Most important character trait

[moolie]

Your definition of grit sounds a lot like sisu from Joel's original post.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm just wondering why some of the folks who say that they beeeeelieve in being "cheerful, kind, friendly and courteous" seem to have forgotten all about those things when they post.... Just sayin'...

 

[Dumbfarmhand]

Thank you, but maybe we better wait till they start going after folks. I believe they will try! Then you'll need to light it 24/7

Who is "they"? I assume you mean the vaunted Bangladesh UN Shock Troops, pouring out of black helicopters, ready to zip-tie you and your family to a PC re-education camp somewhere in socialist-medicine paradise of Alberta? Or, did I twist my tinfoil hat to the wrong delusion?

Thought so.

O, that's right. It can't happen here. It can't happen in this time. I'll bet the folks who survived the halocaust thought that too! But then I thought the PC camps were in Manitoba rather than Alberta. Better add some antennae to your hat...it will help with the reception.

It can happen anywhere, anytime - sure, but that is the straw man argument of disproportionate measure. You took a line of sarcasm and made it into a non sequitur, a "subjective probability" (although the Manitoba reference was a spot-on humor response. I liked that.)

Each generation's self-awareness, even since the time of Jesus, has suffered from, "terminal uniqueness". B. Tuchman addressed that in her historical novel, A Distant Mirror. Diasters are not as prevailent as you think, but our modern media allows us to become intimate with a world that we really don't have any relationship with. In other words, "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold" (or any figure the you would care to supply). Normalcy generally pervades.

Asteroid strikes, floods, murder, revolution and a democracy turning totalitarian have happened before and will again. I would suggest a moratorium on internet surfing, reading news and not watching the news for a while - an excellent way to reorient your awareness and notice what happens just in your community (world). Unless you live in Detroit, not much will happen or be observed. That it could happen here should not be a maxim to live by. Rather, it's just an improbability that is out of perspective, devoid of realistic thinking. You can call me naive, but of those events I've noted, floods is all that I have experienced in my lifetime (58). I await your ad hominem. It could happen.

 

[Icu4dzs]

Who is "they"? I assume you mean the vaunted Bangladesh UN Shock Troops, pouring out of black helicopters, ready to zip-tie you and your family to a PC re-education camp somewhere in socialist-medicine paradise of Alberta? Or, did I twist my tinfoil hat to the wrong delusion?

Thought so.

O, that's right. It can't happen here. It can't happen in this time. I'll bet the folks who survived the halocaust thought that too! But then I thought the PC camps were in Manitoba rather than Alberta. Better add some antennae to your hat...it will help with the reception.

It can happen anywhere, anytime - sure, but that is the straw man argument of disproportionate measure. You took a line of sarcasm and made it into a non sequitur, a "subjective probability" (although the Manitoba reference was a spot-on humor response. I liked that.)

Each generation's self-awareness, even since the time of Jesus, has suffered from, "terminal uniqueness". B. Tuchman addressed that in her historical novel, A Distant Mirror. Diasters are not as prevailent as you think, but our modern media allows us to become intimate with a world that we really don't have any relationship with. In other words, "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold" (or any figure the you would care to supply). Normalcy generally pervades.

Asteroid strikes, floods, murder, revolution and a democracy turning totalitarian have happened before and will again. I would suggest a moratorium on internet surfing, reading news and not watching the news for a while - an excellent way to reorient your awareness and notice what happens just in your community (world). Unless you live in Detroit, not much will happen or be observed. That it could happen here should not be a maxim to live by. Rather, it's just an improbability that is out of perspective, devoid of realistic thinking. You can call me naive, but of those events I've noted, floods is all that I have experienced in my lifetime (58). I await your ad hominem. It could happen.

Apparently, I will have to read Ms. Tuchman's book before I comment further on that portion of your response. Admittedly since the mainstream media tends to report everything that happens from as many places as possible, (never failing to emphasize the quantity of fatalities), as quickly as they can, it does appear to make bad things seem a great deal more common than they probably are. But, one must give credence to the fact that it is human nature to stir emotion which obviously SELLS newspapers and magazines.

One thing that I have learned to live by, is that whatever is being reported by the mainstream media is generally a diversion away from the important issues that people of this country need to watch and to pay attention, such as exactly what is happening in Congress. Unfortunately, we know way more than we should about Lindsey Lohan's criminal record and Michael Jackson's bedroom antics with little boys as well as the Catholic churches affairs with little boys than we really need to know, but it does in some very unusual way help one understand why our world is the way it is.

Then on the other hand, as mentioned, unless one is living in Detroit (for which I have absolutely no desire ) it may be much more difficult to observe more subtle changes that eventually result in serious problems than what we would expect to see in some form of catastrophic change. Having read a significant number of the latest executive orders issued by the current POTUS (more than any other in the history of this nation) and doing my best to understand the ramifications of such a extensive grouping of "edicts" it would seem important to keep one's "ear to the ground" and pay attention to more than just what is going on immediately around them. Having recently completed my term as mayor of my small town, I do believe I am at least making some attempt at keeping up with what is going on immediately around me as well as what is going on in the rest of the world. However, I agree that adequate balance between the two is of significant value.

The basic construct of your argument utilizes the optimistic perspective, which in most cases tends to diminish general anxiety however you must admit it just doesn't sell as many newspapers and people won't wait for the details at 10 PM.

The purpose of stating that it "could happen here" is designed only to increase awareness of all so that it is never allowed to happen here! "Forewarned is forearmed!" "Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it!" (Or words to that effect.) Having seen things other than just floods, such as war, depravity, and violence and the whole gamut of human behavior tends to make one somewhat less trusting of the intent of those who would seek power at the highest levels,regardless of national origin.

By the way, I do enjoy dignified debate as is found here. Your username belies your significant intellect.
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
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//BT//