Monday 19 July 2021

Non Volo Peccare

An Imaginary Conversation.

Official: Have you had the medical intervention yet?

Normal Person: No. I've done some unwise things in my time but I still have some sense.

O: What do you mean?

NP: To do something unnecessary and potentially risky out of fear or because you've succumbed to state propaganda or media pressure is surely foolish?

O: It's not unnecessary and if you don't do it for yourself, you should certainly do it to protect others.

NP: Most people's immune system is more than capable of dealing with the illness so it is unnecessary for most people. However, I agree with the last part of what you say but would put it in a different context. Spiritual contagion is worse than physical contagion and to provide an example of someone relatively immune from that is surely the best service you can render your fellow man at the present time.

O: But what if you get ill and infect someone who then dies because of your negligence?

NP: Negligence is a loaded term. When did it become an acceptable word to describe someone's right to determine what goes into their own body? Besides, if the peck works who will die and if it doesn't why are we even having this conversation?

Etc, etc. 

This debate could go on indefinitely and still get nowhere as both participants are starting from totally different premises. For O the body is central. For NP it's the soul.

Note: I translate the title I Do Not Want to be Pecked but it's been a long time since I studied Latin so that may not be entirely accurate.


13 comments:

Bruce Charlton said...

" For O the body is central. For NP it's the soul."

I think the debate also, and more profoundly, shows that when the body is made central - thinking becomes incoherent: becomes unable/ unwilling to follow a line of reasoning to its logical conclusion.

In microcosm, the Official in this debate is an example of the widespread mental disease (a kind of insanity) of a world that rejects God, creation, the spiritual; the way it devolves towards a world of naked social power-relations, interacting with individual short-termist selfishness.

William Wildblood said...

I was going to call him Bureaucratic Official but thought the acronym might be a bit crude. On the other hand.....

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

Very clever Latin pun -- but "Non volo peccare" actually means "I don't want a javelina pig."

MagnusStout said...

Two points in support of this impasse:

(1) trust in "science" among democrats in the US is now at the highest it's ever been (80%); and,
(2) a recent journal article from MIT--attempting to smear the vax-skeptics--found they they were actually more scientifically literate than those who drank the cool-aid and agreed with the MSM.

Finally, an element of "soul sickness" from the death cult is the perverse pleasure of ecstatically embracing unreason. I can't think of single example of leftist regimes that did not end in openly celebrating such lies.

William Wildblood said...

Wm Jas, well I don't!

I was actually thinking of you when I did this, knowing what a pun master you are. How would you say in Latin what you know I want to say?

William Wildblood said...

Magnus, it's trust our science, isn't it?

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

Don’t worry, your Latin is (ahem) impeccable. I was just making a really bad pun on the word “peccary.”

William Wildblood said...

I just hope that those who turn the peck down don't suffer in a pecuniary fashion.

MagnusStout said...

Good question. Not exactly. Science cannot resolve these moral questions. But, this deceit can be pierced by real science. That can lead one (even in this materialistic age) to deeper spiritual reflection and proper action. Put differently, proper spiritual orientation does not require one to pierce deceit through materialistic means (science), but honest materialistic inquiry can lead one to seek deeper spiritual truths.

My speculation: the Lies are never perfect, because that would reduce free will too much. The Lies are effective enough so that real moral choices can be made. I think that was true for the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, China, North Korea, etc... and for us now.

It is shocking how lazy and incompetent the propaganda is (authorities have routinely reversed themselves and denied basic science learned in middle school); a more spiritual society would have required more subtle and sophisticated lies. It seems like our propaganda operates as a "hall of mirrors" to frustrate those stubbornly grounded in materialism (here, I think of Pilate--reflecting upon the words of Christ, now standing before him, and asking, "what is truth?"). Disoriented, many have stopped trying to discern, hoping to get back to "normalcy" (which, of course, will not return). The result dehumanizes people into something like a zombie--unthinking, uncaring, moving in lockstep to the prods, nudges and jabs of the ruling elites... and to their damnation.

Bruce Charlton said...

Non volo peccare...

I though it was from an inscription discovered on a signpost excavated from Roman Londinum, meaning, approximately, "No voles in Peckham!".

Fortunately, this prohibition has since been lifted, and the voles have returned:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/more-wildlife-thrives-london-mismanaged-21830465

William Wildblood said...

The real translation is pigs don't fly. Which is true.

Wm Jas Tychonievich said...

Pigs don’t fly! You win the thread, William.

William Wildblood said...

Wm Jas, I owe that one to you since it wouldn't have occurred to me without your comment above.