the question of time
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:10 am
In reading about the Enlightenment, I see that many of
the ''Philosophes'' were very well versed in ancient Latin
and Greek.... virtually all of them including Rousseau read
the Ancients in their original language......
So, what they did was compare the ancients to the current
situation, 17th and 18th century, and found the moderns rather, lacking......
but it was this comparison over time that allowed the ""Philosophes''
work out the Enlightenment project.... Many a ''philosophies''
lived and breathed in ancient Rome and Greece.......
Edward Gibben of the ''Decline and Fall of Roman Empire'''
stated in his autobiography, that while in Rome, his every step
was filled with his readings of the ancients.. here is where Caesar
fell, here is where Cicero made his famous speeches and here is
where Mark Antony held his famous speech.... every step in
Rome was, for Gibben a memory of his readings...
as was true for virtually all of the educated of the Enlightenment
era.....
and let us compare ourselves today to the ''Philosophes''
of the 17 and 18 century..... virtually no one today, reads
Latin or Greek.... and very few even read Cicero or even ''Caesar's
war in Gaul'' today, even in translations.....
there is no sense of the past in us today....
Reading about George Washington, one may as well be reading
about Caesar, it has no meaning or power in the people today...
Our American Civil War may as well be the Roman Civil war given how little
attention is given to it in our schools.....or in our education.....
the past no longer means anything in our society today.....
and that bodes very badly for us going into the future......
which is why the lesson of Hitler is lost on our generation given
the rise of IQ45... who is Hitler lite....
but it is not the past that has been lost, we have no sense of the
future either..... our time frame in which we pay attention to is
roughly about 3 months....for example, the election is roughly
a little more than 2 and half months.... and most Americans
will wake up tomorrow and discover that.... and why tomorrow?
it is the day after Labor Day... the unofficial end of summer....
and that is the day people traditionally begin to pay attention to
the election....
but three months also has another meaning.... it is the business world
quarterly system.... I work retail.. there is no mention of next year or
how we progress into the next couple of years.... never... at most,
at most the company goes from quarter to quarter....we begin to stock
Halloween merchandise around the middle of August, and
Thanksgiving stuff is brought out toward the end of September....
again, a couple of months before hand.....that is about as
far ahead as our company thinks..... quarter to quarter
my manager thinks about as far ahead as his bonuses.... that is
all he is focused on... he manages to his bonus, if it doesn't
impact his bonus, he doesn't care, and this is true about
most managers..... they manage to their bonuses.... which is
quarter to quarter...... if he is emphasizing something, that is
something he is getting a bonus on....so, lately he has been
pushing surveys.... which is a survey of how well we are doing
on our pin pads.... that tells me that he is getting a bonus
based on how many surveys he is getting.... now morale
may totally suck, but that isn't part of his bonus, so he doesn't
give a shit..... and this emphasis on the quarter to quarter in
businesses in which profits are the deciding factor, that
means that the corporation has no interest in anything past
6 months... there is no sense of the future within the business
world.... just bonus time to the next bonus time......
In a world where the time is from bonus to bonus, there is no
sense of tomorrow..... there is no plan that goes out any further
than 6 months...
and this is true of government as it is of business..... the famous
Soviet 5 year plans were a failure, but at least there was a sense
of time past 6 months.... or a year......
and that is what we must begin to do....to work out our plans
past 6 months or a year.... both individually and collectively....
what is my goal next year or in 5 years is as important as
we work out what is our collective goal, social and political
goals a year or even 5 years out.......
Kropotkin
the ''Philosophes'' were very well versed in ancient Latin
and Greek.... virtually all of them including Rousseau read
the Ancients in their original language......
So, what they did was compare the ancients to the current
situation, 17th and 18th century, and found the moderns rather, lacking......
but it was this comparison over time that allowed the ""Philosophes''
work out the Enlightenment project.... Many a ''philosophies''
lived and breathed in ancient Rome and Greece.......
Edward Gibben of the ''Decline and Fall of Roman Empire'''
stated in his autobiography, that while in Rome, his every step
was filled with his readings of the ancients.. here is where Caesar
fell, here is where Cicero made his famous speeches and here is
where Mark Antony held his famous speech.... every step in
Rome was, for Gibben a memory of his readings...
as was true for virtually all of the educated of the Enlightenment
era.....
and let us compare ourselves today to the ''Philosophes''
of the 17 and 18 century..... virtually no one today, reads
Latin or Greek.... and very few even read Cicero or even ''Caesar's
war in Gaul'' today, even in translations.....
there is no sense of the past in us today....
Reading about George Washington, one may as well be reading
about Caesar, it has no meaning or power in the people today...
Our American Civil War may as well be the Roman Civil war given how little
attention is given to it in our schools.....or in our education.....
the past no longer means anything in our society today.....
and that bodes very badly for us going into the future......
which is why the lesson of Hitler is lost on our generation given
the rise of IQ45... who is Hitler lite....
but it is not the past that has been lost, we have no sense of the
future either..... our time frame in which we pay attention to is
roughly about 3 months....for example, the election is roughly
a little more than 2 and half months.... and most Americans
will wake up tomorrow and discover that.... and why tomorrow?
it is the day after Labor Day... the unofficial end of summer....
and that is the day people traditionally begin to pay attention to
the election....
but three months also has another meaning.... it is the business world
quarterly system.... I work retail.. there is no mention of next year or
how we progress into the next couple of years.... never... at most,
at most the company goes from quarter to quarter....we begin to stock
Halloween merchandise around the middle of August, and
Thanksgiving stuff is brought out toward the end of September....
again, a couple of months before hand.....that is about as
far ahead as our company thinks..... quarter to quarter
my manager thinks about as far ahead as his bonuses.... that is
all he is focused on... he manages to his bonus, if it doesn't
impact his bonus, he doesn't care, and this is true about
most managers..... they manage to their bonuses.... which is
quarter to quarter...... if he is emphasizing something, that is
something he is getting a bonus on....so, lately he has been
pushing surveys.... which is a survey of how well we are doing
on our pin pads.... that tells me that he is getting a bonus
based on how many surveys he is getting.... now morale
may totally suck, but that isn't part of his bonus, so he doesn't
give a shit..... and this emphasis on the quarter to quarter in
businesses in which profits are the deciding factor, that
means that the corporation has no interest in anything past
6 months... there is no sense of the future within the business
world.... just bonus time to the next bonus time......
In a world where the time is from bonus to bonus, there is no
sense of tomorrow..... there is no plan that goes out any further
than 6 months...
and this is true of government as it is of business..... the famous
Soviet 5 year plans were a failure, but at least there was a sense
of time past 6 months.... or a year......
and that is what we must begin to do....to work out our plans
past 6 months or a year.... both individually and collectively....
what is my goal next year or in 5 years is as important as
we work out what is our collective goal, social and political
goals a year or even 5 years out.......
Kropotkin