"God gave us the tongue to cover the thought. It depends on whether we have one. If we have none, or if we have quite another, it doesn't matter. God gave us a tongue." Anonymous
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Prof. František Koukolík tells us in an understandable way how sheepish we are and how blatheringis worse than lying. The author agrees with Josef Fousek who says: "If you want to rule (govern) someone, you have to reach out to the stupid, the comfortable, the indulgent, the lazy, the lazy to read and remember - there are more of them!" Such are easy to manipulate and exploit. That's why what happens in our country happens. It all starts with upbringing, education and personal example. JŠ
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Ralph Keyes in his book on the post-truth era, the dishonesty of deception in contemporary life has pointed out the blurring of the lines between truth and lies. He speaks of the hyped-up truth, the untruth, the soft truth, the easy truth, the ambiguous statements that are not the truth but not yet a full lie. Deception has become a way of life. D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States said, "An intellectual is a man who makes up more words than are necessary to convey more than he knows."
Robert Schiller, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2013), "One cannot afford too much morality or one will be swept away by the ruthless force of capitalism... Only those who are willing to cheat can survive... Cheaters are not immoral per se, they are merely reacting to reality as it is... They need above all to make a profit, and they face great competition... If someone cheats others, you have to do it too... Capitalism encourages fraud if you don't regulate it."
Scientific fraud is common, some with disastrous consequences. Blabbing in science is common.
A survey of 170 countries (1980-2016) showed that political relationships explain differences in mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and other non-infectious diseases better than gross domestic product. Chronic psychosocial stress kills people as well as animals. Man has been called a political animal, zoon politikon, since Aristotle. He was absolutely right.
"Chatter is so widespread in contemporary society that it has become a common social activity."
"Prudence is never enough. Brandolini's principle states that the amount of energy required to dismiss a rant is an order of magnitude greater than the amount of energy required to create it."
"Critical thinking is not a state, but a set of tools and a process. We learn it throughout our lives. Critical thinking is a never-ending, arduous journey with a considerable amount of punch on its back. It alone will not make people happy. But it can reduce the likelihood of unhappiness."
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