Same As They Have Always Been
Yes, a taste for Nietzsche’s style of thought surely includes admiration for his sardonic manner of expression. To attempt a paraphrase: Let’s move the conversation as far as possible from the subject of morality. Shall we cling to the golden rule, satisfied that this mantra, as often as is brought to mind, is the approbation of our morality?
Pay no attention to the systematic prevention of gynecological care services to females in red states*, or talk of wholesale deportation of individuals under suspicion of illegal entry, or our “profit uber alles” American way of life. Once hidden behind a curtain of middle class respectability – a gallery of feral rogues in a three piece suit promenade across our screens.
If we desire to survive as a species, we simply must suffer the birth pangs of a different morality, expectations that are calibrated to the circumstance of the present. Morality must be made “interesting”, risking disaster for a slim chance, to thread this needle… * CLICK HERE
It is quite important
that as few people as possible
think about morality
– consequently, it is really quite important
for morality
not to somehow turn interesting one of these days!
But there is no need to worry!
Things today are the same as they have always been:
I don’t see anyone in Europe who has (or conveys) any idea
that moral deliberation could be dangerous, insidious, seductive
– that it could be disastrous!
Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Norman, aphorism 228
2 thoughts on “Same As They Have Always Been”
There is a reason, (a very good reason), why the images from Margaret Atwood’s Handmaids’ Tale are used so often these days to illustrate the incredibly hypocritical laws being passed to suppress women’s rights. The draconian rules, adopted by old white male legislators, have nothing to do with a reverence for life, but have everything to do with exerting power over others, in particular women. These men, who are throwbacks to the dark ages, feel threatened by the rise of women in positions of authority and their only way to fight back is through insipid and dangerous legislation. And the only way, short of violence, for us to rid ourselves of these creatures is to vote.
Vote! Vote! Vote! To vote is to resist!