“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say ‘It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” -Mister Rogers-

"Other people do it, too" is not the defense of bad behavior that a lot of people think it is.

CIVANTICISM Wisdom ֎ Truth ֎ Balance ֍ Virtue ֎ Empathy www.civanticism.com

When you have to share the lifeboat with the people who sank the ship, conversation can be awkward, and when food and water start to run low, being civil can be difficult. This is an analogy.

People will be quick to explain away both failures and successes that are inconveniently contrary to their narrative.

While I might have preferred a different reality, truth be told, I can think of many more worse ones than I can better ones.

“Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can't buy enough to eat.” — Will Rogers

Civanticism — Hope without Hocus Pocus www.civanticism.com

Civanticism — The reason of Humanism and the compassion of Buddhism, with a touch of snark for good measure. www.civanticism.com

All evil comes from humans. Nature may sometimes bring great misfortune, but evil comes from people alone.

Or driving, or leading, or whatever. Who we are or what we look like greatly affects peoples perceptions of our talents or lack thereof, usually very unfairly.

Learning the truth often means unlearning untruths we were taught when we were too young to judge the plausibility of what we were told to believe. We tend to develop a taste for what we were spoon-fed as children, but it falls upon us in adulthood to make our diet a more healthy one.

You can't base an entire society in self-interest and be shocked to find it has been poisoned by self-interest.

For critical thinking to be effective, it must be applied to every opinion and belief, no matter how dearly held. Selective critical thinking is not a thing. It's like being on a diet only when you're not hungry.

There are a lot of people who like movies where the charismatic villain wins over the dull good guys. This preference often spills over into real life.

“Be careful. When a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside, but it is not to inquire about its health.” Albert Camus

On cults. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrDT...

Many people will willingly wear their chains as long as they can see other people wearing heavier ones.

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. - C. G. Jung

If we can't even agree on something as easily provable as the shape of the Earth, what chance do we have of agreeing on concepts so nebulous as politics and religion.

You can win every debate with facts, evidence, and reason but you'll change few minds because few opinions are based in facts, evidence, and reason.

The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. ~Muhammad Ali

People who can't be kind and fair to all, regardless of what they look like, will be unkind and unfair to some, because of what they look like.

Who the fuck just bought our military?

Wisdom adds. Foolishness multiplies. Stupidity multiplies exponentially.

You can't tear down some walls of your apartment building because you don't like your neighbors since the building would likely collapse. Likewise, you cannot undermine your own democracy because you dislike some of your fellow citizens. Half a democracy cannot stand. You will all lose it.

Civanticism — Hope without Hocus Pocus www.civanticism.com

Civanticism — The reason of Humanism and the compassion of Buddhism, with a touch of snark for good measure. www.civanticism.com

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. ~ William Arthur Ward

CIVANTICISM Wisdom ֎ Truth ֎ Balance ֍ Virtue ֎ Empathy www.civanticism.com

The person who follows a bully is just a smaller, meeker bully.

If you leave your children a world where you never stood up, they’ll inherit one where they can’t.

Civanticism — The reason of Humanism and the compassion of Buddhism, with a touch of snark for good measure. www.civanticism.com

Don't be a sucker.

Avoid arguing. Most people have little interest in being satisfactorily correct with the truth. They want to be victoriously right with their opinions.

"Science is different to all other systems of thought because you don't need faith in it. You can check that it works." -Brian Cox

The Truth doesn't care if you believe it anymore than an oncoming locomotive cares if you get off the tracks.

There is no amount of suffering you can endure that excuses your causing others to suffer who have harmed nobody.

The Truth will not set you free. The Truth might tell you were you can find the key to your chains. It is up to you to seek it out and use it. Many people prefer the safe and familiar comfort of their cell.

“What you do makes a difference, you just have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ~Jane Goodall, 1934-2025

The world is out of balance because most people have a teacup of knowledge but a truckload of opinions.

Truth is powerless in a world where people have been conditioned to believe as they please.

Ignorance can only excuse the support of evil for so long. Eventually, it becomes clear that they are aware of the evil and they sanction it, even if only tacitly.

Understanding the problem is 90% of solving it. Too many people skip that step.