[FRIAM] Breaking Bad

[glen]

On 1/15/24 11:01, Don Lemons wrote:
> "Virtue ethics" is a standard phrase in philosophy.

Yes, that's the way my friend intends to use it. He claims to have been formally trained in philosophy. But I don't care very much about the jargon. What I care about is what he says when he graduates from the jargon into authentic expressions of intent and behavior. I'll take Diogenes over the rest of 'em any day. 8^D

On 1/15/24 12:40, Steve Smith wrote:
> My modern (most of my adult life) experience is that the progressive/enlightened amongst us lean toward the idea of having any E and P represent character flaws that should be at least concealed if not stifled in some way. I'm hooked on this myself.  I don't like having the scarlet E or P branded on my forehead, even (because?) the brand fits my circumstance.   Maybe it is more accurate to say the fact of P leads to an illusion of E which when exercised (free-will assumed) is where the C flaw resides?
> 

Yeah, but in my conception of P&E, they are undoubtedly good things. When someone is entitled, it means they have a foundation of expectation ... like the expectation that trains run on time, that you can walk down the street without being mugged, that other drivers on the road have been through some kind of minimal certification process, that the food you buy isn't infected, that the drugs you take work, etc. This is entitlement. And it's a good thing. (I feel strongest when I hear grumpy old people complain about kids these days. Yes, they *should* be entitled. You *want* them to have a better life than you ... or you should anyway. They won't because you let the world go to shit on your watch. But you want them to.)

Of course, there are those of us who take E&P a little too far. And there are those of us who feel *overly* entitled. But that's the same with everything. Some of us drink too much. Some of us are mansplaining boors. Etc. But it's like the thickness of the earth's crust compared to its mantle. At least in developed countries, we have a mantle of laws and norms that bestow a warranted entitlement (like not having to hunt for food every damned day). And everybody complains about the very thin layer of too-much-entitlement that festers on the surface. Frankly, our myopia is very weird.

Walter White simply learned to see the E&P. And he responded accordingly.

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