TICKETY - BOO!

 I note that Richard has gone away for a couple of days - presumably driving away from Wellington.

To everyone who knows Richard, it's unlikely that he will be caught speeding but, just in case, and because he's pedantic and annoying, this Corey Moheler cartoon can serve as a warning to him.

MARXIST CHRISTMAS

 

VICTORY TO THE GLOBAL PROLETARIAT

 For those interested in FIFA Word Cup football, the quarter final match between England and France was a ripper.

Here's Corey Mohler's take on it.

ENTITLEMENT

 

This caught my eye recently: 'Nepo babies'

Lily-Rose Depp doesn't think that she's a 'nepo baby'.

First, some quick background on the term 'nepo baby'. It's shorthand for a nepotism baby – speaking to the privilege of being the offspring of the wealthy, rich and famous elite. It's a term that has popped up in the mainstream recently and has been used specifically to refer to kids of celebrities – think Brooklyn Beckham, Kendall Jenner, Jaden and Willow Smith, Dakota Johnson, Nicola Peltz Beckham and Hailey Bieber.

        - Mama Mia 

When asked what she thinks about children of famous parents having had their successes handed to them Depp responded:

 "People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part. The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There's a lot of work that comes after that."

"It's weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they're only there because it's a generational thing," 

Yeah right. Lily-Rose Depp's in a bit of self denial there.

There are of course, children of famous people who have made great careers and have contributed significantly to society, aided by an initial 'foot-up' from mum and dad but the majority aren't, generally because they just aren't very bright or have  entitlement issues. Donald Trump's an example of a not very bright person who was kick-started into his 'career' by extremely wealthy parents. Maybe that's not a good example as this buffoon just seems to lose money all the time not unlike Elon Musk who inherited vast wealth and gets involved in grandiose schemes, not because he's super talented but more likely because he's super wealthy.

The aristocracy of the past that elevated their untalented, generally stupid and undeserving offspring to positions of power and influence has been replaced by dynasties of rich celebrities and politicos like the Kardashians, the Assads, the Putins, the Arab trillionaires and the Depp-like film stars. Social media allows this to happen and the originals - the film stars, the political bosses and the wealth creators in industry, IT and science - pass on their wealth and influence to indulged children who dilute the original platform and everything just gets dumbed down. Fresh ideas and creative individuals will find it harder and harder to breakthrough this layer of dross. The prognosis isn't great for the future.

GOD, GOD, GOD

 When I wrote a post titled GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS (no punctuation on purpose), Robert commented:

This christian (usually Catholic) response has become a default setting for him.

Given the context of this latest comment, in a post about lusting after women (girls back in the day), I wondered (Anonymous) if porn movies were on his mind. If they were here's a video clip for him to consider while he's doing his cleaning jobs:

GOD, GOD, GOD

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS

 

I like Corey Mohler's cartoons and have subscribed to the webcomics website for weekly cartoons.

They are intelligent, educated and irreverent.

When we are younger (and maybe still do today) we adopted ideas, disciplines and studies for not only our own edification but for a bit of impress value as well. At university, I admit my signing up for Garth Carpenter's Astrology course had very little to do with any willingness to lean how to create star charts - it was all about girls.

Mohler nails it.

ETHICS ACCORDING TO ROBERT (AND SOME OTHER GUYS).

 

Robert the apathetic sanctimonious sinner and toilet cleaner, in his most recent post took a change of direction from his usual  minimally worded posts about his cat, his dog, his goldfish and his god and rambled on rather confusingly about, well, who knows what?

Given that his ramble ran to nearly a thousand words (like wot he wrote) I thought that a response and an attempt at interpretation is required.

The full ramble post (untitled) can be seen HERE but I'll save you from that by extracting a few of the statements and commenting on them.

ONE

Somethings are right and somethings are wrong. But what yardstick do we use to decide?"
Richard" will we be discussing
Applied ethics, Moral theory or
Meta ethics? Because I accept
Utilitarianism... maximize pleasure minimize suffering."
Peter (quips) "To minimize suffering then destroy the world."

OK, I'm already stumped and not just by the grammar. I don't think that I've ever heard Richard discuss applied ethics, moral theory or meta ethics before. I have been subjected to lectured bored stiff  schooled by him on his fingering techniques (musical instruments), his driving ability, grammar and his toileting practices though. I am interested in ethics, believing the broad concept to be more sensible than religion and basically what religions are about without the mystical and hysterical trappings that embellish them. When I was at university I was an avid reader of Harry Stein's column on ethics in Esquire magazine. Separating the topic into 'applied', 'meta' and moral theory' though is a bit of a wank. Applied just means not theoretical and meta is another term for moral judgement and moral judgement just means reasoning. Sure philosophers have padded out their treatises by this sort of artificial bullshit, obviously picked up on by Robert's bogus catholic apologists and regurgitated to him like a mother bird cramming half digested food down a fledglings gullet.

