Inscrutable Exhortations

Living in Denver has made me (even more) pessimistic about direct democracy. Why am I being asked to vote on this exactly

ballotpedia.org/Denver,_Colo...

but I think it is still very unlikely that I would be an annihilationist were I to convert

Granted, if I were a Christian, I would probably be some sort of protestant and would be all Sola Scriptura or whatever and so my theoretical preferences would have to be subservient to what the Bible says (and admittedly I have no opinion on which eschatology is most supported by the Bible)

Don't really get the appeal of annihilationism in Christian eschatology. I get the appeal of universalism and the traditional view of hell. Annihilationism seems like a weird middle ground

Trying to write a thing but I have a problem: there is no obvious antonym for "transphobia." If I write "transphilia," that feels more like "chaser" than "transgender supporter" but I'm tempted to use it anyway because fuck you

I feel this may be related to the fact that DBH broadly does not take people who disagree with him seriously

In hindsight, I'm surprised that That All Shall Be Saved doesn't deal with the issue of heresy at all

Robin Parry makes a better case for christian universalism than DBH does

Sacrifice is conducted after the following manner: Hoh asks the people which one among them wishes to give himself as a sacrifice to God for the sake of his fellows. He is then placed upon the fourth table, with ceremonies and the offering up of prayers: the table is hung up in a wonderful manner by means of four ropes passing through four cords attached to firm pulley-blocks in the small dome of the temple. This done they cry to the God of mercy, that he may accept the offering, not of a beast as among the heathen, but of a human being. Then Hoh orders the ropes to be drawn and the sacrifice is pulled up above to the centre of the small dome, and there it dedicates itself with the most fervent supplications. Food is. given to it through a window by the priests, who live around the dome, but it is allowed a very little to eat, until it has atoned for the sins of the State. There with prayer and fasting he cries to the God of heaven that he might accept its willing offering. And after twenty or thirty days, the anger of God being appeased, the sacrifice becomes a priest, or sometimes, though rarely, returns below by means of the outer way for the priests. Ever after, this man is treated with great benevolence and much honor, for the reason that he offered himself unto death for the sake of his country. But God does not require death.

Strange sacrificial ritual

They very skilled in making dishes, and in them they put spice, honey, butter, and many highly strengthening spices, and they temper their richness with acids, so that they never vomit.

Lol

(I think I misread the "cured all diseases" line since he's now talking about various medical treatments for different illnesses)

As regards drinking, they are extremely moderate. Wine is never given to young people until they are ten years old, unless the state of their health demands it. After their tenth year they take it diluted with water, and so do the women, but the old men of fifty and upward use little or no water. They eat the most healthy things, according to the time of the year.

They have a very moderate and reasonable policy on alcohol: no wine for children until they are at least 10 years old

Capt. Their food consists of flesh, butter, honey, cheese, garden herbs, and vegetables of various kinds. They were unwilling at first to slay animals, because it seemed cruel; but thinking afterward that is was also cruel to destroy herbs which have a share of sensitive feeling, they saw that they would perish from hunger unless they did an unjustifiable action for the sake of justifiable ones, and so now they all eat meat.

Turns out the "vegetarianism is bad because plants have feelings" meme is at least 400 years old

Capt. Wars might never occur, nevertheless they are exercised in military tactics and in hunting, lest perchance they should become effeminate and unprepared for any emergency.

The gender egalitarianism is very Spartan. Women are equal but only equal to the degree that they are masculinized. Being effeminate is still clearly objectionable

There are also vessels built into the wall above the arches, and these are full of liquids from one to 300 years old, which cure all disease

This even though they have cured all disease!

This thing, however, existing among them is excellent and worthy of imitation—viz., that no physical defect renders a man incapable of being serviceable except the decrepitude of old age, since even the deformed are useful for consultation. The lame serve as guards, watching with the eyes which they possess. The blind card wool with their hands, separating the down from the hairs, with which latter they stuff the couches and sofas; those who are without the use of eyes and hands give the use of their ears or their voice for the convenience of the State, and if one has only one sense he uses it in the farms. And these cripples are well treated, and some become spies, telling the officers of the State what they have heard.

This eugenic utopia still has disabled people

Yeah I can see that

What sorts of parallels do you see between Campanella and the ways we think?

