Are we living in Heaven or are we living in Hell? 

30 Oct 2025 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Are we living in Heaven or are we living in Hell?  There was an old Twilight Zone episode where a big-time gangster died and found himself in a room with a nerdy middle-aged man and his frumpy wife.  They were showing endless repeats of their boring vacation 8 mm film clips.  At first the gangster was polite but after a while he could not take it any longer.  He went to the door and tried to get out of the room.  A monstrous demon appeared and told him that he could never leave.  He was in hell.  The gangster said that he could understand why he would be in hell but what has this nerdy couple done to deserve it.  The demon gave an uproarious laugh and screamed at the gangster,  “They are not in hell, this is their heaven.”

Two more famous men, C.S. Lewis and William Blake wrote books with diametrically opposed views of heaven and hell.  C. S. Lewis’s book was “The Great Divorce.”  He wrote this as a rebuttal  to a book by William Blake called “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.”  Here is a brief dialogue between the two men at a fictitious meeting discussing what they might have said to each other.

Blake (smiling): So—you are the Oxford don who annulled my marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Lewis (bowing): And you the engraver who dared to join fire and light in one bed.  I fear your union lacked divine sanction.

Blake: Ha!  Eternity laughs at sanction.  Heaven and Hell are not realms, but the two wings of imagination—reason and desire.  To clip one is to fall.

Lewis: Yet ungoverned desire burns the wings that bear it.  I wrote of ghosts who mistook appetite for freedom.

Blake: Then your eyes were half shut.  ‘Energy is Eternal Delight.’ You worship order; I, the creative storm.

Lewis: And I have seen storms that destroy the very life they claim to free.

My father was seldom patriarchal but often insightful.  He told me at an early age that heaven and hell were right here now on this earth.  Our choices made our lives.  We could choose to live in heaven, or we could choose to live in hell.  I often reflected on the meaning of his words.  Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”  He was noting that the judgment and objectification by others can cause torment, leading to a loss of one’s freedom and sense of self.  To lose both is to live in hell.

Another quote that I have sometimes accepted was said by Satan in John Milton’s epic poem, “Paradise Lost”. “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”  This famous line is a declaration of rebellion by Satan, who prefers to rule over his fallen kingdom rather than be subservient to God in heaven.  Anarchists have a comparable thought which goes “”Ni Dieu, Ni Maitre.”  Translated this means “No Gods, No Kings.”  As an atheist, I find myself trying to live with these thoughts in a world suffused with religious fervor for a God who supposedly waits on humanity to plea for his help and guidance.  Unfortunately, it often seems that God is either deaf, dumb or blind.

For years, I saw organized religions as the Bain of humanity.  I believed that more wars had been fought over religious differences than perhaps any other reason ever known.  I wanted nothing to do with a God who belonged to any religion.  My “conversion” to Atheism was attached to a belief that humans could self-regulate their behavior.  People would naturally do what was right without the threat of hell or the promise of heaven.  Seventy-nine years on this earth has taught me the error of this thought.  It would now seem that the further we get from heaven and hell, the more chaotic our world has become.

In many religions of the world, “bad” people go to hell.  Good people go to heaven.  But thoughts and beliefs about hell have varied widely over the centuries.  Here are some of the more common thoughts about hell summarized from the world’s major religions:

What Hell Is:

  • Historically, Hell is not originally a large universal fiery lake of eternal damnation that the popular imagination may picture.
  • Hell in some traditions is temporary (in many Indian religions; in early Judaism in some texts). Hell is more of a place to get your life in order.
  • Hell is often metaphorical or theological — e.g., separation from God or loss of the ultimate good. Catholics say the best thing about Heaven is seeing God.  In their version of hell, you will never see god.
  • Hell’s imagery is heavily shaped by cultural, social, and historical contexts (prisons, mines, burial rites, afterlife beliefs).

What Hell Is Not:

  • It is not uniformly defined across religions — one model of Hell does not fit all faiths.
  • It is not always eternal or always fiery.
  • It is not always the first idea in the tradition; often developed later (Hellenistic Judaism, Christian Latin Fathers).
  • It is not only about punishment; in many traditions the emphasis is on purification, transformation, or consequence of one’s own actions (karma) rather than a punitive act by God.

What Heaven Is:

We must then contrast our ideas of hell with the ideas of heaven that many people have.  I was brought up in a Catholic tradition where heaven was this wonderful place in which we would be united with all the good people in our lives that we loved but most importantly with God and Jesus.  Heaven was a place where every wish we could ever think of would be granted and there would be no toil, no pains, no hardships, no misery.  Everything that anyone could ever want in their wildest dreams would exist in heaven.  Heaven was a very personal place since we could all find and achieve our dreams there.

Now think about this for a minute.  Does the idea of heaven that I have described seem somewhat preposterous?   How could all this be possible?  Could two realms actually exist?  One holds all the bad people that ever existed and the other all the good people.  And how does St. Peter decide who is good and who is bad?  What magical talisman could exist to objectively separate the two?  Lewis and Blake also differed greatly on their attitudes towards heaven and hell.

Lewis: If Heaven and Hell are one, where lies choice?  Good and evil must part, else neither lives.

Blake: Contraries are life itself.  ‘Without contraries there is no progression.’  The dance between them drives creation.

Lewis: Yet the dance must end in a yes or no.  The soul cannot waltz forever between God and self.

Blake: Perhaps your yes is my spectrum.  You see white; I see all colors folded in it.

Lewis: But colors fade without the light that births them.  Love orders even the rainbow.

Blake: And fear of color breeds night.  You guard truth so tightly it cannot breathe.

Lewis: You set it so free it forgets its name.

Lewis:  There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’

Blake:  To obey God is to create with Him; submission divides, imagination unites.

The difference between the moral absolutist Lewis and the Blake version of good and evil still divides us today  For Blake, “Good” is whatever springs from imaginative love, energy, and vision.  “Evil” is whatever crushes imagination through repression, hypocrisy, or self-righteousness.  For Lewis, a moral foundation is built upon objective, divine law discerned by reason and revelation.

We can discern these two opposing themes concerning morality, good and evil, heaven and hell in every fabric of life today.  Theologians, politicians, leaders from all walks of life are all divided upon the questions concerning good and evil, absolute morality and moral relativism.  Is humanity innately good and bound to follow the “right” path based on its own self-interest or is humanity a neutral vessel in need of a moral code to help guide their choices in life?

I have come to believe that this apparent dichotomy simply reflects the complex ambiguity that humanity entails.  Some people need heaven and hell to do the right thing.  They will break laws, take advantage of other people, as long as they think they can get away with it.  Taking any moral codes or fire and brimstone away from them only makes it easier for them to prey on others.

Conversely, there are many good people who do good because it is the right thing to do.  They obey laws when laws are not apparent.  They help others not because of fear but because of love.  They feed the hungry and welcome immigrants because they understand the need to have a better life.  They do not clamor about hand-ups versus hand-outs because they know that many people lack the arms and legs to climb up the proverbial ladder.  They do good not because of a fear of hell or desire to get into heaven but because they yield to a greater law.  A Law of Love and Compassion for all of humanity.

Virtues, Values, Morals and Ethics:  What are the differences and Who Cares?

24 Jul 2025 16 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The older I get, the more questions concerning virtues, values, morals and ethics concern me.  Like most people, I thought that I learned what these concepts meant through church, parents, school, books, fairy tales and movies.  What I never really learned was: 1. Why are they important?  2. What do they mean for society?  3. Why should we care about the differences?  4. How do they actually play out in real life?  Real life meaning in war, in peace, in times of societal disasters and even in everyday living.  Now with a few years left in my life, I am immensely concerned with the above questions. 

I started reading more about virtues and values and morals and ethics a few years ago and did not make even a slight dent in the literature.  Recently, I looked into YouTube to see what some videos had to say about the same questions I am concerned with.  I found more videos to watch than I could review if I lived 100 more years.  Nevertheless, I spent some time scanning a few of these videos to see what other writers had to say about virtues, values, morals and ethics.  After reviewing these videos, I decided I would just wing it from my own perspective and experience.  In this blog, I will try to answer each of the questions I posed based on my own experiences.  Before we begin, I would like to provide a very simple definition for each concept.  No ChatGPT or Google here.  This is my own simple and probably not very profound definition of each.  

