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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3990 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 12, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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What three historical figures would you bring back to do the talk show/podcast circuit? Assume they disappear after their last interview.

I’d pick Timothy Dexter, because entertainment value at least would be guaranteed. I’d also go with Frederick William of Prussia- he seems like the sort to throw out some left field ideas we just might could need. Finally I’d pick the Venerable Bede, because sometimes obsessive categorization can reveal an obvious truth we’ve all missed.

The first one that comes to mind is François de La Rochefoucauld, whose discomfiting aphorisms about the human condition seem just as relevant in the social media era as ever:

We often pride ourselves on our passions, even the most criminal ones; but envy is a timid, shamefaced passion, which we never dare to acknowledge.

If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.

It seems that nature, which has so wisely arranged the organs of our body for our happiness, has also given us pride to spare us the pain of knowing our deficiencies.

To gain status in the world, we do all we can to appear as if we had already gained it.

Nothing is less sincere than the procedure of asking for advice and giving it. The asker seems to display a respectful deference for his friend’s feelings—though his only thought is to get approval for his own, and to make the other person answerable for his conduct.

Will reply when I think of two more.

Basic bitch choice, but Orwell, in large part because so many of his essays have aged so gracefully. "Politics and the English Language" and "Notes on Nationalism" should be required reading for anyone interested in history, politics or journalism.

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