{"id":12217,"date":"2011-08-09T16:59:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T23:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=12217"},"modified":"2011-08-09T16:52:50","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T23:52:50","slug":"reasons-to-be-cheerful-defying-the-specter-of-ugly-fates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12217\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-defying-the-specter-of-ugly-fates\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to be cheerful: Defying the specter of ugly fates."},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m kicking this back to the top from June, 2010. I had occasion to re-read my thoughts on sex<\/a> earlier today, and then I went back and looked at this essay. I like it better today than I did last summer, and I hope you will, too. –GSS<\/em>
 <\/p>\n

Reasons to be cheerful, part zero: The ground we stand upon is firm and the lever of the human mind grows ever stronger.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I need to take this someplace else. I am madly off-topic here more often than not, this for the past couple of years. I think I may be in the third act of this spectacle of ideas I have made of my life, and I can’t even say, yet, if it’s a farce in three acts or a tragedy in five. I would prefer an epiphany, to say the truth, a symphony, a grand opera composed of nothing but the simplest and most obvious of abstractions, an idiot’s guide to what every last idiot among us has always known forever, has never once doubted, and has always, always betrayed — until now.<\/p>\n

But that’s why I’m cheerful, I think, despite everything. There is still so much time left to us, amidst the crush of on-rushing events. I am thrice lucky, I know it: I can see and I can understand what I am seeing. I can think and I can transcribe my thoughts. And I live in a time when the thoughts of everyone in human history who ever thought productively are instantly available to each one of us — on demand, no charge, quantities unlimited, with every taste in depth and rigor satisfied and then some.<\/p>\n

This is an amazing thing. It’s never happened before, and it remains to be seen how deeply humanity is willing to set its roots in the boundless praries of the mind. But the simple fact that this is possible — and that people all over the world are taking advantage of it — is a profoundly important reason to be cheerful, no matter what despair might be unearthed in the day’s events.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Barrack Obama is incompetent. That’s Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m kicking this back to the top from June, 2010. I had occasion to re-read my thoughts on sex earlier today, and then I went back and looked at this essay. I like it better today than I did last summer, and I hope you will, too. –GSS  Reasons to be cheerful, part zero: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-flourishing","9":"category-group-therapy","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12473,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12473\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-2-9-marksmanship-is-a-perfectible-praxis\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":0},"title":"Reasons to be cheerful, Part 2.9: Marksmanship is a perfectible praxis.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Take note: If the shit really does hit the fan -- which I do not expect to happen -- fortune will surely favor the well-prepared mind. No need to get fancy. Aim for the torso and don't waste ammo. < ?php include \"cheerful.php\"; ?>","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12236,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12236\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-0-5-sleeping-giants-cant-sleep-forever\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":1},"title":"Reasons to be cheerful, part 0.5: Sleeping giants can’t sleep forever.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you want something to cheer about? Hayek's The Road to Serfdom is the number one best-seller at Amazon.com right now: It gets better. The Federalist Papers is at number fourteen. I think a lot of people are annoyed that the free country they still remember clearly has somehow vanished\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10579,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10579\/looking-for-reasons-to-be-cheerful-this-christmas-thanks-to-the-free-market-everything-is-better-than-it-was-when-you-were-a-kid\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":2},"title":"Looking for reasons to be cheerful this Christmas? Thanks to the free market, everything is better than it was when you were a kid","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From Reason.TV: It's worth thinking about as statists strive to destroy innovation in medicine (via Obamacare) and industry and transportation (via environmentalism). If it gratifies you to weep about how bad things are, compare the America of your youth to the police states of Communist Europe in that same epoch.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12384,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12384\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-2-5-its-raining-soup-and-all-you-can-do-is-piss-and-moan-that-big-mother-hasnt-given-you-a-free-bowl\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":3},"title":"Reasons\u00a0to be cheerful, Part 2.5: It’s raining soup and all you can do is piss and moan that Big Mother hasn’t given you a free bowl.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Take note: If you slaved away for 152 hours at an ordinary job in 1964, you could have bought yourself this classy stereo from Radio Shack: Put in the same 152 hours in 2010, at the same kind of job, and you can buy this much stuff instead: This is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12894,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12894\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-3-1-4-get-me-rewrite-how-to-revise-the-script-of-your-life-writing-yourself-a-happy-ending\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":4},"title":"Reasons to be cheerful, Part 3.1.4: “Get me rewrite!” How to revise the script of your life — writing yourself a happy ending.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend said this on the phone: \"I'm sorry this is taking me so long. I'm really bad at computers.\" My reply: \"Why would you say it that way?\" \"Huh?\" \"I understand that you're reporting on what you see as being a matter of fact. But why not say it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12769,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12769\/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-3-1-3-praising-cain-change-the-world-forever-by-learning-to-love-your-life-the-way-you-actually-live-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":12217,"position":5},"title":"Reasons to be cheerful, Part 3.1.3: Praising Cain: Change the world forever by learning to love your life the way you actually live it.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine this: You are the High Priest of a nomadic tribe following a herd of foraging sheep. When the tribe needs food, a beast is slain and the meat is shared equally. The political structure is hierarchical, but even the Chieftain is governed by the unchanging traditions of the tribe.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12217"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14910,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217\/revisions\/14910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}