Beef (Luxury Meat) @Beef@social.freetalklive.com

I'm luxury, and I expect to be treated as such.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-may-goodbye-steak-burgers-160603348.html

Philosopher Mortimer Adler tells the story of the philosopher Socrates
#philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGYjk3HqD4s

I just discovered that the full title of the Magna Carta is Magna Carta Libertatum. They always leave that last word out...

"Nothing Can Subdue Virtue" by Boethius

Whoso calm, serene, sedate,
Sets his foot on haughty fate;
Firm and steadfast, come what will,
Keeps his mien unconquered still;
Him the rage of furious seas,
Tossing high wild menaces,
Nor the flames from smoky forges
That Vesuvius disgorges,
Nor the bolt that from the sky
Smites the tower, can terrify.
Why, then, shouldst thou feel affright
At the tyrant's weakling might?
Dread him not, nor fear no harm,
And thou shall his rage disarm;
But who to hope or fear gives way--
Lost his bosom's rightful sway--
He hath cast away his shield,
Like a coward fled the field;
He hath forged all unaware
Fetters his own neck must bear!

Do we stand on the shoulders of giants, or do we jump off?

All I want is some intelligent analysis of current events without the doomday prophecies

What do you do when you see anime on Fedi?

Is anybody truly philosophical?

Is anyone willing and capable of yielding to sound logic, even if that means admitting they're wrong?

Is anyone willing to have their most foundational assumptions challenged and examined?

One of the justifications for abortions is that it spares the child from being born into poverty and suffering hardship. Yet suffering is universal; nobody has an easy life. All faith traditions acknowledge this.

But I think there's a question worth asking here. Knowing that it contains enormous suffering, is life worth living? Why?

Anarchism is the veganism of politics.

The best reactions to the SCOTUS/Roe v Wade news are women who say they'll withhold sex in protest. That's kind of the whole point.

If I was a journalist, I probably wouldn't do anything different. Knowing that there are hordes of people ready to eat out of the palm of your hand makes it very tempting to just give people what they want. Unfortunately, what they want is just some news to deliver to their favorite echo chambers, where bias is in demand, not thoroughness.

It's no different from a football game where people just want to know that their team is winning. They don't care about the rules of the game, the strategy, the history, or anything deeper than the astroturf. They just want to jump up and yell "touchdown".

It seems that the quality of the reporting is inversely proportional to the amount of attention the story commands. Perhaps it's a bell curve, I don't know. My point is the most popular stories are the worst reported.

Recall the Obamacare ruling. Again, here's a case where the details are completely lost on me. Can you remember title of the case by memory? This was seen as one of the most significant cases in John Roberts' career as the chief justice. Initial reports were that the Affordable Care Act was declared unconstitutional. This is because they didn't look beyond the first page or two.

After an hour or so passed and more eyeballs scanned the ruling, they had to recant their initial reports.

The most crucial detail is when SCOTUS plans of finalizing its decision. Again, this is not mentioned in hardly any news report. A USA Today report says "about two months". From my memory, when oral arguments were heard in December, I think I heard a report say to expect the decision to be handed in June 2022. Late June would fall into the "about two months" ballpark.

Media bias doesn't bother me much, it's not very sophisticated. What bothers me is that because of the hysteria about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I don't even know the basic details of the case. Very important details are omitted from almost every news report. More on this later in the thread; here are the details:

The case is Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Thomas E. Dobbs is a State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health.

Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only licensed abortion provider in the state of Mississippi. It is a member of the National Abortion Foundation.

I've lost count of how many people are saying "the SCOTUS leak is covering up ______". In each case, the [blank] is filled by an issue the person cares a lot about. Not a very objective observation.

In fact, I'd say this is projection that essentially goes like this: "They're self-serving! And so am I."

The last few days I've been thinking really hard about the idea that "All Men Are Created Equal". I've underappreciated the gravity of this declaration and how much American culture lives up to and falls short of it.

Do you believe it? Why or why not?

This is a much bigger topic than I had anticipated! I feel underequipped to speak conclusively on the matter. This is because the verb "to do" is extremely complicated, and I'd need more insight into how it's been used over the centuries. Here's what I've found that applies to the original question:

"To do" is indeed unnecessary in most auxiliary verb constructions. It's entirely unnecessary in a phrase such as, "I like it"; i.e. to say "I do like it", the "do" is awkward and without purpose (which is exactly how "I do believe" feels). The only purpose it may have is when someone mistakenly thinks that you do not like it, so you'll emphasize the "do" in order to correct their error- "No no, I DO like it".

This may reveal the origin of "do" as an auxiliary verb. "Do" is particularly useful (yet perhaps still unnecessary) when there is a question. Asking, "You like it?" can seem rather imposing compared to, "Do you like it?". The latter invites the response "Yes, I do" or "No, I do not" (as opposed to "I like it" or negatively "I like it not", which perhaps was in vogue at one time). In this case, "do" substitutes for the verb "like"; it's a general verb that replaces the more specific one.

My tentative conclusion: I suspect the interrogative use of "do" precedes its indicative use. Further, the negative indicative use (I don't believe), because of its use in response to questions, precedes the positive indicative use (I do believe).