February 25, 2007

"The immortal values of the spirit are above physical life. What sense does life have without these values? What then is it to live?"

"Those who understand this and generously sacrifice their physical life for the sake of good and justice -- how can they die? God is the supreme idea of goodness and justice."

Words that should inspire mistrust.
Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:35 AM
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11 comments:

paul a'barge said...

the letters suggest that Castro was a man of unusual spiritual depth

Spiritual? How about depth of depravity instead.

The WaPo is littered with those who flirt with totalitarians. Imagine the shock on their faces when Castro would come for their gay friends, if he and his ilk were successful in America.

Castro, and his worshipers in the WaPo and on college campuses across America belong in the Pantheon of Perverts, right up there with the likes of Dahmer.

2/25/07, 7:54 AM
LutherM said...

The Castro letters remind me of a very "spiritual" prayer;
"Oh, God, open all doors for me. Oh God who answers prayers and answers those who ask you, I am asking you for your help. I am asking you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am asking you to lift the burden I feel. Oh God, you who open all doors, please open all doors for me, open all venues for me, open all avenues for me."

It was written, apparently in all sincerity, by Mohammed Atta, best known as a 9/11 airplane hijacker/mass murderer.

Things are seldom as they seem,
Skim milk masquerades as cream. Sir William S. Gilbert H.M.S. Pinafore, act 1

2/25/07, 8:54 AM
mtrobertsattorney said...

Putting aside the source of the quotation, the comment itself expresses an interesting idea and raises an interesting question. Are ideas of justice simply a matter of convention that vary from culture to culture or do they have some kind of transcendent foundation?

2/25/07, 10:53 AM
vbspurs said...

Quoting from the WaPo article:

In May 1955, just 13 days before his release, a light-hearted Castro wrote to his sister,

Would that be Juanita his sister who exiled herself to Miami, rather than live in her brother's paradise?

I used to go to the pharmacy she owns down here, frequently. I used to see her a lot.

I always felt very sad for her, as they say, on so many levels...

Cheers,
Victoria

2/25/07, 1:59 PM
paul a'barge said...

Putting aside the source of the quotation

No, not putting aside the source. Have you lost all sense of moral bearing, that you could take the words of a murderous fascist and consider them apart from their source? What kind of preening is that?

I'd bet the farm that if someone were suggesting that you put aside the source and consider Hitler's words in Mein Kampf, you'd be on their throat like a pit bull.

Moral equivalence. This is the state in which you put aside the source of comments.

What is it like to drift through life without a moral compass?

2/25/07, 3:32 PM
amba said...

Very interesting! I thought it was one of those other bearded ones.

- amba

2/25/07, 3:34 PM
LutherM said...

One comment stated "Have you lost all sense of moral bearing, that you could take the words of a murderous fascist and consider them apart from their source? "

I don't know if it's amusing or frightening to hear Fidel Castro, as dedicated a Communist as Stalin, described as "fascist".
"Making the trains run on time" doesn't seem to be something Fidel could do.
A short and incomplete definition of Fascism can be found at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html

2/25/07, 4:15 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...

The question I raised in my post obviously sailed right over the head of M. a'barge.

Nonetheless, we can learn something from his rant. M. a'barge is one on those people who, when they come across ideas they don't really understand, become quite irritated and, instead of realizing their lack of understanding, lash out at the person or thing they feel is the cause of their discomfort.

Unless M. a'barge seriously begins to educate himself, he is destined to remain in the blissful cave of ignorance, wholly unware of his ignorance--a comical figure to be sure, but not one to be taken seriously.

2/25/07, 7:06 PM
Craig Landon said...

And thus AlaskaJack demonstrates his transcendence. Hold on! I'm coming!

2/25/07, 11:55 PM
Craig Landon said...

Could UWM sponsor a discussion between Castro & Marcotte on this whole patriarchy thing? I'm confused.

2/26/07, 12:07 AM
Anonymous said...

"The immortal values of the spirit are above physical life. What sense does life have without these values? What then is it to live?"

It's interesting how thugs, usurpers, and madmen in authority have forever justified themselves with fine, high-sounding words.  Without knowledge of who wrote them or why, these three sentences are a good expression of the conclusions of most religious thought.  People of a transcendent and philosophical turn of mind have come to similar understandings after reflection, prayer, and, yes, enlightenment.  This is nothing more than a commonplace statement of an important piece of the Perennial Philosophy.

The difficulty—and the part we should mistrust—comes in the next sentence about sacrificing physical life for the sake of good and justice.  Sacrifice for good and justice is one of those fine ideas that has often gone terribly wrong.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

AlaskaJack asks precisely the right question:  Is justice and human good universal or not?  If not, why tell the lie that your sacrifice is for "immortal values?"  Is belief in universal values an illusion?

Here is the nub of the difference between the understanding of justice and good informed by natural law on one hand, and positive law on the other.  The one is supposed to be universal, derived from Nature, and valid everywhere.  The other is the mere custom or standard of a particular community or society. 

The relationship between these two views is obviously complex and subtle.  The most striking, transcendent example, however, of the nexus of positive and natural law occurred in the teachings of Christ. Jesus taught that loving your neighbor as yourself was the whole of the Law, thus placing a universal principle of morality at the head of the ancient Jewish Law, which to Christ had become sterile and hypocritical.

Thus was born in the Christian tradition the tension between salvation through grace and Divine law as revealed in Scripture, largely inherited from the Jews, and attempting to comprehend the Eternal law, so compellingly hinted at by Jesus, against which, however imperfectly, all human laws should be measured.

Every political philosopher, practical politician, and jurist has, of course, argued these views, whether in a Jewish/Christian context or not, from the days of Aristotle on.

But back to Fidel.  Castro was attempting to identify the Revolution with God by writing, "God is the supreme idea of goodness and justice."  Of course we know this because of subsequent events.  Taken in the abstract, these words seem fairly uncontroversial.  But it's obvious today that Castro was attempting to identify his purposes with God's, and was propagandizing the foolish to lay down their lives for God/Castro when the time came.

In the event, God became for Castro just another rhetorical prop to serve his ends.  God has survived this and worse, but Fidel Castro manifestly will not.

2/26/07, 1:15 AM

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