I came up with this phrase in a context entirely not of its making. So to speak, write. So let’s leave that out and move to what I liked about the saying in the first place.
Prudence and the People sort of evokes an interesting combination looking at prudence as what I consider a constraint notwithstanding John Lennon’s wonderful tribute to some chick he was enamored with in his incredible Dear Prudence. Yeah, he was married at the time and I doubt there was anything more than a certain “lighten up” in his tune.
So I am gonna have to reference the dictionary definition of prudence here. Should I say a dictionary rather? I can’t think of this word without thinking about my buddy Greg Borden’s mock quoting of George H. W. Bush saying “wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture” about some US interests that have long faded into history. George knew his English apparently.
So let’s go with self interest for prudence, or self interest and caution with discretion. So I guess, really, it’s the sound of Prudence and the People that get’s me going, not the meaning. But once the words roll off the tongue or mind then the meanings one gives them can begin to coalesce, of course with point of view, and humor and irony typically abound. Prudence and the people. I suppose the irony I see is that people are typically not very prudent, at this juncture, and though we have animal instincts to preserve our self interests we in fact are destroying the same on a daily basis. I also like to think of Prudence as an entity, now, here they are, Prudence and the People. Nice band name.
Let me introduce you two Mr. Wild Abandon’s playground long in the works and at last manifested by a need to upload massive files, Freedom Philosophy, where one can digress with great eloquence and meet Adam’s dad Jared. Or is Adam Jared’s son? Who belongs to whom?
I’m naked as I type this. Don’t be a prude.
It’s interesting in this country that so many people are not preserving their best interests – as they do not even know what their best interests are. A recent newspaper article said that many people not only do not know many specifics about what is going on in other parts of the world (which impact them), but say they do not not need to know. This was referred to as anti-rationalism. “I don’t know that and I don’t need to know that.” How convenient. One organization’s survey question indicated that 1 out of 5 people in this country think the sun revolves around the earth. How do we expect someone like that to be prudent?
The sad part is that the idea “knowledge is power” is being turned on its head. It seems that ignorance is now becoming power. Maybe it will become prudent to take dumb pills.
Sorry, one too many not’s in that sentence.