How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85. In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He might be my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
The fields of study in which the man who expects to make progress will have to go into training; and that we neglect what is most important Part I
And if someone should come and say, “A discussion arising as to who was the best of the philosophers, someone who was there said that So-and-so was the only real philosopher,” immediately your poor little one-inch soul shoots up a yard high.[7]
Being impressed with other people’s opinions is a sure way to get let down later. If I try to get people to like me and be impressed by me I am likely to not be honest and instead try to figure out what the people would like to hear or be likely to be impressed by.
But if another party to the discussion says, “Nonsense, it’s a waste of time to listen to So-and-so. Why, what does he know? He has the rudiments, but nothing else,” you are beside yourself, you grow pale, immediately you shout, “I’ll show him who I am, that I am a great philosopher!” Yet we see what a man is by just such conduct. Why do you wish to show it by anything else?
I don’t have many people that I care about their opinions. My wife, brothers, and other close family members are about the only ones. I know them well enough that if they were upset with me or disappointed in my actions then I am probably in the wrong. Average people that I don’t know can take it or leave it, my actions and opinions are unaffected.
Do you not know that Diogenes[8] showed one of the sophists thus, pointing out his middle finger at him,[9] and then when the man was furious with rage, remarked, “That’s So-and-so; I’ve pointed him out to you.” For a man is not something like a stone or a stick of wood to be pointed out with a finger, but when one shows a man’s judgements, then one shows him as a man.
In the Marines, the worst thing you could do was to show something bothered you when we were bull shitting. As soon as any weakness was shown, it would be attacked mercilessly. If something someone said actually did bother me, I learned real quick to laugh it off and fire one right back, even though I’m not quick on my feet at that kind of thing.
Let us take a look at your judgements too. Is it not evident that you set no value on your own moral purpose, but look beyond to the things that lie outside the province of the moral purpose, namely, what So-and-so will say, and what impression you will make, whether men will think you a scholar, or that you have read Chrysippus or Antipater? Why, if you have read them and Archedemus too, you have everything! Why are you any longer worried for fear you will not show us who you are? Do you wish me to tell you what kind of a man you have shown us that you are?
What I have studied and learned is not as important as what I believe and how I act. I don’t care if people like me, and if they respect me, that is nice, but it’s more important to be a man that I respect than it is to try to impress people.
A person who comes into our presence[10][† 2] mean, hypercritical, quick-tempered, cowardly, finding fault with everything, blaming everybody, never quiet, vain-glorious; these are the qualities which you have exhibited to us. 15Go away now and read Archedemus; then if a mouse falls down and makes a noise, you are dead with fright. For the same kind of death awaits you that carried off—what’s his name?—oh, yes, Crinus.[11]
Loud and angry people were always some of the weakest leaders I had. I have had my ass chewed many times and even deserved some of them, but a superior that looks for reasons to do that is not respected.
He, too, was proud of himself because he could understand Archedemus. Wretch, are you not willing to let alone those things that do not concern you? They are appropriate for those who can study them without disturbance of spirit, who have the right to say, “I do not yield to anger, or sorrow, or envy; I am not subject to restraint, or to compulsion. What do I yet lack? I enjoy leisure, I have peace of mind. Let us see how we ought to deal with equivocal premisses in arguments; let us see how a person may adopt an hypothesis and yet not be led to an absurd conclusion.”
Studying Stoicism is only useful if I put it into practice. All of the reading I have done is in vain if it does not help my self control and judgement of my circumstances.
These things belong to men of that type. When men are prospering it is appropriate to light a fire, to take luncheon, and, if you will, even to sing and dance; but when the ship is already sinking you come up to me and start to hoist the topsails!
Having good judgement helps to decide a course of action that is correct at that time. Having no judgement and always doing the same things because that is all I know how to do is a foolish waste of effort.
I’m thinking maybe the Left could use a little stoicism today, what with last night’s debate and today’s SCOTUS rulings.
Why? Biden or Harris win narrowly in November, Whitmer or Newsome clean Trumps fucking clock.
Dems take the House as well.
