Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz once said that “this is the best of all possible worlds. And this little tidbit of information was mercilessly, MERCILESSLY mocked in Candide, Voltaire's ridiculously funny novel of a good-natured young man named Candide and his philosophical mentor, Dr. Pangloss (who is a barely hidden imitation of what Voltaire thought Leibniz was like). In his journeys poor Candide has to put up with psychopathic priests, finding out that countries execute officers every once in a while just to "encourage the others", seeing war, famine and ridiculous levels of violence, all the while listening to his mentor insist that "Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". Heck, when Candide's trying to save a good friend, Jacques, from drowning, his mentor stops him and tries to prove that the Bay of Libson had been "formed expressly for the Anabaptist to drown in".

The musical by Leonard Bernstein adds to the joke over and over. In fact, one of it's best songs, "The Best of All Possible Worlds" praises war as a blessing in disguise for uniting everyone as victims. And don't get me started on the movie "Candy".

All of those things are funny. But they miss the point, sadly. The big, important point that Leibniz was trying to make. So I'm going to explain it very, very simply.

Leibniz was making a rational argument, making a statement based on reason alone that God created the best of all possible worlds.

Yep. Ya heard me right.

Here's the reasoning laid out one piece at a time.

1.There wouldn't be a world at all if God hadn't chosen to make it.
2. The "principle of sufficient reason" states that when there is more than one alternative, there MUST be an explanation for why ONE is the case and why not the OTHER.
3. In the case of God choosing a particular world to create, the explanation must therefore be found in the attributes of God himself, since there was nothing else around at the time.

Alright, the next part you might be able to guess on your own. What do you think of when you think "God"? Let me guess. "All powerful". "Loves me". "Good". "All-knowing". Those are some common answers, right? Well, good! Now we move on to the last, and probably the most important part of the argument.

4. Because God is all powerful and morally perfect, he must have created the BEST possible world. if you think about it even harder, he created the ONLY possible world. God wouldn't have created a world that wasn't the best in terms of potential!

Leibniz's major point wasn't "Everything is hunky dory, there is no evil in the world".

That's fracking stupid, yea!

What Leibniz was trying to say was that for God to have created the world any other way would have resulted in any other way would have created even MORE evil! Or, to sum it up in a good joke: "An optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears this is so!"

An optimist is alright with how things are in the world. A pessimist hates how the world is. An idealist sees ways to change the world all around. And a rationalist says "That's just life".

Having said that, I'm now going to say something else. This world was CREATED to be the best of all possible worlds. That does not mean that there is room for human stupidity to screw things up. Is the world CURRENTLY the best?

Nope. Nada. Nyet. Naga. Nay. N-O.

Luckily the potential to make this world the best it can be is still there.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Okay. Here's the deal.

I had an assignment. Read 1984. Report on it with a partner.

I'd never read it. John, my partner, suggested it would be good. So I got it from the library.

Big mistake.

It literally felt like my soul was vomiting. I hated it. It was the most cynical, horrid story I'd ever, EVER read. To think for one moment that it could actually come true makes me want to scream in disgust.

No offense to all of you who liked the story, but...WHY? Why do you like it at all?

Yes, it's gripping and dramatic but for the love of God, the character of O'Brien alone makes me want to rip the book into shreds and PEE on it! The man is scum. The Party is scum. No, I'm wrong, the Party in 1984 represent things worse than trash. They've stopped being "people". They're less than "things". Their ultimate end is power.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

And Orwell? Why am I not surprised with this? British socialists of the 1930s rejected such liberal values as democracy, humanist art, freedom (as reduced to market freedom), Progress, and rationality on the basis that liberalism as an organism was a failure! And yes, Orwell was a self-described Socialist. He felt that British democracy of 1939 couldn't survive the war. He got himself proved wrong after the war. The war and the revolution can't be separated, he discovered.

You know what else he found out? He had Tuberculosis. He died at the age of 46 of a burst artery in his lungs.

I know plenty of people like 1984. I don't know why though. Yes, it's dramatic. Yes, it really GETS to you. Creeps you out, I suppose. But still, I'll be honest, for a so-called "cautionary tale", it reads less like an everyday man's look at what the world could be and more like a cynic's nightmare vision on democratic socialism taken to the extreme.

