spoon to the head
Would you rather have a spoon or a gun to your head, if in both cases the person was willing to use it? Think about it.
Cassius Dio
Book LII
4 Equality before the law has an auspicious name and is most just in its workings. For in the case of men who are endowed with the same nature, are of the same race with one another, have been brought up under the same institutions, have been trained in laws that are alike, 2 and yield in an equal degree the service of their bodies and of their minds to their country, is it not just that they should have an equal share in all other things also, and is it not best that they should secure no distinctions except as the result of excellence? 3 For equality of birth demands equality of privilege, and if it attains this object, it is glad, but if it fails, it is displeased. And the human race everywhere, sprung as it is from the gods and destined to return to the gods, gazes upward and is not content to be ruled forever by the same person, 4 nor will it endure to share in the toils, the dangers, and the expenditures and yet be deprived of partnership in the better things. Or, if it is forced to submit to anything of the sort, it hates the power which has applied coercion, and if it obtains an opportunity, takes vengeance upon what it hates. 5 All men, of course, claim the right to rule, and for this reason submit to being ruled in turn; they are unwilling to have others overreach them, and therefore are not obliged, on their part, to overreach others. They are pleased with the honours bestowed upon them by their equals, and approve of the penalties inflicted upon them by the laws. 6 Now if they live under this kind of polity and regard the blessings and also the p87opposite as belonging to all alike, they not only wish no harm to befall any one of the citizens, but devoutly hope that nothing but prosperity will fall to the lot of each and all. 7 And if one of them possesses any excellence himself, he readily makes it known, practises it enthusiastically, and exhibits it most joyfully; or if he sees it in another, he readily brings it to the light, eagerly takes part in increasing it, and bestows the most splendid honours upon it. 8 On the other hand, if any one shows himself base, everybody hates him, and if any one meets with misfortune, everybody pities him; for each person regards the loss and the disgrace that arise therefrom as shared in by the whole state.
5 “This is the character of democracies. Under tyrannies exactly the opposite conditions are found. But why go into all the details at length? The chief thing is that no one is willing to be thought to have any superior knowledge or possession, because the dominant power generally becomes wholly hostile to him on account of such superiority; 2 on the contrary, every one makes the tyrant’s character his own standard of life and pursues whatever objects he may hope to gain through him by overreaching others without personal risk. Consequently, the majority of the people are devoted only to their own interests and hate all their neighbors, regarding the others’ successes as their own losses and the others’ misfortunes as their own gains.
she inspires me with fair hopes that future time will permit my history to survive and never dim its lustre
Roman history is one of my favorite things. This quote from Cassius Dio is eerily prophetic, from his history of Commodus, he mentions he feels compelled to write down history because he KNOWS future time needs him.
I think it’s amazing how a text written in 200 AD can reach from the past right into my head. I feel like this sometimes, I just don’t know what I am supposed to do yet.
I move slow and steady, but I feel like a waterfall
One of my worries, as I bide my time and grow strength, is that I am literally doing nothing. I don’t have a framework for massive longterm change in human beings. Part of the reason I feel like I am doing nothing is I don’t know what behaviors need to change and what I feel the results should be.
I think egalitarianism is a fine word, and concisely summarizes my belief system. However it’s hard for my contemporaries to understand the feverish devotion I hold to all humans being equal, not just some. I know humans need to work together and remove class struggle to succeed in reaching a Star Trek like utopia. I don’t think the reality of that world would be as humorous and far-fetched as someone born in the 20th century certainly thinks it now.
everyone is a slave or no one is
there is a dichotomy to communism that implies there is no one really in charge and everyone is a slave to each other. I think this is an important distinction from ‘the state is everyone, and everyone is a slave to the state’.
One of the things that fascinates me about Rome was it’s extensive use of slaves to create an incredibly complex and advanced world for ancient times, and at the same time murdering and conquering. There seems to be a brutal and very real reason all successful societies conquered and killed: dead people don’t fight back or produce offspring. Hitler for instance and authoritarians in general always seem to forget the fate of MANY Roman emperors: Killed by the Senate or the Praetorian Guard, who often represented the will of the people.
I feel like a slave most of the time. I have many freedoms and liberties, and I like my job more than I have ever liked a job, and I still hate going to work. But there are people alive right now really in literal slavery in many parts of the world. Some of them make shoes for me, or this computer.
Social class is a weird and powerful structure. As an American, it boggles my mind when I read stuff from people who enjoy monarchs, even flaccid ones that lurk around England. I like Princess Diana, and Prince Harry, and as it turns out, they might not even be considered royalty. I like the idea I can purchase my class in America. I like the idea better that every human is born into the same social class. We all need to focus better on our upcoming fights with sentient robots.
I mitigated my ticket
So Seattle has a place to mitigate your speeding tickets on the web, and the system served me well, this is what I wrote, note the incorrect use of the word “instant” instead of “instance”… whoops, however this didn’t go on my record as long as I stay incident free.
I feel the largest mitigating circumstance in this instant is there were no speed signs posted in the area, and if there were any they were covered by trees and brush. I can attest to this because I was looking for them. I wasn’t sure the speedlimit, but I felt I was keeping pace with the vehicles around me. The officer caught me as I was cresting a hill and going down. It was clear this was an area of opportunity for the police department. In conjunction with me never having driven this road, and my ignorance of the limit, resulted in this ticket. I truly apologize for speeding, it was never my intention to break the law; as a veteran and engaged citizen I feel it is my responsibility to be accountable for my infraction, but I want to make it clear this is an isolated incident and hope my resultant fines and driving points reduction reflect that.
every old person is a time traveller
So I had a creepy realization the other day when I was surrounded by old men who looked like me; they were all future me’s, travelled back in time to observe and possibly to mate with my younger self.
An experience
So I was drinking some post sushi beers at the “round about bar” in a nearby, local indian casino, and minding my own business, perhaps watching some tv and listening to my loud, course neighbors.
So these two dudes sit next to me, no bid deal. But they are eating sandwiches and being pretty drunk and vulgar. I hear one dude say he cannot see 8 feet in front of him, and another say he wants to fuck the bartender, and other stuff. But who cares, they can say what they want. Anywho, dude finishes his sandwich and flicks it over my way, so I flick it back. And dude brings an attitude. And his bearded fat friend starts to say something. So I laugh. Like I think I giggled or there abouts.
And this infuriated them, so they stand up and say something about “hippies” and “faggots” and then I laughed again, and then I got aggressive back. I think I took a sip of my beer, and then said “Firstly, I am not scared of either of you.” And then after another sip, informed them I had been listening very closely and I was not going to tolerate their bigoted, fat, redneck asses. And told them that they picked the wrong individual and I was going to hold them to task for their stupid words. It got pretty intense. They kept trying to intimidate me, but then security showed up, and told them to leave, basically, and shook my hand when I explained what happened and how I wasn’t going to be bullied. Then, and this was the best part, some dude next to me told me i was a hero and awesome.
It was pretty surreal, but I felt like someone must have sent these cowards for me to rebuke, it was too intense, but I felt perfectly ready and willing to stand up for myself and against all the shit these idiots said.
Oh, and then as I was walking out, I passed them, but they tried to talk to me, so I walked back and reminded them I would remember this shit and they should watch their actions because the world is full of people like me.