DocWatts

Recently came across this show made by Duncan Trussel and Pendleton Ward (creator of Adventure Time). It's more or less an animated version of Duncan's podcast where he talks about frankly about a host of topics including grief, spirituality, psychedelics... The context for this clip is Duncan having a Conversation with his mother who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, knowing this is one of the last conversations he's going to have with her (she passed away before the show went on the air).

No mention of Undertale? Shame on you good sir Undertale : A deconstruction of Role Playing video games that asks you to empathise with the monsters you come across, and encourages you to find non-violent resolutions to conflict. It's a game that asks you to take a deep look at the morality of your actions, and explores the topic of forgiveness. It also has positive representation for LGBT characters in a medium that still struggles with inclusivity. It's a deeply empathetic work of art with an incredibly life affirming and positive message. It's also incredibly playful and filled to the brim with lighthearted humour. Playing Undertale fills you with determination.

Thomas Nagel is my favorite; he's a contemporary philosopher who dives deep into integrating subjective experience (phenomenology) into an external objective reality. A lot of his work deals with the nature of consciousness, and he's become well known for his rejection of materialist reductionism when it comes to understanding how the mind works. He's also written quite a bit on law and ethics, and deals with questions such as Moral Luck and what it means to live a Good Life. One thing I really appreciate about Nagel is that he illuminates really interesting questions, but is also humble enough to admit that not every question is going to have a satisfying answer, and goes on to examine ways to cope with that uncertainty.

Thank you for the thoughtful response, you've given me a lot to reflect on; like just how imperfect justice can be in the real world; what"s the proper perspective to take when restorative justice isn't a realistic possibility, or when institutions are unlikely to hold people to account for thier actions? I won't pretend to have all of this figured out, but my own inclinations are to be highly uncomfortable cheering on anyone's death, even an objectively terrible person's.

@Keyhole I'm as disgusted and horrified by Trump as anyone you'll find, but would you say that wishing death upon even objectively horrible people is a sign of a virtuous character? Maybe it would be objectively better if Trump does pass away, but the death of another person isn't something to take pleasure in. Ends justify the means can be a slippery slope...

Don't be the Left leaning version of someone who fantasizes about horrible things happening to criminals (and make no mistake about it, Trump is a criminal). Not because you own him anything or he's deserving of pity (he's not), but because because engaging in this sort of behavior makes you a worse person.

This is a question that's come up as I've pondered on the peculiarities of the American two party political system. While corruption is endemic in the system with both parties complicit to varying degrees, the Republican Party has been rotting from within for several decades now, to the point where it has to use Authoritarian tactics to win elections because it has literally nothing of value to offer for the vast majority of ordinary people. With that as my frame of reference, I'm genuinely curious as to what a more reasonable and relatively healthy Conservative political party would look like in a functional Democracy. With as big and diverse of a country as America is, I've long since made peace with the fact that Conservative political parties are a legitimate part of a representative system; so if they are going to exist, I would much rather they be a relatively healthy form of conservatism and not antithetical to democratic norms and institutions.

By healthy I mean that they should be able to exist in a pluralistic political system in a non-destructive way; 'successful' authoritarianism of the kind you mention would be antithetical to this. Fact of the matter is that Conservatives are going to exist in most societies, so how does a democracy integrate thier political interests in a way that's fair while also not being damaging to everyone else in the society (as I'd argue the Republican party has become damaged over the last several decades, as an instrument for the corrupt to loot the rest of the society). And as long as Conservative parties are going to exist, wouldn't it be better for everyone if it were version of Conservatism that is able integrate in a healthy way with the rest of society? I wonder if part of the problem we're seeing is that Conservatives don't really have any version of this to latch on to in America.

Covid has something like a %1 to %5 mortality rate , whereas something like the flu has closer to a %0.1 mortality rate. But considering that he's one of the most priveledged people in the country, his chances of surviving are going to be much higher than a poor or working class person without the means to get treatment from our pay-to-access Health Care system.

No offense, but these are all Conservative rather than Moderate talking points. Whole point of the post though is that we would want a healthy political party to represent Conservatives, just like we would want a healthy political party for Progressives. The endemic corruption of Trump (though not limited to him) isn't good for anyone. I'm also happy to give due credit to Republicans who've been willing to stand up to Trump, rare as they may be (Romney marching to protest police brutality and racism comes to mind). We need more politicians with Integrity on all sides.

Hard to argue that the Trump administration is anything other than a Kleptocracy.

I've got nothing but respect for Christians I know who actually practice what they preach, and have been able to integrate that in a healthy way with the modern secular world. Not sure if anyone else is friends with left leaning progressive Christians, or if that's a bit of an anomaly in the current climate.

The former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, actually ended up serving time in prison for his crimes while in office. So it doesn't strike me as impossible, just really unlikely in Trump's case, since Kwame wasn't a multi millionaire like Trump is (despite the fact that he's likely broke, I have no doubt he still has formidable resources at his disposal to fight a prosecution).

So what are the chances that if Trump survives this and goes on to lose the election that he actually gets prosecuted for his numerous crimes? One in ten? One in a thousand?

Her nickname here is 'Big Gretch'

That's quite insightful, and probably one of the better arguments as to how Conservatives can serve a useful and necessary role (as opposed to just holding society back, as it can appear sometimes). Actually these are all great points, and it's really unfortunate that there's not a viable non-destructive political party which represents these values in the US. The way things stand, with the Republican party appealing primarily to wealthy people and whites that harbor some sort of racial resentment, I don't see how it will be able to win elections as demographic changes render thier voting base smaller and smaller. Hopefully something better can eventually take its place, and it won't have to rely on Voter Suppression to win elections for it to be able to push an unpopular agenda on the country.

Even though she wasn't my preferred candidate in the primary, she's impressed me with how competently her administration's response to the pandemic was. I'm more than happy to cast my vote for someone who's competent and reasonable considering the state the country is in right now. Plus she seems like a decent person.

Not true; a vocal minority despises her, the rest of us are grateful to have someone reasonably competent in charge during a pandemic.

Speaking of Texas... 'Texas governor to close mail-in ballot drop-off boxes, limiting one per county' https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/texas-mail-ballot-drop-vote-2020-election-b744020.html

So I don't know if it counts as a full on existential crisis, but I found Peter Singer's argument that people living in wealthy nations have a Moral Obligation to help people living in less developed parts of the World to be really compelling; so much that I feel it is unethical to not give at least some portion of your income to charitable causes if you're fortunate enough to be a middle class person living in a developed nation. Also helped me put my own privilege in to perspective, and to reframe the way I think about my obligations to other people.

Library of Congress video discussing the implications for humanity if and when life is discovered beyond Earth (seems relevant with the recent discovery of possible bio signatures for microbial life being discovered in the atmosphere of Venus).

Dwight Eisenhower also comes to mind as a highly principled Blue political leader (CIA shenanigans during the Cold War not withstanding).

I forget whether this was posted in here, so feel free to remove if this is a duplicate post. But this video does a great job at pointing out how Hank Hill is a nuanced and largely positive portrayal of Blue, as he's someone who tries to live by his values, and is even capable of accepting other viewpoints if he feels its coming from a place of integrity.

Also the ability deconstruct ideas and concepts, as well of an awareness of Social Constructs generally begin at Green; both of which are necessary for an understanding of the Systems Thinking that Yellow employs.