Very nice piece. Mass society, both by conditioning and apathy, has delegated to the collective its thinking. The only thing left is the will to obey.
I am a pharmacist. I refused to even inject people. I have lost 4 civilian jobs. I was also an Officer in the Army and I was discharged for my refusal. I did so with the full support of my wife.
We have a major deficiency of courage in the world as it has been erased by the spectre of convenience and conformity.
The theme in your writing - that courage is far rarer than intelligence - can be viewed another way. It would have been extremely uncomfortable for me, and presumably you, to go along with it all. I therefore like to claim i have lived a good honest life in pursuit of such 'honourable comfort', not due to any rare courage!
The hope then might be - fix the systems, fix the reward structures, and conformity or convenience become honest paths once more.
Very well said. I like the term "honorable comfort " . I find that more descriptive for myself than claiming rare courage. Unfortunately, almost any measure of courage is rare in this world.
Perhaps one day the world will have more honest paths as you said.
Ha, ha.
Excellent.
Am reminded of an old Tom Lehrer song: "The Old Dope Peddler"
"When the shades of night are falling
Comes a fellow ev'ryone knows
It's the old dope peddler
Spreading joy wherever he goes
Ev'ry evening you will find him
Around our neighborhood
It's the old dope peddler
Doing well by doing good
He gives the kids free samples
Because he knows full well
That today's young innocent faces
Will be tomorrow's clientele
Here's a cure for all your troubles
Here's an end to all distress
It's the old dope peddler
With his powdered ha-happiness."
Very nice piece. Mass society, both by conditioning and apathy, has delegated to the collective its thinking. The only thing left is the will to obey.
I am a pharmacist. I refused to even inject people. I have lost 4 civilian jobs. I was also an Officer in the Army and I was discharged for my refusal. I did so with the full support of my wife.
We have a major deficiency of courage in the world as it has been erased by the spectre of convenience and conformity.
Kudos to you, and your wife.
The theme in your writing - that courage is far rarer than intelligence - can be viewed another way. It would have been extremely uncomfortable for me, and presumably you, to go along with it all. I therefore like to claim i have lived a good honest life in pursuit of such 'honourable comfort', not due to any rare courage!
The hope then might be - fix the systems, fix the reward structures, and conformity or convenience become honest paths once more.
Very well said. I like the term "honorable comfort " . I find that more descriptive for myself than claiming rare courage. Unfortunately, almost any measure of courage is rare in this world.
Perhaps one day the world will have more honest paths as you said.
The banality of evil, just as Hannah Arendt described it.
Very nice, Shane. Comprehensive rationales from every perspective.