Baleful quote of the day

"I visited four continents to write a global history of concentration camps. This facility’s purpose fits the classic model: mass civilian detention without real trials targeting vulnerable groups for political gain based on ethnicity, race, religion or political affiliation rather than for crimes committed. And its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country." - Andrea Pitzer, "The case for calling Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' a concentration camp"

What are they celebrating?

"You may rejoice, I must mourn ... I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. " - Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" (July 5, 1852)

As I sit here at home with the sound of fireworks all around the neighborhood I find myself wondering what is being celebrated this Fourth of July. Is it the birth of an American dictatorship out of the ashes of American democracy? Is it the death of the American dream and in its place an American nightmare?  Or is it the exploding budget of a paramilitary secret police that will roam the streets of the US, kidnapping and disappearing anyone they don't believe looks "American" enough? You know, so that Republicans can make America White Again through ethnic cleansing.

We don't have rights because we're American: we're Americans because we recognize that all people have inalienable rights, and the government is only legitimate to the extent that it protects and preserves those rights. Or, at least, that's how it was supposed to work in pre-MAGA America. Under the new form of government that is taking shape, we don't have rights, we have privileges that are bestowed to us by Dear Leader (or as his followers disgustingly call him - "Daddy") and they are very much alienable. Any dissent, any independence of will that the Leader does not approve of will lead to a loss of liberty through various means of intimidation, threat, harassment, and/or persecution.

A substantial number of Americans, basically all Republican voters, believe that this nation's troubles can be solved by eliminating from the population one category of persons, a group that our mentally faltering Dear Leader has demonized as violent subhuman monsters (who eat pets and geese.) We are now disappearing these people with malice and no due process to places that will imprison them forever or where they are likely to be killed or tortured; and now we are going to build a nationwide system of concentration camps, having budgeted more for this than the entire federal penitentiary budget. A close adviser to Dear Leader has already "joked" about killing 65 million people (the entire US Latino population, so genocide.) I would ask my fellow Americans who are in favor of this to flip through some history books and see if they can find examples of what happens when a country goes down this road, when it believes it has no choice but to eliminate a segment of the population. Is this what you want?

Earlier today I had someone tell me not to worry because they won't come for me. That's not how it's supposed to work, I answered. (Nevermind that Dear Leader has already expressed the intent to deport citizens and his intention to strip people of citizenship by fiat.) Either we all have guaranteed rights or we all don't have them. As Thomas Paine put it: "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." If rights can arbitrarily be abrogated for someone it can be for anyone. More broadly: if we don't see ourselves in the oppressed or persecuted than we foster an environment where injustice thrives. What say you, Robert Green Ingersoll:

It is by imagination that we put ourselves in the place of another. When the whigs of that faculty are folded, the master does not put himself in the place of the slave; the tyrant is not locked in the dungeon, chained with his victim. The inquisitor did not feel the flames that devoured the martyr. The imaginative man, giving to the beggar, gives to himself. Those who feel indignant at the perpetration of wrong, feel for the instant that they are the victims; and when they attack the aggressor they feel that they are defending themselves. Love and pity are the children of the imagination.

Or what else can we celebrate? The children that are and will die of preventable diseases because our healthcare system has been handed over to RFK Jr, basically an older version of the Liver King, a wellness influencer who promotes supplements in place of medicine with no medical expertise that does not acknowledge the reality of germ theory? 

Or is it this regressive Defund America budget bill that was signed into law today? Something that Dwight Eisenhower warned us about: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Or is it the estimated 14 million people we've sentenced to death over the next five years, blood sacrifices we're making to Ayn Rand's ghost.

The renaming of military bases after Confederates, men who fought and killed Americans for what they believed was their God given right to own black people as slaves and Dear Leader speaking out against a federal holiday that celebrates the end of slavery. Is that what the fireworks are for?

Quote of the day

"Trump's argument for the elimination of the estate tax is that the heirs of the super rich will no longer have to go beg a predatory Jewish banker for a bridge loan to overcome cash flow problems associated with the $15 million dollar estate they're about to get.​" - Chris Hayes

Quote of the day

 "We spend our days sharing information, connected as never before, but the more we communicate, the worse things seem to get." - Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart

Quote of the day

 "A toxic relationship is just a cult of one." - Amanda Montell, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

Quote of the day

 "I always found the term conspiracy 'theory' overly flattering. Special relativity is a theory. The Big Bang is a theory. That aliens helped build Stonehenge? Not a 'theory.'" - Amanda Montell, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

Quote of the day

 "While magical thinking is an age-old quirk, overthinking feels distinct to the modern era - a product of our innate superstitions clashing with information overload, mass loneliness, and a capitalistic pressure to 'know' everything under the sun." - Amanda Montell, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality

Literary quote of the day

 From The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

"Don't you understand?" snarled Rincewind. "We are going over the Edge, godsdammit!"

"Can't we do anything about it?"

"No!"

"Then I can't see the sense in panicking," said Twoflower calmly.

