August 29, 2013

The Torturer's Horse
— Monty

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. -- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love keeps no record of wrongs. This is to me the most lovely phrase in the Christian Bible. It is a call not just to forgive others, but to prevent resentment and anger from festering in your own heart. However, the passage does not occur in isolation; it exists in a deeply moral context where the believer is assumed to be always thinking and acting in a Godly way. This passage is not a call to suspend moral judgement.

Empathy -- the ability to understand, or even vicariously experience, someone elseÂ’s feelings -- is a vital part of a normal human beingÂ’s emotional makeup. Empathy is projected; you actually try to cast yourself into another personÂ’s mind and feel what they are feeling. In a sense, when you empathize with another person you try to become that person in some small way. Sympathy, on the other hand, is purely internal: you feel sadness or pity or compassion, but it is not projected.

A human being devoid of the ability to empathize or sympathize with others is a moral monster. We label people like this as sociopaths because we understand that there is something fundamentally wrong with them.

As vital as empathy and sympathy are, though, they carry a great danger. Emotion unanchored by a moral sense can lead to much harm. There is vast moral chasm between empathizing with the victim of a serial killer and the serial killer himself. And it is possible to over-empathize with others, to subordinate yourself to the emotional weather of other people to such a degree that your own emotions and feelings get dulled or even lost. W. H. Auden’s poem Musée des Beaux Arts has a passage about suffering in the world that is both beautiful and disturbing:


About suffering they were never wrong,
The old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position: how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

The torturerÂ’s horse knows nothing of the cruelty of its master; it is simply a dumb beast. It exists only in the moment. It is a creature of the eternal present. To the horse there is no past or future, no regret but no real happiness either. There is only the temporal relief of scratching an itch, a relief completely forgotten moments later. When the torturer mounts to go home after his dreadful work, the horse will bear him without complaint. The torturerÂ’s horse bears no moral burden for its masterÂ’s work because it has no moral sense -- no soul.

Human beings do have souls, and thus do bear moral burdens. The torturer is a moral monster in a way his horse is not and cannot be. The difference lies in free will. A human can choose his path, and must bear the consequences (moral and otherwise) of that choice.

For the left, empathy and sympathy often eclipse morality entirely. It’s not a cliche to say that most leftists are governed by their feelings, for this is observably the case. To most of the left -- becoming more pronounced the further left ideologically you go -- the moral sense is atrophied to near-uselessness. The left has come to view morality with a deadly kind of skepticism, a postmodern cultural-relativist suspiciousness that shrinks and shrivels the moral sense. Empathy and sympathy reign supreme. To a person of the left, “right” and “wrong” exist not as moral poles, but as emotional ones: what’s right is what feels right, in the moment.

But when decision-making is driven by in-the-moment emotion, consequences are often ignored. We see this all the time from "activists" on the left. They act without thinking of the consequences, which are often harmful to the very people they claim to want to help. They are governed by their passions.

A classic example of this behavior is the banning of the chemical DDT. One of the most effective treatments for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, DDT was banned based on largely-unfounded concerns about the environment (empathy for Mother Gaia, you see). Yet in the years since, millions of actual human beings have been killed or damned to a life of suffering by malaria, a disease that could have been easily curtailed with DDT. Empathetic leftists could preen that a “dangerous” chemical was banned while millions of actual human beings (most of them poor and black) suffer and die.

IÂ’ve wondered for years why the left continues to engage in this observably-harmful behavior. Surely if they empathize with the poor, the downtrodden, the hungry, and the repressed, they wouldnÂ’t do anything to deliberately hurt those very people...would they? Yet, time after time, this is exactly what happens.

Empathy or sympathy unbound by a moral sense is at base deeply selfish and harmful, because it is almost never deployed to solve a problem. Rather, it is deployed as a substitute for solving a problem. Feeling bad (or good) about something is, to most leftists, an action>. They believe they have done something positive by simply feeling a certain way. It validates them, reifies them, and centers them in their own universe.

And this is the rotten core of leftist “feeling”: it always faces inward, not outward. It is an act of narcissism, not of kindness.

When a person of the left accuses a conservative of being “heartless” or “racist”, what they’re actually saying is that they’re not. It’s not an insult directed against their opponent but rather a reassurance to themselves that they are creatures of deep empathy: for the downtrodden, for the weak, the poor, the minority. But their emotion is almost never directed towards any specific person; a leftist speaks vaguely of groups and collectives because, ultimately, he is only concerned with himself and how he feels. Other people exist merely as props in the long-running drama of his life.

Rousseau and Hobbes are the rocks upon which much of the leftist church rests. Rousseau places Man in nature as a feeling, emoting animal; Hobbes places Man under external control of an elite because Man cannot govern himself or his passions. Control, to the left, is not something internal or personal; it is impersonal and imposed from without. Control is something left to Authority. To an empathy-driven creature, this is not just acceptable but necessary: to a creature of feelings but little if any moral compass, self-control is always a somewhat shaky concept. Leftists need external control because they often cannot muster it from within.

Which brings us back to the torturerÂ’s horse in AudenÂ’s poem. The horse has no agency, no control over its fate. It carries no blame or moral burden for the actions of its master. The horse feels; in fact, it is nothing but feelings. We do not condemn the horse because it cannot do anything but feel -- it cannot bring a moral sense to bear, and thus can do no moral wrong. A dumb animal has no choice in what it becomes. A man does.

Choice requires free will, and agency. What makes a choice moral is not how we feel about it, but how it leads to a considered action, and acceptance of the consequences of that action. Empathy and sympathy in service to a moral sense are good things because they inspire us to be kind, understanding, careful, and cognizant of our own weaknesses. But emotion without a moral sense is simply a rank kind of self-indulgence, a kind of masturbation. It is a sign of a selfish, narcissistic, cramped, narrow mind.

Posted by: Monty at 04:10 AM | Comments (212)
Post contains 1398 words, total size 9 kb.

1 Love is Shared Responsibility Payments

Posted by: Teh One at August 29, 2013 04:16 AM (w4XAr)

2 Ha?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 29, 2013 04:17 AM (9Xc5j)

3 Rousseau and *Hobbes*?


Thanks for letting me off the hook!

Posted by: Rene Descartes at August 29, 2013 04:19 AM (bufJH)

4 Must be good acid...

Posted by: M. Murcek at August 29, 2013 04:19 AM (GJUgF)

5 Not just DDT, Monty. The entire anti-GMO movement is based on hysteria backed by faulty thinking. They would rather a bunch of third-world kids go blind instead of providing them with rice modified to create beta carotene, for example. Because hey, it's easy to discount the suffering of a bunch of kids thousands of miles away, especially when you're rich enough to just buy vitamin supplements. And *conservatives* are the evil ones?!

Posted by: @JohnTant at August 29, 2013 04:20 AM (hNNJ5)

6 this is pretty heavy for Thursday morning

but it is true that leftists see feelings as accomplishments-

when Bill Clinton said 'I feel your pain' everybody swooned- but were their lives made better? No, but don't tell them that. Somebody felt their pain! Validation that they were hurting for the right reasons.

I hate feelings. Don't tell me what you feel. Tell me what you have done, or will do.

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 04:21 AM (8sCoq)

7 We do not condemn the horse because it cannot do anything but feel -- it cannot bring a moral sense to bear, and thus can do no moral wrong. A dumb animal has no choice in what it becomes. Monty, nice piece, but sounds like you might be making excuses for liberals...

Posted by: Icedog at August 29, 2013 04:21 AM (w4XAr)

8

The Torturer's Horse

 

 

 

I thought it was going to be a John Kerry thread.

Posted by: Cicero Kid at August 29, 2013 04:22 AM (DHQv9)

9 The Torturer's Horse I thought it was going to be a John Kerry thread. Posted by: Cicero Kid at August 29, 2013 08:22 AM (DHQv9) Or, SJParker.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 29, 2013 04:24 AM (Fauor)

10 monty....that was deep for 5:15am my mother likes to recall how her aunt would spray ddt over the dinner table in the summer when flies were at their peak.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at August 29, 2013 04:24 AM (8JJ6O)

11 That's beautiful man,


*sniff*

wipes tear

Posted by: Memories at August 29, 2013 04:25 AM (WLMKm)

12 Love forgives, but, it does not do so blindly or mindlessly. There are transgressions that are too serious to forgive simply out of love or misplaced compassion. Our Liberal friends would have us forgive the most depraved monsters on Death Row, all the while exhorting us that complete abject support for infanticide by tortuous dismemberment is the highest good. Either it is equally humane and moral to chop a serial killer to bits and flush them along with the butchered unborn babies or both are equally abhorrent.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at August 29, 2013 04:25 AM (R0Clu)

13 A horse has no past? Then how does "Sandy" recognize my car pulling in and then run to the gate where she expects me to be? Pavlovian past, at the very least. And I do hold "Goldwind" morally responsible when he takes advantage of a turned back and sneaks into the hay room. He knows he's guilty. As to Liberals, yeah they're way worse than the most miserable nag.

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 29, 2013 04:27 AM (ZshNr)

14 Is it really empathy + sympathy, or is it just moral vanity? My sense is that the Left's "empathy and sympathy" are all about them.

Posted by: Caliban at August 29, 2013 04:27 AM (DrC22)

15 The Torturer's Horse



I thought it was going to be a John Kerry thread.

Posted by: Cicero Kid at August 29, 2013 08:22 AM (DHQv9)



Whatever

Posted by: Matthew Broderick at August 29, 2013 04:28 AM (bufJH)

16 dunno about the horse analogy horses do have memories, and do respond to their riders; they are quite persnickety, at times. with that said, a battered and abused wife or girlfriend may stick around as well. No matter the amount of emotional or physical torture. other than that, nice piece a bit gloomy, but thanks

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 29, 2013 04:29 AM (Fauor)

17 The mind is its own place and can make a Hell of Heaven and a Heaven of Hell. John Milton, Paradise Lost

Posted by: jmel at August 29, 2013 04:29 AM (mj6Vc)

18 Yeah, an extra few million Africans are dead, but it's a small price to pay to help libtards to feel good about themselves.

