📘 2+2=4 Vol. 10: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom
This week: The Nobel Prize loses its last shred of credibility, why for-profit surrogacy is inhumane, the on-going fight for freedom of speech, and some thoughts on gender ideology.
Back in the times of Ancient Greek and Ancient Rome, the Stoics postulated four main virtues to live by: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom. Both public and private life were supposed to be centered on these four virtues to guarantee a fruitful, content and meaningful existence.
As this week’s selection of articles shows in quite exemplary fashion, we could not be further away from these four cardinal virtues than we are now. As the Nobel Prize is awarded to two scientists for an ineffective technology that they didn’t invent, we are forced to realize that Wisdom has been thrown out the window. As a renowned professor outlines how he was castigated for proposing pandemic measures that interfered with the government’s narrative and had to go to court to fight for his right to freedom of speech, we realize that Justice and the judicial system are on shaky grounds. As women are recruited to carry out babies for strangers who paid them to do so, we understand that Temperance has lost the fight against limitless narcissism and greed. As employees are forced to kowtow to invented pronouns and gender ideology, we understand that Courage is in short supply.
But before we start with this week’s recommended articles and podcasts, a reminder from Marcus Aurelius:
If, at some point in your life, you should come across anything better than justice, prudence, self-control, courage—than a mind satisfied that it has succeeded in enabling you to act rationally, and satisfied to accept what’s beyond its control—if you find anything better than that, embrace it without reservations—it must be an extraordinary thing indeed—and enjoy it to the full.
But if nothing presents itself that’s superior to the spirit that lives within—the one that has subordinated individual desires to itself, that discriminates among impressions, that has broken free of physical temptations, and subordinated itself to the gods, and looks out for human beings’ welfare—if you find that there’s nothing more important or valuable than that, then don’t make room for anything but it.”
Be courageous. Be temperate. Be just. Be wise.
#1 Not Nobel
by Rebecca Weisser (The Spectator Australia, published on October 7, 2023)
This is hands-down one of the best articles about the madness of the COVID-19 vaccine program that I have read in recent months – particularly considering the fact that it was published in a mainstream media outlet such as The Spectator Australia. Ms. Weisser does a phenomenal job laying out how outrageous it is that Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received a Nobel Prize for a technology that neither works (vaccinated people still get COVID and vaccine injuries are anything but anecdotal) nor was invented by them (it was actually invented by Dr. Robert Malone). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has officially lost its very last shred of scientific credibility and has become about as farcical as the Nobel Peace Prize.
#2 The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back — and Won.
by Jay Bhattacharya (The Free Press, published on September 11, 2023)
I remember back in 2020, when I first heard about the Great Barrington Declaration posited by Dr. Jay Battacharya, Dr. Sunetra Gupta and Dr. Martin Kulldorff – professors at Stanford, Oxford and Harvard respectively – that I immediately went on the website to sign the declaration. Their “focused protection” approach seemed sensible, both pragmatic and cautious, with strong scientific underpinnings from three renowned professors of the world’s top universities. However, it wasn’t long before Dr. Battacharya et al. were vilified, and their theory both suppressed and branded as a dangerous set of ideas that would supposedly lead to the death of millions of people. In his column for The Free Press, Dr. Battacharya shows just how shamelessly social media networks censored him, operating on direct order by the US government and Anthony Fauci. The censorship industrial complex runs very deep and, as Dr. Battacharya concludes, we must understand that “[o]ur government is not immune to the authoritarian impulse.”
#3 For-Profit Surrogacy Dehumanizes Women
by Ericka Andersen (Newsweek, published on September 21, 2023)
Commercial surrogacy is one of the most gruesome things imaginable. The fact that these nightmarish “baby factories”, which exploit financially vulnerable women to make them gestate babies for unknown people, are not prohibited and shut down everywhere immediately makes me doubt my faith in humanity. Read Ms. Andersen’s detailed account of what surrogacy entails and understand that this is a horrible, dehumanizing business catering to the selfishness of the well situated. It reduces women to birthing machines and babies to selectable commodities.
#4 The diversity trap
by Helen Joyce (The Critic, published in October 2023)
I have proclaimed my love for Helen Joyce several times already (have a look here, here and here) and once again, Ms. Joyce hits the mark with her newest article for British magazine The Critic. In it, she exposes the totalitarian mechanisms of the so-called “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI, or rather DIE) mantra to force more and more workplaces to bow to the usage of “preferred pronouns” and do better about “micro-aggressions, systemic racism and the sacred nature of transness.” The ideological capture of many institutions such as Stonewall, the BBC or the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission has proceeded to a point where you must pledge allegiance to DIE or you will be silenced forever.
#5 World III War
by Michael Nayna (The Process, published on September 28, 2023)
Michael Nayna is not only an independent documentary filmmaker, but also a really smart writer (and, I would say, underestimated in that capacity). In his essay, Mr. Nayna explores the notion of philosopher Karl Popper’s Three Worlds and, by way of another philosopher called Walter Lippmann, applies it to the postmodern age: He argues that our world is shaped by what Popper called “World Three”, a world constructed from language, concepts and cultural ideas. By connecting different philosophical theories, he offers a fascinating approach to understanding our surreal reality of the Internet, the boom of so-called Woke culture, and the shift from the open “Marketplace of Ideas” to the controlled “Economy of Ideas”.
#6 ‘I don't believe in progress’: Mary Harrington on how modern feminism has harmed women
by Winston Marshall (SpectatorTV | Marshall Matters, published on September 20, 2023)
A self-proclaimed “reactionary feminist”, Ms. Harrington’s articles are always a delight to read and so is listening to her and Winston Marshall talk in this recent episode of the Marshall Matters podcast for SpectatorTV. While Ms. Harrington sometimes moves in intellectual spheres difficult to follow for the normal listener, Mr. Marshall always manages to effortlessly and elegantly guide her back on track and make her explain the idea of “Reactionary Feminism” in a more accessible manner. She makes some very interesting points about the failings of modern-day feminism, how working-class mothers are completely overlooked, how the natural mother-child bond can’t just be ignored, and why she doesn’t believe in progress.
#7 Stella O’Malley: When kids say they’re trans
by Brendan O’Neill (The Brendan O’Neill Show, published on September 14, 2023)
Stella O’Malley, a psychotherapist, bestselling author and successful podcaster from Ireland, who also happens to be the founder of Genspect, has been an important voice for a non-medicalized approach to gender diversity for years. In order to promote her newest book When Kids Say They're Trans: A Guide for Thoughtful Parents, Ms. O’Malley went on Brendan O’Neill’s podcast to talk about transgenderism and the psychological and physiological dangers of transitioning. As expected, their conversation does not disappoint.
#8 The Endless Contradictions of Gender Ideology
by Eva Kurilova (The Distance Mag, published on October 16, 2023)
Last but not least, please do read Eva Kurilova’s great compilation of all those insane, ludicrous and bizarre contradictions of gender ideology, which is both hilarious and tragic at the same time. Obviously, this article is horribly bigoted, violent, hateful and transphobic, so consider yourself warned (#TriggerWarning).
Nice rundown of different topics in news and in our intellectual and moral life. Thanks!