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Dark Kingtycoon
Nov. 20th, 2013 12:22 pmMencius went to see King Hui of Liang. The King said: “My good man, since you haven't thought one thousand li too far to come and see me, may I presume that you have something with which I can profit my kingdom?”
Mencius said: “Why must you speak of profit? What I have for you is Humaneness and Justice, and that's all. If you always say ‘how can I profit my kingdom?’ your top officers will ask, ‘how can we profit our clans?’ The elites (shi) 1 and the common people will ask: ‘How can we profit ourselves?’ Superiors and inferiors will struggle against each other for profit, and the country will be in chaos.”
“In a kingdom of ten thousand chariots, the murderer of the sovereign is usually from a clan of one thousand chariots. In a thousand-chariot kingdom, the murderer of the sovereign is usually from a clan of one hundred chariots. Now, to have a thousand in ten thousand, or one hundred in a thousand is not a small number. But if you put due-giving last and profit first, no one will be satisfied unless they can grab something.”
“There has never been a humane man who neglected his parents, and there has never been a just man who put his prince last in his priorities. King, can't we limit our conversation to humaneness and due-giving? Why must we discuss profit?”
“Those rulers snatch the people's time so that they are unable to do the plowing and hoeing which is necessary to support their parents. Mothers and fathers are cold and hungry; older and younger brothers, wives and children are separated and scattered. In this way these rulers trap and bury their own people. If you, King, would go and chastise them, who will oppose you? Don't doubt the ancient proverb: ‘The Humane man has no one to oppose him.’ King, please don't doubt this!”
I like Confucianism rather a lot, I like that it's a civic system adapted pretty transparently into a religious system. A lot of religious systems are much more murky. I talk to Agatha, walking around, about religion. Her mom is... opposed to religious instruction - but this opposition, to me, doesn't come from an informed place, rather it's based on the shenanigans of the christian right in the US. Fair enough, but the canon is the canon, a kid needs to know who Jesus is and what that's all about. I don't pull too many punches. I say - "You know how there are gay people, and sometimes people are mad about that."
She hesitates back to me: "Yeah..." Gauging my response, it's not really come up before, maybe she doesn't know where I stand. "Well, the bible says a bunch of stuff about how you shouldn't be gay and if you are that you should be killed. And people who want to follow the bible are into that. But really, they don't follow it because there are just crazy amounts of pointlessly strict rules, so they are pretending that they agree with the bible, but they don't."
"What kind of rules?"
"Oh, well, there's all kinds of reasons in there about why you should kill your children, or wife."
"What!"
"There's crazy rules no one can follow."
"Well why?"
"Okay - so that's interesting to think about because why do you think?"
"I don't know."
"Okay, my opinion is this: If you have a lot of people and want to rule them, you come up with a lot of crazy rules, and so they can never follow them all, that way, when you want to punish someone you don't like, you'll always have a reason to."
To me, I don't like the suggested and amorphous hierarchy, this sense that there's one up above and everyone else is just all bad below. I like strata in my social organization - the more and the finer the distinctions the better, I think. I like that there are systems established, suggested, enforced - whatever, that are rooted in the up&down flow of fealty and responsibility.
"There's this god, I think my favorite, called Odin. And Odin learned magic, to tell the future, after he took out his own eye."
"That's gross."
"Well, I like it because there's a story about how a god got his abilities - and that's not that common. Mostly they're just magic super-heroes that can do everything."
"We can become GODS!" She darts up the street chasing a cat.
But Odin was responsible for the other gods so he did what he had to to be a good father/king to them. JHVH - he doesn't have a lot of responsibility to his followers, a couple of promises - kept, maybe? But nothing is owed down, it's all obedience upward. I don't care for that a bit. People pay up the hierarchy, work and effort and money, and they need something to come back down. The top of the hierarchy is supposed to transmute work, effort and wealth into something utilitarian, functional, civilization.
Suffice to say, I'm not too pleased that this line of reasoning is not well employed in the US's polity and seems less and less likely to be expected in the near term.
