Catharsis

Today's discussion went well, although I feel sorry for the note-taker given how fluid things ended up being. It's good to know that there are like-minded people out there; some have even stronger views than mine. As for my thoughts on the Big Issue, I defer to Montaigne:

...it is greatly to be doubted whether any obvious good can come from changing any traditional law, whatever it may be, compared with the evil of changing it; for a polity is like a building made of diverse pieces interlocked together, joined in such a way that it is impossible to move one without the whole structure feeling it. ("On Habit")

It's time I stopped being so...accommodating and returned to something like my Dartmouth self, which has been itching to get out since I got back. Four years this June.

O! call back yesterday, bid time return. (Richard II)

The other day, the historian-critic in me revolted at the yoking together of Braveheart (the man, not the movie), Teddy R. (the president), and Strider. We have such simplistic conceptions of leadership. Has anyone down under read Machiavelli?

Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

Alright alright, I should probably try to get some work done before meeting the parents tomorrow. Threat of communist subversion or superpower rivalry? What an unfair question!
Posted by kungfuzi at 6:41 pm |