Starting from the day my 4th grade class dove into the Hobbit, I voraciously read fantasy books. They were an escape into wondrous worlds where I could live a thousand lives. This not only fostered my love of independence, creativity and vision - it also left me with a deep sense that one should live by a code of higher ideals that guides right action in the face of challenge.

As I progressed from the naivete of youth through the complex nuances and conflicts of the real world, I found that having a consistent set of operating principles is more, not less, important. 

Life throws an endless stream of choices at us. Without grounded reasoning, it's easy to get swept into short term or localized decision-making at the cost of what more sober contemplation would reveal. A coherent set of principles grounds our choices and actions in our ideals and values.

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Many people seem to believe that decency is a luxury, like polite language - nice to have, but not relevant when it's time to fight for what we believe in.  I think that's backwards, and the distinction is a core reason why our politics and online debate are so often toxic and unproductive.

Decency is, in fact, a necessary protocol for a properly functioning system.

Fundamentally, decency encompasses a commitment to honesty, fairness, and consistency in how we treat people and how we handle truth—especially under dislike or disagreement.  It is about epistemic and moral integrity.

This is not the same as politeness or propriety, which are more oriented towards social norms and can be co-opted to shut down speech. It is also not the same as kindness, which can be weaponized to demand comfort at the expense of truth. 

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