings they could set their sights on. No, I think we are exactly where we need to be (for now); somewhat fundamental, and slightly ever violent (in true cultivated fashion of course).
Looking at where we are demographically, you can see, generally, Mexico on one side of the spectrum, and Canada on the other (I’ll concentrate on Canada for this exposition). Canada, on average, seems to have higher levels of cultivation than the US. They are sitting ducks. They have what… three, four individuals on their horse mounted Special Forces Team (I’m roughly estimating here)? I mean, Special Forces on horses? Come on. And, with those bright red uniforms, they don’t stand a chance. Helps to have a trigger happy neighbor in this situation (brings a whole new meaning to wont you be my neighbor. A beautiful day indeed.).
As to our flag waving compatriots across the pond; the French are, on average, imbued with great intellectual character. Sitting ducks. But, with an abundance of leizure, they cultivated intellectual character (doesn’t change the sitting ducks observation).
The Greeks? Very intellectual (were). The Romans did not readily honor that refined quality when they opted to harpoon them. Sure, the Romans copied, manufactured, and mass marketed Greek culture (well, minus the invention of the Republic -the Romans were inspired that day)… just not quite the same as cultivation. I think the Greek were onto something regarding intellectual character development; something about atheletics in youth, then rigorous academics shortly after (sure, we are now heavily influenced by them, but look where it got them…remember the Alam…um, Romans?).
So, the US: The US was cultivated on a hard working, slightly violent, foundation (arsenal isn’t cheap), gravitating to the illusion of success at all costs, and now; gratuitous consumerism. With said consumerism comes poor health habits (thus deviating from the Greek ethos). Poor health equitable to poor judgement and intellectual character development? Dare I make that leap? Maybe I should consult Diamond’s ‘Guns Germs and Steel’ or Maslow’s 'Hierarchy of Needs and figure out why we are still vehemently…um, I mean, inadvertently responding to Pavlov’s prompts.
Okay, we promise to have/cultivate intellectual character after the wars are won, bills are paid, and a minimized feeling of entitlement has settled in. Really, I’m serious. This is not allajoke. I mean, this cyclical pattern of self indulgence can’t last forever,… can it? I’m sure when intellection becomes neccessary, as a marketable consumable good, we’ll jump right onto the bandwagon. Promise.
Or, intellectual character could be turned into a fad through the media (volume being turned off notwithstanding). This approach, though tenuous at best, has a potential of reaching a vast majority of potential intellectual character developing organisms (Sesame Street did wonders). Though some do insist that social interaction might be preferred to television in the beginning stages (the jury is still deliberating). I would imagine parental participation (when pursuit of consumer goods is not calling) would be very crucial in judgemental intellectual character development.
Don’t despair coberst, assuming you’re still reading, Oprah has something in the works along these lines. Oh, you think Bill Gates’ walking away from his companie’s responsibilities for other pursuits is just a coincidence? Well, maybe, … but Oprah can be persuasive. There is an underlying verve going on here. At its most overt, I am thinking a strong political move, and at its most covert, perhaps social/cultural reform ( hey, maybe you can send Oprah your ideas in this regard. I’m sure she has e-mail or some way you can contact her people) or political support.
There is a revolution underfoot here (regarding that whole Oprah, Gates thing, not the revolution going on here on these boards -as portrayed by the peoples front of judea in Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’). Just give it a few years (keep an eye on this development). Have you thought about running for politics?.. just a thought. On the other front, Angelina Jolie has wormed her way into the Oceans Eleven gang of playboys in hopes of having them help her in her humanitarian efforts (philosophy girl might have more on this). coberst, conspiracy theories and hat tricks you say? Well, again, I just ask you to keep an eye on these developments.
With all these variables in place, it’s plausible that we’ll gravitate from highly reactive hyperactive metabolic rhesus monkeys feverishly rocking back and forth on our imaginery high horses, to well cultivated intellectual characters of good judgement. And like all good rationalists, we’ll take a seat and wait for INCOMING.
