#reasons — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on to say, “Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?” The student of nature will only laugh at you; just as a carpenter or a shoemaker would laugh, if you found fault with the shavings and scraps from their work which you saw in the shop.

[Σίκυος πικρός; ἄφες. βάτοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ; ἔκκλινον. ἀρκεῖ, μὴ προσεπείπῃς: τί δὲ καὶ ἐγένετο ταῦτα ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ; ἐπεὶ καταγελασθήσῃ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου φυσιολόγου, ὡς ἂν καὶ ὑπὸ τέκτονος καὶ σκυτέως γελασθείης καταγινώσκων ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἐργαστηρίῳ ξέσματα καὶ περιτμήματα τῶν κατασκευαζομένων ὁρᾷς.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 50 (8.50) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/marcus-aureleus/8007…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marcusaurelius #marcusaureliusmeditations #causes #divinepurpose #facts #happenstance #imperfection #meaning #problems #purpose #reasons #dealwithit

#quotes #quote #meaning #qotd #facts #purpose

C. @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 05:34 UTC

CW: USPol - Trump, tariffs

As a consequence of these various #personality, #temperament, and #intellectual #deficits, Trump is, for a world leader, amazingly easy to #manipulate.

If you #butter him up, and suggest doing something will make him look good - well, there's a good chance he'll listen intently. He likes to listen to people telling him he's wonderful, and giving him easy ways to appear more wonderful. Much better than listening to people asking him to choose between tough or ugly choices on complicated subjects.

He's also got that tendency where he believes whatever the last person he spoke to told him. This is why people - remember those oligarchs who were literally in front-row seats at his inauguration? - want to be close to him, figuratively and literally. If you keep his #ear, you can keep him behind your needs, your ideas, your wants.

So, given all this, why the hell did he declare #economic #war on #Canada (and Mexico, and China, but I'm #Canadian) when it was:

(a) obviously a bad idea for the US and the world #economy; there will be pain, and it will hurt him - price of eggs and all that
(b) not something that was going to personally #profit him in any big way
(c) not in the interests of his #billionaire oligarchs
(d) not a primary plank in his campaign - at least not in this scorched-earth approach he's taken

Why?

2/x

#reasons #manipulation #goldfish #compliment #flattery

#personality #temperament #intellectual #deficits #manipulate #butter