Blackmoor Vituperative

“Begin each day by telling yourself: today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness—all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil.

“But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow-creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading.

“Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet, or eyelids, or like the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law—and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction?”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 2, Section 1

About a third of the population is actively hostile toward learning how the universe works and enjoys inflicting harm for its own sake.

Whether they use a god or a religion or a political stance is all just an excuse. They don’t actually believe what they say, and they don’t actually care if their victims do, either.

In the USA, for the past 30 or so years, those people have been waving the Republican flag around. They call themselves other things in other times and places. The mistake the rest of us make is thinking they have a goal aside from lies, hatred, and death.

They dont. And they literally do. Not. Care. If anything they say or do is true, much less consistent. Not one bit.

Go back as far in human history as you like. Our tools have improved, but we’re still the same.

And yes, I think it’s a solid third. At the end of the second world war, German support for the Nazis was still around 30%. Around 27% of the population of Hong Kong support rule by a strong leader without checks (which, in that context, means Beijing). And you can see how our elections go.

There is something fundamentally broken in humanity. I don’t think it can be fixed, and I think the sooner we’re extinct the better. Maybe the corvids or raccoons will be better people.

But that’s just my opinion.

I wish Americans were a little less fixated on 18th century concepts of political science, civic engagement, and natural philosophy.

I celebrate Epicurus’ Birthday on the third Monday of February, in honor of the philosopher Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. His school was the first of the ancient Greek philosophical schools to admit women as a rule rather than an exception.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia — “peace and freedom from fear” — and aponia — “the absence of pain” — and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods do not reward or punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

(From Epicurus, Wikipedia)

If there’s not a blog called “Write Or Die”, there should be.

If I had it to do over again, I’d try to care less about what people think, and care more about what people feel.

I celebrate Epicurus’ Birthday on the third Monday of February, in honor of the philosopher Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. His school was the first of the ancient Greek philosophical schools to admit women as a rule rather than an exception.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia — “peace and freedom from fear” — and aponia — “the absence of pain” — and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods do not reward or punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

(From Epicurus, Wikipedia)

I had a sombre thought today. The world I grew up in doesn’t exist anymore. In some important ways, that’s a good thing. But it’s a bad thing, in a few ways. I feel sad for people who’ll never be able to live in it. Ah, well.

Every second of your life is the most precious, irreplaceable resource you have. Spend it with people you love.

“I have absolutely no idea what we’re doing here, or what I’m doing here, or what this place is about. But I am determined to enjoy myself.”