It’s a long way to the election, still. But that’s not the way I’d bet. Biden or Harris would require a level of cheating that would be utterly obvious and catastrophic – maybe the Dems go that far, maybe they don’t.
Newsome might be the best bet. Whitmer strikes me as rather Hillary-esque in her ability to actually win a national campaign – charmless and hectoring has not been a winning combination.
But it’s a long way to the election. Traditionally, the state of things and events in the two-three months before the election are what matter. Now that ballots are being, err, submitted beginning in October, that timeline may have changed a little, but I think it mostly neuters the October surprise dirty tricks.
https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/28/trumps-debate-triumph-means-nothing-if-the-gop-doesnt-chase-ballots-like-theres-no-tomorrow/
Today we finalized the deal where the employee I’d hired to join my team would retain the promotion in grade but stay in the employee’s current team, as the management there was panicking about the damage the loss of this one employee would cause.
I now have an empty item to go through the whole hiring process for in exchange. And whatever goodwill this mustered with management.
🥃🥃🥃
America is crumbling this is no time to be stoic.
Panic won’t make anything better. If these weekly columns have taught me anything, it’s that stressing over things I can’t control is counterproductive and destructive.
And it’s also actually helping me with my anger issues.
Glad to hear that.
Point. If Stoicism is about anything, it’s about determining what’s in your control and what isn’t, and acting accordingly.
Thanks Ron for doing these weekly columns.
Concur. It turns out that Mrs. Dean is something of a natural stoic in this way.
I’m not crumbling. That’s all I can control.
RHEEEEEEE!!!!
When you have a problem injecting lots of emotion into the situation always helps.
When in danger or in doubt
Run in circles, scream and shout.
Just go live in a cave.
Some harsh debate memes and comments.
TW: Slate
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/06/presidential-debate-cnn-biden-drop-out-replace-nominee-dnc.html?pay=1719591759944&support_journalism=please
Thursday night’s debate was, and I don’t say this lightly, a disaster without any conceivable parallel in modern American political history for President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party, and anyone who cares about the future of our flawed but vital democracy. The president’s performance on CNN was nightmarishly confused and worrisome. And unless he wants to be buried right next to Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a tiny cemetery full of people who invited widespread calamity because they did not know when to quit, he needs to drop out of this race immediately
I love the liberal tears. And the call back to RBG is icing on the cake.
Along those lines, I’m curious how long until someone brings up using the 25th. I mean Biden was already declared not competent to stand trial.
People have already mentioned it, but not anyone who makes the decisions.
I guess the reason they are holding on to those tapes so hard is they sound worse than he did last night.
This is the first time I have thought there was a chance I’d lose the bet with GT. 🙂
What was your bet?
Hey there Jarflax! Long time no see! 😉
I saved a screen shot of the bet at home, but if I recall correctly, if Biden finished his term, I’d donate $100 to the Glibs Foundation. If Biden DIDN’T finish his term, Jarflax would make the donation.
Yep that’s the bet.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hes-not-dropping-out-biden-digs-after-disastrous-debate
Starting to think the Dems might just be throwing the next election to Trump. They’ll leave him with an unfixable shit-show then blame him for it. Economic crash, runaway inflation, and WWIII may all be in progress by January. Why bother winning control of that mess?
Maybe he’ll do better next time.
It seems unlikely, but he does have some days where he’s kind of coherent.
We’ll see.
Brandon Sanderson had a character (a king) who was anywhere from a genius to a drooling imbecile on any given day. The first thing his staff would do every morning was to give him a cognitive test to determine how to handle him.
But in real life, that isn’t how dementia progresses so I doubt we’ll see an improved Joe in 3 months.
Yeah, and if you’ve read The Way of Kings then you know why the comparison is particularly apt…
Just weeks ago I read article after article in the usual places about how sharp and articulate Joe was. What’s changed?
The media has been completely exposed as lying sacks of shit acting as propagandists for the Dems. This is so bad maybe the majority of people will finally see it.
Nothing, give it a week, and then the clips will start being “taken out of context” or “cheap low quality fakes”.
