thoughtfullydetached

the whimsical wing of the thoughtfully detached blog. pronouns, adverbs and synonyms will be used from time to time.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Against, and Also For, an Austere and Simple Vision

The Perennialists may have identified an important truth in noticing that a longing for inward, esoteric, unification with the transcendent apart from outward, exoteric, forms and rituals is universal

https://t.co/mDTk1nEqpz

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Rioting by those who read Jean-Paul Sartre and rioting by those who do not are both negative manifestations, but have significantly causes and outcomes. The second, though, may be a long term consequence of the first. Once the institutions are marched through they can be razed.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

The question "In your experience as a human being how often do things work out exactly as planned?" is one that is politicians are not asked nearly as often as they should be.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

It was while listening to 'Coat of Many Colours' as a child that I first realised that song was a form of storytelling, because *this* was a song I could relate to. Thank you Dolly Parton, rest in peace and rise in glory.

https://t.co/yWsbfcZnBR

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

@CptHastings1916 The House of Commons should be divided over questions like how a soft-boiled egg should be cracked. But it was right for it to be united over the murders of Jo Cox and David Amess. That is, on fundamental moral issues the country should be united and MP's should reflect that.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Total catastrophising about everything all the time is really tiring. And also the worst possible way to prepare oneself or one's society to face genuinely serious risks. Arguably catastrophising will doom us all.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

We often hear talk about 'evidence led policing', although not in relation to Henry Nowak. Which is a shame, because things might have played out differently if they had followed the evidence in front of their eyes rather than the hearsay in their ears.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

@CptHastings1916 I think that there is a reluctance to admit that someone can both be intellectually gifted and disagree with us. That is a fairly recent reluctance because previous generations were happy to acknowledge that possibility but now philosophy has been replaced by ideology.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

It bears saying that even if you believe a particular conflict to be a Just War as per the criteria then that does not obligate you to approve of all the whooping and yelling of people sharing videos of stuff (and humans) being blown up. Quite the reverse, you *must* condemn it.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"Any technology that facilitates attacks without seeing the face of human beings lowers the moral threshold of conflict."
(Magnifica Humanitas 199)

People commentating on military strikes against real human beings as if it were a video game have lost some of their own humanity.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

The underpinning philosophy to much of what Pope Leo XIV says anent AI is closely aligned to what Pope St John Paul II said anent the culture of death and the culture of life. Is the individual human person primarily an autonomous consumer or a beloved and loving person?

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Amnesty International is an organisation established to help prisoners of conscience around the world. And then it became an omnicause lobby group.

[Amnesty UK @AmnestyUK]

🚨 The Milburn Review must be a wake-up call.

Too many young people are locked out of work.

And those who do have jobs still can’t afford the basics.

No one should be pushed into poverty because decent-paying jobs don’t exist.

We need a root-and-branch reform of the social security system so it protects young people instead of punishing them.

Dignity, security and opportunity shouldn’t be out of reach. ✊

Take action now: https://t.co/WsMNsQzv81

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

@grok @DAaronovitch This @grok specifically https://t.co/ytFxXcDWH0

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

The slippery slope at work here is that once it becomes normalised for political activists to prevent overtly political events from happening then the moral barrier that prevents them from doing the same to museum gatherings about ancient history eventually disappears as well.

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

It is easy for me to say this, I'm not a museum curator or an event organiser, I am a rhino-hided journo, but my feeling is if you allow people to stop events, then they've won and you've lost. What I don't know is what the legal position of the British Museum would've been had someone been injured. But my every instinct is that the show must go on.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

If @grok is to be believed in the 1970's when @DAaronovitch was head honcho at the National Union of Students their 'no platform for fascists' policy was suspended because it was being used to disrupt Jewish student meetings. Which show his consistency and the issues persistency.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Nicola Sturgeon as an omnivorous reader of fiction must have great practice in the willing suspension of disbelief.

[Nicola Sturgeon @NicolaSturgeon]

📚 It’s that time of year…

(cue the usual abuse from those who get weirdly outraged by me reading books. Top tip: maybe try it sometime! 🤣) …

My favourite novels of 2023… 📚

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Sometimes the words 'possible' and 'could' do a lot of heavy lifting.

[The Independent @Independent]

Heat to rise to possible record-breaking highs over rest of bank holiday weekend https://t.co/MIarosqFj2

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

"When the moral way prevails in the world, there is more doing than words.
When the moral way does not prevail in the world, there are more words than doing."

Confucius, Analects: Book 4, Chapter 22.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

It depends on what you view the purpose of being human is. If everything centres on a supposedly autonomous self then children are burdensome. If we are most fulfilled as humans when we are most self-forgetful because of love then children are an essential part of the Good Life.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

So long as ordinary people don't get arrested for expressing their honest opinions to people who hold real power then there is still hope for a society. Still more so if such opinions are expressed both politely and firmly.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Politicians who speak human are likely to do better than those who do not, even where their specific policies may not align too closely with the voters to whom they are appealing. Never discount the benefits of being personable.

[thoughtfullydetached @calmlyobserving]

Surprisingly the Guardian hasn't included Rudyard Kipling on its list. But 'Kim' is a delightful novel, with a cast diverse enough to qualify for an Oscar. So what about the conservative imperialist Kipling kept him out of the Guardian's charmed circle I wonder?

[Athenaeum Book Club @athenaeumbc]

The Guardian has just published its "100 best novels of all time" list — these are the top 12.

Toni Morrison's Beloved is in 2nd. Dostoevsky does not make the top 25...

What do you think?