Posted by: Icedog at August 29, 2013 04:29 AM (w4XAr)

19 All this philosophy talk reminds me of another Monty...Python: Immanuel Kant was a real pissant Who was very rarely stable. Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar Who could think you under the table. David Hume could out-consume Schopenhauer and Hegel, And Wittgenstein was a beery swine Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel. There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'Bout the raising of the wrist. John Stuart Mill, of his own free will, On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill. Plato, they say, could stick it away Half a crate of whiskey every day. Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle, Hobbes was fond of his dram, And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart: "I drink, therefore I am" Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed; A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed!

Posted by: @JohnTant at August 29, 2013 04:29 AM (hNNJ5)

20 Hey Montie! Thanks for the help. Have no idea how to send you an e-mail badkingwhu? but the thought really counted. Muddling along, for now. TY

Posted by: Deety at August 29, 2013 04:29 AM (UaCt0)

21 Good piece, Monty.

Posted by: Liberty Lover at August 29, 2013 04:30 AM (2DgBs)

22 Very thoughtful piece. I don't ultimately believe in free will - I'm more of a hard determinist. Calvinist. but we certainly have a "sense" of free agency in this life - it's necessary in order to move around and do things, after all. And "free will" or not, we are all accountable for our actions.
Ah well, enough of my blathering, nobody gives a shit about moral issues anyway.

Posted by: tubal at August 29, 2013 04:30 AM (2NeaA)

23 A Monty post! But, it's not DOOM.  It's sorta doom-ey, though.  Doom-esque?

Good post. Not sure it was what I needed this gloomy morning, but a good post nonetheless.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at August 29, 2013 04:32 AM (72afg)

24

Very good article.  Lefties are very good at empathizing with some poor benighted individual and devising some way to help that person, but they are unable to empathize with all the other people who will be negatively impacted by the new policy.  Voter ID is a good example - lefties talk about the 98-year-old woman who doesn't have a valid birth certificate and how difficult it will be for her to produce photo ID at the polls, but they have no concern for the person whose legitimately-cast vote is cancelled out by a fraudulent vote.  That voter is unknown, so they can't empathize with him.

It seems to me that lefties are constantly focused on the exceptions and want to enact laws and policies to deal with the exceptions, but fail to understand the impact this will have on everybody else.  Laws and policy should reflect what is good for the most people, and let individuals, communities, private charities, etc, take care of the exceptions.

Posted by: biancaneve at August 29, 2013 04:32 AM (6bYlh)

25 What's with the emotional shit? We got some Syrians to roast. My credit is on the line here. MY CREDIT!

Posted by: Barry O'Fuckstick at August 29, 2013 04:34 AM (hl/LG)

26 Whut?

Posted by: King Prancing Putz at August 29, 2013 04:36 AM (nsOJa)

27 Outstanding, this should be permanently tacked on the sidebar as required reading for all conservatives. It's before 9:00 and I think you've already written the best post of the day Monty. Step your game up Ace, this guy's on fire.

Posted by: Irish Mike at August 29, 2013 04:36 AM (8JZte)

28 Laws and policy should reflect what is good for the most people, and let individuals, communities, private charities, etc, take care of the exceptions.
Posted by: biancaneve

Well, that's just racist talk there. You just don't understand/like minorities.

/s

Posted by: Bruce at August 29, 2013 04:36 AM (z0JJm)

29 I guess feeling good about oneself then explains how leftist can justify chopping birds and bats in windmills.

Posted by: Cicero Kid at August 29, 2013 04:37 AM (DHQv9)

30 I need to re-read, but, that was well stated, except... I think I got it all, except, naturally, that central quote about the horse. Guess it's as my college English prof assessed, 40+yrs ago, I don't get poetry. :/ rereading... oh, wait, gotta feed the cats first.

Posted by: mindful webworker - medium-depth thinker at August 29, 2013 04:37 AM (Bpn3R)

31 Being trapped by one's emotions, forsaking intellect, is much like infantalizing. I THINK I will go do what I need to now, instead of what I FEEL like, which is pour a second cup of coffee and enjoy the infotainment. Wah. Oh, and the SCOAMTT is a SCOAMTTy SCOAMTT SCOAMTT SCOAMTT.

Posted by: Justamom at August 29, 2013 04:37 AM (Sptt8)

32 Lucid stuff, lucid. Bravo!

Posted by: and irresolute at August 29, 2013 04:37 AM (2qM95)

33 Laws and policies should have as their primary concern the security and protection of our Constitutional rights--


Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 04:38 AM (8sCoq)

34 Brilliant Monty! Thank you.

Posted by: Anabolic State at August 29, 2013 04:39 AM (nFeoo)

35

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

 Love keeps no record but there is a initiation requirement of  self-awareness and conviction,humility and finally repentance. As you pointed out, a moral sense.

I enjoyed this Monty, thanks.

Posted by: no one. really at August 29, 2013 04:40 AM (EZl54)

36 And our final jeopardy question is:  "What happens when you take God out of the equation?"

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 04:40 AM (/b8+5)

37 Very good article. Lefties are very good at empathizing with some poor benighted individual and devising some way to help that person, but they are unable to empathize with all the other people who will be negatively impacted by the new policy. Voter ID is a good example - lefties talk about the 98-year-old woman who doesn't have a valid birth certificate and how difficult it will be for her to produce photo ID at the polls, but they have no concern for the person whose legitimately-cast vote is cancelled out by a fraudulent vote. Thatvoter is unknown, so they can't empathize with him. It seems to me that lefties are constantly focused on the exceptions and want to enact laws and policies to deal with the exceptions, but fail to understand the impact this will have on everybody else. Laws and policy should reflect what is good for the most people, and let individuals, communities, private charities, etc, take care of the exceptions. Posted by: biancaneve at August 29, 2013 08:32 AM (6bYlh) Any 98 year old born in the USA can get a photo ID--whether they have a BC or not. And I refuse to believe that anyone who has lived in the USA for 98 years has never had ID in all that time.

Posted by: baldilocks at August 29, 2013 04:41 AM (Tnlh/)

38 I don't know about all that shit, but, I do know my Prezninting skins are on the line here. Damn the polls, popular opinion, the lives of American servicemen and women, and the U.N......damn the flesh torpedoes (XOXOXOXO, Reggie)......FULL STUPID AHEAD!

Posted by: Barry O'Fuckstick at August 29, 2013 04:41 AM (hl/LG)

39 here comes the 'climb-down':

NYTimes: WH sources say "no smoking gun" linking Syria govt to chem weapons attack



i knew this might happen


Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 04:42 AM (8sCoq)

40 Operation Stutter Step

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 29, 2013 04:43 AM (ZshNr)

41 well done, had to put my grandpa glasses on, well worth it.

Posted by: trailortrash at August 29, 2013 04:43 AM (xllDV)

42 "NYTimes: WH sources say "no smoking gun" linking Syria govt to chem weapons attack i knew this might happen" Yeah, all that stuff I been saying, shut up. Expiration date and shit.

Posted by: Barry O'Fuckstick at August 29, 2013 04:44 AM (hl/LG)

43 Step your game up Ace, this guy's on fire. -Irish Mike ___ Hey, now, remember: a big part of Ace's game is hosting these cob & guest posts! That's pretty Up. Ace is like Ed Sullivan... If Ed had wise, erudite guests, any talent himself, and allowed moronic audience participation.

Posted by: mindful webworker - randomized neurons at August 29, 2013 04:44 AM (Yo5F4)

44 Nice piece, Monty.
 
And it won't change a single mind on the Progressive Left.

Posted by: GnuBreed at August 29, 2013 04:45 AM (ccXZP)

45

Just what were you doing last night that brought this on?

 

 

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 04:45 AM (u2a4R)

46 Lefties are very good at empathizing with some poor benighted individual and devising some way to help that person,

I don't agree with your premise at all.  Lefties see--say, a family with a kid with cancer, one of those blameless things that just happens--and instead of taking them casseroles or offering to babysit the other kid or organizing community fundraisers to help out, they bitch and whine that other people aren't doing stuff and agitate for the gov't to force others to act.

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ in an open office about to go catshit on cow-orkers at August 29, 2013 04:46 AM (/kI1Q)

47 >>NYTimes: WH sources say "no smoking gun" linking Syria govt to chem weapons attack But the NYT still manages to get in a shot at Bush. Wrongly of course but they give it a shot. >>But with the botched intelligence about Iraq still casting a long shadow over decisions about waging war in the Middle East, the White House faces an American public deeply skeptical about being drawn into the Syrian conflict and a growing chorus of lawmakers from both parties angry about the prospect of an American president once again going to war without Congressional consultation or approval. Bush went to Congress for consultation and got approval from Congress before going to war with Iraq. Stupid or evil?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 04:46 AM (g1DWB)

48 Need some emo pics for color and atmosphere.

Posted by: One Man Wrecking Crew at August 29, 2013 04:46 AM (P5JmB)

49

"no smoking gun"

 

well that was fun, everbody go home now.  let these people get back to their business.

Posted by: Case at August 29, 2013 04:47 AM (tjj0w)

50 Hey now, I resent all of this. Everyone KNOWS how important I am what with all I represent.

Posted by: Pink ribbon at August 29, 2013 04:47 AM (aYNC7)

51 When Monty wants to seduce, he does go on and on about his horse like qualities.

Posted by: JR3 at August 29, 2013 04:47 AM (rHaMl)

52 If we don't attack Syria today/tonight that means I can watch college football in peace. Wake Forest playing perennial doormat Presbyterian, and UNC versus South Carolina, of Jadeveon Clowney fame, games start at 6 -6:30.

