Vlad the Impaler didn't impale people who said yes to him, but the people who said no at the least didn't end up as slaves. And who knows, impalement might be a better option than slavery.
Catching up on some of my essential reading after a very lethargic period. Brilliant as always mate. As we plough on, I feel more and more, your solution is the only one, both philosophically, and practically speaking - NO. Speaking of philosophy - well said on this part: "don’t be looking to the classics or philosophers for succour". I have an ex colleague with whom I carried on a tiresome debate for some time before he either got bored with it or decided I was too much of a dangerous radical to be associated with - but he was always invoking Plato and those other long dead kiddie-fiddlers. I found it so trite and pompous. He would refuse to acknowledge any of the anti-establishment luminaries of our time, and continually hark back to the ancient pontifications of the Greeks. In the end I decided it was just his way of avoiding an honest debate, while also trying to laud it over me intellectually.
Good to see you back JJ. Sent a welcome to your first this year but no comments were going through. Pay thing? Or glitch in the system? Tech challenged as I am it was probably a glitch my end.
It is interesting that people hide behind the views of others like the great philosophers, but those laurel-wreathed exceptionals had to form their own thoughts and responses when they weren’t wrestling with their students. Leave out the oil smothered wrestling and fiddling and we all have to do the same. We have to make up our own minds.
Dave Collum made an interesting observation which was that the great divide is between those paying attention and those who fail to do so. Ed Dowd suggested that it was discernment which matters, and I have seen many suggestions that thought is the critical issue. But Collum probably has the inside lane.
Completely agree mate. It is incumbent all all of us to think and form well-rounded opinions. To me, those who hide behind the ancient philosophers are no different than those who blindly parrot the MSM. It is also important to note that the gist of the messaging that comes out of the establishment is: "Don't think. Thrust the experts." I believe one big establishment publication even put out a piece proclaiming that critical thinking can be a symptom of "far right extremism" - can't recall which one though. The mindset of "What do I know, I'm a person of no consequence" - is no different to a slave mindset. We are each incredibly powerful if we independently engage our minds and those of the people around us.
Liked your recent Dave Smith vs Tim Pool on woke-ness. Can't for some reason comment on your article so note a comment or two here.
Pool comes across as a shout em down preacher and perhaps that is where he comes from. But surely he can't ignore the evident provenance of woke being used as a tool for destruction of an existing order.
If you are not familiar with Shaun Newman his podcast 599 is worth a listen. He is talking to Michael Wagner who is involved in the Alberta separatism movement, and you might find what he has to say in this episode about Pierre Elliott Trudeau's introduction of the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms interesting. The Charter has pretty much been used as a foundation for the destruction of christianity as a founding principle in Canada. Woke-dom under another name and just another of many attacks, none of them predicated principally on algorithms. What they are predicated on is an agenda to destroy and the system is a cudgel not a happenstance. If Pool's eyes are not closed on purpose he needs to open them.
Thanks mate, I'll check that out. And yes, it does make me seriously questions Pool's motivations. There are indeed times I think he may be... dun dun dunnnn.... CONTROLLED OPPOSITION.
But as you point out in the above essay, and as I've often alluded when I say 'put not not your trust in princes: The initiative lies with us.
Catching up on some of my essential reading after a very lethargic period. Brilliant as always mate. As we plough on, I feel more and more, your solution is the only one, both philosophically, and practically speaking - NO. Speaking of philosophy - well said on this part: "don’t be looking to the classics or philosophers for succour". I have an ex colleague with whom I carried on a tiresome debate for some time before he either got bored with it or decided I was too much of a dangerous radical to be associated with - but he was always invoking Plato and those other long dead kiddie-fiddlers. I found it so trite and pompous. He would refuse to acknowledge any of the anti-establishment luminaries of our time, and continually hark back to the ancient pontifications of the Greeks. In the end I decided it was just his way of avoiding an honest debate, while also trying to laud it over me intellectually.
Keep up the good fight mate.
Good to see you back JJ. Sent a welcome to your first this year but no comments were going through. Pay thing? Or glitch in the system? Tech challenged as I am it was probably a glitch my end.
It is interesting that people hide behind the views of others like the great philosophers, but those laurel-wreathed exceptionals had to form their own thoughts and responses when they weren’t wrestling with their students. Leave out the oil smothered wrestling and fiddling and we all have to do the same. We have to make up our own minds.
Dave Collum made an interesting observation which was that the great divide is between those paying attention and those who fail to do so. Ed Dowd suggested that it was discernment which matters, and I have seen many suggestions that thought is the critical issue. But Collum probably has the inside lane.
Completely agree mate. It is incumbent all all of us to think and form well-rounded opinions. To me, those who hide behind the ancient philosophers are no different than those who blindly parrot the MSM. It is also important to note that the gist of the messaging that comes out of the establishment is: "Don't think. Thrust the experts." I believe one big establishment publication even put out a piece proclaiming that critical thinking can be a symptom of "far right extremism" - can't recall which one though. The mindset of "What do I know, I'm a person of no consequence" - is no different to a slave mindset. We are each incredibly powerful if we independently engage our minds and those of the people around us.
Liked your recent Dave Smith vs Tim Pool on woke-ness. Can't for some reason comment on your article so note a comment or two here.
Pool comes across as a shout em down preacher and perhaps that is where he comes from. But surely he can't ignore the evident provenance of woke being used as a tool for destruction of an existing order.
If you are not familiar with Shaun Newman his podcast 599 is worth a listen. He is talking to Michael Wagner who is involved in the Alberta separatism movement, and you might find what he has to say in this episode about Pierre Elliott Trudeau's introduction of the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms interesting. The Charter has pretty much been used as a foundation for the destruction of christianity as a founding principle in Canada. Woke-dom under another name and just another of many attacks, none of them predicated principally on algorithms. What they are predicated on is an agenda to destroy and the system is a cudgel not a happenstance. If Pool's eyes are not closed on purpose he needs to open them.
Thanks mate, I'll check that out. And yes, it does make me seriously questions Pool's motivations. There are indeed times I think he may be... dun dun dunnnn.... CONTROLLED OPPOSITION.
But as you point out in the above essay, and as I've often alluded when I say 'put not not your trust in princes: The initiative lies with us.