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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Friday, March 27, 2020

Sisyphus Redux

Does COVID-19 expose the limits of human reason?

14 comments:

Franco Aragosta said...

I love MORALS, but despise ETHICS.

Morals come from the HOLY SPIRIT.

Ethics are derived strictly from the MIND of MAN.

SPIRIT encourages us to bring out the best in ourselves, which encourages the development of Prudence, Wisdom and Charity, which in turn lead to INDEPENDENCE rooted in CONFIDENCE and a measure of JOY.

ETHICS on the othe hand are derived from the fear-based desire some MEN and WOMEN have to want to DOMINATE, BULLY, and HARASS the bulk of the population into SUBMISSION to EXTERNAL AUTHORITY.

The young man with the inadquate mustache and unattractive teeth speaks in terms that only serve to lead his audience around in ever-dminishng circles. I don't like his manner. The superciliousness he shows serves only to act as a cover for his essential callowness, lack of wisdom, common sense and lack of true sophistication.

He fancies himself an "ETHICIST," and that makes him an enemy of LIBERTY and INDEPENDENT thinking.

Once again "French Thought" confounds as it offends and vice versa!

Franco Aragosta said...

In a word BOO!

Thersites said...

If you say so, Antigone.

For there is no man (or woman) so duty bound as the free one.

Franco Aragosta said...

VOLUNTARY submission to the dictates of Dull Duty for the good of community and the sake of respected or beloved individuals is paradoxically the most personally LIBERATING state we may assume.

It stems, obviously, from the biblical admonition "If you would have your life, you must first be willng to lose it."

We gain true freedom from discipline, but it must be voluntary SELF-discipline.

Admittedly a difficult lesson for most to learn, but well worth whatever self-sacrifice it miht take to achieve.

Gert said...

One of the things that concerns me is that in these troubled times humanity has an uncanny tendency to turn on itself.

I had a taste of it when a gaggle of horrible morons attacked a Facebook page of mine, promoting sanorub.com. It was claimed I was 'profiteering' and apparently have been reported to the 'authorities' (LOL)! There was much worse too.

In the UK we have reports of a serious backlash on social media against people who don't fully comply with the social distancing requirement. I can imagine the comments: threats of GBH, threats to kill and threats of rape (for women).

Our basest instincts are very dark...

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Your Facebook friends need to read Plato's "Hipparchus" (aka - The Profiteer).

Gert said...

That's not for people with reading difficulties, Farmer!

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

You make a good point!

And I hope that the popularity of your products take off, and that you make a decent profit as well. Your doing an invaluable service, keeping your customers safe from the effects of the pandemic. You are a wonderful innovator, and I hope other entrepeneurs take up your example!

Franco Aragosta said...

What people SAY is probably of little or no impotence, whereas what they DO most certainly IS.

But I would agree that DARK THINKING is more apt to breed DARK DEEDS than a determination to "Lift [One's] Eyes to the Mountains ..."

Franco Aragosta said...

... Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

~ St. Paul to the Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

Gert said...

Well Farmer, far too much praise! But I'll take it (because flattery really works with me!)

Interestingly, your and their attitudes represent polar opposites, culturally. In the US 'entrepreneurism' is feted, in Britain it is often unduly scrutinised.

One of the idjeets claimed he was working for next to nothing as a bin man. I felt like screaming 'neoliberalism!' but I'm sure I'd have been wasting my precious breath

Franco Aragosta said...

Speaking a foreign tongue in front of those who don't understand it is gauche to put it mildly and fuckin' RUDE to put it accurately.

But then I would hardly expect anything different from GERTIE.

Carry on your cryptic dialogue by all means. You remjnd me of snotty ittle boy whooping it up in their private treehouse thinking the adults don't know what they're up to.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

Funny thing is, no one needs a good hand sanitizer more these days than a bin man.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

btw - When it comes to English, who are the foreigners, and who's the "home team"?