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 29, 2013 04:47 AM (ZshNr)

53 You had me at "masturbation"

Posted by: Looking for the Moron Angle of the Post at August 29, 2013 04:49 AM (3bcNK)

54 "NYTimes: WH sources say "no smoking gun" linking Syria govt to chem weapons attack"






--What can you say, when you're a whore?

Posted by: logprof at August 29, 2013 04:49 AM (bufJH)

55

"Ace is like Ed Sullivan..."

 

Then Drew is...      Topo Gigio?

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 04:50 AM (u2a4R)

56 Nice piece. On the DDT thing - lefties assuage their guilt over the millions dying unnecessarily by mounting fundraising drives to buy mosquito nets. They're trying really HARD to help those nameless, faceless millions who suffer - and in trying, any bad feelings they might encounter are sufficiently shoved aside. The problem remains, but hey, it's not the results, it's your good intentions that count. So it is for all matters in which our liberal overlords count themselves superior to the benighted masses (that's you and me).

Posted by: marfdrat at August 29, 2013 04:51 AM (Cjjf6)

57 Just what were you doing last night that brought this on? --------------- Oh, just my usual routine. Dinner with a nice white wine, some music, and then out to clout hobos with a length of rebar. A pretty standard evening, all in all.

Posted by: Monty at August 29, 2013 04:51 AM (G8OwX)

58 Oh, how I love them whores!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFVyvPhKmU

Posted by: Jane's Addiction at August 29, 2013 04:52 AM (bufJH)

59 Monty,
Thank you for sharing this.

I am actually a better person for having read this.

It certainly helps to explain the rather shallow thinking of the left, but it reminded me in no small way that I owe my wife an apology for a very minor issue that I have allowed to fester in my heart.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 29, 2013 04:52 AM (uFh9T)

60

Voter ID is a good example - lefties talk about the 98-year-old woman who doesn't have a valid birth certificate and how difficult it will be for her to produce photo ID at the polls, but they have no concern for the person whose legitimately-cast vote is cancelled out by a fraudulent vote. Thatvoter is unknown, so they can't empathize with him.

 

I don't know that I'd agree.  That "98 year old woman" brought up as an example is presumed (and usually is) a Democrat voter.  The person affected by a fraudulent vote isn't an unknown voter - they're an unknown vote.  The lefty can't empathise with that person, because they might vote - ick! - Rethulgican!

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 29, 2013 04:52 AM (zF6Iw)

61 >> Bush went to Congress for consultation and got approval from Congress before going to war with Iraq.
Stupid or evil?
 
Evil. Remember, they have layers and layers of fact checkers, and still somehow can't get this right. The only recent dumbass preezy going to war with congressional approval is the current one. Since they know that to be true, they are evil. Not just lying, evil.

Posted by: GnuBreed at August 29, 2013 04:53 AM (ccXZP)

62 I wonder if MLK would be proud of the role Barack Obama has played it the slaughter of Africans along the Mediterranean?  And now, one day after an historic speech, Barry is marching out of Africa and into the Middle East to spread his love.  Giddyap!

Posted by: Fritz at August 29, 2013 04:53 AM (KIHQS)

63 "--What can you say, when you're a whore?" Well that is their job, afterall. Covering my black ass is the hand-wringing media's number one job. Who gives a shit if someone gets killed or a few a billion $ gets lost? It's all about covering my black ass. Got it?

Posted by: Barry O'Fuckstick at August 29, 2013 04:54 AM (hl/LG)

64 I think Mr. Ed was shagging Wilbur's wife when he was next door at the Kirkwood's.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at August 29, 2013 04:55 AM (WjLUf)

65 yada yada yada

Leftists oppose Voter ID because it makes it harder to cheat


any statements about how hard it is for somebody to have their picture taken and laminated to a state-issued card are bullshit

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 04:55 AM (8sCoq)

66

"Oh, just my usual routine. Dinner with a nice white wine, some music, and then out to clout hobos with a length of rebar. A pretty standard evening, all in all."

 

You know, you can open up to us.

 

Show us on the doll how the hobo touched you.   

 

The depth of thought is exactly what we expect of you.  It's the timing we question.

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 04:55 AM (u2a4R)

67 So now that we determined that there is no smoking gun pointing to the regime using WMD's, those children really didn't die?

Logic forces me to ask, if the regime didn't do it, who did?
And if it's the rebels, should we be supporting them?

Or perhaps we should just serve up a nation size bag of popcorn, and watch the show from the sidelines.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 29, 2013 04:56 AM (uFh9T)

68 Leftists typically believe in what might best be called "contra-morality", or, rather, a set of moral beliefs that are specifically designed to negate traditional Christian moral values.

Leftism is every bit as much a religion as Christianity, no matter how much they may deny otherwise. It has its own set of rites and rituals (see the weirdos weeping for the deaths of the trees for an example). It has its own high priests (Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Margaret Sanger, Che Guevara), and even its own deities (Obama, Bill Clinton, JFK, and, of course, FDR).

One thing that distinguishes leftists from traditional conservatives is best described by Ann Coulter. Where traditional conservatives believe in a God and try to act according to His wishes (to lead a good life, love God, and love each other), leftists believe they are gods (small "g"), and are therefore accountable only to their own feelings. Whatever there whim is the right thing to do, much as the ancient pagan gods behaved (see the Greco-Roman pantheon for perfect examples).

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 29, 2013 04:58 AM (8THEs)

69 The Dims need to protect one of their favorite vote fraud haunts - the nursing home.  The unionized care nurses make sure they all vote, straight line D.  Does it matter in Presidential politics, no.  State and Local races - Yes.

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 04:59 AM (CMlD4)

70 I bet that dog Chaser knows about scratching her behind. All. About It. 'Chaser! Paw behind!'

Posted by: EROWMER at August 29, 2013 04:59 AM (OONaw)

71 > Whoa it got quiet in here fast. Nood?

Posted by: MegaIndependento at August 29, 2013 08:58 AM (uvaJ1)


I'm outraged by everything and don't know where to start

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:00 AM (8sCoq)

72 63 "--What can you say, when you're a whore?"

Well that is their job, afterall. Covering my black ass is the hand-wringing media's number one job. Who gives a shit if someone gets killed or a few a billion $ gets lost? It's all about covering my black ass. Got it?

Posted by: Barry O'Fuckstick at August 29, 2013 08:54 AM (hl/LG)



--http://youtu.be/3QjM8yJtEOs

Posted by: logprof at August 29, 2013 05:01 AM (bufJH)

73 Yet in the years since, millions of actual human beings have been killed or damned to a life of suffering by malaria, a disease that could have been easily curtailed with DDT. Empathetic leftists could preen that a "dangerous" chemical was banned while millions of actual human beings (most of them poor and black) suffer and die. Feature. Not a bug. Morning all.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:01 AM (CRyse)

74 This is a great piece of work, Monty.  Well done.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 29, 2013 05:01 AM (DrWcr)

75 IÂ’ve wondered for years why the left continues to engage in this observably-harmful behavior. Surely if they empathize with the poor, the downtrodden, the hungry, and the repressed, they wouldnÂ’t do anything to deliberately hurt those very people...would they? Yet, time after time, this is exactly what happens.

If the left actually helped someone, then the left could no longer feel superior to that person by virtue of caring.  That person would be off living his life.  So naturally all problems (to the left) exist not to be solved but to generate good feelings about oneself in the carer.

Posted by: Null at August 29, 2013 05:02 AM (P7hip)

76 remember the first knock on DDT was that it caused the shells of birds' eggs to thin, causing some eggs to fail, meaning less songbirds

'the silent spring' = no birds singing

so, the people who agitated for banning DDT were more concerned with birds than humans

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:04 AM (8sCoq)

77 Logic forces me to ask, if the regime didn't do it, who did? And if it's the rebels, should we be supporting them? Or perhaps we should just serve up a nation size bag of popcorn, and watch the show from the sidelines. Who has the most to gain? No. Yes.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:04 AM (CRyse)

78 This is interesting, over at http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/ Pundits have tried to figure out ObamaÂ’s motives. Some say Obama is driven by anti -colonialism like his father. ObamaÂ’s anti-colonialism makes sense, but doesnÂ’t address all of ObamaÂ’s motives in the Middle East, or necessarily his attacks against Christians and Jews. Others say that Obama is on the side of Islamists, which doesnÂ’t address his siding with one Islamist group (Al Qaeda) over another Islamist group, or Islamist group wannabe like Assad. What does make sense is ObamaÂ’s policy of always siding with the Muslim Sunni sect. As Barry Rubin at PJ Media points out, Muslim Sunnis have been at odds with Muslim ShiaÂ’s, and vice versa, for a long time. Shia representatives Iran and Hezbollah support Assad. Sunni representatives, including Al Qaeda, support the Islamic rebels and the Muslim Brotherhood. Sunnis account for about 80% of the Muslim world. When Obama moves, he moves not with Christians, Jews or the majority of most Americans, Obama moves with the Muslim Sunni sect. The Sunni hatred of ShiaÂ’s, Jews and Americans is what ObamaÂ’s actions fit best. by Joe Hoft

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 29, 2013 05:05 AM (Fauor)

79 Progressive-Socialists suffer a special form of Munchausen by Proxy.

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 05:05 AM (aUpYR)

80 Whoa it got quiet in here fast. Nood? : MegaIndependento ___ The sound of deep reflective thoughts being thunk.

Posted by: mindful webworker - sure nuff at August 29, 2013 05:06 AM (3gtAk)

81 > So naturally all problems (to the left) exist not to be solved but to generate good feelings about oneself in the carer.


so  'feeling' the right way about something becomes an accomplishment in itself. Man, it is so easy to be a liberal. All you gotta do is 'feel' the right way about stuff, and you're golden.

