tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29087618346472294322024-02-07T21:40:51.293-08:00Forever and Ever, AmenAut Pax, Aut BellumEvan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.comBlogger249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-55254428932023046602014-11-01T14:20:00.000-07:002014-11-01T14:20:06.309-07:00Holy War<div style="text-align: center;">
Swiftly he speaks with cutting wit,</div>
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And pries their premise from under.</div>
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Yet briefly considers his terrific fit,</div>
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Still tearing courtesy asunder.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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Carries the torch of pious mind,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pandering judgment and grace.</div>
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When finally another of his kind,</div>
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Reveals a pugnacious face.</div>
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</div>
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"Fight it!", he thought of whom is called the beast,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of licentious dragon's teeth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To slay that monster would be at least, </div>
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A righteous and glorious deed.</div>
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</div>
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A deed undarkened the mind to the soul,</div>
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And knowing exactly what spirit,</div>
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Where from he speaks and ego pulls,</div>
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And why the acceptance to hear it.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em>By Evan Gunn Wilson</em></div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-28082962830962780512014-03-13T21:37:00.003-07:002014-03-13T21:42:07.024-07:00A Sinner<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Bearing
itself in honest dire woe,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Reveals
to Him an unrelenting foe,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In sin,
using, abused glory’s grace,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Trembled
again, repents to find his face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Whose
body did he charge to live anew,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Grown
amongst thorns, the pleasures, care returns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Half
turned (a child is still more gracious true),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Guilty
mind, but escaping shame that burns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">These lips
that honor, praise increases more,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To Him,
while it had planned to sin before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Water
stolen is sweeter now, and then <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It eats
the secret bread in darken’d den.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Controlled
its breath, truly it still is mean,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Attempts
to fool the God of it unseen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-85851834506214423692013-12-02T17:04:00.001-08:002013-12-02T17:04:24.632-08:00The Methods and Nature of Ancient HistoryHistory is illusive. The reason it is illusive is because we are not there; even if we once were. History is the study of the past, attempting to narrow down the possibilities to one most probable event. But it is only “most probable”, cursing us with doubts against our desire to make a science out of history. In the sciences one is able to test hypotheses and theories, whereas history cannot be referenced, isolated or tested. The only things that a historian has are human accounts (some many degrees removed) and physical evidence subjected to human unpredictability. Consequently, anything and everything about our past could be true or false. Even the myths we read may be truer than we know. Neville Morley, author of Writing Ancient History, said “As historians we are likely to find ourselves emphasizing that the myth offers just one of many possible interpretations of events.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[1]</a> The methods employed are the same as a detective’s methods. There are primary sources or the witnesses and there are secondary sources, which for every degree of removal away from the historic event the source’s credibility is damaged. <br /><br /> How then are we to approach ancient history? The temporal distance increases every day and we have yet to gather all the data we can; it breaks apart, disintegrates and disappears without our consent. Laodicea remains unexcavated though it promises of new material. Why should it stand still untouched, when there may be a copy of Paul the Apostle’s letter to the Laodicaeans somewhere in the ruins? If there is anything that we can learn from history that we are certain of it is that money is the large driving force. This may be the most difficult thing for a historian to understand; his interest in collecting data is so great that he would be happy to unload millions of dollars to everything he could. Often the historian is not the millionaire. He must get grants or loans to fund a dig. Those who have the ability to give out free money or a loan usually do not share the same delight. One might blame progressivism which seems to suggest that anything new is better than the old, so why waste one’s time rediscovering old obsolete things? Those with money invest in the future. What could possibly convince them otherwise?<br /><br /> Karl Marx, whether or not one agrees with his social philosophy, did have a bit of sage advice. Paraphrased, he suggested in regards to history that we know where we have been in order to know where to go. To popular society ancient history seems irrelevant to the modern world; it is all too alien. But for the classicist or the historian their desire is like a literary man’s desire to know all he can about Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy; except the presumption is that these cities rising and falling, and the massive armies marching across the country side have or had a reality. When we can derive our cultures, habits, politics, economies and governments from these nations the size of Idaho the curiosity heightens for no other reason than to be aware of the delicacy of the present circumstance. The year 1066 in England holds much to be discussed: what would a Viking ruled England turn out to look like in a hundred years or how would that affect the present year? The big question: how easily could that have come? One method for learning and uncovering ancient history is tracing lineages as far back as one can. One might remember their experience with the exhaustive genealogies in the bible and resent them entirely, but for the historian they serve as a useful thread. That is one of the tasks of the historian. To connect threads and create a story satisfies the desire for an answer; falsification and debunking only come after this fact. Historical nihilism does nothing but falsify, leaving no room for an actual answer. People would rather be wrong about the Greeks than not believe and not have faith in something. Our origins really do end up being that important to us and perhaps rightly so. <br /><br /> And so, western civilization remains curious since it owes so much to the Greeks and Romans. They gave us the very idea of history. They asked the questions we may never have thought to ask ourselves. How many great civilizations have faded into obscurity all because they did not ask the right questions or take time to write down their histories? We know very little about ancient African civilization because we have very few primary sources. But these histories must occur as stories. This is because our cultures define themselves according to the plot-arch and the moral. Neville Morley mentions that “the Victorians had a very Romantic view of history as progress, where as we tend to see history in more satirical terms, as a succession of events which cannot be understood in terms of any monolithic Grand Narrative.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[2]</a> Morley subjects history to the same structures as literature: Romance, Comedy, Tragedy and Satire. It should be noted as well that the word “history” comes from the Greek historia, which was termed because of the temples upper stories often related a tale, whether it was myth or fact. In other words, story-telling and history are one in the same. <br /><br /> But whose story? Since historians will often write in one of the four literary genres mentioned by Morley there is an implied agenda. In Mary Beard and John Henderson’s book Classics: A Very Short Introduction, they asked, “Is it fair to judge the Greeks and Romans by our own contemporary moral standards? Or is impossible not to?”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[3]</a> There are difficulties in interpretation because everyone has an ego connected to their ancestors. It is blatant in Virgil’s poetry. The Aeneid was a paid venture to represent Caesar Augustus’ lineage in a good, if not great, light. While at the very same time the poet Ovid was mocking and disowning the ancestral gods. These two poets would write vastly different histories. Morley said, “We might take any one of these stories and undermine it, turning it into a satire: a tragic account of the Republic’s demise that ends not with the death of Cicero but with the elevation of his son to the consulship in 30 B.C. or an account of Augustus’ career which emphasizes the gap between his public persona and his actual deeds.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[4]</a> For modern laymen of history, it is usually enjoyable to learn of Rome’s transition from a republic to an Empire because the Pax Romana resembles the Pax Americana; but for a die-hard republican (a term I use vaguely) this is a sorry story. These are some of our baser motives, but one must not presume that these motives will produce the basest product, for even bald face lies contain a little truth. Morley quotes Thucydides saying “people are inclined to accept all stories of ancient times in an uncritical way – even when these stories concern their own native country.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[5]</a> What is your country? To whom do you belong? To whom are you loyal? Whether it is the present or former regime that you are loyal to, it matters not; the personal historian’s bias may or may not affect his studies, but it is our job to weigh the arguments he makes soundly. One should like to have these answers, because one should like to hold some one accountable. It may be futile hindsight, but an answer to our questions will do enough to settle the origins of one’s past. <br /><br /> The pursuit of history may be trumped up to a psychological inconsequential necessity, or a real moral compass that perpetually judges. For the Greeks it is evidenced in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. Shortly and bluntly, bad things were happening and bad things were anticipated to happen based on a dead man’s actions, and the people in the story drew these lines. History has a practical purpose; our actions have consequences and we should like remember which actions had bad results. And yet, Herodotus and Thucydides wrote histories that were chronologically close in proximity to their own time. For them it was modern history, whereas for us it ancient history. Because of this, the classics seem hardly relevant to the modern man. Rather, many an average educated person has a sizable amount of information about the French Revolution, American Revolution and both World Wars. These events are direct testaments to the present man’s position and so he values the information more. We can trace our lineages far back enough to know just how our family was involved and hopefully increase the pride and dignity of our family. But this behavior is not an exclusive hard and fast rule. Fads and trends exist in the study of history as much as anywhere else. Beard and Henderson said “Yet at the same time there is much debate about which works of art or literature surviving from the ancient world are the best. Such judgments are deeply affected by changes in our own contemporary culture.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[6]</a> The will of the culture decides what is to be studied. Sometimes, a piece’s objective good is ignored because the customs it represents are seen as immoral in the present day and they will be left ignored. Other times there will be calls for man to return to his roots and pay homage to his ancestors; new curriculums will evolve from this but it will always be focused on the same material. <br /><br /> Our relationship with modern history is perhaps far more rewarding than with ancient history. Simply, by the time Gutenberg’s printing press was in use, record keeping became more and more precise, and the keeping of records grew exponentially. Suddenly, questions as to what happened on such and such a date were put to rest by the five separate accounts from five different people, who were all witnesses. Our studies of World War II are intriguing because we are not left in the dark anywhere; if it were fiction nothing would be left to the imagination. Though, we use the same methods in studying modern history as we do in ancient history and there may be more dots to connect, most of them have already been connected. Beard and Henderson said, “The rediscovery of Greece was, in a way, the rediscovery of the origins of western culture as a whole.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[7]</a> The key word is “rediscovery”. This implies that these cultures along with their classics were once known and loved. With this in mind, there are two options for the history of man: either history is linear on an upward progressive incline or man is an animal of predictable patterns and history holds the pictures. For those who study modern history the former option is how our past is viewed; man is ever ascending to perfection, backed by science and improving economies with higher standards of living. Eventually, man will become Nietzsche’s ubermensch. For those who study classics/ancient history the desire is based on a deficiency of a lost good. The classicists find Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and praise their insight into the human condition and social constructs. They find Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey unlike anything out of their own era; they have beauty that is misunderstood by the common man. To study classics is to say that man is not always improving himself. It is to say Livy may have more to teach than Churchill’s war histories. Beard and Henderson said, “The questions raised by Classics are the questions raised by our distance from ‘their’ world, and at the same time by our closeness to it, and by its familiarity to us.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[8]</a> They say Classics aim to define and debate our relationship to that world. This is exactly what Karl Marx touched upon. One should not be as fatalistic as George Santayana when he said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but since the ancient world has influenced our world to such a great degree, it might be vulgar to ignore such things. <br /><br /> Man’s study of modern history is “cause and effect” and nothing but the facts. For man to study the Enlightenment and the French Revolution he will understand the immediate reason modern man operates the way he does. For man to study the Classics he will understand what facilitated the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to happen in the first place. Again, out of Beard and Henderson, “ancient Athens can still be seen as the ultimate ancestor of democracy world-wide.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[9]</a> And this is the greatest distinction between ancient and modern history. Because of our close proximity with modern history we focus on finding out “what happened”, while because our distant blood relation with ancient history we focus on finding out “why it happened”.<br /><br /> When studying ancient history one may be simply intrigued with the alien nature or the stories told, whether they be myth or historical accounts, one certainly does not see anything so base. Our sophistication has made man either jealous of their grand simplicity or outright snobbish towards the ancients. A classicist is perhaps more often the jealous kind. A classicist unconditionally loves most ancient things; he translates and interprets and then discerns what must be added to the curriculum of schools everywhere. A historian may be either of the two kinds, but most of all, they attempt to be non-biased while using their powers of deduction to let the facts speak for themselves. There is a danger here; Morley says, “Facts don’t speak: the historian who tries to listen to nothing but the facts will produce an interpretation that is driven by his own unconscious preconceptions, assumptions and prejudices.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[10]</a> The accounts of historians who claim the utmost objectivity are often most dangerous for reliable information. They neglect surrounding histories and hardly make an attempt to falsify their own position and answer their detractors. The classicist would be a formidable opponent for these historians; they might be taught humility. While the historian cites his data to make an argument, the classicist cites the very zeitgeist of the age, which he gathered through the literature, language and other avenues. The classicist seems to have a much more intimate relationship with the material at hand than the historian. <br /><br /> But there are more points of contention. For a classicist, he is free to interpret materials however he pleases since no one will ever gain any more evidence about a dead man’s thoughts. E.M. Tillyard (a classicist) was free to write a whole book on the mind of an Elizabethan and generalize the entire way through. A man’s mind is nebulous, vague and unclear which makes for open season for the classicists. Historians do not have this luxury. Simply, it is accepted by everyone everywhere that only one thing happened at a particular time and place. Because of this, the objective for the historian has become to get nearest the truth as possible, but not all agree on where “near” is. The argument may go on for centuries about some event which may lead a man into historical nihilism giving him no hope of finding truth; it may be wise for the historian to imitate the classicist. The historian can bear to gain some imagination. Morley says of this, “imagination plays an indispensable role in the interpretation of evidence, helping the historian to make connections, fill in gaps and build up a wider picture of the period being studied.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[11]</a> Ancient history in the broader study of classics ought to fit quite nicely. For early classical material it will give a clear context; an example would be reading the Annals of Tacitus and Catullus. Modern classical material is often inspired by the ancients like the works of the Victorians and Romantics. They praised and glorified the ancients, because of their imagination. The historian, though he often fulfills the stereotype of the monotone lecturer, could adopt and benefit the humility and imagination of the classicist. <br /><br /> This relationship between these different areas of study is just another thread that we find ourselves connecting in order to find an origin. All too often, we presume that certain customs were created out of irrational nonsense. But if you trace things far back enough you will find a creator and reason. Our methods are to trace and deduce, like a detective, in order that we might praise the past or condemn it. Our cultures make us biased towards these things, but perhaps this is unavoidable. Ancient history is very like modern history except with much more theory attached to it. The question “why?” is more important than the question “What?” A historian may arrive at these answers more quickly if he employed the tactics of the classicists.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[1]</a> Neville Morley. Writing Ancient History (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press). 1991. P. 156 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[2]</a> Morley. Writing Ancient History. P. 106 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[3]</a> Mary Beard and John Henderson. Classics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 2000. P. 54 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[4]</a> Morley. Writing Ancient History. P. 107 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[5]</a> Morley. Writing Ancient History. P. 37 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[6]</a> Beard and Henderson. Classics: A Very Short Introduction. P. 87. Examples they used were how the earliest Greek sculpture became valued during the Early Twentieth Century when abstract art was most popular. <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[7]</a> Beard and Henderson. Classics: A Very Short Introduction. P. 15 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[8]</a> Beard and Henderson. Classics: A Very Short Introduction. P. 6 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[9]</a> Beard and Henderson. Classics: A Very Short Introduction. P. 16 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[10]</a> Morley. Writing Ancient History. P. 93 <br /> <br /><br /><a href="file:///C:/Users/Evan/Documents/Hist%20404%20Essay.docx">[11]</a> Morley. Writing Ancient History. P. 32 <br /><br /> Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-42757648809808820192013-08-28T20:53:00.001-07:002013-08-28T20:53:19.747-07:00Phil 361 - Relevancy of Ethics in BusinessWhen we consider whether or not ethics are relevant to business we should first find out what exactly it is that we are asking. Ethics can be referred to as moral principles that we choose, or choose not to adhere. Business, as a popular term means nothing more than your method of advancing yourself in society. Business necessitates that you interact with others and since the objective is to advance yourself there is a right way and a wrong way to do that. Still, one's own advancement is not a moral imperative as far as I am aware so we have no reason to pursue business, or pursue interactions with others. But back on the word ethics, I should not say it is an awful dilemma. Ethics are always presumed to be a certain way, but with no authority backing up the claim. We rely on majority answers to decide was is righteous and what is wicked; but these have no god given authority to absolutely say one way or another. Consequently, we are left in the dark. Left could be right, up could be down, black could be white, and most importantly bad could be good. If anyone objects the universe replies with a hearty "says you". I am not saying that nobody is correct anywhere; rather, someone could be absolutely right, but they will need to back it up with authority before convincing anybody.<br /><br />Since business has no moral imperative and has a definitional imperative, and ethics appear foggy it seems pretty grim. But we shall not be left to anarchy. At the very least mankind operates as a machine, and a machine must accomplish its task. If we presume upon this one "must" (moral imperative) then we can actually go somewhere. Also, if we presume a perspective of today's culture and on American soil then we can get even further. Ethics, though they are broadly similar, differ on a few points from culture to culture. Some may be egalitarian and some not; I cannot think of any cultures that encourage murder. With these two presumptions we may determine the relevancy of ethics to business. Business would be a way in which we as machines accomplish our tasks. Though it may seem existential, our finished tasks go on to create other tasks for others to complete. It never ends. But the status quo must be kept, otherwise it stalls and becomes a horror. Our natures seem to run better on good ethic (what it is popularly known to be) rather than bad ethic. The "bad ethic" moves towards the stall. A small distinction would be between encouragement and discouragement. So it should follow that our understanding of good ethics or <em>The Tao</em> is necessary to finishing the task. Therefore, we must pursue the questions and uncertainties that <em>The Tao</em> presents us if we want to operate in business.<br /><br />Lastly, can a good business be unethical? I believe that it can, just not for very long. Example: A man might heighten his self-esteem by treating everyone else poorly, but he will presently do more damage than good. Eventually, his actions burned too many bridges for him to improve himself (self-esteem) in a natural order. <em>The Tao</em> remains the only cost efficient (no pun intended) way for us machines to accomplish our tasks. Business needs ethics just as much as we presume non-businesses needs ethics.Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-90628484057624577512013-07-15T20:51:00.001-07:002013-07-15T20:51:42.353-07:00An Ex-Lover's Lament and HopeBring your beer and bring your smokes,<br />
Sing, "Sally, she was good to me!"<br />
And if you hear our ribald jokes,<br />
Sing, "She brought out the worst in me!"<br />
<br />
For we all have a Sally, and a Sally swell,<br />
A pretty peach, unruly cute.<br />
Whether a Northern brick, or a Southern bell,<br />
She loved this ugly brute.<br />
<br />
With her, our weekends were void of pain,<br />
Always she was nearby.<br />
Best she left so as to leave me sane,<br />
Ignore the glutton's cry.<br />
<br />
Ah, Sally! Why? Naive you tried!<br />
To come when I had called.<br />
But every sigh was a bald face lie,<br />
She hit the lover's wall.<br />
<br />
That wall endured for only a time,<br />
But Sally wore thin and fine.<br />
Had I bought her for only a dime,<br />
Still warranted not to be mine.<br />
<br />
I gripped to hard and nothing left,<br />
But wisdom to accept.<br />
Now Sally is with a better man,<br />
Denied desire and from her ran.<br />
<br />
Be excellent too, primarily wise,<br />
Walk with a gentleman's grace.<br />
And Sally who? Powerless eyes,<br />
Her staring admiring face.<br />
<br />
<i>By Evan Gunn Wilson</i>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-20182890167199764372013-06-23T17:41:00.000-07:002013-06-23T17:41:08.084-07:00War and Fights in the Classroom<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the Fall semester of 2012, I was fulfilling some of
my core curriculum at the University
of Idaho.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an Integrated Seminar (Isem) class
which is the kind of thing that is supposed “broaden” your mind and knowledge
of your world; the purpose was to give you another accomplishment to make you
more interesting and less bigoted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
was looking at the list of Isem classes, I came across one that was title
“Tribal Cultures and Histories”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Naturally, since I am a History major I figured this would be
