Where Actions Of Notoriety Traumatize Society
Every morning I spend a little bit of my precious simulation time studying the wisdom of others. Lately, I have really been immersed in the land of the Stoics. There's just something about a philosophy that derives its name from the word porch, but I digress.
Anyway, one of the books that I am currently reading a chapter from every morning is, Lives Of The Stoics: The Art Of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius. There's something so eye opening about learning about the lives and experiences that shaped the people whom you are trying to learn from. Something that is often lost in our very fast-paced, informational, knowledge-driven lives is the importance of historical and cultural context. It's so easy to hate on an ancient Greek slave owner using our modern ethical sensibilities. Yes, I just said that, #cancel me now.
This morning's chapter was on Cicero. Yes, the Cicero that is mentioned you know, in that little Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, only one of the most prolific figures of the ancient Roman world.
What's interesting about Cicero, is that one can't really call him a Stoic, yet he was a student of stoicism. He apparently couldn't (or didn't want to) apply the whole principled and conscience driven aspects of the philosophy to his life. In fact an, "oracle had warned Cicero early to let his conscience guide his life, not the opinions of the crowd, but for someone as driven as Cicero, such a warning was impossible to heed."
I stopped and thought about that line a lot as I read through Cicero's story. His ambition and drive for notoriety without temperance led him down an interesting and often tempestuous path. There were some very high highs and some super big downers, you know like having his property taken and getting executed.
Not that you can avoid getting executed or having your property taken from you by living a virtuous life, but any student of Stoicism knows that those things (property and wealth) should be preferred indifferents, which means that they really aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. By grand, I mean living the best life while being in control of the only thing you can control, your mind.
Still, as I age, I find myself being less and less judgmental about how people conduct themselves. Some folks are driven by the desire to rise above their station. Some, like in the case of Cicero it seems, are so much so that they make decisions that aren't at all that virtuous, align with what they spout, or cause outright harm. It was later when I was having a conversation with my podcast cohost that I really had one of those consciousness fish-slapping moments regarding this idea.
Almost every Thursday my cohost and I have what we like to call, Therapy Thursday. We both sit down with some form of tea or drink and chew the existential fat for an hour or two. During that time we typically glean a direction for that week's podcast topic or make a decision or two about what we want to do as voices in the world. It's pretty great.
Well, B was telling me about this New York Times reporter who was hanging out on the Clubhouse app. Apparently she was just looking for someone to say something that was horrible, so she could prove her predetermined opinion (Clubhouse is potentially dangerous because unmoderated free speech is bad) with selectively plucked evidence.
You see, this morning I read a tweet from the New York Times that said basically that the media and the elite are concerned about us plebes having "unfettered" access to free and open linguistic exchange. You know, we need to be reined in because the free and open exchange of ideas can result in stuff like racism, sexism, etc...
Well, she found her evidence, apparently some people were talking about how the Wall Street Bets folks call themselves the R word. Forget that they were talking about the word retard in the context of how people were using it to describe themselves, it's a bad word and bad words run amok in places that aren't controlled. Immediately, this creature sounded off about how horrible the platform was, there were people on it disparaging the disabled. Blah, blah, blah, we've all heard the manipulative virtue-signalers battle cries.
Here's the thing. I got to thinking about this lady in context with what I read about Cicero. I don't know her any more than I know Cicero. Interestingly enough though, I wonder if both of them thought that they were good people and were fighting a good fight when they strode around manipulating situations for the furtherment of their own status. Because that's what it is, isn't it? Looking for infractions and taking them out of context, only to shout them to the mob in order to look like a righteous purveyor of virtue isn't really about you being virtuous at all, rather it's about edifying your need for notoriety. It doesn't matter if it was done in a market square in ancient Rome or on Twitter. Manufacturing sensationalism for the sake of enhancing one's own reputation or furthering one's cause is about the one (you) not the many.
That doesn't mean the person doing it is a bad person though. In fact, I am willing to bet they think they are a just creature doing good work. It's just that they aren't overly concerned with their ethics regarding how they get their results or conduct themselves. Therein lies the problem. It's nothing new for humans with passion to use causes and situations to try to elevate themselves, now we just have a much more massive platform to stand on as we do it. I don't think the NYT's lady is evil any more than I think that Cicero was evil. Rather they just have a skewed focus of what is actually important and a propensity to put their notoriety ahead of their held principles. We should all strive to have the discipline to fight for our convictions for the right reasons.
