Why Dumbass?

My last post was titled, "Some dumbass thoughts on Paris and ISIS. . .". No doubt a silly title but there was a point. The post simply asked some questions regarding ISIS. In a nutshell, the post asks whether ISIS is self-interested, and if it is, how or why would it initiate an attack on Paris.

That was what that post was about. The title, "Some dumbass thoughts. . . " however alludes to something else. For myself and probably for most, dumbass traces back to Beavis and Butthead. It was Butthead's refrain to the often nonsensical stuff coming out of Beavis' mouth. In hindsight, maybe Beavis was not always offering nonsense, but that is a whole different discussion. Going back to my post, and to borrow from Butthead, the title does point to something perhaps nonsensical.

There is, however, a disconnect here, as there is really nothing too nonsensical in my post. The post simply asks what is ISIS thinking, considering that such attacks as Paris will only reinforce and confirm the wests need to engage and destroy them - to eliminate the threat. I may not have the specifics right but in general it seems to be a legitimate question.

So why do I refer to my post as a collection of dumbass thoughts? I have already given above one hint regarding the specifics. I did not go into who the attackers were, where they in fact originated from, and what their actual relationship to ISIS was. So the neglect of details is a problem. That, however, is just part of it. The larger issue is our general willingness to espouse a position without full knowledge of the subject. I might have chosen to not go into such details, but one would hope that if you discuss a topic you have some understanding of it.

In this case, I know little about ISIS, or the events that took place in Paris. I know no more than the rest of us who sat stunned and saddened by what we saw on the TV and web during that time. That, however, is where dumbass thoughts come from - a willingness to talk about and make assertions about things we perhaps know little if anything about.

Today, it feels like, and this post might again be more of the same, but it does feel like we allow for, encourage and accept much that is really not known. The sources are easy to name. The web with all its dark corners and alleyways is of course loaded with all kinds of information, much true, a lot that is blatantly false, and good amount that is a mixed bag. On top of that, we have cable and talk radio, which focus on the political realm. And then you have of course the ongoing Presidential election and the resulting soundbites from Donald Trump and others. Another domain where you see this is regarding science, and pseudo-science. Just look at our discussions of global warming or vaccines.

So today, with the demise and shrinkage of local papers and print, we have turned to the web and to cable TV. With that, we do have a diversity of views and opinions-much of which I might term dumbass. The question becomes are these various views and positions dumbass? Are they knowledge? Do we or should we care?

So that is largely what I alluded to in using the term dumbass. That said, I do think the term does raise several issues regarding much of what we consider fact or knowledge, of how we treat or neglect the information available to us today. It is often joked that philosophy offers little to its students, but an appeal here to epistemology, the study of what it is to know, of what is required to claim knowledge, might just be appropriate. It could at the very least further broaden our understanding of what it is to be a dumbass.

To be continued. . .