Reflections on Powerlessness

I often think about the fragility of life, and how truly powerless we are. This is the result of several events in my life, and the larger events of 9/11, Katrina, etc., which have completely altered my psyche in this regard. I think about economic powerlessness, powerlessness over the fate of my children, and much more.

Several videos I have come across on YouTube recently, about the temptation of Christ in the desert, have spurred me to think about my concerns with control and fear of powerlessness.

The video embedded below is a bit over stylized and interpretive, but it is a provocative presentation of Christ's choice to eschew power over the world.



Funny then, after seeing videos of this type, I watched just this week a PBS special about the creation of the Hebrew Bible.

Touching on the question of power, this series noted that the great book was completed during the Babylonian Captivity, at the lowest ebb and most powerless time of the Jewish people. And yet, it would unite the people of Israel, and eventually the Western World.

Is there anything more that we (I) can derive from these experiences of Israel's captive powerlessness and Jesus's chosen powerlessness? And, is it any different from other myths of renunciation and redemptive suffering?

My immediate temptation is to think that just the "right" embrace of one's powerlessness might actually empower you. But, how might one "embrace" that, and what kind of empowerment does it bring? Would it be the same experience as having no metaphysical anxiety at all? I sincerely doubt it.

Yet, beyond that, I don't know the answers. I just thought I would capture the questions. More to think on for another time.

Obama's Seeming Justice: Stunning Election Day News

Stunning story today in the Washington Times, as summarized beautifully by John Batchelor.

The FBI, at this hour, is involved in the investigation of Barack Obama's land deal with Tony Rezko. At issue: graft and lying on a Senate ethics form (a crime which took down Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.)

This on top of last week's revelation of a "restrictive covenant" on the property which suggests collaboration between the two, in contradiction of Obama's own statements to the press.

This may be the shortest presidency in modern history. And no doubt, it will rival Bill Clinton's, at an even earlier stage, for partisan warfare. Right out of the gate, can you say "failed presidency?"

Despite the surreal resistance of the Bush-Haters and the Obama-Philes to the facts, the corrupt Barack Obama is a living example of what the sophist Glaucon described in Plato's Republic over 2,000 years ago:

"So let the unjust make his unjust attempts in the right way, and lie hidden if he means to be great in his injustice (he who is found out is nobody): for the highest reach of injustice is: to be deemed just when you are not." -Glaucon, Book II, Republic.

Palin Commits a Gaffe on the First Amendement: Left Goes Whoopee!

Sarah Palin committed a clear gaffe in speaking about the First Amendment. However, judging by the reaction of the left-wing blogosphere, and other commentators, you would think she issued a full-blown policy prescription calling for the First Amendment to be repealed.

Just in case some did not see the manifest incoherence of the statement, law professor Jonathan Turley felt compelled to rebut Palin's "Palinprudence" (a paragraph) with four very impressive citations of jurisprudential giants.

Elsewhere, on the harder left, a stream of obscenities and ad feminem attacks have ensued. Clearly the gaffe had reinforced some already hardened positions against Palin and her intellectual abilities. (Never mind that Joe Biden has uttered a host of gaffes and has had more than one charge of plagiarism in his schooling and political career.)

Considering that McCain-Feingold specifically gave the Federal Election Commission the ability to restrict (a.k.a. suppress) "negative attacks" (a.k.a. "free speech") to so-called "media organizations", and Palin's statement about her fear for the future of free speech, it seems far more likely that her statement was a "rogue" one gone bad, about political incumbents (with help from their government-approved "media organization" friends) attempting to suppress any non-sanctioned "negativity."

In any case, Palin should clarify the meaning of her clearly incoherent remarks immediately, and Palin haters should throttle back on the obscenity-laced misogyny.

Review Revisits an Ancient (and Tired) Quarrel about Justice

In recent classes I have talked with my students about the sophist charge in Plato's Republic that all claims about the nature of justice are disguised power grabs.

Interesting then that Adam Kirsch should write a review on CityJournal.org about a new book by philosopher Raymond Geuss, "Philosophy and Real Politics," which makes claims similar to those of the sophists thousands of years ago.

I say similar, because as Kirsch notes, if only Geuss were as consistent as sophist Thrasymachus, who urges us to be "happily unjust," Geuss would avoid contradiction.

But, rather, neo-Marxist/Leninist Geuss adopts a moral stance against the exercise of "real power" that masquerades as Justice. Which in turn suggests he has insights into a purer form of Justice. The very kind of Justice pursued by Plato and other philosophers that Geuss attacks.

It's a common contradiction found in the arguments of today's critiquing radicals.

But there's more to it. Simply attacking alleged (economic) injustice won't do. Radicalism has to raise the spectre of Thrasymachan injustice in order to do a clever switch.

What is really intended is an attempt to invalidate a certain economic or social class's ability to speak truthfully or credibly about Justice.

In other words, the discussion was never really about the nature of Justice at all, but rather about who is fit to participate in the discussion.

An Expanded Reflection on the Afterlife

Thanks to my old friend Cris Rapp for an expanded reflection on my previous post about Facebook as a prefigurement of the afterlife.