(Note: If this happens, I’ll switch my belief that we’re going to Brave New World to 1984)
I agree with you WTF. People who just casually watch “the news” tuned in to the debate and got hit straight in the face with reality. Put this together with the gaslighting about the border and inflation, and the Dems and the MSM suddenly have a really, really big problem.
When men are prospering it is appropriate to light a fire, to take luncheon, and, if you will, even to sing and dance; but when the ship is already sinking you come up to me and start to hoist the topsails!
Good line.
Thanks as always, Ron!
OT – I’m not generally a wine drinker because there’s something that makes it smell rotten to my nose, but in the past I’ve cooked with wine and whatever this chemical is it tends to cook off.
In my upcoming experimental cooking, one of the sauces calls for wine. Is there anything I really need to look out for in a red that goes into the cook pot? Or just find a bottle of the cheap stuff?
I would recommend keeping to the lighter bodied reds like a Pinot Noir. Cheap is good enough for cooking.
👍
Thanks.
You are welcome.
Don’t get overwrought about it. Any old Port in a storm will do.
How much will you need? There are some decent half-bottles out there, or you could freeze the excess in ice cube trays.
Not much. At most a cup, I think.
Even quarter bottles would work then, if you don’t mind commodity quality.
Not sure if the store carries quarter bottles.
To be fair, I don’t generally shop for wine when I’m there, so I haven’t perused that selection.
Grocery stores can sell wine here in Iowa. They all have cheap box wines.
Box wines are a good choice here. They have collapsing plastic bags. So, not air gets in when you draw a glass or cup. Thus the remaining wine does not oxidize or spoil. You can put the open box in fridge and draw out what you want and keep the remainder for long periods of time.
In New York, wine is a liquor store product.
https://www.finewineandgoodspirits.com/black-box-pinot-noir/product/000001153
You can also buy small 500ml boxes.
Sadly, websites about alcohol are blocked from the office.
I do see the context, and can check at home later. I was planning to stop by the liquor store on my way home though, since it would be more or less in the same direction.
We use box wine for cooking. One box each of Merlot, Chardonnay and a rose.
For any red meat wife likes heavier, heartier dark reds. I only got the Merlot cuz the store didn’t have any burgundy.
Funny thing is, I’d have to look into where to find a box of wine.
I know exactly where to find bottles of it, but not boxes.
The boxes are very handy. They are lined up on the bottom shelf. Open the door, hold a cup under the spigot and open the valve.
You’re in New York. It’s all in liquor stores unless you’re buying 6% (IIRC) ABV or less.
Exactly, Ted, and the liquor stores I’ve been to don’t carry the boxes as far as I can tell.
I made French onion soup the other day, and used a Pino Noir Rose. Came out good, and I am the same as you re wine.
I never could find the French Onions, only ever regular onions.
/snark.
Recipe? Making beef broth today for this weekend. Walla Wallas are in season.
You have to find the ones that smell like cigarettes and armpits.
Have you tried vegan wine? Regular wine often uses egg whites to filter out suspended sediments or some such shit. Maybe you’re sensitive to the flavour? Anyway, vegan wine doesn’t have this.
No one making mass produced wine will be using egg whites. There are better and cheaper fining agents out there.
One of them is Chitosan which is a sugar that comes from the outer skeleton of shellfish, including crab, lobster, and shrimp.
So, still an issue for vegans.
Also maybe still an issue for tasting rotten.
Nope. Chitosan completely drops out of suspension. That’s its entire purpose. To grab onto things that make wine hazy and the fall to the bottom of the container. There is no chitosan left in the final product.
In reality, most commercial wines are power filtered. No fining agents are used in those wines.
It was weird yesterday. I saw half a dozen people standing on an overpass waiving flags at the traffic on the freeway. American flags and Trump flags. A semi blew it’s horn as it went under the bridge.
This was before the debate.
Every Friday on an overpass near my Mom’s house there’s a group doing the same thing. And that’s just over the hill from Berkeley. Someone tried to get the group banned because they were causing a traffic hazard. The example given was that a counter-demonstrator threw one of their flags off the overpass and on to the freeway below.
