Intimations of Mortality

 

I'm not a great fan of Wordsworth or any of the Romantic poets. His work strikes me as sappy. Whenever I think of him, I think of Bullwinkle reciting his poem about daffodils, wandering lonely as a cloud. Nevertheless I base the title of this post on the title of his poem Intimations of Immortality, substituting "mortality" for "immortality" as the former, not the latter, is on my mind.

You'd think it wouldn't be a difficult thing for us to understand that we're mortal, i.e. that we will die.  It should be obvious, and intimations therefore inappropriate or unnecessary. But we contrive to avoid thinking of it, at least, most of the time and sometimes for years. The intimations arise with age, though.  Your body gives you little reminders; sometimes big ones. Arthritis, for example; problems with eyesight, weight,  balance. Innumerable weaknesses as the organism gradually dissipates.

But we should think of it and not only when we're reminded of it's approach or are suddenly confronted with it one way or another, through the death of someone we know, for example.  So we're told by the ancient philosophers, especially the Stoics, and by their subsequent imitators.

Memento mori: remember you are mortal, and will die.  Supposedly these words or others like them were spoken in the ear of a Roman general granted a triumph by a slave riding with him in a chariot as the spoils of his victory were paraded before him.  Glory is fleeting, fame and prosperity ephemeral. In short, live as if you'll die tomorrow. Understand that those you love or value will die, leaving you alone. This is a form of Stoic practice as we see in the Roman Stoics in particular.

Such thoughts necessarily quash our self-regard and self-importance. They do the same with other "selfs" as well, like self-righteousness and self-love and selfishness in general. As Horace told us, we are but dust and shadows, no matter how much we believe we're important, significant, powerful and worthy.  It's absurd for us to expect or demand loyalty or love or obedience from others.

Sadly, past and present meglomaniacs disregard their insignificance and fail or fear to recognize their mortality.  They don't think they will die. Perhaps we may take comfort in knowing that they will, eventually.

The Misery Of The Sycophant

 

If we are to believe Suetonius, Gaius Caesar, better known as Caligua, was responsible for various atrocities and absurdities but was lavishly praised by those who served him and were under his dominion, including Senators, though they were fully aware of his malice, cruelty, and even madness.  They knew he was ruining the Roman state but extravagantly praised him and facilitated his sometimes deadly caprices for self- serving reasons--sometimes to curry favor, sometimes to remain alive and unmolested.

They were sycophants, in other words.  Eventually, certain Praetoreans assassinated Caligula, saving the wealthy nobility of Rome from further humiliation (which they accepted and even celebrated) at his hands.

Sycophants flourish whenever and wherever there are persons of great wealth or who have great power.  History is full of them.  More recently, sycophants abounded during the reigns of Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and abound now in North Korea where Kim Jon Un has his worshipers, willing or unwilling.

We have our sycophants today, of course. They fall over each other in their eagerness to acclaim the person they serve.

As a rule, sycophants know those they praise and flatter so assiduously are unworthy of adulation. They may even hold them in contempt.  They may be aware that those they call a genius, or claim to be a savior, or contend are the finest (insert title) ever, are in fact fools or maniacs or the worst (insert title) in history. This doesn't matter, however.  Whether due to fear or in pursuit of personal wealth or power, they will laugh at jokes made, compete in efforts at adoration, though all the time loathing those they hail as gifts God has granted the human race.

Sycophants therefore are contemptible themselves.  But do they deserve pity as well? Imagine the shame today's sychophants must feel for debasing themselves, what little self-esteem they must have. Their excessive accolades are embarrassing. Will they eventually acknowledge their degradation? Or will they, in an unconscious effort to to avoid self-loathing, come to convince themselves that their ridiculous, shameless pandering was right and proper?  We must wait and see.

No Sense of Decency

 

"Decency" is a word which seems to have a fairly broad definition.  It seems associated for the most part with propriety; conduct which conforms to what is considered proper, generally in a moral sense.  Those without decency act in such a manner as to call into question their worth or quality as acceptable members of society.  Someone with no sense of decency acts dishonorably, and fails to conform to standards people are expected to meet in their dealings with others.

A famous example of the use of the word is what took place in the course of hearings involving the infamous Senator McCarthy of Wisconsin, known as the Army-McCarthy hearings.  These addressed McCarthy's claims that the army was filled with Communists.

Joseph Welch was the lawyer for the army.  During one of the hearings McCarthy revealed that a young member of Welch's staff once signed a petition supportive of the Communist Party.  There was apparently no claim he joined the party at any time, but McCarthy made the statement in an effort to assert that the staffer and others defending the army, including Welch himself, had Communist sympathies.

