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I'm glad you enjoyed it. When it comes to great art, every scratch reveals something new.

thanks for watching. Good luck with your reading.

Thanks for watching.

Regrets aren't terribly constructive, and your affinity with any group probably shouldn't compel a sense of obligation to the point of guilt. Focus on the opportunity you have to engage with figures like Wollstonecraft with the full scope of experience and perspective you've forged in your life up until now. Truly good philosophies benefit from pushback and struggle. You're clearly very smart and are coming to Wollstonecraft with an educational grounding and some solid contextual knowledge. This is the ideal, and it's certainly the readership Wollstonecraft expected. Anything less cheapens the dignity Wollstonecraft asserted with such revolutionary force.

​@@douglasparker6276 Thank you. On a personal note I only found out two years ago just after my grandmother's death that she herself was enslaved as a child, how her brothers died from malnutrition and she was kidnapped in the Sino-Japanese war. I have always said I'm a student of life, as life is the greatest teacher. I also know my privilege. Speaking of affinity, I feel I have one with Mary. My mother wanted to me have this name, but I was given another from my paternal side that happens to rhyme, a decision I'm happy with. Had I been named Mary, my personal name initials would also have been M.W. I was also born on Women's Int'l Day... Funny how that is. It's a bit surreal for me. Just how many people can say that? Studying history grounded me in fact, and to appreciate the eye opening experience and struggles of real life people vs the holier-than-thou pronouncements of dogmatic religion and the narcissistic, patriarchal leadership of entrenched power structures. As a result of my own experience and fascination with people, I've embraced social and environmental justice. I got to meet Ms Naomi Klein as a result of her latest academic appointment, who is also self-proclaimed eco-feminist. (I swear, this woman just gets cooler and cooler by the decade). It gives new meaning for my personal voice as a Contralto. My new job title in latin, contra-alto: "against high". 😂 [Best job title ever, if you ask me.] The apparent biases in Alito's judgement are telling, with a significant lack of nuance and a complete disregard for the impact on women, whom he labels as "murderesses." Mary cautioned against tyranny and noted that man/men seldom correct their prejudices, preferring instead to perpetuate them. She also warned against blindly following authority and allowing emotions to lead one astray As a concerned Canadian, I also have a bit of an outsider perspective and I encourage Americans and people globally to examine their constitution, specifically the part that prohibits discrimination based on race and sex. Echoing Mary's logic, it is both illogical and senseless-cruel, even-to deny half the population [women] access to necessary [reproductive] healthcare. The time has come to eliminate gender and racial disparities in healthcare, as well as state-enforced reproductive coercion and human bondage. It is also time to stop penalizing healthcare professionals [whom Alito calls "abortionists"] for performing their duties. Reject Conservative Originalism. Ratify ERA. Alito is clearly grasping at straws. The rationale seems to reach desperately into the past, as far back as the 16th century. In 2024, it is unreasonable to expect modern women to accept the risk of dying to give life, simply due to tradition and historical context Alito is clearly grasping at straws, as far back as the 16th century. It's the year 2024, why do modern women have to accept the risk of dying in order to bring new life to the world--just because of tradition and historical context? "This is the way it was, and this is the way it ought to be and shall be now and forever", is his pronouncement. This situation is sheer madness, and it is even more maddening that this all unfolding at the expense of the public purse. Make no mistake, this autocratic decision is is covertly paving the way for the erosion of additional civil liberties.

I agree that Associate Justice Alito has demonstrated some questionable judgement, and instances such as these seem to merit institutional reform; but the personalization of systematic legal proceedings either for or against is a very precarious road to travel. I also agree that Naomi Klein is very cool. I would caution against a firm assertion that an appreciation of history grounds you "in fact." Facts, despite our idealistic inheritance of the Enlightenment, can be very fungible. John Adams very famously declared them to be "stubborn things," and they are, but in any complicated debate they are counter-balanced by opposing points. History demonstrates this pretty irrefutably. Analysis, on the other hand, is the way we sift through these disparate fields of data and navigate between the entrenched facts despite their intractability, allowing for something approaching truth in a necessarily imperfect human context. Thanks for joining in. This is great.

I don't think I ever said that Camus was a great human being. I honestly have no idea what kind of person he was, and it really doesn't matter to me at all. My interest is in the art he produced. That's where his portrayal of humanity rises above any concern with his individual character. If you can't get past his political or moral positions, if they get in the way of your appreciation of the art, that's fine. There are plenty of other writers to read. It is a tough standard to apply to artists, however. Not many are really people you want to be around. Morality and politics are also inherently relative. They tend to change. Politics more than morality, I suppose, but perceptions of them are highly personal and unstable over time. With art, I find that the best way to proceed is to rise above the petty particularities. Camus' literature treats the Algerians at some remove, like an Other. Now, I can view that as a personal flaw in Camus' personality and promise myself that if I ever run into him I'll give him the cold shoulder. Ok. That makes me feel a little better about myself, but it really doesn't do anything positive. For me, the more valuable approach is to note that certain characters in his literature feel this way, so it serves as a document of this social phenomenon. But this can go deeper. If I notice that the other characters are ostracizing the Algerians, I'm prompted to ask 'why?' Once I do that, I humanize the Algerians and elevate them beyond the disdain of the other characters. This causes me to look at both the Algerians and the Europeans as elements within a much larger and more complex construct. Plus, once I see that, it no longer really matters that they're Algerians and Europeans: they're people. Being people, they can be anyone around the world or at any time or context. The particular has become universal, which is the true test of great art.

part of the fun in reading is developing your own relationship to the text. Little nuances of irony, sincerity, political calculation, etc., can make for vastly distinct interpretations. Historians can build a more solid case for one reading or another based on supporting and contextual evidence. For my purposes here, readings can be more subjective. Regardless, however, thanks for weighing in with a more generous appraisal than mine. I can be very stingy in my judgements.

