noobsongs.blogg.se

We talk about “Giving more to the community” and “Having more than our fair share.” All of it is nonsense in real world terms. We assume that if someone has more than others, this was somehow acquired by immoral means. But we assume that equality of results is desired. The equality before US law is not an equality of results. At the same time this stuff is so ingrained and has become such part of our society that it’s hard to get at the basis of morality and – eventuality – the basis of managing a writing career, without going through it.įor instance, the idea of “equality” we have is mostly Marxist. In a lecture, yesterday, my kid was shown anti-communist films from the seventies, and his classmates laughed, because, you know, communists aren’t evil. Even if you got what you have by chiseling stuff off the rock, with your bare hands, well, not everyone has the same tough hands you have, you know, and why aren’t you more compassionate?Įven people who were strong anti-communists – and paid for it in career – seemed to bow to the communists and take a sort of moral back seat to them, and say “I know they mean well, it just doesn’t work.” This still goes on. And even if people got there naturally, well, it was wrong, because not everyone has the same capabilities. We wanted some people to have more stuff than others. After all, the rest of us were for things being unfair. I grew up in the seventies and eighties with the communists and assorted stripes of collectivist taking the moral high ground. I just didn’t put it together in moral terms, till recently.

The second thing I’d like to mention that I sort of already knew all this, instinctively and through my toenails, as I seem to know most of this stuff. Or that if you haven’t read The Black Book of Communism, you should. This is not a political article – mostly – but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that yesterday was Victims of Communism Day. As is ownership: of things, of self, of talents, of career, of EVERYTHING. The “What is mine I keep” was turned on its head, in a way, which brought me to the realization that property, hereditary or not, is a double edged sword. Sybil herself is a good egg, devoted to saving dragons, but the Ramkins are, by and large, one of the rapacious noble clans.Īnd then in the last book, something happened. At least that has been the view of them throughout most of the books. The Ramkins are an old family, who intimidated their way everywhere and who conquered a lot of places and took a lot of wealth. I’m sure it started out the way most things in Pratchett’s books started out. In Terry Pratchett’s books, Lady Sybil Ramkin Vimes’ family motto is “What is ours, we keep.” *I recently came across this, and it’s amazing how prescient it was, all those years ago.-SAH* What is Mine I Keep – A Blast from the Past from May 2, 2012