sufficiently promising class for I had thought that it would cover tribes all
over our globe, ancient and modern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would have recommended it cover everywhere from the bushmen of Africa
to the revered middle eastern tribes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was sadly mistaken as I showed up to my first day of class and discovered that
this class was to cover only Native American tribes and what the white man had
done to them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was not the type of environment that was supposed to make
you feel guilty, although a lot of guilt was then pandered to, and the lesson
plans were accusatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our teacher was a
nice lady whose main goal was for us to be educated about the “real” history of
the founding and creation of America
as a nation, and also to be prepared adequately for the likely event that we
socialize and work with Native Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These were things that I had no problem with other than the guilt
tripping, but what I discovered as the class progressed was unnerving.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our culture has become naïve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not naïve about the history of man,
but rather about the nature of man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
some of the students read or hear about the war that was waged on the
“peaceful” Indians by the colonists, they were utterly shocked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could not imagine that men could act in
such a fashion to kill millions of people for no other reason than their
personal gain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This led me to believe
that they had never opened a history book in their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a keen distaste for these actions
and felt it necessary to inform others of the atrocities committed by our white
ancestors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The absolute brain washing of the culture that has taken
place in these students is done pretty well if they never notice how evil and
wicked man is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Judeo-Christian
tradition it is pretty clear that man is wicked and we should not be surprised
of his actions when he is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bible is
full of lists that describe the condition of man and one that is popular is
right out of Romans 1 which goes as such: “They were filled with all manner of
wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty,
boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless,
heartless, ruthless.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty good and
direct list this is, and it has proven true in the centuries before and after
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And no better evidence is there than
our present day where we see mass shootings almost as a regular
expectation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the shock of these
students over what is simply war is proof of the slow loss of Judeo-Christian
sensibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our kids are being raised
with dump trucks full of self-esteem that could knock out any curmudgeonly old
man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are told that toleration is
important and the only way this can be argued is if the premise that people are
generally good prevails upon them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
they walk around in the defined mental utopia where they are a gift to the
human race and no one would ever say otherwise because they are pretty decent
people themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a folly that
has nothing but pain and suffering ahead of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As these self esteem sponges begin to function in society they slowly
realize that their initial opinion they had of themselves was not wholly
accurate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it does not stop
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They begin to see others who are
undeniably better people than they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They will rationalize that these betters are not actually better even
though the proof of their lives is a complete testament to the opposite
persuasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they accept that there
are some people are going to be better human beings this is a first step to
repentance of down right depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
the inconsistencies do not stop there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They also deal with people who are worse than they are; then their emotions
are conjured up to the indignant or an unhealthy amount of pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the while the questions remain
un-answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cannot account for the
wickedness that they experience in the fallen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Things cease to make sense and they are left to nothing other than a
life full of confusion, bitterness, and resent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These fools have become popular images and have inserted
this type of thinking into our media, penal system, military, and
politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Philosophies like humanism,
communism, and modern Buddhism are the refined versions of this elementary
grade of thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, reality has a
way of catching up with bad philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Before I had only mentioned that some of the students in this class were
shocked at the “news”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others I had
discovered later were of a more realistic persuasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They knew that everybody in every culture has
had a bad day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one is exempt from
suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, perhaps some what
insensitively, “So what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sort of
stuff didn’t just happen to the Indians, but most every other culture who gets
dominated.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, this was refreshing for
me, as a dinosaur, that these freshmen were a bit smarter than their culture
bargained for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They weren’t acting as
bigots who want to always maintain the upper hand for the white race (they were
white kids).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead they had a cold
blood towards the matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wouldn’t
mind seeing an evil man sent to the electric chair, because they believe in
morality, so they believe in good and evil, so they see these truths to be self
evident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some men deserve it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gunn, you are a psychopath!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Isn’t it clear to you that the Native American Indians didn’t deserve
what happened?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just because they had cutsie nature
philosophy does not convince me that these inhabitants weren’t also out for
blood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them were nice to the
white man and the white man with his ultimate knowledge of commanding and
conquering pulled a double cross on the Indians after a series of unfortunate
events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My point is simple: Indians as
individuals and nations were equally evil with the white man; the white man was
just better and more efficient at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And now we have the great nation America
where the prejudice is mild and the hate for one another is nicely regulated in
the court system.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Judeo-Christian tradition is under a lot of fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certain moments in the Old Testament are
“intolerant, bigoted, sexist, racist and unenlightened” according to the modern
age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have grown past that and now we
know that problems can be solved through dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We distinguish ourselves from the Neanderthal
by not waging war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I am
speaking in a sarcastic voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By no
means!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is not a single legitimate
argument that I can find that defends Enlightenment philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, most of the children of enlightenment
philosophy believe in it because it strokes their own egos in one way or
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I should ask, “What
was the argument that convinced you that Judeo-Christian morals were
wrong?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may have not done their due
diligence in finding a new belief, but what about the old?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will find that most people have not even
done this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have no argument other
than it was too hard for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might war
be the default of man?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it possible
that the natural state of man is one of war, battle and killing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is war bad?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They will automatically say “no!” but they would be more than willing to
fight in a war to defend tolerance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
partake of the sweet, savory aspect of war and they have just temporarily
justified it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All that we do is war against each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we do this especially in a free
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a man stands next to another
and he is of different culture, he will be resented, hated and eventually
killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The utopia where nobody fights
is an ultimately childish endeavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
that I should like to see in my generation is a bit of reality and
hardness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As David said to Solomon on
his death bed, “Be strong and show yourself a man.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking offense and demanding reparations is
one the least manly things you can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a Christian I recommend forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you are not a man of the law all one can do is pray to his God to
deliver him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love is kind.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-14227945229564252402013-05-19T22:26:00.000-07:002013-05-19T22:26:51.977-07:00The Elizabethan Era: Its People and Perspective<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The Elizabethan Era is known for
significant military action and great accomplishments in the liberal arts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When this era is referenced it commonly delves
into Shakespeare’s plays or Queen Elizabeth’s political prowess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is an ignored part of this history;
for instance when historians take a look at the French Revolution the mythology,
beliefs, philosophy and religion secure the most attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They dissect every last “cause and effect”
scenario and publish whole books about their findings and theories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strangely, only certain eras have merited
this treatment by modern society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
neglects to dissect the Elizabethan Era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are, of course, anthropological studies and other trends in this
era, but the world view or “zeitgeist” has been paid little attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One writer, Eustace M. W. Tillyard published
a work in 1972 titled <i>The Elizabethan World Picture</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this piece, Tillyard explores the idea of
order in the minds of writers such as Shakespeare, Donne and Milton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though it is not difficult to find quotes in
these authors that expound their idea of the universe, this book limited itself
to the manifestations of ideas in the poetic minds of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not consider the common man’s
experience or how these ideas may have shown in the inane and frivolous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consequently, when one thinks of Queen
Elizabeth’s reign images of writers or explorers flood the mind and satisfy the
historical concepts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is so much
more left untapped, such as the explorer, poet, statesman, soldier that was Sir
Walter Raleigh (1554-1629).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh
is exemplary of a man who completely reacts instinctually to the tide of the
times while maintaining his own critical thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This man and his contemporaries were like any
French or American revolutionary; they were beasts of their age. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His views as to the order of the cosmos may
have been indispensable from the average Elizabethan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, many popular figures in
Elizabethan lore are common men by birth and rose to notoriety based on their
exceptional work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though it may not seem
so, the Elizabethan Age was dominated by this unique and peculiar design for the
universe and it bleeds from many areas of business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The design is one of Order; the Four Humours
and the Divine right of Kings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
opposition, like Beatrice Groves, believes otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asserted in her book <i>Texts and
Traditions: Religion in Shakespeare 1592-1604</i>, that, “Shakespeare does not
commit the same ideological elisions of which many of his contemporaries were
guilty in their discussions of a biblically based government”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with Raleigh,
Francis Bacon’s (1561-1626) essays are ripe with data to support the world view
of the Elizabethan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bacon approaches
philosophically the scheme of this order for which Tillyard so adequately gave
evidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, Shakespeare
(1564-1616) will also be used as another source to perhaps paint the minds of
the common man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These men, their actions
and their writings should finally reveal what the Elizaethan world view was.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u>A Measure of
Shakespeare</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Who better to approach first than
the undisputed greatest playwright that ever lived William Shakespeare?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was born and baptized in the town
Stratford-on-Avon to a glover, John Shakespeare and his wife Mary Arden in 1564.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living a plain life under plain circumstances
did not prevent Shakespeare from receiving a standard education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been supposed that he actively started
pursuing the theater in 1592.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His plays have become immortal since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When one presumes that William Shakespeare
was a real man as opposed to a conspiracy, the question comes: What gave this
man his clairvoyance to pen these masterpieces with only the use of a menial
free education?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His plays may answer
this question for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stephen Greenblatt
points out that Shakespeare found himself searching for what other playwrights
had not yet done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he writes of fools
and presumably honorable men getting drunk and disorderly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Greenblatt says of Sir Toby and Falstaff,
“They do for a limited time overturn sobriety, dignity and decorum”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> In
<i>Julius Caesar</i> Shakespeare inserts and references classical imagery that
could not have come from a standard education; he obtained this knowledge from
his society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Act I, Scene iii, Casca,
a conspirator meets Cicero in the
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He described the setting and
wrote that there should be “thunder and Lightning” as this is what the topic of
the scene required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This use of weather
was not a device to communicate devious behavior, rather it was suggesting that
along with the dialogue that there was a disturbance in the cosmos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casca says early on, “Either there is a civil
strife in heaven/Or else the world, too saucy with the gods/incenses them to send
destruction”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Why does this mean anything about
the common Elizabethan world view?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tons
of authors have referenced the gods at one point or another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elizabethans had a keen sense of hierarchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Monarchy they assert that the king or
queen is God’s Anointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what
Tillyard calls (and used as a chapter title) the chain of being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God delegates power to his subjects, and they
must not be questioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>C. S. Lewis
describes this in his <i>Preface to Paradise Lost</i> saying, “Everything
except God has some natural superior; everything except unformed matter has
some natural inferior”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, in the case of Julius Caesar, although he
was technically a dictator, qualified as “God’s anointed”; which meant that the
conspiracy caused a storm in the cosmos, creating chaos and disarray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brutus and Cassius planned to assassinate
Caesar and this was not conducive to a peaceful world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, modern scholars have written of
Shakespeare’s strange representation of political intrigue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notion of hierarchy is so prominent
amongst Elizabethans that modern sensibilities cannot handle to the
torque.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>Taming of the Shrew</i> Katharina’s
eventually submitted and gave a speech that drove modern historians to think that
Shakespeare wrote it ironically.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many strange sights were observed and
reported, such as men walking about engulfed in fire.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casca knew he was up to no good, testing his
boundaries with the questionable Cicero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casca relates these things to Cassius later
hoping for consolation saying, “But wherefore did you so much tempt the
heavens? / It is the part of men to fear and tremble / When to the most mighty
gods by tokens send / Such dreadful heralds to astonish us”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillyard quotes John Fortescue saying, “In
this order hot things are in harmony with cold, dry with moist, heavy with
light, <i>great with little, high with low</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this order angel is set over angel, rank upon rank in the kingdom of
heaven; man is set over man, beast over beast . . .”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This quote nicely sums up the general thesis
of the Elizabethan era which promotes order and rank (divine right).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The humours are mixed in but only appear as a
<i>subset</i> of the over arching order.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
One cannot really be sure of what
motivated Brutus to assassinate Caesar, but the fashion that Shakespeare wrote
it was that Brutus was an “honorable man”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He deeply lamented having to put to death his
good friend, but figured the ends justified the means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Antony
turns the people against Brutus, Cassius, and the rest of the conspirators,
Brutus becomes panicky; he tries to patch things back to normal and justifies
his actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course no matter how
much mental gymnastics he does he is visited in the night by Caesar’s ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being approached by the ghost he says, “I
think it is the weakness of mine eyes . . . art thou some god, some angel, or
some devil?”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not merely a send up of Greek
mythology, because if it were Brutus would have spoken of fates, furies and
gods by name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, Shakespeare was
following up on Dante Alighieri’s suggestion that Brutus (guilty of regicide)
was a man just as wicked as Judas (Guilty of killing God).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These actions are significantly different in
scope, but the suggestion is that they are one and the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
One major part of the Elizabethan
world view was the four humours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
general idea was since food was a necessary part of our living, it was integral
to our being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As food passes through our
system it converts to four bodily liquids which were phlegm, melancholy, blood
and choler.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these corresponded to four elements
which were water, earth, air and fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the science of the day and this is what was referenced in
matters of health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a sub-order
of the grand order of the complete cosmos; it merely has to do with man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>Julius Caesar</i> Antony
speaks of Brutus at the end of the play saying, “His life was gentle, and the
elements / so mix’d in him that Nature might stand up / and say to all world,
‘This was a man!’”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a prime example: not only does it
apply to the soft science of the world, but also to a man’s general position of
the cosmos to the point where an anthropomorphized nature speaks well of a man
to have these humours balanced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
not merely poetry; this is orthodoxy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shakespeare
was not a doctor, but a simple man of the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One must also notice the fact that the word
“nature” is capitalized.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u>A Measure of
Francis Bacon</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Francis may not be as interesting a
man as Shakespeare was, but he may provide a greater wealth of world view
evidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an informal theologian
who was not all that “churchy” but was willing to defend it mightily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Atheism was at this time gaining believers,
so naturally Bacon stepped in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillyard,
in his chapter on sin said, “Atheism not agnosticism was the rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was far easier to be very wicked and think
yourself so than to be a little wicked without a sense of sin”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only did agnosticism doubt God’s
existence, but it forgot the entire order of the universe and their personal
role inside it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was socially
unacceptable and so naturally pagans, heathens and atheists were more
acceptable for their mere validity, because they at least had a design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heathens served a false and valid god while
atheists served the “god self”, which is just as valid as any pagan deity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The acceptance of a grand order to the
universe was incredibly important to the Elizabethan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, in the eyes of Bacon, atheists were
sorely mistaken; so much he wrote an essay on atheism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opening lines go, “I had rather believe
all the fables in the legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this
universal frame is without mind”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only is this an apologetic, but this
claim also asserts that order is necessary, and to forget inserting order into
your world view is down right absurd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bacon argues from the perspective that Tillyard called the “chain of
being”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He granted that a little philosophy
“inclineth a man’s mind to atheism” but that when one delves deeper into the
whole business he is eventually brought about to religion.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bacon spoke almost directly of the chain of
being saying, “But when it beholdeth the chain of them [events] confederate,
and linked together, it must needs fly to providence and deity”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply, he says that when a man does not see
the bigger picture he will not believe in god, but examining his world and his
place inside it he will quickly resort to religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In hindsight, Bacon points out that
Protestantism fueled the fire for this belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He tracks the lack of atheism to a little division in the church; the
Protestant Reformation though large boiled down to two opposing doctrines of
salvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the Reformation continues
one notes the amount of division in Protestants, and with much division in
religion atheism gains power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
perfidiousness of people, mixing in the apparent chaos, gave reason to believe
that there is no god.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where is he?”
