This week the panel decided to talk about honour. Well actually it was Mark Bisone’s idea, although he tries to wiggle out of responsibility. What tipped it over the edge, though, was Mary Harrington’s recent essay Incredible Shrinking Men, which you should really read if you haven’t. It is short and insightful. From her conclusion:
It used to be recognized as honorable that a man went to work and earned the means of taking care of his family.
Then all those miserable writers of the '50s came along and won prizes for novels and short stories and plays about how miserable a thing it was to be trapped in the dreadful daily routine of going to work and earning the means of taking care of a family. The wife and children became enemies of a man's inherent dignity. They were the parasites who destroyed his any hope of finding his true unencumbered self.
And John Cheever with the short story "The Enormous Radio"--and them Angry Young Men who dominated postwar British playwriting and the grim films made from their work--
--honor is certainly to be found in getting up early every day and taking the subway to one's shitty office job downtown because the baby needs diapers and milk and you love the baby and the woman who bore him to you. Perhaps time to mock out of existence the voices saying otherwise.
I've been writing a book on Bushido for the past year and I took a deep dive into Honor, among many other virtues. There's a section in there about "Honor over Money" which looks at how feudal warrior cultures structured society - and where the merchant sat in the that structure. I battled with the libertarian / Austrian econ part of myself as I worked through this.
I might put an excerpt of this chapter on the blog at some stage.
Anyway - just dropped by to say that these podcasts are a great idea. Very high signal.
Honor is a goal to strive for. Something intangible but acknowledged by oneself and others in an otherwise chaotic world. To achieve higher than oneself. No wonder it’s lacking in a world bereft of spiritual frameworks in the western world.
I have a slight advantage when it comes to the topic of 'Honour'.
First, I was born in 1943, when honour was still a word with everyday currency.
Second, I was raised in a family in which books were the most valuable of possessions and I had everyday access to the books of three previous generations, in which the word 'honour' was prominently featured, and in myriad contexts, not just in accounting, warfare, relationships, commerce, sport, or winning and losing.
Third, the family motto of all Ryans is "Death is preferable to Dishonour.
I should add the caveat of British Empire context, balanced somewhat by the stridently counter-Empire sentiment of the ultra-Irish Ryans.
Thus, the word 'honour' continues to be part of my thought vocabulary, but I have occasionaly tossed it into conversations. For example, a decade ago, I was present at a hot debate on football club decisions and in which all participants appeared to flounder when it came to suitable criteria upon which to form judgement. Eventually, I interrupted with the comment that "the club had abandoned its sense of honour; that it had behaved dishonourably".
There was a stunned silence and I figured that, once again, I should have just kept my mouth shut. Then the club president and coach stood up and addressed everybody saying that, over time, we had entirely forgotten that most important of behaviour guidelines and values... Honour. When I left an hour later, everybody was still discussing 'Honour', and its supreme importance as the most basic value.
I relate that story because it suggests that if we commence using the word 'Honour', it will once again have currency. Personally, I think most men would find life a helluva lot easier to navigate if they are guided by Honour. The right thing to do, whatever the context..
It has other expression: "You must be true to yourself"; "You cannot deny your culture"; "The values that were handed down by our parents and grandparents are the most important values in life".
It is no coincidence that the globalist-created UN has inculcated student schoolteachers with the directive to "sever the intergenerational transfer of values" of children. What they ultimately target is the destruction of family. Basically, the words 'homour' and 'family' are indivisible, leading on to a code of behaviour that ensures the survival of cultural integrity, which in turn flows to regional and national sovereignty and patriotism.
May 14, 2023·edited May 14, 2023Liked by John Carter
Men crave self annihilation, back in the day it was found in war. Now they kill themselves in disgust. To bet ones life is the way of dying with dignety.
Nice discussion on an under-explored topic. The best presentation when I considered this topic several years ago was “Honor: A History” by James Bowman.
It used to be recognized as honorable that a man went to work and earned the means of taking care of his family.
