Weltanschauung

The Philosopher’s Stone

zenothestoic@protonmail.ch

Category: The Human Zoo

  • Trump – Vulgar or Venal?

    Trump – Vulgar or Venal?

    President Donald Trump: is he bad or simply an extreme example of vulgarity and brash showmanship?

    There are some politicians I instinctively like, even if from afar.  The reality is I know nothing whatsoever about them, haven’t met them and may well be completely wrong in my assessment of their qualities as a person.  To the extent one can ever “know” someone, you can only do so through prolonged personal contact.  And yet we have to choose our political leaders on the flimsiest “knowledge” of them – the image they portray in the media.

    I like what I see of Rees-Mogg .  I just can’t help it.  If it turns out he really is a nice old gent from the era of Jeeves and Wooster then I will be delighted.  Even though I am an atheist and have no quarrel with early term abortion.

    I can not say the same for poor old Donald Trump.  I may be wrong about both Mogg and Trump. I don’t know either of them from Adam. I only have their self broadcast images to go by.

    I don’t condone tribal nationalism, torture, vulgarity or racism and I am not over-fond of rampant materialism.  Frighteningly, Trump is said to be a populist leader and certainly his avid use of social media seems only to boost his status among those who can not or do not choose to see through the sometimes less than truthful slant he embraces.

    But is he dangerous or simply vulgar?  As a populist and showman he is determined to push his agenda, such as it is.  The big question is what would he do if he had untrammeled power?  I somehow don’t think Mogg would abuse it.  I don’t feel the same degree of comfort about Trump.

    There is no evidence of venality.  But vulgarity…well that is an entirely different matter.

  • Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?

    Is Jacob Rees-Mogg Walter the Softy?

    In what must be an April Fool’s prank, the Beano comic has apparently issued a cease-and-desist letter to British MP Jacob Rees-Mogg claiming he has modelled himself on its character Walter the Softy.  It listed traits including his side parting, round glasses and “snootiness” as “distinctly copying” the character.

    Much amused by the idea of Moggism I suspect I would probably enjoy his company for an hour or so at dinner.

    The Moggist background is so quintessentially English: Eton and Oxford followed by the City.  And clearly bright enough to clean up, although no doubt that is as much to do with his people skills as investment wizardry.

    I am no judge of character (it appears I was horribly wrong about Tony Blair who I briefly admired when he first came to power) but there is something appealing about the concept of Moggism even if it turns out to be a chimera like most things in politics.

    Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mr. Mogg was a genuine good-egg? The sort of pleasant cove even Psmith would have enjoyed working with?  Just the sort of chap you would meet at Blandings and very delightful too.

    He seems to care. He seems to be a relic of those well meaning 19th Century tory patricians and whig grandees one could almost forgive for their rotten boroughs.

    Wouldn’t it be splendid if what you see is what you get?  Perhaps he is not just well educated and wealthy but also decent and good with the interests of his fellow man at heart?

    I am always surprised that a man of a religious nature would chose to associate himself with the political right but he is probably more Septimus Harding than Lord Soper.  And perhaps one should judge him more by his articles on the importance of the welfare state than his attachment to the Conservative party.

  • War – Why do the Nations rage?

    War – Why do the Nations rage?

    War, easy to understand but difficult to prevent, dates back 550 million years.

    Early complex life lived peacefully for most of earth’s history by harnessing the power of ocean chemicals and then sunlight.

    550 million years ago the first proto animals acquired mobility – the Dickinsonia and others began to move around to seek food.  And then arrived bilateral symmetry – a head for intake at one end, a digestive system in the middle and an exit for waste at the other. The evidence of these early life forms can be seen in the fossils of the Ediacara hills in southern Australia.

    Then teeth and claws arrived – the world’s very first weapons.  The evolutionary arms race had begun and humans eventually became the clear winners – they developed a complex brain and the ability to outsmart all other life forms on earth.

    From the very first days man killed his own kind as well as other animals in the battle to survive and prosper. Most other animals do the same thing  – the hawk and the fox being obvious examples.

    And so today from the parish council and the village garden society up to the level of nations we seek our own benefit and are willing to take extraordinary measures to subjugate the competition.

    Old dears viciously competing in the village cake baking competition can be seen as the weak form of Genghis Khan or Pol Pot.  As a society we compete instead of co-operate. We take what we want from the weak; 20th century western exploitation of middle east oil being a good example.

    All it took was modern science to give us the capability to destroy on a global and industrial scale. Zyklon B and the railways, the machine gun and the atomic bomb.

    And the cure? Nothing less than changing our entire nature. Not so easy after 500 million years on the rampage.

    Image: Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. By Robert F. Sargent