Quote of the day

"[T]he nineteenth-century etiquette expert Caroline Carlton ... in an 1868 guide offered advice to would-be epistolarians: 'Letters of friendship, love, and affection are sacred things, and should be so imbued with the spirit of the writer as to render them worthy of the devoted attention they call for.'" - Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart

Quote of the day

 "Letters sustained but also deepened relationships. And the care and attention devoted to a letter's composition and reading were themselves expressions of affection and respect. Once read, a letter often became a keepsake and, in time, an heirloom." - Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear us Apart

Literary quote of the day

 From Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowki

"And sometimes I have doubts. Would you like your son to have doubts like that?"

"Why not?" the merchant said gravely. "He might as well. For it's a human and a good thing."

"What?"

"Doubts. Only, evil, sir, never has any."

Quote of the day

"An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine, "Dissertation on the First Principles of Government" (1795)

Two hundred and thirty years later and this admonition is as relevant as ever. 

Quote of the day

"[O]ne of the grievous charges brought against George III. was, that he had made laws for sending men beyond seas for trial. That was one of the most odious of those acts of tyranny which occasioned the American revolution. The whole of the reasoning is not applicable to this case, but I submit to your Honors that, if the President has the power to do it in the case of Africans, and send them beyond seas for trial, he could do it by the same authority in the case of American citizens. By a simple order to the marshal of the district, he could just as well seize forty citizens of the United States, on the demand of a foreign minister, and send them beyond seas for trial before a foreign court." - John Quincy Adams, "United States v. The Amistad" (1841)*

What we currently have is a mad emperor claiming the authority to place non citizens beyond seas for life imprisonment without even a trial who has already expressed his desire to do the same to citizens. As Adams noted in his successful argument before the Supreme Court, King George III was considered a tyrant for doing less.

*Quote via the April 20, 2025 Digby front page.

Literary quote of the day

 "Every day and every hour, every minute, walk around yourself and watch yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one. You pass by a little child, you pass by, spiteful, with ugly words, with angry heart; you may not have noticed the child, but he has seen you, and your image, unseemly and ignoble, may remain in his defenseless heart. You don't know it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, and all because you did not foster in yourself a careful, actively benevolent love. Brothers, love is a teacher; but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to acquire, it is dearly bought, it is won slowly by long labor. For we must love not only occasionally, for a moment, but forever. Everyone can love occasionally, even the wicked can." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Quote of the day

 "Vitellius, the Roman emperor, dined on the brains of thousands of peacocks and the tongues of thousands of flamingos. Today we regard that as evidence of moral depravity. We could say the same about those who own ... megayachts." - Peter Singer, The Life You Can Save

Quote of the day

 "When life is going well, instead of feeling gratitude, we convince ourselves that we're the all-powerful ones making it happen (these are the Ayn Rand types.) - Tim Desmond,  How to Stay Human in a F*cked-Up World: Mindfulness Practices for Real Life

Quote of the day

 "For the moment, all that we can do is to dig in our heels, and prevent silliness from sliding into insanity." - E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy

Quote of the day

 "If we consider the assault on democracy an insignificant crime, we have all yet to master our past." - Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy

Quote of the day

 "It is impossible that there can be genuine and lasting peace through fear. Through fear can come only hatred, illwill and hostility, suppressed perhaps for the time being only, but ready to erupt and become violent any moment. True and genuine peace can prevail only in an atmosphere of mett, amity, free from fear, suspicion and danger." - Walpole Rahula, What the Buddha Taught

Quotes of the day

 From Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg

• "Fascism didn't appear to be ending anytime soon. Indeed, it appeared to be here to stay indefinitely."
• "Soon no one was left who could pretend it wasn't happening, who could close their eyes, plug their ears, and hide their head under a pillow: those people were all gone."

Quote of the day

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection." - Thomas Paine, "The American Crisis" (December 23, 1776)

Quote of the day

 "What is terrible is easy to endure." - Philodemus

Via Beyond Stoicism: A Guide to the Good Life with Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans, and Other Ancient Philosophers by Massimo Pigliucci, Gregory Lopez, and Meredith Alexander Kunz 

Quote of the day

 "He who lives according to the guidance of reason strives, as far as he can, to repay the other's hate, anger, and disdain toward him with love, or nobility." - Spinoza, Ethics (1677)

Via Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die by Steven Nadler

Quote of the day

"[A] man strong in character hates no one, is angry with no one, envies no one, is indignant with no one, scorns no one, and is not at all proud." - Spinoza, Ethics (1677) 

 Via Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die by Steven Nadler

Quote of the day

 "The wise man looks to the purpose of all actions, not their consequences; beginnings are in our power but Fortune judges the outcome, and I do not grant her a verdict upon me." - Seneca

Via The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness by Jonas Salzgeber

Quote of the day

 "Kindness is a form of generosity we can always afford."  - Ryan Holiday, Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds

Quote of the day

 "If you took away the bond of goodwill from the world, no house or city could stand, nor would the fields any longer bear fruit. If that statement is difficult, then consider the power of friendship by looking at the effects of its opposites, dissension and discord. What house is so secure, what city so firmly established, that hatred and division cannot destroy them? By this fact you can judge the good of their opposite - friendship." - Cicero, How to be a Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship

Quote of the day

 "What is your profession? To be a good person."- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Quote of the day

 From Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds by Ryan Holiday

[E]ach time we deceive or break faith, we undermine the public trust - we make it hard for people to trust each other.

