'I’m fascinated as a cynic—because I don’t see the payoff.' If I remember rightly, in Crime and Punishment this is more or less what draws Raskolnikov most powerfully to the prostitute Sonya. Fascination of this kind has its own considerable moral force I would say.
On hearing this tale of woe, I quickly categorised both parties as numpties in my head, as anyone capable of persuing such a longstanding fued, which ends like this, has some seriously skewed priorities. And it takes Two to Tango. And nothing could possibly be worth this outcome. Jordan Peterson has an interesting perspective on this, something along the lines of "You have to be in touch with your dark side & capable of extreme actions if absolutely necessary, but the virtue lies in keeping that side reigned in". & I agree with James, that good people are seriously under rated & appreciated.
Apr 22, 2023·edited Apr 22, 2023Liked by Damian Counsell
Enjoyed this. Relatedly, a common observation about art/storytelling that I sharply disagree with is "good people are boring" (or make for boring stories). I find the most memorable characters are invariably those who are at least trying to be good, even if they have to wrestle with the costs that comes with (for themselves and others), or requires employing dubious methods.
I wish we talked about good people more often. I will try.
Only a matter of time before your least favourite people discover this blog post and invoke Jeremy Corbyn as an example of a person whose goodness made him unpopular...
'I’m fascinated as a cynic—because I don’t see the payoff.' If I remember rightly, in Crime and Punishment this is more or less what draws Raskolnikov most powerfully to the prostitute Sonya. Fascination of this kind has its own considerable moral force I would say.
On hearing this tale of woe, I quickly categorised both parties as numpties in my head, as anyone capable of persuing such a longstanding fued, which ends like this, has some seriously skewed priorities. And it takes Two to Tango. And nothing could possibly be worth this outcome. Jordan Peterson has an interesting perspective on this, something along the lines of "You have to be in touch with your dark side & capable of extreme actions if absolutely necessary, but the virtue lies in keeping that side reigned in". & I agree with James, that good people are seriously under rated & appreciated.
Enjoyed this. Relatedly, a common observation about art/storytelling that I sharply disagree with is "good people are boring" (or make for boring stories). I find the most memorable characters are invariably those who are at least trying to be good, even if they have to wrestle with the costs that comes with (for themselves and others), or requires employing dubious methods.
I wish we talked about good people more often. I will try.
Only a matter of time before your least favourite people discover this blog post and invoke Jeremy Corbyn as an example of a person whose goodness made him unpopular...