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Post by timothylane on Apr 18, 2020 8:55:33 GMT -8
One of the folders on my MP3 library (I don't know who originally supplied it) is the soundtrack to Webber's Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It covers the story from Joseph becoming the favorite to his becoming Grand Vizier and dealing with his family when they come to Egypt looking for food. One of the songs deals with his relations with his brothers. They naturally don't like his dreams, especially about them bowing down to him. One of their fears is, "What if he's right?" But they also note that Joseph isn't all that smart: "There's eleven of us and only one of him."
Note that Jacob's next favorite, after Joseph was removed from the scene, was Benjamin. Joseph frames him for a theft to see how his brothers will react. But one might want to remember that Benjamin was Rachel's other son. No wonder he was the next favorite.
Incidentally, there was no Joseph tribe when Israel was divvied up, but there were the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, who were his sons. When the time came for the split Benjamin went with Judah because Jerusalem was located within it. (Judah also included the tribe of Simeon, and the tribe of Levi was made up of priests scattered all over, many of whom no doubt went south after the split because Judah worshipped Yahweh much more reliably than Israel. So there were actually only 8 lost tribes.)
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Post by Brad Nelson on Apr 18, 2020 10:23:32 GMT -8
The Bible Stories: Joseph (available on DVD if that works for anyone) is worth watching if only for the heartbreaking scene at the well. The brothers work themselves into a bloodlust and poor Joseph, although he understands that his brothers don’t particularly like him, is innocent of their intent. This calls into question how a good tribe/nation/God could come from a line that was so corrupt. And yet Jacob is a stalwart supporter (at least in the film) of what should be and understands that at least ten of his sons don’t represent that. Prager notes that these purportedly real and very often uncomplimentary stories are presented not as an ideal for behavior but proof of the need for the Torah, God, and Israel. There needs to be guidance from above and structure below because without that we quickly devolve into a moral quagmire — whether or not one is directly related to one of the Patriarchs. Prager holds it as further proof of the Torah’s authenticity: Who would include such uncomplimentary stories about themselves if they were not true? And although Prager says that “The Chosen People” is an idea that is misunderstood in the general world, the fact is that Israel, like Joseph, has paid a terrible price for being a light in the darkness. If these stories are made up, they have been anything but strictly self-serving.
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Post by timothylane on Apr 18, 2020 10:32:54 GMT -8
Note that the house of David (ancestor of Joseph, husband of Mary and [step]father of Jesus) is of the line of Judah, one of the sons who did for the earlier Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's favorite, but not the main heir (i.e., the oldest). But the other sons did bow down to him when he was Grand Vizier and they were refugees from starving Canaan.
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Post by kungfuzu on Apr 18, 2020 11:27:00 GMT -8
They are also often envious of another's talent, intelligence, success, and happiness.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Apr 18, 2020 12:28:35 GMT -8
There are a lot of themes radiating through the Joseph story including reconciliation and forgiveness. Joseph is presented (at least in this series…) as without guile. Much like the “crazy” mystics of old whose craziness was often thought a sign of holiness, many seem to cut Joseph a lot of slack because he is so devout. One can argue about whether this “slack” was the result of God’s intervention or not on the hearts of other men. There would be no way to know. Joseph, by rights, should have been cut down (again…according to this series) the first time he talked back. Instead, for whatever reason, he was cut slack, appreciated even for his lack of guile and his apparently honesty. A Jew might well look at this episode and say, “Sure, you persecute us, but you need us to run your country.” Joseph, we can presume, had the Jewish traits of intelligence and the willingness to work hard. And if there’s anything that can get you in trouble in this world regarding one’s co-workers (or even supervisors) is hard work and intelligence. Making others look bad is rarely popular, even if that is not the intent. I don’t know if I’ve seen the Moses miniseries in this set (an over-priced box set, if you prefer). But it might be interesting to watch this series pick up with the major events after Joseph. The best value is just to rent it on VUDU or Amazon. But you can find the DVD of Moses here. It stars Ben Kingsley as Moses. |
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 21, 2021 12:51:26 GMT -8
What do you call someone who doesn't believe in Santa Clause? Eggnog-stic |
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2022 10:31:48 GMT -8
A pretty good article by Prager: An Orthodox Rabbi Writes That People Are Basically Good – Judaism Is in TroubleDennis has long emphasized this topic. My view is that the reason people espouse the view that people are basically good is because it relieves them of the necessity of correcting or condemning bad behavior. They can instead just bask in the Kumbaya glow of "Wow, what a compassionate, caring person I am for thinking such nice things about people." Maybe it's just a type of "social narcissism." But whatever it is, it is widespread. Here's a thoughtful comment by someone: |
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2022 11:27:45 GMT -8
This guy has figured out how libertarianism actually works.
