The Daily Eudemon

Segment One: Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions describes two conflicting visions: constrained and unconstrained. William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet fall in the unconstrained. The Catholic Church and Postmodernism fall in the constrained? 

Segment Two: Lightning Segments: Jane Austen's lost books, other.

Segment Three: St. Francis de Sales and "weave a little nosegay." Spray a lot of Axe. No matter how you do it, just keep out the smelly thoughts. 

Another saint of the desert: St. Macarius.

Why all the saint days in January? It's cold. The desert is hot. 

But January is a lot like the desert. Desolate. Forbidding . . . Silent. 

Russia has a long history of hermits. "Mystics of the Northern Forests."

Russia has a long, weird religious history in general. I flush it out here in summary form. 

Lightning Segments

Music for Lighting Segments: Sky Hawk Beach by Blue Wave Theory. Used pursuant to the Attribution Share-Alike License 4.0.

Theme song: Skinnin’ Lynyrd by Greg Scheske, a bespoke expert. Email him here: [email protected]

Segment One: Feast Day of St. Anthony is coming up. Everything you need to know about the desert monastic movement of the 4th century.

Segment Two: Some quotes from St. Anthony and their application to today's world. 

Segment Three: Lightning Segments.

Segment Four: Logic and reason tell us God and the World don't exist. What do you do with that information? 

Show Notes for This Episode's First Segment:

I was reading David Mikics biography of Jacque Derrida. He points out that the first large urban civilizations—like Babylon and Egypt—“used writing as an elite mechanism for social control. The secrets of the realm remained in the hands of the few who had knowledge of script.”

Did universal literacy eliminate this? Maybe in part. But it’s still there.

Have you ever considered proper grammar? All those rules? I’m something of a grammar-phobe, albeit an imperfect one.  I’m the kind of bastard that corrects my kids when they say “He is taking Fred and I to the store.”  Is that a way of setting oneself apart?

Perhaps, but there’s no social control associated with it. Just debased snobbery.

What about wokeness? Woke language? Michael Malice points out in his new book at the SJWs are constantly changing the lingo and everyone goes along because, by using it, you’re signaling that you’re on the correct side of society.

But is it a matter of social control? Is the “correct side” the higher social order?

I’m afraid so.

The Left controls the institutional social controls: Education and Media. Now, when I say “institutional,” mean the “big.” Left is big. Sure, it doesn’t control talk radio. It doesn’t control every website. It sure as heck doesn’t control the podcast universe.

But big institutions?

Big is Left.

Why else would ESPN get political like it was during the teens, at a time when the country was particularly politically polarized? Fundamental common sense would tell you that, if you take a side in the political debates, you would alienate half of your viewership . . . AND YOU’RE A SPORTS NETWORK. But they did and started alienating viewers, so much so they basically apologized last May and said they’d stop.

But why did they start?

Because ESPN is part of Disney. It’s a syllogism that you should never forget: Disney is big ($100 billion in assets; 200,000 employees). Big is left. Therefore, Disney is left.

By using the woke language, you’re signaling that you’re part of the Left . . . which is the same thing as saying you’re part of the elite. It’s important. It’s cowardice, too, but it’s also important for your career, your prospects, your income, your family.

If you’re in ancient Babylon and you want to get your family that nice house on the Euphrates, you’d learn how to write. In America 2020, you keep current with the newest SJW jargon.

Discussion about how a libertarian can support a porn ban. . . and the real reason why a libertarian may not support a porn ban.

Lightning Segments; The existential threat hangover, the Symbolic World's interview with Sevilla King, Game of Thrones.

Philosophy 101: Logic and reason always fall short. There is an act of faith at the beginning of every logical endeavor . . . and it’s an act of faith that can’t be reasoned to. It’s why Zen is wrapped in absurdity and possibly why Thomas Aquinas grew silent at the of his life.

Lightning Segments: Southwest Michigan, Time Restricted Eating, Gavin McInnes

I lived near Hillsdale for 50 years but never stepped foot on its campus. Now that I have, I'm kicking myself for not doing so much sooner. 

I back off my philosophy advice from the previous episode. If you're going to pursue philosophy, you need to believe there's truth. If you don't believe that, don't bother. Unfortunately, I suspect most colleges and universities have philosophy departments filled with PhDs who don't believe in truth. 

Lightning Segments: Rogan with Matt Taibbi, winter weight gain, other. 

Existentialism v. Essence-ism. Two aborted books . . . one living insight. I being to flush it out here. 

Advice for a college freshman who is interested in philosophy.

Lightning Segments: Chambermaids, smiling, health care.

Wasting time and existence.

Nothing but Lightning Segments.

Unusual episode today. Discussion topics veer all over the place: vodka-tonics; Portland, Maine; cobblestone streets; Starblush Ale; comedy nights; Nassim Taleb; Newport, Rhode Island.

All of it (after the introduction) in the Lightning Segment format.

Kim Kardashian was recently baptized into the Armenian Oriental Church. So, she's a Copt. Actually, no. But she's in full communion with the Copts. I flush it out--Copts, Chalcedon, Kardashians, Kanye.

Extended Lightning Segments. Boston, Evander Holyfield's mama, Cure de Ars, more.