Be the change you wish to see

[tgwbs]

I've almost finished reading La Peste for the second time, and like the first time, I feel really inspired. I feel I understand what Camus was saying, and the difference between him and Sartre, much better now - largely thanks to a random book attacking atheism which I found and flicked through in a bookshop. Sartre holds the view that man can, in

Comments

It was Gandalf

[mithalwen]

who changed my view on the death penalty - but that is probably why I never got to grips with French Modernism ;)!!! Also my Dad had a client who was sentenced to death for a crime passionnel - which wasn't exactly a fun experience for him ... fortunately his sentence was commuted on appeal. Terrorism makes it harder to be completely anti - but death is the aim of the current crop :S

Certainly I am never sorry when a murderer kills themself in gaol.

[rikae311]

I can only agree - I tend to get tired of the pessimists who stand in the way of change, however small, by calling it futile. I actually started using cloth bags for groceries around the same time you did, because I got into the habit in Germany - so that makes two of us, anyway. :)
I can always hope the cashiers and people behind me in line might be encouraged to do the same, however unlikely that is in small town America.

[lalaith1]

Do you watch Buffy/Angel? Joss Wheldon is apparently a big existentialist: hence Angel reads Sartre a lot and at one point he says "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do" which is so totally chanelling Camus dontcha think? :cool:
More seriously, ahem, I was quite taken with existentialism - I liked the idea of being answerable to yourself with regards to ethics and responsibility. As a result I studied Sartre for a term at uni. It wasn't the laugh I imagined it was, in fact "Being and Nothingness" nearly did my head in. Not quite as bad as Hegel, but still..
Out of interest, what's your issue with the death penalty? For my part, it's one of the few things I feel really sure about, I mean the wrongness of it. So much so that I don't think I could live in a country that practiced it.

[tgwbs]

I don't watch Buffy I'm afraid. I have chosen to do Sartre and Camus... hopefully will not end up hating it.

The death penalty is such a big issue it probably deserves it's own LJ post. Basically, I think it makes more sense to kill people if you're 100% of their guilt in a very serious crime because the alternative, to lock them up for life, also just takes their life away, but over a longer period. Certain people you just can't rehabilitate. On the other hand, I also think it's a bad idea to allow the state, in any circumstance, to take a life, because it sets a precedent. So it's all very confusing.