A good thing that being in mathematics means that autistic men are my life, or this comment would be deeply offensive, as if your goal was to mock and deride a rape survivor writing about being inspired by a rape survivor.
I love a quote that’s attributed to FDR: “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”Our ancestors achieved a level of freedom previously unknown in human history, and from that has flown prosperity to an almost ludicrous degree.They wrote founding documents that, while flawed, laid the foundation for passing that freedom and prosperity on to us as a birthright.In the present moment, we appear to be shoving it away with both hands, and largely because we have such a distorted relationship with suffering.In North Korea, people worry about collecting enough shit to avoid being sent to a modern-day Auschwitz.
In America, we have so few real problems that when we have an epidemic of unhappy adolescents, we do not teach them to assume responsibility for their own happiness and equip them with a sense of agency.Instead, we debate at what age they should be allowed to amputate their healthy breasts, hoping this will make them feel better.Insanity is a mild term for the West right now.We must re-locate the wisdom of the ancients.Our insistence on perfect comfort, constant external validation, and total unanimity with every view we hold about ourselves and our precious “identities” is causing us to trade a priceless birthright for much less than a bowl of stew.This is a mistake that we do not have to make.We can stop. Now.
Part of the problem is an utter lack of perspective. An easy example: "food insecurity" is a "problem." In the west, it mostly hasn't been for maybe 75 or 80 years. Food insecurity has been a thing for mankind throughout all of our 10s of thousands of years of being on this planet.
Dad just turned 85, I can tell you he grew up with "food insecurity." So did almost everybody else until nitrogen fertilizer came along in 1943 (actually invented in the 19-teens by a pair of Germans, but it was largely ignored by the world until a couple of Americans discovered the research during WWII). NO3 increased corn yields by as much as 1000%, and rice and wheat yields by up to about 400%.
When we should be thankful for our ease and abundance, some look around the world and feel guilt over it, not understanding.
In the preamble to the constitution, we see that it was established to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." These things are some of the blessings of liberty bequeathed to us.
Yep. I had food insecurity while I was in school. Occasionally missed meals and once didn't eat for four days. Obviously if I had a child I'd have done anything, including knocking on doors and begging to fix it. For just me? It was hugely beneficial suffering. I have perspective that very few other Americans in 2023 do, and I appreciate it.
> And much of the right is seemingly fine with situations that create structural barriers to success. We are currently having a cultural conversation about student loans, the riskiest kind of debt—the kind that can never go away through bankruptcy—offered to people with the least experience in managing debt, with colleges subsidized by the government to over-promise and under-deliver, and consequences affecting only the student when the rigged system doesn’t work.
Ok, but what are "the right" supposed to do about it? They didn't keep bumping how much kids could take out in student loans, they certainly don't run the universities, and anything they did to try and ameliorate the problem would be shouted down as racist homophobia anti-trans whatever.
Does anyone other than the federal government even give out student loans anymore? I don't think suggesting they stop would go over well.
I don't think the current left would accept anything other than "all college everywhere is free".
As for the rest of the post, I'm not sure if I feel qualified to actually intelligently interact with it. I haven't had *that* much suffering in my life, all things considered.
I certainly agree that a huge portion of what people bitch about these days seems born of the fact that almost nobody from the baby boomers on has *really* suffered in any way. Which leaves them with no sense of perspective where the hangnail of a microaggression seems to them the same as the broken neck of an actual lynching.
Beyond that, what suffering I have experienced, I mostly haven't given any meaning to, I don't think. It just is.
A bit late on this post but i wanted to suggest 2 books on life in North Korea to readers - Escape from Camp 14,about a man born into a work camp that escapes, and Dear Leader, which is from the perspective of a NK counterintelligence agent who lives the 'good' life there for a while but is exposed to the contraband coming in which conflicts with him
That study is really interesting. Thanks!!
Whatever gets you through while not harming others. Personally I find the philosophy daft.
A good thing that being in mathematics means that autistic men are my life, or this comment would be deeply offensive, as if your goal was to mock and deride a rape survivor writing about being inspired by a rape survivor.