they ask.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As mentioned before Bacon saw order
as necessary, but along with that order came a delightful Elizabethan notion of
hierarchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only hierarchy, but
monarchy was his favorite given that Yahweh is himself a monarch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said with great Solomonic fervour, “A king
is a mortal God on earth, unto whom the living God hath lent his own name as a
great honor”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He believed in divine right of kings, because
it was another puzzle piece to hold everything together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did have other instructions for monarchs
but most of all, in a very un-Lockeian way, the king must be obeyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
To relate this to commoners one
must know that poets were, in fact, the rock stars of that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poetry was the easiest means of creating and
sharing art in those times, so naturally poetry circulated in and out of the
courts and into the streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sir John
Davies wrote a poem upon seeing the Virgin Queen in her majesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was stricken to the point of writing, “Her
brighter dazzling beams of majesty”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillyard quoted this poem, but used it in a
different effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to point out
the fabled cosmic dance that exemplified itself inside the court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This poetry resonated with the people; not
only did they enjoy the sight of the queen, but they enjoyed the sheer cosmic
order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one’s country to gravitate
towards prosperity is a good thing, but for there to be no war in heaven is
encouraging to say the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence,
atheism during this time was unfashionable, even if tolerated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dancing (an <i>ordering</i> of bodily
movements) was a very popular entertainment for Elizabethans, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It, like poetry, was easy to accomplish with
minimal resource.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though Bacon was
not fond of dancing himself said, “Dancing to song, is a thing of great state
and pleasure”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It should be noted that Francis
Bacon is known as the father of the modern scientific method.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bacon wrote very clearly his ideas on how to
obtain empirical knowledge about our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What had inspired him to create this plan of science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general idea was to let Nature (that is
with a capital “N”) speak and argue for itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He considered it conceited to propose a hypothesis and attempt to prove
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who was man that he can measure
nature so precisely?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, he wanted
man to create a hypothesis and attempt to disprove it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said in his essay <i>Of Truth</i>: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Doth any man doubt, that if there were
taken out of men’s minds vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations,
imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a
number of men poor shrunken things, full<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scientists based their science off of religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If religion had not been customary advanced
science would have been drastically slowed down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>C. S. Lewis points out in his book <i>Miracles</i>
that “Men became scientific because they expected law in nature, and they
expected law in nature because they believed in a legislator”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis suggests that when religion begins to
leave a society science will cease advancing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also said agreeing with Bacon, “Science
itself has already made reality appear less homogenous than we expected it to
be”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This suggests that human nature tends to
think that there is more order in the universe than for which we have visible
proof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unknown forces have arranged the
universe.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u>A Measure of Sir
Walter Raleigh</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
All this is only a fraction of how
Elizabethans functioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, when
analyzing the intellectuals of the era there will be different suggestions left
and right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sir Walter Raleigh, a prime
poster child of the Elizabethan commoner, will shed more light upon the
zeitgeist of the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh
was a commoner despite his time as a statesman, soldier, and writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a Protestant born into complete
obscurity as we have almost no information about his early life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Lewis said about his poetry, the same
may be said about his life that “Raleigh
has happy moments but seldom gets through a longer piece without disaster”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But out of secluded life he came and ascended
into prominence, and noted by Queen Elizabeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Loved by the people he had a significant discipleship (ship mates,
mostly) allowing him to settle the Americas
and do a little pirating of Spanish vessels on the side.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
He had a significant amount of
poetry to go along with his personality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wrote one twelve line poem
titled <i>De Morte</i> which interpreted man’s life as a standard play; this
has underlying tones of cosmic order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
his<i> Excellent Observations and Notes Concerning the Royal Navy and Sea
Service</i> he mentions to the Queen, whom he was writing to, certain
thanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says, “I confess that peace
is a great blessing of God, and blessed are the peacemaker, and therefore
doubtless blessed are those means whereby peace is gained and maintained”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not just Raleigh
being devout, but it also is concluding argument to his piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He appeals to Queen Elizabeth through ethos;
it would be right for her to follow through with Raleigh’s
ideas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the more striking pieces he wrote was
his letter to King James I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Formerly, he
was locked away in the tower for fourteen years for suspected treason against
the king.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he was let out for one
last voyage to Guiana to mine gold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the way Spanish ships ambushed him, and
twenty-six of his men along with Raleigh’s
own son were murdered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His men mutinied,
but not against their captain but for the sake of their captain; they knew if
he was to return home then the King would send him to the scaffold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ended up writing a letter to King James
saying:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“My mutineers told me that if I
returned for England,
I should be undone, but I believed in your Majesty’s goodness, more than in all
their arguments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure I am the first that
being free and able to enrich myself, yet hath embraced poverty and peril.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as sure I am that my example shall make
me the last: but your Majesty’s wisdom and goodness I have made my judges, who
have ever been and ever shall be”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a very bizarre statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, his mutineers were not revolting
against their captain, but for their captain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Raleigh manages to convince
them of his world view to let him return to England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These sailors were the “undocumented”
Elizabethan, but they shared a sense of hierarchy and order, however misplaced
that it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, it is important to
remember that the Enlightenment age was imminent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This letter is deeply disturbing for many who
do not share the Elizabethan world view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Raleigh was so devoted to
the Divine Right of Kings that he submitted himself to someone whom he very
well knew wanted him dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King James
the First despised Raleigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last line of the letter said that he
would forever remain faithful to the cause of the monarch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lewis describes the matter of degree and
office nicely and gives us a reason why it is important for these men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote, “If you take ‘Degree’ away ‘each
thing meets in mere opugnancy,’ ‘strength’ will be lord, everything will
‘include itself in power’ . . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
real alternative is tyranny; if you will not have authority you will find
yourself obeying brute force”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply, you either submit willingly, or you
have submission forced on you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
what Raleigh’s policy was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a letter Raleigh wrote to his wife on the
night that he was expecting to go to the scaffold he does the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He praised his God and recommended that his
wife do the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lastly, in a letter to
his son he wrote, “Serve God: let him be the Author of all thy actions”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps one
of the most significant moments in English history was the Spanish Armada being
destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A decisively embarrassing
event for Spain
and almost quite literally a God send for the English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh,
after the fact, noted that there were multiple propaganda pieces being put out
by the Spaniards. They attempted to cover up the shame of their loss through
lies and spin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he counteracted them
and wrote his own account just for the Queen to examine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began saying, “The Spaniards according to
their vainglorious vaunts, making great appearance of victories, when on the
contrary themselves are most commonly and shamefully beaten and dishonored”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn30;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paraphrased he says, “Let me inform you,
Queen of the truth.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near the end of the
account he references the storm that occurred and as the world view would have
it, he brought God in to the equation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wrote, “Thus it hath pleased God to fight for us . . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A manifest testimony how unjust and
displeasing their attempts are in the sight of God . . .”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn31;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says this while at the same time he refers
to a traitor in this way, “To be <i>unnatural</i> to his own country that bred
him, to his parents that begat him, and rebellious to his true prince to whose
obedience he is bound by oath, by <i>nature</i> and by religion?”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn32;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh
not only condemns the traitor by his Christianity, but also condemns by the <i>Law
and Order of Nature</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tillyard
makes it clear through Raleigh’s <i>History
of the World</i> that he was convinced of this order of degrees in God’s
Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote, “For that infinite
wisdom of God, which hath distinguished his angels by degrees . . . .”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn33;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He points towards the cosmic hierarchy in
this as he continues to list the orders of kings, dukes, magistrates and
judges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For such a fantastic description
of the universe Raleigh has an easy
time asserting it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again it must be
pointed out that Raleigh is a good
measuring stick for how the average Elizabethan thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He arose out of the people, got fame, got
slandered multiple times, and maintained his firm beliefs all the way up to his
unjustified death; in spite of all the things he was (poet, soldier, statesman,
explorer) he was not a philosopher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh
was just a man who lived what he believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tillyard said, “Raleigh’s life had been in part as secular as one can
conceive . . . he must have known disorder at its most horrible . . . .Yet it
is the same man who can see the glory of God”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn34;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Raleigh
shared more than tobacco with Francis Bacon (They were, at least,
acquaintances).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wrote of atheism in a
four line poem; the last two lines went, “Raw is the reason that doth lie
within an atheist’s head. / Which saith the soul of man doth die when that the
body’s dead”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn35;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not enough to keep rumors from
building. Agnes Latham noticed that once a judge had been employed to determine
whether Raleigh was an atheist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason might be discovered by an
anonymous comment after his execution regarding his speech, which went, “He
spoke not one word of Christ, but of a great and incomprehensible God, with much
zeal and adoration.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The accusation was
just a case of mudslinging as the judge read his <i>History of the World</i>
and said, “I am resolved you are a good Christian”.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn36" name="_ftnref36" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn36;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[36]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Latham said of it, “Raleigh
is concerned with the source of ultimate power and <i>ultimate order</i> rather
than with saving grace, but it is a question of emphasis, not of orthodoxy”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn37" name="_ftnref37" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn37;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<u>Conclusion</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When one
thinks of the importance of order, hierarchy, and the four humours inside the
Elizabethan era it may seem confusing to those who look forward to the
Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the American Revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Enlightenment claimed to be built for
reason, and about reason; it would trust no other empirical source of truth
other than reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The French Revolution
was chaotic anarchy devoid of order and the American Revolution was a rebellion
against the “divine right of kings” whether they knew it or not at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One wonders how this shift in
attitude happened so suddenly and that it happened at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillyard wanted his readers to realize that
the Elizabethan era, although short, was the golden age as opposed to his
contemporaries who thought it was the metaphysical poets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He greatly admired the Elizabethans and said
of them, “It is precisely the basic simplicity and strength of the greatest
Elizabethans that we need to perceive if we are not to reduce the norm of their
age to mere pageant-making and minstrelsy”.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn38;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This age is due more than we give it, and we
neglect several parts of its zeitgeist whether it is in the literature, letters
or essays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ethos, pathos and logos
comes out of every nook and cranny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
must not be ignored for long.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 388.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 388.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 388.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 388.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 388.45pt; text-align: center;">
<u>Bibliography</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Tillyard, Eustace M. W. <i>The Elizabethan World Picture</i>.
New York: Vintage Books. Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Shakespeare, William.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Julius Caesar</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London:
Oxford University
Press, 1957. Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Raleigh, Sir Walter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Letters, Poems and Essays</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>New York: J.M. Dent &
Sons. Print</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Bacon, Francis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Essays</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York:
The Henneberry Company. Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Lewis, C. S. <i>Miracles</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York:
The Macmillan Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Print</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
6. Lewis, C.
S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Preface to </i><i>Paradise</i><i>
Lost</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London:
Oxford University
Press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Print</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Greenblatt, Stephen. <i>Will in the World</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8. Groves,
Beatrice. <i>Texts and Traditions: Religion in Shakespeare 1592-1604</i>. New
York: Oxford
University Press, 2007. Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">9. Agnes, Latham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Sir Walter Raleigh</i>. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">London</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: Longmans, Green and Co., 1964. Print.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">10. Lewis, Clive S. <i>English
Literature in the Sixteenth Century</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Oxford</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: Clarendon Press, 1954. Print.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>Beatrice Groves,<i> </i><u>Texts
and Traditions: Religion in Shakespeare 1592-1604</u> (New
York: Oxford
Univeristy Press, 2007.), 183.<i> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Groves also argues that Shakespeare was a
closet Catholic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillyard who was a
Catholic and co-wrote a book of theological arguents with C.S. Lewis called <i>A
Present Heresy</i> seems to miss Grove’s point in his own research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seems to believe that Shakespeare was
solely protestant.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> Stephen Greenblatt, <u>Will
in the World</u> (New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2004).</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> Greenblatt, <u>Will in the
World</u>, 41</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> William Shakespeare, <u>Julius
Caesar</u> (London: Oxford University Press, 1957), 16.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>C. S. Lewis, <u>Preface.</u>
(London: Oxford University Press, 1946), 72.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> Groves,
<u>Texts and Traditions,</u> 154. Groves argues this particular point by
pointing to Shakespeare’s <i>Measure for Measure</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She believes that Shakespeare was questioning
the divine right of kings and above all was an early enlightenment figure.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a> <u>Julius Caesar</u> 1. 3.