Virtue:  A gift to be earned.  Examples, “Patience, Honesty, Faith”

Value:  Something we think is important or worthwhile.  Examples, “Happiness, Love, Frugality”

Moral:  A principle we want to live by.  Example, “Do unto others etc.”

Ethics:  Principles others think we should live by.  Examples, “Always respect your customers”

 1.  Why are they important?

The simplest but most compelling answer to this question is that they help you to lead a happier, more fulfilling life.  People adhering to these concepts will have character and integrity and be both respected and admired.  They may not make you rich.  They may not make you famous.  But true happiness does not come from fame and fortune.  Here are some quotes that I like on happiness:

“True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller

“Happiness is not something ready-made.  It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles M. Schulz

“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.” – Charles Spurgeon

You might be asking yourself “Well, do we really need to pay attention to each of these concepts?”  Why not just worry about virtues or ethics?  My answer is yes.  We need to pay attention to all four of these concepts because they work together.  Like a car needs a transmission, engine, battery and wheels to get anyplace, you cannot become the person you want to be if you ignore any of these ideas. 

You cannot be virtuous and have shallow values.  You cannot have great values but no ethics.  You cannot have ethics but no morals.  We need to understand and embrace all four of these concepts.  Values and ethics deal more with external influences on our lives while virtues and morals come more from inside us and deal with our own abilities and character.  Can you have good character and embrace “bad” actions?  Can you have “bad” character and pursue good actions?  I think the answer to both these questions is “very unlikely.”  Actions flow out of character and character is developed by actions. 

2.  What do they mean for society?

First let me ask you a few questions and see if your thinking about these questions answers my question above.  Are you happy with the way people drive on the freeways today?  Do you feel that politicians and leaders today really care about you and the country?  Do you think that poverty and homelessness are inevitable or that good leadership could help to amend these problems?  Is a good leader ethical, moral, virtuous and guided by good values?  Do you think the above problems can be taken care of simply by higher incomes and fewer taxes? 

Now, I would ask you to go back to my question number 2 and take a few minutes to think of how you would answer it.  What would it mean for society if everyone practiced good virtues, morals, ethics and values?  Would we have as much unhappiness in society as we seem to have today?  Would our crime rate be high?  Would we constantly be involved in fighting wars in other countries? 

“Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue.”  – Socrates

“No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous.”  – Samuel Johnson

“A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.” – Daniel Webster

“The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations.  In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws.  –  Martin Luther King Jr

Once upon a time, I thought that the most important thing I could teach in schools would be critical thinking skills.  However, after having been teaching since 1975 in every class from kindergarten to Ph.D. programs, I have come to believe that the most important thing I can teach is an appreciation of these four concepts.  I have no illusions that I can or should force any particular virtue or values or ethics or morality down anyone’s throat.  I think that while each of these concepts is universal, each person must identify his/her own ideas and beliefs that are most important to them.  I have my list of virtues and morals that I try to live by.  Each day, I start out with a little prayer to remind myself to practice a particular virtue.  Today it was patience.  Tomorrow it will be kindness.  I do an inventory at the end of each day wherein I ask myself “how did I do today on my virtue.” 

As for morals, I have several principles that I try to live by.  I have listed five of my most important moral principles below.  You may have five, ten, fifteen or twenty that you believe in and not one that matches any of mine.  I think that what is important is that each of your principles is a building block for positive character.  A character that other people can admire but even more importantly, a character that you can be proud of. 

  • Do no harm to others
  • Stand up for what I believe
  • Do unto others as they would have done unto them
  • Demonstrate integrity in all I say and do
  • Do not be afraid to do what is right

 3.  Why should we care about the differences between these concepts?

Dr. Deming was famous for his quote that, “Experience without theory teaches nothing.”   I strongly support his axiom.  What it means is that if you keep doing something and it works or perhaps does not work, without an underlying theory of causality, you will never understand what factors or actions have resulted in your success or failure.  Without understanding these factors, it may be difficult to replicate your success but also likely you will not be able to improve on it. 

For instance, what if people seem to shy away from me and dislike me?  Or what if I seem to aggravate people but I cannot figure out why?  Going to school to study psychology or reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie might be just the theory that you need to better understand yourself and your behavior.  Socrates said, “Know Thyself” and also that, “The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living.”  Reflection and knowledge can lead to wisdom and wisdom will help you to lead a good life.

I also support the opposite belief, that “Theory without experience teaches nothing.”  You can read all the psychology books you want but unless you act on your theories, you will also learn nothing.  You cannot understand an apple or a steak without biting into it.  We must couple action with theory in our lives, or we risk going through life with a tank ½ full.

4.  How do these concepts play out in real life? 

This is a very challenging question.  I can tell you that in my life I tended to ignore the theory part in favor of experiences.  I learned a great deal through the proverbial trial and error, but my life has been in the past like a rubrics cube that came apart and I could not put it back together again.

I did not understand the relationship between the concepts we are discussing now and how they could and should play a role in my life.  I looked for a better more meaningful life by working harder, making more money and acquiring more diplomas and certificates.  Only in the past few years have I began to understand that without a firm grounding in morality, ethics, values and virtues, I could never live a life that measured up to my goals and aspirations.  These concepts form the bedrock and foundation for a life that exemplifies integrity and character. 

“Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.” – Lord Acton

“Where the roots of private virtue are diseased, the fruit of public probity cannot but be corrupt” –  Felix Adler

“Moral decline has become a growing concern in many societies around the world.  As the traditional values and principles that guide human behavior weaken, we see a shift in attitudes, actions, and even societal structures.  This decline in ethical standards, often characterized by increasing selfishness, dishonesty, and a lack of accountability, has widespread implications for individual lives, families, communities, and nations.” – Virtuous Magazine, 10-9-24

“Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.” –  Nelson Mandela

Conclusions:

I wrote this blog because as many people have attested to, there is an alarming decline in morality, ethics, values and virtues in our world today.  Many people now subscribe to an opportunistic philosophy which states that “If it is not illegal, than I can do it.”  To these people, it does not matter who they will harm by their actions.  The only things that matter are their own personal wants and desires.  Some people have referred to the present generation as the “entitlement” generation.  Others call our present times a time of Amorality.  Amorality is between immorality and morality, but it does not denote a Golden Mean.  Rather it is more like a zombie state that ignores the negative effects of a lack of morality on society.  It ignores the harm that Amorality does to individuals in any society. 

Opportunism, Amorality and Entitlement have become strong values for many in American society.  In this respect, I see them as “bad” values.  The difference between Good Values and Bad Values might seem to be merely a matter of opinion but I disagree.  I have argued in my previous blog that there are Bad Laws and Good Laws.  So too there are Bad Values and Good Values.  Bad values devalue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for private profit and gain.  The opposite is true of Good values.  Good values enhance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the greatest number.  James Madison said that a Democracy is a “Rule of the Majority with a concern for the Minority.”  What we see in America today would seem to be the rule of an Oligarchic Rich Elite exploiting minorities for their own benefit.  Perhaps more emphasis on morals, values, virtues and ethics in the media and press and less emphasis on violence and mayhem could reposition our country.  I think many of us would like to live in a nation that is based on empathy and compassion for all rather than revenge and retribution for those who are more vulnerable, poor or less powerful.

The Diagram that I used in this blog was created by Sudir Vigneshwar.  He has a very good blog on the subject of Morality and Virtue at his website.  I think the diagram depicts in a model what I have been saying in so many words.   Look for 

The Moral Alignment Scale: In Depth Conversations on Morality with an A.I.

Breaking the Law – Is it Ever OK? I Say YES!

20 Jul 2025 12 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you ever deliberately broke the law?  Mea Culpa!  Mea Culpa!  I have many times in my life.  I grew up with an aversion to rules and a definite bias towards the idea that “rules were made to be broken.”  Sometimes this has gotten me into trouble but other times it has been something I actually feel proud of.  You see, I do believe that there are stupid and even evil rules and laws.

Lets start with the most obvious as an example of laws that were not only bad but evil.  In respect to slavery there are many such examples.  Let’s take just two that make my point.  The very first concerns the legalization of slavery.  Early slave laws recognizing the practice in the US were written well before the constitution or the US was a nation.  Massachusetts is considered the first colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution in 1641.  Most of the other colonies soon passed laws legalizing the practice.  Once the colonies became a country and formed a constitution many Federal laws were passed to condone slavery, and these were supported by the Supreme Court.  Two such laws that are notorious today are the “Fugitive Slave Act of 1793” and the “Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.”