Over in Concord, I would see people in Trump shirts circa 2016.
Concord isn’t surprising. Heck, that’s practically Antioch. But Lafayette is more “civilized”.
They’ve been there for years. I lived and worked in Central Contra Costa for 30 years.
Is this real?
https://x.com/NikkiHaleyHQ/status/1806501116110110767
Didn’t she endorse Trump, or am I misremembering?
She did endorse Trump, but she also said before the primaries that she wouldn’t run against him.
Unelectable. The nailed her ass.
https://babylonbee.com/news/after-lackluster-showing-nikki-haley-bombs-iowa/
The Bee. Geez
They are always Stayin’ Alive.
I thought there were clear signs of the onset of dementia in 2020. The steady decline has been there for everyone to see since then.
The thing that has always baffled me is the foreign leaders that have played along with the lies that Biden was still in control. Biden’s puppet masters must have been making generous deals in the background.
They know who butters their bread. They get $$ from the US, and our military to defend them. And if that fails to keep them in line, the CIA can always organize a color revolution.
Apparently the best thing they have to hang on to is Trump said “black jobs”.
https://x.com/harrisonjaime/status/1806703758996382108
Idiot racists.
Black like his soul, baby.
Nobody is going to remember a single word that was said last night. The image of an all but dead Biden is the only thing that will stick.
The only voters who changed their minds are the ones deciding not to vote Creepy Joe after all.
Swing and a miss. A lot of blacks ( and everyone else) are going to lose jobs and wages due to the invasion of illegals, all orchestrated by the D’s.
Again with the ‘dont believe your lying eyes’.
The line I was hearing on some newcast was that Trump tried to rewrite history regarding his reaction to Charlottesville. These people must really live in a bubble.
We are talking about a party composed of people completely detached from reality. They cannot tell the truth about anything and cannot distinguish males from females. They are consumed with an insatiable hunger for power and cannot see anything else.
Why would this have turned out any different from disaster?
Yeah, they are going to choose someone else. How will they explain away their complete betrayal of their supporters? As pointed out earlier every single person that worked with Biden and more or less the entire D apparatus (yes, counting the media) knew damned well Biden was unfit. Every one of them. Deep fakes? Really?
I dont think they could win now if they dug up and re-animated George Washington and convinced him to run on the D ticket.
They can’t just throw Biden under the bus and claim they tried to stop him. The entire DNC, the deep state, and the MSM were complicit.
They will win. See 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 elections if you doubt it.
Apparently the best thing they have to hang on to is Trump said “black jobs”.
The same they who can’t stop talking about how much black people owe them?
I’m not letting Biden off the hook. I continue to refuse to accept the claim that Biden is just a puppet. He has been and continues to be actively engaged in all the green new deal bullshit and the active destruction of the economy through stuff like student loan “forgiveness” and completely blowing up any semblance of fiscal sanity.
I am tempted to feel sorry for him now and then because he is so pathetic but then I remember what an evil, lying shit he has been all of this life and the temptation evaporates.
I will never feel sorry for that sack of shit or his wife.
I have sympathies for the kids and grandkids that never asked to be born into that shit.
A pox on all of them.
Except the stripper baby.
So you’re taking the Reagan approach? Bold move Cotton.
The media is panicking because people got a clear opportunity to see through their bullshit.
Either way, we’re all just as fucked after the election, as we are right now.
/stoic
The damage done over the past 3+ years hasn’t even been fully realized yet.
We need somebody to go Millei on the government and Pinochet on the commies.
As I have said previously, Biden out-Bernied Bernie once he took office.
As one of the comments noted, brave move going behind this guy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/1dqmsgq/oc_check_whats_behind_me_or_in_front_me_i_dunno/
Doh!
These make me want to get a dash cam
Yup. My wife thinks I’m paranoid for wanting to do that, but I’ve seen enough videos to seriously consider it. I just havent done the research to see what’s worth getting.
ISTR someone here did an article about dash cams in the last year or two…
Hrm; not seeing it. Maybe I hallucinated that.
The damage done over the past 3+ years hasn’t even been fully realized yet.
