I’m toast. (Butter and jam please - it’s Sunday) I attended the school of hard knocks (the University of Miami) and, after 10 years of nightmare (night) school, graduated with a BA in psychology and business administration.
This is sooo good. I noticed the wince on Moses Mike when Joe mentioned Trump bowing down to Putin. I think you are spot on wrt who lost. Your description of heaven’s cult members, Chef’s kiss. Thank you!!!
Even their new name for us—woke—drips with irony, as their power depends on their followers not waking up to the totalitarian threat to our American way of life.
You're speaking my language today, Greg Olear. I wrote an 'A' thesis on the subject of Paradise Lost, arguing that Satan was both main character and Hero of the epic. As for the overarching struggle between the angels, mankind barely has a dog in the fight, but it is clear Lucifer has the most in common with our condition
I'm sure it was a great thesis! People argue that Satan is written as the POV character to be seductive, but that's just readers pushing their own biases onto the text.
Greg, you always make me smarter although this was heavy for DST day. I do believe Joe read Paradise Lost last week. He was trying to AWAKE the masses! Alas I fear they are all still asleep.
I see your point and agree with you. In the way that you described it, to be obedient to "God" is to not think for yourself and therefore, to not be free. And this is what I see in most organized religions. But here's a scary realization as I watch the political discourse: the people who WE think are giving up their freedom by not thinking for themselves, they think that we are the one's who are trying to oppress their freedom by not following THEIR "God's" rules. They think Joe Biden is the oppressor. We can only hope they can break through the veil that has been dropped over them.
Thanks, Gail. That's what inspired me to write this this week: the inverted polarity between good and evil, God and the devil, etc. The difference between our side and theirs is that our side makes no demands of them, whereas they seek to foist Puritanical beliefs onto all of us.
Yes. I’m watching “Morning Joe” right now and they just played a clip of the former president announcing Orban onto stage and how he’s this great leader because he tells people what to do and they just do it (authoritarian/patriarchal). Evoking the 1950’s ideal of the father ruling his traditional household-no room for questions-they just do it (or else). It’s so sickening and small minded that there’s no room for humanity in that way of thinking. By the way they are both wearing suits with their jackets open and their very large bellies exposed for the world to see. There’s something very symbolic about those large bellies.
Having recently traveled from home in the blue, woke "Hell" of Massachusetts to DeSantis' "Paradise," where it's so hot that books are burning, I side with the devils.
As usual, I love your post. It reminded me of the glorious books I read while studying for a PhD in clinical psych and existential philosophy. That led me to wonder how the "poorly educated" have gained strength to put their fascist hero into office once and possibly twice. Why has education and knowledge not had power to lead us to better places?
Maybe because education isn't one-size-fits-all? Writers and philosophers study thinking, but biz schools are about profit, sports is win-at-all-costs, and law schools...? Biz and law schools do teach a bit of ethics, but what's valued on a resume? And why are most writers, artists, philosophers and non-Harvard teachers starving.
If we're lucky enough to escape dictatorship, how do we fix the priorities problems? How do we consign lawyers and business people to secondary advisory capacity? What would our country be like if, say, Greg Olear were President?
The income inequality is in serious trouble. Artists, writers, etc are priced out of NYC. We need to tax the fuck out of these Elon Musk people. If we don't, there will be conflict. History says so.
I would be a terrible president. I hate wearing suits and I'm not extroverted enough. ; )
So wear jeans. ;) You wink but illustrate my point. By what standards would you be a "terrible" President? Obvious from your writing, you're intelligent, versed in politics and government, with a good grasp of right vs wrong, justice vs injustice, etc. Maybe you don't want to be President? Maybe beware of folks who do? Maybe the perks should be so unattractive that serving as President would be as popular as being drafted for war. No graft, no fortune. Hard, honest work, for which only smart, informed, honest, stable, compassionate people could qualify?
Taxing the wealthy to benefit the rest of us is topic #2. My point, topic #1, requires banning mega-donations, lobbyists, and all other windfall profit sources available to the job of President and all other elected representatives.