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:07 AM (8sCoq)

82 St. PaulÂ’s Letter to the Corinthians

http://vimeo.com/2884971

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 05:07 AM (/b8+5)

83 -... .   ... ..- .-. .   - ---   -.. .-. .. -. -.-   -.-- --- ..- .-.   --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. .

Posted by: The Horticulturalist's Morse at August 29, 2013 05:07 AM (amsaL)

84 >The sound of deep reflective thoughts being thunk.


if you're real quiet you can hear the wheels turning

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:07 AM (8sCoq)

85 I am glad that my President of Color did not invite that "Uncle Tom" Senator from South Carolina to the MLK celebration yesterday. He is not a real person of color because he does not support President Obama and only cares about the rich and people whom own businesses which are not hiring persons of color or not providing free health care ordered by President Obama.

Posted by: LaQuisha Jeantell Largess' at August 29, 2013 05:08 AM (IkHXL)

86 79 remember the first knock on DDT was that it caused the shells of birds' eggs to thin, causing some eggs to fail, meaning less songbirds 'the silent spring' = no birds singing so, the people who agitated for banning DDT were more concerned with birds than humans Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 09:04 AM (8sCoq) Using their "logic," then all humans should die. But after that who would give a shit about the birds singing, other than predator birds looking for lunch?

Posted by: baldilocks at August 29, 2013 05:08 AM (Tnlh/)

87 A human being devoid of the ability to empathize or sympathize with others is a moral monster. --- It depends, because another factor is involved, and that is, is the person not feeling empathy for the problems of another the perpetrator of the problem, or an innocent witness. Are you supposed to walk around all day feeling sad over everyone with a problem? And if not, how many of the problems that aren't yours are you supposed to feel sad about? Is there some formula? Say, 25% of the problems you hear about?

Posted by: UWP at August 29, 2013 05:08 AM (r98SZ)

88 If you can hear your wheels turning Jones in CO, then you did not pack your bearings correctly. 

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 05:08 AM (aUpYR)

89 Between getting Baldilocks to write that outstanding essay for AoSHQ and this essay . . .Monty is bringing it! I consider it brung.

Posted by: Jade Sea at August 29, 2013 05:09 AM (eaCeu)

90 Good morning all!  What are we talking about?

Posted by: EC at August 29, 2013 05:10 AM (GQ8sn)

91 You had me at "masturbation"

Posted by: Looking for the Moron Angle of the Post

 

Godammit.  Why the fuck did I waste time reading the comments when I could have won the 'who's going to make a masturbation joke first' contest?

 

Fuck.

 

Anyway, nice post Monty.  All insightful and stuff with nice turns of phrase and crap like that.

 

Fuck...still pissed off.

Posted by: Lurking Canuck at August 29, 2013 05:11 AM (NF2Bf)

92 The sound of deep reflective thoughts being thunk. Posted by: mindful webworker - sure nuff at August 29, 2013 09:06 AM (3gtAk) That's what I'm experiencing. The well done article doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. However, it is stated in such a manner that if portions are committed to memory, the knowledge stated may help us persuade others to our side.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:12 AM (XIxXP)

93 Happy Birthday Baldilocks.  I've been hearing the phrase "he/she is not authentically black" a lot.  It seems to be a way of categorizing but more than that, a subtle diminishing of a person's point of view.  Have you heard it and can you please explain it to me.

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 05:12 AM (/b8+5)

94 Whoa it got quiet in here fast. Nood? : MegaIndependento ___ The sound of deep reflective thoughts being thunk. Everyone hit the head at the same time?

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:13 AM (CRyse)

95 *gives EC a magazine article to read*
http://www.cosplaygen.com/omi-gibson-jp/

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 05:13 AM (aUpYR)

96 Good morning all! What are we talking about? Deep thoughts.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:13 AM (CRyse)

97 >If you can hear your wheels turning Jones in CO, then you did not pack your bearings correctly.



at my age they're a little squeaky

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:14 AM (8sCoq)

98 Deep Thought designed the Earth to answer a very vexing problem.  Anyone seen Majicthighs?  Think he has the checque.

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 05:15 AM (aUpYR)

99 >Everyone hit the head at the same time?


selecting the right coffee mug. this is important. how the rest of the day goes is riding on this.

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:15 AM (8sCoq)

100 Bravo.  Thank you Monty for feeding my big brain this morning.

Posted by: Truck Monkey at August 29, 2013 05:15 AM (32Ze2)

101 I use the DDT reference all of the time. They libtards do not want to hear it.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:15 AM (XIxXP)

102 *gives EC a magazine article to read*
http://www.cosplaygen.com/omi-gibson-jp/

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 09:13 AM (aUpYR)



brb

Posted by: EC at August 29, 2013 05:15 AM (GQ8sn)

103

This is a beauty, Monty. I am going to comment on all of your essays so that Ace will know how necessary they are. I am so proud to associate myself with a conservative such as yourself, who writes so eloquently. We need people who can talk and write like this and we need them OUT FRONT.

Posted by: Janetoo at August 29, 2013 05:17 AM (L3Itw)

104 Happy Birthday, Baldilocks, my unmet, yet loved sister in Conservative thought!

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at August 29, 2013 05:18 AM (cu4Zs)

105
'the silent spring' = no birds singing

nor, apparently African schoolchildren

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 05:18 AM (CMlD4)

106 Watching the guy across the street edge his lawn with a sawzall.

Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 05:18 AM (MMC8r)

107 I use the DDT reference all of the time. They libtards do not want to hear it.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016

 

It's my favourite club in the golf bag of pain.

Posted by: Lurking Canuck at August 29, 2013 05:18 AM (NF2Bf)

108 Watching the guy across the street edge his lawn with a sawzall. Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 09:18 AM (MMC8r) Electric or battery?

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:19 AM (XIxXP)

109

What a great post, Monty.

 

Leftards are slaves to their emotions and they know it. The easiest way to send one into a   spittle-flecked rage is to suggest they demonstrate self-control. Since they  have very little of it,  they think no one  else has any either,  hence their psychotic compulsion to control others.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at August 29, 2013 05:19 AM (0HooB)

110 Translated into Arabic...The Torturer's Goat.

Posted by: sTevo at August 29, 2013 05:19 AM (sa6D2)

111 Honestly I was expecting the next Monty article to address the fiscal problems in the emerging markets; but color me surprised.

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 05:19 AM (CMlD4)

112 96 Happy Birthday Baldilocks. I've been hearing the phrase "he/she is not authentically black" a lot. It seems to be a way of categorizing but more than that, a subtle diminishing of a person's point of view. Have you heard it and can you please explain it to me. Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 09:12 AM (/b8+5) baldi.....this is the same commenter that told Jane d'oh she was riding on the coat tails of her military son

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at August 29, 2013 05:20 AM (8JJ6O)

113 Translated into Arabic...The Torturer's Goat.

Posted by: sTevo at August 29, 2013 09:19 AM (sa6D2)

 

Silly kafir, goat is for pleasure, not for transportation!

Posted by: Hamid Abdullah Muhammed Jihad at August 29, 2013 05:20 AM (DrWcr)

114 Watching the guy across the street edge his lawn with a sawzall.
Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 09:18 AM (MMC8r)

Do you have a OALES bandage or a SOF-T handy?

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 05:20 AM (CMlD4)

115 Honestly I was expecting the next Monty article to address the fiscal problems in the emerging markets; but color me surprised. --------------- I'm cooking something up. But events are still in flux; I'm waiting on some additional data.

Posted by: Monty at August 29, 2013 05:21 AM (G8OwX)

116 I use the DDT reference all of the time. They libtards do not want to hear it.
Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016

It's my favourite club inthe golf bag of pain. Posted by: Lurking Canuck

I also like asking for the billions spent on "acid rain" back.

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 05:21 AM (CMlD4)

117 The end justifies the means would seem to be the creed of sociopaths,
and might serve as their only helpful insight when searching for a solution to the Dead End that is the Left.

They are bound to pervert or subvert every social construct for individual advancement.

Posted by: ontherocks at August 29, 2013 05:21 AM (qhNtk)

118 GREAT POST, Monty!

Posted by: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus at August 29, 2013 05:21 AM (YYJjz)

119 116 96 Happy Birthday Baldilocks. I've been hearing the phrase "he/she is not authentically black" a lot. It seems to be a way of categorizing but more than that, a subtle diminishing of a person's point of view. Have you heard it and can you please explain it to me.
Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 09:12 AM (/b8+5)

baldi.....this is the same commenter that told Jane d'oh she was riding on the coat tails of her military son

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at August 29, 2013 09:20 AM (8JJ6O)

hahahhaha and in a thread discussing the letter of St. Paul.   Evil is as evil does.  You are some piece of work, too funny.  God's watching.

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 05:22 AM (/b8+5)

120 Outstanding. Thanks for writing this.

I would only add more evidence. Observe how contemporary liberals construct their arguments. They are largely based in pathos and therefore upon intellectual and factual scrutiny fall apart. When exposed, they return to further pathos arguments or ad hominem attacks- anything to detract from a substantive conclusion which is factual or the result of proven truisms.

This is no small issue in the overall construct of their grander scheme. It is why they try to attract and retain a less intellectual or inquisitive audience. It is why they try to control essentials such as education, entitlements and corrupt the language. The entire strategy is based on an enslavement in ignorance, dependency and moral equivalency. It is why they try to destroy and concept of God or are creator. They try to brainwash the human mechanism inherent in us all that has since the beginning of time resulted in the creation  of social mores formed upon instinctive moral boundaries and existential needs. They want to empower a personal sense that "you are your own master" and subservience to God is enslavement- all as they steal your personal liberty and control over your life- ultimately substituting themselves for God. How despicable and misleading.

In the background this steals your individual liberty and corrupts democratic process. It falsely operates on sophistic maxims such as "if rich people just give a little more" or perhaps "if you submit to more control to the state"- life will be much better for everyone. Nonsense. In the end, you not only have less and are less free, but you've become a ward of a new, vogue type of tyranny which now has nearly ubiquitous control over your life, and death.  