15-31.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with men walking around on
fire there were other oddities that Casca heard reported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a slave whose hand burned like
twenty torches and left unscathed, a lion wandering the capitol building and
owls “hooting and shrieking”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shakespeare
battled the naturalist notion further when Casca warned Cicero
saying, “Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, / “These are their reasons,
they are natural.”</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a> <u>Julius Caesar</u> 1. 3.
51-56</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a> Eustace Tillyard, <u>The
Elizabethan World Picture</u> (New York:
Vintage Books, no date), 26-27.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a> <u>Julius Caesar</u> 3.
2. 88.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a> <u>Julius Caesar</u> 5.
1. 275-278</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>.
69</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a> <u>Julius Caesar</u> 5.
5. 73-75</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
18</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a> Francis Bacon, <u>Essays</u>
(New York: The Henneberry
Company, no date), 68.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
25</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a> Bacon, <u>Essays</u>, 68</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a> Bacon, <u>Essays</u>, 68</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a> Bacon, <u>Essays</u>, 215</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
105</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a> Bacon, <u>Essays</u>, 146</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a> Bacon, <u>Essays</u>, 17</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a> Lewis, <u>Miracles</u>,
128</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a> Lewis, <u>Miracles</u>,
35</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a> Lewis, <u>Sixteenth Cent</u>.,
519</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a> Sir Walter Raleigh, <u>Excellent
Observations and Notes Concerning the Royal Navy and Sea Service</u>, (New
York: J.M. Dent & Sons, no date), 171.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a> Sir Walter Raleigh, <u>Return
From Guiana</u>, (New York: J.M.
Dent & Sons, no date), 205</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a> Lewis, <u>Preface</u>, 74</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a> Sir Walter Raleigh, <u>Instructions
to His Son</u>, (New York: J.M.
Dent & Sons, no date), 182</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn30;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a> Sir Walter Raleigh, <u>The
Last Fight of the “Revenge” at Sea</u>, (New York:
J.M. Dent & Sons, no date), 73</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn31" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn31;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a> Raleigh,
“<u>Revenge</u>”, 88.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn32" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn32;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a> Raleigh,
“<u>Revenge</u>” ,89.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn33" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn33;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
11.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn34" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn34;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
24.</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn35" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn35;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a> Raleigh,
<u>Poems</u>, 59</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn36" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref36" name="_ftn36" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn36;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[36]</span></span></span></span></a> Agnes Latham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Sir Walter Raleigh</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(London: F. Mildner & son, 1964),
32.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Raleigh was interested in the
problems propounded by the nature of God, of creation and of the image of God
in man. . . . It is peculiarly liable to be misconstrued by narrow minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Raleigh
had a dangerous kind of disengagement, a tolerance when confronted with alien
ideas and an intellectual boldness.”</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn37" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref37" name="_ftn37" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn37;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a> Ibid., 32</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn38" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2908761834647229432#_ftnref38" name="_ftn38" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn38;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a> Tillyard, <u>Elizabethan</u>,
108.</div>
</div>
</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-56883451301567900792013-05-12T21:00:00.001-07:002013-05-12T21:00:46.645-07:00A Discourse on Whose in Charge Here<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rendering our hearts and minds to business we value most,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A proverbial relative personal holy ghost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chin up and clenching fist; cold heart and soothing mist,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That devil, of too much power did he boast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unchanging, and always breathing, this cancer is a test,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To discern who is who, to wear freedom’s crest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
O freedom, my freedom reigns; O fiend, you fiend it pains,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plagues this home, this best abode, a sad forgotten nest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But ponder more, soul those clumsy rights I wrought,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By whose authority my life untimely brought.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Birthed right once before, to die wrong twice the more,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our worst actions reveal what we always thought.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He that is, if he is, king of all that I survey,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will not be me, by my monthly servant’s pay.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Controlled, to one knee; avert mine eyes so he,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
May rule accordingly, alive the suppliants pray.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-28889090829600563802013-05-07T09:16:00.001-07:002013-05-07T09:16:37.961-07:00Boring Book Critique on Foucault's "The History of Sexuality"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Michael Foucault puts forward a
descriptive theory on the nature of power and sexuality’s relation to it in his
book <i>The History of Sexuality</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
does not try to prescribe any suggestions, but rather assumes man’s
immovability and resigns himself to the ambitious leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relativity is the game and post-modernism is
its name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Foucault claims that our
traditional ideas of where power comes from are mistaken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These traditional ideas include hierarchy and
the top-down relationship of delegated authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, he asserts that our government’s
best way to “lean forward” in the world is to control the people’s
sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A government either represses
its people or encourages its people, but either way control must be maintained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only is it for the internal affair of
keeping your citizens in check, but it is used for external affairs as
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Control of the sexuality of your
people has a benefit of a larger future military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a larger future military, a nation can
campaign or at least defend its borders more efficiently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, he opposes Mao Ze Dong’s “power
comes from the barrel of a gun” quote, Foucault says that power comes from
culture and its sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a side
note he contradicts the notion of the sexual revolution of the sixties when he
says, “ . . . if power is seen as having only an external hold on desire, or,
if it is constitutive of desire itself, to the affirmation: you are always –
already trapped” (83).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving post-modernism
behind, both academically and culturally at present, there is a wide open door
to critique this theory and Foucault’s argument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Normally, when a thesis proposal lacks an
argument against the opposition, it gains a point of demerit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so with Foucault, since he pleads
ignorance by the end of the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
real mistakes lie in over application and (like Weber) his failure to falsify
his own points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Foucault was not
compelled, even in his post-modernistic thoughts of doubt, to disprove his own
ideas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Foucault believed that “power comes
from below” and that there is no “all encompassing opposition between rulers”
(94).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this he meant that power is not
a characteristic that one man possesses by himself to compel those below into
submission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, power is something
accepted by one man on the condition that there is a willingness to enforce
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a bottom-up power relation
and not a top-down power relation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is one example where he does not disprove anybodies ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Undoubtedly, there are people that disagree
with this claim and desire that Foucault at least make the attempt to find an
example of a top-down power relation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Traditionally, humankind asserts that power comes from the top; God
creates the world and he delegates power to the governing authorities to
“execute his wrath on the wrong doers”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All that Foucault said was, “We must at the same time conceive of sex
without the law, and power without the king” (91) and then later that power was
“not an institution” (93). Whatever he believed personally about God he should
have started the conversation there rather than <i>in media res</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a bold move to suggest a descriptive
philosophy without invoking God in a culture that is only barely separating
itself from deities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Foucault argued saying our culture,
obsessed with sex, is evidence that sexuality is a fuel for power in the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This idea is mocked using the <i>reductio
ad absurdum</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, the culture is
obsessed with sex, but also obsessed with many other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The internet plays a huge role in society,
along with media references, politics, money, pets, family values and
humanitarian aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, our
attention directs towards all things both serious and frivolous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One could make the same argument that
Foucault does except replacing sexuality with memes or the economy like Marx
already had done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He over applies an
argument which leads to proof for all, meaning proof for none.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Foucault correlates and connects is invalid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, he did validly argue that ending
oppression would not open up sexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He reveals that there has not been a direct repression of sex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Foucault says, “power is tolerable only on
condition that it masks a substantial part of itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its success is proportioned to its ability to
hide its own mechanisms” (86).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
quote he means if a citizenry knew every last detail as to what the government
was legislating and enforcing then very soon, there would be a revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When human nature postures individuality one
can be very disturbed if they see how many areas of life that the governing
authorities control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man has always been
obsessed with sex and the only distinctions were the level of prudence
regarding it, which Foucault might suggest, the government attempts to dictate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point in history we were very open in
conversation about sex and then it got awkward in the middle ages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But afterwards, it opened up again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, it must be pointed out that just because
one does not want to talk about sex that they do not think about it constantly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Foucault was a post-modernist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that whatever he says, he says
with reservations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is all relative
and we cannot really know objective truth because our flawed perceptions
inevitably get in the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does not
stop him from making assertions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
deals with a man that develops a whole philosophy of how human civilization and
empires work and then tells us that he is not sure about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he spoke with such assurance through out
the whole book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever his claims
were, true or false, he acted as though it were clear and simply rational with
all the data gathered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why ought anybody
listen to him even if he cannot be sure of himself?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that this leads us to, and the bulk of
post-modernism does, is a pointless endeavor to discover that we are all
ignorant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Understandably, to plead
ignorance gives points towards humility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The world of academics demands that one argue a thesis with certainty,
but Foucault does not want to be executed with his ideas if they are proven
incorrect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps he is not culpable
for this mistake, but it fails in present society.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So, Foucault fantastically observes
human nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Weber, he does a good
job of describing small isolated incidents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His follies were many and can be summed up in
his failure to disprove any argument and his over application and his contentment
of post-modernism’s contradiction with his argumentative voice. Largely, this
is an over-rated book and should be ignored for its inability to properly
discuss such serious topics.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-79240802375892583982013-04-11T11:27:00.000-07:002013-04-11T11:27:08.476-07:00A Comparison of John Locke’s and Edmund Burke’s influence in the creation of America<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It is a common misunderstanding
that everybody in colonial America
was a die hard revolutionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
current ideals and our notion of the enlightenment have gotten in the way of a
true assessment of what the real mindset was during the late 18<sup>th</sup>
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like today it was a full
of division and everybody had their own perspective on the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the Enlightenment there were always
equally strong powers of thought at odds with each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time of the American Revolution not
everybody on American soil was against the crown and not everybody in Britain
was a royalist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two thinkers (though
they were not in the same periods) during this time, who were not necessarily
polar opposites, but certain contenders were John Locke and Edmund Burke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would not have hated each other, but
they did differ greatly in ideas and solutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What made them different?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who was
more influential?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What long terms
affects did they have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Locke was a
rights of man advocate, a devoted enlightenment thinker and a huge influence on
modern liberalism and libertarians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Edmund Burke was a conservative whig and an enemy of the French
Revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They both shared various
thoughts but arrived at severely different conclusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question: What were these men in relation
to their times, the American Revolution and how are we affected by them today?
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John Locke
was born August 29, 1632
and began attending Christ Church
College in Oxford
in 1652.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this time Cromwell was
Chancellor; this was a time of great tension and political thoughts piercing
every young man’s mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While at Oxford
Locke became more intrigued with political questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He attacked the subjects like the social
constitution, separation of church and state and religious toleration; this of
course was a huge topic post reformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Locke would later be accidentally pulled into the political world by
accident through a friendship with Lord Ashley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By 1672 he obtained the title of “secretary of presentations” all of
this coming down to a perfect storm of powers, ideology and ambitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edmund Burke came much later in history and
may be described as more intellectually reserved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke was born January 12, 1729 which would make him just in time to be
an adult for the revolutionary war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
received his education at Trinity College,
Dublin and then to Middle
Temple, London
to study for the Bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he didn’t see
a career in law as all that attractive so he found himself in Parliament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this time he already wrote some of his
popular pieces such as <i>A Vindication of Natural Society</i> and <i>An
Abridgement of English History</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
became well known for his many speeches in Parliament which he would later
publish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so these two men would
prove themselves and backgrounds to their contemporaries, governments, Kings,
and future readers to decide who it was that argued or pandered better to our
personal interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Locke as the
enlightened scientist of human nature or Edmund Burke as the level headed
historian and political theorist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
comparison will only tell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John Locke
lived for the bulk of the 17<sup>th</sup> century where in he lived to see many
failed attempts at colonization in the Americas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he was given a lot material to argue
against and to form his own ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
also came into a world where the enlightenment was winning the hearts and minds
of common folk everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually, when
we think of enlightenment thinkers we go straight to Rousseau or Voltaire, but
what often goes unnoticed is that these men venerated Locke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They went as far to say that Locke was the
“greatest of all philosophers since Plato”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though we cannot be sure of his influence, because correlation does not
imply causality, it is reasonable to believe that Locke paved the way for his
foreign successors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again it is
said by Howard R. Penniman in his introduction to some of Locke’s writings that
“His name would have been relegated to the footnotes of English history books
if his fame had depended merely upon his varied activities in politics and
science” (Penniman 5). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who were his
opponents?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easily imagined those
who were in positions of power, found Locke detestable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cardinal Newman in his presentation <i>On the
Idea of a University</i> attacked Locke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Newman proposed a more classical design for the education system while
Locke was a believer in modern schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But what was His relation towards America?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, he was not hugely involved
with American affairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are only
two businesses that may be pointed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First, he was an investor in the slave trade with the Royal African
Company; this is a fact that has made his present day followers uneasy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, he was a contributor in drafting up Carolina’s
Constitution which puts another black mark on his resume, because he gave
absolute power to slave owners over their slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke has been accused of hypocrisy, but one
must consider the conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slavery
was the game of the day and his theories on toleration were not developed for
everyone, but for natural citizens being white males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would not have been embarrassed by this
contradiction, because he was not arguing the same conditions that modern day
thinkers do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke minded the
enslavement of English citizens, but he had no problem with enslaving anybody
else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Burke, of
course, was just in time for the American Revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world that he grew up in was a
magnificent one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>England
had been dominating the surrounding inhabitants whether it was the Indians or
the French.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prosperity was great and
the influence was lasting, but this later became a criticism that the royalists
would have against the revolutionaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Burke during this time refined his ideas in England
and as mentioned before, got a reputation as a clear and rational thinker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prosperous age he lived in could be
credited as what got him thinking in different terms from Locke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke did not posture that he knew the
metaphysics of man, nor did he claim that they had any rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather he would say the opposite that man is
not born with any inherent rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was not met with much opposition other than difficulties with King George
III.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be him and William Pitt
that would support the repeal of the Stamp Act that greatly ruffled the
feathers of the American colonists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mere
definition can help tell of the differences between Locke’s and Burke’s life
experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke was an ideologue,
hence we get the term “Lockian”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke
was a simple statesman philosopher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
difference in influence is clear: Locke had a much easier time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that Locke had to do was feed a problem
through the enlightenment equation and that would provide him a solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gained popularity because he agreed with
the tide of the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says in <i>A
Letter Concerning Toleration</i>, “The commonwealth seems to me to be a society
of men constituted only for the procuring, preserving, and advancing their own
civil interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Civil interests I call
life, liberty, health, and indolency of body . . .” (Locke 25).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These things became very important to the
proletariat, very likely on the inspiration of Locke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke had a tougher audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just before the American Revolution there was
plenty of pride to be English and a member of the British Empire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of this hung on during the war creating
a divide of royalists, rebels and neutrals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Burke being well bred and quite wealthy wouldn’t want to wage too
harshly against the governing officials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In his speech titled <i>Conciliation with the Colonies</i> he is
constantly referring to how <i>we</i> ought to govern the colonies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says, “In this state of things, I make no
difficulty in affirming that the proposal ought to originate from us” (Burke
10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon after he gives two leading questions
saying, “First, whether <i>you</i> ought to concede; secondly, what <i>your</i>
concession ought to be” (Burke 10). All this is being said to Parliament, and
not to American rebels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the biggest
proof for Burke’s non-ideologue nature is in this quote: “We must govern America
according to that nature and to those circumstances, and not according to our
own imaginations, nor according to abstract ideas of right – by no means
according to mere general theories of government” (Burke 11).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke is very Pauline in thought and in tone
here imploring the decision makers to be rational in the specific
circumstance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, his influence was
not significant enough when the British government went against his warnings
that “the use of force alone is but temporary” and “a nation is not governed
which is perpetually to be conquered” (Burke 23).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke’s overall desire was to make Britain
a “true friend” of America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>F. P. Lock points this out in his biography
of Edmund Burke saying “This is what Burke meant by being a ‘true friend’ of America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Misunderstandings and heats’ had arisen, in
his view, because on neither side of the Atlantic had
sufficient heed been paid to the opinions of ‘temperate men’” (Lock 350).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke knew the difficulty of his position
which is why he did not want to be identified as part of the Rockingham Party;
they were the temperate men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>F. P. Lock
points out that “Burkes querulousness was aggravated by anxiety about his own
position . . . . for he wanted, if possible, to maintain his independence” (Lock
369)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Locke’s
mindset was much more adopted by the rebels than any other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inherent rights of man were bouncing
around the minds of all fighters who felt suppressed as.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>The Second Treatise on Civil Government</i>
he explicitly suggests at the start that rulers do have a right to their
citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says, “Adam had not, either
by natural right of fatherhood or by positive donation from God, any such
authority over his children, nor dominion over the world, as is pretended”
(Locke 75).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This suggestion gives a
metaphysical argument for rebellion and revolution; Locke attempts to put to
rest the concept of Divine right of Kings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even though the idea of a monarchy was wholly repugnant to the
Americans, but their decision to have a presidency was definitely based on the
difficulty to have checks and balances on kings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Locke only heightened the concern by
pointing out how easily it would be for a king to think he had a God given
position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke was clearly more
referenced in the continental congresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some parts of Locke were directly copied into the Declaration of
Independence, using the exact phraseology of the <i>Second Treatise</i>
(Penniman 9).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas Jefferson was an
avid reader of Locke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jefferson
used what was originally termed as certain unalienable rights invented by
Locke; these were Life, Liberty and
Property which Jefferson changed to the pursuit of
happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all reality, America
was built on Locke’s principles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke,
for all of his supplications to the Parliament, could not break through to the
American mind set and he was there in the thick of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggested all kinds of ways for the
British to get along with the colonists, but it went against the Scots-Irish
mentality to fight to get your way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over the
years America
has been shaped into perhaps a mixture of both men and their approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In popular media we see an attempt to
introduce Burke’s method of governing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is supposed to be calm, cool and collected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Force is only to be considered as a last
ditch effort and should not be considered permanent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are always promoting civility and it was a
serious problem for us when Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at President
Obama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had to apologize, but in
comparison to other government’ congresses they would see this as business as
usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Observe a session of Parliament
and you can see not only the wit but the ruthless accusations towards a
person’s intellect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke wanted also
wanted to do away with theories of government especially for the crucial
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today we might call it
“working together” or “bi-partisanship”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Burke may have inspired the public face of America,
but to what avail?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The populus at every
turn will provide a life or death argument on how to govern a nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sects develop in the citizenry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some preach violence and others violently
preach non-violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why are these sects
today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone has interpreted Lockian
philosophy differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What one man who
grew up in California considers
to be “inalienable rights” will be a farce to whatever a South Carolinian
thinks “inalienable rights” are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has
become so confused and muddled from debate over the past centuries that former
enemies have eventually found common ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As mentioned before, Locke is the father of Liberalism and
Libertarianism; this manifests itself when they both agree that Marijuana
should be legalized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly, Ron Paul
does not seem like such a bad candidate for Liberals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the big questions are left unanswered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is health care a right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is education a right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are jobs a right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would John Locke say to this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edmund Burke would not be the person to ask
since he pleads ignorance when he says, “The rights of men are in a sort of
middle, incapable of definition . . .” (gmu.edu).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, he does make suppositions in other
works as to whether or not these rights are inherent and makes a resounding
“no”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke is very unappealing for any
modern American.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke might have
pandered to these desires, though we cannot know what he would have said.</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Overall, John Locke
with all of his enlightened sensibilities shall be crowned most
influential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even for Burke’s valuable
mind and ideas was too uninspiring to lead a nation’s spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burke was concerned with the status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Locke had posthumously gathered the minds of
white land owning men all over the colonies and sparked an empire’s government
and its history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">America</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> was born out of
rebellion and Locke gave a distant nod of approval.</span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
Bibliography
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
1. Locke, John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Second Treatise on Civil Government. Roslyn,
New York: Walter J. Black Inc. 1947</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
2. Penniman, Howard. “On Politics
and Education”: Introduction. 1-20. Roslyn, New
York: Walter J. Black Inc. 1947</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
3. Burke, Edmund. Conciliation with
America. New
York: The Macmillan Company. 1914</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
4. Newsom, Sidney. “Conciliation with
America”:
Introduction and Notes. ix- xxxviii. New York:
The Macmillan Company. 1914</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
