‘Everybody’s beholden to somebody.’ Ye, Clubhouse Interview, 2022 ‘What I just said is far past anything anybody in my position has ever said publicly. We ridin’ on God … I ain’t got no security, you know exactly where I’m at … Come and get me.’ Ye ‘We got China, heading — if it’s not for … Continue reading ‘I had a vision.’ For God’s sake, everyone: Ye is the opposite of Hitler, and here is why
Tag: Peace
Peace for all time: The enduring insights of Thomas Hobbes
Originally published on 24 September 2022. Seventeenth-century political theorist Thomas Hobbes has a paradoxical attitude to power. On the one hand, he thinks that 'the pursuit of power, after power' is the root and stem of 'Warre', of 'every man, against every man', leaving the 'life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short'. But … Continue reading Peace for all time: The enduring insights of Thomas Hobbes
Evangelion ends: Aristotle, Arendt, and angels
The old is dying and the new cannot yet be born. This is the time of monsters. Antonio Gramsci (paraphrase) To defeat darkness, embrace it. Edmund Wilson ‘You’re just desperate.’ ‘I’m terrified.’ Dialogue from Neon Genesis Evangelion Pain is an inevitable consequence of truth. You have to learn to withstand it. In the end, humans … Continue reading Evangelion ends: Aristotle, Arendt, and angels
17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people
First published in early autumn 2022. In the view that all people depend on peace for their survival and wellbeing, and in the knowledge that peace is at grave risk of breakdown, there are several points that may be well understood by those wise enough to choose peace over war. To that end, the seventeen … Continue reading 17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people
The tyrant and the totality: Which would win? And how can both lose, and freedom reign?
I would like to consider a paradox. If a tyrant goes to war against a totalitarian regime, in order to destroy it and create a new balanced order, which would win: the temporary tyranny, or the semi-permanent totality? Which would endure — cleansing fire, or watery deluge? The fire is the tyrant’s weapon of choice; … Continue reading The tyrant and the totality: Which would win? And how can both lose, and freedom reign?
For heaven’s sake, stop China now — before it is too late
A rising power confronts a ruling power. The question of who rules becomes hard to answer. To resolve this ambiguity, there is war. Millions suffer and die. For what, exactly? Islands claimed by China in the South China Sea. Dangerous, this path is. Careful and courageous, we must be. We must avoid this miserable fate. … Continue reading For heaven’s sake, stop China now — before it is too late
Russia’s invasion is tragic but necessary — and the bloodshed is on the West’s hands. America must negotiate a peace in Ukraine now.
In the Cuban Missile Crisis, America and Russia nearly went to war over Soviet nukes being placed in Cuba. Is it so surprising that Russia is fighting a proxy war to prevent the further expansion of NATO, and the consequent potential placement of nuclear weapons in Ukraine? No, it is not. It is a fight … Continue reading Russia’s invasion is tragic but necessary — and the bloodshed is on the West’s hands. America must negotiate a peace in Ukraine now.
Charles III will destroy the monarchy. Make me king instead.
Hear me out. The Crown has descended for centuries down a certain bloodline. But jus sanguinis, as it stands, has little truth and even less validity. We are only who we say we are, and who others think of us. I am King. Augustus, first citizen of the Senate and the People of Rome, who … Continue reading Charles III will destroy the monarchy. Make me king instead.
How to prevent violence and secure peace
In many ways my lifelong mission is to save the world from two things: war, and slavery. This is a paradox. It is sometimes claimed that freedom and security are opposites, that one must sacrifice one to save the other. I would like to disagree. I think we can have both peace and freedom. Here … Continue reading How to prevent violence and secure peace
Berkeleyan Platonism: A philosophy of pure ideas
There is an argument by Kurt Gödel that I find fascinating. Gödel argued that his predecessors’ attempt to create a complete set of logical axioms to ground mathematics was doomed to fail. Instead, mathematical ideas must subsist unto themselves (as must, presumably, logical ideas). Ideas cannot complete each other. They are sufficient unto themselves. But … Continue reading Berkeleyan Platonism: A philosophy of pure ideas
Edmund Wilson 