Mal Au Corps

“It's hard enough to start a revolution, even harder to sustain it, and hardest of all to win it. But it's only afterwards, once we've won, that the real difficulties begin."

In the spirit of my last post and my realist cynicism in Barack Obama three years ago, it's exhaustively difficult to manoeuvre through many differing interest groups. As seen in wartime alliance shifts against French colonialism, for example, as coincidentally seen in two different political science classes about terrorism and Southeast Asia and a reading comprehension exercise in a French workbook following an exercise on injured body parts, internal divisions reign supreme.

I suppose university experience has really forced me to examine multiple perspectives to an extent that I might know less about life now than before despite profound advancements in philosophical knowledge. I'm not necessarily talking about a post-modern sense, but unless abstract concepts such as freedom and liberalism are operationalized as discussed in a political theory class today, it's difficult to take polarized stands on anything anymore, though I don't know or remember if my life were ideological and closed-minded with which to begin.

Sometimes I will invoke my soft on crime liberalism, as found today in my opposition to practical torture not necessarily based on ethical grounds, but due to its highly suspect effectiveness and the significant chance that wrong information is provided by the wrong person. Invoking a Rawlsian original position, I would not want to be on the receiving end of this situation. However, I know that torture primarily exists due to war. If we stop the culture of war, idealistically, we don't have to answer the question of torture.

Read Pages and Paint for more, but I suppose my overall balanced philosophy puts me on the fence on certain issues such as the Keystone XL or the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines. I suppose we can similarly find a third way preventive solution by investing heavily in green projects, but I'd rather wait and see the results from environmental impact studies before I boldly decide. Yes, I like decentralizing and delegating responsibility to others who are more adept than me in certain situations.

However, when I do have to make decisions, preferably on issues about which I know such as drafting fantasy all-star teams, I try to deliver them in an effective, unwavering manner. The NHL spectacle tonight didn't disappoint, with Sens vs. Leafs, Canucks vs. Bruins, and Sweden vs. Slovakia rivalries. I suppose Canuck fans hope the Sedins and Alex Edler don't reflect the words in the title of this post through perhaps a Max Pacioretty incident after facing the chippy Bruins-dominated roster and only have real difficulties in five months from now, perhaps with the CBA expiration, after a revolution of a season.