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Post by artraveler on May 6, 2022 8:55:29 GMT -8
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Post by kungfuzu on May 6, 2022 14:23:13 GMT -8
I had never seen that video. I enjoyed it very much. I can imagine a number of other actors in the role of the Inquisitor as well as a completely different approach than that taken by Gielgud. I believe a less aggressive, sometimes slightly obsequious yet proud, smirking and occasionally apologetic at the same time superior approach would have been even more effective. Having seen Charlton Heston as Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, I believe he could have pulled that off and would have been excellent as the Grand Inquisitor.
The Grand Inquisitor seems to me to be the perfect exemplar of today's progressive/communist leaders. They claim to be working for the good of mankind, but are in truth disciples of Satan. I read "The Brothers Karamasov," but only vaguely recall this story. If this had been the only thing Dostoevsky had written, it would have been enough to make him famous. I wish he had edited his books a bit more. Perhaps I would then have enjoyed them.
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Post by artraveler on May 6, 2022 18:06:21 GMT -8
"The Brothers Karamasov" Many think Crime and Punishment to be one of the greatest Russian novels, and it does delve into many complex themes but so does brothers. B K is, IMHO, one of the great novels of western literature. I read it about every 5 years or so. It is like having a conversation with a friend you haven't talked to for a number of years and constantly opens new perspectives on the human condition. Tolstoy has his merits, but I find his characters just a little thin, more French than Russian. The Grand Inquisitor, stands alone, not only as commentary on Orthodox Russian Christianity but also modern religion. The charges against the church fit well into charges of modern religion and, of course, modern politics. naturally, the modern leftist much more in line with the inquisitor than traditional liberalism. the modern leftist is just as religious in their non-belief and disavowal of G-d as the most fervent practitioner of any other religion. It is leftism that is the opiate of the masses.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 6, 2022 19:28:20 GMT -8
I had heard of Jordan Peterson, but this is the first time I have heard him speak. Much of what he said has been noted here and at ST. But he puts it together in a wonderful way with a powerful description on how even those who deny it or don't know it are operating/living/expressing themselves on basis of our culture which has arisen out of the Judeo/Christian tradition. I think I will have to find some books by this man.
Listening to him speak reminded me of a man who taught a summer course, which I attended when I was 12 years old. The discussion got on to vocabulary and how to expand it. The man said that the best way to expand one's vocabulary was to read psychology books. Peterson certainly proved that, but more importantly, he showed how one can use a large vocabulary in a meaningful way to express powerful thoughts in a precise manner.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 6, 2022 19:32:24 GMT -8
I read it some years ago and wrote a review on ST, I believe. As I recall, the main thing that I took from it was that if the book describes Russians correctly, they are a crazy lot.
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Post by artraveler on May 7, 2022 9:13:47 GMT -8
Russians correctly, they are a crazy lot My personal experience with Russians/Soviets is they tend to be moody, angry and drink too much. If that defines a crazy Russian then most of them I have known fit the bill. I made friends with a Russian spook in Vietnam who hit all these bases. The agency kept eyes on him and when he came to the US as part of a START observation group, they landed in Sacramento. The agency tasked me to meet with him, he was now a full colonel in KGB. I was to be a full Commander working for Navy Times and take him around Sacramento as they laid over for the night. His work name was Vasley Kalinkov, our code name for him was Henry. I took him to Sac State University, the Roseville rail yards and Costco. Henry was overwhelmed by Costco. He emigrated/defected? to the US in the 90s and last I heard was managing a K-mart in Nebraska. Old spooks never die, they just fade away.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 7, 2022 14:41:10 GMT -8
This type of things was not limited to the Soviets/Ruskies. In 1974 or 1975, a friend from Austria visited me in Dallas. When we went to the local Tom Thumb or Kroger to buy groceries, he was astounded. He had never seen such a huge grocery store with so many choices. And he was from an upper-middle class family, had traveled throughout much of Europe and had a Master's degree in International Trade, i.e. he wasn't just off the turnip truck.
Hell, in the summer of 1965 or 1966, I was in New Jersey with a religious group and when the locals took us to a grocery store I was surprised at the poor quality of meats they had when compared with what we had in Texas.
Post-WWII America was a nation like no other in history. The bounty we had and the relative ease with which we could enjoy it is truly astounding. Yet even before my Austrian friend visited me in the middle 1970s, we had lost our way. I guess it started with the criminal, incompetent LBJ and the Ford boys exemplified by McNamara. By the grace of God, the country was saved, at least temporarily, by Ronald Reagan's win. This kept the country on top for another 15-20 years, but the Clintons and those who have followed them brought us back on the path to hell, and the present situation, where we are ruled by a mental incompetent (literally) who is surrounded by traitors and idiots expediting the demise of our great country.
