Cow sets a bad example for progressive society

[Nick_A]

As we all know, a fully functioning progressive society having equality as a prime objective, must be intolerant of all that opposes its values and declarations of right and wrong. All those who oppose these declarations must be subdued and re-educated. They are black sheep and should not be allowed to contaminate the white sheep following instructions.

But what of the a black cow which unlike the white sheep refuses to be led to slaughter and prefers freedom?

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/201 ... eedom.html

After a dramatic escape from a van bound for a Polish slaughterhouse, a cow has found safety living alone on an island.

The animal was one of many being herded from a farm shed onto a cattle truck in southern Poland in January. Perhaps sensing that the drive wouldn't end well for her, the cow rammed a metal fence and took off.

The cattle owner, whom Polish media have identified only as Mr Lukasz, tried to force the cow back onto the farm, but she wasn't having it. Instead of giving up, she broke a farmworker's arm and made a run for the nearby Lake Nysa.

Polish current affairs show Wiadomosci reports the cow was seen diving underwater and swimming to one of the islands in the middle of the lake, where she has stayed for the past three weeks.

Mr Lukasz tried in vain to retrieve the animal. Firefighters used a boat to get to the island, but the cow simply swam away to a neighbouring peninsula.

The cattle owner was reluctant to shoot the cow because it would mean losing money. After several days, he gave up trying to retrieve her and has reportedly been delivering food to the island for the cow to stay alive.

Polish politician Pawel Kukiz posted to Facebook about his desire to save the cow and have her transported to a safe place to live out her days in peace.

This simply cannot be tolerated. This cow is setting a bad example for all who have been educated to follow the dictates of the Great Beast at all costs regardless of consequences. What if more cows begin to sense that blindly following the dictates of the Beast doesn't always turn out so well. Then what? We need to fund an effort in education to assure other cows don't begin questioning. This problem must be nipped in the bud through a massive re-educational effort rather than allowing this cow to be thought of as a hero.

[Impenitent]

moon jumpers have always been troublesome...

-Imp

[Science Fan]

Nick A: How are you defining a "progressive society"? There are both right-wing and left-wing progressives. The movement originated in Germany before the outbreak of WWI, and most of the progressives in the USA during that time period were German Americans. It simply referred to the use of an administrative state where experts could be brought together in administrative agencies to address specific issues. The CDC is an example of a progressive institution, as one example. I have a feeling that you are using the word to mean something other than its actual historical meaning.

[thedoc]

As we all know, a fully functioning progressive society having equality as a prime objective, must be intolerant of all that opposes its values and declarations of right and wrong. All those who oppose these declarations must be subdued and re-educated. They are black sheep and should not be allowed to contaminate the white sheep following instructions.

But what of the a black cow which unlike the white sheep refuses to be led to slaughter and prefers freedom?

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/201 ... eedom.html

After a dramatic escape from a van bound for a Polish slaughterhouse, a cow has found safety living alone on an island.

The animal was one of many being herded from a farm shed onto a cattle truck in southern Poland in January. Perhaps sensing that the drive wouldn't end well for her, the cow rammed a metal fence and took off.

The cattle owner, whom Polish media have identified only as Mr Lukasz, tried to force the cow back onto the farm, but she wasn't having it. Instead of giving up, she broke a farmworker's arm and made a run for the nearby Lake Nysa.

Polish current affairs show Wiadomosci reports the cow was seen diving underwater and swimming to one of the islands in the middle of the lake, where she has stayed for the past three weeks.

Mr Lukasz tried in vain to retrieve the animal. Firefighters used a boat to get to the island, but the cow simply swam away to a neighbouring peninsula.

The cattle owner was reluctant to shoot the cow because it would mean losing money. After several days, he gave up trying to retrieve her and has reportedly been delivering food to the island for the cow to stay alive.

Polish politician Pawel Kukiz posted to Facebook about his desire to save the cow and have her transported to a safe place to live out her days in peace.

