The Virtue Signal

Why is contentment so hard to come by these days? Advertisements and social media feeds constantly appeal to our emotions by presenting images of the possessions and lifestyle we would like to have, and discontenting us by reminding us that we don't have them. Using Aesop's fable of the goose that laid golden eggs, McDaniel examines how the desire for more and more wealth robs us of contentment while failing to deliver happiness--and what gratitude can do about it.

Quotations from:

Bennett, William J., Ed. The Book ofVirtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1993.

Franklin, Benjamin. Poor Richard’sAlmanack. Waterloo, IA: U.S.C. Publishing Co., 1914. Online at Archive.org.

Holy Bible, English StandardVersion. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002.

Plato, Republic. Trans. Robin Waterfield.Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 1994.

The word 'temperance" in the U.S. typically evokes the history of early 20th-century Temperance Societies that attacked drinking and drunkenness and whose work eventually led to the era of Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s. As a result of this experiment with Prohibition, many Americans have a negative reaction to the idea of temperance and have a very limited sense of its application. Rhonda uses Shakespeare's play Richard II to explore how temperance orders and restores proportion to our mental faculties.

In September Rhonda was invited to talk about The Virtue Signal at the Women's Evening of Encouragement at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The event was recorded and is presented in this Special Bonus episode.

The most underrated (and rarely discussed) aspect of fortitude is the component virtue of magnanimity, or greatness of soul or heart. This greatness of spirit motivates us to attempt great things, but also gives the gentler strength to rise above petty insults or the jealousy of others in order to maintain an even temper and keep the peace.

In Episode 14, Fortitude and Love of Country, Rhonda looks at the partiotic courage that inspirde Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner." Justice requires that citizens recognize both successes and failures to live up to our national ideals, and true patriotic love for country demands the fortitude to face both old and new challenges to the striving to become a more virtuous nation.

Rhonda begins Episode 13, Keep Your Head, with a look at the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell's novel, 1984, in order to discuss the tendency to dehumanize the opposition and how the virtue of fortitude joins with the virtues of prudence and justice to address this tendency.

Episode 12 Everyday Justice begins the exploration of the virtue of justice at the most basic level of how we treat each other by examining the role of manners in building a respecting and just society. At the individual level, manners communicate respect for those around us by treating with the dignity and the tolerance that is their due as fellow human beings.

Sources:

Adams, Samuel. Letter to James Warren, 12 February 1779.

Didion, Joan. “Self-Respect: Its Source, Its Power,” Vogue(August 1, 1961), 62–63.

Milton, John. Areopagitica. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/jebb-areopagitica-1644-jebb-ed.

Peaceigive.com. https://peaceigive.com › 2020 › 01 › 21 ›psst-manners-are-racist-and-ableist-too.

Plato, Republic. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 1994.

Music:

Intro/Outro by Dario Coiro via Pixabay.

Sting by Open Mind Audio via Pixabay.

In America we always want to know the numbers, the statistics behind whatever claims people make, and so we have also devised a myriad of demographic categories to identify what cross-section of society we are measuring and discussing at any given time. One of the demographic categories we use is generations--Baby boomers, Baby Busters, Generation X, Millennials, and currently, Generation Z. Dr. Allison McFarland, Consultant and Speaker on Recruiting, Mentoring, and Retaining Generation Z and Walter C. and Helen E. Claassen Endowed Chair of Business at Bethel College-North Newton, KS, joins Rhonda to discuss the characteristics of Generation Z and what this generation thinks about virtue.

Jury duty forms one of the two critical duties of citizenship in a self-governing society. (The other duty is informing oneself and voting in elections.) In this episode, Rhonda refers to the Lindsay Clancy trial as a springboard to discuss how the virtue of justice may operate in the civic duty of jury service, touching upon John Adams's defense of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, and his son, John Quincy Adams's taking of the Amistad case to distinguish between empathy and justice.

Sources:

Adams, John. “Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, 4 December, 1770,” in The Founding Fathers: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches. Ed. Gordon Leidner.Napierville, IL: Cumberland House, 2013.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Trans. Maxwell Staniforth. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1964.

Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/entry-id.

Music:

Intro/Outroby Dario Coiro via Pixabay.

Sting by Open Mind Audio via Pixabay.

Episode 10 draws upon the observations of Plato's Republic, Cicero's On Obligations, and Marcus Aurelius's Meditations to examine what it means to respect oneself and to behave justly toward one's body and towards one's mind and soul. Reflecting on how to treat oneself justly then leads in future episodes to the larger consideration of how to exercise the virtue of justice toward others and, ultimately, toward nature and God.

Sources:

Alcuin. “Alcuin, De ratione animae: A Text with Introduction, Critical Apparatus, and Translation.” Edited and Translated by James J. M. Curry. Ph.D. diss., Cornell Univ., 1966.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. On Obligations. Trans. P. G. Walsh. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 2000.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Trans. Maxwell Staniforth. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1964.

Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/entry-id.

Plato, Republic. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 1994.

Swallow Prior, Karen. On Reading Well. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2018.

Music:

Intro/Outro by Dario Coiro via Pixabay.

Sting by Open Mind Audio via Pixabay.