But the converse is also true: Each time we keep our word, we make a deposit, we add a strand to the rope that binds the world together.

Quote of the day

 "The habit of dwelling on victimhood dulls the impulse of self-correction. Since the nation is defined by its inherent virtue rather than by its future potential, politics becomes a discussion of good and evil rather than a discussion of possible solutions to real problems." - Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Quote of the day

"[S]lowing down reactions and judgements leads to a response that is more rational than instinctive. This can be very much to our benefit, the benefit of the other person and the benefit of society as a whole. We need fewer angry, reactive people in the world, not more." - Brigid Delaney, Reasons Not to Worry: How to be a Stoic in Chaotic Times: A Practical Guide to Stoicism for Self-Improvement and Personal Growth

Quote of the day

"Ancient philosophers believed achieving ataraxia created an emotional homeostasis, where the effect wouldn't just be a more stable base-level mood, but one that would, they hoped, flow out to the people around you." - Brigid Delaney, Reasons Not to Worry: How to be a Stoic in Chaotic Times: A Practical Guide to Stoicism for Self-Improvement and Personal Growth

Delaney defines in the preceding passage ataraxia as "a lucid state of robust equanimity characterized by ongoing freedom from distress and worry."

Quote of the day

 "Don't take yourself too seriously. People who cannot laugh at themselves become laughable." - Julian Baggini, How to Think like a Philosopher: Twelve Key Principles for More Humane, Balanced, and Rational Thinking

Quote of the day

 "I reread a great deal, but have lost count only with Dickens, Tolstoy, and Tolkien." - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

Quote of the day

 "There is value in a single step toward justice, and one step leads to another." - Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Quote of the day

 "In the Republic, Plato argued that there is no prospect of psychic health without a kind of justice in the soul, and that we cannot be unjust to others if we're just within ourselves." - Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Quote of the day

 "Remember Phil Connors [from the film Groundhog Day], trapped in a temporal loop. What liberates him is only in part his orientation to the process; it's also his selflessness, his love and respect for others. Is there a lesson there for us?"- Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Quote of the day

"From Alexander the Platonist: that we should not often or without due necessity either say to anyone or write in a letter, 'I am too busy,' nor in this way should we constantly try to evade the obligations imposed on us by our social relationships by pleading the excuse of urgent business." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

This advice from nearly two thousand years ago has certainly held up well and is as relevant as ever.

Quote of the day

 "[I]n many traditions mental preparation has been a core intellectual exercise. For instance, the great Confucian philosopher of the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi, wrote that 'if you want to read books, you must first settle the mind to make it like still water or a clear mirror.'" - Julian Baggini, How to Think like a Philosopher: Twelve Key Principles for More Humane, Balanced, and Rational Thinking

Quote of the day

 "Let it be impossible for anyone to say of you truthfully that you are not sincere, that you are not a good man; rather let him be a liar who supposes any such thing of you. And this is wholly within your power: for what can prevent you from being good and sincere?" - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Quote of the day

 "It is as though we are so attached to how things seem superficially that we are unable to see how they really are, even when it only takes careful attending to reveal the truth." - Julian Baggini, How to Think like a Philosopher: Twelve Key Principles for More Humane, Balanced, and Rational Thinking

Quote of the day

 "We seek to emulate the best without any illusion that we can equal them, just with the more realistic hope that we can become the best versions of ourselves." -  Julian Baggini, How to Think like a Philosopher: Twelve Key Principles for More Humane, Balanced, and Rational Thinking

Quote of the day

 "The entirety of hell is contained in one word: solitude." - Victor Hugo

Via Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way by Kieran Setiya

Quote of the day

 "Respect, compassion, and love are all ways of asserting that someone matters. They are melodies sung in the same key." - Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Quote of the day

 "A perfect solitude is, perhaps, the greatest punishment we can suffer." - David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40)

Via Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way by Kieran Setiya

Quote of the day

 "We have to live in the world as it is, not the world as we wish it would be." - Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Quote of the day

 "We are creatures made as much by art as by experience and what we read in books is the sum of both." - Andy Miller, The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (And Two-Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life

Quote of the day

 "Never call yourself a philosopher, and don't talk among laymen for the most part about philosophical principles,  but act in accordance with those principles ... And accordingly, if any talk should arise among laymen about some philosophical principle, keep silent for the most part, for there is a great danger that you'll simply vomit up what you haven't properly digested ... For sheep, too, don't vomit up their fodder to show the shepherds how much they've eaten, but digest their food inside them, and produce wool and milk on the outside. And so you likewise shouldn't show off your principles to laymen, but rather show them the actions that result from those principles when they've been properly digested." - Epictetus, Handbook

In other words: don't talk your philosophy, embody it. Live it.

Quote of the day

 "[W]hile the unjust may be happy, they do not live well." - Kieran Setiya, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way

Baleful quote of the day

 "If you think social media platforms are already doing all they can to avoid the victimization and exploitation of their most vulnerable users, you need to think again." - Laura Bates, Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All