A number of people opposed to the new flu shot are complaining about the language being used to characterize their position. In particular, they reject the word “refuse.” Of course they are right, but, if they would only consider what they are up against, they might have second thoughts.
None of the Indiana Jones movies was anything but a waste of time. Harrison Ford cannot act, the writers and directors were, if not hopelessly incompetent, then entirely cynical in their willingness to profit from the degradation of the American people. The first one was not only anti-German but anti-Christian. Watching movies made by people who hate and despise you makes you in the end despicable.
An FB friend posted a Charlie Rich lyric.. It took me back a few years. I was a bit late in learning to appreciate Charlie.
My remarks on the late Don Rumsfeld sparked a set of responses that evolved into discussing the cause of the Second Gulf War. It may be worth a little time to wonder if such explanations are of any value.
As politicians go, the governor of Florida is one of the best we have, but he is not an educated man and does not at all understand the evils that have been perpetrated by American public education, and, since he does not understand the causes of the problem, he is incapable of devising a workable solution.
Freedom is not “just another word for nothing left to lose,” with a tip of the hat to the late pop singer B.J. Thomas.
Book III gets down to the business of Cambyses, Cyrus’ successor, and the invasion of Egypt in which he displays signs of madness, which might just be interpreted as the indications of the tyrannical character that is created when boys are raised without anyone who can say, “NO!”
This is a first sketch. If you read nothing else, you must read the Boethius text. If you have questions or comments, you this post and subsequent posts on the same subject.
Herodotus’ theme, as I observed in the first installment, is the conflict between Europe and Asia or, more properly, Greeks and barbarians. (In a day or two, we shall have a podcast on what barbarians are.) In a way, his work can be treated as a kind of essay in definition, that is, he is defining Greekness or Hellenism partly by describing Greek behavior and partly by the contrast, often merely suggested, with barbarians.
