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Thought for Monday Morning
“There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible.”
― Auberon Waugh
Published in General
That’s a great way to start the week. Thanks Mr. Robinson.
A clarion call to annoyance…I’m in!
The horrors of life on planet Earth are exagerrated:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18983_5-complaints-about-modern-life-that-are-statistically-b.s..html
http://www.cracked.com/article_20731_5-amazing-pieces-good-news-nobody-reporting.html
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-uplifting-facts-about-human-race
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/world/steven-pinker-interview/index.html
Peter,
YYYYYYeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards,
Jim
What are you going to post next Monday? The day before tax Day?
Mr. Robinson:
What is it with your choice (two in one week, the first being Christopher Hitchens) of England’s most ‘irreligious’ writers, to quote and showcase here on Ricochet?
Ricochet member from Ireland, Paddy Siochain, has recently written a thoughtful post about Christopher Hitchens, which offered a less kind assessment of Mr. Hitchens ‘contribution to society.
Having grown up in England, I cannot think of anything about the ‘public’ Auberon Waugh that is to be admired. I wish, therefore, to add some context to the quote of his that you posted above.
To quote from Auberon Waugh’s obituary in the Guardian:
“He was a writer with a talent for vituperation and a taste for vendettas…an acidic personality which made him the most verbally brutal journalist of his age (1939 – 2001)”.
For a long list of his many cruel and outrageous remarks and bizzare actions, your readers may wish to read the full obituary by Geoffrey Wheatcroft in The Guardian, Jan. 18, 2001.
On occasion, he could be as savage with his pen as Christopher Hitchens (about whom you posted on April 3, 2014).
Both men were anti-religion, profited from public displays of scoffing and scorn against friends, public figures and family members and, ironically, lived lives of debauchery themselves.
May I suggest that next time you choose one of England’s many literary and journalistic luminaries, your selection places an emphasis on more honorable characteristics.
Perhaps you could put together a post, asking for suggestions, past and present…
I thought this might be his outlet from having to hold his tongue while doing interviews. I’ve wondered how he can sit there withou even a snort sometimes. iPad- can’t edit
http://youtu.be/jbkSRLYSojo
Living conditions worldwide have gone up over the past 200 years (I blame capitalism) to the point where the worst off countries now are better off than the best countries 200 years ago.
via
The BBC’s “The Joy of Stats” clip of Hans Rosling
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l
via
data supplied by
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/
{{ Sigh}}
Well, Peter. Even if as Barbara said . . you’ve inadvertenly quoted some misantrhop . .
Even a misantrhop can get it right once in a while.
But I do understand your just tryting to give us a little pep talk. It’s so easy to get reeeeally down about the current political/cultural climate . . . .and this gray dreary Ohio attempt at spring.
I’d be happy for your suggestions, Barbara, but neither Christopher Hitchens, whom I knew well, nor Auberon Waugh, whom I never met, but many of whose friends I knew, ever struck me as a genuine atheist. Hitch would have been cross with me for saying so, but it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in God, it was that he was angry with God, a very different thing. One additional point–something less than a heated objection, but more than a quibble: Never trust the Guardian.
Both were frequently right, frequently wrong, reliably entertaining, and a genuine pleasure to read, even if only for the skill with which they employed the language.
We can’t all be saints.
(Well, actually, we can all be saints. Nevermind, it’s a Lutheran thing…)
Caligula was, undoubtedly “skillful and entertaining”, as long as you weren’t the object of his wrath.
Nor can we, Mr. Robinson, trust The Wall Street Journal, according to Ricochet member ‘Franco’ (for a full-court press on the RINOs at the WSJ, see his post of April 15, 2014: ‘Wall Street Journal Republicans – or RINO Elites, if you prefer’).
Perhaps, you think Franco is being “a little bit too hard” on Mr. Murdoch; but many don’t.