A Chip off the Old Block, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, New York; 1887
DO not be vexed at the contradictions you meet in ordinary intercourse, for they give an opportunity to practice the most precious and amiable virtues, which Our Lord has recommended to us. Believe me that true virtue is no more reared in outward repose, than good fish in the stagnant water of a swamp. How shall we prove our love for God, who has suffered so much for us, if not among contradictions and repugnances?
No man will be so hardy or so insensible as to deny the genius and the inimitable humour evinced by the author of Don Quixote, but with respect to the moral tendency of that work as affecting the ordinary class of mankind, in this or in any age, there will arise quite a legitimate subject for discussion. Many are the men of reflection who think with me that it is a book never to be read without receiving melancholy impressions, without feelings of deep commiseration for the weakness and for the lot of human nature.
What is the character of the hero in this history?
It is that of a man possessing genius, virtue, imagination and sensibility, all the generous qualities which distinguish an elevated soul, with all the amiable features of a disinterested and affectionate heart. Brave, equal to all that history has recorded of the most valiant warriors: loyal and faithful, never hesitating on the fulfilment of his promise; disinterested as he is brave, he contends but for virtue and for glory; if he desires to win kingdoms it is only to bestow them upon Sancho Panza; a faithful lover, a humane and generous warrior, a kind and affectionate master, a gallant and accomplished gentleman — and this is the man whom Cervantes has represented as the subject of constant ridicule and of occasional reproach.
Without doubt there is an important lesson to be derived from the whole, the lesson which teaches the necessity of prudence and good sense, of moderation and respect for the institutions of society, of guarding the imagination from excess of exercise, and the feelings from an over excitement. But this is a lesson to be gently hinted to men of virtue, not to be proclaimed to the profane amidst the mockery of the world. This is not the lesson which the ordinary class of mankind will derive from it; and if it were, this is not the lesson of which it stands in need.
…. There is no danger in this enlightened age, as it is termed, of men becoming too heroic, too generous, too zealous in the defense of innocence, too violent in hatred of baseness and crime, too disinterested and too active in the cause of virtue and truth: the danger is quite on the other side: there is much to be apprehended from the ridicule which is cast upon sentiment, from the importance which attaches to personal convenience, from substituting laws for virtue, and prudence for devotion, from the calculating spirit of the commercial system, from the epicurean principles of enjoyment which are proclaimed by the modern philosophists. Cervantes exposed the knight errant to the ridicule of the world, but did he stop when he had done this? … Cervantes in exposing what he conceived to be the danger and absurdity of chivalrous sentiment, held up to mockery not alone the excess and the abuse, but the very reality of virtue.
[This excerpt has been divided into additional paragraphs.]
“HUMAN society may be likened to two great circles, one revolving within the other. In the inner circle rules the woman. Here she breeds and trains the material for the outer circle, which exists only by and for her. That accident may throw her into this outer circle is, of course, true, but it is not her natural habitat. Nor is she fitted by Nature to live and circulate freely there. What it all amounts to is that the labor of the world is naturally divided between the two different beings that people the world. It is unfair to the woman that she be asked to do the work of the outer circle. The man can do that satisfactorily if she does her part, that is, if she prepares him the material. Certainly, he can never come into the inner circle and do her work.”
— Ida Tarbell, investigative journalist and author
“Our culture and society today are decidedly under the influence of a philosophy of Subjectivism, an unrealistic, and even anti-realistic, philosophy which is both relativistic and pragmatic. Subjectivism is the result of the intellectual battle which has waged between the philosophies of Idealism (actually Idea-ism) and Materialism (or Naturalism) for the past several centuries.
“According to Subjectivism (whether Idealist or Materialist), there is no such thing as objective truth (truth is relative) and there are no objectively defined, universally true principles of moral behavior (morality is relative). This has led to the current situation which is permeated with intellectual chaos, resulting in disastrous practical consequences for everyone.
