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.
Such lofty ideals are often "too true to be good."
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.
Biblical "Literalism" And The Cultivation Of Hatred
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.
Such lofty ideals are often "too true to be good."
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.
Biblical "Literalism" And The Cultivation Of Hatred
How You... And I... And Everyone... Can Create REAL Damning Evidence To Justify "Any Damn Thing" - Divorce; One's Religious Faith As "The One, True Religion"; Donald Trump As A Godsend; The Advisability Of Provoking Armageddon, Hitler's Heinous Extermination Of Jews
My Most Important Late-Life Findings: The Fundaments That Illuminate My Understanding Of The World, Updated
"Fear And Anxiety Drive Conservatives Political Attitudes": How The Values Of "Strict Father" -- Or "Nurturant Parent" -- Control Our Political Views
"The Role Of Fear And Anxiety In Political Affiliation": How The Values Of "Strict Father" -- Or "Nurturant Parent" -- Control Our Political Views
Why The Bible Belt Is Not Only Lawless, But Bloodthirsty
Conservative Christianity, Armageddon As Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, And Return To The Neolithic
Republican Senator Ben Sasse Talks Politics With A Critical Constituent (And The Role Of Religion In Politics) Re: Financial Speculation, Conspiracism, "Christian" "Conservatism," Usury, The Catholic Church And Being Burned At The Stake
Trump's Rallies Define His Vision Of Liberty:
The Right Not To Care About Other People
"There Is Neither Nobility, Nor Kindness, Nor Uplift In Trump's America"
Why "Absolutists" Prefer To See "Relativists" Dead... Whereas "Relativists" Prefer That "Absolutists" Just Mind Their Own Business
The Perfect Photo To Epitomize The Horror Of Trump: Not Only Does He Inflame The Worst Angels Of Our Nature, HeTeaches His Followers That It's Okay -- Indeed, Virtuous - To Laugh At Murderous Cruelty
Unless Truth Is Richly Contextualized, It Is Likely That Uneducated, Ideologically-Driven People (Who Never Learned How To Think In Context), Will Use Fragmented Shards Of Truths To Tell Colossal Lies
How Conservatives Use Decontextualized Shards Of Truth To Tell BIG Lies
Trump Lies Shamelessly, Compulsively, Continuously... And His Followers Suck The Sludge
"It Has Come To This. How Do We Tell The Truth To 40% Of Americans?"
Compendium of "Pax-Barbaria" Stupidity Posts
"Nothing Makes Us Stupider Than Anger"
"Stupid People Are Too Stupid To Know They're Stupid"... And That's Just The Beginning
"When The Electorate Is THIS Stupid, Is ANY Delusional Thinking Out Of Bounds?"
https://newsfrombarbaria.
https://newsfrombarbaria.
"Pardon Him, Theodotus; He Is A Barbarian And Thinks That The Customs Of His Tribe And Island Are The Laws Of Nature." George Bernard Shaw On The Nature Of Personal Stupidity And Social Stupefaction
"The Decisive Distinction Between People Who Can Think And Those Who Can't"
A BRILLIANT Animation About German Lutheran Pastor Deitrich Bonhoeffer (Hung For His Role In A Plot Against Hitler) Who Concluded That 'Stupidity Is More Difficult To Remedy Than Malice'
Can We Talk? "Most Stupid People Are Conservative"
"A Confession: I'm Starting To Write Off Stupid People As Incorrigible"
It Has Come To This: How Do Intelligent Citizens Deal With The Irredeemably Stupid, Ignorant And Self-Pithed People Who Have Taken Over? The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Is Now Reality
http://newsfrombarbaria.
Trump Is "Just" A Spearhead And A Symptom: Basically, Stupid People Have Taken Over
http://newsfrombarbaria.
Education Or Catastrophe (With Special Emphasis On The Teaching Of History)
this is probably the best of these education or catastrophe posts
Compendium Of Best "Pax" Posts On The Cornerstone Necessity Of Education
Two Full Years Of American History Taught Dialectically Is The Swiftest, Surest Path To Restoration Of Social And Political Health In The American Body Politic
https://newsfrombarbaria.
https://newsfrombarbaria.
"The Rotting Of The Republican Mind"
David Brooks
Compendium Of Best "News From Barbaria" Posts About Trump's January 6th Insurrection
https://newsfrombarbaria.Trump Comments On Voter Fraud: People Can Only Be This Stupid When Their Identity Depends On Being Stupid
Kansas Politician Kris Kobach Is Emblematic Of The Bullshit Nonsense That Has Become The Bogus Essence Of The Republican Party
Compendium Of Best "Voter Fraud" And "Voter Suppression" Posts
Updated
"When The Electorate Is THIS Stupid, Is ANY Delusional Thinking Out Of Bounds?"
