Quote: (04-17-2019 12:27 PM)_Different_T Wrote:
Quote: (04-17-2019 12:16 PM)Paracelsus Wrote:
That is to take a real risk. That's only possible if he has the virtue of being courageous.
A "real" risk as opposed to what? Surely you wouldn't call someone who exercises "courageous," though it stresses the body?
To avoid the obfuscation charge: both your post and Roosh's OP point towards a lack of "courage" being responsible for some bad thing you see in the world and that a new found courage would "fix" some things.
Someone who exercises is only benefiting himself, not the wider group. That's the difference. Courage is when you sacrifice your own well-being for the sake of the survival of a layer higher than yours: tribe, self-defined extended tribe, humanity, the ecosystem. That is the ideal passed down to us by Aristotle, from Homer, conveyed by Solon, Pericles, and Thucydides. You can only sacrifice your own well-being when you have skin in the game, hence why courage is the one virtue that can't be faked.
The form of Folau's expressing his belief is on behalf of the wider group: humanity. Specifically, the miserable sinners he believes will burn if they don't accept Christ into their lives.
Quote: (04-17-2019 02:10 PM)_Different_T Wrote:
@Paracelsus
Another way of looking at it: is it odd that we're unlikely to see any celebrations of the courage of Westboro Baptist protesters from yourself or others?
It's not odd at all. By definition what they the WBC does isn't courageous; and is actually cheap virtue signalling.
Consider: what skin in the game does an individual Westboro Baptist protester actually bear?
None, at least until their protests at funerals are banned or outlawed. Importantly, note that almost without exception, when a law is passed in a community forbidding protesting at funerals, WBC doesn't continue its protests there. The US Constitution attaches a high degree of protection for the exercise of free speech, which is part of the reason they're able to get around doing what they do.
Notice they also don't protest alone. Always in packs, always in public, always loud and aggressive. That's significant because it's a lot easier to bully as part of a crowd, as anyone who's been on social media knows. It reduces the risk of any individual member being identified or receiving an erudite theological argument through the medium of a few knuckles. Your average WBC member takes no appreciable personal risks; quite the contrary, they hide in the virtual armour of the mob. Individual members of the WBC are not sued, it's always the church as a group, and the sanction is loss of collective money, not anyone's personal property or personal hurt. That is: no one individual of the WBC has skin in the game.
Notice also that their actions are not expressed for the good of the wider community. They're primarily publicity stunts in order to grow only the WBC.
Folau's action is different. He hasn't hid behind a church or an anonymous handle. And he bears a considerable personal consequence for so speaking: the destruction of his career.
Remissas, discite, vivet.
God save us from people who mean well. -storm