Friday, May 27, 2022

In Aspiring To Be Like The Angels We Fall Lower Than The Beasts: The Seductive Allure Of "Too Pure Principles"

 

Alan: With the dependability of tides, Too Pure Principles bedazzle "conservatives," seducing them to believe in rarefied "ideals" that by nature cannot be realized.

Tragically, this sequence of events does not end in mere failure. 

Yes, ideals are useful, even necessary beacons. But they emit such blinding light that it becomes impossible for devotees to conceive compromise as necessary for the achievement of every Real Good, however limited that good may be.

Voltaire observed that "perfection is enemy of the good." 

By trying to be like "the angels" (something we humans are not) we first deny, then lose, our common humanity -- and through idealized self-segregation of "The Chosen," coupled with self-righteous condemnation of "The Damned" -- we fall lower than predatory beasts. 

ISIS and The Inquisition exemplify this abyssal Fall, a bottomless collapse in the name of principles so pure that "true believers" routinely ascribe them to The One and Only God who -- mirabile dictu! -- happens to be their God.


Image result for pax on both houses pascal

Blaise Pascal

"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton

"The Best, Imposed As A Norm, Becomes Evil," Trappist Monk, Fr. Thomas Merton

"The profoundest truths are paradoxical."
Laozi (Lao Tze)

"You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image 
when it turns out God hates all the same people you do."
Tom Weston S. J.
If you can't see the above GIF, click the following link.

1 John 4:18, "There Is No Fear In Love." But Fear Is Fundamental To Every "Conservative" "Christian" Church

"Everything Jesus (And The Apostles) Had To Say About Rich People And Poor People"

Religion and Perfectionism

Christianity: A Compendium Of "What Went Wrong" And Current Worship Of The Wrongness
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/christianity-compendium-of-what-went.html

"The Story Of Jonah And The Whale" Retold For The Righteous By Anne Herbert
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-story-of-jonah-and-whale-retold-for.html

A Faithful Christian Consults With Jesus... And A Pertinent Parable

Compendium Of Best "Pax-Barbaria" Posts About "Christian" "Conservatism": "Fantasyland," "Jim Bakker" And "Theological Dunderheadness" Will Scare The Bejesus Out Of You... If Your Body Hasn't Already Been Snatched

Trump And His "Conservative" "Christian" Cultists Deserve To Be Called Out For Their Anti-Christ Destructiveness
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/trump-and-his-conservative-christian.html

My Most Frequently Visited Memes (As Of August, 2017)

Why "Conservative" "Christians" Are All Going To Hell (If There Is A Hell...Which I Don't Believe)
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/why-conservative-christians-are-all.html

"The Number One Cause Of Atheism Is Christians," Catholic Theologian, Karl Rahner, SJ
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-number-one-cause-of-atheism-is.html

The Big Lie And Conservative Christianity's Unshakeable Belief That The Bible Is Inerrantly True
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-big-lie-and-conservative.html

"Conservative" "Christianity" Is Neither: It's A Shameless Ruse Perped By Religious Maniacs
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/07/conservative-christianity-is-neither.html

Reprise: "God Enjoys The 10 Plagues Way Too Much" (Supplemented By "America's Best Christian," Betty Bowers)
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/08/god-enjoys-ten-plagues-way-too-much.html

"How Did Jesus Come To Love Guns, And Hate Sex?"


"How Piety And Devotion-To-God Distract People From The Necessary Work Of Kindness"


Fr. Thomas Merton Explains -- In 16 Words -- Why "Christian" "Conservatives" Are Always Wrong
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/08/fr-thomas-merton-explains-in-16-words.html 

"There Is Neither Nobility, Nor Kindness, Nor Uplift In Trump's America"

"Family Separation And The Satanic Cruelty Of Most Republicans"

Billy Graham's "Christianity Today" Decries QAnon As "Demonic," "A Great Threat To The American Church" Preaching "Predatory Drivel"
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/08/qanon-is-wolf-in-wolfs-clothing-theres.html

 Conservative Americans' Refusal To Take Care Of One Another, And The Psycho-Cultural Desensitization That Precedes Full-Blown Fascism


Here's where American conservatives ran off the rails.

"There are two ways of lying, as there are two ways of deceiving customers. If the scale registers 15 ounces, you can say: 'It's a pound.' Your lie will remain relative to an invariable measure of the true. If customers check it, they can see that they are being robbed, and you know by how much you are robbing them: a truth remains as a judge between you. But if the demon induces you to tamper with the scale itself, it is the criterion of the true which is denatured, there is no longer any possible control. And little by little you will forget that you are cheating." Denis de Rougemont

Earlier Today, I Heard A Trump Supporter Say: "You Don't Know What To Believe." Once Trump Gets You To Throw Up Your Hands, You Won't Be Able To Determine What's True. Instead, You'll Be More Willing To Accept Lies As Truth. This Is Why Trump Lies So Much And Says "Who Knows? We'll See" So Often. Hannah Arendt Has The Details