 

Posted by: Marcus at August 29, 2013 05:22 AM (GGCsk)

121 OT NYTimes under attack. Looks like inside Syrian job.

Posted by: sTevo at August 29, 2013 05:22 AM (sa6D2)

122

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" doomed millions with bullshit "science".

Go back and find David Burge's post about his pen pal in EG who died of malaria.  Iowahawk had supported him financially in a small way since he was a kid and then the letters stopped.  It is some of Burge's most poignant work. 

Posted by: Mr. Dave at August 29, 2013 05:23 AM (PpviT)

123 Next up...Calculus! jk, nice post Monty. Empathy or sympathy unbound by a moral sense is at base deeply selfish and harmful, because it is almost never deployed to solve a problem. Rather, it is deployed as a substitute for solving a problem. Bingo.

Posted by: RWC at August 29, 2013 05:23 AM (fWAjv)

124 OT NYTimes under attack. Looks like inside Syrian job. Posted by: sTevo at August 29, 2013 09:22 AM (sa6D2) Ya know, Maybe those syrians aren't so bad after all.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:23 AM (XIxXP)

125 Electric or battery? Wouldn't battery BE electric? Corded, though.

Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 05:23 AM (MMC8r)

126

@81

But when Shia Iranian ayatollahs had their legitimacy threatened in 2009,  and Neda bled out on the street,   Obama  sided with the billionaire kleptocrat ayatollahs.      Obama's   position was based on his certainty he could sit down with them and apologize his way to success  according to his stated 'reasoning'.   

 

Presumably  Obama   would mention Mossadegh in hushed and reverential tones  thereby undoing 1,400 years of Islamic theocracy and imperialism.   Two: ?   Three: profit.    

Posted by: Beagle at August 29, 2013 05:24 AM (sOtz/)

127 Silent Spring was actually inspired by a letter from a resident in one of my previous homes in MA. Carson read the letter and wrote that dumbass book. Be nice if just once in a while these lefties would admit when they were wrong.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 05:24 AM (g1DWB)

128 > Watching the guy across the street edge his lawn with a sawzall.

Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 09:18 AM (MMC8r)


then you'll enjoy 'chainsaw hedge trimmer'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8G3t87jpSo

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:25 AM (8sCoq)

129 Wouldn't battery BE electric? Corded, though. Posted by: zsasz at August 29, 2013 09:23 AM (MMC8r) You know what I thought I meant to think then say.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:25 AM (XIxXP)

130 As Barry Rubin at PJ Media points out, Muslim Sunnis have been at odds with Muslim ShiaÂ’s, and vice versa, for a long time. Shia representatives Iran and Hezbollah support Assad. Sunni representatives, including Al Qaeda, support the Islamic rebels and the Muslim Brotherhood. Sunnis account for about 80% of the Muslim world. When Obama moves, he moves not with Christians, Jews or the majority of most Americans, Obama moves with the Muslim Sunni sect. The Sunni hatred of ShiaÂ’s, Jews and Americans is what ObamaÂ’s actions fit best.

by Joe Hoft

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 29, 2013 09:05 AM (Fauor)


Because he's bought and paid for by the Saudis. He's their man and they created him and buoyed him up.

Posted by: joncelli at August 29, 2013 05:25 AM (RD7QR)

131 >Be nice if just once in a while these lefties would admit when they were wrong.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 09:24 AM (g1DWB)\

\\

that's the best part- when you're a lefty, you're never wrong

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:25 AM (8sCoq)

132 Balaam's Ass Numbers 22, Old Testament http://biblehub.com/niv/numbers/22.htm Monty, along with so many non-scriptural but dogmatic Medieval scholars, you forget the story of the ass who not only saw the angel that the "prophet" ignored, but who spoke to the prophet who beat the ass. Besides, there are so very many biblical prophesies referencing non-humanoid creatures serving the ultimate God. Just as we're incapable of knowing all about God, the futility of building a fence around what God "IS" would apply to defining who/what has a soul. * In the sense that we are all creatures of the Creator, if we can not empathize with the "dumb" horse that is subjugated to serve a torturer, why empathize with the torturer? There's scientific genetic research establishing the premise that empathy is in our human DNA. Of course how we train ourselves to respond to the sight of torture is another matter, cultural environment and choice of will influencing our sense of "reality". And yes, mystics warn that it's easier to kill the light within than to banish the darkness all around. -- "The torturerÂ’s horse knows nothing of the cruelty of its master; it is simply a dumb beast. It exists only in the moment. It is a creature of the eternal present. To the horse there is no past or future, no regret but no real happiness either. There is only the temporal relief of scratching an itch, a relief completely forgotten moments later. When the torturer mounts to go home after his dreadful work, the horse will bear him without complaint. The torturerÂ’s horse bears no moral burden for its masterÂ’s work because it has no moral sense -- no soul." -- *There were plenty of imaginative arguments during the Medieval Christian Era, such as how many angels can balance on the tip of a pin? Priests and monks formed personal alliances and animosities based on their opinion of THAT sort of conjecture. Rather, aside from quantum physics, in the "here and now" such is vanity to argue, to carry a grudge that another view exists than your own preference to limit possibility to your own taste.

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 05:25 AM (MhA4j)

133 Jean at August 29, 2013 09:19 AM (CMlD4) --------- This is good though, because it helps explain the *why* behind it. Amnesty, for instance - the Left only sees the people at the gate...they don't see the tradesman who loses his job to cheap unskilled labor, or the teenager who can't get a summer job, or the poor who can't get a job at all for that matter. Or pensions - the Left only sees the government drone, not the people who continually sacrifice and get leaner and leaner to pay the ever-increasing taxes to support those pensions. It's a systemic failure of the Left (and sadly, some in the Establishment GOP) to only focus on one input without considering the myriad of consequences that arise...or worse, to outright ignore/discount them.

Posted by: @JohnTant at August 29, 2013 05:26 AM (hNNJ5)

134 hahahhaha and in a thread discussing the letter of St. Paul. Evil is as evil does. You are some piece of work, too funny. God's watching. Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 09:22 AM (/b8+5) he watched when you posted your ghey pron on a sunday morning too dear.... he watched when you said you were putting together a dossier on the posters here he watched when you mocked mpfs for her disability he watched when you said mitt romney was a cult member he watched when you laughed at the job of a secretary, walmart cashier

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl at August 29, 2013 05:27 AM (8JJ6O)

135 "But emotion without a moral sense is simply a rank kind of self-indulgence, a kind of masturbation. It is a sign of a selfish, narcissistic, cramped, narrow mind."


**

BAM!!

Chris Mathews and Keith Olberman hardest hit.


Nice job Monty!


Posted by: dananjcon at August 29, 2013 05:27 AM (jvd3N)

136 Posted by: Mr. Dave at August 29, 2013 09:23 AM (PpviT) Piqued my interest so if anyone else wants to read it- This Post Brought to You By the Green Movement http://tinyurl.com/cwcxb9

Posted by: RWC at August 29, 2013 05:27 AM (fWAjv)

137

I think if you check the timing, the thread went quiet not because they were pondering Monty's article, but were wondering....

 

Who the fuck is Topo Gigio?

 

(Hint:  you've got to be old to know)

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 05:28 AM (u2a4R)

138 The torturer's horse ...  ok

Strong horse - weak horse here and abroad.  We're looking pretty bad in the Middle East right now.

Posted by: mrp at August 29, 2013 05:29 AM (HjPtV)

139 On Monty's post, it's interesting to note that the left is deeply into the task of extirpating the concept of free will. The meme now is that we are the sum of our biochemistry and it is wrong to assign agency to anyone; at worst, a person is stubborn in not getting their brain chemistry adjusted. Once free will is destroyed by a paradigm of "humans just need treatment" then the justice system, and the very concept of law, personal responsibility, and personal morality, can be dispensed with and people can be tinkered with by the state as the need arises.

Posted by: joncelli at August 29, 2013 05:29 AM (RD7QR)

140 I haven't had the time to finish the article yet, but so far, excellent as usual Monty. While empathy and sympathy are important, it is equally important to maintain boundaries around what is acceptable to avoid celebrating or enabling wrongdoing. After all, verse 6 of the passage says: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV)

Posted by: Chelsea d'afrique, late to the meme at August 29, 2013 05:31 AM (r+7wo)

141 joncelli, for the Lords of the Manor us serfs or cogs in the machine are far too uppity.  So lets 'treat' them into being proper little automata.

Posted by: Chelsea Puma (+SmuD) at August 29, 2013 05:31 AM (aUpYR)

142 I was going to remind you that empathy should be measured on a line of continuum with either too much or too little both bad, but you seem to have covered it. I think I was first exposed to the concept in about the fourth grade in a Mark Twain book where the preacher kept supporting the town drunk, night after night. Today Mark Twain is probably labelled as racist and banned from public school libraries.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at August 29, 2013 05:31 AM (U2UQk)

143 A relative of mine was raised with a conservative strong moral sense and faith. She married and then  did something terrible which  destroyed her marriage and her relationship with her family. She spent the next 20 years drifting farther and and farther leftward in her attitude and outlook.  She has chased shamans , shysters and losers of all stripes , gravitating to those who would confirm an support her blame society , daddy and probably God for her failure. She is a consummate Obama voting superior smirking lefty wacko , buying off on every conspiracy theory with no apparent factual examination. Every family get together her is filled with rabid tales of evil Monsanto, evil GMOs and evil BOOOSH!! She is an intolerable wannabe "intellectual " with the writing composition skills of a fifth grader and almost complete emotional dysregulation of a toddler. Repentance would have been a good start for her. Instead she spent her life stubbornly clung to the notion that the blame MUST lie elsewhere. Like OJ looking for the " real killers", she pursues an unexamined, and unforgiven life and refuses any guidance to relieve her conscience and thus allow her to go on. I thought of her when I read Monty's description of a shriveled , unhealthy conscience.

