The Many Shades of Grey

David Musick (David_Musick@msn.com)
Tue, 24 Sep 96 20:00:11 UT

Ira Brodsky is concerned about children being taught that things are grey and
uncertain. Yes, there are facts that we are very certain about, and it's
important that children are taught these facts. However, it's also a fact
that most things are uncertain to us, and we need to develop the appropriate
mental skills to adaquately deal with uncertainty. The big mistake that A LOT
of people make is to think that because nearly everything is uncertain, that
these things are all uncertain *to the same degree*, that everything is
*equally* uncertain. Some people say that everything is relative, so you
can't hold one opinion or belief to be better than any other. Of course, they
neglect to consider that some beliefs are ALWAYS *relatively* BETTER than
others (just like 500 is relatively more than 3). The mistake is in lumping
all greyness together into one category, when there are actually many shades
of grey. Some facts are more certain than others. And when thinking about
these facts, you must consider how certain they are and how much weight to
give them in your reasoning. Read 'Fuzzy Thinking' by Bart Kosko. He shows
how to reason with fuzzy and uncertain knowledge.

I do agree with Ira that our educational systems are pretty fucked-up.
However, I think that children must be taught facts AND they must be taught
how to reason appropriately with insufficient and uncertain information. But
Ira's right, there's a tremendous amount of political indoctrination going on
in the Slave Training Institutes, which are euphemistically called Public
Schools. And I think that often, the children there are being taught that
everything is equally uncertain, so you can just believe anything, because no
belief is better than any other. This is just one of the many forms of mental
sabotage inflicted upon our children by our government.

I wonder if the majority will ever figure out how they've been duped. Will
they ever realize that the government is really just a con game, run by con
men who call themselves "public servants"? The goods they sell are terribly
shoddy, and the prices they charge are outrageous! Yet people keep coming
back for more. Of course, they haven't yet realized that their religions are
con games either. I think humans have a high capacity for being deluded. And
I'm no exception; I'm just *less* deluded than the majority of people (at
least, I like to think so).

- David Musick