#745 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday September 7)
Good morning,
THINGS DON’T ALWAYS HAPPEN FOR A REASON—SOMETIMES THEY JUST HAPPEN
Whenever something happens that isn’t expected or is untoward, there’s always someone who says, “everything happens for a reason.” Somehow, people try to soften the blow of a loss or a disappointment by suggesting that something that has happened was fated to happen. This is complete drivel, as it assumes we don’t have free will, that we don’t have agency, that accidents happen, and there is something called “fate” that somehow is in control.
Then there’s the religious spin on this. If a school bus goes off a cliff and one kid survives, people will look for a reason for that child’s survival. Usually, someone will observe that “God must still have a purpose for him/her.” As if God didn’t have a purpose for the other children? As if their lives weren’t worth saving?
And then there are those who have experienced great loss. There’s always someone who will volunteer that “we are only given as much as we can handle” or “life’s tragedies are there to teach us lessons.”
Baloney to all of this. Things don’t necessarily happen for a reason. God doesn’t save people from calamity because he has a further purpose for them. Tragedy is not imposed in our lives because we can handle it. And we are not given challenges because we are supposed to learn a lesson.
The only lessons I’ve learned from the deaths of friends and loved ones is that life is random, tragedy and loss are real, and life often can be cruel. Sure, one can derive lessons from a tragedy and one can be compelled to act in a way that might help others avert a similar fate. But in the end, there is no purpose in loss. Only loss.
MORE ON FASCISM
From Adam Torson:
“I had a good conversation with some colleagues at Marlborough about whether it made sense to characterize Donald Trump as a fascist, a related though obviously not identical question. Here are some highlights:
…This article deploys some Frankfurt School analysis of several mid-century political figures to argue that Trumpism is consistent with movements toward totalitarianism, though doesn't comment directly on the question of Fascism: Donald Trump, Our Prophet of Deceit | Boston Review
Another installment on the question of fascism, from a Never-Trumper:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/theres-word-what-trumpism-becoming/619418/”
Finally, “I know also that you're familiar with the Timothy Snyder book On Tyranny and the Ece Temelkuran book How to Lose a Country: Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, both of which have interesting commentary on the subject.”
AND MORE DAD JOKES
I have a fear of elevators. I’m taking steps to avoid it.
I kept wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Then it hit me.
Do you know why Cinderella was kicked off the softball team? She kept running away from the ball.
Have a great day,
Glenn