Utilitarianism is simply the outcomes of being ethical and frankly doesn't deserve such a big word which I'm surprised at Robert using (and spelling correctly).

Moving on.

TWO

Peter said " I believe in a natural law".

Robert "Natural law is a rational creatures participation in god's law."
Peter "Rubbish"
Richard "I agree with Peter".
The door opens and Trent Horn walks in. "Hi guys, hi Barb! You know that the Cosmological and moral arguments are my favourites C.S. Lewis is moral realism or moral facts and truths. Ought to do good., Give up seat.'.
Peter says "Rubbish it is all instinct"
Trent said " No Peter the moral law exists. It is not instinct. " Richard said "Need a song book to know which keys to hit eh."
"Exactly" replied Trent " Need something beyond instinct. Having the score to a Paganini caprice is one thing but playing the notes another"
Peter interjects saying "Rubbish, morality is just social norms. "
Trent replies "So the minority would always be wrong?"
Peter replies "It is natural to behave morally".
Trent: "Naturalism does not explain all the details of morality where as theism does."
Peter "Rubbish,Verses 20 71 of the catechism say. 'We can know morality without God.' I was an alter boy and I remember Fr Bliss saying just that"
Trent thought for a moment, then clearing his throat replied " Moral ontology needs god though.
We didn't invent morals we slowly discovered morality. Sometimes we try to explain away morals but god says just do it, do not commit adultery for instance. Even Cane had a sense of morality. Often we do understand but do not feel an impetous to do so. Given half a chance we try to weasal out of the ten commandments.

Whew! There's a lot to digest there even if it was already half digested by Robert's mother bird (The Holy Seagull?).

Natural Law - is really a kind of anarchy or a way that Christians try to justify the existence of a god. I believe in science and nature of course but won't be hoodwinked into believing that 'natural law' usurps social laws (legislation, laws of coexistence and society) so sorry Robert.

Moral realism is yet another made up construct like ethical realism and is basically common sense. we don't need religion to tell us what is right and what is wrong and we certainly don't need sexually ambiguous prats who are into flagellation like C.S. Lewis to lecture us on this let alone this Trent Horn nutter.

Moral ontology sounds a bit like the invasive procedure I underwent in hospital on Thursday.

What the hell is a 'weasal' and who is Barb?

THREE

Evolution is targeted for survival. Morality comprises actions that are praise worthy and blame worthy. Some overlap but survival truths can change where as moral truths do not. Survival truth might kill the weak. Moral truths cry out for another explanation beyond mere survival."

Here Richard interjected ."Sam Harris says morality helps humans flourish and has a natural origin. Science can explain morality."
Here Trent looks serious "Morality is not just hypothetical imperatives. God commands things because the divine will knows what is good. An action is not good just because god says it is but rather because god is good. God is the good and what he commands will be necessarily be good."

Right, now we know that Robert has mastered the act of copying and pasting.

Why does morality have to have a negative side? Nietzsche is nice to quote sometimes but you have to be careful because a lot of his work was misrepresented after his death to appeal to fascists and Nazis.

 Morality, like simple ethics should just boil down to: "is this the right thing to do?"

I kind of lost interest when Robert has this Horn character say stuff like "Morality is not just hypothetical imperatives. God commands things because the divine will knows what is good. An action is not good just because god says it is but rather because god is good. God is the good and what he commands will be necessarily be good." This is just rabid christian/catholic nonsense and makes a mockery of anything that Robert has said copied and pasted before.

This [post has been assisted by a glass of Louis Roederer Champagne that The Old Girl gave me - the first alcohol I've had for over a fortnight so it might have gone to me head.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

 Thanks TC (I think).

TC asked me to do a post on spelling since the blogging community members have slipped in this area, even old Mr pedantic the ex-schoolteacher.

I thought that I'd list the names of some philosophers which are a minefield for the incorrect speller,

Here goes:

• Albert Camus
• Immanuel Kant
• Martin Buber
  Thomas Aquinas
• Socrates
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Martha Nussbaum
• Sigmund Freud
• Baruch Spinoza
• Cometan
• Edmund Burke
• Emile Durkheim
• Epictitus
• Hildegard of Bingen
• Jeremy Bentham
• Thomas Khun
• Socrates
• John Hick
• John Locke
• Marcus Aurelius
• Sor Juana
• Max Scheler
• Michel Foucaut
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Rene Descartes

Ha ha. I hope that you got as fun out of that as I did.

