Philosophy and Politics

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you have noticed that I try to split my time between covering political issues that are important to me and more broad philosophical or self improvement topics that you can hopefully use to start figuring out things about yourself.  As I continue to write and post and monitor traffic to the blog, as modest as it is in this early stage,...

What do you think about American generosity?  Have you voted for or participated in a program the provided relief to those in suffering?  How often do you think about the positive things that our nation is known for and support those who make it happen?  It is much harder to appreciate the hard things than to fixate on our own problems, but if we can remember things like humanitaria...

What do you think about being skeptical?  Do you trust your media outlet, or do you look for facts to back up their claims?  Does the sensationalizing of events cause you to pause and question the motives of the organization?  We should never blindly trust anyone, and when the warning flags start raising, it is time to step back and start digging a little deeper.  Until our med...

What do you think about negative news media?  How much of it is necessary, and how much of it is just trying desperately to grab your attention?  Do you actively practice looking for positive stories?  Leave a comment below linking a great news story that makes you feel hopeful about the future.  Together we can shift the focus of the nation from pessimism back to the hopeful a...

How do you feel about taking risks?  Have you been fearful of doing anything special because the price of failure seemed too high?  What can you do today to further your own goals, or help someone take a step in the right direction?  Risk is a part of life whether we like it or not, and you can't control it.  Any idea to the contrary is simply an illusion, so if we have to pay...

How balanced is your work?  Do you spend most of your time dealing with negative people, or struggling to keep a positive mindset?  How do you deal with this kind of environment?  We can make our lives much less stressful if we can find a way to balance out this kind of dark energy with a lighter side.  Happiness and contentment can be as much of a choice as anything else, but...

What do you think about big media?  Are they covering the information you want to know about, or is it mostly just fluff?  How much longer do you think they can survive in this new era of bad information combined with smaller, independent journalism?  At some point, they are going to have to get back to their roots, or they won't make it much longer.  People crave truth, and we...

What do you think about the vaccine passport?  Are you willing to live with it to "get your life back"?  Or is it something sinister we should be fighting?  At some point, we will have to push back against the oppressors of the world.  The vaccine passport might be the issue we need to stand up to.  No single issue will ever seem big enough to justify, but the slippery slo...

What do you think about the movie industry today?  Do you get any value from what you watch, or is that time long past?  Is there any hope for the future of our entertainment industry, or is it all spent?  There used to be a time I got excited to watch a movie, but these days it's difficult to risk wasting two hours of my life on lackluster stories.  I yearn for a time when the...

What do you think about passionate idiots?  How did they become so prevalent in our society today?  What measures can we take to limit the damage they cause and get them out of power?  America is at a crossroads, and it is up to those of us who still use reason to ensure that we take the right path.  We can no longer leave the big decisions up to intellectually deficient politi...

What do you think about the extremism in our society today?  Do you spend every day wondering how we got here?  Does it feel like there is no way to turn back?  It's never too late to start doing the right thing, and we can make a difference if we simply stand our ground.  Nothing worth doing is without risk, but the cost of accepting the current path of our nation is far worse...

What do you think about racism in America?  Why does it still persist?  What can we do to finally get to a place where we stop making such an issue of it?  This old wound just doesn't seem to want to heal, and until we purge the infection from our society there can be no chance for peace.  It is long past time to stop making things about the color of our skin, but instead start...

What do you think about relative suffering?  Do you struggle with feeling a need for something more?  Have you tried different things to figure out what it is?  Suffering pushes us forward into new things and it is only through that drive to cast off that feeling that we are able to figure out what life is all about.  We should never feel guilty about the suffering we live thro...

What do you think about the wisdom of those who came before?  Do they have lessons we can learn, or should we go our own way?  Sometimes new isn't always better, and learning from the past is an important part of moving into the future.  It is up to those who came before to temper the youth so we can find the right balance between what is new and what is good for us. This episode is...

What do you think about killing for food?  Have you ever taken the life of an animal, or are you like most of us and never had to think about it?  Is it right for us to continue ignoring the fact that our food comes at the cost of life without ever giving a second thought about that life that was taken?  Eating meat isn't wrong, and nature is filled with killing and eating of flesh,...

What do you think about the attention craving of our public officials?  How does their need for the spotlight hurt our country, and the world?  What can we do to reverse this trend and get back to a place where we come up with reasonable responses to the important issues?  It is well past time to start fixing our society.  While never perfect, we can get it back on the path tow...

What do you think about transgenders in sports?  Is it fair for biological males to compete against biological females?  Does your "gender identity" somehow wash away your phyiscal makeup, or are the records being achieved today simply due to unfair practices?  The answers to these questions are clear if we stop catering to extremists, and it's well past time that we voice the truth...

What do you think about dreams?  Do you ignore them in favor of more realistic goals, or do you pursue them with all your energy?  How do you get from where you are today into the dream you've always kept?  Dreaming may be one of the most important things that human beings do, and if we can hold onto those dreams and make solid plans to get there, more of us can find the joy we've b...

What do you think of the Chauvin conviction?  Do you disagree with the verdict, or do you believe the facts support it?  Regardless of what the media has been telling us, the prosecution did not supply enough of a case to overcome reasonable doubt, and it certainly is far from over. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://gunthrek.com/2021/04/20/derek-chauvins-verdict-will-...

How do you feel about government?  How far should we go in pulling back on its control?  Is it possible to get to a place where we can be left to live our own lives with no interference from others?  These are questions we need to seriously reflect on if we are to find a way forward that provides the greatest peace to the highest number of people.  The right answer can propel u...

I recently watched a questioning of Dr. Fauci by Congressman Jim Jordan in which he grilled the leading infectious disease expert about how much longer he intends to continue recommending the extreme measures we've taken as a nation in response to COVID-19.  As usual, the doctor did everything he could to avoid directly answering the question, regardless of the forceful and direct queries bei...

We all have dreams that people find unrealistic, and while becoming a professional writer isn't the craziest of goals, it is still one of those things that few enough people do to make it highly unlikely to work out.  All I can do is keep plugging away at it and hope that some combination of things I do ends up breaking through that wall that holds most people back and thrusts me forward into...

What do you think about dealing with the past?  Have you fought your demons and overcome them, or do you still struggle to live with the things that shaped you?  What can you do today to start turning the tide of the battle and become a better person for the people you care about?  Life is hard, and relationships are harder.  Share the load with someone else and start seeing ho...

What do you think about hope?  Do you find yourself in a situation you yearn to get free from?  What would it take to get you from where you are now into the new life you want to live?  We can always find hope in our situations, and life is always ready to make major shifts to change into something completely different.  If we keep our eyes on the future and watch for those cha...

What do you think of video content?  Is it always better, or can the written word be more effective?  Have you ever wished you could just read through an article rather than sit through a lengthy video?  Sometimes the old way of doing things is far more efficient than the new, and if we can differentiate between what is cool and what works, we can have a much better mix of ways of l...