Posted by: wallflower at August 29, 2013 05:32 AM (lxovP)

144

'the silent spring' = no birds singing

They're really a bunch of ****ing idiots aren't they.

Posted by: MegaIndependento at August 29, 2013 09:14 AM (uvaJ1)

 

It's what Insty calls the "just enough of me, too much of you" attitude of the paternalistic envirofascist.

 

Except for the truly anti-human, I don't think a great many in the enviro cult want mass extinction of the human race.  What they want is a pre-industrial idyll of farms and cottages, with perhaps one lone Stephenson locomotive putting along a small length of track.  And you, the meat-eating, Rush-listening, Rethuglican, to be ignorant and content slaving in the fields - the poor man in his cottage, the rich man at his gate - not questioning their right to rule.  And the darkies can be treated as exotic pets with funny costumes (a George Psalmanazar or a Princess Carraboo).

 

They are good stewards.  You are not.  That's the left in a nutshell.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 29, 2013 05:32 AM (zF6Iw)

145 it keeps no record of wrongs Hey ladies....

Posted by: chelsea blaster at August 29, 2013 05:33 AM (W6bkf)

146 >>> Fuck...still pissed off. Go rub one out; you'll feel better.

Posted by: fluffy at August 29, 2013 05:33 AM (z9HTb)

147 Be nice if just once in a while these lefties would admit when they were wrong. Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 09:24 AM (g1DWB) I think that's the whole point. You can never be wrong if your words, thoughts and actions are done for the greater good. Each one, each libtard, cannot fail, ever. Imagine going through life like that? With that sense of superiority?

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:34 AM (XIxXP)

148

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat at August 29, 2013 09:31 AM (U2UQk)

 

I meant to ask the other day, but were you the one who did all that work debunking the "bombed ambulance" way back in the early days?

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 05:35 AM (u2a4R)

149 -... . ... ..- .-. . - --- -.. .-. .. -. -.- -.-- --- ..- .-. --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. .

Ha

Posted by: trainer's looking for a Militia to join... at August 29, 2013 05:36 AM (K5X44)

150 well kids, I need to write, later.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at August 29, 2013 05:36 AM (XIxXP)

151 "A friend"  had a brief discussion with a gynecologist recently.  The doc must have figured that "my friend" was of like mind, because he looked him in the eye and told him that "there are too many people".  Apparently there are not "too many people" like the doctor, because he's still kicking, but "too many people" who are not like the doctor.

Posted by: mrp at August 29, 2013 05:37 AM (HjPtV)

152 Go rub one out; you'll feel better. Posted by: fluffy at August 29, 2013 09:33 AM (z9HTb) Abandon hope all ye who enter thy barrel this fine morn.

Posted by: RWC at August 29, 2013 05:38 AM (fWAjv)

153 I might add that responsibility is a critical component, as well. A person must be held to account for their choices and actions, if only to buttress the role of morality; where the hold of the conscience is weak, perhaps the sting of external punishment may act as a limiter. Of course, you are thus relying on the actions of others to police the individual; if these, too, are devoid of limiters, the whole thing degenerates. (Exhibit A: Washington, DC.)

Posted by: Brother Cavil misses Crow and Servo at August 29, 2013 05:38 AM (naUcP)

154 growing chorus of lawmakers from both parties angry about the prospect of an American president once again going to war without Congressional consultation or approval.

Bush went to Congress for consultation and got approval from Congress before going to war with Iraq.

Stupid or evil?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 08:46 AM (g1DWB)


yes, An American President . could be anyone right?

remember  their 'illegal wars'?  if they couldn't lie, what else would they have to coerce others with?

most depressing thing about that article is most those reading will not care , they will just nod their heads .

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:39 AM (nqBYe)

155 I meant to ask the other day, but were you the one who did all that work debunking the "bombed ambulance" way back in the early days? No, that was mainly Zombie. I did the discoveries of one of the many Iranian photoshop propaganda photos. There were a ton of them, but for some reason mine got a lot of press. That part of the world is full of liars who think we don't see what they do. We see, our Precedent, not so much.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at August 29, 2013 05:39 AM (U2UQk)

156 Be nice if just once in a while these lefties would admit when they were wrong. Posted by: JackStraw at August 29, 2013 09:24 AM (g1DWB)\\\that's the best part- when you're a lefty, you're never wrong They can also never be right. Since they are lefties.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:39 AM (E7Zh9)

157 >yes, An American President


I hate that movie

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:40 AM (8sCoq)

158 Damn It.  My Comment posted  as Not written.

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:40 AM (nqBYe)

159 I always thought Hobbes lacked a certain nuance.  Too frank, even a little brutal, if you know what I mean.  If he were eduacated at Columbia and Harvard, Hobbes might have approached the problem of controlling the masses with more political sense.

Posted by: Plato at August 29, 2013 05:41 AM (B5y+v)

160 Imagine going through life like that? With that sense of superiority? And still never getting anything correct...

Posted by: rickb223 at August 29, 2013 05:41 AM (E7Zh9)

161 Stephen Hayes ‏@stephenfhayes 3m

Air Force Chief Welsh, on Air Force and Syria: "We are not going to be as ready as we would like."

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:41 AM (8sCoq)

162

@147

The only soft landing is Buddhism, but they usually hit crystals  and some shaman who cleanses the spirit with enemas for three hundred a pop.  

 

I've always been a pain in the ass skeptic when it comes to religion, but throwing out all the good philosophy and morality in Christianity is fraught with peril.   It's like messing with load bearing structures in a building.  

Posted by: Beagle at August 29, 2013 05:41 AM (sOtz/)

163  An american President is only meant to imply..
They All do it!

so shut up.

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:42 AM (nqBYe)

164 Propaganda is something the progressives do well, lying is easier when your conscience is dead.

Posted by: Jean at August 29, 2013 05:43 AM (CMlD4)

165 86 -... . ... ..- .-. . - --- -.. .-. .. -. -.- -.-- --- ..- .-. --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. . Posted by: The Horticulturalist's Morse at August 29, 2013 09:07 AM ( If that's another RickRoll I'm gonna smack someone.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 29, 2013 05:43 AM (MBqvE)

166 The aristocrats of Athens were very proud of their democracy until Socrates showed up.

Posted by: mrp at August 29, 2013 05:44 AM (HjPtV)

167 I know it's not regular canon to most Bibles, but I love 4 Maccabees because it is an intense discussion of reason versus emotion, and how reason must reign supreme and how religion is part of that reason. I warn you, though, it's not a book for the faint of heart.

Posted by: Katja at August 29, 2013 05:45 AM (oquX1)

168

*There were plenty of imaginative arguments during the Medieval Christian Era, such as how many angels can balance on the tip of a pin? Priests and monks formed personal alliances and animosities based on their opinion of THAT sort of conjecture. Rather, aside from quantum physics, in the "here and now" such is vanity to argue, to carry a grudge that another view exists than your own preference to limit possibility to your own taste.

 

Panzer,

The angels dancing question was not a serious issue - if it was ever asked, which is not proven, it was asked as a training exercise to students. There is, of course, a right and a wrong answer, and a pretty obvious one once you think about it.

 

 

Posted by: Grey Fox at August 29, 2013 05:45 AM (210xL)

169 Another great post, Monty. I'm reminded of the Peanuts cartoon where Linus said, "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand."

Posted by: rickl at August 29, 2013 05:46 AM (zoehZ)

170
Thank you, Monty. Well said.

The DDT example was a good one, but what came to my mind was Obama's cancellation of the DC voucher program - practically his first act in office. Here was a program that was demonstrably helping improve the lives of poor DC students, practically all of whom were black, and he gives them the shaft, on the grounds of ... frankly, I still can't figure it out. Whatever his rationale, his act has had the effect of forcing those kids back into shit schools, denying them the opportunities they might have had, had they been able to get out of the educational ghetto. Now, *that* was a failure of empathy!

Every time I think about that, I'm reminded of John Randolph of Roanoke's description of Thomas Jefferson, which applies equally well to our JEF: "Like a mackerel in the moonlight, he shines and stinks, stinks and shines."

Posted by: Brown Line at August 29, 2013 05:49 AM (VrNoa)

171 I'm telling you, they're looking for a way to back down without embarrassing Sir Golfsalot


TheBlaze ‏@theblaze 4m

State Dept. spokeswoman admits U.S. doesnÂ’t know if Assad ordered chemical attack


Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:51 AM (8sCoq)

172 Brown Line,  His support for those that facilitate His/and Progressive  rise to power- Unions.

it's not about the' children'

pay to play schemes

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:51 AM (nqBYe)

173 @147 clung - clinging @166 Yes Buddhism would indicate a search for truth She can't face that. She has wrapped herself in the blanket of the lefty religion and will continue to hide in her world of irresponsibility and ever larger monsters to blame. She will probably die quoting platitudes that she can't relate to due to her unexamined life.

Posted by: wallflower at August 29, 2013 05:51 AM (lxovP)

174 I had thought they already said they had captured an E-Mail of the plan.  am i misremembering?

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:53 AM (nqBYe)

175
"... growing chorus of lawmakers from both parties angry
about the prospect of an American president once again going to war without Congressional consultation or approval."

Obviously a reference to Clinton's bombing of Serbia without congressional approval. Not.

Posted by: Brown Line at August 29, 2013 05:53 AM (VrNoa)

176

"That part of the world is full of liars who think we don't see what they do. We see, our Precedent, not so much."

 

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat at August 29, 2013 09:39 AM (U2UQk)

 

I've always wondered what happened after all of that exposure.  The MSM, with all the resources were left flat-footed without a clue while individuals with real expertise pointed out lies that were shaping foreign policy.

 

Did any media agencies ever try to hire you to bring that sort of talent in house?

Posted by: jwest at August 29, 2013 05:54 AM (u2a4R)

177 nevermind. new post up.

