As Arendt observed, those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil. This is why the early medieval church frequently required soldiers to do penance, even after "just" wars.
Astonishing to watch some US Catholics requiring God to bless a just war. In Catholic teaching, even a stringently "just" war is always the lesser of two evils. As Augustine argues, the tragedy of the human condition is that sometimes the lesser evil is a "necessity". But it's still evil.
Awkwardly, Festinger’s research methods now seem to be in question and I am experiencing cognitive dissonance (or not, as the case may be): www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I was contacted by two separate journalists wanting to write “quiet revival” stories. I don’t really have the expertise to comment, but pointed them to the Pew Forum
story questioning YouGov’s methodology. Result was silence and then one quiet revival story.
Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?
Iran’s people were facing a horrible shortage of water before the war began. If we are destroying desalination plants and setting fire to Teheran we are committing unfathomable crimes.
About 20% of all LNG travels through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the energy source the NZ Govt wants to use instead of expanding renewables. A new LNG import terminal would be paid for by a new tax on our electricity bills (electricity which is mostly renewable). Nuts.
But some of this is only feasible with smaller classes. I don't envy my colleagues in Philosophy who give oral exams to classes of hundreds.
OTOH, a refreshing number of students are taking a commendably Luddite approach to AI -- kind of a neo-Hipster pe-and- paper ethic.
Yeah, I doubt pep talks will motivate more than a few students. The university here is steering us towards assessment where the incentive to use AI is low to non-existent, or where explicit, critical use is built into the process - e.g. full essay process rather than just the final product.
I'd been planning the same spiel for next week, but with the analogy of bringing a forklift to the gym and feeling proud of your deadlift.
Your image makes the point so much more effectively.
If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.
Democracy dies in oligarchy.
The woke scolds are trying to make this about racism. But Musk is right. It's about historical and scientific integrity. When the God of Thunder disguises himself as a swan to seduce and fuck a queen and the resulting baby hatches from an egg, *of course* the baby will be white. It's just science.
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
To be fair, I hope that it doesn't take another world war followed by a baby boom to resolve our demographic predicament.
Plus, "Judaeo-Christian" often involves a selective American Protestant appropriation of the elements of Judaism that can be domesticated for American Protestant purposes.
Course poster for a new course, THEOREL 102 Thinking about Religion at Waipapa Taumata Rau - University of Auckland. Blurb reads: Religion features in every aspect of human life, from social media to global politics, from eating to art. This course is designed for students from all backgrounds - religious, non-religious, or just not sure - and introduces the basic concepts and critical skills required for understanding how religion works in an increasingly diverse and complex world.
Poster for a new course at the Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland, and seven months to get it ready!
Single blossom on a plum tree in early spring (southern hemisphere)
Garden right now.
The blossom of a delicious plum hanging over the fence from the next-door neighbour's property. They don't eat them, so I do.
And they respond with the same calm and measured rationality if anyone so much as questions their right to do as they please with their chosen implement of destruction
Green praying mantis sitting on the red leaf of a blueberry bush during winter. Auckland, New Zealand.
A green praying mantis is cleaning one of its limbs with its mouth while hanging upside down from the red leaf of a blueberry bush in winter, Auckland, New Zealand.
A praying mantis, which has not yet figured out the art of camouflage, crawling over the winter-red leaves of my blueberry bushes. NB. its piratical black eye. #nzgardening
Moon framed by two kites
Crowds on Puketāpapa celebrating Matariki
Mother helping kid to fly kite, Puketāpapa, Auckland
Kites flying on Puketāpapa over view towards of South Auckland
Manu aute (Kite) Day for Matariki on Puketāpapa, Auckland
Last of the summer pomegranates, burst by the midwinter rain. #nzgardens
I wish there were more “spam” like this.
Ahead of the expected proscription of Palestine Action - the first time a protest group has been legally redefined as terrorist - I went through the Hansard of the 2000 Act they're being banned under. Turns out MPs were assured the law wouldn't be applied this way. Thread 🧵🔽
Seems appropriate to end with the statement issued by the first Ploughshares action in 1980, when eight activists entered a General Electric factory and damaged nosecones destined for nuclear ICBMs. They got sentences of up to 10 years each.
But not on charges of 'terrorism'.
Direct action has a long history in Britain - from the DAC, the Committee for 100 & the Spies for Peace, to the Greenham Common Women - and that's only the peace campaigns. That's the history Palestine Action is part of - and it will continue no matter what the courts eventually decide.
"The idea of using AI to somehow personalize learning is less a plan to provide excellent learning opportunities, and more a gimmick to put a little lipstick on the underfunded massification of higher education"
Excellent analysis of bland techno-optimism in universities
github.com/paezha/Unive...
Pale yellow and crimson roses on a kitchen table. Midwinter in the southern hemisphere.
I marked Matariki by giving the roses their winter pruning. These are the stragglers I rescued from the devastation. #Matariki #midwinter
Jucunda Juventus post molestam senectutem
#gaudeamusigitur
