R.P. BenDedek
Can We Cope? Progress at What Cost?
By R.P. BenDedek
Oct 4, 2008 - 9:24:21 PM

At the bottom of a recent article I posted at Magic City was a Post Script about Jewish Comedians that contained two links published at Jerusalem Post to videos made by Sarah Silverman (contains strong language) in support of Presidential Nominee Obama and one by Mr. Mason. They are certainly entertaining to say the least. But is politics meant to be entertaining?

I was recently reading some articles written by Wm. B. Fankboner  on the issues of Political Correctness and the Failure of Civil institutions, which reminded me once again of the seriousness nature of Government and it's ramifications on society as a whole. I would heartily recommend taking a look at these and other articles published by Mr. Fankboner, for they are a warning to us of our general complacency and lack of moral fibre. I include here excerpts from the two articles mentioned above.

The Triumph of Political Correctness.

• The utopian dreamer who would erect a terrestrial paradise or resurrect a 'golden age' is soon pushed aside by a ruthless authoritarian who invokes bloodlust to achieve a righteous social end. For every Trotsky, there is a psychopath, a Stalin, waiting patiently in the wings to hijack the revolution and commence the slaughter of the Kulaks. As St. Augustine reminds us, angels and demons can occupy the same soul, and not infrequently, as in the case of Kurtz, and half-baked intellectuals like Robespierre, Mulele, and Pol Pot, the humanitarian reformer and the maniacal butcher are folded, Jekyll-and-Hyde fashion, into the same personality.

The Failure of Civil Institutions.

• History, accelerated by science, is compressing itself, and our misfortunes, into ever tighter spirals. Can we cope? We can if we recognize the fact that man's astonishing technological progress presents just as many dangers to society as opportunities; and if we remember that utopia, or the Kingdom of Heaven, or whatever you choose to call such a state of grace, is not something that we confer on our society with science or social institutions, but forge within our souls by an act of devotion to some thing or principle greater than ourselves.

R.P.BenDedek

Email rpbendedek@kingscalendar.com

R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (http://www.kingscalendar.com/), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China.

BenDedek Social Commentaries at Magic City

"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.