Hellas, he replied, is a large place,
"Hell is a large place" is the title of my anime about a Demon Bounty Hunter. It's just Yu Yu Trigun.
Bonus: Live fake horse racing!
Summary: Rock flies, somebody dies.
Commentary: This story sucks, and it has sucked everytime I read it since middle school. It has three issues.
1. Shirley Jackson's prose is like nails on a chalkboard. "the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green." Get the fuck out of here. That reads like it was written by a middle schooler.
2. It's opaque and contradictory in, I assume, an intentional way, but it's just annoying.
3. Tessie is the least interesting/likable character in the story. I wouldn't go so far as to say I want her to get stoned to death, but she's not much above that.
Girl with Daddy issues gets groomed by older guy, taken to secluded location, winds up pregnant, he also bangs her step-sister, no one knows who some of the kids' dads are, suspicious adoptions, all while the poors starve from climate change.
"The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All" by Herbert Gans (1971)
Bonus:
Actual footage of Herbert Gans
Summary: The poor are the GRIST IN THE MILL OF SOCIETY!
Commentary:
Read one of his other articles for school and looked him up. Apparently this is his most famous. It contains the excellent:
Alternatives for the cultural functions of the poor could be found more easily and
cheaply. Indeed, entertainers, hippies, and adolescents are already serving as the deviants needed to uphold traditional morality and as devotees of orgies to "staff" the fantasies of vicarious participation.
Bonus:
Summary: Souls=ideas=reincarnation
Commentary:
Then may we not say, Simmias, that if, as we are always repeating, there is an absolute beauty, and goodness, and an absolute essence of all things; and if to this, which is now discovered to have existed in our former state, we refer all our sensations, and with this compare them, finding these ideas to be pre-existent and our inborn possession—then our souls must have had a prior existence, but if not, there would be no force in the argument? There is the same proof that these ideas must have existed before we were born, as that our souls existed before we were born; and if not the ideas, then not the souls.
FUCKING WORLD OF FORMS!
Bonus:
Better Philosophy than Plato
Summary: Non sequitur.
Commentary:
I hate these so much.
And they are right, Simmias, in thinking so, with the exception of the words 'they have found them out'; for they have not found out either what is the nature of that death which the true philosopher deserves, or how he deserves or desires death. But enough of them:—let us discuss the matter among ourselves: Do we believe that there is such a thing as death?
To be sure, replied Simmias.
OH HERE WE GO
Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion of this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death?
Just so, he replied.
Yes, there is no other logical definition of death for an ancient Greek person. "When your heart stops beating for more than an hour" or whatever is clearly not reasonable.
There is another question, which will probably throw light on our present inquiry if you and I can agree about it:—Ought the philosopher to care about the pleasures—if they are to be called pleasures—of eating and drinking?
Certainly not, answered Simmias.
And what about the pleasures of love—should he care for them?
By no means.
And will he think much of the other ways of indulging the body, for example, the acquisition of costly raiment, or sandals, or other adornments of the body? Instead of caring about them, does he not rather despise anything more than nature needs? What do you say?
I should say that the true philosopher would despise them.
DESPISING IS CARING!
Would you not say that he is entirely concerned with the soul and not with the body? He would like, as far as he can, to get away from the body and to turn to the soul.
Quite true.
THAT IS DEFINITELY CARING!
I'm just gonna read this for 15 minutes a day until I'm done. That was the rule, right? Should be done by the end of the week.
Bonus:
Sure, we'll go with that.
Summary: When were you when Socrates was kill?
Commentary: I will now amuse myself through this shitshow by putting random characters in the titles.
Bonus:
Summary: Two dudes talk about Socrates's death.
Commentary:
Phaedo was the one I didn't finish, not Crito. Ughhh. (My battery is dying and I forgot a charger?)
I wonder if it'd be better in another translation. (It was not, at least of the ones I had quick access to. Might float by a book store to get a modern one.) My FiL is apparently too drunk to walk home, so we're giving him a ride.
I AM OFFICIALLY DONE BOOK 1 OF THE HARVARD CLASSICS!
Beyond that, I learned that it's better to just stick with one book (even one like this) than trying to use it as filler in between. I remember basically nothing before the last few chunks of the first book. Second, a little better.
All in all, I think what sticks with me across both books is that you should try to be a decent person, and you'll probably be happier in the long run if you do.