When virtue becomes a self-sacrifice, do not expect men to be virtuous.
It is only within the confines of a truly civilized society where virtue is not a self-sacrifice. NK and China are, to be polite, not civilized.
THIS.
The Value of Suffering for Freedom
I love a quote that’s attributed to FDR: “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”Our ancestors achieved a level of freedom previously unknown in human history, and from that has flown prosperity to an almost ludicrous degree.They wrote founding documents that, while flawed, laid the foundation for passing that freedom and prosperity on to us as a birthright.In the present moment, we appear to be shoving it away with both hands, and largely because we have such a distorted relationship with suffering.In North Korea, people worry about collecting enough shit to avoid being sent to a modern-day Auschwitz.
In America, we have so few real problems that when we have an epidemic of unhappy adolescents, we do not teach them to assume responsibility for their own happiness and equip them with a sense of agency.Instead, we debate at what age they should be allowed to amputate their healthy breasts, hoping this will make them feel better.Insanity is a mild term for the West right now.We must re-locate the wisdom of the ancients.Our insistence on perfect comfort, constant external validation, and total unanimity with every view we hold about ourselves and our precious “identities” is causing us to trade a priceless birthright for much less than a bowl of stew.This is a mistake that we do not have to make.We can stop. Now.
Part of the problem is an utter lack of perspective. An easy example: "food insecurity" is a "problem." In the west, it mostly hasn't been for maybe 75 or 80 years. Food insecurity has been a thing for mankind throughout all of our 10s of thousands of years of being on this planet.
Dad just turned 85, I can tell you he grew up with "food insecurity." So did almost everybody else until nitrogen fertilizer came along in 1943 (actually invented in the 19-teens by a pair of Germans, but it was largely ignored by the world until a couple of Americans discovered the research during WWII). NO3 increased corn yields by as much as 1000%, and rice and wheat yields by up to about 400%.
When we should be thankful for our ease and abundance, some look around the world and feel guilt over it, not understanding.
In the preamble to the constitution, we see that it was established to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." These things are some of the blessings of liberty bequeathed to us.
Yep. I had food insecurity while I was in school. Occasionally missed meals and once didn't eat for four days. Obviously if I had a child I'd have done anything, including knocking on doors and begging to fix it. For just me? It was hugely beneficial suffering. I have perspective that very few other Americans in 2023 do, and I appreciate it.
I never missed many meals when I was going through my own hard times, but I sure ate a lot of peanut butter and crackers and Ramen noodles.
BTW, did you hear anything from my niece yet? If not, I'll give her a poke later this morning.
> And much of the right is seemingly fine with situations that create structural barriers to success. We are currently having a cultural conversation about student loans, the riskiest kind of debt—the kind that can never go away through bankruptcy—offered to people with the least experience in managing debt, with colleges subsidized by the government to over-promise and under-deliver, and consequences affecting only the student when the rigged system doesn’t work.
Ok, but what are "the right" supposed to do about it? They didn't keep bumping how much kids could take out in student loans, they certainly don't run the universities, and anything they did to try and ameliorate the problem would be shouted down as racist homophobia anti-trans whatever.
Does anyone other than the federal government even give out student loans anymore? I don't think suggesting they stop would go over well.
I don't think the current left would accept anything other than "all college everywhere is free".
As for the rest of the post, I'm not sure if I feel qualified to actually intelligently interact with it. I haven't had *that* much suffering in my life, all things considered.
I certainly agree that a huge portion of what people bitch about these days seems born of the fact that almost nobody from the baby boomers on has *really* suffered in any way. Which leaves them with no sense of perspective where the hangnail of a microaggression seems to them the same as the broken neck of an actual lynching.
Beyond that, what suffering I have experienced, I mostly haven't given any meaning to, I don't think. It just is.
A bit late on this post but i wanted to suggest 2 books on life in North Korea to readers - Escape from Camp 14,about a man born into a work camp that escapes, and Dear Leader, which is from the perspective of a NK counterintelligence agent who lives the 'good' life there for a while but is exposed to the contraband coming in which conflicts with him