The Insuperable Stupidity-Perversity-Ignorance Of Diehard Trump Supporters
Compendium Of Trump Videos That Reveal His Arrogance, Inhumanity, Stupidity And Cruelty
"If Trump Voters Listened To Reason, They Wouldn't Be Trump Voters"
Alan: From lack of intelligence, lack of learning, lack of insight, or plain ol' malice-malevolence, Trump and his cultists do not understand that the erosion of trust in constitutionally-mandated political institutions contributes mightily to the degradation -- if not the collapse -- of Democracy itself.
20th century intellectual titan, Hannah Arendt -- who attended the Nuremberg Trials and coined the phrase "the banality of evil" -- has a lock-tight grip on this corrosive political process.
Here's how it unfolds...
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-
Compendium Of Best Hannah Arendt Posts
Bill Maher Describes Addlepated Trumpism As It Is. Hannah Arendt Explains "How" Trumpism Came Into Being
"The Case For Liberalism: A Defense Of The Future Against The Past," By George McGovern
"The Case For Liberalism: A Defense Of The Future Against The Past," By George McGovern
The Death Of Epistemology: Update
A Former Conservative Blogger On The Failures Of Right-Wing Media - A Brilliant Matthew Sheffield Interview With "On The Media" (Likely To Be The Best Broadcast You'll Hear This Month)
How Trump Trashes The Underpinnings Of Truth-And-Faith-In-Shared-
"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
"On The Media"
https://www.wnycstudios.org/
https://www.wnycstudios.org/
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"
Alan: During my 1950s' childhood, any weirdo-relative living in an in-law apartment would have become a candidate for "insane asylum committal" as soon as s/he started spewing the kind of lunatic ideation that consumes Trump Cult, a coven of crazies who subscribe to QAnon, a new secular religion with its own messiah (i.e., Donald Trump) and its own resurrection (i.e., John Kennedy Jr. is not dead).
And that's just the beginning.
Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton are members of a vast Hollywood (and Democratic Party) cabal that operates a massive sex slave trade which also kills children, cannibalizing them in Satanic blood rituals.
If you've got the stomach, you can learn more about this epochal normalization-of-insanity at:
QAnon Is Nucking Futs: A Clearing House For Crazy People (Which Continually Tells Them THEY Are The Sane Ones)
"Whom The Gods Would Destroy, They First Make Mad"
"Truth Infuriates People Whose Lives Are Lie"
"Trump Is A Traitor By Virtue Of Normalizing Falsehood And Teaching Americans To Do The Same"
"Compendium: Trump And His Minions Lie-And-Mislead More Easily Than They Metabolize, With A Special Guest Appearance By Master Bull-Shitter, Kayleigh McEnany"
"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 profoundest truths are paradoxical."
Laozi (Lao Tze), 2500 B.C.
"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., my one-time confessor
"The Story Of Jonah And The Whale" Retold For The Righteous By Anne Herbert
Laozi (Lao Tze), 2500 B.C.
"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., my one-time confessor
"The Story Of Jonah And The Whale"
Retold For The Righteous By Anne Herbert
Fr. Thomas Merton Explains -- In 16 Words -- Why "Christian" "Conservatives" Are Always Wrong
Religion and Perfectionism
"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"
"The Republican Party Is A Satanic Cult"
"Do Republicans Do Anything But Piss, Moan, Bitch, Whine?"
"Do Republicans Do Anything But Piss, Moan, Bitch, Whine?"
"The Party of Personal Responsibility" Is "The Party Of Personal Irresponsibility"
George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"
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
"The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism"
George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"
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
Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die
"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"
"The Death of Epistemology"
"The Death of Epistemology"
How the death of epistemology validates rhetorical vapidity:
- The Guardian: "John Oliver's Viral Video Is The Best Climate Change Debate You'll Ever See"
- http://paxonbothhouses.
-
"People Who Watch Only Fox News
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"
- http://paxonbothhouses.
blogspot.com/2014/05/the- guardian-john-olivers-viral- video.html - "People Who Watch Only Fox NewsKnow Less Than People Who Watch No News"
Stewart, Colbert, Oliver Probe The Spectacular Idiocy Of Climate Change Deniers
The Cornerstone Of American Idiocracy
The Cornerstone Of American Idiocracy
"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic
P.J. O'Rourke is a conservative pundit.O'Rourke's Wikipedia entry:
"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic
P.J. O'Rourke is a conservative pundit.
