Do They Need Each Other?

I was lying in bed this morning extremely tired because I had just woke up, and I started thinking about what we talked about in class concerning whether or not idealists need pragmatists and vice versa.  I believe that it goes both ways, in one sense someone could say idealists need pragmatists because for any idealistic goal or idea to be accomplished there must be a pragmatist there for a couple of reasons.  One, to help the idealists get started and to, in a way, do the dirty and simple work for them; in other words pragmatists provide the step stool for idealists to reach and be able to screw in the light bulb.  Two, to be a sort of cushion for the idealists when their ideas fail because if idealists had no support and help every time one of their ideas burned to the ground they would lose hope.  I only say that because idealistic goals are usually similar to a false dichotomy, they either accomplish their goal and the best becomes reality, or they do not accomplish that goal in which case the worst becomes reality; its kind of a fifty-fifty chance or a with or against situation.  Looking at it the other way, I think one could also argue that pragmatists need idealists so they can achieve greatness.  Yes, a company of all pragmatists would succeed, but it would not achieve ultimate greatness of succeed past the average without idealists in it to push for higher and greater things all the time.  In this way, it is viable to go both ways, but it is also viable to believe that without one, the other would die. 

Sugar and Water

I found a video on youtube that is basically an interview of a college psychology teacher and his views on pragmatism.  He makes some good points and uses a few really interesting examples of what it actually means to be pragmatic.  The example he used which stood out to me the most was the sugar dissolving in water example.  The professor, Sidney Morgenbesser, said that pragmatism is the practical affect or outcome of what happens if someone does this.  What happens if someone pours sugar in water?  The sugar dissolves in the water and that is simply what happened.  He is saying that pragmatists will not try and give a deeper meaning on the subject or some sort of pointless explanation of what happened in a different sense that may twists the truth, he is saying that pragmatists look at a a tree being cut down in the rainforest as a tree being cut down in the rainforest.  Not that a tree being cut down in the rainforest is the niches of 1000 organisms being destroyed.  Pragmatists will look at an idea or an action exactly for what they are, nothing more, nothing less; and I found that to be a very good way to define what pragmatism actually is. 

Whose to Blame?

I was sitting at my computer listening to some music and checking my email when a familiar favorite song came on; The Bends by Radiohead.  I noticed a few lyrics in the song that stood out to me about how people react in perilous time.  The song says, 

"Where do we go from here?

The planet is a gunboat
In a sea of fear
And where are you?"

A lot of the time we hear that people are scared, angry, and distraught during perilous times so they blame others: authority figures for example. I think this is saying the opposite, that in perilous times people will get upset, and when that happens just as often as they blame others, they blame themselves.  I have seen this very idea many times recently in my life.  For example, earlier, and I do not remember why, but I found myself discussing the topic of divorce with my mom. (fyi: my parents are not getting divorced)  She told me that often the child feels at fault for his/her parent's divorce even if they know they have done nothing.  That is a very interesting human reaction to a perilous time because in that we see the child, who knows they have done nothing wrong, feeling responsible for the situation.  Why?  I believe it is because a family, similar to a country, is something that functions as a whole where each individual has the power to change, so for that very reason when a perilous time presents itself that was out of the control of that individual, they automatically feel at fault.  It is like a soccer game for example, if one defender loses the ball and lets the other team score to win the game that is that defenders fault, but at the same time they are not the only one on the team.