5. Harris, Ian. Edmund Burke.
Stanford: Stanford University
of Philosophy, 2010. <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/burke/">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/burke/</a>.
Also available in print form.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
6. Burke, Edmund. Reflections on
the Revolution in France.
Fairfax, Virginia:
George Mason
University, 2013. <a href="http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/563/">http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/563/</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
7. Lock, Francis. Edmund Burke. New
York: Oxford
University Press. 1998</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
8. Uzgalis, William.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Locke. Stanford: Stanford
University of Philosophy, 2012. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/.
Also available in print form.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-35959403578323868052013-03-07T20:44:00.001-08:002013-03-07T20:44:20.699-08:00Boring Post on Max Weber's Spirit of Capitalism<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The author of <i>The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism</i>, Max Weber, pushes forward his ideas on
capitalisms origins and conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
his book he spares no fact of its relevance and consequently, by the end he teaches
the reader more about the general history of Christendom than the advent of
Capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For any lover of history
this is a good read, for the matter of fact statements, but Weber left some
points un-addressed.<br />
Weber divides the book into two
parts and his first part lays the ground work for his theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He titles it “The Problem” and writes of religion’s
affiliates and a stratified society in the sixteenth century, and then on to
the spirit of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells us
what it is that Protestants are doing as opposed to Catholics and gives us the
evidence for it, which ends up being almost an argument in itself for Weber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His facts and observations coincide the
stereotypical notions of the protestant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Weber asserts that Protestants are more energized than Catholics and it
seems to be an apparent in North and South Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber’s thesis asserts Protestant sects, as opposed
to Catholicism, are the driving fuel for capitalism to function properly and
without their presence it may never have seen the light of day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber quotes Offenbacher when he brings up
the Catholics saying, “He prefers a life of the greatest possible security,
even with a smaller income, to a life of risk and excitement” (40).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, Capitalism is not a vice fueled
economy (greed), but an ethic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He speaks
of Protestants delaying their leisure to later gratify; they conclude it is
better to make money while they still can so that the future has an abundance
of security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But does Weber leave out
the evidence and expect us to just naturally agree?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, he does elaborate in his second part
where he gives his logical train of thought and his own observances to how
society has created capitalism as we know it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He covers Calvinism, Pietism, Methodism and even the Baptists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He compares with great insight saying that
even these Protestants (so full of grace) have their own “worldly”
asceticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, of course no literature
written by man is free of defect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber
fails to define capitalism at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
if he does describe the system categorized as capitalism, he leaves out a
simplified definition which might help understand if his thesis was correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only this, but he does not approach and
falsify other theories that might have explained the rise of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does say things like “on the other hand .
. . .”, but this does little to give us a broader picture of the debate.<br />
So what was Weber’s idea of capitalism?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His idea of capitalism is either born out of,
or the same idea as the protestant ethic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This ethic is a nominalization “delayed gratification” as mentioned
earlier; in “human” terms the ethic is the individuals decision to put of
pleasure now and enjoy the fruits of your labor, later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, Protestants had the notion that it
is better to stay working and always profiting than to take any sort of leisure
or contentment with their position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber
says, “In fact, the <i>summum bonum</i> of this ethic, the earning of more and
more money, combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous enjoyment of
life, is above all completely devoid of any eudaemonistic, not to say
hedonistic, admixture (53).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He directly
contradicts the “greed” theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber
does not consider the basic economic philosophy of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He denies capitalism is greed, which is a
valid claim. What then is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it just
Protestants as a culture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is capitalism
dependant on a cultural notion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber
presumes an economic relationship of the peoples to be no account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reader is left with too many
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber in his book would like
you to just assent to the idea, but other theorist argue more. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber ought to have asked why capitalism is
appealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What separates it from other
economic philosophies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other economies
have been subject to greed, which Weber agrees with is in all economies, but perhaps
capitalism is set apart from other economies because all participants, in
theory, win.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fabled win/win
situation is present in capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
business sets its price for its product, only the people who are willing to
part with the cash value will purchase it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the end of the transaction the business is happy with the money they
made, and the customer is happy with the product they purchased; neither of
them abandoned, suffering from buyer’s remorse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wants to suppose that capitalism (the economic superstructure) was
created by the culture of Protestantism (The Base).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is irresponsible to ignore the economic
philosophy of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead his
education made Weber into a man learned of dialectic history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He concerned himself only with two cultures
butting heads and the victor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a
fine theory to hold, but it ought not be presumed when your readership may not
understand or follow the claims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all
of Weber’s argument he lacks a complete presentation.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>As far as
the composition of the book it could have used more falsification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weber asserts that capitalism is not
greed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He only says capitalism is not greed, because
all other economies have greed in them as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He refutes nothing here, and if Weber meant it to be an argument it was
just an informal fallacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An argument is
not valid if it says, “Since all elements of group A have characteristic B,
then A is not B.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had mentioned before
his attempt at a non-bias approach by adding sentences with the phrase “on the
other hand”, but he did nothing with the suggestion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did not actually give us the opposing
argument or strive to refute them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
points he disguised as refutations, were only working in his favor as leading
statements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That said, Weber is clearly
a well thought and educated man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
should take him seriously, but when a scholar publishes a book and it arrives
at any sort of prominence they must take the necessary steps to have a
completely fair appraisal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When anybody
proposes a thesis it is incumbent on them to not only bring up the best of the
opposite arguments but to refute them as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>It was an
enjoyable read and I ended up agreeing with him part of the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His points were valid and logical and I
appreciated his story line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course
there are flaws, which were his ignoring of the economic philosophy and his
failure to falsify both his and the enemies position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, one should not be bent out of shape
about these mistakes, but it is good to be aware of them.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-65542273147110993632013-01-31T21:49:00.000-08:002013-01-31T21:49:24.798-08:00- On the defenestration of Good Music<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
In this current generation’s culture there is nothing that
we love more than our music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the
part of the American exceptionalism that we, our individual selves and nobody
else, be able to listen to what ever we deem pleasing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we are glutted with genre upon genre with
their thin lines that make them distinct; all of them cater to a specific man
and his demographic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it is
marketed to the populus at large and sometimes to a group of maybe three guys
who remain die hard fans of a band that nobody has heard of or cares to hear
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with this and the advent of
relativity there has grown out of the confusion a greenhouse for everybody and
their opinion on music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everybody
cares what their friends think of a movie or tv show, but many people will get
furious when their favorite band is accused of being an offense to the
ears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is hardly seen when people
talk of movies, because deep down they really know that film, as a medium of
art, does not merit the discussion that a book might; too many pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the reason why we attended movies in
the first place; the same reason why we go to a magic show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be wowed visually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not make demands of our intellect or
our learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dim people can keep up
with movies, but the tome which demands translation takes more effort than they
are willing to give.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music, on the other
hand, is venerated as the single most beautiful enterprise and man can devote
himself to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I am not to be considered as removed from this product
of the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grew up in a musical
family where choices were many and dials always turned up to eleven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My elder siblings were true 90’s kids and I
was a mere child who only reacted to a catchy tune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then I have learned a few musical
instruments and have developed a philosophy of music and what should be heard
by all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have my bands lined up in a
row and am ready to talk to anybody who inquires of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am the very thing I despise.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This essay is not about the popular music and how it is
going to tear apart the moral fabric of society and laugh in the face of
Mozart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That should have been easy to
see coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, I am writing of
those people who complain that this is what our music has come to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have other criterion: 1) Popular hipster
extensive knowledge of all obscure bands, 2) Sharp arguments for why one genre
shall not be confused with another, 3) Flippancy towards your ideas on music,
4) a glorified sense of their own credibility and authority on music, because
they listen to a lot of bands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly,
we have a surplus of “experts” on music parading around their knowledge as
often as they can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never have they
considered to leave this to actual experts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, it had not always been this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There used to be clear class distinction in
musical genre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Classical music was
agreed by all as best and all other genres had to compete to sit at classical’s
right hand and judge the rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in
our prosperity and enhanced distribution everyone feeds their passions telling
themselves that their taste is correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you get into an argument with any of these people they will quickly
start suggesting that musical taste is relative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As though Rachmaninov’s concertos had no more
claim to beauty than Charles Manson’s secret recordings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently I had recently a friend tell me that
some of Manson’s songs were pretty good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This saddened me deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is
it that we have come to this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everybody
wants to think in their own mind that their musical taste is good and should be
respected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody should mock them, for
if they did a grim realization might descend on their heads declaring them a
fool, for ever having pursued punk music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everybody wants to be “intelligent” and have equal say in the
conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They preach relativity and
then assault another’s musical taste for not being their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I am not here to bash on people’s
taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to shine light on our
inner workings when we claim a band is good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Are we really being honest with ourselves?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What makes music loved and defended is not about it’s
quality anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is all about how
good the advertising is (pop music, with which I have no beef), or how
charismatic the leader is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People didn’t
listen to punk music for any edification of sensual pleasure, but for an anthem
of their ideals and loves such as disestablishment and anarchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly, I have people attempting dignified
conversation about punk music before my very eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metalheads have begun to spawn actual college
grads who claim absurdly that Metal is the logical extension of classical
music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They say this with sweet savor
because the bands suggest that their songs are movements and should listened to
as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mistaken, they believe that
if you have a series of crap then it is turned into gold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The squeedly and meedly guitar remain a
cancer in the ear and even for all it’s talent should never be taken seriously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mere contradiction satisfies these people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can present themselves as authorities by
despising the popularly loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently
I had a man laugh in my face for believing Led Zeppelin to be a good rock
band.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately, he had the entire
room in agreement with him that I was living in a fanciful naïve world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professional movie critics will do the same
when they give a box office hit two thumbs down; not to argue that their
opinion is inherently wrong for this, but they do it for reasons other than
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Respect and credibility motivate
these men and they will sell out any philosophical dignity just to taste sweet
agreement with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flippancy is
hardest to deal with since again it is what convinces people that they are
wrong.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The extensive knowledge which can be found on any wiki
article is also revered by all and is a tool to gain the following.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bands which must be searched for by a
professional detective are gold mines for these power hungry peasants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are peasants wishing you would think
them kings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want to have that
ultimate wisdom and counsel and for you to know they have it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they peruse the obscure they miss the
actual great music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When someone
presents to them an actual quality piece they become indignant of your
suggestion and wish you would stop telling them how ugly they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reality will occasionally catch up with these
people and it damages them and their ego so acutely that they must return to
home base and listen to their whole library to remember why they love
themselves so much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What ends up happening is a very uninspired and undignified
conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the generational
articles of the dunce have not helped any sort truth to break through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Uh, well like that is only your
opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leonard Cohen is great!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have no sense of themselves and
especially no concrete definitions to accompany their argument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They rely on popular vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I mentioned before I usually end up
“loosing” the debate since there is power in numbers and in chronological
snobbery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am labeled the fool who is
too young to even begin to understand his world and himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, certainly I have not arrived at their
position in life, which is such a bloated and glutted ego ready to burst in a
fury of pride and self approval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is no hope in convincing them they have not a single clue in the things of
art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As long as they love themselves
they will never admit that they were too hasty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps, you and I both should hold ourselves to a higher
standard . . . . </div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-24914015343375994882012-12-03T22:17:00.000-08:002012-12-09T14:50:59.246-08:00Devil's Weed or Innocent Pleasure?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->If
ever there was a great health scare, it would be the one on tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see that in our current culture, big
metropolitan areas, like New York City
and Melbourne, Australia,
are taking action to remove smoking from it’s public areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what is there to know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is not the question settled?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does not tobacco cause lung cancer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believe it or not there is a group of people
who believe otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they aren’t
all big tobacco companies and some of them aren’t smokers at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what do they claim?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smoking is not any more dangerous than
anything else you do in life and smoking bans are an infringement on our
rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From where does this come?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It comes from everywhere and anywhere in the
world.<br />
Lauren
A Colby, a practicing lawyer and author of <i>In Defense of Smokers</i>, says
that the representation of tobacco in today’s culture is undue, rash and
malicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colby believes that “smokers
everywhere are hounded and persecuted” as a result of the faulty and fabricated
health studies against tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having
participated in more than 250 civil lawsuits, and more than 50 appeals to
federal courts, Colby sees a trend in society that is directed against civil
liberties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He believes that if the war
on tobacco continues to influence our legislation then all of our rights will
be contested and nothing will be held sacred.<br />
But
Colby has a quieter voice than the Surgeon General, claiming that without a
doubt tobacco smoke, first, second and even third hand has a huge health risk
and should be stopped by way of legislation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The EPA reports that “3,000 non-smoking adults die of diseases caused by
exposure to second hand smoke every year (Lung.org 2012).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this as their assertion, those who have
been campaigning against tobacco have brought up a proposed need that in the
last 30 years has been satisfied by court cases, appeals, hearings and
proposition elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the
Smoking Ban, and many are in favor of its proposed goal despite that nearly one
fifth of the American people are smokers (howmanyarethere.org 2012).<b> </b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Who is doing what?</b> </div>
Anti-Tobacconists
have been running campaigns for decades to eliminate the amount of smoking in
all public places, based on popular health studies they themselves have
conducted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pro-tobacconists, the
minority, have been on the receiving end of diminished freedom and the
partiality of the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result
has been victory for the Anti-Tobacconists; less smoking in bars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what are the real facts about
smoking?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it as bad as these people
say it is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They treat it like it is genuine
rat poison, but anybody’s experience with the socially suggestive plant might
preach otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luckily, in Jacob
Sullums book, <i>For Your Own Good</i>, he writes of someone in the
anti-tobacco camp that was honest saying, “The reality is that the risk of
getting lung cancer from living with someone who smokes is really small; It
seems to be there, but it’s an extremely weak effect (Sullum 172).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elizabeth Whelan said this and what might
make you more than confused is that Whelan was the President of the American
Council on Science and Health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, if
anyone, should be credible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
re-examine the data and where it all came from, Whelan’s statement is more
right than you know.<b> </b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do
they mean?</b> </div>
The
term that is fought over between the two camps is “risk”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much is too much risk?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Risk is something inherent in all things and
should be expected; there is inherent risk from activity to activity, because
at any moment the most un-assuming thing might have the potential to kill
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second hand smoke is a risk but
when you cannot prove the causality through correlation then you cannot treat
smoking as too risky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it comes down
to logic, this is all that the anti-tobacconists have to go on: risk
factor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say if anybody who ever smoked a
single cigarette died soon afterward, then they would have very good reason to
ban the use of it at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would then
be proven to be no-question-about-it poison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But we all know smokers are still among the living and some of them are
pictures of health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all the
proof needed to say that smoking does not necessarily kill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anti-tobacconists find themselves wishing and
wishing that tobacco were a poison, so as a result they create studies perhaps
with an ulterior motive to demonize tobacco and its users.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality of their distaste lies in the
likelihood that they just don’t like the smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But of course they are able to take it to the courts and argue with the
utmost skill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lauren Colby gives an