IT'S A STRANGE, STRANGE WORLD WE LIVE IN ....

.....   IT'S A STRANGE , STRANGE WORLD WE LIVE IN MASTER JACK

I was listening to National Radio yesterday and one of the commentators recounted that he heard a news report that Scots College in Wellington, a former single sex boy's school, was to admit girl students. When walking in Wellington he passed a girl wearing a uniform from a single sex girls school - Marsden I think - and asked her what she thought of Scots College allowing girls in and what did she think of her school letting boys in. The girl backed away with a horrified look on her face - not from the thought of her school letting boys in but from the fact that a complete stranger, a man, asked her a question on the street. This led to a discussion about 'stranger danger' and the fact that parents are so terrified of something happening to their kids that they instil fears and worries in them that might be, on balance, unwarranted.

STRANGER DANGER

While not exactly on point, this Catherine Tate video clip does show parent influence on children.

DON'T KILL US

I do think that things are getting out of hand. It's a shame to think that children are being cocooned and not experiencing the world naturally and interacting with people outside of their own closed circles. You only have to witness the morning and afternoon drop offs and pickups of school children by parents, usually mothers in their behemoth vehicles to take the little angels to school and home when the distance is only a kilometre or two. Compare that to our walking, cycling, tram or bus trips we made on our own when we were at primary school.

No wonder children today spend incredible amounts of time on social media platforms and have their heads buried in smartphones, tablets or computers. They are then seeing a world that is actually different from the real one and is in fact a virtual one.

THANKS DAD

Do plants have feelings?
Do they feel gratitude?

We have a little bank of herbs in the kitchen, on the bench - basil, mint, Thai basil and another basil.
I have them sitting in little bowls close to the sink so that it's easy to top them up with water. They get a bit of shade but also, depending on the time of day, sufficient sunlight through the kitchen window.

When I water them I immediately notice a burst of aroma from them individual to the herb that they are. It's like they are thanking me for giving them some refreshment and saying "THANKS DAD"

Is that crazy?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD (OF RBB)

2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Yes, I'm sure that you, like me have been wondering why a  bloated, nasty, self-serving, amoral, immoral and orange narcissist could ever be president of USA.

This man seems to be, in a short space of time, knocking down any good that that country has done over the last couple of decades, furthering all the bad things that have been created and turning a blind eye to problems that all humanity faces.

Well it just may be that this isn't an accident and that the Republican backers of Trump aren't stupid and may well have a nasty game-plan going on.
I like Noam Chomsky's essays and here is one that has a great insight into what is going on in the USA and how we all are being adversely affected.

This is worth watching and listening to.

TRUMP'S DISTRACTION

.

PATHOS

"The candy floss salesman 

Watches ladies in the sand

Down for a freaky weekend in the hope 

That they'll be meeting Mr. Universe."

- 'Up The Pool' Jethro Tull


UP THE POOL

This song is inherently sad due to its nostalgic musing. Ian Anderson thinks back to the times he spent at Blackpool both growing up and on his later visits when he was living in London.

The verse above about the lecherous candy floss man watching 'desperate' young women sums up one of life's little ironies - aspiring to something you can't have. Sad really.

GOOD /BAD

Here's an interesting article about a moral dilemma:

GOOD - BAD

Should good deeds be rewarded?

Should the perpetrator of a good deed expect some sort of reward?

Does being on the 'moral high ground' condone other forms of bad behaviour?

This is interesting because we are increasingly being made aware of horrible behaviour from religious people, politicians. business leaders, famous entertainers and people of power, position and influence. It's only the rise of social media and immediacy o other forms of media and communication that is making this so overt - the implication is that things have always been this way.

Why do people behave in this way? Is it because they feel that they have a 'god given right' because they have attained fame, prosperity or position?

I think bad bastards are bad bastards no matter what 'good deeds' they do to disguise it.

I'm black and white and am an unforgiving bastard.

Turn the other cheek?

No way.

GOD (SORRY YOU DON'T EXIST) IF WE HAVE TO SING ABOUT SOMETHING IT MIGHT AS WELL BE ABOUT PHILOSOPHERS

Look just because I'm a philosopher it doesn't mean I Kant have a sense of humour (did you see what I did there?). Anyway, THE CURMUDGEONS are doing Christmas songs in their posts and I don't want to be left out. Unfortunately almost all of the bloody things include references to Jesus and god and stuff. Don't those songwriters realise that god is dead?

