Right = Wrong
This year’s Great American Think-Off is looking for people to convincingly answer the question, “Is It Ever Wrong to Do the Right Thing?”
Diabolically clever, designed to spur debate of the Bush legacy, I’d guess. Though that question would properly be posed, “Is it is right to do the wrong thing?” My own quick answer to their question is, “Al Gore.” All he ever wanted to do was save the world, after all. But it’s wrong to do that as a means of self-aggrandizement, when the world doesn’t need saving, and your efforts to do so are idiotic and economically dangerous, serving mainly to further bad science, cynical activism and other political opportunism, and you manage to drag down the world’s most esteemed honors committee with you. But I digress.
Entry details:
Just submit an essay of 750 words or less by April 1, 2009 (postmark date). You may send your essay in one of three ways: through the mail to Great American Think-Off, New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, P.O. Box 246, New York Mills, MN 56567 or email to nymills@kulcher.org (no attachments), or simply click on the online form submission button above.
The key to writing a successful essay is to ground your argument in personal experience. The judges are looking for essays that address this central problem of moral philosophy by speaking about personal experience rather than abstract philosophical reasoning. Tell a good story that shows a firm standing on one side or the other of this philosophical divide.
That gives an edge to Code Pink members, Susan Sarandon, etal, given the way they’ve suffered the loss of constitutional rights under the Bushitler regime. I bet Dick Cheney would have a lot to say on the subject, though Rumsfeld would no doubt be more entertaining. Dem Cong, Mr. and Mrs. Plame would have to be disqualified out of hand, though, on the grounds of not understanding the question. You know, this could make a heck of a one-man sound-off Vagina Monologues type play, though I suppose that would invariably end up being another Bush-bashing session. Damn, I digressed again. It’s hard to write about this without, you know, thinking.*
A panel of judges will select four finalists to come to New York Mills, Minnesota for the final debate to be held June 13, 2009. The names of the four finalists, who each receive $500 plus travel, food and lodging expenses, will be announced May 1, 2009. The winner is decided by the audience attending the debate and she or he will be named “America’s Greatest Thinker for 2009”.
That’s a heck of a title. Last year, the audience in quaint, remote New York Mills, Minnesota, where the children are undoubtedly all above average, liked Craig Allen of West Linn, Ore., who …
… won the votes of the audience—and the gold medal and designation as “America’s Greatest Thinker”—with his deft argument that even though he did not oppose immigration the system of immigration and immigration policy in the United States is broken, encouraging an influx of illegal immigrants. The broken system, he argues, poses a threat to the United States.
One of Mr. Allen’s arguments was that many Americans remain fearful of immigration—hence the efforts to build a fence along our southern border with Mexico. Mr. Allen made an effective argument that we have reached the point in America where those who disagree about immigration can no longer engage in civil conversation to find a means of fixing the system.
Related, not so different. Althouse and Reynolds hold their own great American think-off: Tough job market for philosophers? … Hey, that’s making my head spin a little, kind of like thinking about what the Universe is in.
Related to last year’s winner, via Malkin: Washington state’s Dem gov goes after illegal criminals. That would be wrongdoers who have done wrong. Deportation for drug and property crime criminals. Here’s an idea. How about stopping the crimes before they have a chance to commit them … here.
* And I was thinking, I’d also like to hear from Sean Penn on his efforts to rescue Baathists from the hated Crusaders in 2003, and his efforts to rescue to the 9th Ward from Katrina in 2005. Though I’m not sure “making oneself look stupid” would be sufficiently impressive as an example of wrongness, especially when the “right” part of the equation is so questionable.
Meanwhile, let me propose a special prize this year for a Kennewick man (no Kennewick Man wrong=right jokes, please) who was arrested after splattering his buddy’s windshield with paintballs in order to prevent him from driving drunk. via ChiTrib.
Honorable mention to Mark Steyn for demonstrating in righteous battle with Canadian do-gooders that it is also wrong to do the wrong thing.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:57 am Comments (0) on Sunday, January 4, 2009
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