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Post by artraveler on Jan 11, 2022 14:06:52 GMT -8
Yet, those who believe we are born good will not concentrate on making good people. Why bother if we're already good? In many respects I am a secular Jew. I want to believe that people are basically good, however, experience has tempered that. I taught my children to look for the best in people, but always be on the lookout for the worst. We respond in a cautious manner and trust is earned not automatically applied just because we are of the same species. Many so called humans are not of our species and are the enemies of civilization, some even get elected to office. So, for the last 50+ years everywhere I go I am armed and so are my children and grandchildren. The great grandchildren depend on their parents still, but I have been assured by their parents that armed and unarmed training is in store or already happening. I suppose as a family we are taking Reagans philosophy of trust, but verify to its logical local level. If 3000 years of western history has taught anything; it is that the most brutal, barbaric, killer on the planet is man. If people of good will are not able and willing to defend civilization from them then we will die and civilization will retreat into a dark age from which its reemergence is questionable. |
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2022 14:16:55 GMT -8
As an American Anglo-Saxon, (who is culturally probably closest to pre-war secular Jews from Central Europe) for over fifty years, my philosophy of life has been, "Expect the worst and you will not be disappointed. If anything better happens, you will be pleased."
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2022 14:36:46 GMT -8
In the studies of the phenomenon of the "wild child" that I've read, these children are definitely wild but not necessarily vicious. These children are completely unsocialized but not, from what I've read, of a mind to do indiscriminate harm to anyone.
Therefore, on a singular basis you have a better argument that "people aren't totally rotten." Most people, each day, don't really want the bother of being rotten. It's a lot of work and a good deal of risk involved. There are greater rewards for getting along with people, all things being equal.
But put people into groups and rotten is almost a certainty unless great care is taken. Whatever individual sense of conscience one has is too often lost in groups. Few consciences are powerful enough, or grounded enough, to resist the mass mind. (See: masks)
That said, there is little doubt that a large percentage of humanity is rotten. Their inclination is to steal, bully, rape, pillage, lie, etc. And that can have little or nothing to do with daddy spanking them when they were young, although it's a known factor that abused children will tend to become vicious.
Society can certainly play a part in making people bad. (See: Communism). But the valid rule of thumb is (as Prager notes), children may be born innocent but they have to be made good.
And let's say that, through some miracle, most people are born good. The problem is that people don't live their lives in a vacuum. If we accept the premise that people are born good, we can see how thin and vulnerable this "goodness" is given the amount of crime and violence in the world.
So...whatever one thinks about human nature is almost irrelevant. Unless children (and adults) are constantly pulled in the direction of virtue, many will be pulled to being or doing evil. For some it takes a traumatic event to go bad. For others it takes only a small shove.
Regarding being a secular Jew, it should be noted that being religious and Jewish (or religious and Christian) is not the end. It's the means to an end. And given how much of Judaism and Christianity has been corrupted by the Left, you'll get no tsk-tsking from me that you don't go to synagogue every week (or however many times is normal). Perhaps you should. Perhaps I should go to church. But my gut tells me that you won't find G-d there in many of these places, although you may indeed find Marx. However, the point is that G-d isn't exclusive to those places.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2022 14:37:14 GMT -8
For some reason I was thinking about this last night. Basically, the strongest, most vicious and most brutal types have risen to the top throughout history. As technology improved, intelligence became more important that just strength and brute force. Technology has almost reached the point at which strength and brute force are minor considerations. Intelligence and the expertise in using technology have become what is necessary to rule the world. That is not to say that today's tyrants are any less vicious than those of the past.