Here's something to keep you going though:

MONTY PYTHON THE PHILOSOPHERS SONG


If this offends you then you can listen to this:


MOSTLY GERMAN PHILOSOPHERS SONG


Don't thank me. In analysing gratitude and the conditions under which it is called for, philosophers have generally tried to account for all the cases in which we find it natural to use gratitude terms (“grateful”, “thankful”, etc.). We use such terms in a broad range of circumstances: it sounds natural to say, for instance, “I am grateful that it did not rain on my wedding day;” “grateful someone happened to walk by as I was being mugged;” “grateful to someone for trying unsuccessfully to help me;” “grateful for someone’s well-wishes.” The breadth of circumstances in which we invoke gratitude terms would suggest that gratitude, generally, is the response a person should have to something good—that is, to benefit or “favour” (Walker 1980–1981)
 In this case you may consider that the posting of the songs was no bloody good then you wouldn't be grateful you ungrateful bastards.

UTILITARIANISM AND THE ETHICS OF GOING TO WAR

It's sad that we've come to this. Angry Jesus and his cohort of evil have forced our hand in going to war against vile and despicable behaviour. Sorry Chair but I do not think we can look the other way here.

We have legitimate authority and as the greater association of bloggers have a monopoly  when it comes to deciding when to go to war.

We have just cause. and have good (moral) reasons for going to war: an enemy  has recently committed a major form of aggression against us; an enemy is likely to commit aggression against an ally of ours; there is a serious humanitarian problem in that this enemy has total disregard for the feelings, safety and well-being of serious and sincere bloggers.

We have the right intention. Our actions will satisfy the just cause even after the war is over.

This is a last resort. Our Chair has remonstrated through proper channels to which AJ and his dodgy cronies have paid no attention. The time for action is now.

We will be proportionate in our retaliation. While we will adopt 21st century methods and not storm in waving swords like a bunch of lunatics we nevertheless need to recognise the violence used by Baxter and give him a taste of his own medicine. This could be in the form of doctoring his bottles of wine (although he drinks such horrible shit I don't know what worse things we could put in it).

IS GOD DEAD OR IS HE MERELY PLAYING POSSUM?

My doppleganger Frederich Nietzsche proposed in 1882 in his collection of essays The Gay Science (don't get too excited - in 1882 'gay' had a totally different meaning than it has today) that god was dead.

"Ja, das mythical being that Robert believes in is kaputt - ja?"

Poor old Fred got a bit of stick for that but to be fair, this was almost 2000 years after the christians had any sort of inkling that their god(s) were up to anything, and they hadn't been doing much else so it was reasonable to assume that the old guy(s) had popped their clogs by then.

As for me I tend to play the long game. I was educated by Catholic believers - well meaning ones I'm sure and was force-fed instructed in the catechism and other beliefs of the catholic oriented christians.
Without doubt I owe my sense of conscience, ethics and morality to these teachings but, to be fair to other reputable schooling institutions I could also have acquired these elsewhere. There is however some residual itching - not belief- more like the concept of a 'bob each way'. The canny catholics devised a way that you could go through life being a proper arsehole and screw your way (in every context) without any fear as long as you repent on your deathbed. Then you get all the goodies as it were if in fact god(s), heaven and all those other things exist. It's like a pensioners Gold Card that gets you free entry.

I see myself as an atheist in that I don't believe in any of the religions and all of the nonsense that they expound. Don't get me wrong though I'm not a total denier as I do believe that the people behind all the nonsense actually existed (not all of them obviously as I doubt there was a woman with ten arms and another with an elephant head) but the prophets like Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha and the 'saints' and good people walked this earth. A good many of them were probably suffering from various mental illnesses or had ingested hallucinogenic substances but, to them, their experiences were real. The problem is in other people, particularly acolytes taking it all a bit too literally.

If I have the chance though on my deathbed I'll be pledging allegiance to the whole lot of them ...'just in case'.

ANTS OR PLANTS*

* It would help to have an Australian or American accent when reading this Post title.


The other evening after a blazing hot day I noticed that the plants in pots on the deck were looking a bit dry. The saucers that the pots sit in were totally dry so I decided to water them. I like plants and, apart from destroying weeds and trimming hedges and trees I don't like to hurt them.

I started to water them, filling each pot until the soil is properly moistened and water filters through and starts to fill the saucers. On one big pot I noticed as I was watering that some ants were in the saucer. "Get out of there I said to them" but I don't think they understood. They knew that something was going on though as their activity increased. As some trickles of water started to glow into the saucer they got a bit more active and some climbed up out of the saucer ... but not all. Suddenly the water filtering through the pot whooshed out and filled the saucer. From an ants perspective this would have been like a tidal wave. Bye bye ants.

I felt sorry for the ants. I try not to hurt insects except when they are really bugging me (bugging me - did you see what I did there?) like flies, mosquitos and cockroaches. The big question though is - what's more important - the welfare of the plants or the ants?

I'll have to ponder on that for a while.