And it can never be undone.
It was here I learned the use of “ratchet” in these cases.
*turns the dial*
Look, the ratchet goes the other way now.
Turns out the dial just makes it go slower in the same direction.
Big win for J6 defendants in the Supreme Court.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-favor-jan-6-capitol-riot-participant-challenged-obstruction-conviction
Not sure what’s happened to Barrett.
Scotus also slapped Boise down. Fuck the 9th circus and the city of Boise.
Seeing Garland’s comments in that article really makes me want to do everything I can to get Trump elected. I don’t like the guy, but if anybody is going to turn the apparatus of the state against these tyrants, it’s gonna be him.
I wish he had done better at that the first time around. I will give the R’s some grudging respect for keeping Garland off of the court…Jesus that guy is some piece of work.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/a-retro-sig-p226-is-coming-back-44814571
No rail = “retro”
🙄
Feeling Stoic and reading the lessons of the day.
The long road trip to Florida has begun.
You might pass USA Hat and Space Hat going the other direction.
I will wave hello.
New Remy
It’s all over the news
Tractor Supply, a retail chain that sells home improvement equipment, livestock and agricultural supplies for farmers and pet owners, is eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion roles; withdrawing carbon emission goals; and walking back support for the LGBTQ community as part of sweeping changes to environmental, social and governance initiatives, the company announced this week.
The retailer said in a Thursday release that it will no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group. The company will also stop sponsoring Pride festivals and voting campaigns, the release said. The company previously earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Best Places to Work Corporate Equality Index.
They’ll never hire another otherkin. No more women, no more coloreds. Strictly white men who have never set foot on a college campus.
Maybe they’ll offer group discounts on pitchforks and other riot supplies.
The destruction of merit/competence. We have fallen into lunacy. What other end did people expect besides failure?
“The company previously earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Best Places to Work Corporate Equality Index.” That reminds me of the quote, “It is amazing what a man will do for a piece of colored ribbon.”
What Tractor Supply really need to focus on is improving the hardware department. The one at my local store sucks.
Yup. Cheap ass shit quality. Stores are fairly small, poorly laid out and really don’t have a lot of farm supply despite the name. It’s like the hardware store version of Dollar General.
If only I had a Walmart account. People have noted that AI has made these scams more grammatical. It’s true. I just got this one.
It avoided my call screening service, but it repeats so many times it did go to VM. Can’t wait for the election shit to start.
The time is coming when telecommunications in general will be near impossible to use. Like politics the grifters will crowd out everyone else.
It is nearly that way now.
The best part is the fixes that are mandated by the government doesn’t fix the problem, and makes things more difficult for real businesses. Especially if you are using a TFN (toll free number) as your primary number.
I support the death pentalty for robocallers.
If they’re foreign, deliver it via nuclear ICBM, it’s the only way to be sure.
Has to be via one of these methods though (10 Most Horrible Execution Methods in History; NSFW I reckon):
https://youtu.be/Ch8Qi1xB3gU?si=I4olh1eDGU0ojfhs
Send them your checking info quick so they can do a chargeback.
On my current hospital unit one of the phones that gets assigned to nurses is known as the spam phone because it gets a ton of spam calls.
I had the phone assigned to me for the first time 2 weeks ago. I put it on the do not call list (what else can I do). I have the phone assigned to me today and at least coincidentally there are fewer spam calls
Really wouldn’t want to be White House or Biden campaign staff today. Can you imagine what Doktor Jill must be like after last night’s flameout?
Trump has a new ad out – just clips of Joe from the debate. Not my favorite one though – where Joe talks about people getting raped by their in laws and sisters (step away from the PornHub, Gramps).
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1806557731244986521
this one is savage
Fucking brutal.
“Can you imagine what Doktor Jill must be like after last night’s flameout?”
Big Drudge headline today: CRUEL JILL CLINGS TO POWER
LXIX
Aaall riiight
Well someone got their marching orders.
Consensus at DU is that its wrong to replace Biden.
Of course it would be horribly racist if Kamala was not made president now-don’t you know.