Posted on 12/04/2018 11:57:26 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
Paglia and Dershowitz are both left-wing in their idiosyncratic ways. Both are rare figures of honesty, though, compared to just about everyone around them.
Interview answer of the day/week/month/year!
‘Who made you?’
quite obviously my parents begat me...
‘Do you have a purpose?’
yes...to live my life as fully as possible according to the skills and tendencies I possess...
‘What are you here for?’
see my first response...
‘What are you supposed to be doing?’
see my second response...
‘Where are you going?’
am I a clairvoyant...?
‘And don’t waste our time with any Sartre or Nietzche stuff.’
you consider the study of epistemology and existentialism a waste of time...?
You had nothing to do with your coming into existence. You are not a self-invented entity. You had no choices to make about your physical, mental, or emotional characteristics, your talents, your temperament, your genetic, environmental, or social endowments, neither your nature nor your nurture, nor even your inclinations or preferences.
NOTHING you have is "from you."
The whole concept of "freeborn," it seems to me, represents a failure to grasp your own fundamental condition.
I may have misunderstood what you mean by it; so if I have been barking up the wrong tree, please redirect me and tell me what you're talking about.
I think that's very much an open question, especially if you eliminate religious revelation from the argument. (Religious revelation introduces points not revealed by pure observation.)
We are born helpless, utterly dependent on others for whom we can do nothing for years of our lives. If we are allowed to live, solely through the effort of others, do we not owe them some form of servitude, at least for a period of time, in exchange for our lives?
And on the other hand, some argue that it is parents, having inflicted life upon their children, who are in the position of being obligated to serve the children. "Why do I have to clean my room? You decided to have me!"
Hot damn, this woman has a way with words.
‘you honestly can’t think of anyone you might oughta serve?’
nope...not if the servitude is tied to threats of bodily or mental harm...
Camille supports some Dems because it allows her to critique from the Left. It’s a good position for her; who knows how she really votes.
Brilliant writer on art. I recommend her book Glittering Images which has beautiful reproductions of paintings on high-quality paper.
“The mainstream media’s nonstop assault on Trump has certainly backfired by cementing his outsider status. He is basically a pragmatic deal-maker, indifferent to ideology. As with Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump rose because of decades of failure by the political establishment to address urgent systemic problems, including corruption at high levels. Democrats must hammer out their own image and agenda and stop self-destructively insulting half the electorate by treating Trump like Satan.”
While I disagree with her Leftist ideology, she is both honest and perceptive - she pegged this one, like no one else on the Left ever has or ever will. She should probably worry about getting burned at the stake by her own crew.
Yes, but she’s Very smart; too smart to be a Leftist.
I would have LOVED to have seen a discussion between Camille Paglia and William F Buckley !!
‘If we are allowed to live, solely through the effort of others, do we not owe them some form of servitude, at least for a period of time, in exchange for our lives?’
what you have described here is most emphatically not subservience, enforced by physical or mental threats...yes, we owe those who have mentored and guided us our allegiance and loyalties...
The fact that she is a leftist suggests that the connection you posit between intelligence and political affiliation does not exist.
Camille has it right on feminism.
Thanks but life is too short to read Pags’ garbage.
‘You had no choices to make about your physical, mental, or emotional characteristics, your talents, your temperament, your genetic, environmental, or social endowments, neither your nature nor your nurture, nor even your inclinations or preferences.
I had nothing to do with who I am...? are you serious...?
‘The whole concept of “freeborn,” it seems to me, represents a failure to grasp your own fundamental condition.’
‘fundamental condition’; talk about a non referent...but I’ll take that to mean that I don’t acknowledge a divine spark in my formation, to which I would answer I am not an atheist, but an apatheist; it is not belief of it I lack, but a sense of its necessity...
Total shift of topic! I'm talking about the woman who gestated you for 9 months and gave birth to you at great risk to her life and health (except for the last ... what? 100 years of human existence). I'm talking about feeding you when you could do nothing but twitch and gasp. Changing diapers, working to provide you with food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education.
A case could be made, based strictly in human reason, that you owe those people servitude, not just "allegiance and loyalties." A case can be made that they had the right - perhaps even the obligation - to abandon you to die or to actively take your life if you proved unsatisfactory at any point. They could have in classical Greece or Rome.
In summary, I do not believe there is much support for your contention that humans are "freeborn."
And with that, I hope you have a nice evening. I have to take a son to a school meeting.
A flock of sheep in a rail car, speeding out of control down a track and the next bridge is out.
She stands and says to the other sheep; "doctor, take this and heal thyself".
2. Camille Paglia and Alan Dershowitz
You are correct, but she appears to be intellectually honest which is the difference.
If you can't admit you owe a degree of servitude and humility for at least being raised and cared for by others, then you'll remain helpless as the infant you were.
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