Arrest Trump for Treason

[pbrower2a]

(04-03-2017, 07:38 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: The LA Times is not sitting on any fences.  They are currently publishing a series of editorials on Trump...  unfavorable editorials to put it mildly.  The first is Our Dishonest President, followed by Why Trump Lies.  These are the first two of four promised.

LA Times Wrote:These are immensely dangerous developments which threaten to weaken this country’s moral standing in the world, imperil the planet and reverse years of slow but steady gains by marginalized or impoverished Americans. But, chilling as they are, these radically wrongheaded policy choices are not, in fact, the most frightening aspect of the Trump presidency.

What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation — these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.

I'm used to this sort of stuff from Eric and others on the board.  Pretty direct criticism.

This connects to Part 3: Trump's Authoritarian Vision, the next editorial installment. Donald Trump is a seventy-year-old man-child who can't tolerate mistakes by others or neglect of his immediate desires, but even more, he cannot accept the claim of anyone to more wisdom or expertise. That goes with his insular mind.

Recall Socrates (or Plato's recollection), who defined wisdom practically as knowing the limits of one's own knowledge and one's capacity to extract or create it. It's a lengthy discussion, and it is very old, but it is beyond denial.

In short,

Quote:Deep Rationality Theory (DRT):

Quote: S is wise iff

1. S has a wide variety of epistemically justified beliefs on a wide variety of valuable academic subjects.
   
2. S has a wide variety of justified beliefs on how to live rationally (epistemically, morally, and practically).
   
3. S is committed to living rationally.
   
4. S has very few unjustified beliefs and is sensitive to her limitations.
   

In condition (1), DRT takes account of what is attractive about some knowledge theories by requiring epistemically justified beliefs about a wide variety of standard academic subjects. Condition (2) takes account of what is attractive about theories that require knowledge about how to live well. For example, having justified beliefs about how to live in a practically rational way would include having a well-reasoned strategy for dealing with the practical aspects of life. Having a rational plan does not require perfect success. It requires having good reasons behind one's actions, responding appropriately to, and learning from, one's mistakes, and having a rational plan for all sorts of situations and problems. Having justified beliefs about how to live in a morally rational way would not involve being a moral saint, but would require that one has good reasons supporting her beliefs about what is morally right and wrong, and about what one morally ought and ought not do in a wide variety of circumstances. Having justified beliefs about living in an emotionally rational way would involve, not dispassion, but having justified beliefs about what is, and what is not, an emotionally rational response to a situation. For example, it is appropriate to feel deeply sad when dealing with the loss of a loved one. But, ordinarily, feeling deeply sad or extremely angry is not an appropriate emotion to spilled milk. A wise person would have rational beliefs about the emotional needs and behaviors of other people.

Condition (3) ensures that the wise person live a life that reflects what she or he is justified in believing is a rational way to live. In condition (4), DRT respects epistemic humility. Condition (4) requires that a wise person not believe things without epistemic justification. The Deep Rationality Theory rules out all of the unwise poets, politicians, and craftsmen that were ruled out by Socrates. Wise people do not think they know when they lack sufficient evidence. Moreover, wise people are not epistemically arrogant.
The Deep Rationality Theory does not require knowledge or perfection. But it does require rationality, and it accommodates degrees of wisdom. It is a promising theory of wisdom.

Promising? Practically self-evident. The wisest people know their limitations. Fools see superiority in their own unexamined image of the world, one of solipsism. Of course one must have the privilege of living in a rational manner, something impossible if one is a plantation slave, a helpless person in the hold of a slave ship or a cattle car, or a zek. When rationality is not a choice, or when economic or political reality is nothing more than subjection, then one lives as rationally only as one's masters or one's pathological mental state allows.

Neither Socrates nor Plato is a liberal or a democrat -- but we can still heed them on those points. Donald Trump is neither a liberal nor a democrat, but his infantile concept of rationality is incompatible with the expression of rationality by others who cam think in a way other than his, which is extremely easy.

Rationality is not enough, to be sure. We need to love and we need some aesthetic delight, and rationality can make us better lovers and better at appreciating or promoting the great arts. For good reason we have ethical commandments posed in such elementary terms (like "Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness") so that people need think little to obey them.