This simply cannot be tolerated. This cow is setting a bad example for all who have been educated to follow the dictates of the Great Beast at all costs regardless of consequences. What if more cows begin to sense that blindly following the dictates of the Beast doesn't always turn out so well. Then what? We need to fund an effort in education to assure other cows don't begin questioning. This problem must be nipped in the bud through a massive re-educational effort rather than allowing this cow to be thought of as a hero.

I do hope your comments were tongue-in-cheek as opposed to a serious statement of your beliefs. I know many people who would behave as the cow did if they knew the future.

[-1-]

Science Fan, you were wondering what meaning "progressive society" may have in this real-life parable.

Progressive taxation means that the tax amount goes up faster and faster as your income increases. Theoretically, if you make infinite number of dollars in a year, then the whole amount will go into taxies.

Keeping this concept in mind, a progressive society is a society which is becoming faster faster more society-ish as it progresses at its usual and customary rate toward the future, toward the ultimately most society-ish society.

[-1-]

Nick A: How are you defining a "progressive society"? ... The movement originated in Germany before the outbreak of WWI, and most of the progressives in the USA during that time period were German Americans. It simply referred to the use of an administrative state where experts could be brought together in administrative agencies to address specific issues. The CDC is an example of a progressive institution, as one example. I have a feeling that you are using the word to mean something other than its actual historical meaning.

That was then, and this is now. The movement transformed in meaning, in its spirit. In fact, a new manifesto ought to have replaced the old one, and its own mother wouldn't recognize it.

A "progressive society" is one in which the society goes from the back to the front, and then the process repeats itself.

[Arising_uk]

As we all know, a fully functioning progressive society having equality as a prime objective, ...

Well you might but over here in the UK I have no idea what this 'progressive' even means politically? Is this a right-wing Yank name for Democrats?

Still, I wouldn't be surprised that such nonsense infects us over here when we already have perfectly respectable terms like Socialism, one of whose aims would be equality of opportunity.

[Nick_A]

By a progressive society I was referring to its connection with social justice and collectivism as opposed to freedom, individuality, and self reliance.

Social justice may demand surrendering religious views for the sake of secular goals leading to a gradual inward spiritual death. The cow represents the individual not willing to die for the whims of the state and its belief in social justice. It seeks freedom to live as an individual as opposed bring a follower of its collective being eaten by the state.

[Science Fan]

Nick A: Some people are more concerned about inequality than others, which is a basic distinction between right and left that applies globally. This difference regarding inequality, where some people hate it and others don't care, is based on our evolutionary biology. Sometimes, evolution favored a more hierarchical structure and at other times a more egalitarian one. This basically dependent on two factors: 1. How mutually dependent people were for their survival, and 2. How easy it was to survive by leaving the group. So, sometimes evolution favored traits that tolerated inequality and at other times evolution favored traits that favored egalitarianism.

The so-called political ideas people come up with regarding inequality versus equality are not the basis for the vast majority of people favoring one position over the other --- they are merely the smoke-screens we use to provide a "justification" for our evolved psychological political traits. That's why one so rarely manages to convince an opponent that they are right on this issue. It's pretty much wired into our biology.

[Nick_A]

Nick A: Some people are more concerned about inequality than others, which is a basic distinction between right and left that applies globally. This difference regarding inequality, where some people hate it and others don't care, is based on our evolutionary biology. Sometimes, evolution favored a more hierarchical structure and at other times a more egalitarian one. This basically dependent on two factors: 1. How mutually dependent people were for their survival, and 2. How easy it was to survive by leaving the group. So, sometimes evolution favored traits that tolerated inequality and at other times evolution favored traits that favored egalitarianism.

The so-called political ideas people come up with regarding inequality versus equality are not the basis for the vast majority of people favoring one position over the other --- they are merely the smoke-screens we use to provide a "justification" for our evolved psychological political traits. That's why one so rarely manages to convince an opponent that they are right on this issue. It's pretty much wired into our biology.

