Ethics, Politics, and Distance

Joel and I had a discussion about politics last night. This isn't unusual. We are both very disappointed with a lot of things that we see, especially in US politics, but honestly, there are political problems everywhere. Ultimately, I ended up explaining that I try to keep as much emotional distance as possible from politics, because I am already busy being anxious for no good reason at all. I don't need to add anything that is actually a reason, because I get very angry very quickly. I would much much much rather look at something from an unemotional distance, even if that unemotional-ness is something that I'm probably imposing on myself as a coping mechanism.

In talking with Sasha about some of this, I ended up looking for the quote about how the goal of bureaucracy ultimately is to perpetuate the bureaucracy. Instead, I found the Iron Law of Oligarchy, which is equally interesting. This led me to want to learn more about political theory, but after looking around for a while, it seems that lots of the political theory/philosophy classes online start with Aristotle and don't go much beyond that. I'm not so interested in that. I'd like to hear about modern political theory. Anyway, I also looked up ethics and critical thinking courses. Perhaps they will be interesting.

• Critical Thinking
• A Romp Through Ethics for Complete Beginners
• Justice

I think that really I'm looking for something sane and stable, like Vulcan philosophy. Sadly, I think that kind of certainty may exist only in fiction... or for people who are religious.