Who today could support such laws?  Laws that treated individuals of another color as little better than animals.  People (slaves) could be beaten, lashed, chained and bred not to mention worked to death so that some people could profit from their labor.  Would it have been wrong to say that these laws were acts of evil?  Should we obey laws that are clearly evil?

For my second example, we turn to Nazi Germany and its Reign of Terror against the Jewish population of Europe.  Over the centuries there have been many laws passed by European countries demonstrating an overt prejudice against the Jewish population.  However, the Nazis took this prejudice to new levels of persecution and eventually genocide.

The first significant law enacted by Hitler that targeted the Jewish population in Germany was the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” passed on April 7, 1933.  This law was designed to isolate and exclude Jews from participation in public life.  It banned them from holding government jobs or participating in professions such as doctors, teachers, and lawyers.

Much like we are now seeing in the USA today (albeit for a different purpose), there was a progression of laws in Germany to escalate the violence and discrimination against Jews.  The first laws seemed to be ones that people could live with but eventually they led to laws that were so evil that even Hitler was afraid of them being recorded.  I refer to Hitler’s “Final Solution.”  There may not have been any recorded laws, but the facts of the Holocaust and Genocide cannot be denied.  Eichmann claimed at his trial that he was only following orders to expedite in the most efficient manner the extermination of every Jew in Europe and Russia.

Could you live in a country like Germany was in the 1930’s and 40’s? What if we started deporting legal American citizens from the USA to prison camps in South America or Asia?  Would you obey such orders?

When we first came down here to Arizona in 2010, there was a great deal of discrimination directed against legal citizens who were of Mexican or Spanish Heritage.  One infamous law was the Arizona Senate Bill 1070 (SB 1070), enacted in 2010, which included a provision that allowed police to question people about their immigration status if there was “reasonable suspicion” they were in the country unlawfully.  They were obliged to “Show me your Papers” and Mexican American citizens were often profiled and stopped because they “looked” Mexican.  A friend of mine who lives in Tucson and is a musician wrote a song called “Show me Your Papers” which spoofed the law with some very humorous lyrics.

There were other laws passed in Arizona making it a crime to help immigrants coming over the border who might be undocumented.  The problem with these laws is that many immigrants legal and illegal do not speak English.  How in the hell are you going to ask them if they have papers?

One day about ten years ago, I was driving in a rural part of Arizona through the desert when I saw a young man hitchhiking on the side of the road.  I stopped to see where he was going.  I asked him if he needed some water since it was a very hot day.  He nodded his head yes and I gave him a bottle of water.  Down here you are stupid if you do not keep extra water in your car.  He then handed me a piece of paper.  On it was a hand drawn map that showed some directions and a motel at the end of the arrows on the map.  I asked him where he wanted to go.  He simply pointed at the motel.  The name of the motel was on the map, and I knew where it was.

I was on my way home and it was only about three miles from where I lived.  I motioned for him to jump in my car.  He climbed in and off we went with no conversation since it was obvious he did not speak English.  I pulled up to the motel and he got out of my car.  He turned around and in his hand, he held a bunch of fifty-dollar US bills.  He handed one to me.  I shook my head and said, “Gracias but no thank you.”  He smiled, left my car for the motel and we both waved goodbye as I drove off.

Did I break the law?  Was he an “illegal” immigrant?  Should I have just left him on the side of the road in 100 + temperatures?  Should I have driven him to the police department?  Frankly,  I don’t give a damn what the law said back then.  I saw someone who needed help, and I helped him.  Christians are fond of saying “WWJD”, meaning What would Jesus Do?  If you are at all familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament, you know what Jesus would do.

There are good laws and there are bad laws.  Pope Pius the XII once said that he had no problems with the good friars in Minnesota making illegal whiskey during prohibition because they were not breaking God’s law but only man’s law.  I claim to be no saint nor even a Christian.  However, I do believe that some laws whether backed by the Supreme Court or backed by an Executive who can make no claim on morality or virtue are evil and deserve to be broken or ignored.  One caveat is that you must be willing to suffer the consequences of breaking such laws.  No one may be on your side.  It might be years or decades before attitudes change, and people realize how heinous some laws are.

Conclusions:

  • Only fools and cowards obey laws that are evil.
  • We have a right to dispute laws that are inhumane or that violate long-held principles of morality and ethics.
  • We may be punished for breaking a law but we all must be willing to take risks if we want to build a better world.
  • Don’t break the law simply because it inconveniences you. Only break laws that are not in the common good or that make other people suffer without good cause.
  • Some things are evil no matter what the law says.

If you would like to pursue this issue further, here are two excellent articles by Michael Corthell which I will list below with a hyperlink to them.  

“The President Who Breaks the Law and the Court That Lets Him”, July 16, 2025

When the Crowd Booed Back: How Authoritarians Crumble When People Stop Obeying –  July 22, 2025

 

In Defense of Not Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils.

12 Mar 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

downloadThis years election is going to force people to decide between the lesser of two evils.  Trump is undoubtedly the winner in being the most evil person to ever run for president in the USA.  His former Chief of Staff said that Trump was the most vile man he had ever met.  Kelly declared:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’  A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’  A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family—for all Gold Star families—on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”  — The New Republic, Oct 2023

Running against a man who would further erode what democracy we have left in this country is a coward who is afraid to take on Netanyahu and his US lobbies.  Bernie Sanders had the courage to say that he would not give Israel one nickel for defense until a permanent cease fire was declared. 

“I will be damned if I’m going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people.”  — February 13, 2024, by John Nichols; The Nation

Just yesterday, Biden said that “There would be no red line for Israel.”  He takes this cowardly position even in the face of a horrible death toll and as Israel prepares another major offensive designed to kill as many Palestinians as they can in Southern Gaza.  Then Netanyahu spits in Bidens face and says that “Victory is close.”  The Israel Defense Force won’t be “getting off the gas” and eliminating Hamas in Rafah is a “prerequisite for victory.”  — NY Post, March 11, 2024

Let me add that not only do I hold Biden complicit in the genocide going on in Gaza but also for the number of soldiers killed in the Ukrainian War with Russia.  This war could have been prevented by pursuing more diplomacy with Russia.  Instead, we have a sitting President who is still dumb enough to be spouting the Domino Theory of Communism.  He tells us that if Russia defeats the Ukraine they will soon be after Europe and then America.  I had thought only fools still believed this theory, but Biden spouted it in his SOTU speech the other night.

One empirical study on the validity of the Domino Theory was done in 2009.  Using spatial econometrics and panel data that cover over 130 countries between 1850 and 2000, Peter T. Leeson and Andrea M. Dean empirically investigated the democratic domino theory.  They found the following:

“We find that democratic dominoes do in fact fall as the theory contends.  However, these dominoes fall significantly “lighter” than the importance of this model suggests. Countries “catch” only about 11% of the increases or decreases in their average geographic neighbors’ increases or decreases in democracy.  This finding has potentially important foreign policy implications.  The “lightness” with which democratic dominoes fall suggests that even if foreign military intervention aimed at promoting democracy in undemocratic countries succeeds in democratizing these nations, intervention is likely to have only a small effect on democracy in their broader regions.”  — “The Democratic Domino Theory: An Empirical Investigation” by Peter T. Leeson and Andrea M. Dean,  American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Jul., 2009), pp. 533-551

Keep in mind that this is only one study, however politicians routinely use this theory to justify intrusions and violations of other country sovereignty all over the world.  The real truth is not a fear of communism but a fear that our capitalistic hegemony over the world will be put at risk.  But I am divulging from the main issue.  Do I vote for Biden who exemplifies the policy of continuing never-ending wars or Trump who will attack minorities, attack immigrants, attack women, attack veterans, attack disabled, attack people of other gender identities and attack every institution of democracy left in America?

Clearly Biden is the lesser of two evils.  But I will not vote for Biden.  I certainly will not vote for Trump even if my soul depended upon it.  I will vote for one of the independents who I admire.  So, say it now “You are going to throw your vote away.  A vote for anyone else but Biden is a vote for Trump.  Independents have no chance of winning and will only take votes away from Biden.  Do you want Trump to win?”  Eight years ago, I made this same argument against supporting Sanders rather than Hillary.  My arguments for Hillary became so aggressive that I lost several friends before the election.  People who have never talked to me since the election.  And who won?  Trump!  Trump won and I lost.  I lost on three counts.