“There is little doubt among knowledgeable observers that our present age is on the verge of conceptual collapse. If Subjectivism is valid, then all truth is relative, and the laws of physics and the laws of civil society are simply arbitrary. If Subjectivism is valid, then morality is merely a matter of opinion and personal taste, and personal responsibility is simply a figment of our collective imagination. Subjectivism also undermines empirical science, undermines the entire concept of jurisprudence, and undermines any attempt to promote a human and humane morality. We are all subject to the whims of the moment and are all victims of the latest public poll. Read More »
“IT is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals, that their maxims have a plausible air, and on a cursory view appear equal to first principles. They are as light and portable; they are as current as copper coin, and about as valuable. They serve equally the first capacities and the lowest, and they are at least as useful to the worst men as to the best.”
The lost days of my life until to-day,
What were they, could I see them on the street
Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?
Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?
Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat
The throats of men in Hell, who thirst alway?
I do not see them here; but after death
God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath.
‘I am thyself, — what hast thou done to me?’
‘And I — and I — thyself,’ (lo! each one saith,)
‘And thou thyself to all eternity!’
In 1967 a Soviet adventure TV series Operation Trust (Операция “Трест”) was created.
STEVE writes:
Americans, especially white, middle-aged con-servatives, have an insatiable appetite to be conned, deceived and betrayed! They are the utter personification … and perfection of ‘golem.’
A good example — but there are legions — is this article in Breitbart last September, urging conservatives to take the vax so they can “Own the Libs.” These controlled-opposition groups couldn’t possibly be any more blatant, and utterly pathetic. Yet so many keep falling for it.
Operation Trust (операция “Трест”[1]) was a counterintelligence operation of the State Political Directorate (GPU) of the Soviet Union. The operation, which was set up by GPU’s predecessor Cheka, ran from 1921 to 1926, set up a fake anti-Bolshevik resistance organization, “Monarchist Union of Central Russia”, MUCR (Монархическое объединение Центральной России, МОЦР), in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and anti-Bolsheviks.[2] The created front company was called the Moscow Municipal Credit Association.[3] Read More »
I’ve decided to partake of the World Economic Forum’s “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” I am now working from home. Here are two snapshots to prove it.
In the first, you will see that I am hard at work in my unmentionables as I arrange books by the Dewey Decimal System. Afterward I was exhausted from reading all those names and numbers. So I took a nap.
When I awoke, still in my jammies (second picture), I had a brilliant inspiration for my next work project: A Deep Research essay on the Interdimensional Intersectionality of Higher Learning, Advanced Gullibility, and Modern Advertising Slogans when correlated with phases of the moon and the paramount question: How many times can Feminist TV Anchors say “Awesome!” in a single newscast? An alternate idea that occurred to me is a study of correlations between Fauci’s bank accounts, multiple levels of no-account bureaucrats, and the astronomical increase in Americans’ gullibility over the last forty years.
I aim to publish my Deep Research in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Imponderables or the Journal of Nescience, Nonsense, Non-Knowledge, and Non-Entities (whichever pays more).
For breaks during working hours, I watch Looney Tunes. For even better laughs, I listen to Fauci-the-Carnival Barker’s latest medical advice in each day’s new episode of Follow the Flim-Flam Artist.
It is imperative for Comrades like us to pursue such Deep Drivel…..er, I mean Deep Research…..in opposition to Dissenters who must be Debunked, Demeaned, Defamed, Denounced, Derailed, Deplored, Deplatformed, Deconstructed, Discredited and Disrupted ….. ideally in One Swell Foop.
“WHAT we most need in our day are men conscientiously and invincibly attached to principle, — God-fearing, self-respecting, nobly independent while reverencing the rights of others, — incapable of betraying their conscience, their trust, or their honor; men uniting to the vigor of body inherited from chaste and temperate ancestors and sustained by personal virtue, to the strength of soul which true piety begets, that dignified and gentle courtesy which is only the flower and perfume of Christian charity.”
CANADIANS in Salmon Arm, British Columbia lined the streets today as the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers resisting vaccine mandates passed by. Below is a scene from yesterday in Abbotsford.
This controversy is a major test of the trucking industries in both the U.S. and Canada. Their independence could ensure our future food supply.
FROM Notes on Nursingby Florence Nightingale (Harrison, bookseller to the Queen, 1859; p. 23)
“We must not forget what, in ordinary language, is called “Infection;”*** – a thing of which people are generally so afraid that they frequently follow the very practice in regard to it which they ought to avoid. Nothing used to be considered so infectious or contagious as small-pox; and people not very long ago used to cover up patients with heavy bed clothes, while they kept up large fires and shut the windows. Small-pox, of course, under this regime, is very “infectious.” Read More »
A FLORIDA speech therapist says she has seen dramatic spikes in developmental delays in young children, especially in language abilities. She blames the use of face masks.
