Opus 2020-315: CS vs BS: They Are Not the Same

The CS stands for Common Sense.  The BS stands for everything you hear in the media, politics and the classroom.  That may seem a bit extreme but experience has shown it to be a reliable concept.

The only real problem with common sense is that it is often confused with personal bias or ignorance.  Both of these have antidotes.

First is the problem of ignorance.  I realize that the days of turning on the evening news and getting a feel for what is happening is gone.  It may have never been here but now it is gone to the nth degree.  You now need to put some effort into being informed.  That rules out a lot of people.  It is easier to believe CNN and not be forced to think.  Once you get past that you need to seek out information and then run it through your BS meter to come up with what is happening.  I have often had pseudo intellectuals tell me they would take two newspapers, one from the right and the other from the left, and read both to get a balanced view of the news.  It has been at least 40 years since you could have done that in any city in America.  I doubt if anyone really did it anyway.  Now you need to read from numerous web sites, assume that everyone has a bias and try to put it together from that.

Common sense is available but you need to be aware of your personal bias.  This limitation can also be countered.  You start by having a sense of reality that is grounded in reality.  That sounds like double talk but it isn’t.  The old, traditional America grew out of the British culture that was grounded in a view of the world based on a scientific method which was possible only with a Judeo-Christian belief system.  If you are going to come to legitimate conclusions you need to start with a group of facts that cannot be disputed.  For me that starts with a daily reading of what we call “Wisdom Literature” found in the Biblical books of Psalms and Proverbs.  You get a solid foundation of right and wrong.  Once you have that you are ready to look at the rest of the day.

Let’s take a silly example:  Who makes the best potato salad?  Based on my knowledge, people really do taste things differently.  I came to this conclusion early when I met people who actually liked liver.  To me that is impossible.  I can hardly smell it without gagging.  Because of this I recognize that it is impossible to proclaim any potato salad universally the best.  It all depends on what you like.  I prefer potato salad with mustard.  Anything else is number 2 at best.  With that in mind I can discuss which is best and be content with the results.

The same is true of coffee.  My wife is always asking me if the coffee at a place is good or bad.  I reminder her that I can tell really bad coffee from really good coffee but everything in between is a bit hard to rate.  I do not have a discerning palate.  That is a blessing because I can enjoy a lot of brews that coffee snobs turn their noses up at.  I know it and make allowance.

We have a lot of things going on that require a lot of sense to live with from global warming to the China virus.  Hopefully I will expand on that.

homo unius libri