  1. I lost the chance that Sanders might have beaten Trump
  2. I lost friends
  3. I lost my integrity by voting for someone I did not really like.   

Ironically by not voting for Biden this year, I may lose more friends.  Almost everyone I admire seems to have decided to go with the “lesser of two evils” argument.  Is there merit to this argument?  Can we really predict the future based on it?  Is it any more valid then the Domino Theory?  Here is another opinion besides my own with some reasons why this argument should lose its validity.

The “lesser of two evils” argument has been a mainstay of Democratic election strategy since 2016. The formula is clear: 1) Throw overwhelming institutional support at an often unpopular and watered-down candidate.  2) Tell primary voters not to actually vote for their desired candidate because they are “unelectable.” 3) After forcing through a politician that many voters did not want, tell voters to be a good citizen and choose the “lesser of two evils” in the general election.  This strategy is unsustainable, ineffective, and sabotaging the core of our democracy.

In 2020, voters accepted this premise.  “Unprecedented” times called for “unprecedented” measures, so people swallowed their tongues and checked their ballots.  This is how the Democratic party garnered record-breaking voter turnout for an aggressively mediocre candidate.  According to Forbes, 56% of voters in 2020 admitted to voting for Biden because he was “not Trump.”  The Democratic PACs (political action committees) leaned into this message, spending heavily on “anti-Trump” ads.

But this coming election is different.  Not only are Biden and Harris particularly unpopular, but voters are also beginning to understand that you can’t call the times “unprecedented” forever.  At some point, we enter into a new normal.   And with the rising stars of the Republican party, like Ron Desantis — whose platform and policies prove just as Trump-y as Trump himself — it is becoming evident that the DNC, if allowed, will make this pitch indefinitely.

The 2016 election was a trial run of this method for the Democratic party — they were testing the waters to see how far they could push the party’s base without facing repercussions.  Minor changes did take place following the election, like stripping some power from superdelegates to appease the outraged progressive faction of the party.  Still, when faced with lawsuits from Democratic voters, claiming that the 2016 primary was unjust, DNC lawyers tried to cling to their ability to choose the Democratic candidate behind closed doors without input from voters.  They argued that “the words ‘impartial’ and ‘even handed’ — as used in the DNC Charter — can’t be interpreted by a court of law.”  This laid the groundwork for the growing unabashed bias toward specific candidates that emerged first in 2020 and is now resurfacing for 2024.

In this primary, the Democratic party has become more aggressive than ever in pre-selecting the candidate for voters. For example, they are infamously attempting to shift primary dates to benefit Biden’s campaign and give him a stronger start in the primaries.  And despite the few challengers that are running collectively taking around 30% of the vote, the Democratic party is adamantly refusing to host a debate.

While in past primary elections, the Democratic Party maintained some semblance of plausible deniability when supporting candidates, in this election it is clear that the DNC is unequivocally backing Biden.

Voters are villainized for being apathetic toward a candidate that they did not even choose.  In 2016, op-eds stating “you do have an obligation to vote for the lesser of two evils” were plastered across major news outlets.   In 2020, Biden controversially quipped, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black” while being questioned on a popular radio show.  In 2024, we are seeing a similar strategy play out again.

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison recently scolded Democratic challengers and third-party candidates, saying, “This is not the time to [sic] experiment.  This is not the time to play around on the margins … we got to re-elect Joe Biden.  We have to re-elect Kamala Harris.”  — Rhea Karty: The Lesser of Two Evils Argument Needs To Die, The Dartmouth, August 2, 2023

A poll taken back in January of this year gave the following results:

“Seventy percent of respondents – including about half of Democrats – agreed with a statement that Biden should not seek re-election.  Fifty-six percent of people responding to the poll said Trump should not run, including about a third of Republicans.” — Trump vs. Biden: The rematch many Americans don’t want, by Jason Lange, January 25, 2024

I am going to join the ranks of those who are sick and tired of having to choose between “The lesser of Two Evils”.  A choice where I was not given any real say in the making of.  In the words of Patrick Henry,

“For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.  It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country.  Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.” — St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775

So, there you have it my friends.  I am not going to allow the Democratic Party to keep running their game on me.  If Biden loses, we may forfeit any democracy we have left in this country.  However, if Biden wins, the Democratic Party will continue their support of unpopular wars and the propensity to elect people not popular with the majority of voters.  I have heard many people say that they do not want either man.  Yet here we are folks.  Both sides feeling like they are choosing between the lesser of two evils.

I have made my choice.  Choose now for yourself.

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Do We Live in Evil Times?

17 Nov 2022 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

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A few years ago, I started writing and talking about evil and sin.  Some of my friends questioned my use of these typically religious terms.  They wondered whether the secular complaints against modern society that I was making were amenable to such terms as sin and evil.  I would have agreed with them many years ago but more recently I began to think somewhat differently.  No, I did not get “born again” or discover Christ or God.  I have never found either of them and I stopped looking many years ago.  What I did discover is that there is something sublime about the concepts of sin and evil that can be very useful in discussing modern problems in the world.  Today, I would like to focus on evil and how it relates to the problems facing us today. 

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What is Evil?

Evil is taking advantage of other people when the outcome will be win-lose.  Meaning that you win, and they lose.  Evil is disregarding the needs of other people and putting your needs first.  Evil is deliberately hurting other people either physically, mentally, emotionally, or socially.  Evil is killing your children to get even with your ex-wife or spouse.  Evil is harassing or sexually intimidating women and gays.  Evil is putting people of other ethnic backgrounds or color down and abusing their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Evil is a willful and volitional violation of the rights of any other group, religion, or country for the pursuit of your own well-being. 

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”  — ― Mahatma Gandhi

The Four Types of Evil:

I have thought about the differences we see in the world in terms of evil.  Primarily with a leaning towards understanding the causes of evil.  I suspect that evil might exist apart from causes, but I have not found any examples yet.  Evil is either caused by passion or intellect.  Smart people and stupid people can be equally evil.  A college degree, a Ph.D. or a Nobel Prize does not suffice to distinguish who might be evil and who might not be evil.  The four types of evil that I have found are as follows:

  1. Principled Evil
  2. Passionate Evil
  3. Greedy Evil
  4. Ambitious Evil

“Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.” —  Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Principled Evil:

Principled evil stems from taking your own beliefs and ideology and expecting the world to be molded to them.  It sounds good to be a person of principle but as Aristotle noted evil can come from extremes.  When I believe my principles are so righteous and significant that they should replace your principles I am headed to a stairway of evil. Evil starts at the first step and may be barely noticeable but as it progresses it becomes more and more tyrannical and vicious.

The Nazis were a prime example of a philosophy or ideology that started with some semblance of rationality.  However, it gradually devolved into a belief that relegated any non-Nazis to a state of inferiority.  Under their belief system, the Nazis came to accept that anyone who did not subscribe to their principles could be murdered and eliminated from the face of the earth. Their adherence to a set of rigid principles allowed the Nazis to take over the government of a country which had sympathy for their beliefs.  The result of their principled beliefs was one of the greatest evils that the world had ever seen.

Today, we still have many groups in America who think the Nazis had the right idea.  Their belief in principles of blood, soil and country lead them to tyrannize those who do not look like them or think like them.  We call these groups by various names: Neo-Nazis, Alt-Right, White Supremacists and simply racists.  In recent times, we have seen a resurgence in terms of an acceptance of the principles that these groups stand for.  Many people believe that this resurgence is because the White Majority in America is threatened by an increased influx of minorities.  Regardless of the reason for their popularity, these groups are a danger to democracy and any rule of reason and justice.

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Passionate Evil:

Sean Jean marketed his products with the byline that “Life without Passion is Unforgiveable.”  I have a bottle of his perfume which was of course called “Unforgiveable.”  A great marketing idea and a rather catchy phrase which I still think has merit.  We all want and need passion in our lives.  Passion adds color to our days and nights.  It makes us excited about life and steers us to spend time with those things that we value.  Passion is one of life’s beautiful things.  Unfortunately, passion can be dangerous.

