Epicureanism and politics

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Message to this blog

“I believe a “supporter of Epicurus” as you and I are could say something about politics from time to time. Indeed, most of the time, if you try to follow Epicurus thoughts, you should eschew politics (for example : Principal Doctrine XIV). But not all the time.

Talking about Justice, Epicurus states clearly that you may act when the time is right, precisely when “actions which were formerly considered to be just under former circumstances are seen not to accord with the general concept of mutual advantage” (Principal Doctrine XXXVIII).

Where is the “mutual advantage” to let governments act like common thieves ? Nowhere. Let’s follow the thoughts of Epicurus and do something about it ! No contradiction here : Do you agree ?” (Julien Primavera in a reply to a posting on Epicurus.Today, June 1).

My comment:  the US is so divided and prone to misinformation and downright lies that I would compare it with Italy and Germany after the 1929 financial catastrophe.  Once we enter the maelstrom of political lies and the winding up of those who feel aggrieved, then we worsen a dreadful situation.  To what end?  Engaging in this riles you up and makes you more anxious, destroying ataraxia.  Vote, yes, absolutely, but don’t engage in ad hominem verbal contests with the ignorant and ill-informed.  You will never win, because these people do not have the education, knowledge and good parenting to actually listen.  They know what they know.  Period.

De-funding the police?

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The phrase “defund the police” quickly gained popularity, but the term isn’t a call to eliminate the police entirely – it is simply meant to draw attention to the outsized funds that police departments receive from state and local governments, often accounting for more than a third, and sometimes more than half, of an entire budget in normal times. In the middle of an unprecedented economic and health crisis, police departments are often the only government entity that aren’t seeing any budget cuts whatsoever. 

In Los Angeles, for example, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new budget for 2020-21 proposes allocating 54% of city funds to the LAPD. New York City’s policing budget is $5 billion, more than the city spends on agencies for health, homeless services, housing, and youth development combined. Chicago spends 39% of its resources on policing, and has proposed increases this year. 

You don’t have to agree with all the protests to see the issue here. Consider, instead, this question: are we really getting what we pay for with these massive policing budgets? If states and local governments are going to sacrifice public services for their police, it makes sense to ensure that they’re getting the optimal value for their citizens.

There’s little to no evidence to suggest that more policing has a significant impact on crime.  On the contrary, it simply increases violent altercations between people of color and the police. So what actually does reduce crime?  What does make a difference is investment in education, healthcare, transit, and community development.  These are the Cinderellas of public service. ( Patriotic Millionaires)

Are there any available aliens out there?

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Since E.T has yet to show up on our planet, estimating the number of alien civilisations in our galaxy might seem a premature – and rather futile – exercise. But that hasn’t stopped the authors of a new study from claiming that across the entire Milky Way, there are probably just over 30, each with the intelligence and technology to make contact with other planets.

The researchers, from the University of Nottingham, arrived at this conclusion by adapting a sequential method developed by the astronomer Frank Drake in 1961. First, they estimated what proportion of stars in the Milky Way are more than five billion years old (the assumed minimum period in which intelligent life can develop). Next, they calculated how many of those stars would be dense and stable enough to host planetary systems. Then, drawing on recent findings about the distribution of exoplanets, they estimated the number of rocky planets within the habitable zones of the stars. Finally, they calculated how many of the planets capable of supporting intelligent life would be likely to still be doing so at this moment: for this, they made the conservative assumption, based on how long radio communication has existed on Earth, that intelligent civilisations only survive long enough to broadcast for 100 years.

These calculations led the scientists to conclude that there are 36 contactable civilisations in the Milky Way right now. However, they point out, our chances of making contact with any of them are slim, because the closest one is likely to be 17,000 light years away – meaning that two-way communication with it would take 6,120 years.  (The Week, 27 June 2020).

My thought:  Shame!  I was hoping to import one or two really competent, smart, benevolent and public-spirited aliens to start all over again from scratch and set our planet right. We have, collectively, made a dog’s dinner of it here.

Rules fit for ridicule

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Letter to The Guardian

Now let me see if I’ve got this right. Single people can only be in a bubble with one other household, but bigger households can meet with numerous other households and can stay overnight, but must stay two metres apart. And you can go into a pub as long as you stay two metres apart, unless you can’t stay two metres apart, then you must stay one-plus metres apart. You can go up to the counter in a shop, but not in a pub or restaurant. You have to give your name and address if you go to a pub, but not in a shop. You have to wear a mask on a bus, but not in a shop (not sure about pubs). You can have your hair cut from 4 July, but not your nails painted or legs waxed.

But that’s only in England. It’s completely different in Scotland or Northern Ireland. You can’t go to Wales, but you can go to Spain, but you can’t go out for two weeks when you come back. So just remind me: are we still supposed to be washing our hands?

Gail Mitchell, Gotham, Nottinghamshire.  (The Week, 4 July 2020)

 My comment:  0ne of the enjoyable things about England is the sense of humour and the witheringly funny critiques of politicians published in newspapers, on TV and the radio.  If you are a politician in England you have to know how to take a joke at your expense and put up with being taken apart at regular intervals.  Boris and his cohort oh, so wanted to be in power, and so far, approval ratings tanking, they are doing a truly awful  job.  The population is bewildered and confused, and the leadership a load of hot air. Boris thinks ( seriously!) that his policies, including Brexit , will “ make Britain great again”.  No one knows how to do that, least of all a conservative government, always a muddle.

Yes, O know, no party politics!  But what do you do when you have dual citizenship of two countries clearly being so chaotically governed?  Just sit here and shrug?

Covid-19 pandemic risks worst global food crisis in decades

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The covid-19 pandemic’s impact on hunger around the world could be worse than the calamitous spike in food prices of 2007 and 2008, a leading food security expert warns.

Unlike the scarcity of food during the crisis 13 years ago, the big issue this time is the economic downturn hitting the ability of millions of people to afford food.  This has the potential to be more significant than the last time around,  because of the unknown extent and longevity of the global recession, which could push millions of people into extreme poverty, and food insecurity, which the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) recently cautioned could double the number of food- insecure people to around 265 million globally.

“Today, the problem is not a problem of food availability (food stocks are around double the level they were during 2007 to 2008); the problem today is of food access,” he says. “We have a very good harvest of cereals this year. The problem is logistical, especially with high value commodities because they are perishable and any logistic delay will affect them. Difficulty moving food around in the face of trade and travel restrictions is going to be a big challenge.  Thus we have the ironic situation of rising hunger in a world of plenty.

Other problems

1. Lower demand is leading to lower prices, which will mean farmers need support to cope in many parts of the world. Prices have declined three months in a row, with April 2020, down 3 per cent on April 2019. 

2.  With many younger people leaving for cities, farmers tend to be older and so more vulnerable if the coronavirus reaches them and they are infected, and this would affect production

3.  About 65 million children normally eat some form of nutritious meal at school but are no longer getting it.  Work is under way with governments to replace those meals.

4. Plagues of locusts in the Horn of Africa, which the FAO says is the worst in a quarter of a century.

(Adam Vaughan. New Scientist , 23 May 2020, quoting work byMartin Cole, University of Adelaide and Maximo Torero at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

My comment:  Aside from a few countries, particularly those run by women, we have no leaders to dig us out of all this.