O'Rourke's Wikipedia entry:
"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"
"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"
"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism
"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism
"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"
"Red State Moocher Links"
Compendium Of Best "Pax-Barbaria" Posts About Red State - Blue State Secession
Blue States Secede: "F*ck The South!"
Blue States Secede: "F*ck The South!"
Republicans Are Talking About Red State Secession, And I Strongly Recommend Close Examination Of The Proposal: Here's Why...
"Why The Bible Belt Is Its Own Worst Enemy"
Republican Party Is "Full Of Racists," Colin Powell's Chief Of Staff
The Party of Personal Responsibility has quickly collapsed into The Self-Victimization Party.
"Let's Just Say It. The Republicans Are The Problem"
Conservative Norm Ornstein and Liberal Thomas Mann
Conservative Norm Ornstein: The Media Ignore Republican Lunacy
"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
"Just How Far Out Is The Republican Fringe?"
Norm Ornstein (And Is It The Fringe?)
Jindal Criticizes The Stupid Party: "Simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys"
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.
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
"Terrorism And The Other Religions"
"American Theocracy," By Kevin Phillips
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
"Terrorism And The Other Religions"
"American Theocracy," By Kevin Phillips
Frank Zappa Prophesied A Fascist Theocracy. Barry Goldwater Agrees
"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"
"Plutocracy Triumphant"
Cartoon Compendium
"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Pie. They're Taking It All"
http://paxonbothhouses.
http://paxonbothhouses.
"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
https://newsfrombarbaria.
The Original And Enduring Conspiracy: It's About Keeping The Filthy Rich, Filthy Rich
https://newsfrombarbaria.
Billionaire Nick Hanauer: "The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That's Made the U.S. Less Secure"
Billionaire Nick Hanauer's TED Talk: "Capitalism's Dirty Little Secret"
The Deep State Is Real: Plutocratic, Oligarchic, Unbridled Capitalism
The Difference Between Socialism And Capitalism
The Deep State Is Real: Plutocratic, Oligarchic, Unbridled Capitalism
The Difference Between Socialism And Capitalism
Zillionaire Nick Hanauer: Stock Buybacks Are Destroying The U.S. Economy
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
"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
George Soros: On The Coming Class War In The United States
Republican Rule And Economic Catastrophe, A Lockstep Relationship
G.K. Chesterton: "The Anarchy of The Rich"
G.K. Chesterton and Warren Buffett's Class War
Chesterton Viewed The Rich As "Oppressive" "Scum" And Failures
G.K. Chesterton: "The Anarchy of The Rich"
G.K. Chesterton and Warren Buffett's Class War
Chesterton Viewed The Rich As "Oppressive" "Scum" And Failures
"War, Peace And Political Manipulation: Quotations"
"War, Peace And Political Manipulation: Quotations"
Major General Smedley Butler: Do Wars Really Defend America’s Freedom?
Eisenhower Reveals THE DEEP STATE: Ike's Farewell Address Televised From The Oval Office Sounds The Alarm That The "Military-Industrial Complex" Comprises The Greatest Threat To American Democracy By Making Us A Murderous Corporatocracy
The Age-Old Normalization Of Warfare Through Stupidity, Ego And Religion
"Pope Francis Links"
"Pope Francis Links"
The Age-Old Normalization Of Warfare Through Stupidity, Ego And Religion
http://newsfrombarbaria.
The Mistaken Concept That Reducing Cultures To Rubble Results In Peace
http://paxonbothhouses.
Punishment Rarely Reforms But Instead Tends To Reinforce Wrongdoing
http://paxonbothhouses.
Best Pax Posts On Punishment And Torture As "Necessary" Methods For Righting Wrongs
http://paxonbothhouses.
Conservative Christians Delight In The Punishment And Pain Of Others
http: // paxonbothhouses. blogspot.com/2015/09/
America's Passion For Punishment And Torture
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspo
Christians And "Christians" Choose Mercy, Love & Forgiveness, Or Retribution & Punishment
Religion, Perfectionism, Savonarola and The Pending Apocalypse of The Republican Party (This Post Was Written In 2012)
Religion, Perfectionism, Savonarola and The Pending Apocalypse of The Republican Party (This Post Was Written In 2012)
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