I didn't know who Campanella was, and City of the Sun is short, so i thought I'd check it out

In the " Utopia " of Sir Thomas More the mar- riage preliminaries, suggesting something of Plato's physical point of view, recall a passage in the Laws. But in Campanella's " City of the Sun " we find a closer approximation to the Platonic Eugenics. Marriage, recognized as an affair of the state rather than of the individual, because the interests of future generations are involved, is only to be performed in the light of scientific knowledge. The " great master," who is a physician, aided by the chief matrons, is to supervise marriage, which will be confined to the valorous and high-spirited. There is to be a system of state education, and the women are trained for the most part like men in warlike and other exercises. Campanella has been called the prophet of Modern Eugenics: he is the connecting-link between the crude Eugenics of the past and the scientific Eugenics of Galton.

For the last few months, I've mostly been reading about eugenics and disability. I recently came across an odd essay by Allen Roper written in the 1910s called "Ancient Eugenics," about proto eugenic ideas in classical antiquity (mostly in Sparta). He says this about Campanella:

For with them deformity is unknown. When the women are exercised they get a clear complexion, and become strong of limb, tall and agile, and with them beauty consists in tallness and strength. Therefore, if any woman dyes her face, so that it may become beautiful, or uses high-heeled boots so that she may appear tall, or garments with trains to cover her wooden shoes, she is condemned to capital punishment. But if the women should even desire them they have no facility for doing these things. For who indeed would give them this facility? Further, they assert that among us abuses of this kind arise from the leisure and sloth of women. By these means they lose their color and have pale complexions, and become feeble and small. For this reason they are without proper complexions, use high sandals, and become beautiful not from strength, but from slothful tenderness. And thus they ruin their own tempers and natures, and consequently those of their offspring.

Parts of this book are surprisingly gender egalitarian, but then they also have a death penalty for wearing makeup (???). Although even that is apparently justified on quasi gender egalitarian lines

Capt. Certainly not. For no one wants either necessaries or luxuries. Moreover, the race is not managed for the good of the commonwealth, and of private individuals, and _ the magistrates must be obeyed. They deny what we hold—viz., that it is natural to man to recognize his offspring and to educate them, and to use his wife and house and children as his own. For they say that children are bred for the preservation of the species and not for individual pleasure, as St. Thomas also asserts. Therefore the breeding of children has reference to the commonwealth, and not to individuals, except in so far as they are constituents of the commonwealth. And since individuals for the most part bring forth children wrongly and educate them wrongly, they consider that they remove destruction from the State, and therefore for this reason, with most sacred fear, they commit the education of the children, who, as it were, are the element of the republic, to the care of magistrates; for the safety of the community is not that of a few. And thus they distribute male and female breeders of the best natures according to philosophical rules.

He connects his proto-eugenics to a sort of family abolition as well

This is what you get from a country that's """neutral""" on Nazism

It is kinda insane that Switzerland didn't fully implement women's right to vote until the fucking 1990s

Freedom of Speech painting by Norman Rockwell, like from the memes

Wine drunk does not feel different than other kinds of drunk

"Love is foremost in attending to the charge of the race. He sees that men and women are so joined together, that they bring forth the best offspring. Indeed, they laugh at us who exhibit a studious cate for our breed of horses and dogs, but neglect the breeding of human beings. Thus the education of the children is under his rule. So also is the medicine that is sold, the sowing and collecting of fruits of the earth and of trees, agriculture, pasturage, the preparations for the months, the cooking arrangements, and whatever has any reference to food, clothing, and the intercourse of the sexes. Love himself is ruler, but there are many male and female magistrates dedicated to these arts"

A proto-eugenic image from Campanella's 1602 book The City of the Sun. "Love," one of the city's three governing princes, breeds humans like horses or dogs

And they made Jack Crawford white. This movie is kinda problematic

For some reason in Silence of the Lambs they made Hannibal straight?

"do you think it should be legal to burn an American flag" and "do you, at any level at all, support the idea of free speech" are the same question

Political Attitudes and Flag Burning On both measures, Republicans are more likely than independents or Democrats to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to make flag burning illegal in this country. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans (including independents who lean to the Republican party) support a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to decide whether or not to outlaw flag burning. This compares with 49% of Democrats (including Democratic-leaning independents) who share this point of view.

Republicans are not "the free speech party." Never have been. 20 years ago a majority were in favor of criminalizing flag burning