Then all those miserable writers of the '50s came along and won prizes for novels and short stories and plays about how miserable a thing it was to be trapped in the dreadful daily routine of going to work and earning the means of taking care of a family. The wife and children became enemies of a man's inherent dignity. They were the parasites who destroyed his any hope of finding his true unencumbered self.
It's quite revealing, John Updike's review of Jarrell's The Animal Family. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/01/specials/jarrell-fly.html?scp=8&sq=Fly%2520by%2520Night&st=cse
And John Cheever with the short story "The Enormous Radio"--and them Angry Young Men who dominated postwar British playwriting and the grim films made from their work--
--honor is certainly to be found in getting up early every day and taking the subway to one's shitty office job downtown because the baby needs diapers and milk and you love the baby and the woman who bore him to you. Perhaps time to mock out of existence the voices saying otherwise.
Great episode gents.
I've been writing a book on Bushido for the past year and I took a deep dive into Honor, among many other virtues. There's a section in there about "Honor over Money" which looks at how feudal warrior cultures structured society - and where the merchant sat in the that structure. I battled with the libertarian / Austrian econ part of myself as I worked through this.
I might put an excerpt of this chapter on the blog at some stage.
Anyway - just dropped by to say that these podcasts are a great idea. Very high signal.
Keep them going!
Honor is a goal to strive for. Something intangible but acknowledged by oneself and others in an otherwise chaotic world. To achieve higher than oneself. No wonder it’s lacking in a world bereft of spiritual frameworks in the western world.
I have a slight advantage when it comes to the topic of 'Honour'.
First, I was born in 1943, when honour was still a word with everyday currency.
Second, I was raised in a family in which books were the most valuable of possessions and I had everyday access to the books of three previous generations, in which the word 'honour' was prominently featured, and in myriad contexts, not just in accounting, warfare, relationships, commerce, sport, or winning and losing.
Third, the family motto of all Ryans is "Death is preferable to Dishonour.
I should add the caveat of British Empire context, balanced somewhat by the stridently counter-Empire sentiment of the ultra-Irish Ryans.
Thus, the word 'honour' continues to be part of my thought vocabulary, but I have occasionaly tossed it into conversations. For example, a decade ago, I was present at a hot debate on football club decisions and in which all participants appeared to flounder when it came to suitable criteria upon which to form judgement. Eventually, I interrupted with the comment that "the club had abandoned its sense of honour; that it had behaved dishonourably".
There was a stunned silence and I figured that, once again, I should have just kept my mouth shut. Then the club president and coach stood up and addressed everybody saying that, over time, we had entirely forgotten that most important of behaviour guidelines and values... Honour. When I left an hour later, everybody was still discussing 'Honour', and its supreme importance as the most basic value.
I relate that story because it suggests that if we commence using the word 'Honour', it will once again have currency. Personally, I think most men would find life a helluva lot easier to navigate if they are guided by Honour. The right thing to do, whatever the context..
It has other expression: "You must be true to yourself"; "You cannot deny your culture"; "The values that were handed down by our parents and grandparents are the most important values in life".
It is no coincidence that the globalist-created UN has inculcated student schoolteachers with the directive to "sever the intergenerational transfer of values" of children. What they ultimately target is the destruction of family. Basically, the words 'homour' and 'family' are indivisible, leading on to a code of behaviour that ensures the survival of cultural integrity, which in turn flows to regional and national sovereignty and patriotism.
I would just like to say hello - I saw you over at Luke's place and thought I'd check your place out.
Men crave self annihilation, back in the day it was found in war. Now they kill themselves in disgust. To bet ones life is the way of dying with dignety.
Nice discussion on an under-explored topic. The best presentation when I considered this topic several years ago was “Honor: A History” by James Bowman.
(https://www.amazon.com/Honor-History-James-Bowman-ebook/dp/B0046REGJE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2GA3G47IT9YLI&keywords=honor+history&qid=1683914174&sprefix=honor+history%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1)
Zeus god of the Abrahamics exterminated mankind out of disgust, perhaps Aryan destiny is to mimic Skydad and pass judgement on humanity?