The South was passionate about their way of life and a system of economics which depended on slave labor.  They were so passionate that they were willing to die for their ideology.  The war for a lifestyle which the Civil War embodied never really ended.  Over a hundred and fifty years later and the beliefs that underlie the civil war seem to be almost as strong as they were back then.  The racism that many in the South held onto after the war was more based on passion than logic.  The KKK was a prime example of this passion.  A group of white people driven by passionate adherence to protect an idealized lifestyle and their right to dominance.  Blacks, Jews, and Northerners were considered inferior or to lack the sophistication that the Plantation Mentality bestowed on the South.  Any time one group for whatever reason thinks they are superior, it is a formula for terrorism and violence.  The passion of the South has played out over the years in a plethora of laws, court cases and behaviors that have had the effect of murdering and tyrannizing primarily Black people in America.

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Greedy Evil:

Whenever I think of greed, I think of the story about Silas Marner by George Eliot.  Silas sat at his table each evening counting his gold pieces.  He was lonely and he had no life except for his gold coins.  Then there is the story of King Midas whose greed for gold turned everything he loved into solid unfeeling gold.  I think the greatest sickness in America today is loneliness.  Loneliness drives much of the unhappiness and anger that is so evident in American politics.  The rise of “Identity” politics is based on a desire to belong.  The way to belong is to acquire things, stuff, money, positions.  The concept that “he who has the most toys wins” is proof of the belief that the way to win and to be accepted is to have more money or things than anyone else. 

“Where do the evils like corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption-free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with ‘what can I give’ spirit.” — A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

I often wonder if we now live in the greediest period of history.  Driven by an incessant stream of advertising that we need more and more and more; we seem less and less happy.  Commercials 24/7 exhort us to buy, buy, buy.  To spend, spend, spend.  We can only be happy if we have more than our neighbors.  Our kids need more.  We need more. 

Of course, greed has always been with us. Greed is mentioned over twenty-four times in the Bible. 

Book of Job (600-400 BCE) — 20:15 “He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.”

In Buddhism, the 3 poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion are thought to be the root cause of all unnecessary human suffering. 

In the Quran it says: [9:34] “O you who believe, many religious leaders and preachers take the people’s money illicitly and repel from the path of God. Those who hoard the gold and silver, and do not spend them in the cause of God, promise them a painful retribution.” 

In Hindu theology, the six enemies of the mind are: desire, anger, greed, arrogance, delusion, and jealousy.

I talked about greed quite a bit in my previous two blogs on morality.  I suggested I would propose an answer to the prevailing winds of greed that blow us from one purchase to another. I think we need leadership to do this.  However, our present leaders lack the desire and skills to take us out of this wilderness of greed that we are in.  Some people may find their way out, but I fear that these individuals are a minority.     

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Ambitious Evil:

Ambition is another one of those ideas which we are taught when we are young is a positive attribute.  We are told that to be ambitious is desirable.  Who would admire someone who lacked all ambition?  Nevertheless, ambition can be dangerous.

Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar delivers a eulogy for Caesar and says:

“So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.”

Ambition has been the ruin of many a man, Shakespeare’s MacBeth was another man undone by ambition.  The men who ruled Enron destroyed a company because of ambition.  There is a fine line between greed and ambition, and it might seem as though they could not be separated.  I see greed as more a penchant for money and things and ambition more a penchant for status and power.  You can have a great deal of money and still lack status.  Perhaps that is behind the term nouveau rich as contrasted with established wealth.  The Bush family was established wealth.  Elon Musk is nouveau riche.

“Nouveau riche is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance.”  — Wiki

One hears the term “unbridled” ambition to refer to extremes of ambition.  These extremes are usually dangerous not only to the ambitious but also to those who depend on the ambitious.  American politicians who continue to pursue election after election may not suffer from an abundance of greed, but they are certainly rife with ambition.  I continually hear calls for term limits today along with age limits.  The average age in the US Senate is 64.3 years.  Twenty-six senators are over the age of 70. — “How Old is the 117th Congress?”

I think it is safe to say that many if not most of the older US Senators are out of touch with the US Population.  If their wealth was not enough to make this statement true, I think the age and lack of interface with the daily life that most people face would cement my assertion as a fact. 

I will make the following statement: “We will not be able to save American democracy with the people and demographics that we now have in Congress.” 

Unless we make some major changes in institutions that have existed nearly two hundred years without change, we are going to see the decline of the American dream.  The dream will have succumbed to ambition and greed if not passions and principles. 

Why, Why, Why Would Anyone Vote for Trump?

13 Jun 2022 12 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Perhaps no question in history has spawned more theories and more books to explain the “Trump Phenomenon.”  Why would anyone with one iota of decency vote for and support someone who lacked all morality and all integrity?  Trump is certainly not the first leader to lack any semblance of morality. However, given that he was elected to what some believe is the last great hope for “Democracy,” it boggles the mind that such a person could become President of the United States of America.  Trump and his supporters stand against every principle that this nation was founded on.

1_olMzFxyjypYKzro3iFezQgI have read at least a dozen books and heard a different theory each month on why Trump was elected.  From racism, to sexism, to xenophobia, to white supremacy, to rural alienation, to immigration, to abortion, to anti-immigration, to income gaps, to blue collar woes, to anti-globalism, to Christianity, to government overreach, to tax issues, to wage gaps, to inflation, to isolationism, to lack of American jobs, to anti-education, each one of these and several more have been promoted as the “reason” for Trumps support.

You can read volumes about these reasons, and you will still be looking for a reason.  None of them seem to provide the “whole” explanation and new books are pumped out daily by Trump accusers and sycophants.  These same ass-kissing, boot licking followers who now want to throw shit on Trump while exonerating their own culpability.

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So imagine my surprise when I came across this explanation for why people followed Hitler written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He wrote this while in jail for his resistance to Hitler’s policies.   Bonhoeffer was a famous Lutheran pastor and theologian who threw caution to the wind when he decided that he had to speak out against Hitler.  He was arrested, tried, and found guilty.  He was too well known for Hitler to immediately execute.  Hitler put Bonhoeffer in prison but on April 9th, 1945 just three weeks before he died, Hitler opted for his trademark vindictiveness and cruelty.  He ordered Bonhoeffer hung along with several other conspirators.

This writing was done while Bonhoeffer was in prison.  In a very short piece,  he sums up why anyone would support someone like Trump, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin or any other actual or would be dictator.  It explains “Why Trump” better than any of the long-winded studies I have read.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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Bonhoeffer:  On Stupidity

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.

Against stupidity we are defenseless.

Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.

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For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.

If we want to know how to get the better of stupidity, we must seek to understand its nature. This much is certain, that it is in essence not an intellectual defect but a human one. There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but stupid.

We discover this to our surprise in particular situations. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect, but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them.

We note further that people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem.

It is a particular form of the impact of historical circumstances on human beings, a psychological concomitant of certain external conditions. Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity.

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It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.

The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances.

The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.

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Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity.

Here we must come to terms with the fact that in most cases a genuine internal liberation becomes possible only when external liberation has preceded it. Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person.

This state of affairs explains why in such circumstances our attempts to know what ‘the people’ really think are in vain and why, under these circumstances, this question is so irrelevant for the person who is thinking and acting responsibly. The word of the Bible that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom declares that the internal liberation of human beings to live the responsible life before God is the only genuine way to overcome stupidity.

But these thoughts about stupidity also offer consolation in that they utterly forbid us to consider the majority of people to be stupid in every circumstance. It really will depend on whether those in power expect more from people’s stupidity than from their inner independence and wisdom.

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You can keep looking for explanations.  I think there surely will be more raised.  However, I am content to stop here with Bonhoeffer’s explanation.  I may not agree with everything he says but he explains quite well why discussion and debate with these people are a total waste of time. 

Good Days and Bad Days

25 Mar 2022 10 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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It is a well-known fact, perhaps the only “fact” that is not disputed anywhere by anyone in the world.  This fact is that we all have “good days and bad days.”  Now some people might argue that there is a normal bell-shaped curve for humans that applies even to this fact.  You probably learned in science that almost all human traits and characteristics follow the “Normal” bell shaped curve.  If this is true, then some of us have more bad days than others and some of us have more good days than others.  That would not seem to be very fair though.  This raises the primordial question “Is life fair?”  We all know the answer to this question because we have heard it from our parents many times and at a very early age.

curveI suppose in one sense, “life is not fair” means that life is indeed following a bell-shaped curve and some of us are on the undesirable end.  In other words, some of us are too short, too fat, too unappealing, or any number of other less-desirable traits that we find on the extremes of the bell-shaped curve.  Last night I was watching a 3-year-old do stunts on a sized down motorcycle.  I could not do these stunts if my life depended on it.  This young boy was a natural on the motorcycle.  He took to it like a fish to water.  We have all seen and perhaps envied some of the more fortunate on our bell-shaped curve who can do things we only dream about doing.  For those of us on the wrong end of the bell-shaped curve, life will never seem fair.

