You can’t prescribe decently for something you hate. It will always come out wrong. You can’t prescribe decently for something you despair in. If you despair of humankind, you’re not going to have good policies for nurturing human beings. I think people ought to give prescriptions who have ideas for improving things, ought to concentrate on the things that they love and that they want to nurture.
Reminds me of non-atheists who try to give advice to those of us who would like to make atheism into a significant movement (“New Atheists” etc.) under the implausible pretense that they’re just trying to help us be more effective.
Your point seems to have a valid core, but perhaps making the observation right next to this quote is not… um… is not what one might do after reflecting for a while about moral symmetry and the content of the message that suggests that we should generally try to focus on positive outcomes and the unrealized potential in things we already love?
Jane Jacobs
Reminds me of non-atheists who try to give advice to those of us who would like to make atheism into a significant movement (“New Atheists” etc.) under the implausible pretense that they’re just trying to help us be more effective.
Your point seems to have a valid core, but perhaps making the observation right next to this quote is not… um… is not what one might do after reflecting for a while about moral symmetry and the content of the message that suggests that we should generally try to focus on positive outcomes and the unrealized potential in things we already love?
You’re right.