Philosophy and Pop Culture

You Have the Right to Vote . . . But Should You?

In light of what we learned last cast about our right to our opinion, KJ and Jay talk about our right to vote. All citizens of age have a legal right to vote, but is that different than a moral right to vote? And does the right to vote come with certain moral obligations of its own? Can you do something wrong by voting?

KJ and Jay discuss these issues in the looming shadow of the 2008 Presidential Election. (That’s quite a time delay! Just pretend we are talking about the upcoming elections in November.)

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Do You Have a Right to Your Opinion?

It’s happened to you I’m sure. You are having a discussion with someone, and that person is not only wrong—they are obviously wrong. Every known expert agrees that they are wrong. You have presented them with mounds of incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong—but they still won’t admit it. They continue right along, believing whatever crazy thing they want to believe, insisting that they have “a right” to their opinion.

Stephen Colbert, from The Colbert Report, epitomizes this view perfectly. On July 31, 2006, he declared on his segment THE WØRD,

Now Folks, I’m no fan of reality [It Has a Liberal Bias] and I am no fan of encyclopedias [Just Fat-Ass Dictionaries]. I’ve said it before: “Who is Britanica to tell me George Washington had slaves?” If I want to say he didn’t, that’s my right.

But do people really have a right to have whatever opinion or belief they like? And is everyone’s opinion equally valid? What does it reveal about someone if they think they have a right to their opinion, despite the fact they have been proven wrong? KJ and Jay discuss these issues in the looming shadow of the 2008 Presidential Election. (That’s quite a time delay! Just pretend we are talking about the upcoming elections in November.)

KJ has an article on this issue in Steven Colbert and Philosophy. (It’s the first chapter.) 

A revised (and much better version) of that article is the third chapter of Introducing Philosophy Through Pop Culture.

Enjoy the episode and think well!

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Philosophy and Athletics - Are You Cheating When You Cheer?

Suppose you're at a football game, and you're cheering for your team. You (and everyone else) cheer so loudly that the opposing team can't communicate with each other. False starts. Delays of game. Confusion on which play to run. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. All these things happen because you and your fellow fans yell so loudly that the other team is frazzled and befuddled and disoriented. Bedazzled if you will.

If you do that, have you cheated? Have you created an environment for the opposing team that rises to the level of cheating?

Dr. Arthur Schafer thinks so. Dr. Schafer is a philosophy professor at the University of Manitoba. His recent op-ed in the Globe and Mail says if you cheer too loudly, you're cheating. (And if you want Deadspin.com's take on the article, check it out here.)

KJ and Jay evaluate his arguments and then close up with Jay giving an off-the-cuff argument for a Divine Command Theory of Referee Action.

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