“The sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and willfully to reject truth, to fear knowledge lest that knowledge pander not to your prejudices.” – Aleister Crowley

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst

10 July

You pander to fear, you lose. Automatically. Let’s suppose you’ve got a toothache that throbs with incessant pain, and you refuse to go to the dentist because the needle is going to hurt. So that choice is going to make things better?! Or, suppose we as a society get all worked up about violence and listen to cheap-shot get-tough-on-crime politicians and then build a ton of prisons. Then, automatically, we face the need to feed this bloated behemoth of a prison system so it’ll turn a profit – which in turn cuts into social programs, cuts subsidies, raises taxes. Or, society demands large gas guzzlers that will crush tiny paper-cup cars in any freeway altercation, but then gas climbs inexorably $5 per gallon and everyone is into fuel efficient cars – that will collapse like a paper cup in an accident.

Hey, it all started with pandering to fear, right?