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Post by artraveler on May 7, 2022 16:59:56 GMT -8
I was surprised at the poor quality of meats they had when compared with what we had in Texas. it has been a while since I was in the north east but when I lived in DC in the 70s the quality of supermarket meat was below that to be found in Arkansas and even California. To get good meat you had to go to a butcher shop, preferably kosher. We have a couple of old time butcher shops here in Fayetteville and the local Harps has a full service butcher counter with very nice meats, and very nice, $$$, prices.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 9, 2022 17:52:59 GMT -8
Hmmm. That tempts me to want to read it. Also, I haven't watched an Uncommon Knowledge segment in a long time. I'll get up to speed and report back.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 9, 2022 18:43:19 GMT -8
Below is my July 24, 2017 ST review of "The Brothers Karamazov."
Book Review: The Brothers Karamazov by Kung Fu Zu 7/24/17 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
It must be close to thirty years since I tried to read Crime and Punishment. Despite giving it the old college try, I could not get through the book. I found the protagonist, Raskolnikov, to be a tedious, self-absorbed individual who could always find a rationalization for his selfish actions — i.e. a leftist intellectual.
Admitting defeat, I gave up after making it to about page 100. I then decided the pleasures of Dostoyevsky would remain foreign to me. Through the birth of my son, travels around the world, two Bushes, a Clinton, Obama, and numerous other afflictions, I have held fast to this decision, until now. As if possessed by some incubus in the night, I reached out and picked up The Brothers Karamazov. With shaking hand, I fingered the great man’s work and started plowing through the fields of this literary estate fearing I would again be presented with rocky soil and unable to complete the harvest. I am proud to say, I finished plowing the fields in question.
On the surface, The Brothers Karamazov is about three sphincters and a saint. They are, respectively, Fyodor the father, and his three sons Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei. Fyodor, a man of about sixty years, is an oily, dishonest, sensualist buffoon who takes pleasure in insulting the beliefs and persons of others. He has absolutely no shame. He cares only for his comfort, sexual impulses, and ego. Family means nothing to him. He has absolutely no redeeming qualities other than, perhaps, his recognition that he is a scoundrel. But he is happy to be one. He truly is an old goat who appears to be suffering from pre-senile satyriasis. Perfect Libertarian material.
Dmitri, Fyodor’s oldest son, came from Fyodor’s marriage to a wealthy woman who Fyodor worked to defraud of her dowry the moment they were married. He succeeded and she left, happy to be rid of him. Unfortunately, this left Dmitri alone at the age of about three, as his mother soon died and his father had no interest in raising the child. This responsibility was taken up by Fyodor’s servant, Grigory, a mulish man who with his wife gave Dmitri more attention than he had received from either of his parents. Shortly thereafter, a maternal relative agreed with Fyodor to take over Dmitri’s upbringing and from that time, until he was an adult, he was passed through several homes. Impulsive as a child, bad tempered, violent and something of a dissolute drunk, he fancies himself an honorable man.
Ivan is the first son of Fyodor’s second wife, who died at a young age. He is morose, aloof, arrogant, and cynical. Something of an intellectual, he is a confirmed atheist with some sort of mental problem.
Alexei, a.k.a. Alyosha is the youngest son, an ethereal creature who spends much of his time with monks.
I believe the book’s main message can be discerned from an observation made by Ivan, which many, even today, try to deny, i.e. “if there is no God, anything is allowed.” Clearly, Dostoyevsky is saying that without God chaos will arise. Unfortunately, old Fyodor took numerous detours, byways, made false turns and went extra miles to arrive at this point. The book could have easily been cut in half and still made the same argument. For example, during the build up to and during the trial, every act by anyone involved, every incident which occurred and led to the trial, was repeated and repeated and repeated………… That being said, the book did have some interesting observations which were more like asides than being integral to the story.
Early in the book Dostoyevsky makes a penetrating observation when he writes about Alyosha. “As soon as he reflected seriously he was convinced of the existence of God and immortality, and at once he instinctively said to himself: “I will accept no compromise.”In the same way, if he had decided that God and immortality did not exist, he would at once have become an atheist and socialist. For socialism is not merely the labor question, it is before all things the atheistic question, the question of the form taken by atheism today, the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount to heaven from earth but to set up heaven on earth.”
This paragraph demonstrates, as well as anything I have read, the inseparable embrace in which atheism and socialism find themselves. One character explained his feelings, which I have found to be pretty much the philosophy of leftist utopians. “The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular….the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.” I came up with my version of that as a teenager, “A liberal is someone who loves humanity, but hates people.”Oh well, perhaps I was not as clever as I thought. Looks like Dostoyevsky beat me by about 100 years.
