Cataplectic Non-Cognitivism?
Pathological bad thinking drives Ukraine into a ditch
Another subtitle could have been A Year of Bad Thinking, but I’m saving that for after the press conference on Wednesday. As I noted the other day, it’s probably worth mentioning that Ukraine has a parliamentary-presidential form of government. Although Zelensky was elected president in April 2019, his appointments were confirmed only in late August.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Z) is fated to act by what has has led up to the current moment. The past has set the stage for the next catastrophe, as a prologue does in a play. But this isn’t theater and there is no such thing as destiny.
Ukraine’s internal security situation has reached a critical juncture. Russia’s military occupation of Crimea and areas of eastern Ukraine have produced a state of near cataplexy in the President’s Office.
Logical positivism holds that the ultimate basis of knowledge rests upon public experimental verification or confirmation rather than upon personal experience.
Z, unfortunately, is not a logical positivist. He’s a cataplectic non-cognitivist, which explains much of what he said last year during a four-hour interview with a con artist Dmytro Gordon, who, apropos of this post, in recent weeks has interviewed Russian war criminals for YouTube in coordination with Ukraine’s inept security services.
[From Z and the Golden Pyramid. April 6, 2019]
Showman and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky sat down with well-known Kyiv-based con artist Dmytro Gordon (golden pyramid) in late December 2018. The men chatted for almost four hours straight about life on the planet earth.
The three-part dialogue was posted to YouTube days before Ze announced his candidacy for president on New Years eve 2018.
Ze comes across as a likeable guy with many interesting stories. He tells the pyramid guy that he hasn’t decided whether or not to run for president, but it’s obvious he has.
Part 1 is boring. skip it. Part 2 is all about politics and what Ze will do if elected president.
[35.07] Ze talks about how great ruling by referendum is, saying it’s the best way to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Z’s plan to end the war is for a Ukrainian delegation to go to Moscow and make a list of what the Kremlin wants. Ukraine then makes a list of what it wants.
“Somewhere in the middle we would agree,” Z says. The somewhere (compromise list) would be put to a referendum vote in Ukraine.
[Z’s plan is not a terribly bright one. Democracy flourishes when governments protect the smallest minority against the majority, in countries where individual rights — not society at large, not the ‘greater good,’ or the world as a whole — are paramount. Ruling elites should probably have a bigger say]
[38.38] About participating televised debates between presidential candidates. Ze says he doesn’t think it will be possible to have a dialogue with Poroshenko in a presidential debate. “It will be his long monologue and my response,” Z says, adding he will react if insulted.
[42.44] Z expresses admiration for ex Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili and his “ends justify the means” approach to running things.
[45.22] Z says, if elected president, he’ll chat up Ukraine’s oligarchs on day number one of his presidency about amnesty of capital.
[49.32] Z says he speaks with a supernatural entity (“god” is the word he uses) and that these conversations are too intimate to divulge publicly.
Part 3 of the chit chat is not very interesting.
[09.48] Z talks about his wonderful relelationship with Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky, who doesn’t pay his debts on time.