Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychologist with a conservative bent. From Maggie's Farm, this is a lovely short clip in which he explores the idea that life includes a good bit of irreducible suffering, and maybe our job is to quit pretending there's a world in which that won't be so if everyone stops oppressing us, and if we can finally fractionate down to the very last citizen exactly where we all fit on the oppressed-victim spectrum so we can calculate the reparations we are due. Then we can get to work trying to pull ourselves together and make small, incremental improvements in how we act. We can control whom we oppress, in other words, though we can never control who oppresses us--only our response to them.
Humans like to be cattle. In Slavery 2.0, there were slaves that refused to leave the Southern plantation for the North, too insecure and unfamiliar. Slavery was easier for some.
ReplyDeleteIn Slavery 3.0, conditions have improved dramatically, the standard of living has been boosted quite well even for the poor. It is even easier to wear those invisible shackles, since they are now invisible and people can claim that they are Free.
In that sense, they are as Free as Ayers. Free as as a Jailbird.
We can control whom we oppress, in other words, though we can never control who oppresses us--only our response to them.
ReplyDeleteHow Stoic. Epictetus would approve. Hell, Epictetus basically said that.
Um . . . yes?
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