Hypocrisy and the American christian right

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It’s pretty clear where Jesus stands on cheating on your spouse: “Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s wife”.  In Mathew 5:27-30 he said that if you even look at another woman with desire, then you should cut out your eye, because it’s better to “lose one of your members than to have your whole body go to hell”.

Since the Ashley Madison scandal broke, right-wing American christians have continued to campaign against family planning, gays and abortion (which Jesus never mentioned) but are totally silent about Ashley Madison and adultery.  Such people, it seems, pick their sins, as convenient.  We in turn guess their motives, but are too polite to write them down.

Where might Epicurus have stood on this issue?  I think he would have extended understanding and compassion to any man or woman trapped in an unhappy marriage and genuinely and desperately seeking love.  We should seek a pleasant life.  But I also think he would have little time for people making a quick buck out of prurient temptation, and it is prurient temptation that Ashley Madison and the multiplicity of porn websites offer.

 

 

 

 

 

Are CCTV cameras an intrusion on our privacy?

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Depending on who’s counting, there are 1.85 million CCTV cameras in Britain, or 4.2 million, or 5.9 million. This means the average person is filmed somewhere between 70 and 300 times each day, depending where you are.

The uproar where I live in the United States when they wanted to put in traffic cameras to catch speeding cars, suggests that Americans wouldn’t tolerate such an ubiquity of surveillance.  But in London, for instance, it is accepted by most people that you are followed wherever you go. I personally have no problem with this.  It helps in the deterrance and solution of crimes. Policemen may no longer be on the beat, but hopefully they are still watching for the terrorist or the dangerous driver, hopefully both. There is no privacy on the British street, but is privacy necessary there?

An example of why Epicurus shunned politics

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China’s leader Xi Jinping  has told artists and writers to “serve socialism” and avoid the “vulgar” and “stereotyped” dross common in the West. Be “patriotic” and don’t let your work be contaminated by the “stench of money”, he says. The media and social networks are full of fawning praise for his wisdom. This is not new. Ever since Mao bent literature and the arts to the needs of communist propaganda, all published works have endured rigid censorship: those who refuse to “chirp about a golden age of China” can get themselves banned or arrested. So stand by for a deluge of bannings, not to mention directives telling publishers and filmmakers what to do. Already writers and artists are being sent into the countryside to learn from the masses a “correct” view of art. (edited version of an article by Murong Xuecun)

A lot of Western culture is indeed “vulgar”, violent  and stereotyped, tasteless stuff put out only for money.  But you are not made to watch it or listen to it; it’s entirely up to you.  If the public disliked pornography posing as “art” then presumably it would fade away.  So banning it doesn’t “serve socialism” – it serves Mr.Xi’s overwhelming need to control everyone and everything in sight.  With the economy in chaos, the population beginning to doubt the judgement of the Party, and rumbling in the party about the anti- corruption drive, could Xi’s position itself look in some doubt?  He is about as un-Epicurean as you can get.

 

Being promoted to your own level of incompetence

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Mediocrity is no mere character flaw, but a deep tendency of the universe, to be ceaselessly fought,  but with little hope of final victory.  People and organisations hit plateaus not because they couldn’t do better, but because a plateau is tolerable, even comfortable place.  Even the disciplined go-getter, who never stops, ends up doing unimportant stuff.   McKeown’s 90% rule says that anything you do has to score at least 9/10 in the order of priorities for the day.  If it doesn’t , leave it alone.  Ideally,  the criterion should be Epicurean: “does it enhance pleasure and peace of mind”, but “does it pay the bills?” might have to do.

This point of view is similar to the Peter Principle that in organisations people rise to their level of incompetence.  Do your job well and. you’re rewarded with promotion, until you reach a job you’re less good at, where you will remain. (Oliver Burkeman , The Guardian Weekly, March 2015)

I took myself off in late career to business school, leaving the sales director to run the company.  Within a year profits had slumped and morale had hit rock bottom. The company was in crisis. He was a good sales director and, to be kind, a mediocre boss who couldn’t grasp the fact that bosses have to work – harder than anyone else.  We had to part company.  It was ugly; it was my fault, an unwise decision all round.  I had promoted him beyond his capabilities.  It is hard to get through life without making at least one deeply regrettable decision.  If you don’t maybe you haven’t lived.

On the other hand a friend of mine, repeatedly offered promotion, refused it because she felt she was good at what she did and might let herself and her organisation down if she took the offers.  She stayed put and stayed respected.  It is a wise person who says “no” .