Religious pilgrimages

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There’s plenty of evidence that pilgrimages accelerate the spread of infectious diseases. The Kanwar pilgrimage in India, which attracts millions to the river Ganges, has led to some of the worst mass cholera outbreaks in history; the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca was blamed for a deadly outbreak of bacterial meningitis in 2000.

So it was “common sense” for the Romanian government to ban the recent annual pilgrimage to the city of Iasi, where tens of thousands of Christians from all over the country gather to pray at the tomb of Saint Parascheva. The authorities knew that, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it could be a medical “catastrophe”.

But the Orthodox Church had other ideas. Having built up a “tourist empire” around the pilgrimage, it was loath to lose out on its annual cash injection, and encouraged worshippers to make the journey anyway. Thousands descended on the city, joining a reported 2.5-mile queue to reach the tomb. Some could even be heard chanting “Down with doctors!”.

Alas, an uptick in coronavirus infections is now sure to follow. The Romanian Orthodox Church claims to stand for “morality in society”; its irresponsible behaviour is truly disgraceful. (Alexandru Toma Patrascu, Contributors.ro (Bucharest) and The Week, 24 October 2020)

My comment: Epicureanism is an inclusive, caring philosophy that advocates a pleasant life, caring for others as they care for you. There are too many people who see faith as a weapon to gain power, make money and influence the ignorant. The crass selfishness of a distressingly large number of people throughout the world when it comes to covid 19 illustrates what a huge amount of work there is remaining.

Masks

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Large numbers of people, mostly in the mid-West, refuse to wear masks in public places within and without buildings, claiming that doing so infringes upon their “liberty”, and that mask searing and social distancing is at the “discretion” on the individual (ah! the individual!). This, notwithstanding the raging virus that is filling hospitals and killing people of all ages at an ever-increasing rate, while effete politicians talk about freedom.

Let me try and get this right. May we assume that, for the sake of this argument, most of the mask-deniers are White and call themselves christian. (I haven’t capitalized thais because what they are doing is as un-christian as it comes, selfish and careless of the health of others. These people are complicit in what is in effect a rolling manslaughter).

Pray tell me, what section of the Constitution gives people the right to infect others in the name of liberty? The bible? Where exactly, in the Bible, excerpts of which a majority of these people listen to every Sunday, does it advocate “every man for himself”, and tough on the hundreds of people dying of Covid every day, some of whom you might have infected? I would have thought that refusal to protect others from your disease would be regarded as unchristian, if not unattractive and bloody-minded. The hypocrisy of all too many people is on open display. The “love thy neighbor” bit apparently glazes over the eyes of these people, and is inconvenient. Epicurus believed we should respect and look after others as much as humanly possible, and protect them from harm if we possibly can.

A few quotations from works on Epicurus

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The laws are laid down for the sake of the wise, not to prevent them from doing “wrong , but to keep them from being wronged” (The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series).

Happiness and blessedness do not belong to abundance of riches or exalted position or offices or power, but to freedom from pain and gentleness of feeling and a state of mind that sets limits that are in accordance with nature. (The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series). Used 11/18/19

“Live your life without attracting attention”.

“In constant motion,atoms collide with each other, and, in certain circumstances, they form larger and larger bodies….the sun and the moon are made of atoms, as are human beings, water, flies and grains of sand.There are no super- categories of matter, no hierarchy of elements. Heavenly bodies are not divine beings who shape our destiny for good or ill. ……they are part of the natural order….subject to the same principle of creation and destruction, they govern everything that exists”. (The Swerve, page 63).

“Great abundance is heaped up as a result of brutalizing labor, but a miserable life is the result”. (The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series).

“He who is not satisfied with a little is satisfied with nothing”. (Vatican sayings, 68)

What the Greek philosopher offered was not help in dying, but help in living. Liberated from superstition, you are free to pursue pleasure. (The Essential Epicurus”, by Eugene O’Connor, Great Books in Philosophy series)

A prescient book written in 2019

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The Monmouth University Polling Institute conducted a poll in 2019. One thousand people were interviewed about their attitude towards religious fundamentalism, ethnocentric prejudice, and their political views and affiliations. The book written on the subject, “Authoritarian Nightmare: Donald Trump and his followers” by John Dean and Bob Altermeyer, was reviewed in the Washington Post on October 4th. The following points are abstracted from that review:

– Most Trump supporters are highly authoritarian and religious. If necessary, were Trump unavailable, they would back another “strong” leader to take his place.

– Trump followers are overwhelmingly concerned about the “corruption” of American society. They don’t care about incompetence and dishonesty and are highly prejudiced against non-Anglo colored people, and would back him just as long as he protected them from the “danger“ of “lawless” minorities and immigrants.

– Trump supporters would support prosecution of his opponents, and would back him in the event that he had purportedly lost re-election in 2020 if he claimed it to be fraudulent. 33% of respondents would “follow him anywhere”.

– Trump Followers would label a Trump loss of office as “fake news”.

They are not self aware, and do not care what people think of them. They assume that the “swamp” occupants look down on them anyway and they don’t care about the views in the outside world, applauding Trump’s treatment of women, the military, immigrants and their children etc.

The book concludes (well before the election) that the US could be facing more strife and existential challenges.

My comment: Relevance to Epicureanism? Solely, peace of mind. I never dreamt I (or anyone else) would bear witness to what suspiciously like an attempted coup in the United States of America. Now, talking heads seem to fear this, too, but can’t believe it is actually happening, enabled by huge numbers of people.

……..and following on from yesterday

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Teen girls’ self-harm crisis

Back in 2018 The Guardian ran an article about social media and a rise in school work being blamed for the doubling of U.K. hospital admissions of teenage girls for self-harm.

According to British National Health Service figures, in the two decades since 1997, the number of girls under 18 admitted rose from 7,327 to 13,463. The figure for boys remained broadly the same. The number of girls being treated for attempted substance overdose rose more than tenfold to 2,736. Research published the previous October found that self-harm reported to GPs among teenage girls under the age of 17 in the UK increased by 68% over a period of three years. The study also found that self-harm among young people aged 10 to 19 was three times more common among girls than boys, and those who self-harmed were at much greater risk of suicide than those who did not (From The Guardian, 6 Aug 2018)

My comment: So two years ago the Press was publishing horror stories about the effects of social media, in this case on girls. Leave aside political lies and fake news for a moment (and that is disgraceful enough, goodness knows) and think about the societal effect of social media on the young. As far as I know nothing has been done about this, not will it because people are making money out of it. (Somebody just phoned me from a research project wanting to talk about social media – I had pleasure in saying I would have nothing to do with it).