Forum Log

"Modern politicians and becoming a man" - New article on Tela Blog It contains two quotes that I found striking. Issues: - The effect of a constant audience on a politician - The default state of man absent the cultural imposition of masculinity "... Mature masculinity is artificially induced through culture...." https://telablog.com/modern-politicians-and-becoming-a-man

... This imagining is another important good bestowed by historical reading, for it dispels the illusion that H.G. Wells called the "governess view" of history: They (the bad people) are doing this terrible thing to Us (the good people). The fallacy in it is to suppose that any large group acts as with one mind, clear in purpose and aware of consequences. Such a projection of the single ego upon whole masses is a form of provincialism that is encountered in most political discussions and certainly in all social prejudices: "If the President would only act ... if those people would only see reason...." A reader of history is cured of this simple-mindedness by developing a new sense—the historical sense—of how mankind in the mass behaves, neither free nor fatally pushed, and in its clearest actions mysterious even to itself. ... 'The Point and Pleasure of Reading History' Jacques Barzun

New article: https://telablog.com/children-and-a-shared-vision-of-the-future Excerpts: "... This was in accordance with the ancient belief: man did not belong to himself; he belonged to the family. He was one member in a series, and the series must not stop with him..." "... fertility remains far below any desirable level. The reason, I suspect, is that something more fundamental is missing: a shared grand narrative..." "The most interesting question to me is: What story comes next ?"

Author name and surname(s), ((c.) original date(s)) 'Title of work', in "Container or publication" (commentary by [name]; translation by [name]; Issue; Edition, Year of edition), Book / Chapter / Page numbers / (Timestamp). [link] - - - This citation format addresses: 1. Who said this? 2. When? 3. Where (media)? - Priorities: 1. Authorship. 2. Historical context. 3. Verifiability: Information to access the source or to aid in identifying it if the original became unavailable. - Assumptions: 1. English-speaking audience. 2. Can't use italics. - Examples: Niccolò Machiavelli, (c. 1517), 'Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius', (translated by Ninian Hill Thomson; 1883), Book I, Chapter IX, 41-45. https://archive.org/details/cu31924030435659 - Note: Not all elements are required. Modify if doing so clarifies authorship, historical context, or verifiability.

" Si uno recorre la línea de pensamiento que va de Maquiavelo a Weber, una línea que no es acumulativa ni carece de momentos de retroceso, observará cómo se atanza un modo de entender la política con una lógica propia que la distingue de otras actividades humanas con las que antes estaba demasiado vinculada e incluso confundida. La política moderna se emancipa de la religión, se diferencia de la moral, reclama una validez distinta de la de la ciencia, pugna porque la economía no la condicione demasiado. La grandeza de estos pensadores, su aportación a la democracia (pese a que algunos eran poco o nada demócratas) consistió en haber liberado a la política de un seno religioso-moral que impedía su afirmación como tal, que la sometía a dictados ajenos en una amalgama de constricciones de diverso tipo. " - Daniel Innerarity, (2025), 'La condición política: un elogio de Maquiavelo', in "Revista de Occidente" (Issue 535, December 2025) p. 127