example of this in his book, <i>In Defense of Smokers</i>, writing, “I am a
lawyer, in particular, a trial lawyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the law there is something called the burden of proof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anti-smoking crowd insists that smokers
prove to them smoking is not harmful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a trap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody can prove a
negative, i.e. that something is not so (lcolby.com 2006).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is imperative that when we examine a
practice to conclude whether or not it should be eliminated as an activity, we
cannot, as humble seekers after truth, say that the burden of proof lies with
someone else to disprove it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like a
child that first discovers his ability to manipulate by claiming he
accomplished a grand feat and requesting proof that he didn’t do as he claimed,
this behavior has been observed in the courts.<br />
Anytime
you come across a statistic that uses the phrase “smoking related
disease/illness”, turn away and ignore it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The word related is a little Freudian slip they use to convince you that
smoking is more dangerous than it really is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For example, the American Lung Association has on their website this
statistic from the EPA: “About 8.6 million people in the U.S.
have at least one serious illness caused by smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means that for every person who dies of
a smoking related disease, there are 20 more people who suffer from at least
one serious illness associated with smoking (lung.org 2012).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they use the word related the statistic
ends up telling us absolutely nothing about smoking and it’s risks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that it tells us is how many people have
been dying of a category of sicknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the anti-tobacco camp’s desire to have their cake and eat it
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only do they want to find some
risk in smoking, but they want to make sure it is directly responsible for the
deaths of millions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is demonization
and it has largely gone unnoticed.<b> </b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>What is the correct course of action?</b> </div>
Smoking
bans are poor for governing the populous, because of the partial legislation
and the lessened freedom of American citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the owner of the business when they are told they cannot allow
smoking in their business this takes away freedom from one person and gives
tyrannic control to the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much
like in Nazi Germany, Lauren Colby says, “The notion that doing away with
smoking leads to an elimination of disease and a longer healthier life is
scarcely born out of the German experience (lcolby.com 2006).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, the actions of forbidding
smoking originated from Nazi Germany and continues to control our lives today;
even in a free America,
this seems to go unnoticed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are the
values that we are trying to protect by banning smoking?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it not all just a power grab?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is strong evidence of this that cannot
be ignored and must be investigated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
do not necessarily fear that in our present day we should fear another Nazi
regime, but these are things that if they go unchecked we will suffer
loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what can we lose, but our
rights?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Nazis have a lot of
similarities with that of today’s anti-tobacconists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Hans Muller, who was a Nazi Scientist,
sent out to prove that smoking causes lung cancer he distributed a
questionnaire to the families to find out how much (if at all) the deceased
smoked (lcolby.com 2006).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lauren Colby
had this to say about the test, which has received so much praise for it’s
scholarliness and brilliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Muller
compared apples with oranges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
compared the recollections of relatives concerning the smoking habits of the
deceased lung cancer victims, with the recollections of living people
concerning their own smoking habits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is a no-no (lcolby.com 2006).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are continuing this today with our smoke “related” diseases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A health study cannot be done via survey of
people who have various feelings about a controversial topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a reliable method; since it does
not gather information from the smoker, but from people who really have no clue
of how much their deceased partners smoked in a day.<b> </b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Who ought to be in charge here?</b> </div>
Who
has the power?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who deserves the
power?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two questions have
different answers which is a significant problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The citizenry has got it in to the minds that
if you want something changed you go to the government to get it fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacob Sullum related in his book, <i>For Your
Own Good</i>, that Congressman Richard J. Durbin finding himself on flight that
allowed smoking asked the flight attendant, “Can’t you do anything about
it?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They replied back saying, “No, I can’t,
but you can, congressman. (Sullum 138)”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The truth is that he does have the power to get rid of smoking on
airliners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we want an honest
society Durbin should have no more power than the next American citizen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do not speak of voting to get results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the problem is that some one is in an area
that has smoking in it, the natural answer would be for them to leave that
area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody is keeping them there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a person doesn’t like smoke, they don’t go
to a private area and complain about the smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Neither should they go to their senators and representatives and
petition them to ban smoking in all public private businesses just so that
merely they can be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course in
most areas they are having court hearings or elections to decide the fates of
businesses, in which case it is up to the majority to vote against the smoking
ban if they want to maintain their freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Back in April of this year, New York’s
Mayor, Michael Bloomberg proposed a bill that would disallow all residential
buildings with three or more units to have smoking in, on or around the
premises (Hartocollis 1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no
talk of any opposition to this bill and was assumed to be accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, we forget a whole 20% of the
population what their feelings may be on the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people are in charge in a democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why are we not consulting them in this
issue?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We consult the masses for a
president, representatives, governors and many other social issues, and yet
somehow this topic is ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
topic is ignored because a decision has already been made.<br />
But
what is the ordeal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people are
unaware that there is a controversy because for them they have only had access
to one perspective on the issue; there was no mentioning of another view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, the discussion is whether or not
smoking is as deadly the reports say and whether or not the use of tobacco
should be limited to only private residences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Are the health risks certain enough to consider the substance a poison
in which case to legislate it out of public places?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is smoking in public equivalent to that of
gassing your fellow citizen for no apparent reason?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the base questions that both the
anti-tobacco camp and the pro-tobacco camp have considered; but of course this
is not without a pretext.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people
were certain of these answers before and studies were done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as society continued the
anti-tobacconists are to be considered the current victor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their studies are the ones being published;
not the pro-tobacco folk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though it
discourages tobacco use, this does not keep people from opposing smoking
bans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is always a group ready and
willing to make their case for why smoking bans are bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we are going to understand what it is
that both sides are saying then we will need to gather some history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And much of this history is in favor of the
pro tobacco camp.<br />
What
a lot well educated people are mistaken about it is how long ago this debate
started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The standard assumption is that
back in the 1950’s the first studies were done to discern what health risks
were there in smoking tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
story goes that after the publication of this data, tobacco companies were
indignant of it and campaigned much harder to get people to continue smoking
and recruit new ones; putting out ads that talk about which brand of cigarettes
that the majority of doctors prefer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the commentary is mockery at the expense of the big tobacco companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By all reports, they were caught dishonestly
manipulating the readers of magazines with no prayer of covering up with
data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if one dives into history they
discover that this is a propaganda ploy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The truth is that ever since Europeans in the early 1600’s began smoking
pipes and cigars the “cranks” (as the anti-tobacconists have been referred to)
have always been writing full books of the “devil’s weed” that is tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Bain Jr. writes in his book, <i>Tobacco
in Song and Story</i>, a quick piece of fiction, “She (Crank): Is there
anything worse than a man smoking a nasty cigarette?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He: Yes; a women minding someone else’s
business (Bain 97).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was written in
the early 1900’s which means this has been an issue long before we realize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most prominent early anti-tobacconist
book is King James the First of England’s
<i>Counterblast to Tobacco</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
book he expresses his personal utter distaste for tobacco second hand
smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But not only does he give his
feelings, he gives his medical advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Claiming that tobacco is “a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the
nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking
fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless (Sullum 18).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This comment
examined in hindsight is very troubling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What we find is that there is no way for him to have credible authority
on this subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For James the First to
say that it is bad for the brain and for the lungs is unfounded and especially
for a time period where they had no means of testing it is foreshadowing of
what was to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has no quotations
of any study in the entire thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
studies were conducted, since no studies were done until the Nazi regime’s war
on smoking, and yet he continued to knock the practice as though it were devil
worshiping (lcolby.com 2006). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James
hated tobacco so much that he felt it was legitimate to accuse it slanderously
based on nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This hate carried on
through the centuries and all the way to modern America
where it is difficult to light up a cigar or cigarette without getting scowls
or the blatant exaggerated coughing of a particularly “entitled” citizen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, why would we not consider that the
same attempt has been made today with our health studies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One must not assume that the 21<sup>st</sup>
century has bred nothing but noble, honorable truth telling authorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A man in a white lab coat holding a clip
board is not infallible.<br />
Though
there was much more literature that opposed tobacco in the 1600’s there was a
certain diplomat who felt it necessary to argue in fairness with tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thomas Mann, himself was not a smoker, but
since he did not mind other people doing it, as well as taking in second hand
smoke, he was more than happy to give tobacco a fair trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Published in 1602, Mann’s book, <i>A Defense
of Tobacco</i>, goes point by point through another book published at the time
that was anti tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of what we
find in this book are arguments against the arguments that people are still
using today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He notes that one of their
reasons is that a singular group of people are abusing and disordering the
substance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mann replies with, “The lack
of discretion of the party that useth it is no dispraise to the thing that is
abused (Mann 10)!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a man abuses food
and becomes fat are we then to remove all culpability and say that it was the
food’s fault? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is applicable
anywhere in life and it sounds absurd in all circumstances; except of course
when we speak of tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
Of
course it is an addictive substance that cannot be resisted, so therefore we
must eradicate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the reasoning
and it does not hold up, even to this day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And on the contrary as well, tobacco if it is used skillfully then it
“deserveth great commendation (Mann 11).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These things are never taken into account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does tobacco do that is not a negative
accusation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These “dangers” have always
been made up about tobacco; the authors are people who have no good reason to
suppress it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They merely do not like the
smell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we look at the history of man,
we will see that since tobacco became widely used we have not seen any evidence
that more people are getting lung cancer because of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, lung cancer has only come on at the
rise of the industrial revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
we should be looking at are the car’s exhaust that we breathe in everyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doctors, as much as they hate to admit it,
have to agree with this claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wray
Kephart, a present engineer and former autopsy performer, having done more than
1500 autopsies, notes that while he does autopsies there is absolutely no way
to tell if the deceased was a smoker (lcolby.com 2006).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lungs are actually not what the pictures
say they are; filled with black tar that is slowly deteriorating the lining and
giving the first, second and third hand smoker cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this were true we should be seeing
millions of people developing cancer very quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be obvious to reject smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kephart goes on to say that sometimes there
are traces of carbon monoxide in the lungs, but this due to people living in
high traffic areas like Los Angeles
breathing in the exhaust from all of the cars (lcolby.com). These are
noticeable scare tactics; these are used because the anti-tobacconists do not
have a single good reason to get people to stop smoking and out of the bars.<br />
In
a Heartlander article by Dr. Jerome Arnett, there is revealed a huge flaw in
scientific study of tobacco, which lacks integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, in 1992 the Surgeon General was
conducting studies of tobacco with the scientific standard confidence interval
(CI) of 95%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the results were not
satisfactory for the anti-tobacconists which gave them a small non-report
worthy risk factor of 1.19%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what did
they do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They changed the CI to 90%
which gave them a risk factor of a hefty 19%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arnett pointed out that this was the first time ever that the EPA changed
the confidence interval (Arnett 2008).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is clear that our scientists and doctors have bias are willing to
bend the rules to get their desired answer.<br />
Another
myth that is perpetuated by anti-tobacconists is that all tobacco is the same;
there is no less risk in a cigar, a pipe or a cigarette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacob Sullum would argue differently saying
that the dangers vary in form to form and that if anything were true about the
studies it is that cigarettes are more dangerous than pipes or cigars (Sullum
278).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You actually don’t inhale the smoke of a
cigar or pipe; you just bring it into you mouth and push it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These forms of tobacco are not about the
nicotine fix and never have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
all about enjoying the taste of a good smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They may as well be second hand smokers since they don’t really inhale
any of the smoke until afterward.<br />
But
where does this lead us all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find
ourselves in a battle of the wits and the field is politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anything good came of all this it would be
the social/political intrigue of the debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a constant down pour of campaigning commercials to get people
to boycott smoking and advocate the investigation of the big tobacco
companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The popular “Truth”
organization has been putting these ads out for at least the last decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cast themselves as the righteous humble
seekers after truth, when they are actually being what Mr. John Bain Jr. would
have described as a crank; some one who fails to mind their own business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, Jacob Sullum has seen this trend himself
and he wanted to clear up any bad information saying, “There is almost no
evidence that advertising gets non-smokers to start smoking (Sullum 278).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, the ads that you used to see, but do
no more, only created a shift of current smokers changing their preferred
brand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When an advertisement pitches any
product, most of the time you have already made up your mind about it before
the ad has finished.<br />
The
social view point is that Big Tobacco is immoral and smokers are sprinting to
their deaths like pigs to the slaughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But these attempts at governing your life don’t do as much as they would
like and so the anti-tobacconists head to Washington
to have the government outlaw the things they don’t like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story that Jacob Sullum had in his book, <i>For
Your Own Good</i>, about representative Durbin is a fantastic example of the
busy bodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What many anti-tobacconists
have realized is that their complaints to the smokers, themselves isn’t doing
much good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smokers keep smoking and the
world keeps spinning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing is that
the busy-bodies would happily stop the entire world on their behalf just so
that they can be comfortable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they
turn to those in office, because of their power to control the people and have
them abuse this power for the sake of one single group of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One example of this was one Ahron
Leichtman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leichtman was on a radio show
and his host was smoking a cigar “blowing smoke in his face”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This brought Leichtman to sue the radio host
for giving him headaches and sinus problems (Sullum 139).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later Leichtman was at the head of the
non-smoker’s rights strike, which later became the Group Against Smoker’s
Pollution (GASP).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This full on attack
became so hopeless for the tobacco companies that they were willing to take
anything they could get that was short of a total ban.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These bans rest solely on the data that the
health institutes have published.<br />
In
the movie directed by Jason Reitman, <i>Thank You for Smoking</i>, a film
adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s novel by the same name, a CEO, Nick Naylor
represents and defends the tobacco industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the end of the movie there is a scene which is a court hearing on a
proposal to put a “skull and crossbones” with the word poison printed on it, on
all packages of cigarettes to deter people from smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point an anti-tobacconist, Senator
Finistirre said, “The death toll from airline and automobile accidents doesn’t
even skim the surface of cigarettes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Naylor then rebutted with this comment: “Oh, this is from a Senator who
calls Vermont home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real demonstrated number one killer in America
is cholesterol and here comes Senator Finistirre who’s fine state, I regret to
say, is clogging the nation’s arteries with Vermont Cheddar Cheese.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What this quote shows us that if we are going
to give this treatment to one substance why don’t we give to all other
substances that have been deemed dangerous?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That would be fair and equal treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But we enjoy our cheese too much.<br />
But
these lawsuits and hearings have not stopped and for tobacco companies this has
become routine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When these companies are
asked to reply they find it easiest to ask the plaintiff if they bothered to
read the warning labels or listen to the warnings of prominent physicians or public
officials (lcolby.com).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even if the
plaintiff loses that case it is an over all win for the anti-tobacconists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is just as good as the tobacco companies
admitting that smoking causes cancer, and so making them uncaring monsters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the tobacco executives have even
boasted that there is a risk even saying that they wouldn’t want their own
children to smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These executives are
given hard questions like for example: Can you prove to us that smoking <i>does
not</i> cause lung cancer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as any
logician should be able to see this is a logical fallacy; since the executives
cannot prove a negative they are left silent, not knowing they are being
tricked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody can prove a negative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because they are not answering they presume
that smoking causes lung cancer (lcolby.com).<br />
There
seems to be an overall confusion about tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most people don’t mind it all that much, but the ones that do have such
an adamant distaste for it they cannot bear that people smoke even when they
aren’t around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They create confusion
between the words “risk” and “cause” and making believe they mean the same
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This allows them to take any case
of lung cancer and trace it back to that one cigarette they once had years ago,
that one guy they walk by regularly who smokes, or even smoke residue left on
other people’s furniture or clothes, and blame tobacco for all of it.<br />
There
is a solution and it has been suggested numerous times to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Melbourne,
Australia was attempting
to ban smoking in all restaurants and some of the Chefs who owned the restaurants
wanted “the state government to butt out and let their diners continue lighting
up on outside tables (Hargreaves 1).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
this quote we gather that the question isn’t “who is going to win the debate?”
