opium of the people

it's 4am, and I'm eating lofthouse cookies, listening to "bluegrass mandolin extravaganza," smoking cigarettes, and reading Bertrand Russell. if grad school is wrong, I don't wanna be right. try this on for size:

"We are sometimes told that only fanaticism can make a social group effective. I think this it totally contrary to the lessons of history. But, in any case, only those who slavishly worship success can think that effectiveness is admirable without regard to what is effected. For my part, I think it better to do a little good than to do much harm. The world that I should wish to see would be freed from the virulence of group hostilities and capable of realizing that happiness for all is to be derived rather from co-operation than from strife. I should wish to see a world in which education aimed at mental freedom rather than at imprisoning the minds of the young in a rigid armor of dogma calculated to protect them through life against the shafts of impartial evidence. The world needs open hearts and open minds, and it is not through rigid systems, whether old or new, that these can be derived."

yes.