Should things start falling apart, the old formula of strength, viciousness and brute force will again apply.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2022 14:45:15 GMT -8
Sounds very similar to one of Kung's aphorisms, to wit, "Civilization must be beaten into children."  |
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2022 15:02:37 GMT -8
We know basically zilch about the evolutionary history of man, or even if there is an evolutionary history. We may have well been introduced fully-formed hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago.
But it will not have gone unnoticed by creatures far more powerful than us (tigers, bears, elephants) that the little mammal with basically no fangs or claws is ruling the world. Intelligence rules the world.
And we've had discussions about this before in various ways. You see people going off to university and gaining an "intelligence" that would not pass most tests historically for what it means to be intelligent. They are "intelligent" at being manipulative, for all intents and purposes. That is how the Ruling Class uses whatever brains it has while the Elon Musks of the world use theirs to try to build something.
So "intelligence" is something that can, and is, weaponized, corrupted, and/or perverted. That's a lesson for those who believe that "science" has all the answers. Scientists (See: Fauci) are not necessarily of any superior moral caliber and very often are far worse.
This is how I see it: Technologically, we are getting smarter all the time. But socially, at least in the short term, we are becoming stupid.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 11, 2022 16:32:16 GMT -8
I just ran across this posted on a threat at "The Conservative Treehouse." Arendt knocks it out of the ballpark.
Why do you think the education system has been creating these educated idiots for the last 40 years? Without some black and white in society, confusion reigns. Drones follow.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 11, 2022 21:29:21 GMT -8
Mind-farking, we call it. Couldn’t agree more.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Mar 9, 2024 8:55:21 GMT -8
One of the subjects that has come up lately – and it is on any thinking man's mind – is our own mortality.
I'm not Elon Musk for whom life (presumably until he is 100) is an endless string of engaging and life-fulfilling opportunities that keep him on an emotional and intellectual high.
I would say for a fair amount of people over the age of 50, there's a lot of "been there, done that." Things become common. Novelties wear off. One is not necessarily depressed or despondent. But for many, life has revealed most of its dull secrets: It is a string of never-ending chores; It is populated by tremendously ignoble people who wear away at one's own goodwill and patience; And most of the sweet illusions of yute are no longer seen through rose-tinted glasses.
In fact, one doesn't have to reach the age of 50 for many of life's realities to become apparent. And they are not particularly charming, especially when seen from the backdrop of growing older. And in this Marxist/materialist/atheist age of goofy dime-store religions (Progressivism), growing old seems to be the biggest sin of all, for those sweet, naive illusions that such religions are based upon almost never stand the test of time. The edifices of all such dime-store religions soon begin to fail the individual.
This wasn't always so. Before we had a few dozens brands of toothpaste to choose from, there used to be One God. And as we got older, as we began to understand the truth of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust", we at least began to see a greater context for our lives. We then, of course, might panic. We might see the end coming and (much like the impetus of the dime-store religions) do what we can to preserve, protect, and defend our ego. It's ME we're talking about! I am the God to be preserved!
And yet that's not what Judaism or Christianity teaches. "You are in the world, not of it," to paraphrase. That is to say, our existence here is just part of something larger. And whether that includes the continuance of our identities, we know not. But the world of the soul and of deeper meaning is closed to the dime-store religionists, and even the agnostics. They can only scoff and whistle past the graveyard with their trite slogans and fearful sneers.
That is, the atheist/materialist culture has no room for the individual to contemplate and embrace either The Wisdom of the Ages or The Mysteries of the Ages. They can only play at it with puffed-up egos, dime-store philosophy, and busloads of virtue-signaling that all try to masquerade as the Sacred, where "compassion" is ultimately judged by the ability to believe not in God Almighty but in "as many as six impossible things before breakfast," including that a man can menstruate.
Can one not believe in the soul when one sees it so twisted and confused in others? So my basic premise here is that the present culture (and this touches both right and left) is Kryptonite to a human soul being able to enrich his or her life beyond dull materialism.
Death is a type of rest, an escape from the endless absurdities concocted by the human mind. And yet even death is but a first (or second?) act in Eternity. And I would say that every impulse we have, every tired annoyance we feel, at the hum-drum of life is a call for us to move beyond and open up to what historically was known as a religious perspective...a perspective, I grant you, that current Christians and Jews have been doing their best to obscure and corrupt. Just a thought.
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