That seems about as likely as Trump's taxing the wealthy. But why isn't the public demanding change in that direction? Why are half of voters worshipping an evil, corrupt cult hero? Why are there so many single-issue voters? Why do so few see the "big picture" of what it takes to be a good leader, and create a good system?
No leaders beholden to corporate money will tax the wealthy. Nor will they remove money from politics to create a fair system. So it's more important to fix our inability to recognize, demand, and elect good representatives than even to mount a war to tax the wealthy.
Or is that wrong? Would rerouting money from the wealthy to the rest of us stop people from voting for Trump and Boebert? Does money solve all, convey wisdom? Or would too many voters still find reason to fall for a cult leader, still need a hero yet not have skills to identify a worthy candidate?
Do too many voters not value intelligence and thinkers because they were never taught their value? Why is a Super Bowl ring more popular than a Mensa pin? Who benefits from keeping people ignorant? Why is it a saying that people are promoted to their highest level of incompetence?
Bureaucracy and lack of essential education -- are they the reasons we can't overpower the wealthy and share the wealth? Is money the cure for MAGA or is the problem more extensive? Either way, what's the action plan?
You’ve given me food for thought & much to ponder. I enjoy reading about your salad days studying English at Georgetown. (I had two cousins rip who studied law there). I haven’t read Milton since my Episcopal girlschool days, but now I feel inclined to read the conversations of Moloch & Beezelbub. Apropos to our current clime.
Why should I be called “The Left” when I’ve lived my entire life in the belly of so many Beasts 🐉 while constantly trying not to lose sight of due North on my compass of life and continuing to do “The Right Thing” ?
Thanks for subscribing, Michael! And good point: calling the right the right is another inversion of truth. Lefthandedness was considered a sign of the devil.
I think it's common knowledge among "normies" that Old Testament God was an asshole from start to finish. And New Testament God wasn't much better, being mostly an absent Father, except when He'd deign to show up for cameo roles like, "This is my Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." (I capitalize ironically!)
Even back in Catholic grade school -- yes, grades 1-7 that I am STILL getting over 50 years later -- you could recognize that Heaven was a totalitarian dictatorship, what with all the worshipping, and obeying, and, I assume, bowing and scraping, only for the hope that for one moment, the Most High would gaze upon you. And yet, you never heard that about Hell. Sure, there was Lucifer, but there were LOTS of other demons whose names I'm not looking up to spell correctly, but they all seemed to have the same level of power and evil at their disposal. I really don't recall a Throne of Satan being talked about very much; certainly not as much as the Throne of God, who apparently sat around all day eating bon-bons, with Jesus at his right hand, and angels playing harps and shit. (YAWN!)
I agree with the thesis that "Paradise Lost" more represents politics than religion. And I watch the same news, so I can see the zealots overburdening the scale to where the snap-back will be more like a guillotine falling than a pendulum swing. It's funny to hear, on the one hand, that Holy Mike Johnson apparently had a "talk" with the Republican caucus before the SOTU and told them they should not put on "displays" because it was a solemn event, but then sat back there on camera, pursing his lips and shaking his head and oddly, also trying to clap for things that he agreed with, but under the table so MTG wouldn't see. I don't remember Kevin McCarthy EVER making a face or expressing anything while he sat behind Biden for the SOTU. But Mike couldn't help himself. He is also, apparently, scared of MTG because she wore that disgusting disgrace of an "outfit" all night, and nobody on HER side told her she was embarrassing the entire Congress and her office. Honestly, what a fucking pig!
So, I'm only waiting now for the snap-back in November. They have gone WAY too far and will be brought to heel. The Republicans seem to think that they will continue in their quest for a theocratic dictatorship, but that will not stand. They've had it good for themselves for quite a long while, long enough to reveal who they ACTUALLY are, and they will be losing their Paradise of Power very soon. "Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!" And VOTE!
It was so weird to watch Moses Mike back there. Such a sniveling little coward. False witness is a sin, Mikey. So is worshipping false idols. Even I know that!
George Bernard Shaw: "Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, although plenty of people have described a day at the seaside."