What you call evolution I call adaptation. Evolution for me is the change of being, the “isness” of a quality of life in relation to the quality of being both above and below it. Adaptation is just the given change of a quality of being in its attempt to adjust to a changing external conditions. In short, conditioning is not evolution IMO.

What is your opinion of the rare individuals who do not become conditioned atoms of society and are willing to sacrifice the benefits of blending in or the imagined benefits of being led to slaughter for the benefits acquired by a seeker of objective truth?

Should the cow’s fight to defy the state’s demand that it should be slaughtered for the good of the state and social justice be admired or should the cow be given the hemlock and executed as a disturber of the peace and as a lesson to all creatures seeking to defy social justice for the sake of their freedom?

[-1-]

As we all know, a fully functioning progressive society having equality as a prime objective, ...

Well you might but over here in the UK I have no idea what this 'progressive' even means politically? Is this a right-wing Yank name for Democrats?

Still, I wouldn't be surprised that such nonsense infects us over here when we already have perfectly respectable terms like Socialism, one of whose aims would be equality of opportunity.

Well, I can speak for my country, if I may. In Canada, we've had two parties battle it out for government formation: the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party. You can't get any more literal than that, mysteriously somehow the two parties always had the same agenda, with minor differences. A lot of people wondered why that was. It did not dawn on them that the parties tried to make their platform comply with what most of the voters wanted, in order to garner a larger share of votes.

One year the Conservatives suffered a loss. A huge loss. Something like losing so many seats in the Parliament, that they lost the government, and were reduced to four seats altogether in the entire county.

So they re-grouped, and formed a new party, called the Progressive Conservative party.

A few years later the French minority gov TV put out a four-part epic, it was a poof, in which a regular Quebecois becomes the prime minister leading the Extreme Middle Ground party to election victory.

[Science Fan]

1: When you claim that, "[a] 'progressive society' is one in which the society goes from the back to the front, and then the process repeats itself," I have no idea what you mean by such a vague statement as that. Are you stating that Trump is a progressive? After all, his campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again." He didn't say, "Make America Great," but added the word "again," because he wanted America to go back in time. To the time when white Christian majorities could freely discriminate against minorities, but, nevertheless, according to your statement, that would make Trump a progressive.

[Science Fan]

Nick A: Evolution is a scientific fact as well as a scientific theory, so your personal opinion on what evolution is has no relevance.

Can you give me a specific example of some person whom you believe is not a "conditioned atom" and who is a "seeker of objective truth"? I have a feeling that your version of objective truth is not the same as mine, which consists of scientific and historical orthodoxy.

[-1-]

1: When you claim that, "[a] 'progressive society' is one in which the society goes from the back to the front, and then the process repeats itself," I have no idea what you mean by such a vague statement as that. Are you stating that Trump is a progressive? After all, his campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again." He didn't say, "Make America Great," but added the word "again," because he wanted America to go back in time. To the time when white Christian majorities could freely discriminate against minorities, but, nevertheless, according to your statement, that would make Trump a progressive.

I have never seen such a bunch of humourless Blobs as on Philosophy websites.

You and this site is not the only one. Philosophers just don't get it when the humour dries up.

And go fuck yourself deriving from what I said to Trump. I never said anything about the guy. What sort of a logical bridge did you build there to go from "from the back to the front" to find yourself with the topic of Donald Trump?

Unless you are joking too, and your humour is even dryer than mine. In which case I am the fool.

[Science Fan]

1: Your response of cussing at me is duly noted. That's a typical response I get from people on social media. If you had actually read my earlier comment, you will see that I asked a question regarding the possible relevance of Trump to an earlier statement you made. A question is asking for information and not a declarative statement. Assuming a question is a declarative statement is certainly a good way to take unnecessary offense towards others.