Well, does this “unfairness” also apply to “good days and bad days?”  Are some of us destined to have more bad days than others?  I woke up this morning thinking about this question.  Lately, I seem to be having more than my share of bad days.  Is it my attitude?  Is it just the run of the draw?  Is it something I am doing or not doing?  Can I change my bad days to good days by working harder or smarter?  Should I see a doctor or a shrink?  Is there a pill I can take to overcome the bad days or to change myself in some ways so that I have more good days than bad days?  A pill like this might be very popular.  Of course, some would argue that we have enough artificial chemicals to help alleviate “bad” days, but these chemicals or drugs only lead to worse days in the long run.

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I have spent a lifetime, seventy-five years seeking wisdom.  I have looked for nirvana in high and low places.  I have read the books of the great philosophers.  The writings of the greatest thinkers of all time.  I have looked for satori in meditation, life everlasting in prayer, enlightenment in contemplation but still I seem to remain stuck on this loathsome bell-shaped curve.  Some days are good and some bad.

Aging seems to bring more bad days than good.  Each day the phone rings, I pick it up wondering who or which of my friends have died now.  I admit I have a hard time with death.  I wonder if it is my death I fear or the death of so many people that I have loved or admired.  I read and read about how to conquer death.  How to accept death.  How death is inevitable.  How everyone I see walking around will die eventually.  How death is the “next great adventure.”  Will death find me starting a new life?  Will it find me greeting old friends?  Or will death simply be a deep sleep that nothing can disturb me from?

unnamedI understand why so many people want to believe in heaven and hell.  It would be much easier to go on living peacefully if I could really believe that there was someplace better to go to than this earth I now reside on.  Too many bad days now seem to intrude on my equanimity.  You and I and everyone else that resides on this 3rd rock from the sun are abused and tormented every day with disease, starvation, accidents, environmental devastations, and pandemics.  I could handle all of these things but for one thing.  It is called “mans’ inhumanity to man.”  The stupid cruel things we do to each other over and over again.  The wars, murders, and injustices that we inflict on other human beings.  And it is not just the average person that inflicts these cruelties, it is the “best” people in the land.  In fact, it would seem that the inhumanities done by those with the most money, most intelligence and those we call our leaders are the worst of all the brutalities and savagery that we see in the news each day.

A friend of mine once told me that if you want people to listen to you, you must give them a positive message.  Give them hope.  Give them faith.  Give them love.  The greatest prophets (as opposed to greatest thinkers) all spread a message of love and charity.  The great message of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad was the need to care for others and to do the best you can to make a difference in the world.

When I give up on our ability to make a difference, I fall into gloom, doom, and despair.  But how can we not give up, when we all seem so helpless to really make a difference.  None of our leaders were able to stop the Ukrainian war from starting.  Could I have done any better?  Now we read each day about nonstop atrocities being committed against a people than only wanted to live a good life in peace with their neighbors.  How can I not feel like it is a bad day when the news, radio, texts, chats and television all besiege me with unrelenting gloom and doom?  Is there an antidote to despair?  Is anyone who is optimistic simply a naïve foolish Pollyanna?

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There is one solution that I have found.  No matter how little, no matter now small, no matter how much, there are things in my life to be grateful for.  These people and things bring me joy and happiness.  When I focus on these things, my mood lifts.  The hardship and travails of life do not seem so bad.  These things and people will not be with me forever.  As I mentioned earlier, each day seems to bring news of a once former friend who has now embarked on a last great journey.  So we must realize that everything is temporary but that does not matter “Right NOW.”  Since right now, my joys and happiness are right in front of me, waiting to be appreciated and waiting to be loved and cared for.  These joys are the friends and people I know and the people I have yet to meet.

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The aphorism that “the world is my oyster” is a beacon that I can always tack to.  A sailor must have a North Star to guide his or her travels.  Each of us must have a direction to lead us on our journey through life.  Without a direction, we sail in circles and life seems meaningless and cruel.  Find your North Star and you will find your happiness.  Just remember there will always be days when you will lose your way.  We must reset our rudder and readjust our sails and start out again and again and again.  Life will always be a journey and not a destination.

“Light is sweet,

and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

However many years anyone may live,

let them enjoy them all.

But let them remember the days of darkness,

for there will be many.

Everything to come is meaningless.”

― King Solomon Son of David

The God of Hypocrisy

18 Nov 2020 12 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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The most merciless God of all is the God of Hypocrisy.  But did you know that the Greeks and Romans did not have a God or God of Hypocrisy?  According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word hypocrisy:

“The word hypocrisy ultimately came into English from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player.” The Greek word itself is a compound noun: it’s made up of two Greek words that literally translate as “an interpreter from underneath.”

This is a rather benign term for one of the most dangerous people of all time.  We commonly think of a Hypocrite as someone that says one thing and does another.  However, before we come back to how the God of Hypocrisy was born and who her parents were, let us look at some examples of hypocrisy to see why I say she is the most merciless of all Gods.  Our first example must start with the Greeks themselves.  The very ones who conveniently never found or identified the God.

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Once upon a time in old Greece, there was a man named Socrates.  You all know who Socrates was since the Delphic Oracle pronounced him the smartest man in the world.  That appellation came because only Socrates among millions of men (women did not count back then) knew that he knew nothing.  That’s right, Socrates really did not believe that he was smart and that is why he asked so many questions.  Smart people really understand that most of the world is beyond understanding.

Now you would think that the Greeks would be overjoyed at having the smartest man in the world live right in Athens.  And for little or no fees, Socrates was willing to help teach all the children of the upper and lower classes in Athens.  But if you remembered your history, they executed Socrates for teaching their children to think for themselves.  Can you imagine a country that even today we remember for being one of the first democracies in the world and they put old Socrates to death for educating their kids?  I believe that is why the Greeks did not identify a God of Hypocrisy because they were big hypocrites themselves.  It is perhaps ironic that in the good old USA, a nation of hypocrites we do not think of the Greeks as being hypocrites.

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Which brings me to our second example of the God of Hypocrisy exercising her evil in the world.  This example concerns the largest and perhaps oldest established organization in the world.  The organization that I speak of is called the Roman Catholic Church (RCC).  For centuries, the RCC has taught the evils of sex.  When I was a young boy growing up with fantasies of some of the girls in my junior high school class, I was prohibited by church doctrine from masturbating to any of these thoughts.  Masturbation was then and even now defined as some type of evil activity that would cause hair to grow on my palms and immediately identify me as a sinner and masturbator.

Go ahead and type in the following in Google: “Is Masturbation Wrong.”  Here is what you will get for an answer.  This comes from the site www.beginningcatholic.com/

  • The Catholic teaching on masturbation says that masturbation is always morally wrong.
  • Sex is intended to be both an expression of love for your spouse, and a beautiful means of procreation.
  • Sex is so special, powerful, and valuable that it is properly used only within marriage. If you’re not married, you should abstain from sexual activity.

I could expound on many other elements of sex that the RCC uses to create sinners and ensure a ready supply of penitents for their confessionals but I think just this example of masturbation is enough.  You might have already guessed where the hypocrisy comes in.  I know many of you are already thinking how can an organization that is rife with pedophiles be so hypocritical that they can condemn young men and women to hell for enjoying their own bodies.  You might think that this is a 21st century problem for the RCC but just look at the history of the RCC and you will see that a double standard on sex goes back many hundreds of years within the church.  If you are curious about how many Catholic Popes broke their vows of chastity see the following data on Wikipedia:  List of Sexually Active Popes/  This list is quite long.  Can you imagine how long it would be if it included priests?