My head spins, my brain awash with convoluted thoughts. Thank you for another thought provoking piece.
Am I foolish to now think that Autocracy = Paradise and Democracy = Hell? 45 = God? Everything in life is backwards?
This does explain much. MAGA-nuts, Christian Nationalists never question, simply accept the gospel according to the imbecile. Yet can this mean God = imbecile? Blasphemy of the highest order.
I and so many others live in a self made hell, making complex that which is actually simple, God's adherents live in a bliss of pure obedience and ignorance. 45 speaks, they listen, accept and follow. We on the other hand question, reason and try to be fair and do the right things. Bang our heads against the wall, searching for the answer to the question, how do we prolong the hell in which we live?
The simple reality, Democracy is hard work, a kind of hell. Autocracy is heaven, ignorance and blind acceptance.
I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had had a good Lit teacher who had inspired me to actually read my Lit assignments instead of getting straight A’s by psyching out multiple-choice tests. (It was like that pre-Sputnik.) I excelled in other areas and learned other lessons, one of which (now that you mention Eden) was healing from Biblical literalism. Today’s lesson has glorious! I learned a lot!
What I have found is that I can only really appreciate a book when it's the right moment to read it. There are things that blew me away once that wouldn't now and vice versa. The beauty of literature is that it's never too late to get something from it; indeed, the older we get, the more life experience we have to drawn from and that informs our reading.
I’m toast. (Butter and jam please - it’s Sunday) I attended the school of hard knocks (the University of Miami) and, after 10 years of nightmare (night) school, graduated with a BA in psychology and business administration.
Yea. I survived. Broke but not quite broken.
Thank you Greg for my Continuing Ed. Billserle.com
We are all toast. ; )
Thanks, Bill.
This is sooo good. I noticed the wince on Moses Mike when Joe mentioned Trump bowing down to Putin. I think you are spot on wrt who lost. Your description of heaven’s cult members, Chef’s kiss. Thank you!!!
Thanks, Sue. I wanted so badly for Joe to turn and stare him down, but that would not have been "presidential."
Even their new name for us—woke—drips with irony, as their power depends on their followers not waking up to the totalitarian threat to our American way of life.
Thanks Greg! Paradise Lost just moved way up my read before I die list!
Thanks, Carl. Certainly read the first two books.
Thanks for this. I'm going to have to read Paradise Lost again.
Stand up and be counted!
Thanks, Craig. It's like when a band puts out a double album when one would have done better: a lot of filler, but the hits are incredible.
Great post
Thanks, Mary.
You're speaking my language today, Greg Olear. I wrote an 'A' thesis on the subject of Paradise Lost, arguing that Satan was both main character and Hero of the epic. As for the overarching struggle between the angels, mankind barely has a dog in the fight, but it is clear Lucifer has the most in common with our condition
I'm sure it was a great thesis! People argue that Satan is written as the POV character to be seductive, but that's just readers pushing their own biases onto the text.
Agreed. Let the text inform the reader, not vice versa
Greg, you always make me smarter although this was heavy for DST day. I do believe Joe read Paradise Lost last week. He was trying to AWAKE the masses! Alas I fear they are all still asleep.
Thanks, Anita. There was a lot of this energy in the SOTU. Except that Joe, unlike Lucifer, will prevail.
I see your point and agree with you. In the way that you described it, to be obedient to "God" is to not think for yourself and therefore, to not be free. And this is what I see in most organized religions. But here's a scary realization as I watch the political discourse: the people who WE think are giving up their freedom by not thinking for themselves, they think that we are the one's who are trying to oppress their freedom by not following THEIR "God's" rules. They think Joe Biden is the oppressor. We can only hope they can break through the veil that has been dropped over them.
Thanks, Gail. That's what inspired me to write this this week: the inverted polarity between good and evil, God and the devil, etc. The difference between our side and theirs is that our side makes no demands of them, whereas they seek to foist Puritanical beliefs onto all of us.