Posted by: willow at August 29, 2013 05:54 AM (nqBYe)

178 >Jamie Dupree ‏@jamiedupree 2m

White House announces 2 new executive actions on gun control http://1.usa.gov/18njFen


one is, you will no longer be allowed to purchase military surplus

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 05:56 AM (8sCoq)

179 Did any media agencies ever try to hire you to bring that sort of talent in house? Zombie writes for Breitbart occasionally, I've noticed. I had a long career in the graphic arts and prefer to be anonymous and spend my days keeping people off my lawn.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at August 29, 2013 05:58 AM (U2UQk)

180

@177

While technically not "salvation," above my pay grade, anyway, Buddhism has a highly developed philosophy of morality similar in may ways to Christianity.  The regular clergy for example living the ascetic life of contemplation.  Versus, say, Islam where jihadis slay and are slain for Allah.  No monks.     

Posted by: Beagle at August 29, 2013 06:00 AM (sOtz/)

181 "And this is the rotten core of leftist “feeling”: it always faces inward, not outward. It is an act of narcissism, not of kindness."

Nailed it.

And it's no coincidence that the two biggest recent idols of the Left, Clinton and Obama, are two of most narcissistic individuals that ever walked the earth.

Posted by: Cornfed at August 29, 2013 06:01 AM (Hoy9u)

182 Monty, I agree wholeheartedly that the balance between the pure logic and the inner sanctum of consciousness which includes empathy for life is what is ideal. ...Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are born with gifts. We've been admonished to cultivate our gifts, all of them, and to NOT bury a talent, to NOT hide or extinguish a light. The genius of our founders in their unique creation of our US Constitutional Republic was that they amalgamated the Classical with the Romantic Ideals. Balance, Symmetry, separated and limited powers, government of the people by the people, to protect the inalienable rights of the individual from abuse by others as we all pursue happiness in liberty through life, the federal to serve the States. As concludes an Aesop Fable, "the moral of the story is".... The tendency to ridicule "ideal" because idealism is touted as an authoritarian gimmick only plays into the abusers' hands. Words have power via definition and application. Painting over the origin of a word is a process that can be reversed like all other processes. Revisionism only sells so long as people want to be abused. Just as it would be a fallacy to live entirely by what one "feels" (especially if one limits one's gamut of innate feelings into what is PC to feel), it would be erroneous to live entirely by what one "thinks". As humans, we are prone to corruption, "Because I Could" as Clinton illustrated the intellectual deceit of logic AND of feeling, both manipulated to advance fraud and to advance the power to use and abuse. That corruption and abuse only works so long as it is tolerated by others. King Balak and his seer Balaam were each more hard headed than the ass. The ass could have played "dumb" to the messenger and would have been spared, it being the beast of burden, to be used with appreciative gratitude rather than abused by the messenger bribed to forecast doom. If a donkey has enough sense to see God's messenger and not ignore or defile what is divinely presented, then surely we have the same gift of perception. It's a matter of will and humility to admit the truth rather than curse oneself to counter the Ideal for an easy profit. Numbers 22 (I'll make you a deal you can't refuse) 16“This is what King Balak says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.” 18But [after facing the angel of destruction and hearing the angel's message to not lie for money] Balaam answered, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God."

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 06:01 AM (MhA4j)

183 When the Silent Spring thing started, I was glad. We were acknowledging long-term consequences from many of our marvelous chemicals, hazards our ancestors hadn't foreseen. Ranchers I knew used DDT wisely, but they would tell about many who were careless. How to regulate was always the problem. Shocked to discover what at most required tighter regulation & better training would instead be banned from production altogether! The potential for overregulatory extremism was not as much on my radar once upon a time.

Posted by: mindful webworker - slow on uptake at times at August 29, 2013 06:05 AM (3gtAk)

184 Hey Monty,

I hope you (or other fellow morons) don't think this is strange or maudlin, but I have to tell you what peace coming upon your post brought to one man this morning.  I know you referred to 1 Corinthians to address a larger idea, but the beauty of the passage was exactly what was needed for one old cowboy this morning.
Any parent who has questioned their relationship with their child, and found heartache in some of their decisions and attitudes, ultimately wondering if they have failed as a parent will understand.  When you are constantly in a state of anger and frustration, question whether you can continue to care and hope, and feel that all you have done on your child's behalf has been meaningless, the pain of it is almost unbearable.
Who would have suspected that my daily vice- the AoSHQ- could be such a Godsend.

Thank you.

Posted by: Alamo at August 29, 2013 06:14 AM (m/tN9)

185 "[A]ll those mercenary individuals, whom the many call Sophists and whom they deem to be their adversaries, do, in fact, teach nothing but the opinion of the many, that is to say, the opinions of their assemblies; and this is their wisdom. I might compare them to a man who should study the tempers and desires of a mighty strong beast who is fed by him-he would learn how to approach and handle him, also at what times and from what causes he is dangerous or the reverse, and what is the meaning of his several cries, and by what sounds, when another utters them, he is soothed or infuriated; and you may suppose further, that when, by continually attending upon him, he has become perfect in all this, he calls his knowledge wisdom, and makes of it a system or art, which he proceeds to teach, although he has no real notion of what he means by the principles or passions of which he is speaking, but calls this honourable and that dishonourable, or good or evil, or just or unjust, all in accordance with the tastes and tempers of the great brute. Good he pronounces to be that in which the beast delights and evil to be that which he dislikes; and he can give no other account of them except that the just and noble are the necessary, having never himself seen, and having no power of explaining to others the nature of either, or the difference between them, which is immense." -- Plato

Posted by: JohnJ at August 29, 2013 06:14 AM (TF/YA)

186

Very nice piece, Monty, but I think it leaves out an important aspect of the liberal moral universe: evil. Some people, a thankful minority, do bad things to other people because it feels good, because power over others is a rush. The ideology they claim while doing bad things to other people is simply a justification, a rationalization, a sham. Those death panels coming our way, the ones Palin warned us about? Those boards deciding our fates won't be an unhappy byproduct of a badly designed system; those boards will be the point of the whole thing, in keeping with Solzhenitsyn's observation that gulags were the point of the Soviet Union. In the end, you and I are going to be denied or granted life-saving medical care depending on our status with the State. I don't know about you, but I don't have high hopes in that regard.

Posted by: troyriser at August 29, 2013 06:16 AM (2jF2B)

187 Well said, what a great post! Without the proper worldview and belief system in place, the liberal mindset does EXACTLY as you propose.

Posted by: MJ Scanlon at August 29, 2013 06:19 AM (mQHpp)

188 *Insert standing ovation here*

Posted by: BlackCross5 at August 29, 2013 06:29 AM (f54s2)

189 Monty, you da man.

Posted by: MostlyRight at August 29, 2013 07:00 AM (w9AQ4)

190 That my friend was AWESOME!

Posted by: TheOtherJay at August 29, 2013 07:05 AM (nojhZ)

191 Whoa, that is some serious stuff. Hope it sees wider circulation.

Posted by: t-bird at August 29, 2013 07:13 AM (FcR7P)

192 I think the mark of the narcissist is the inability to feel empathy. The person can't see past his wall of mirrors.

Posted by: artemis at August 29, 2013 07:29 AM (2XMD1)

193 "Versus, say, Islam where jihadis slay and are slain for Allah." --Beagle, 184. @ 10:00 AM (sOtz/) -- "Allah" is simply the Arabic conjunction of "THE God". If you read Ezekiel's account, or so many from the Old Testament body of prophetic accounts, you'd begin to see that for the Semitic Peoples of the Middle East, their various cultural encounters with their highest god almighty are most likely with the same source of divinely sent angelic messengers whether signified in record by the consonants sounding as Yahweh or simply as The God/Allah. It's an idea I've been contemplating, not to rile, simply to consider. Because throughout the Old Testament, that God always referenced all the peoples and language of Canaan as his people, and even calls the Egyptians and the Assyrians his people. The God of Abraham cursed the Israelites throughout their records for being disobedient and corrupt. It got to the point, that by the time of John the Baptist, rather than noting that a prophet was crying in sack cloth and ashes for the people to repent and walking past the poor man as if he weren't there, Jesus wept that Jerusalem regularly stoned prophets as their own PC custom. As for the Semitic Tribes, the entire Abraham epic is of love and betrayal, father to son, brother against brother, every subsequent generation divisive within itself and combating its cousin tribes. The whole "father's blessing" and first born inheritance issue was defrauded from the beginning. Abraham bore Ishmael before Isaac. Isaac bore Esau before Jacob. Jacob was cunningly deceitful and greedy, as well. During great famine and no crops, their father sent Esau to hunt in order to bring home food for the family. But there was no game left in the duration of the drought and famine, and weeks gone without sustenance on the hunt, Esau staggers into Jacob's home asking for food, which Jacob refuses until Esau forfeits his birthright. Then, as their blind father is dying, again Jacob is deceitful in word and deed to trick his own father to giving Jacob what the father wished to give Esau. Then, never satisfied, when an angel of the lord appears to Jacob with a message, Jacob isn't satisfied with only getting a message. No, Jacob demands a blessing from the angel, and actually combats with the angel, and does bodily harm to the angel in order to force a blessing for himself. I'm not blaming that version of God for what sinful people he chose to work with, as we're all more or less the same, corrupt humans. I am considering that victors write history, and not about to attribute more virtue to Israel than his vice to force his will against father, brother and angel of God, in order to "gain blessings". And I am remembering what Jesus responded, when the Jews berated him, saying that they were the children of Abraham, and that they worship the God of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob, that they have the Law of Moses and the Prophets: so why do they need the likes of Jesus? People need to read Jesus' OWN words. He came to fulfill that Law: Love God entirely, and your neighbor/"other" as yourself. As for claiming special status with God for being "The Chosen" people of God as the children of Abraham, that God could make of stones a new generation of his own children. Jesus was a most insightful person. He grew up in Egypt during his formative youth, in the hub of cosmopolitan philosophies and religious training from the oldest Central Asian civilizations, all coalescing in a religious tolerant cultural exchange. Aside from the Egyptian, there would also be the Greek Mythology, Persian Zoroastrian and the enlightened (from Hindu) Buddhism that Jesus would have encountered in Egypt, though he be a devout Jew in his home. (In reality, there's nothing unusual in studying other cultures. The Hebrew tribes always absorbed culturally what they chose from places they'd been taken as "captives" for failing their God in faithful living their covenant. Their plural Canaanite Gods Elohim eventually evolved religiously into the singular only after the Persian Zoroastrian Cyrus proved the Hebrew "Messiah" delivering them from Babylonian bondage.) No wonder Jesus awed the insulated/inbred elitist Hebrew priests and scholars at his age of 12 when visiting the Temple in Jerusalem "being about my Father's work," becoming the 'Son of Man' as he always referenced himself after the age of 30. Aside from the Commandment to Love God augmented to mean that we love each fellow human as we love ourselves individually, I haven't come across a previous religion that taught the same PERSONAL God as "Our Father In Heaven". Rather, the personal relationship one cultivates with the Divine through the conscious awareness that "we are all one" was taught by Zoroaster and by Buddha. But as for feeling the love of God to motivate our love for each other, that seems the crux of truth in religion. According to that God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, one thing is for certain: Beware False Prophets. To the extent that a prophet teaches bigotry and self-righteous abuses of authority, by their fruits you know them. To the extent that a prophet's disciples, corrupt as people are, demand the world convert to slavery or face torture through authoritarianism anyway, whatever may have begun as "a good thing" has been corrupted. Because I Could. Unless, of course, the people hold leadership accountable to emulate virtues rather than vice. As we live in times of increasing troubles, all forecasting doom, trusting in the arm of flesh perpetuates the exercise in futility. The Kingdom of God is not of this World. The Kingdom of God is Within, is as a mustard seed to be tended and cultivated. Your faith has made you well. Go your way, and sin no more. Faith without works is dead. Hit the mark as did the faithful boy David against insurmountable odds. There's more to "feeling" than satiating self gratification. Cowardice is a feeling. The truth cuts both ways, Left/Right. The light within vs. the surrounding darkness, the balance has been disturbed and broken. We each have the free will to align by choice. Single file on the razor's edge, and few there be that find it.

