Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A Total Waste of Time

An act prompted by emotion is not a "Reason." At least it isn't to me.

It might be spontaneous or the result of premeditation but it isn't an act of reason.

The Greeks are credited with inventing a reasoned process for solving problems. Most are familiar with the process and the salient points are Identifying the problem, gathering facts and assumptions, laying out possible solutions and selecting the best candidate.

So when a particularly vile act is taken, like ambushing a police officer, or strapping a suicide vest on a child and giving some religious or political belief as a reason for the a perpertrator's action... this is so much balcony. They do it because they were compelled by their emotions to do it. Reason has nothing to do with the process. It is "Reasonless."

Before the Greeks, "Best" was whatever the people in a positions of power said it was. The Greeks showed us there was an alternative to emotional decision-making. The optimal solution has nothing to do with who figures it out and gives it voice but rather finding an outcome that optimizes good.

So what is good you ask? Good is a thought or act that improves the world as opposed to thinking or doing nothing. If someone goes through some variation of the problem solving process, the outcome will tend to be better than shooting from the hip.

If someone responds emotionally and acts on the first impulse that comes to mind, the notion is likely to be ill conceived. This is the way animals respond by nature. We're not born reasonable creatures, but have to learn how to get past our emotions in facing the issues of life.

Middle Eastern Cultures never got around to taking the reasoning process seriously. Alexander the Great tried to introduce it but it never really caught on. Sure, these Middle Easterner's can attend our Universities and learn the process itself, but it's not one that ever percolated down to the gut level in Arab culture. Attributing reason to their actions is like arguing with a drunk. It's a total waste of time.