“From a worldly point of view there is no mistake so great as that of being always right.”
Samuel Butler, quoted in Forbes
Anti-ataraxia joke. All too real!
CALLER: Is this Gordon’s Pizza?
GOOGLE: No sir, it’s Google Pizza.
CALLER: I must have dialed a wrong number. Sorry.
GOOGLE: No sir, Google bought Gordon’s Pizza last month.
CALLER: Oh – OK. I would like to order a pizza.
GOOGLE: Do you want your usual, sir?
CALLER: My usual? You know me ?
GOOGLE: According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered an extra-large pizza with three cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and meatballs on a thick crust .
CALLER: OK! That’s what I want …
GOOGLE: May I suggest that this time you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust?
CALLER: What? No! I detest vegetables.
GOOGLE: Your cholesterol is not good, sir
CALLER: How the hell do you know?
GOOGLE: Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.
CALLER Okay, but I don ‘t want your rotten vegetable pizza! I already take medication for my cholesterol.
GOOGLE Excuse me sir, but you haven ‘t taken your medication regularly. According to our database, you only purchased a box of 30 cholesterol tablets once, at Drug RX Network, 4 months ago.
CALLER: I bought more from another drugstore.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement .
CALLER: I paid in cash.
GOOGLE: But you didn ‘t withdraw enough cash, according to your bank statement.
CALLER: I have other sources of cash.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your last tax return . Unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law.
CALLER: WHAT THE HELL?
GOOGLE: I’m sorry, sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you
CALLER: Enough already! I’m sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and all the others. I’m going to an island without internet or cable TV, where there’s no cell phone service and no one to watch me or spy on me.
GOOGLE: I understand sir, but you ‘ll need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago…
Making people healthier
People hate the idea of being forced to make healthier choices by the nanny state. The trick is not to tell them. Just ask Coca-Cola. In order to dodge the new tax on sugary drinks – much to the fury of libertarians – the soft drinks giant has recently been reformulating its products. It began by quietly reducing the calories in Sprite. Consumers didn’t seem to mind, so the company then secretly cut the sugar in Fanta by a third, which again had no impact on sales. “People literally didn’t notice.” So much for claims that the sugar levy would ruin much-loved brands.
This is how it always goes with health and safety interventions, from the introduction of compulsory safety belts to the smoking ban. “Outrage turns to grudging acceptance, before mellowing into surprise that things were ever any different.” You have to get past that “initial wall of resistance, constructed of corporate inertia and knee-jerk irritation among consumers at being told what to do”. You often need laws to overcome the former, but, as Coca-Cola shows, you can get round the latter through more sly means. Call it “health by stealth”. (Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian)
A bit of a jump, but that is what should have been done with the health insurance mandate, the American tax associated with Obamacare, and which the current government have ceased to enforce. The right-wingers, libertarians and tax-haters loath the mandate that makes healthy young people contribute to the overall health of the nation. You and I know what this about – you pay while you are healthy because one day you trust that some healthy person will be paying so that you yourself can get healthcare at an affordable cost, if you are ill. It’s called “insurance”.
Given time and a bit of education (hah!) the public would have become used to the mandate and would have blessed it when a family member had to have a heart by-pass. The lack of community commitment and involvement is astonishing – and un-Epicurean. Selfishness rules.
Classical mistake
To The Daily Telegraph
The head of the Royal Philharmonic is making a serious error by believing that abolishing the term “classical music” will suddenly attract thousands of young people into our concert halls. The leadership of the RPO seem to be suffering from a crisis of confidence in their art form – brought on by our society’s obsession with making everything “accessible” or, rather, watered-down.
Even during the years of Soviet communism, Russian musicians and orchestras – with the encouragement of the state – maintained the most elitist rituals, even when playing before industrial workers in factories, positively rejoicing in classical music and all of its white-tie-and-tails rituals.
It is very sad that in modern Britain, serious art and culture of all kinds is being dissolved into a supposedly democratised mass of nothingness. That such ideas should come from the RPO – the orchestra of Sir Thomas Beecham – is beyond belief. (Stuart Millson, classical music editor, The Quarterly Review, East Malling, Kent)
Yes, watered down. Just as there is some truly dire popular music there, is also dull and unimaginitive classical music. In my personal opinion serious orchestral music hit the buffers in the railway station when it went atonal and eschewed melody and the ability to tug at the heart. The audiences fled, understandably. But there is a huge amount of truly beautiful music, operatic, orchestral, chamber and solo instrumental music that carries you away to another place, stirs the imaginatination, calms you then excites you, spurs the imagination, leaves you happy that life isn’t forever ordinary and humdrum. Put aside the cellphones and Facebook and experience it! It will be an Epicurean moment.
P.S: My ears are assaulted on a Sunday by noise from the spin cycling class next door. This class is accompanied by loud, repetitive and unimaginitive music of horrendous tedium. The chord sequences are I-V-I- V-I-V for a solid hour. Talented writing it is not. I feel like handing out to the cycling exercisers free tickets to a Chopin recital – if only they could cycle to Chopin. This is , of course, a matter of taste – as an Epicurean I stoutly defend the right of the cyclist to listen to whatever they like, preferably behind carefully closed doors.
Will Christianity decline but be re- born?
The Guardian of March 30, 2018 carried an article by Peter Ormerod that suggested that “In the light of widespread rejection among Europe’s young people“, Christianity as a default, as a norm, is gone, and is probably gone for good.”
He suggested that this might, long term, actually be good news for Christianity, which started as a radical political and spiritual movement, but was coopted by forces of oppression and militarism. (and by the Establishment. Ed). Becoming a default or a norm drained it of much of its energy. Despite repeated efforts by minorities to resist the trend, the institutionalization of Christianity has done it a disservice.
Young people have not abandoned an appetite for community, loyalty and even tribalism, and not all, of course, have become self-obsessed. On the contrary, they tend to reject the aridity of a culture where everything is numbered, quantified and processed into heartless data. Many also reject the the internet culture where how you look, how popular you are, what you have and what you wear are the most important things. They also dislike the bullying and the need to be “perfect”.
One can therefore see the possibility of a revived church that can offer meaningful relationships to young people, reassurance and love. Authenticity is the key, not trying to join or conform to the mass obsession with Facebook et al. Maybe the message of the church will get through once again, but not be part of the establishment, touting uniformity.
Meanwhile, Epicureanism shares much of the good, positive things about Christianity but without the supernaturalism, the angels, the choirs, the confessions, the outdated language sometimes used, the stress on guilt and sin. If you are looking for mystery, Epicurus cannot offer it. But if you are looking for love, understanding, inclusivity, common sense, consideration for others and a gentle reflective refuge from modern life, Epicureanism is an answer*. There are no popes or bishops telling you what to think – just human common sense.
*Note: I say “an answer”. There are plenty of people out there peddling the “answer to everything”, all wanting control. Our belief is that you should try many things in striving for contentment, moderation and happiness. Epicureanism is one of them.