KICKING THE TIRES | 2007-03-19
What I want to do here is teach you a way of thinking.
Please note: Not THE way of thinking, A way of thinking.
The real question is not whether I am right or wrong, but whether you can USE my way of thinking. I have very often fund that someone can be wrong in the examples they give, but there is an insight in them that I can use in some other context.
For example, my insight about how Jews talk about how persecuted they are, yet they were the only group Christians allowed to stay ALIVE and practice their own non-Christian religion comes straight out of Karl Marx's A World Without Jews. If you look closely, you may note that I do not totally agree with EVERYTHING Poppa Marx says, but this was a dilly.
I want your corrections. As I have said, I NEED your corrections. But I don't want you to get LOST in them. One of the most satisfying comment I got today was from Shari, because it was so short and to the point:
NOT SPAM
NOT SPAM
I suppose that Northern Europeans who first accepted Christianity did so because it fit the beliefs they already had, but then came the hook.
Comment by shari
This was satisfying to ME because she summarized MY point. She didn't MISS it.
Shari can USE that logic in every part of life. Like everything else I say, it is something you know already, but the difference between seeing it 90% of the time and seeing it 100% of the time is the basis of almost all of our social ills. In every part of life, we have to be as careful in looking at WHY a person says something as we are when we look at what a used car salesman tells us.
Yes it is a Honda. Yes it is a 1999 model. Yes, it looks nice. So will you buy it?
He's is very respectful. He is opposed to robbing people. So will you buy it?
This person genuinely believes he is preaching Love, Brotherhood and Peace. His Book says so. Will you buy it?
Look under the hood first.
CORRECTION: Have SOMEONE look under the hood first. I don't know about you, but when it comes to anything built after 1970, I could stare under the hood till my eyes crossed and kick the tires until they folded under the car and I still wouldn't know anymore than I did when I started.
But you do NOT ask the mechanic you have look at the car what car YOU should have. You might end up in a 240-horsepower pickup with giant tires.
When it comes to personal motivations and institutional diseases like Wordism, I am the guy to look under the hood for you. I am not telling you to buy what I buy. But I am very useful in telling you what to look for.
The best mechanic on earth can still tell you to buy a car you'll regret buying. But the last thing you want is someone who will absolutely swear to you that he will find you the PERFECT car.
Would you buy it?