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Of course, these are just my thoughts about it all, thoughts of which I am happily open to evolve through discussion. I'm a big believer in the concept of debate not hate. Personal attacks on people when they espouse their currently held ideas on topics is devolving personal discourse and learning at a rapid rate, and I want to be a part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem. So bring on the discussion! I love it!
Instead of commenting directly on your discussion, I'll comment on where that discussion led my mind.Hello @generikat,
I am one of six siblings. Of the six, one has already passed on. That leaves five. It would seem the passing of a sibling would sober the rest of us, remind us that time is short and nature will deal us hard blows no matter how 'good' we are. So it perplexes me that I am the only sibling everyone else talks to. There's anger and resentment. Wounded feelings and grudges. I don't know what stops my siblings from acknowledging the truth you address in your blog (although once, when I was younger, I was in the same place myself.). We're all at fault. We all make mistakes. We don't have to forgive each other, just recognize our frailties and not let anger determine our actions.
Well, that's what I take from your blog. Nothing highfalutin. Nothing that requires three advanced degrees--or Greek philosophy--to understand.
A great, thought-provoking blog that obviously hit home.
Oof. My siblings are squabbling right now, and one of my parents won't talk to most of their family. Some people hold grudges tighter than diamond hands hold GME.
I don't understand it. I'm old, and three of my siblings are older than I am. It's sad. I gently talk peace but don't push it because at least they still talk to me :)
!ENGAGE 10
Oh, I love that you shared your insights derived from your personal experience that this post brought to the surface! Seriously, that is my favorite part of thought-provoking writings, everyone's experiences are so unique and different and that brings so many new perspectives into the fray to consider.
One of my biggest pet peeves is elitism, especially intellectual arrogance. All of this hierarchical struggling we engage in really is nonsense, we are all just at different points on our journey, some of us have more resources or better (or worse!) situations than others, some would rather just stay where they are at, some just want to be angry instead of having grace, but what's cool is that at any time any of us can change our mind, learn something new, apply it, and grow. I find that exciting, and even though I definitely make my share of mistakes, I have a desire to keep moving forward.
I really cannot express how much this sentence hit home with me, it's such a good reminder about accepting what is under our control without getting all bent out of shape about what isn't. Thanks for the most excellent comment:)
**We're all at fault. We all make mistakes. *** That's the line that leaped out at me, as well - along with Cicero's failure to let his conscience be his guide, rather than public opinion. We have all these expectations of others, and we judge them if they fall short of the standards we set up for them. It's wearying. I've given up trying to be the person others want me to be, doing or saying what they want me to. No. Sorry. This is why crabby old ladies exist. Old codgers who seem rude, brusque, dismissive. After so many decades of other people's bullsht, we realize we have only so much time left, and we can't keep wasting it on people who want, want, want stuff from us and slam doors in our face if we don't live up to their expectations. Thank you for this @generikat and sorry for the rant. :)
You don't have to be sorry about the rant at all, I loved it! As a kid I always wondered why some of my elders were so crotchety, especially since many of them were crusty marshmallows. After decades of other people's bovine fecal matter it is definitely easy to get worn down and even bitter. I'm so glad you shared your thoughts with us:)
ENGAGEtoday.You are more generous about people's motives and character than I am. Yes, we all make mistakes, we all say thing we regret, but the way elements of our society have been trying to control speech, especially in the last year, but really for more than 2 decades is evil.
It is fundamentally wrong in the same way that slavery is fundamentally wrong and for the same reasons. There is nothing more important to freedom and the pursuit of happiness than autonomy. Human society, led by the United States of America, established this as a truth in 1775 with the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. We have believed this for more than 200 years and it is an ingrained part of our cultural norms and societal values.
It's not like anyone can say they didn't know that free speech mattered. It is being deliberately attacked to control people and your NYT lady is part of it. She knows what she is doing. So, yes, some of it may be attention seeking, but most of it is actually the elites pushing back at the peasants.
So it seems the elites throughout history, for whatever reason, don't think that ordinary people (the peasants) belong at the autonomy table. I mean, a lot of what we are seeing and discussing is the same theme being played out historically over and over again, that a small group of powerful people get to steer the narrative via populace manipulation. Interesting...
