As an undergraduate in college, the Phantom sat in a classroom when a professor asked, "How do we know we, any of us, are even sitting in this classroom right now? How do we know we, you, are not somewhere else?"
And the Phantom groaned silently. "I just want to go to medical school. Why am I sitting here in this classroom, listening to this?"
This had all started when the professor asked, "But what is a 'fact?'"
Students had offered up, "One and one equals two."
"That," the professor replied, "Is an agreed upon definition."
"I am sitting here," another student said.
And that's how we launched off into metaphysics.
But now, fifty years later, the Phantom is trying to remember the rest of that discussion, because now "facts" are much more fluid, in the age of the internet.
The same class had spent time talking about the fine occasionally invisible line between fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, the notion of a non fiction novel. And now we have two excellent films ("Infamous" and "Capote") which are the reality of the Cutter family for millions.
All that liberal arts stuff which at the time seemed like so much mental masturbation--just playing with thoughts that had no real world application, and at age 20, the Phantom wanted to know more about the real world--he had lived long enough in his fantasy world.
But now, with Alex Jones telling us the children murdered at Newtown, Connecticut were just actors and the World Trade Center was an elaborate provocation executed by the American deep state, and with Trump insisting Obama was born in Kenya or Mars or wherever Trump is now saying, with his biggest ever in the history of the country crowd at his inauguration, and his "almost complete victory" in the midterms, all those classroom exercises seem suddenly relevant.
If the Phantom could just recall what was said.
College is wasted on the young.
The lawyer for Alex Jones, defending his client asked the reporter, "But how do you know those children really were murdered at Newtown? Did you see the bodies? Were you at the autopsy?" And, about the moon landing which Alex Jones claims was staged at a Hollywood studio, "How do you know? Were you on the moon when Neil Armstrong stepped off that ladder?"
Indeed.
We are always living with doubt, with too little information.
But as my mother once observed, "You don't have to jump off a cliff to know that is not going to end well."
But when it comes to Mr. Trump, the reason, the Phantom thinks, he upsets so many college educated people, is he challenges all they learned, or failed to learn along those 16 years of "education." He is proud of his anti-intellect. He is saying his way of thinking is superior and the fact he is in the White House proves it. Only winning matters in politics.
And in life, too. The victors write the history.
 |
| Are Rhinemaidens real? |
And the Phantom groaned silently. "I just want to go to medical school. Why am I sitting here in this classroom, listening to this?"
This had all started when the professor asked, "But what is a 'fact?'"
 |
| Real House or Just Hollywood mock up? |
Students had offered up, "One and one equals two."
"That," the professor replied, "Is an agreed upon definition."
"I am sitting here," another student said.
 |
| Fake house by Obadiah Youngblood |
And that's how we launched off into metaphysics.
But now, fifty years later, the Phantom is trying to remember the rest of that discussion, because now "facts" are much more fluid, in the age of the internet.
 |
| Fake House or Real House interpreted by Edward Hopper |
The same class had spent time talking about the fine occasionally invisible line between fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, the notion of a non fiction novel. And now we have two excellent films ("Infamous" and "Capote") which are the reality of the Cutter family for millions.
 |
| Fake News? |
All that liberal arts stuff which at the time seemed like so much mental masturbation--just playing with thoughts that had no real world application, and at age 20, the Phantom wanted to know more about the real world--he had lived long enough in his fantasy world.
 |
| Real children or Just Actors? |
But now, with Alex Jones telling us the children murdered at Newtown, Connecticut were just actors and the World Trade Center was an elaborate provocation executed by the American deep state, and with Trump insisting Obama was born in Kenya or Mars or wherever Trump is now saying, with his biggest ever in the history of the country crowd at his inauguration, and his "almost complete victory" in the midterms, all those classroom exercises seem suddenly relevant.
If the Phantom could just recall what was said.
College is wasted on the young.
The lawyer for Alex Jones, defending his client asked the reporter, "But how do you know those children really were murdered at Newtown? Did you see the bodies? Were you at the autopsy?" And, about the moon landing which Alex Jones claims was staged at a Hollywood studio, "How do you know? Were you on the moon when Neil Armstrong stepped off that ladder?"
Indeed.
We are always living with doubt, with too little information.
But as my mother once observed, "You don't have to jump off a cliff to know that is not going to end well."
 |
| Real wrestlers |
But when it comes to Mr. Trump, the reason, the Phantom thinks, he upsets so many college educated people, is he challenges all they learned, or failed to learn along those 16 years of "education." He is proud of his anti-intellect. He is saying his way of thinking is superior and the fact he is in the White House proves it. Only winning matters in politics.
 |
| Fake wrestlers? |
And in life, too. The victors write the history.
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