Just a few months ago, it was revealed that a priest who I had always admired at the Demontreville Retreat Center (where I have made nearly 35 silent Jesuit Retreats) was having an affair with a woman outside the retreat center.  We were cautioned “not” to judge others less with be judged ourselves, but I have always been judged by a church that preaches one thing about sex but has another standard and is apparently infected by the God of Hypocrisy.  I will not go into all of the allegations that have surfaced throughout the world concerning the sexual practices of the RCC.  It would fill a hundred books, but it would amply demonstrate the work of the God that I speak of and her attendant evil.

merlin_167724804_b610ecda-c3a5-4e00-bf61-9149d93a13a7-superJumbo

My final example of the egregiousness of the hypocrisy that this God sows concerns the so-called “Pro-Life Movement.”  This is a movement also know more colloquially as the Anti-Abortion movement.  According to the adherents of this philosophy “All live is sacred from the moment of conception.”  I would assume this means that the moment my sperm unites with a female ovum, life begins.  Scientists, doctors, pro-lifers, politicians, and lawyers will argue this conception of life probably until the sun flames out and the world ends.  For our purposes, it is a red herring.  A needless diversion that obscures the real truth behind the Pro-Life Movement.  The real truth is the hypocrisy that these people are pro-life.  The reality of the hypocrisy is that they only care about whether or not a woman has any control over her own body.

Pro-Lifers can be viewed at dozens of Trump Rallies carrying their banners and signs but not, I repeat not wearing a mask.  They have repeatedly demonstrated at these rallies that they care little or nothing about the lives of other people that they might infect with the Coronavirus.  However, the hypocrisy of Pro-Lifers goes much deeper.  It extends to such issues as war, capital punishment, caring for the sick and needy and helping to protect immigrants and minorities from abuse, torture, death, and murder.  Show me the Pro-Lifers on the front lines of the “End Capital Punishment Marches” or the “Black Lives Matter Movement.”  Hypocrites one and all.  Hypocrites through and through.  Hypocrites well past the deaths of anyone except the so-called “unborn child.”

This concludes my examples of notorious cases of hypocrisy.  I could provide many more examples.  I think of Jesus calling the Pharisees hypocrites.  Indeed, on a personal level, I have often been infected by the God of Hypocrisy myself.  But if you do not by now believe in the God of Hypocrisy and the evil that she creates, I have little left to tell you.  For those of you who are believers, I propose that we need a name and history for the God.

Yes, witness the birth of a new God.  One as evil and mischievous as any that the Greeks created.  And since she does not exist, let us birth and name this new God and add her to the pantheon of Gods that the Greeks identified.  She needs a birth story (I would love to hear any ideas from you regarding her story) and in my next blog, I will write her story.  For now I will end with suggesting some names for her.  I am open to other ideas and if you care to share any suggestions, please do so in the comment list for this blog.  Here are my suggestions:

  • Phoneycia
  • Pretense
  • Tartuffe
  • Deceptor

11-26-2020

Here is an example of hypocrisy if there ever was one: 

“The Diocese of Brooklyn on Thursday cheered the Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s capacity limits at houses of worship in COVID-19 hotspots.”

Apparently to the Diocese of Brooklyn, lives are not as important as attending church on Sunday.  Imagine this from a major proponent of the so called “Pro-Life” Movement.  Pro-Life when it does not interfere with their collecting an “offering.”

Sinner Man, Sinner Woman, Are You a Sinner?

30 Oct 2019 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

original sin

Sin has a special place in Christian society.  According to orthodox Christians, we are all sinners.   Most Christians upon hearing this will simply nod their head and agree.  The Catholic Church has two types of sin.  One is mortal sin.  This will get you a place in hell if not confessed before you die.  The other is called venial sin.  A venial sin gives you a place in Purgatory where you fry only for a little while until the sin is expurgated.  Then you can move on to heaven having been cleansed of “sinful” behavior.  Somewhat recently, the Catholic Church got rid of the idea of Purgatory.  It is either heaven or hell these days.

Now if you are of a more secular bent, you may dismiss the idea of sin.  In fact, you may be offended by the idea.  For myself as an atheist, I accept that the idea of sin holds some validity in the sense that some behaviors are so egregious they need strong condemnation.  The Ten Commandments depict several such behaviors that are evil enough to have been banned or outlawed in many societies.  Principally among these are murder, robber and adultery.  Even so, these behaviors are far from uncommon throughout the world.

seven deadly sins

Most of us have no doubt heard of the “seven deadly sins.”  The “seven deadly sins” were originally based on a list of eight principal vices.  This list was developed by the mystic Evagrius Ponticus in the fourth century CE.  In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I changed the list of eight vices into the list of seven deadly, or cardinal, sins of Roman Catholic theology.  This list includes pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth.  The only problem with this list is that you would look long and hard before you would find anyone who did not harbor at least one of these “sins.”  I suspect most of us are guilty of all of them at one time or another.  If sin is so common what good does it do to punish people with threats of hell and perdition?

When some behavior becomes normal, can it still be a sin?  Will most Americans go to hell for being greedy?  You are liable to say “no, surely not!”  There is no law against greed, gluttony or pride.  I am no sinner because I lust after the beautiful babe in the skintight yoga pants

Thus, it would be easy to argue that Pope Gregory 1 went overboard with his definition of these seven behaviors as sinful.  If these are not sins, should they even rank as vices?  What if greed were regarded as a vice, what would that say about modern American society?

“A worldwide survey found that majorities of people in the U.K., Canada, Spain and Australia think of Americans as violent, greedy and arrogant…The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that a median of 54 percent of people in countries surveyed associated the negative trait of arrogance with Americans. Fifty-two percent associate greed, and 48 percent say Americans are violent. — The world thinks Americans are violent, greedy, arrogant — and Americans agree  — Teresa Welsh (2016)

I could make a case that each of these seven vices or sins is simply a normal manifestation of human behavior.  Any one of them can be taken to extremes and become dysfunctional but where is the line drawn between normal pride and excessive pride, where is the line drawn between envy and desire and who draws the lines?  My argument is that calling these seven characteristics as vices is almost as extreme as calling them sins.

Does this mean that all of us are perfect?  Can any of us be as pure at heart as Sir Galahad?  Very unlikely, I would think.  So, if we are not sinful or full of vices, then what are we?

I like the word flawed.  Vocabulary.com defines flawed as:

“Flawed objects have some kind of imperfection — a dent or a blemish.  No one’s perfect, so everyone is flawed in some way, but when this word describes a person it often means ‘weak in character.’  A Shakespearian flawed hero has some flaw or foible that will ultimately be his undoing: in other words, a fatal flaw.”

I do not accept that we are all sinful.  I do believe that we are all flawed.  However, I also reject the idea that it means we are weak in character.  Many common run of the mill flaws are more lapses in judgement than they are permanent attributes.  My own definition of a flawed person is “someone who has a behavior that often causes either discomfort to the individual or to those who interact with the individual.”

original-1328023-1There are things that bother other people which may not be flaws at all.  In fact, some so called flaws demonstrate individuals who are marching to a different drummer or who are defying conventional social norms.  To defy anti-Semitism in Germany during the early 20th century would have been considered a character flaw.  To be an abolitionist in the South prior to the Civil War would have led to persecution by your fellow citizens.  Who today would consider these character flaws?  History will often show that a “flawed” individual was a hero or heroine rather than someone with a character defect.

No doubt, some flaws are more serious than others.  Some can be “fatal flaws” depending on the culture and specific context.  Today sexism is widely regarded as being a very serious flaw.  To be accused of sexism can mean the end of a career or worse depending on the infraction.  Witness the number of recent trials for those guilty of sexism.  And of course, it is not only men who succumb to the lure of sex and power but women as well as evidenced by the recent debacle that ensnared former Representative Katie Hill.  No one should be surprised though to know that there are still those who harbor anti-Semitic, sexist or racist sentiments and many who regard these behaviors as normal.

narcissists-deny-flaws-in-themselves

But sin including the concept of “Original Sin” is something that excuses the participant.  If you sin, you can simply confess to god or your local pastor and be forgiven.  If you believe that we are all sinners, when do you stop sinning?  A flaw does not give you the excuse that a sin does.  Saying “we are all sinners” is like saying “we are all racists.”  Even if it were true, so what?  What are you going to do about being a racist?  Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.”  He did not say “go sin and come back again and be forgiven.”

A flaw must be addressed in a different way.  A flaw is something that must be acknowledged and not simply forgiven.  A flaw is something that you must work on.  If you are lazy or greedy, you can through diligence and discipline become “unlazy and ungreedy.”  History is full of examples of people with “flaws” who overcame them and went on to valued exemplary lives.

opportunity

A flaw does not imply any inherent ineradicable weakness.  There is no evidence that people have a DNA gene for the seven vices/sins.  A flaw gives you a choice.  Live with it and deal with the consequences or manage it and improve your character.