Yes. I’m watching “Morning Joe” right now and they just played a clip of the former president announcing Orban onto stage and how he’s this great leader because he tells people what to do and they just do it (authoritarian/patriarchal). Evoking the 1950’s ideal of the father ruling his traditional household-no room for questions-they just do it (or else). It’s so sickening and small minded that there’s no room for humanity in that way of thinking. By the way they are both wearing suits with their jackets open and their very large bellies exposed for the world to see. There’s something very symbolic about those large bellies.
Having recently traveled from home in the blue, woke "Hell" of Massachusetts to DeSantis' "Paradise," where it's so hot that books are burning, I side with the devils.
As usual, I love your post. It reminded me of the glorious books I read while studying for a PhD in clinical psych and existential philosophy. That led me to wonder how the "poorly educated" have gained strength to put their fascist hero into office once and possibly twice. Why has education and knowledge not had power to lead us to better places?
Maybe because education isn't one-size-fits-all? Writers and philosophers study thinking, but biz schools are about profit, sports is win-at-all-costs, and law schools...? Biz and law schools do teach a bit of ethics, but what's valued on a resume? And why are most writers, artists, philosophers and non-Harvard teachers starving.
If we're lucky enough to escape dictatorship, how do we fix the priorities problems? How do we consign lawyers and business people to secondary advisory capacity? What would our country be like if, say, Greg Olear were President?
The income inequality is in serious trouble. Artists, writers, etc are priced out of NYC. We need to tax the fuck out of these Elon Musk people. If we don't, there will be conflict. History says so.
I would be a terrible president. I hate wearing suits and I'm not extroverted enough. ; )
So wear jeans. ;) You wink but illustrate my point. By what standards would you be a "terrible" President? Obvious from your writing, you're intelligent, versed in politics and government, with a good grasp of right vs wrong, justice vs injustice, etc. Maybe you don't want to be President? Maybe beware of folks who do? Maybe the perks should be so unattractive that serving as President would be as popular as being drafted for war. No graft, no fortune. Hard, honest work, for which only smart, informed, honest, stable, compassionate people could qualify?
Taxing the wealthy to benefit the rest of us is topic #2. My point, topic #1, requires banning mega-donations, lobbyists, and all other windfall profit sources available to the job of President and all other elected representatives.
That seems about as likely as Trump's taxing the wealthy. But why isn't the public demanding change in that direction? Why are half of voters worshipping an evil, corrupt cult hero? Why are there so many single-issue voters? Why do so few see the "big picture" of what it takes to be a good leader, and create a good system?
No leaders beholden to corporate money will tax the wealthy. Nor will they remove money from politics to create a fair system. So it's more important to fix our inability to recognize, demand, and elect good representatives than even to mount a war to tax the wealthy.
Or is that wrong? Would rerouting money from the wealthy to the rest of us stop people from voting for Trump and Boebert? Does money solve all, convey wisdom? Or would too many voters still find reason to fall for a cult leader, still need a hero yet not have skills to identify a worthy candidate?
Do too many voters not value intelligence and thinkers because they were never taught their value? Why is a Super Bowl ring more popular than a Mensa pin? Who benefits from keeping people ignorant? Why is it a saying that people are promoted to their highest level of incompetence?
Bureaucracy and lack of essential education -- are they the reasons we can't overpower the wealthy and share the wealth? Is money the cure for MAGA or is the problem more extensive? Either way, what's the action plan?
You’ve given me food for thought & much to ponder. I enjoy reading about your salad days studying English at Georgetown. (I had two cousins rip who studied law there). I haven’t read Milton since my Episcopal girlschool days, but now I feel inclined to read the conversations of Moloch & Beezelbub. Apropos to our current clime.
Thanks, Amy. It does, somehow, lend itself to this moment. My professor, by the way, has been teaching at the law school for decades now.
Why should I be called “The Left” when I’ve lived my entire life in the belly of so many Beasts 🐉 while constantly trying not to lose sight of due North on my compass of life and continuing to do “The Right Thing” ?
Thanks for subscribing, Michael! And good point: calling the right the right is another inversion of truth. Lefthandedness was considered a sign of the devil.