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 07:30 AM (MhA4j)

194 The Auden poem reminded me of Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer. The torturer is a dumb beast of a man at the start. Never realized the novel could have had some inspiration in the poem. Interesting.

Posted by: Alice's Clone Army at August 29, 2013 07:32 AM (Pdt+k)

195 Well said and an excellent post. But one point of disagreement. I agree about horses, but mules are smart and capable of making moral decksions--most of them involve taking revenge on those who ever screw with them.

Posted by: Evi. L. Bloggerlady at August 29, 2013 07:42 AM (4kTo2)

196

Any parent who has questioned their relationship with their child, and found heartache in some of their decisions and attitudes, ultimately wondering if they have failed as a parent will understand. When you are constantly in a state of anger and frustration, question whether you can continue to care and hope, and feel that all you have done on your child's behalf has been meaningless, the pain of it is almost unbearable.

Posted by: Alamo at August 29, 2013 10:14 AM (m/tN9)

I had been keeping a "list of wrongs" against my step son for some time.  I've recently come to the realization that the list came about because I never confronted any of the wrongs -- thinking that was loving him.  Maybe derived from the whole empathy/sympathy without a moral compass manure that is spread so wide and far by the leftist media/arts/education/government monstrosity. 

What release it's been since letting him know some of the pain that he's put me and his mother through.  It was a real disservice to both him and me to not speak the truth to him in love.

Posted by: rockhead at August 29, 2013 07:43 AM (jtTKf)

197 Mohammad had a dream. And in that dream he was carried away to Jerusalem, and he made himself more important than any other prophet (or even angel) of God. Mohammad can dream as he likes. But notice, he didn't even bother trumping up witnesses to corroborate his imagination that Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and Jesus all bowed to Mohammad as the GREATEST EVAH GUY to build a religion to rule the world, and to force all humanity to submit to Mohammad in order to worship the Merciful God. When you are invited to a banquet, don't push your luck when you arrive, demanding that the host shove away all his important guests and make HIS banquet all about YOU, and only you, and everyone had better kiss your feet, or else die the worst way possible. "Because You Could" force the host to step aside and let you usurp his purpose for being? Hardly, Muhammad. Stick with the fruits of humility.

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 07:47 AM (MhA4j)

198 Heh. Drudge headline : "Local McDonaldÂ’s Forced To Close Amid Protest For Higher Wages"

'Local', here, means Detroit. They're demanding $15.00/hr.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at August 29, 2013 07:48 AM (aDwsi)

199 Damn, Monty. Das ist der Shizzle.

Posted by: OfficerFreundlich at August 29, 2013 07:52 AM (nodit)

200 Detroit $15./hr with rock bottom property prices Finally got a piece of the pie...movin' on up. http://tinyurl.com/p6rfdd5

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 07:52 AM (MhA4j)

201 Worth reading : "Pathological Altruism", at WSJ online
http://tinyurl.com/n88l3r6



Posted by: Mike Hammer at August 29, 2013 08:02 AM (aDwsi)

202 rockhead, Alamo

Neither of you should feel as as though you are alone in this, and I'm certain that you do not. Many, many parents are dealing with similar situations.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at August 29, 2013 08:06 AM (aDwsi)

203

Posted by: panzernashorn at August 29, 2013 11:30 AM (MhA4j)

 

There is no evidence that Jesus Christ grew up in Egypt aside from a remark by Celsus, a 2nd Century Greek philosopher and opponent of Christianity who also taught that Jesus was the bastard son of a Roman soldier named Panthera--all of which is unproven, unsupported heretical bullshit, and who--in all probability--was most responsible for promoting the lie that Christ faked his own death on the cross. Nice to know you think Jesus was 'a most insightful person'. How very big of you.

 

There are other forums for the kind of stuff you're promoting. Do it there.

Posted by: troyriser at August 29, 2013 08:10 AM (2jF2B)

204 Well, this will be buried, but I wanted to express my appreciation for this post. Really fascinating and well done. And, while I agree with the charge about the left, moral judgment is something I consider to be a struggle for all.

Posted by: Tari at August 29, 2013 08:14 AM (hFAET)

205 (Not that this post was saying it was not, by the way.)

Posted by: Tari at August 29, 2013 08:16 AM (hFAET)

206








Absolutely. Fucking brilliant, Monty. Literally inspirational, given the impasse where I presently find myself, storywriting-wise

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at August 29, 2013 08:16 AM (0duDc)

207 175 I'm telling you, they're looking for a way to back down without embarrassing Sir Golfsalot


TheBlaze ‏@theblaze 4m

State Dept. spokeswoman admits U.S. doesnÂ’t know if Assad ordered chemical attack


Posted by: Jones in CO at August 29, 2013 09:51 AM (8sCoq)

The easiest way to back down and save face is to call in the congress.  They'll say no just like parliament and there you go, no is no.

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 10:10 AM (/b8+5)

208 "IÂ’ve wondered for years why the left continues to engage in this observably-harmful behavior. Surely if they empathize with the poor, the downtrodden, the hungry, and the repressed, they wouldnÂ’t do anything to deliberately hurt those very people...would they?" I think who the Left empathizes with is some theoretical poor, a model downtrodden that they've built in their mind and mythology, sort of like the "bon sauvage" of the Romantics. This poor person wants clean air and water and green energy more than he wants a job or nutritional food for his children or an environment not ridden with disease in which to raise them. I saw a cartoon recently that illustrates this: Two cavemen are sitting across a fire from each other. One says to the other: "Our air is clean, our water is pure, our vegetables are organic, our meat is free-range, and we get plenty of exercise, and yet we're all dying before we reach 30. Something's wrong here." What's wrong is that what the left thinks is important isn't, but they force their values on others nonetheless because they can. Ignorance coupled with power and arrogance is an ugly thing.

Posted by: Socratease at August 29, 2013 10:26 AM (3V4IJ)

209 Monty, have you read this piece?  I'd love your reaction.
Guest Post: This Failure Rate Will Shock You

http://tinyurl.com/pqnrote


Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 10:26 AM (/b8+5)

210 America's Social Recession: Five Years and Counting

http://tinyurl.com/po7jbqo

Posted by: caustic at August 29, 2013 10:30 AM (/b8+5)

211
My daughter, who posts here occasionally under the handle of "Tungsten Monk", has a theory she calls "Fan-Fic Liberalism". There's a phenomenon in the fan-fiction world called the "Mary Sue": always a persona for the author, the Mary Sue is beautiful, intelligent, talented (often a martial-arts expert), and impeded in her ambitions by the dolts who surround her. By the final chapter, she always wins through, vanquishing the Forces Of Evil and winning hosannas from the bedazzled throngs.

If you think of a liberal as being a Mary Sue (or Marty Sam) acting out her or his own private fan-fic, you'll be a long way toward understanding them.

Certainly President Obama is a classic example of this phenomenon. Convinced of his own genius, incapable of tolerating criticism, with an unquenchable appetite for sycophancy, yet, outside the shadow world of his imagination, incapable of leading or even making a decision: small wonder Vladimir Putin - an evil man, but one grounded in the real world - holds him in contempt.

Posted by: Brown Line at August 29, 2013 10:50 AM (VrNoa)

212 "But emotion without a moral sense is simply a rank kind of self-indulgence, a kind of masturbation. It is a sign of a selfish, narcissistic, cramped, narrow mind."

Whoa.  Let's not get judgemental.

Posted by: Dr. Phil at September 10, 2013 03:16 AM (f3GW1)

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