Being associated with the Communist Party in those times could ruin a career or even life. Welch famously chastised McCarthy in response, accusing him of character assassination of the staffer for no good reason and asking "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" It was a dramatic moment, and it's considered that this response triggered the decline in McCarthy's popularity and influence.

As a result of this moment, which was made during a televised hearing and was widely replayed, McCarthy was thought by many to have acted improperly, in a dishonorable manner; to have been unjust and cruel in an effort to score a trivial point. He acted indecently. 

I'm uncertain whether something similar could take place now. Certainly if it did now all would know of it and would see it almost instantly, but I don't think it would have the same impact.  That's because I feel many of us, and most and perhaps all of those who currently dominate and influence our plutocracy, have no sense of decency.  As a consequence, they can't be shamed as others were in the past.

What we see enacted now is being done not merely without thought but as if considerations of justice and honesty are no longer of any importance.  There are no standards which apply, or at least no standards which those in power believe people think should be met.  Moral conduct, and in particular honorable conduct, is neither expected nor thought to be admirable in these sad times.  It is only important that a policy or agenda is advanced, or what is desired is acquired, without incurring a loss.

We may have become an indecent society, or nation, or civilization.

Some Unexpected Uses Of AI

 

There's much concern over the potential of Artificial Intelligence. To a certain extent this is understandable. But one possible benefit which hasn't been recognized, to my knowledge, would result from the use of AI in our news media to replace the humans who relate and interpret the news of the day, endlessly.

I think that ideally, news would consist merely of statements describing events that take place, with explanation as needed, but without comment or interpretation. For example, we would be informed that certain legislation is pending, was voted on and the result of the voting.  Instead of being shown the tiresome entirety of a speech or press conference, the bulk of which would consist of self-serving and predictable rhetoric, we would be advised that they took place and the subjects addressed.  Our technology is such that those few who want to hear and see the speech or press conference itself would have the option to do so.

As it is, comment and interpretation are virtually all that is provided. People appear who are asked questions about what takes place and opine on them. What they opine may be anticipated with considerable accuracy based on what network is being watched. 

Each network has its own stable of experts who expound talking points and opinions which mirror those of the owners and watchers of the networks and those politicians they support. The display of experts and pundits to recite predictable opinions or speculate along particular lines seems to be a universal practice.

As an option for those who wouldn't be satisfied by a simple description of events, generated figures could be used which would, by generated audio, pontificate or speculate regarding events as would be expected given the idealogy accepted by the network and its typical viewers. I suspect it would be a relatively simple matter to provide AI with information regarding most politicians and their interests and activities and the types of actions and occurrences taking or to take place which would result in the kind of opinions, interpretations and speculations viewers would expect  and accept which would be at least as enlightening as those now being provided by the people used for this purpose.

It's true that jobs may be lost, but I doubt anything else will be.  Since these news networks seem to thrive in their current form, it appears people won't stop watching them as I've tried to do.  As we must bear with them let's at least acknowledge their inanity in this manner

"The Horror! The Horror!"

 

These are the words of Kurtz, the hugely successful, mysterious and and seemingly evil ivory trader that is the central figure in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, spoken on his deathbed. They're overheard by Marlowe, the narrator, who has spent much time and effort on behalf of a Belgian company traversing part of Africa to find Kurtz, who is said to have "gone native."

The story was not very subtly transplanted to Southeast Asia at the time of the Vietnam War in the movie Apocalypse Now.  In the movie, the character of  Kurtz becomes a very large American Colonel, played by Marlon Brando, who has gone rogue.

Just what the words "the horror" refers to is a matter of some dispute. In the novella, the reference to a Belgian company indicates that Kurtz has set up his kingdom of sorts in the Belgian Congo. The Belgians were notoriously brutal in their treatment of the people inhabiting their colony. "The horror" may refer to that brutality and the death and destruction it caused; it may refer to Africa and Africans, and their allegedly evil  effect on Europeans; it may refer to the lives and conduct of Europeans in their colonies as they raped and plundered Africans and the land of Africa.

Generally, though, it's thought to refer to imperialism's corruption of both imperialists and their subjects/victims.

It's a corruption to be expected in those who desire things not in their control, as the Stoics would put it.  In this case the desire is for other places and people.  More specifically the desire is to exploit other places and people, and do whatever is necessary to do so.  Those with those desires who pursue them are incapable of virtue.  They're instead cruel and brutal, and have no concern for or interest in those they harm.

This has a familiar ring.  The 21st century is not that different from the 19th century; at least, people who have such desires and act on them are much the same in any period.

One of the things I find admirable about Stoicism is that its prescription for happiness and standard for ethical conduct is simple and persuasive.  Most all our problems result from the pursuit of or aversion to things beyond our control.  This causes anger, envy, hatred, lust, conflict, fear-- essentially every cause of misconduct.