“We are seeing a lot of things that look like autism. They’re not making any word attempts. And not communicating at all with their family,” explained [Jaclyn] Theek.
“It’s very important that kids do see your face to learn, so they’re watching your mouth,” added the pathologist.
THE tree has been taken down. The red ribbon on the wreath outside is an embarrassment. When you come across a box of decorations in July, you will think, “What was that all about?”
You are leaving Bethlehem.
You are leaving your own childhood and all childhood.
But don’t go without taking some of that peace and simplicity with you. If anything disturb you, remember that sacred circle of intimacy. Remember the music the shepherds heard, the star that drew kings.
Simplicity and peace are only foolishness to the world.
Bethlehem, of noblest cities None can once with thee compare; Thou alone the Lord from heaven Didst for us Incarnate bear.
Fairer than the sun at morning Was the star that told his birth; To the lands their God announcing, Hid beneath a form of earth.Read More »
A LIGHTING store a few miles away from us is permanently closing next month.
It has been in business for 72 years. It’s an independent, small business, not part of a chain, and sells all kinds of lamps, light fixtures and the accessories that go with them, including shades, harps, bulbs, sockets and that little thing at the top of a lamp that keeps it all together. Everything electricity has engendered in the way of illuminating human existence, it has sold.
During the last couple of months, I visited the store a few times. I was one of the vultures picking over its stock, all of which has been deeply discounted.
On one visit, I picked out a reading floor lamp as a Christmas gift. It was 50 percent off.
I asked the salesman — a stocky, black man with neatly-tied dreadlocks and bulging eyes — for the lamp with the dark finish. I recognized him from previous visits. After he had carried the box out from the stockroom, I asked — though I felt bad — if I could have the one with the silver finish instead.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“I guess you’re used to people changing their mind,” I said, smiling apologetically.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, without skipping a beat.
And when he turned to go back to the storeroom with uncomplaining fortitude, I saw — as if in a vision — the throngs of nerve-wracking, indecisive, neurotic, uninformed and sometimes grateful and pleasant customers he had served over his many years in this brilliant showroom of lights. He had mastered the ability to overcome irritation with courtesy. He was a retail warrior who had learned a thing or two about human nature.
With regard to your thought-provoking observation about Covid’s apparent respect for billionaire longevity, from a Forbes article on billionaire deaths in 2020, we have this: “In a year that will likely be remembered around the world for the devastation and loss of life caused by the coronavirus pandemic, 17 billionaires passed away in 2o20–but, as best as we can tell, none did so after contracting Covid-19. That compares to 23 billionaires who died in 2019.”
Then in 2021, Forbes tells us 27 billionaires shuffled off their mortal coils. Again, apparently not a single one from Covid. Read More »
THE wealth of the world’s billionaires increased more during the fake pandemic than in the previous 14 years combined, according to a report from Oxfam. While income fell for 99 percent of the world’s population, the ten richest men doubled their fortunes.
This is all pure coincidence, of course.
“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom,” Oxfam International Executive Director Gabriela Bucher said in a statement Monday accompanying the latest report.
Bucher added that if the 10 richest men in the world were to lose 99% of their wealth, they would still be richer than 99% of all the people on this planet.
Interestingly, none of these billionaires died of “Covid.” This is a medical miracle. Deadly germs don’t like the rich, but more study must be done to understand this phenomenon.
Lafayette Elementary School in south St. Louis, from which my father graduated in 1927.
ALAN writes:
One day in 1988 my father thought about holding a re-union of his grade school classmates. Then he acted on that idea and organized the first in a series of such re-unions that would continue for 25 years.
He had fond memories of some of the teachers in the public elementary school that he attended in the 1920s. He and all of his classmates walked to and from school.
At one such reunion, I met a woman named Marjorie who taught in St. Louis public grade schools for decades, as did her twin sister Margaret. They worked in years when the schools in St. Louis were vastly different from what they are now (meaning: much better). Read More »