I think it's common knowledge among "normies" that Old Testament God was an asshole from start to finish. And New Testament God wasn't much better, being mostly an absent Father, except when He'd deign to show up for cameo roles like, "This is my Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." (I capitalize ironically!)
Even back in Catholic grade school -- yes, grades 1-7 that I am STILL getting over 50 years later -- you could recognize that Heaven was a totalitarian dictatorship, what with all the worshipping, and obeying, and, I assume, bowing and scraping, only for the hope that for one moment, the Most High would gaze upon you. And yet, you never heard that about Hell. Sure, there was Lucifer, but there were LOTS of other demons whose names I'm not looking up to spell correctly, but they all seemed to have the same level of power and evil at their disposal. I really don't recall a Throne of Satan being talked about very much; certainly not as much as the Throne of God, who apparently sat around all day eating bon-bons, with Jesus at his right hand, and angels playing harps and shit. (YAWN!)
I agree with the thesis that "Paradise Lost" more represents politics than religion. And I watch the same news, so I can see the zealots overburdening the scale to where the snap-back will be more like a guillotine falling than a pendulum swing. It's funny to hear, on the one hand, that Holy Mike Johnson apparently had a "talk" with the Republican caucus before the SOTU and told them they should not put on "displays" because it was a solemn event, but then sat back there on camera, pursing his lips and shaking his head and oddly, also trying to clap for things that he agreed with, but under the table so MTG wouldn't see. I don't remember Kevin McCarthy EVER making a face or expressing anything while he sat behind Biden for the SOTU. But Mike couldn't help himself. He is also, apparently, scared of MTG because she wore that disgusting disgrace of an "outfit" all night, and nobody on HER side told her she was embarrassing the entire Congress and her office. Honestly, what a fucking pig!
So, I'm only waiting now for the snap-back in November. They have gone WAY too far and will be brought to heel. The Republicans seem to think that they will continue in their quest for a theocratic dictatorship, but that will not stand. They've had it good for themselves for quite a long while, long enough to reveal who they ACTUALLY are, and they will be losing their Paradise of Power very soon. "Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!" And VOTE!
It was so weird to watch Moses Mike back there. Such a sniveling little coward. False witness is a sin, Mikey. So is worshipping false idols. Even I know that!
George Bernard Shaw: "Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, although plenty of people have described a day at the seaside."
VOTE!
My head spins, my brain awash with convoluted thoughts. Thank you for another thought provoking piece.
Am I foolish to now think that Autocracy = Paradise and Democracy = Hell? 45 = God? Everything in life is backwards?
This does explain much. MAGA-nuts, Christian Nationalists never question, simply accept the gospel according to the imbecile. Yet can this mean God = imbecile? Blasphemy of the highest order.
I and so many others live in a self made hell, making complex that which is actually simple, God's adherents live in a bliss of pure obedience and ignorance. 45 speaks, they listen, accept and follow. We on the other hand question, reason and try to be fair and do the right things. Bang our heads against the wall, searching for the answer to the question, how do we prolong the hell in which we live?
The simple reality, Democracy is hard work, a kind of hell. Autocracy is heaven, ignorance and blind acceptance.
LONG LIVE HELL!
Amen!
There's a great line in Paradise Lost about blissful ignorance:
“Sleep on,/ Blest pair: and O yet happiest if ye seek/ no happier state, and know to know no more”
And yes, everything is upside down!
Thank You, Greg!!! Blew my Recovered Catholic mind!! Yes! Makes perfect sense! Thank You!
Thanks, MaryPat.
I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had had a good Lit teacher who had inspired me to actually read my Lit assignments instead of getting straight A’s by psyching out multiple-choice tests. (It was like that pre-Sputnik.) I excelled in other areas and learned other lessons, one of which (now that you mention Eden) was healing from Biblical literalism. Today’s lesson has glorious! I learned a lot!
What I have found is that I can only really appreciate a book when it's the right moment to read it. There are things that blew me away once that wouldn't now and vice versa. The beauty of literature is that it's never too late to get something from it; indeed, the older we get, the more life experience we have to drawn from and that informs our reading.
Thank you, Earl!