“When I pass, speak freely of my shortcomings and my flaws. Learn from them, for I’ll have no ego to injure.”  — Aaron McGruder

 

 

 

My Heroes Have Always Been Evil Geniuses!

04 Feb 2018 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

megalomaniacs

I know it is strange.  Most young men when I was growing up had cowboys as heroes, particularly the ones who wore white hats.  Men like Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger were the heroes to an entire generation of young baby boomers.

My heroes have always been cowboys
And they still are, it seems
Sadly, in search of, and one step in back of
Themselves and their slow movin’ dreams — Willie Nelson

vetta pse

I guess I was always different because I liked the guys with the black hats.  They seemed to have more fun and less inhibitions.  You never saw the good guys kiss the girls, but the bad guys thought nothing about kissing them.  Bad guys were also early into bondage (think of all the women tied up on railroad tracks) which was taboo for good people back in the forties and fifties.  In fact, until 50 Shades of Grey, bondage still had a sort of naughty ring to it.

ming-the-merciless-tom-carltonMy first real hero was Ming the Merciless.  He had all the primary characteristics of an evil genius.  He was a megalomaniac who wanted to rule the world.  He was always smarter than Flash Gordon.  He had dozens of minions who followed his every order.  He obeyed no rules except his own.  And finally, he lusted after Dale Arden who was a pretty hot babe for the time.  Dale had wonderful blond curls, a great figure and was into bare midriff before it became popular in the 90’s.  Flash was a wimp when it came to Dale but Ming the Merciless knew what he wanted and really went after it.  I suppose tying women up today would not be proper but if you are an evil genius it is simply part of the expectations.

Ming the Merciless: “Flash, you stand in my way of my ruling the universe.  Not only that, but I want Dale for my bride and queen.  If you will give her to me, I will make you ruler of a galaxy of your own.  You can have more riches and power than you have ever dreamed possible.  If you don’t give her to me, I will destroy you, your mom and dad and all your sisters and brothers.  I will hypnotize Dale into loving me anyway and I will take over the earth and turn the earthlings into cockroaches and then step on them all.”

fu-manchuMy second Hero was Dr. Fu Manchu.  A character created by the writer Sax Rohmer.  Fu was as evil as they came.  He was a brilliant megalomaniac.  He obeyed no rules or laws except his own.  He was alleged to hold doctorates from four Western universities.  Unlike the wimpy college professors who one associates with a Ph.D. degree, there was nothing wimpy about Dr. Fu Manchu.  He would not hesitate to murder anyone who got in his way.  In the 1932 film, The Mask of Fu Manchu, Fu tells an assembled group of his minions that they must “kill the white men and take their women.”  Evil geniuses have a knack for thinking big and ignoring the normal bonds of propriety and civility.

Dr. Fu Manchu: “I hate Western imperialists.  I will drive them all from the face of the earth.  Together with my supporters, I will take over all of Europe and the United States.  I will have my pick of White blond women who I will make part of my harem.  I will destroy the capitalists and take over all the gold in Fort Knox and all the diamonds in the DeBeers Diamond mines.  If you Sir Denis Nayland Smith try to stand in my way, I will boil your friend Dr. Petri in oil very slowly and feed him to my pet crocodiles.  I will take your sister and put her in my harem.  I will spit on your mother’s grave.”  If you join me, I will give you your own harem.”

A few years after I ran out of Fu Manchu stories, I discovered my third hero.  He was none other than another brilliant Ph.D. named Professor Moriarty.  He was the arch nemesis of the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes.  Dr. Moriaty was a genius with pretentions for ruling a large swath of the world.  Moriarty wanted to be the head of a vast criminal enterprise that would control all illegal underworld activities.

professor_moriarty_by_borbel-d2rstoyAs is usual with evil geniuses, Moriarty was always one step ahead of Sherlock.  Perhaps because it was still the Victorian age, Moriarty did not have much to do with lusting after women.  There was no kidnapping, tying women up or forced kissing in any of the Moriarty tales.  However, Sherlock was not much better in the womanizing category and seemed to be a confirmed bachelor.  His main relationship with a woman was with his housekeeper Mrs. Hudson which always stayed platonic.

Professor Moriarty: “Sherlock, you are one big pain in the ass.  You can’t outsmart me because your brain is too addled with cocaine.  I have hundreds of willing crooks who will help me to defeat you every time.  Why don’t you just take your friend Dr. Watson and spend more time playing your violin.  All, I want is to control the entire British underworld and you keep interfering with my plans.  I am warning you for the last time Sherlock, keep out of my affairs or I will eliminate your housekeeper Mrs. Hudson so that you and Watson will have to do your own cleaning and cooking.”

My next hero was from the Marvel Comic book universe and his name was Dr. Victor victor von doomVon Doom.  You must love someone with a name like that.  Dr. Doom was evil and ruthless and a certified genius.  He had many gadgets and inventions that enabled him to defeat an entire pantheon of superheroes.  When it came to bad, he took a back seat to no one.  Imagine, someone who would let his childhood sweetheart be savagely sacrificed so that he could gain the power to rule the world.  Yes, like most other evil geniuses, Dr. Doom was also a megalomaniac who wanted to rule the world.

Dr. Victor Von Doom: “Dr. Strange, you have thwarted me for the last time.  I am banishing you into the netherworld of demons and monsters from which you will never return.  Before I do, I want you to watch as I destroy all the other superheroes in the Marvel universe.  I will be ruler of the entire planet and there will be no one left to stop me.  I will make all the gypsies in Rumania into the leaders of all the countries on earth and everyone will have to learn how to play the violin and the accordion.”

a villains coloring bookI have not had time to describe all the evil geniuses whom I have loved and admired.  I have given you only a few of the ones who have punctuated my life.  I do not have the space to do justice (sic) to some of my other heroes such as Lex Luther, the Kingpin, The Joker, Green Goblin and of course Sauron.  By the way, recently we had a female megalomaniac out to destroy the world.  It was quite refreshing to see how Hela kicked Thor’s butt from one end of Asgard to the other.  But to bring you up to the present, I have now found perhaps the most evil genius in history.  He has all the truly great characteristics of evilness.  He is also a genius.

How do I know he is evil?  He grabs women by the pussies.  He incites violence.  He belittles disabled people.  He lies continuously.  He cheats on his taxes and cheats on just about anything he purchases.  He treats his minions with scorn and he has scores of servants willing to do his bidding.  His followers are willing to lie and cover up anything he does wrong.

trump

How do I know he is a genius?  That is easy.  The simple answer is because he says so.  But the real proof is in the mountains of money he has made.  He has property all over the world.  He owns humongous golf courses and houses.  He has plans to build a big wall to keep out all the immigrants who want to come to the United States to start a better life.  He is also smart enough to get congress to do whatever he wants.

destroying the world

Finally, we know that a chief characteristic of an evil genius is that they must also be a megalomaniac.  Webster’s defines a megalomania as:

1: a mania for great or grandiose performance

  • an outburst of wildly extravagant commercial megalomania

2: a delusional mental illness that is marked by feelings of     personal omnipotence and grandeur

I think you can easily see that Donald Trump is also a megalomaniac.  His rallies are key examples of the need for grandiose performances.  There is little question that he feels that he is omnipotent and can do anything he wants to do.  For example, he said:

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

He has also commented that he can get anything he wanted from a woman because he was a star:

“I just start kissing them.  It’s like a magnet.  Just kiss.  I don’t even wait.  And when you’re a star, they let you do it.  You can do anything.  Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Evil geniuses are real studs when it comes to women.  I never had that kind of success with women when I was growing up but then I was never terribly evil, megalomaniacal or even a genius.

jean-rogers-as-dale-arden-flash-gordon-serial-1936-2008-david-lee-guss

I guess I will just have to continue living vicariously through my heroes or at least until I get bitten by a spider or hit with some type of gamma ray and acquire super powers.  You better watch out if I do.  I will grab your mother, sister and wife by the pussy, maybe even your grandmother, after I take over the universe of course.

Time for Questions:

Who is your favorite evil genius?  What do you admire about them?  How come we have so few women evil geniuses?  Did Hillary qualify for one?  Who can you think of that you admire?  Why?  What is it about evil geniuses that seems to attract people?  Why do they always get the best parts in the movies?

Life is just beginning.

“With the proper training, I could’ve been an evil genius.”  —  George Carlin

 

 

 

 

 

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