Last night I went over to my new neighbor, longtime friend, occasional girlfriend, frequent enemy Julie's house. I haven't really talked to her since I stopped in the spring and she moved to the neighborhood anyhow. I don't mind, I'm glad to have her around, we're old, old friends. It's weird that she's into me, wants to be with me, not that weird, just a little uncomfortable. But really, I've known her for a long time and there's a lot of the inevitable back & forth cruelty and kindness that you have with people you've known since you were teenaged. I don't have any guilt or shame about the way things are between us, nor regrets. Anyhow, I finally went to see her house and hang out. I took a bunch of beer and ended up drinking basically all of it myself. She concludes that doing things is not what she wants to do, she wants to wear her pyjamas around, eat hot-dogs-and-beans and halfheartedly lecture me for not being in love with her, meanwhile - no. Pajamas and beanie-weenies won't do it. Let's just hang out. We talk till past midnight - I'm good at that and so's she, we've always had that rapport. I'm good to talk to - she is too, it's nice.
She's really different than me. I've been in the neighborhood for 4? years now? I know Ali - the pakistani student who works at the convenience store and who ended up moving across the hall from me - I like him. I know Jim, who's around sometimes, once in a while I run into someone else who I've known before and that's kind of it. I'm not particularly outgoing you know, and I don't savor the possibility of meeting new people. Meanwhile Julie's been here a few months, has all kinds of friends, is involved in their romantic lives, knows who cheats on whom and how, is engaged in her community and has immediate friends. Really different than me.
I tell her at midnight that either we will have sex now or I will go home. I don't really want to fuck her but I kind of want to fuck - which she calls me out on and I am chastened, and go home. Feeling alright.
In the morning I'm up and at-em, ready I realize that I'm glad to fly through in secrecy. Something that B was saying, about her worship of the narrative, I talked with Julie about it for a while - how - because of whatever - because of my distinctive appearance and ...having an amount of... personal style - because of these I'm not a protagonist, never was, or at least, not for the longest ever time. Not in a sad way, you understand - the protagonist, dullsville, goes somewhere accomplishes something. Whatever man. I'm like a character actor of life- I'm the side character who has a better, more interesting arc than the hero, but that all happens off screen, I'm the much more compelling but less important to the story character you want to keep reappearing on the next page.
Ah, that's my take on it, I'm a ninja, I decide, and wear all black, in honor of my beatnik/ninja ancestors.
I wonder what I should eat for dinner. It's too far away, I'm very hungry.
Mencius said: “Why must you speak of profit? What I have for you is Humaneness and Justice, and that's all. If you always say ‘how can I profit my kingdom?’ your top officers will ask, ‘how can we profit our clans?’ The elites (shi) 1 and the common people will ask: ‘How can we profit ourselves?’ Superiors and inferiors will struggle against each other for profit, and the country will be in chaos.”
“In a kingdom of ten thousand chariots, the murderer of the sovereign is usually from a clan of one thousand chariots. In a thousand-chariot kingdom, the murderer of the sovereign is usually from a clan of one hundred chariots. Now, to have a thousand in ten thousand, or one hundred in a thousand is not a small number. But if you put due-giving last and profit first, no one will be satisfied unless they can grab something.”
“There has never been a humane man who neglected his parents, and there has never been a just man who put his prince last in his priorities. King, can't we limit our conversation to humaneness and due-giving? Why must we discuss profit?”
“Those rulers snatch the people's time so that they are unable to do the plowing and hoeing which is necessary to support their parents. Mothers and fathers are cold and hungry; older and younger brothers, wives and children are separated and scattered. In this way these rulers trap and bury their own people. If you, King, would go and chastise them, who will oppose you? Don't doubt the ancient proverb: ‘The Humane man has no one to oppose him.’ King, please don't doubt this!”
I like Confucianism rather a lot, I like that it's a civic system adapted pretty transparently into a religious system. A lot of religious systems are much more murky. I talk to Agatha, walking around, about religion. Her mom is... opposed to religious instruction - but this opposition, to me, doesn't come from an informed place, rather it's based on the shenanigans of the christian right in the US. Fair enough, but the canon is the canon, a kid needs to know who Jesus is and what that's all about. I don't pull too many punches. I say - "You know how there are gay people, and sometimes people are mad about that."
She hesitates back to me: "Yeah..." Gauging my response, it's not really come up before, maybe she doesn't know where I stand. "Well, the bible says a bunch of stuff about how you shouldn't be gay and if you are that you should be killed. And people who want to follow the bible are into that. But really, they don't follow it because there are just crazy amounts of pointlessly strict rules, so they are pretending that they agree with the bible, but they don't."