I'm glad it helped.

It's a great piece from the collection titled "Exile and the Kingdom," the title of which alone suggests the polarities between which Camus seems to feel suspended. Check it out: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1957/12/the-guest/642533/

@@douglasparker6276 Thank you, you’re excellent. I’ll definitely check it out.

Beats the alternative.

​@@douglasparker6276 Interesting hahahhahha characters hahaha of history ahhahah

Nothing bad is ever happening with those noises as a soundtrack.

@@douglasparker6276 well i aaaah just dont aaaah know if aaagh thats so

Thanks for watching.

This is great. Thanks. Would you know some good titles on this topic for a beginner?

@@douglasparker6276 Hi. I am not an expert but I am interested in the topic since the history of Spain at that time is also the history of Hispanic America (I am Mexican). The historians and discussions that I have consulted are in Spanish, but you can get an idea of ​​it by consulting the will of Queen Isabel I of Castile (who expressly prohibited the enslavement of the indigenous people and ordered that their properties be respected, wanting the Conquest was a process of greater rapprochement). Also the controversy of the priest, Bartolomé de las Casas, with Ginés de Sepúlveda about the human nature of the natives and their rights, to stop the aspirations of many Spanish patrons in America who wanted to have rights over the natives and their exploitation. There must be serious texts in English on these topics, outside of the "black legend" so widespread in the Anglosphere (I think online). It is important to understand that for Spain the American lands were not colonies, but rather Spain itself, that is a different way of seeing things compared to other empires of that time. And of course, many disobeyed those commands taking advantage of the fact that the metropolis was far away, but there were cases of punishment for those who disobeyed (starting with Christopher Columbus).

This is great. Thanks for the context.

By Eliot? Absolutely. Thanks for watching.

Excellent point.

Glad to help.

The intellectual philosophy has it's merits. Using it as a model for behavior is ... imprudent.

Seneca - like most Roman writers - has some pretty dull stuff. This is not in that category. It's as funny as the best comedy ranging between Aristophanes and Mel Brooks.

Great art has a habit of doing exactly that.

I can see that dynamic, although I’m iffy on attributing divinity to any artist.

Good for you for jumping into the world of ancient literature. It's a really fun era to explore. What you see with me isn't my bringing Ovid to life, but it's actually the exact opposite. These literary works inspire and energize us in ways we can't anticipate. They are one wild ride.

No, and I hesitate to wonder ...

I never know what to say. That's often my problem.

Southern Pakistan reading French literature in English. I'm more than a little intimidated by that. But thanks for joining in. Welcome to the party.

He was always the more soft-spoken of the Beats: a modesty and decency that led his art into surprising nuance and luminescence.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it. If this discussion has gotten you to sense the greatness in literature even a little bit, that's all it has to do.

You're right. My mistake. Sometimes talking without a script is an invitation to error. Plus, importantly, I'm kind of a dope. Thanks for correcting the record.

The parallels between Hemingway's life and work are pretty obvious, but drawing them out only teaches you about his life. It was a pretty wild life so that's interesting on it's own. What's more interesting, however, is what his work can mean for all of us. The details he uses in telling the story may or may not have happened, but their arrangement creates the experience of art that stirs our reaction to it. That's where the real action is. By contrast, the events of his life are trivial.

BK is pretty mind-blowing. Crime and Punishment is more plot-driven, so it’s probably easier to get through, and I’ve got a soft spot for The Idiot. But if you want the full Everest experience of Russian novels, you have to brave Karamazov or Tolstoy‘a War and Peace. You get lifelong bragging rights for those.

Or Mr Procharkhin. Definitely.

​@@douglasparker6276Thanks

Thanks for watching

I’m glad you found your way.

The past 8 centuries have been Humanity's struggle to catch up to Dante.

Poets of different ages and genres are all still just poets at heart. Homer's "Iliad" relies on rhythm every bit as much as the most hardcore thrash-metal you can find.

@@douglasparker6276 What a great observation! I really appreciate it. Thank you so much!! 🤍🤍

Sorry. I get carried away and the energy gets me moving. I have many lectures here where I'm sitting, but in the standing ones I'm all over the place.

Thank you. It is a remarkable text. Thanks for the perspective.

Cultural colonialism - particularly in regards to religion - has always been a deliberate and conspicuous weapon of conquest.

glad you liked it. Montaigne is really good.

Thanks for watching. I'm glad you like it.

All speech, literature, art & culture is subject to the influences of surrounding circumstances. Reading with that in mind keeps us all sharp.

Thanks for watching.