All in all, while I do not feel completely cheated of my time, I certainly wish I had half of it back. I am not sure the Cliff Notes would do justice to the “Brothers”, but the book does itself an injustice in using five words when two would do. If the characters portrayed are in any way typical of the Russian race, no wonder we have types such as Vladimir Putin. I cannot help but wonder if Dostoyevsky was over the top. Thus ends my unfinished draft of The Brothers Karamazov, which I mentioned in the string under “The Virginian.”
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Post by artraveler on May 9, 2022 19:34:30 GMT -8
Book Review: The Brothers Karamazov Very good review, a good overall synopsis of the plot and characters. Like most Russian novels Brothers delves very much into the people and their motivations, some obvious and others less so. However, if you want to understand Russians in the 21st century it is also necessary to understand Russians in the 19th century. They haven't changed much. Eastern Ukraine was for many years the habitat of the Cossacks. Often fought over by Mongols, Russ, Poles and Moslems but never really conquered by any. Most Cossacks were Orthodox but resented the Russian church, and the Polish Catholic. Some have said that they were a light calvary that was only matched by the Mongols. Eventually, most of the Cossack tribes ended up in the Russian Empire and served as the Czar's shock troops in the wars of the 19th century. It seems that some of the fierce independence of the 18th century Cossacks as been passed down as they resist the Russian bear once again.
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 9, 2022 19:40:27 GMT -8
A good quote. And couldn't one reasonable say that this widespread acceptance of COVID lock-downs, deceit, and mismanagement was a manifestation of the Godless principle...an attempt to build a "safety-ist" tower of Babel via government?
I get the feeling that reading this book is like immersing yourself in a dysfunctional family. To me, this book would feel more like an affliction than a pleasant diversion. To each his own, I guess. I appreciate your review.
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 10, 2022 9:11:10 GMT -8
Twenty-one minutes into this and Dr. Peterson makes a great point about the "woke" using "weaponized guilt." Yours truly is astonished that they haven't (yet) connected the dots to the propensities of women. Women are a yuge (but not the only) driver of this stuff. They live for weaponized guilt. They are wired for it.
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 10, 2022 10:53:27 GMT -8
Heston was terrific in the role. He became a better and better actor as the years went by.
Yep.
That was an interesting interview. I agree with the good Dr. It's difficult to look at the little dweeb, Trudeau. Someone needs to give him a little attitude adjustment.
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 10, 2022 10:58:45 GMT -8
In this area, even the average supermarket has an enormous amount of goods. The main distinguishing features are on the quality of the produce. But in Poulsbo there is the Central Market, an upscale-ish supermarket. My sister-in-law (of Seattle heritage) knows all the exclusive places in Seattle and Tacoma and shops them regularly. It would be hard to imagine that there are better-stocked shelves or more choices anywhere in the country, although I'm sure Texas is superb in this regard. But remember, we're talking about tie-dyed liberals. They may want to "save the planet." But most of all they want luxury food items. They want to pamper themselves.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 10, 2022 18:23:29 GMT -8
Central Market is the "up-market" brand of H-E-B, which is out of San Antonio, Texas. H-E-B was long a bit of a down-scale brand, but has been improving. They are opening a new store about 2 miles from my home. This should be ready this fall, I believe. There is a Central Market about 5 miles from where I live. It has been here over 10 years and does a bang-up business. All of West Plano, and those who aspire to that life style, shop there.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 10, 2022 18:55:04 GMT -8
An apt description. It was certainly no fun. That said, many would say that the purpose of "great literature" is not pleasant diversion, but to make on uncomfortable. Personally, I prefer pleasant diversion.
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Post by artraveler on May 10, 2022 19:15:13 GMT -8
up-market" brand of H-E-B Years ago, over 20, I was TDY in San Antonio and shopped at H E B. My first impression was what the hell is a market doing using a slang term for Hebrew? Then I discovered it is the initials of the founder. Hay, no big deal. The markets I saw were clean, well stocked and the staff was pleasant. That could be because it was near UTSA and had a lot of student traffic. I believe H-E-B and Harps are two of the largest independent grocery chains in the US and therefor in the world.
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 11, 2022 7:46:18 GMT -8
First time I was in there, I went to the rice section. They had about 30 different varieties of bulk rice. Wow. Neat. The veggie section was amazing. They had the "organic" section, of course ("organic" means "we didn't wipe all the animal feces off of it"). But even the normal section had far better produce than I could ever get at Winco.
But I'm not driving 40 minutes for better tomatoes. Still, the place is sort of a wonderland of food. And I'm fairly sure the place is inhabited by mostly left-of-center people. While large parts of the world starve or have subpar food, they can shop guilt-free because of all of their previous virtue-signaling.
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Post by kungfuzu on May 11, 2022 9:18:47 GMT -8
I would agree. It seems like a smaller version of Whole Foods, which is also out of Texas. I sometimes think their motto is "pay more for less."
Everyone thinks of Texas as the conservative bastion, but we have more than our share of left-wing loonies.
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