I think it was Karma that got to Orwell. He didn't just look into the abyss. He put one foot in it.

I won't do that.

I believe. I BELIEVE that good is a force more powerful than evil, than greed. O'Brien denies that civilization can't be founded on fear and hatred and cruelty. He denies that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. He denies that the Earth is older than man. These are the words of an ignorant hypocrite who's sole purpose is to wean down an innocent man until he's finally broken. I'd sooner bite through my own hand to break free and sink my teeth into his neck or bite through my own tongue than listen to his spew.

Just because you refuse to acknowledge that a car is coming towards you at 50 miles an hour doesn't mean that you still won't become a pancake.

Not all points of view should be tolerated. You wouldn't listen to a Nazi. You wouldn't listen to a Dictator. I won't listen to a cynic either. All of them represent terrible parts of what humanity can become. The belief that humanity, either part of it, or all of it, is flawed and evil.

No offense, but...screw you. Now, if you don't mind...I'm off to go return this dumb copy of 1984 before I end up burning it in my trash can.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Well, my Halloween was very interesting so far.

Firstly...I got into a Halloween Costume contest at the cafeteria. I got some make-up, put on my tie-dye shirt and pants, put hair dye on, did some special spray on my body to fully cinch the deal...

And it was so close that they had to do a coin flip. Luck was on my side. I won Skittles, M&M's, a Candy Apple, Trail Mix, lots of goodies. Of course, I shared some of my winnings with the girl who didn't win the coin toss. It feels good winning that contest. It really does!

I'm TEMPTED to try and do the "Chant into a Mirror" trick, but I believe that the Universe jinxes things. If I tried to do it to summon a ghost, well, most likely, something creepy or nasty would happen to me. Maybe not in that moment, but I'd probably end up getting killed in my sleep or something! Why tempt fate?

Besides...I have stories and artwork to get up. Nope, I'm not tempting fate...

Wish I had my bike though. That way I could go to the cemetery and check for ghosts. I feel...that would be better. I'd feel more sure then. But no, not this Halloween. Instead I took candy, went from door to door, and gave it out. Trick or Treating in a NEW fashion. Ah, I live for the smiles on their faces!

Halloween as always been a fun holiday for me. And hopefully I'll be able to show you guys the outfit that won the contest...AND a picture of my pumpkin that I carved.

Goodnight! Sleep tight! Don't let the vampires and werewolves and zombies bite!

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Well, in the interest of spreading the love and awesomeness that is 's brainchild...I present, once again...the link to Both Syllables, the forum!

[link]

Also, I'd like to present the TROPE page on Tvtrops.org which has been dedicated to the BS canon. Neat, huh? [link]

We're always looking to see more shiny happy people contributing to the forum. Looking for more folks to have a good time with. So gather 'round! Pop in for a spell. Make yourself at home.

We accept AAAALLLLLLL kinds of crazy. But stick to the BS canon universes, please. Which means Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (BLoSC), Lilo and Stitch (LS) and Invader Zim. (IZ) OCs are allowed by all means, but try and tie them into the canons, if ya please.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Well, today's a bit of a special day for me. You see...it's not just the anniversary of when I first wrote the "Alternate Fate: Fantasy" chronicles...it's also the anniversary of my father and my step-mom, Barbara.

I think about Barbara a lot. She's not an "evil stepmom" at all. She's actually more of a wise fairy godmother...it's because of her private little philosophical talks with me that I managed to get through some very rough patches of my life.

Not that I totally accepted her at first. I was HORRID to her son Jordan in the beginning because he was a joker, he was "the enemy" and hurting hi meant hurting the person who was marrying my dad. Then I started seeing her not as the person who my dad was marrying, but as just a person.

I felt like crap. So I changed my attitude and started just...LISTENING to her. And lo and behold...I started to like her.

So Happy Anniversary Dad...Barb. And to my wonderful creation "AFF"! I especially want to thank for his great support. Thanks to him the AFF series continues in the collaborative effort displayed at his page: [link]

I ALSO wanna thank for doing a fantastic story request. I loved how it turned out! For those of you who want to see his work (along with the request and other requests that he's done, including one for Valito himself , then check out his page: [link]