Citadel of the Blogs The Inbox of the Internet (really)

re-post of a blog from mar 31, 2001

I read an interesting essay on the sociology of the ghetto recently. Not surprisingly, the typical ethos of the ghetto is what is known as the “code of the streets”. In a way, I began to see a larger picture between what it must be like to grow up “on the streets” and to grow up in a lawless society, or even a warrior culture. Physical prowess is everything, and the basic theme of life is self-presentation and self-preservation, or in other words, how one appears in the eyes of others determines who is likely to challenge you or not. This accounts for the distinctive dress one finds on the street: the person whose very appearance– including his clothing, demeanor, and way of moving–deters transgressions feels that he possesses, and may be considered by others to possess, a measure of respect.

In “The Code of the Streets”, Elijah Anderson says that it is just this– respect, that is at the heart of the code of the street.

When a person ventures outside, he must adopt the code–a kind of shield, really–to prevent others from “messing with” him. In these circumstances it is sensed that something extremely valuable is at stake in every interaction. For those who are invested in the code, the clear object of their demeanor is to discourage strangers from even thinking about testing their manhood. In these circumstances it is easy for people to think they are being tried or tested by others even when this is not the case…and people are encouraged to rise to the occasion, particularly with strangers.

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re-posting a rant of mine from dec, 2000

It’s tempting to say something to the effect that science is better than religion…we certainly seem to be able to do more with science than we can with religion. Just look around you right now: most things near and including your computer are man-made,fabricated thanks to our understanding of the laws of science. But this is confusing the effect with the cause, like saying we can see a long stretch of receding street lights because we have comprehended the laws of perspective. The fact is that “reality” exists before we dump any abstraction of ours over it, whether it is the abstraction that the world is in process because we are here for a purpose, or whether it is the abstraction that the world is in process because of our species’ innate urge to propagate and variegate itself.

Then again, there is nothing “out there”: it is all part of a cognitive landscape. Reality is an inner mental process. Most anything you want to say about reality boils down to an abstraction of some sort. Who is to say which of these abstractions is better and which is more ignorant than the other?
Ends define means, I suppose, and in our society science certainly has the advantage here.

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here is a blog of mine from Dec 22, 2000–i.e, pre-blog days (when I uploaded rants via ftp)…

I can tell you a few things about rights…the rights you believe you have are illusory for one. Any wartime will show us exactly how highly prized our rights are as they, ooops….there they go right out the door! “Wait! come back here a minute….”

We spew propaganda no matter where we are from and we believe that our way is the way. No country has civil liberties when the balance of world order rests on the simple, fundamental principle of “might is right”. America’s bombs are bigger than everybody else’s so we are dealing with …what?…The hegemony of liberty? The dictatorship of democracy? Is that it? I can tell you straight up that our dreams of what society is and should be are but our own illusions and what we use to judge another’s illusions is in the end the measuring rod of our own. Better to try and set fire to the sun… and at least as productive.

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