but are things going to stay the way they are (free), or is this group going to
legislate their personal utopia on everyone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that same article a non-smoker chef Gary
Mehigan was reported to say, “I’m a non-smoker, but it is ridiculous to
ostracize smokers to such an extent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
should try to accommodate the small number of smokers out there (Hargreaves
2).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is not this obvious?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our solution is in the mouths of the
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They understand what is at stake
where as our government officials do not; they just see it as an opportunity to
get what they want or the approval of a larger voting block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people are asserting that it is absurd to
force certain practices out of businesses, even if it is unhealthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Food can be addictive for some and very
unhealthy, but we have restaurants all over the nation enabling these
“addicts”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Customer based businesses are
called hospitality for a reason; as the saying goes, the customer is always
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are having the government
tell them to turn service away to a smoker who would like to enjoy a smoke in their
business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harry Mount reported that in
Stony Stratford, England where they were trying to ban smoking in all public
areas, Gary Stubbs said, “They’re little health Hitlers, wanting to stop people
smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t smoke, but I still
object to the ban (Mount 2).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an
honest approach; don’t legislate it, get out of it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people see and agree, no matter their
opinion on it’s health aspects, that getting the government involved is another
step towards dictatorship. <br />
Any
place you go you will find these opinions; people who feel the government is
interfering too much in their lives and some of them are not even smokers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And these bans have had a social effect as
well as far as business goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bars have
been losing business because of smoking bans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now that bars can’t allow it, they cannot attract the whole smokers
demographic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bars that didn’t allow
smoking in the first place, don’t see any change, so it was not necessarily to
their benefit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to the nanny
state’s benefit and those few who will make a fuss about smoke instead of
getting out of it.<br />
This
has always been a strange debate since one group has always defined itself by
it’s struggles with the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
no third party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just the eradication of
the other party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Early in it’s use
tobacco was seen as a moral problem and as this failed the anti-tobacconists
they revised their morality to the secular kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This secular morality is preached by the
health nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric Burns mentioned in his
book, <i>The Smoke of the Gods</i>, what the Tsar of Russia’s, Michael
Feodorovich, had in line for punishment with those who were caught smoking and
his distaste was obvious, “A first time smoker was whipped with leather thongs
until bloody and repentant; after a second conviction his nose was slit, and if
caught a third time he would have his head removed in a ceremony to which one
and all were invited (Burns 41).”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Clearly, there is a grave over reaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if we consider the effects reported about second hand smoke perhaps
these weren’t so extreme after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
smoking is causing lung cancer then Feodorovich’s law was legitimate.<br />
So
we see that all the data gathered there is a mess of propaganda and suppressed
studies along with even more fraudulent studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If these things are examined honestly then we
will find that smoking has always been unjustly attacked, is not as dangerous
as popular knowledge tells us and implementing smoking bans is nothing but a
nanny state over reaching and trying to control what it should not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you ever see this happening in your
community, encourage others to take a closer look at the facts and appeal to
them to act accordingly.<br />
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Annotated
Bibliography</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Arnett, Jerome. <i>News.heartland.org</i>. Heartlander. 2008. Web. 2 December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This was a fantastic that helps support my claims with a very credible
source.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Jerome Arnett, a
pulmonologist, wrote the article himself in which he uncovers all of the
attempts to publish fraudulent data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
speaks of scientists that change certain definitions in science so that they
can get a result that makes tobacco look bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They other wise had no evidence unless they bent the rules.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Bain, John. <i>Tobacco in Song and Story</i>. New
York. 1896. H.M. Caldwell. Print</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This is a very enjoyable book for any smoker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a documentation of stories, fables,
histories all about tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it also
includes arguments and poems that praise tobacco for all of its merits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a smoker I see the angle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in accordance with the general debate
this is a mock piece that takes any chance it can get to shame the enemy; in
the case I mention Bain calls the anti-tobacconists “cranks”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recommend it as a source because it helps
one to better understand the smoker’s relationship to tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if it were killing them they would not
care; it would be worth it for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sadly, I could not find any information on who John Bain was but since
this is more of a satire/piece of art I think it matters little what his
credibility is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
<i>Thank You for Smoking</i>. Dir. Jason Reitman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perf. Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright, Katie
Holmes, Maria Bello, David Koechner, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall. Room 9
Entertainment. 2005. Film</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This movie is an adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s novel by the same
title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It follows the trials and
tribulations of a CEO, Nick Naylor, who represents big tobacco
corporations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a great source
which shows all of the unreasonable tactics of the anti-tobacconists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naylor is an omni-competant rhetorician who
got his job because he was the only debater good enough to defend tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a testament to the fact that public
beatings and shamings have “not gone out of style”; this is seen heavily in
regards to tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an example of
what has happened in our courts and perhaps foreshadowing of what is to
come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though it is a fictional
story it is very accurate in it’s depiction of the state of the debate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Burns, Eric. <i>The Smoke of the Gods</i>. Philadelphia.
2007, Temple University
Press. Print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This book is a social history of tobacco, which gives some background
information about the substance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
though it does not follow the debate explicitly these things come up regularly
in the chapters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was written to help
people decide for themselves what the effects of tobacco are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is very useful since it fills in a lot of
the blanks about how tobacco came up and who were the first to oppose it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burns, too has an extensive bibliography that
reassures you where the information cam from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is a former broadcast journalist and so it is safe to assume that he
has good credentials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since it was
written in 2007 the information could not get much more recent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is also a easy to peruse piece since a
journalist is always trying to get as many readers as possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: -9.0pt;">
Colby, Lauren. <i>Lcolby.com</i>.
2.5, 2006, web. 2 December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Colby’s claim is that much of what you hear today from doctors and
scientists about tobacco is propaganda using fabricated studies and misleading
reports to have people believe a negative story of tobacco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been updated for 2006, but was written
earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is very relevant for the
debate on smoking bans and thinks outside the box regarding it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a reliable source as far as legislation
goes because the author is a lawyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Otherwise, Colby does a good job of quoting authorities in medicine; even
some that agree with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reading
level is pretty high so it is not for everyone; this is very educated and smart
and it assumes that you know certain things already.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Hargreaves, Wendy. “Dirty Habit or Freedom of Choice?” Australia.
2012, Sunday Herald Sun, 19 August
2012 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This article was written to give an accurate assessment of how many
people in Melbourne, Australia
support or oppose a smoking ban.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
supposed to be unbiased but it seems the author is in opposition to the
ban.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is good as a source because it
helps you find common opinion of people who are directly effected by smoking
bans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The information is accurate as
well as the author’s reliability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was
there, interviewing the public opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was written just his year so it has no other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Harticollis, Anemona. “Bloomberg Calls for Residential Smoking Rules”. New
York, 2012, New York Times. 2 December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This is a merely current source that I can relate to people who are
thinking in terms of how they are effected by these things today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is to show that people can easily cite
this topic in large metropolitan areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Also, this article is an example of poor media representation and
democratic representation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article
makes no mention of any opposing camp of the bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is as if they don’t exist and this lessens
the credibility of Harticollis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the
article is talking about is evidential that government officials are not
seeking out any other solutions than the ones they came up with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Instah.com, 2010. web. 2 December
2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This web page gave me a plethora of information about smoking bans in the
U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a very easily understood graph to
look at where you can observe clearly a steady increase in the amount of
smoking bans across America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The page also came with valuable statistics
that helped support my claims about the anti-tobacconist camp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They use a lot of the same fallacies and
mistakes that I mention in my paper, such as tobacco “related diseases”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: -9.0pt;">
<i>Lung.org</i>.
American Lung Association; 2012. Web. 2
December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This website was made to give you statistics on what the current numbers
of smoking deaths are and related topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was written to get people educated enough about tobacco to get them
to stop smoking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is useful because
it gives me direct claims that make it easy to refute and understand the
enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The information is very accurate
since it comes from medical journals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The author is unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The info
is probably as up to date as it can be and it is easily understood by
anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>articles that can be more
current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is as easy to use as any
news article would be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: -9.0pt;">
Man, Thomas. <i>A
Defense of Tobacco</i>. Netherlands
1602, De Capo Press. Print.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This book was written by an Elizabethan to make a defense of tobacco
because of all the literature on why tobacco is bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to give it a fair trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes point by point to argue with another
piece at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not current by
any turn of the phrase, but since I plan to give some history of the debate,
this will prove useful to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The information
is based on reality and experience so there isn’t a way to fact check this
document, but the arguments are sound in their proofs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was written by Thomas Man was a prominent
diplomat and had published very many other works before that like essays or
translations of classical works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
authority is very good for his time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is not by any means easy to use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The grammar is old and out of date.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was difficult to read.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Mount, Harry. “Health Hitlers and a Mutiny in the Town Trying to Ban Smoking”.
London, 2011, Daily Mail. 12 July 2011.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This article was written to give an accurate assessment of the public
opinion of a smoking ban in Stony Stratford, London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is also useful if I want to get a wide
array of personal opinions to site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Special cases are not just exceptions in these debates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was written last year in 2011 so it has
nothing lacking in its currency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
journalist is reliable since he writes for the London Daily Mail, and also easy
to read and follow along if you want to keep up with the debate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Mulvihill, Kim. “Health Watch: Sitting vs. Smoking”. San Fransisco, 2011.
