Teaching people to be compassionate out of a promise of reward was always a terrible idea. No society has ever really rewarded kindness.
We should be teaching young people that compassion is an act of rebellion against uncaring systems and always has been.
I have no doubt they’d try.
But, other people in his party will try to fill the void too, and none of them or his kids have the horrid charisma that he does.
If he lives that long.
Despite all the shitty AI pictures of him with abs, the guy is still old as fuck and in terrible health.
Plenty of lawyers, at least some of them talented, will offer to defend him for free.
It could make their career.
That’s what I mean by “cold.” More “past the point of emotion.”
Passionate violence is a different thing. Like you say, it looks very logical and planned. Casual.
I’m probably reading into things here, but then again we all are.
I saw cold hate in his posture when he did the deed. This is someone who lost their beloved to an algorithm.
And, yeah, he could be one of literally several million people that way.
Per day, I think.
Pressure cooker sales to the moon!
To be a little conspiratorial, I think their “plan” for replacing immigrant labor is young people not being able to go reliably go to college after the department of education is gutted.
No DoE-> no FAFSA-> no money for tuition-> cheap labor.
No way that works, of course. The kids are going to riot before trading college for being farm labor.
Funny enough, that was one of the reasons for not taking the job at the time.
Way back in 2017 I was offered a job managing a small retreat center in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere along the shores of Lake Superior.
The pay was exceptionally low, but it came with housing and food. 8 months out of the year would have been spent just being there and keeping the place in order, the other 4 were for hosting guests.
I went back to school instead.
The fuck was I thinking? I could have ridden these shit years out as a weird hermit.
Dawg, someone find this man and throw eggs at him.
If you’re curious about the guy, he’s worth reading. His Letters and Papers from Prison and Ethics are the two dealing with all of this. Ethics is unfinished, because he was moved from a standard prison to a concentration camp before they eventually executed him.
Not many, but my hope is that anyone interested enough does a little research.
Bonhoeffer’s pacifism is a complicated matter. He believed in nonviolence, but also participated in a plot to kill Hitler.
To summarize him a little…. Sometimes we need to abandon our principles to care for others. My goodness is less important than the wellbeing of those who are oppressed.
I tell people that I’m a pacifist in the same way that Bonhoeffer was.
I teach philosophy at a community college.
I have learned from my students that their high schools didn’t ever require them to read a whole book or write much of anything. They also didn’t teach them some essential computer skills.
Strangest of all, it is apparently a common practice to award a base grade of 50% on all assignments, even for missing work.
So, my introductory philosophy class, which I have designed to be very easy (you likely get an A for showing up, talking, and turning things in on time) ends up being more difficult than anything they’ve ever done in school so far because I’m asking them to read 10 or so pages a week and write around 500 words a week.
Ibuprofen if I’m at work, but at home I usually take a short nap and have some coffee after, which works better for me.
I’d also add that every muppet kills it in their respective roles.
I read all Charles Dickens books in Gonzo’s voice!