How Trump Trashes The Underpinnings Of Truth-And-Faith-In-Shared-Values So That The Resulting Chaos Creates Cultists Conditioned To Believe Falsehood Over Truth: 20th Century Intellectual Titan, Hannah Arendt, Analyzes This Corrosive Mechanism


"The New (Ab)Normal: Flood Every Media Platform With A Fire Hose Of Falsehood... And The Need For A New Journalistic Method"

Journalists Should Be In "Emergency" Mode: Journalistic Method Needs To Be Redefined To Deal With Trump's Re-Definition Of Bullshit As Normalcy 

Pat Buchanan, The Republican Presidential Candidate And Living American Who Has Served Longest As Senior White House Official, Says Republicans Are In It For "Power Only" And "To Hell With Principles"

"Daniel Webster Prompts A Review Of Conspiracism And Its Destructive Role In American Politics"


"Whom The Gods Would Destroy, They First Make Mad"

"Truth Infuriates People Whose Lives Are Lie"

"Trump Lies Shamelessly, Compulsively, Continuously... And His Followers Suck The Sludge"

"Are Republicans Insane?"

"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"

"The Republican Party Is A Satanic Cult"

"Do Republicans Do Anything But Piss, Moan, Bitch, Whine?"

"The Party of Personal Responsibility" Is "The Party Of Personal Irresponsibility"

Republican Rule And Economic Catastrophe, A Lockstep Relationship

"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

How the death of epistemology validates rhetorical vapidity:
  1. The Guardian: "John Oliver's Viral Video Is The Best Climate Change Debate You'll Ever See"
    1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-guardian-john-olivers-viral-video.html

Stewart, Colbert, Oliver Probe The Spectacular Idiocy Of Climate Change Deniers

"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

Zillionaire Nick Hanauer: Stock Buybacks Are Destroying The U.S. Economy

Zillionaire, Nick Hanauer, A Former Free Marketeer Calls For Radical Wealth Redistribution

"The Pitchforks Are Coming For Us Billionaires"
Amazon Financier, Nick Hanauer

Thomas Aquinas: "The Greatest Kindness One Can Render To Any Man Consists In Leading Him From Error To Truth"
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/08/thomas-aquinas-greatest-kindness-one.html

The Death Of Epistemology: Update

"People Who Watch Only Fox News 
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"

"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"

"Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
  1. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-bible-belt-is-christianitys-enemy.html

Republican Party Is "Full Of Racists," Colin Powell's Chief Of Staff

George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"

Conservative Norm Ornstein: The Media Ignore Republican Lunacy

"Let's Just Say It. The Republicans Are The Problem"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"Just How Far Out Is The Republican Fringe?" 
Norm Ornstein (And Is It The Fringe?)

"It's Even Worse Than It Looks"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann

"When Extremism Goes Mainstream"
Conservative Norm Ornstein

"The Real Death Panels," Conservative Norm Ornstein

Jindal Criticizes The Stupid Party: "Simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys"

Bobby Jindal's Healthcare Plan: What Republicans ALWAYS Get Wrong
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/gov-bobby-jindals-health-care-plan-what.html

Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?

"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"

"Plutocracy Triumphant"
Cartoon Compendium

Billionaire Nick Hanauer's TED Talk: "Capitalism's Dirty Little Secret"


"The Rich Plunder The Poor, Then Pile The Blame On The Dispossessed"

The Original And Enduring Conspiracy: It's About Keeping The Filthy Rich, Filthy Rich

"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Pie. They're Taking It All"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-rich-arent-just-grabbing-bigger.html

Zillionaire Nick Hanauer: Stock Buybacks Are Destroying The U.S. Economy

Zillionaire, Nick Hanauer, A Former Free Marketeer Calls For Radical Wealth Redistribution

"The Pitchforks Are Coming For Us Billionaires"
Amazon Financier, Nick Hanauer

Taibbi: The $9 Billion Whistel Blower At JPMorgan-Chase.
Financial Thuggery At The Top

George Soros: On The Coming Class War In The United States

Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?

Compendium Of G.K. Chesterton Posts

G.K. Chesterton: "The Anarchy of The Rich"

G.K. Chesterton and Warren Buffett's Class War

"War, Peace And Political Manipulation: Quotations"

"Pope Francis Links"

"Here Is Where Contemporary 'Conservatism' Ran Off The Rails: America's Cultural Crisis Distills To The Ascertainment Of Social, Political And Historical Truth. The Linchpin Question Is This... Will Absolutism/Authoritarianism Rule Our Epistemological Mindscape? Or Will Intellectual Rigor And Multifaceted Contextualization Prevail?"
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2021/06/here-is-where-american-conservatives.html

"Why The Past Ten Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid... And It’s Not Just A Phase." By Jonathan Haidt, Illustrations by Nicolás Ortega

https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2022/04/why-past-ten-years-of-american-life.html



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