Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
I read stories like this one and this one; I see men whose principles and intellect I genuinely respect, get snookered by the idea that anything that could be called extremism must always be bad (think on that a moment or two, and let the irony just wash over you).
And it hits me like a brick in the balls…
The plague of the twenty-first century, which has reached the status of a worldwide epidemic, is simply this: We have defined civilization as ignorance and apathy with regard to who is, and is not, worthy of our trust. We have defined it as a worldview that there are no standards to be imposed on anyone who enters into any contract, written or implied, or any exchange of dialogue, terms, agreements, compromises. We have settled on a bankrupt philosophy that says any midpoint between two mindsets that start out divergent, nevermind the original cause of their being divergent, must irrefutably exist as some optimal point of beneficence and reason.
In short, we have defined civilization as a determination to negotiate with anyone and everyone. If you are willing to negotiate with people, but only certain types of people, we have settled on a viewpoint that you are the definition of a barbarian, and others who negotiate first and ask questions later ought to be your role model as you try to improve. The truth is the exact opposite of that.
The truth is, if civilization has any definition at all, it is a recognition of tiers of humanity. Not along lines of gender or creed or race or birth class; but of values. Civilization is opt-in, and the opting-in has to do with respect for fundamental social codes. Starting with — Don’t kill people.
People who respect these things cannot negotiate with people who do not. They can sure as hell fool themselves into thinking they can; that’s easy. But to achieve a lasting framework of agreement, depends on confining that framework within the boundaries of people who respect these basic values.
Our modern disease is that many of us think it’s possible to form alliances between decent people and savages. What’s even worse, is we’ve begun to re-define humanity as a readiness, willingness and ability to engage in this delusion. Even worse than that — we have started to define this as some kind of leadership, as our modern yardstick of statesmanlike conduct. To compromise with people who are unworthy of compromise. We’ve been treating this like a badge of said statesmanlike conduct: Sit down at a negotiating table with a venomous creature, get some pictures taken of you while you’re there, and this somehow shows you’ve got what it takes.
May we awaken from this sickness quickly, and may our awakening be costless to the innocent. But I’m afraid the muse of probability doesn’t smile on that wish.
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Snookered? SNOOKERED!??! Not in your wildest dreams, amigo. Don’t forget… I spent 22 years in a bid’niz where our chief objective was breaking things and killing people who needed killin’.
Now it’s MY turn to take offense…
- bpenni | 08/21/2009 @ 12:34[…] THE PLAGUE of the twenty-first century, which has reached the status of a worldwide epidemic, is simply this: […]
- Steynian 376 « Free Canuckistan! | 08/24/2009 @ 12:05