Givens tells all!

On television last night a promo for Oprah blurts "Givens tells all!"

I ask Valerie: Will those three words get people to watch Oprah?

She said you bet.

"You know who Robin Givens is don't you?," she said. "She was married to Mike Tyson. People want to know."

This got me thinking. Then I ask:

"If the promo says, 'Wang explains Kant!' do you think that would get people to watch?" (I'm writing a paper on Kant, so I've got him on my mind).

She looks at me like I've got some disease. She shakes her head slowly.

I think about a world in which the interest levels are reversed: Nobody cares about Givens and what it was like being married to Tyson. Many people care about the difference between theoretical and aesthetic judgment. What would such a world be like?

"Wang explains Kant!" -- and millions tune in.

"Givens tells all!" -- and they shake their heads like you have a minor disease.

Years ago I was traveling in France. I go into this hole-in-the-wall restaurant in an out-of-the-way corner of Paris. Simple place. All I could afford back then. (Probably all I can afford now in Paris).

Anyway, the guy at the next table looked like he belonged there: simple; all he could afford. He's reading a book while chomping away at his meal.

He's reading Denis Diderot.

Denis Diderot, the French Enlightenment philosopher who wrote an encyclopedia of knowledge.

Diderot tells all!

And this simple guy was reading him while chomping down on his meat and potatoes.

Logos2Go

Proverbs 26.22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.

Ecclesiastes 12.12 ... Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Daniel 12.4 ... Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase ...

Daniel 12.13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days...