CBS. 2 December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This article was astonishing when I first saw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one side I was complaining and on the
other I could rejoice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shows that we
will create a health scare out of anything and worry our heads over what we are
doing all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand this
was an opportunity to show people that smoking was only just as deadly as
sitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So smokers are not racing to
the grave any quicker than non smokers who are sitting down often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then there have been many other
articles that support this; so it was not just one crazy doctor with an absurd
idea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Smoking-facts.net. 2004. Web. 2
December 2012</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This is another web site that is very helpful in understanding the mind
of the anti-tobacconist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The very
website claims to be delivering “eye popping” statistics about smoking that
will blow your mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They rely on hear
say for their credibility and ad hominem for their logos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t much good for anything else than to
understand these minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they have a
wide array of different and completely unrelated facts which leads me to
believe that the people who composed the website didn’t really know what they
were talking about.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
Sullum, Jacob. <i>For Your Own Good</i>. New York:
1998, The Free Press. Print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 26.65pt; text-indent: -.5in;">
This book is all about the anti-smoking crusade and the tyranny of public
health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sullum is against it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He writes to uncover some of the less than
prudent actions of the anti tobacconists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is useful for some one who has just entered the debate; seeing that
there are not a lot of resources out there for pro tobacco this hits the mark
in giving all the right info about how smoking bans came up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author is very accurate since he gives an
extended bibliography of all his sources he used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are very easy to look up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sullum is a newspaper columnist and so his
credibility is sufficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is his
jobs too have the straight facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
isn’t that current since it was published at the turn of the century but these
things have changed very little since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The same things are still being said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The reading level is low so it would not be difficult for and average
adult to understand fully.</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-4324938329342622832012-11-15T21:50:00.000-08:002012-11-15T21:50:02.015-08:00Those Three Blessed<div style="text-align: center;">
A senorita to open mine eyes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To walk with me in the morning sunrise.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The initial shock by alarm I stressed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
All broke, her lips to mine are pressed.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Later on, my good friend comes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And we do discuss with murmuring hums,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The way of the cosmos and all that be,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He with great answers, and I do agree.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The day is spent and what do I see?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A patriarch wrapped with medals; and he,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tells us all that doth come to his mind,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These heady old thoughts, like a halo, shined.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>To these three I dedicate this verse, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Cigarette, Pipe, and Cigar.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>If you are the ones to put me in a hearse,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I'll know you were never afar.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By Evan Gunn Wilson</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-50417075564782896342012-10-11T23:32:00.001-07:002012-10-11T23:32:22.090-07:00The Poor Expensive Cigar<div style="text-align: center;">
I, by thee unruly lied, chased the fleeing tide,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Forward far to fume the futile cigar.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Why didst so shy betrayed, I lustfully eyed,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Par was drawn, marred in the jar.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By Evan Gunn Wilson</div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-73174208922232718742012-07-28T11:47:00.001-07:002012-07-28T11:47:10.547-07:00Soldier's BusinessRacing from the gilded fort and never once to turn,<br />
No repentant shout nor silent thought of valiance to burn.<br />
<br />
And stood he by, attentive; why did he stalwart stay,<br />
For king and country and all her glory, no mercenary pay.<br />
<br />
Abandoned loves for greater things; business to be done,<br />
Nor to return until he learns the general battle won.<br />
<br />
Though a private, the least of grunt is his only name,<br />
But by and by is honored still included in the game.<br />
<br />
Whence came wars and fights among him; injuries and death?<br />
But wicked lies and vile slander in every sinners breath.<br />
<br />
And though his ruler poses good, the enemy wise the same,<br />
The soldier serves the weaker set, devoid of all their shame.<br />
<br />
But to his God he's faithful most since he's not god enough,<br />
Praises Him at every whim with cig'rette's savored puff.<br />
<br />
<i>By Evan Gunn Wilson </i>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-2578791486584268602012-07-14T01:03:00.002-07:002012-07-21T23:34:49.054-07:00If God Were A Tyrant<div style="text-align: center;">
Wast thou my only one? My single savior?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My only child and sole most favor,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That blessed our blood with innocent eyes,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And welled our hopes with favorable lies.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Righteous lies that none may doubt,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of which brought joy and were much about,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Living days, though pirated now,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Achieving intellect and I'd say how,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Thee did offer amusing answers,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By prophetic images, angelic dancers.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But you were taken in frightful manner,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By God waving his tyranic banner.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He built me up and gave me laughter,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Through your joys and later after,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ript violently from my helpless hands,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Passing through the untimely sands.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He is a monster! A wretched king of pain,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
While all his adorers to me have sain,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"There is a time for death, and for life."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As if these actions weren't built on strife.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Strife unjustified by all who note,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
What I've recorded here by wrote.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Be off with you I need you not,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I pray your church in a grave may rot.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I need not your son, he was yours,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Otherwise, blood be spilt by this lore.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By Evan Gunn Wilson</div>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-14970646020545915262012-07-03T17:36:00.003-07:002012-10-11T23:32:41.471-07:00Tobacco Poetry Revisited Here is a half assed poem I just wrote. Though the language is not much to speak of, I hope you enjoy the sentiment.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Who will we call when we die of smoke?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
When no remedies there to fix what we broke.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then we will feel the fresh air's choke,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Of King James the First! (a miserable moke)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That Counterblaste King of Stuart land,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Saves us all with his potentate hand.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By the time that devil Raleigh drew near,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Was James ready to strike us with fear.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
'Twas that ruler that started on health,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So we can live longer in miserable wealth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A wealth we would like to indulge ourselves in,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Only to find that these things are sin.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Call on him, and a seance conduct,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For severe lectures, the ghost instructs.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But if you wish to be comfortably old,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Join for a smoke in the unforgiving cold.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Sir Walter Raleigh, name of worth!</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>How sweet for thee to know.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>King James who never smoked on earth,</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Is smoking down below!</i>"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By Evan Gunn Wilson </div>
Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-77173842964700687362012-05-30T16:12:00.001-07:002012-05-30T16:12:52.065-07:00Response, The Christian KindIt is apparent that Conservative Christian circles are losing the debate on Gay Marriage. No, let me correct myself, it is not a loss, but rather a slaughter. This slaughter is manifesting itself through everyday conversation between friends, the work place, the unholy spirit of the world we named the internet and most importantly in the courts. Now you may point out that there have been wins for Conservative Christians in the courts as there was in California. True, but one must ask whether this shall last. The only reason gay marriage could be voted down is because it makes guys feel weird (which, I may add, is a totally legitimate reason). So, the CCs must not pretend that there is a revival approaching; they must see that they are out of ammo as far as convincing the judges to favor them.<br />
<br />
Their opponents (Liberals we will call them), however, are thriving with glee as they protest protests, do MTV coming out shows, declare war on bullying (which is deliciously ironic), give Dan Savage his own TV show and let transgender persons compete for Miss America. They have bountiful victories and they aren't going to stop now. They dominate the internet with cute memes that straw man the CCs so as to make us doubt and be ashamed of our Old Testament bigotry. We, the intolerant see two options: 1) Move to North Idaho and remove ourselves from society and occasionally make official statements about gays going to hell to then be made fun of by the world, or 2) join the "enlightened" and make the world a better place by holding their opinions, since that will make everybody happy. Yes, we are the ones that cave. The war mongers and bigots are the ones that submit to the peace loving Liberals, because our post-enlightened sensibilities see it as logical, based upon the ancient Zen like wisdom of no-harm-no-foul.<br /><br />That is their argument. That is their template for morality. Gay marriage will not hurt anybody. Will Gay Marriage inflict physical harm on anybody? Directly, no. Indirectly, likely, but no more than an average heterosexual marriage would. Does that make it morally sound? That has yet to be argued by the Liberals; currently, they are just trying to make it legal for civil matters. I believe they know that the courts do not decide morality, but the object is make us believe that they do. Otherwise, if we ever got that philosophical ball rolling they know exactly where it would take them. But it wont happen. We are not a nation that concerns ourselves with what is morally right and true. Instead we shout at our friends, family, enemies and government, "My rights! My rights! I deserve my rights!", never once stopping to ask whether or not we are deserving of anything. It happens thus, and it wont ever change unless America falls like the nations have before it. If the people are obliterated then so are the ideas they hold.<br />
<br />
What then? Are we CCs to pray for nuclear war? I'll be honest that I have thought of it, but it seems too easy. If we don't join these Liberals, then we get made fun of and wait for the slim chance of utter destruction that wont occur in our life times. Strangely, this is the least of a CCs problems. We, who have claimed Christ as our Lord and savior, who have passed from death to life, have different things to think about. Though our soul has been taken care of, there is always more to be learned from Christ. We must discover how to live as Christians in this world, and let us not say we have not received teaching. In Matthew 10.22, Jesus tells us how we "will be hated by all for his name's sake". He tells us how "they will persecute you in one town" and to "flee to the next". Jesus saw this coming. He knows us and them very well. So basically this treatment we receive now is in our job description. We shall not be surprised, appalled or indignant. We should expect persecution, for the pagans grow greater and greater in numbers everyday. This is routine just as war, famine, genocide and peace are routine. From the moment two people are created they immediately gain different opinions acquired by their perspectives, and almost just as soon they think themselves right and the other wrong. This is the nature and the way of the beast; the beast that shall be named the Pride of Life.<br /><br />Frankly, Conservative Christians have wasted time being all too conservative and not enough Christian. We have landed in a rut thinking that if we control the White House then we control the minds of the people, as if rebellion and revolution never occurs against a righteous ruler. We have played the world's game with the world's rules and inevitably we lose under the world's definitions. We have nurtured our own Pride of Life and attempted to appeal to the masses with our social return to the law and tragically the dirt has been rubbed in our face. So, we ask, "What are we to do?" Is it despair from here on out? It does not have to be. We are instructed to be joyful in all persecution, whether the sting is physical, mental or emotional we must have joy. Death, because of Christ, has lost it's sting and we have nothing left to fear but our imminent God, the one to whom we owe all we have, and made of ourselves. The joy has tactical use as well. If we are joyful we can be loving. If we are loving our enemies we are "heaping burning coals on their heads".<br /><br />To wind this down a little bit, personally, I see gay marriage legal in at least some states if not many, and we can expect many other perverse behaviors being declared legal by the state and moral by the people. Gird your loins because this will get weird. Use that weird feeling and vote against it. Don't cave to it, and don't be a Westboro Baptist. Be joyful. Though I do not know if the end of the world is nigh, I do know the end of YOUR world is nigh. Use your timely wisely. Do not be a fool. Be a servant of Christ.Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-79010533544255021442012-04-23T21:02:00.004-07:002012-06-08T12:06:57.909-07:00Idol Worship<div style="text-align: center;">
Awake! Awake you piece and be,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My root to stand nobly!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My creation you shall be my god,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So I forever give you laud.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I give give you laud so I may be blest,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Since other gods and all the rest,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Demand of me my rightful time,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To do their will, be rid of mine.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So I made you in the image of me,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To tackle life presumptuously.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Be my benefactor and convenient grace,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Granted you will me embrace.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>By Evan Gunn Wilson </i></div>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-31500353619445874262012-03-22T15:43:00.002-07:002012-03-22T15:58:35.788-07:00The Philosopher's Error<div style="text-align: center;">It is for the love of wisdom that sets you right,<br />And all her fruits that exhibit might.<br />She's a desirous maid for those of the North,<br />While southern fools bring excuses forth.<br />Those animals: They indulge their deepest pleasure,<br />Pontificating that it is the medium measure.<br />"It is our nature!" the sly ones say,<br />And the initial moments they might be gay.<br />But guilt creeps in by the day's end,<br />So all that is left are the shells of men .<br />They dash towards ruin, they dash their minds;<br />The unholy marriage, the pleasurable kind.<br />But us: Oh me, I have not lost my way,<br />For the next logical step leads no one astray.<br />Join me where all have read and have written,<br />The problem of pain where one might be bitten.<br />I am sufficient because I have made myself thus,<br />Not given to emotion or the passions of lust!<br />I have ascended to where all men have sought,<br />But I can't help but think of the grave where I'll rot.<br /><br />By Evan Gunn Wilson<br /></div>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-27489041026383961822012-02-16T23:27:00.000-08:002012-02-16T23:53:30.133-08:00Another Conversation Betwixt God and the Soul<div style="text-align: center;">Soul<br /><br />Forgive me LORD that I had not seen,<br />That with my service I had been so mean.<br />To chase my passions grotesque by flesh,<br />I reasoned that I was right and blessed.<br /><br />God<br /><br />Your guilt is sure but I wait to find,<br />My son in you, a pleasing kind.<br />But your conviction is good and true,<br />So I shall forgive as you well knew.<br /><br />Soul<br /><br />I cannot describe the burden lifted,<br />But that I have been wonderfully gifted.<br />My wretched sins deserved no less,<br />Than to be cast down into abyss.<br /><br />God<br /><br />I cannot deny what I could have done,<br />But had not Ninevah made your run?<br />Tis' ugly, yes, but excellent too,<br />To have you love me, as I loved you.<br /><br />Soul<br /><br />But what if I turn again to sin,<br />Would not the adversary win?<br />By and by I groan and wail,<br />at the prospect that I might fail.<br /><br />God<br /><br />Your faith is small, but big enough,<br />To receive my mercy, otherwise rough.<br />But if you wish to please me great,<br />Expand your faith and sin you'll hate.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">By Evan Gunn Wilson</span><br /></div>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-78706204060401658982012-02-11T20:31:00.000-08:002012-02-16T12:11:19.591-08:00Valentine's SophiaThinking of her grace I often do,<br />And of the time that we were through.<br />But the past has yet to appear,<br />With solemn thanks to hear.<br /><br />Blest be her name, and all about;<br />That her doctrine has no shout,<br />But that she teaches with her actions,<br />And burdens none with any factions.<br /><br />My fairest ghost, or spirit rather,<br />In a land afar, but friends she gathers.<br />Though not time enough for all,<br />Seeks her God lest she should fall.<br /><br />Bemused I sit, but pleased in heart,<br />That she would suit me to take some part.<br />And when she left that day at noon,<br />Foregone me then to come to me soon.<br /><br />Nothing I expect, as honest appraise,<br />That I might go on alone for days,<br />And months, we may surely see,<br />Whether this love should truly be.<br /><br />By Evan Gunn WilsonEvan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-7160030764395822332012-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:002012-01-30T12:46:35.349-08:00The Decay of ArroganceArrogance. Bad, is it not? I believe we can all agree that that which the media has drawn as arrogant is, in fact that, and a very unbecoming quality to have. It may look like a boss that thinks himself infallible; giving orders, taking no feedback and taking offense when questioned then proceeding to put others so that his pedestal grows. Generally, this man is undesirable as company. But this is way too obvious. It is clear enough that this type of arrogance is sin, but even non-Christians dislike this apparent wrong doing. I believe Satan prefers a different type of arrogance. With the arrogance I formerly described, Satan (if I believed he was around) would be hard pressed to inspire any more evil at all; no, he would need something subtle. He would need arrogance that convinces those around it that it is humble.<br /><br />All this, I see in every day life, like most sin. It exists in broad day light, it passes us on the street, it is our friends, our family, and most likely ourselves. We have been fed this "Media Description" of arrogance and our society praises us for not being that difficult of a person. We praise and applaud ourselves and say, "Well done, good and faithful me". That's messed up. How is it that we can assume we are not actually arrogant or have fallen into any other sin for that matter. We look at the blatant and extreme examples of sin and say, "Well I am not that so I must not have a problem with it." And then it becomes a point of pride which turns into straight up arrogance. Suddenly, we are preaching to the arrogant that we will take the moral high road. It cancels itself out. It is reminding your late friend that you waited patiently. No you did not. If you did wait patiently you would not have need to tell them.<br /><br />But with arrogance it looks like a grass roots Christianity. It goes to a non-denominational church. It preaches <span style="font-style: italic;">Sola Scriptura. </span>It does not use theology and believes it is not necessary to salvation. It preaches saved grace, through faith. All these things are well and good. In fact, I do these things. But the pitfall is comparing oneself to those who may hold a different position. It is so clear to them that they have chosen the correct position that the pleasure of the decision turns into pride. And then they are no better than the theologians who are obviously arrogant. As if they are a better Christian because they hold the right position. I have seen it both ways: A simple thinker a better Christian than a hard thinker, and hard thinker a better Christian than the simple. "I am not arrogant like that.", says he. "Well then in what way are you arrogant?", says the Saint. Make the effort to discover something terrible about yourself everyday; and let us not consider ourselves on the moral high ground for it. It is merely what we ought to do.<br /><br />But another thing. Arrogance has become an under-appreciated way of thinking. A man tells you that you are wrong. Do you call him arrogant? Perhaps. How do we know? look at his heart. Does he still love you? Does it matter to him that you are wrong? Did his head grow? If not, he is not arrogant. He can say these things with all the tone of arrogance he wants, if he is still humble before God and His unknowable, unfathomable creation it matters not. He thinks he is right, but like Solomon he knows he cannot absolutely prove it. He knows the size of his brain is quite small. Making these educated guesses about big things is his hobby, not his pride. This we need more of. Men challenging other men with that contract of Christian arrogance that says, "This really does not matter to me, but here goes anyway, because I am having a good time."Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2908761834647229432.post-62876923969128826582012-01-24T22:34:00.000-08:002012-01-24T22:42:48.909-08:00An Imploring LimerickThere once was a boy named Creed,<br />For whom poetry had one lead;<br />Insulting a friend,<br />Was all he could lend,<br />Considered no less a misdeed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">By Evan Gunn Wilson</span>Evan Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444936166465498497noreply@blogger.com1