The NYT lady very well indeed knows what she is doing, but like all zealots she has fallen into the hubris trap of using flawed principles to further her agenda (whether it's for self-edification or other reasons is only truly known by her). The problem I have is that if she is misguided and truly believes that she is making a difference, does that make her evil? I agree her actions are horrid. I also completely agree with the premise that any attempt to control speech is evil, but I tend to have trouble with attributing all out judgment on a person who's motives may be skewed by a good heart corrupted by bad information.
And I have to thank you for your most excellent reply, now I have even more idea fodder to chew on, thank you!!
Cancel culture is just another form of purity culture. It is the idea that the range of acceptable ideas must be constrained into a very narrow field, and any illusion of freedom of thought is maintained by lively discussion only within the acceptable range. Any individual with ideas outside of that acceptable range, regardless of how well they may have been accepted in their own society, cannot be studied, lest "unacceptable" ideas proliferate.
I should probably brush up on Cicero's work. I briefly encountered it when I was studying Latin (my courses focused almost entirely on Horace, and when my father studied Latin, his courses focused on Julius Caesar), but based on what I have read from his supporters and critics alike, I'd very much like to dive further into the subject. Perhaps when I'm not so busy.
Cute cat, BTW. Yours?
I totally have a problem with the idea that someone gets to decide what discussion parameters are acceptable for me to engage in. Guess I am an Unacceptable then....:)
That said, you beyond succinctly put into words what cancel culture is, I hate it so very much, it's so restrictive and ultimately leads to the worst kind of coercion, the purity test kind. Yuck.
Throughout life I have come across Cicero's work from time to time, but I hadn't ever studied who he was in more historical and personal depth until recently. Just what little I learned has made me want to learn more about him along with some of the other historical figures who's work I have perused.
And that is our cat Jager. He is quite the feline, a very vociferous boy lol.
Thanks for the super awesome reply!
Jager. German for hunter. I love your cat. :)
Thanks @carolkean😊 Right now he's hunting a candy wrapper pretty intently lol!
If unfettered is bad, that means fettered is good, but that means shackled. No, thanks. I'll take the risks of being unfettered, even if it means Karens are going to Karen.
Some people dig the shackles JT (I'm thinking of a mutual acquaintance 😁), but I am with you. Bring on the unfettered gauntlet!!
Karens don't believe in safe words.
🤣🤣🤣
After reading everyone else's very interesting comments, I haven't much more to add. One things comes to mind, and that is the problems with the word "hate." Nowadays, if I disagree with anyone about anything I am accused of "hate." Since when did it become impossible to disagree without hatred being involved? Once the accusation of hate is tossed into the ring, anything I say is instantly discredited because I "hate." And there is no more room for debate, because I allegedly "hate." I suppose that is a classic example of somebody setting up the parameters for acceptable discussion.
I do often wonder when non-validation of one's opinion crossed the line into hate? I disagree with people about things all of the time, but at no time do I feel like I want them to cease existing. The hate sword has become a weapon of bullying and submission demanding in the public arena and I for one refuse to be cowed by that sword, it is a lazy mechanism. Your thoughts on the word and it's current usage were excellent and I am so glad that you shared them:)
What a lively, interesting and thought-provoking post, @generikat. Really enjoyed reading this and hearing your perspective. So many great thoughts here, but I think my favorite is:
I’ve not heard that, and I’m instantly in love. The vitriol of recent years has made me turn inward more than ever before because of the increasing tendency of our society to propel itself right past the discourse phase to fighting and name calling. As if any argument in the history of the world was ever won with slander!
If we can get back to civil discourse and to the point where conversations are as much about finding common ground as they are about labeling and one-upping, we have a shot at living in a world where it feels safe to have opinions again.
Good evening @jayna:) I hear you on the turning inward thing. I'm definitely one to keep things on the light and whimsical side a lot of the time, as I don't dig our society's propensity for vitriol either, but I so, so love learning and debating things, just not with a side of hate sauce.
I have a ton of hope that we can, especially if we all talk about it a bunch, reasoning through the morass with logic and empathy.:) Thank you so much for stopping by and diving into the conversation!
I have hope as well. May it come to pass!
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