I flipped through my posts, and that seems to come up a lot. And I like it.
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 23 281-299 (Of Charity)
Bonus:
Can we get an Onion musical?
Summary: Charity is good. If you don't do charity, you're an inhuman monster.
Commentary:
283. They that feel nothing of this, are at best not above half of Kin to Human Race; since they must have no Bowels, which makes such an Essential Part thereof, who have no more Nature.If you don't do charity, you ain't human, because you ain't shit!
292. An Universal Remedy against Discord, and an Holy Cement for Mankind.
This is why people who volunteer are less miserable.
Bonus:
Summary: Don't be so judgey.
Commentary:
271. This seems to be the Master-Piece of our Politicians; But no Body shoots more at Random, than those Refiners.
The Refiners have a high fire rate, but poor aim.
274. If an able Man refines upon the Proceedings of an ordinary Capacity, according to his own, he must ever miss it: But much more the ordinary Man, when he shall pretend to speculate the Motives to the able Man’s Actions: For the Able Man deceives himself by making t’other wiser than he is in the Reason of his Conduct; and the ordinary Man makes himself so, in presuming to judge of the Reasons of the Abler Man’s Actions.
This is the William Penn version of the Dunning Kruger effect.
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 21 254-270 (The Conformist)
Bonus:
Subs and dubs are not created equal.
Summary: If you've been blessed with a good life, you should use it to help other people.
Commentary:
255. For tho’ he has made of One Blood all Nations, he has not rang’d or dignified them upon the Level, but in a sort of Subordination and Dependency.
All men are not created equal!
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 20 249-253 (The Conformist)
Bonus:
That's some banger cover art.
Summary: It is okay to conform if it's A. Necessary and B. Not against your Conscience.
Commentary:
253. And yet the Latitudinarian that I love, is one that is only so in Charity; for the Freedom I recommend is no Scepticism in Judgment, and much less so in Practice.
Latitudinarian is a lot of word.
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 19 236-248 (The Vain Man)
Bonus:
This is the exact opposite of how I thought they worked. Learning!
Summary: This one was kinda similar to jealousy.
Commentary:
248. May we have more of them, or less Need of them.
Benediction worthy.
Bonus:
Summary: We should make people give their excess wealth to bettering society.
Commentary:
234. Have we no Room for them in our Plantations, about Things that may augment Trade, without Luxury?
The 18th century version of, "how will the billionaires buy their 7th yacht?"
Bonus:
Pay for your robot insurance, wealthy elders!
Summary: Stop being greedy.
Commentary:
213. It shews a Depraved State of Mind, to Cark and Care for that which one does not need.
cark
1 of 2
verb
ˈkärk
-ed/-ing/-s
transitive verb
: to burden with care or anxiety : vex, worry, trouble
216. But it is strange, that Old Men should excel: For generally Money lies nearest them that are nearest their Graves; As if they would augment their Love in Proportion to the little Time they have left to enjoy it: And yet their Pleasure is without Enjoyment, since none enjoy what they do not use.
It seems to me that (today) most elderly people are either relatively wealthy, or dirt poor. Is there such a thing as "middle class elderly"?
219. Such are they as spend not one Fifth of their Income, and, it may be, give not one Tenth of what they spend to the Needy.
220. This is the worst Sort of Idolatry, because there can be no Religion in it, nor Ignorance pleaded in Excuse of it; and that it wrongs other Folks that ought to have a Share therein.
I think framing it as "what percent of your money can/do you actually spend?" is effective at pointing out how absurdly rich someone can become. If you can't spend (most of) it, you should give (some of) it away.
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 15 198-204 (Of State)
Bonus:
Summary: Form>Function
Commentary:
198. I love Service, but not State; One is Useful, the other is Superfluous.
And I already wasted the Libertarian police video.
Actually, I think this one is about "stateliness" like dressing up, not THE STATE.
More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 14 190-197 (Of Jealousy)
Bonus:
Summary: Jealousy bad.
Commentary:
192. This Civil Dissension in the Mind, like that of the Body Politick, commits great Disorders, and lays all waste.
And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25
I think I knew that was from the Bible and not originally Lincoln, but I forgot.
Phaedo Bonus: This is now a Robert Rodriguez meme series. Summary: Some places are big. Commentary: Hellas, he replied, is a large place, ...
