"Havel’s prescription is deceptively simple and genuinely demanding: live in truth. "
Living in truth requires a human character attribute that was once described as a virtue; namely courage. We don't teach virtues any more, we teach values. Values are arbitrary and subjective, virtues such as patience, self control, generosity, and forgiveness are not products of our emotions, whims or personal preferences, they stand apart from individual definition and are universally recognisable.
"Live Not by Lies" (Russian: Жить не по лжи!) is a famous 1974 essay written by Russian author and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the very day he was arrested and subsequently exiled from the Soviet Union. It is a profound call for moral courage, urging citizens to stop participating in and endorsing the pervasive, systemic lies of a totalitarian regime.
It took years in a Soviet Gulag for Solzhenitsyn to arrive at this conclusion. Hopefully we can learn to embrace this virtue without having to endure the suffering.
Thanks for your response David. Carney's message was a good one, but his urging of "honesty" and "abandoning pretence" just grated considering the treatment of Canadians who challenge the dishonesty and pretence involved in promoting and supporting gender ideology.
Very happy to hear your Hipkins article has been so widely read. Also that the Herald and Listener haven't imposed any editing or censorship. Just curious, re your article going mainstream - what is "mainstream" in this case?
Great piece, very timely. I did think that the scientist may well intend to publish something that goes against the consensus, ditto the journalist, but we'd never know because the editors would veto them. And re. Mark Carney, in the sphere of gender ideology, Canada has to be one of the worst of the Western countries for censorship and punishment of dissenting views.
I understand the situation with Carney and Canada. However I was more interested in his speech that he gave rather than his antecedents. His referencing of Havel was unusual but apt and timely.
For scientists the publication value comes in peer reviewed journals and I know editors can be snarky. However there are other outlets. I haven't published in a peer reviewed law journal in years but I manage to get the message across using other media.
The Herald publishes my stuff without rejection. The Listener queries from time to time but no rejection slips yet.
Yesterdays piece on Hipkins has received 2.373 hits - it would be one of the most read pieces I have written. Thanks for restacking. That piece is going mainstream later today
"Havel’s prescription is deceptively simple and genuinely demanding: live in truth. "
Living in truth requires a human character attribute that was once described as a virtue; namely courage. We don't teach virtues any more, we teach values. Values are arbitrary and subjective, virtues such as patience, self control, generosity, and forgiveness are not products of our emotions, whims or personal preferences, they stand apart from individual definition and are universally recognisable.
"Live Not by Lies" (Russian: Жить не по лжи!) is a famous 1974 essay written by Russian author and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the very day he was arrested and subsequently exiled from the Soviet Union. It is a profound call for moral courage, urging citizens to stop participating in and endorsing the pervasive, systemic lies of a totalitarian regime.
It took years in a Soviet Gulag for Solzhenitsyn to arrive at this conclusion. Hopefully we can learn to embrace this virtue without having to endure the suffering.
Thanks for your response David. Carney's message was a good one, but his urging of "honesty" and "abandoning pretence" just grated considering the treatment of Canadians who challenge the dishonesty and pretence involved in promoting and supporting gender ideology.
Very happy to hear your Hipkins article has been so widely read. Also that the Herald and Listener haven't imposed any editing or censorship. Just curious, re your article going mainstream - what is "mainstream" in this case?
Hi Sheryl
It is in Law News.
Talk about putting the head above the parapet!
Good on you, and perhaps put on your metal helmet!
Rather than than a tinfoil hat😳
Great piece, very timely. I did think that the scientist may well intend to publish something that goes against the consensus, ditto the journalist, but we'd never know because the editors would veto them. And re. Mark Carney, in the sphere of gender ideology, Canada has to be one of the worst of the Western countries for censorship and punishment of dissenting views.
Thanks Sheryl
I understand the situation with Carney and Canada. However I was more interested in his speech that he gave rather than his antecedents. His referencing of Havel was unusual but apt and timely.
For scientists the publication value comes in peer reviewed journals and I know editors can be snarky. However there are other outlets. I haven't published in a peer reviewed law journal in years but I manage to get the message across using other media.
The Herald publishes my stuff without rejection. The Listener queries from time to time but no rejection slips yet.
Yesterdays piece on Hipkins has received 2.373 hits - it would be one of the most read pieces I have written. Thanks for restacking. That piece is going mainstream later today
Bravo!
Very much related to your argument:
https://luca-dellanna.com/posts/mimetic-societies
Well stated.
Do what is right .
https://detective.nz/news/23-09-2025/truth-lives-forever-/