"What kind of rules?"
"Oh, well, there's all kinds of reasons in there about why you should kill your children, or wife."
"What!"
"There's crazy rules no one can follow."
"Well why?"
"Okay - so that's interesting to think about because why do you think?"
"I don't know."
"Okay, my opinion is this: If you have a lot of people and want to rule them, you come up with a lot of crazy rules, and so they can never follow them all, that way, when you want to punish someone you don't like, you'll always have a reason to."
To me, I don't like the suggested and amorphous hierarchy, this sense that there's one up above and everyone else is just all bad below. I like strata in my social organization - the more and the finer the distinctions the better, I think. I like that there are systems established, suggested, enforced - whatever, that are rooted in the up&down flow of fealty and responsibility.
"There's this god, I think my favorite, called Odin. And Odin learned magic, to tell the future, after he took out his own eye."
"That's gross."
"Well, I like it because there's a story about how a god got his abilities - and that's not that common. Mostly they're just magic super-heroes that can do everything."
"We can become GODS!" She darts up the street chasing a cat.
But Odin was responsible for the other gods so he did what he had to to be a good father/king to them. JHVH - he doesn't have a lot of responsibility to his followers, a couple of promises - kept, maybe? But nothing is owed down, it's all obedience upward. I don't care for that a bit. People pay up the hierarchy, work and effort and money, and they need something to come back down. The top of the hierarchy is supposed to transmute work, effort and wealth into something utilitarian, functional, civilization.
Suffice to say, I'm not too pleased that this line of reasoning is not well employed in the US's polity and seems less and less likely to be expected in the near term.
Last night I went over to my new neighbor, longtime friend, occasional girlfriend, frequent enemy Julie's house. I haven't really talked to her since I stopped in the spring and she moved to the neighborhood anyhow. I don't mind, I'm glad to have her around, we're old, old friends. It's weird that she's into me, wants to be with me, not that weird, just a little uncomfortable. But really, I've known her for a long time and there's a lot of the inevitable back & forth cruelty and kindness that you have with people you've known since you were teenaged. I don't have any guilt or shame about the way things are between us, nor regrets. Anyhow, I finally went to see her house and hang out. I took a bunch of beer and ended up drinking basically all of it myself. She concludes that doing things is not what she wants to do, she wants to wear her pyjamas around, eat hot-dogs-and-beans and halfheartedly lecture me for not being in love with her, meanwhile - no. Pajamas and beanie-weenies won't do it. Let's just hang out. We talk till past midnight - I'm good at that and so's she, we've always had that rapport. I'm good to talk to - she is too, it's nice.
She's really different than me. I've been in the neighborhood for 4? years now? I know Ali - the pakistani student who works at the convenience store and who ended up moving across the hall from me - I like him. I know Jim, who's around sometimes, once in a while I run into someone else who I've known before and that's kind of it. I'm not particularly outgoing you know, and I don't savor the possibility of meeting new people. Meanwhile Julie's been here a few months, has all kinds of friends, is involved in their romantic lives, knows who cheats on whom and how, is engaged in her community and has immediate friends. Really different than me.
I tell her at midnight that either we will have sex now or I will go home. I don't really want to fuck her but I kind of want to fuck - which she calls me out on and I am chastened, and go home. Feeling alright.
In the morning I'm up and at-em, ready I realize that I'm glad to fly through in secrecy. Something that B was saying, about her worship of the narrative, I talked with Julie about it for a while - how - because of whatever - because of my distinctive appearance and ...having an amount of... personal style - because of these I'm not a protagonist, never was, or at least, not for the longest ever time. Not in a sad way, you understand - the protagonist, dullsville, goes somewhere accomplishes something. Whatever man. I'm like a character actor of life- I'm the side character who has a better, more interesting arc than the hero, but that all happens off screen, I'm the much more compelling but less important to the story character you want to keep reappearing on the next page.
Ah, that's my take on it, I'm a ninja, I decide, and wear all black, in honor of my beatnik/ninja ancestors.
I wonder what I should eat for dinner. It's too far away, I'm very hungry.
