On Sun, 28 Dec 2003, Brian Siano wrote:
> Well, independent thought is certainly more _difficult_, but certainly
> not impossible; the best dissident literature has come out of periods
> and places of severe repression. And we admire it all the more for it.
"Independent thought" is a nonsensical term. (Or at best, political rhetoric that people use to distinguish their "good"/"independent" thought from that of their sheeplike opponents.) --If you engaged in truly independent thought, no one else could understand you. Every meaningful thing you can think of is a complex sociohistorical accomplishment. (Newton's comments about seeing so far because we stand on the shoulders of giants comes to mind.)
Miles