Argument & College

Many of the classes this term are based in argument and rhetoric. Explorations into subjects like "media and society", or "elementary ethics" are by their nature excercises in subjectivity. "It could be viewed this way, it could be viewed this other way." To a younger me, these topics would be great fodder for my argumentative side. And knowing my ambitions and sharpened tongue, I'd have quite a few set-tos in short order. Yet today I feel no such passion. Reading the texts feels to me like so much wastefulness. It's not even that I'm not learning much new, nor that I don't feel adequately challenged. It goes beyond that. It's as if I am floating above the room, able to see down into all the passages of the maze, while everyone else tries to find their way blindly. People who have no connection to decision-making arguing about things they have no effect on seems like such a waste of mental capacity anymore.

One of the reasons I stayed involved with civics was the belief that, on that level, I was able to make my words into deeds, instead of idle prat. In the same way, I am increasingly believing that people who spend their time arguing about things they know jack-shit about while the real world is ignored are amongst the most hypocritical wastes of intelligence in humanity.

In a society where reality is just a matter of opinion, and information masquerades as knowledge, I'm coming to be a devoted believer in one of the oldest saws of all time: actions speak louder than words.