Endgame! Prequel to Book V.

Good morning and welcome back to Kumogakure School!!

Before we move to an overview of the all important Book V of Plato's Republic, I would like to comment on some additional ideas that are found in the pages of that famous discourse.

Newcomers, by the way, are urged to read all of the Endgame! series of posts, from the beginning. In this way, the reader will be able to read the various interpretations that scholars and philosophers have gleaned from Book V's subject matter, making it more comprehensible. Reading the older posts will also aid in understanding that Book V is a very big part of Plato's scheme for his ideal state, a system that I believe we are being driven towards at breakneck speed.

I would like to let it be known that Plato, while advocating a philosophical system that, on the main, I reject, is indisputably one of the most brilliant men to have ever walked the Earth. His contributions are legion. Disciplines such as Religion, Music, Law, and Politics, among others, have been impacted by the Masterful thinker, and only systems of immense antiquity, that have actively sought to keep themselves pure from any foreign influence, remain largely free of Platonic doctrine.

For example, one only need to compare the Biblical Old Testament (Tanach) to the New Testament to see the difference that a little Plato makes.

Deuteronomy 28:63 from the Tanach:

Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

1 John 1:5 from the New Testament:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

The Republic, Book II 380 b-c:

"What the poet must not be allowed to say is that those who were punished were made wretched through god's action... but if a state is to be run on the right lines, every possible step must be taken to prevent anyone, young or old, either saying or being told, whether in poetry or prose, that god, being good, can cause harm or evil to any man...

... God is the cause, not of all things, but only of good."

(Maricon, author of the first complete Christian Gospel)



This is a profound theological difference, and it serves as a good example of the influence of Platonic thought on religion, and on Christianity in particular. So much so that the first complete New Testament Gospel, Maricon's Gospel of the Lord, rejected the Hebrew Bible completely, because of the great discord between the earlier Hebraic outlook and Platonic/Non-Hebrew ideals. And it should be noted that significant Fathers of the Church were also followers of Neo-Platonism.

So in essence, while the Thinker, in my view, is fatally misguided in matters of statecraft, he is an intellectual giant whose words are worth reading with careful consideration and respect.

With this in mind, according to the Republic:

“... the prevalence of indiscipline and disease in a community leads, does it not, to the opening of law courts and surgeries in large numbers, and law and medicine begin to give themselves airs, especially when they are taken with great seriousness even by free men… And when not only the lower classes and manual workers, but also those who have some pretensions to a liberal education, need skilled doctors and lawyers, that is a pretty conclusive proof that the education in a state is disgracefully bad. For is it not a strikingly disgraceful sign of a bad education if one has to seek justice at the hands of others as one’s masters and judges because it lacks it in oneself (p. 103)?”

A damning indictment, and one that is especially true of our society. My regular readers know how the law courts have been twisted and perverted in the ironic pursuit of Platonic ideas.

History has shown us that on the main, Platonic solutions to issues of human governance often lead to the conditions that our author bemoans above. The Philosopher's greatest and most radical ideas only backfire against him, as is fitting for proposals that go against the Law of Heaven. We see this occur time and time again, and is something we should keep in mind as we explore Book V in future posts.

As an example, pre-Communist China believed that adherance to the Law was the lowest level of moral virtue, and that mankind could acheive much higher heights of morality. However with the coming of Communism, this ancient way of thinking was swept away.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that, in its quest to brainwash the people into surrendering their God given needs for family, property, and morality, the Leftist state created more poverty, ignorance, instability, and fear than it resolved.

The former Soviet Union is a prime example of this.

Looking at the West, which is rapidly embracing Third Wave and other similar political philosophies...

...Anyone with Google can read all about how the educational system of the West is crumbling, how our economies are rapidly reaching crisis mode, how the courts of law are being abused and misused [1][2], how unhealthy and bloated, conceited and vain the people (especially the women) are becoming, and how great the neglect of the ancient and noble ideas of justice, loyalty, compassion, and honor.

The author continues:

“And it’s disgraceful too to need a doctor not only for injury or regular disease, but because by leading the kind of idle life we have described we have filled our bodies with gases and fluids, like a stagnant pool, and driven the medical profession to invent names for our diseases (p. 103)…”

Disgraceful indeed.

Consider that the government has spent billions in its efforts to help children lose weight, and that the program has been a colossal failure.

According to the Detroit Free Press:

Experts agree that although most funding targets schools, parents have the greatest influence, even a biological influence, over what their children eat. Zeitler said when children slim down, it's because "their families get religion about this and figure out what needs to happen."

But often, they don't.

"If the mother is eating Cheetos and white bread, the fetus will be born with those taste buds. If the mother is eating carrots and oatmeal, the child will be born with those taste buds," said Dr. Robert Trevino of the Social and Health Research Center in San Antonio.

"If we don't reach a child before they get to puberty, it's going to be very tough, very difficult, to change their eating behavior."

Also, poorer kids are especially at risk, because unhealthy food is cheaper and more easily available than healthy food. Parents are often working, leaving children unsupervised to get snacks. Low-income neighborhoods have fewer supermarkets with fresh produce.

Please note, dear reader, that in the case of the inner city community, of which I am a member, the word parent means SINGLE MOTHER. This is a world where the words "married" and "father" are seldom heard of.

Working too many hours, with too little help, she is in no position to feed her children with the very expensive "health food" that most of us can afford.

Or maybe she doesn't care what the "little bastards" eat, so long as they leave her "the hell alone."

Or possibly she doesn't want to, doesn't know how to, or is too tired to cook. She will send her young children to the local burger joint... maybe five nights a week.

Once again, it is ironic that, thanks to the Platonically inspired feminist movement, the very conditions that our favorite philosopher laments have come to pass.

While I hate to point fingers, in this case, the blame for this sad state of affairs rests with:

1) Government for their role in advancing the feminist agenda

2) Big Business for selling us poisonous foods that we don't really need, or contain ingredients that are oh so harmful to our health (supersized fries, anyone)?

3) Women.

Why are women responsible?

By the force of law and custom, women have 100% of all responsibility for the care and feeding of children, thanks to feminism. In this country, and many countries around the world, a man has no ultimate say in the lives of his children.

WITH ALL THE RIGHTS, COMES ALL THE RESPONSIBILITY.

To be fair, women aren't getting off scott free either. They too are suffering under Leftist rule.

You know, dear reader, the present state of affairs reminds me of a passage in Harvey Mansfield's Outstanding work, Manliness.

Explaining to his readers the philosophy of Nietzsche with respect to women and the "gender-neutral society," Mansfield notes that:

"...he anticipates the gender neutral society... "women can though a few centuries of education be made into anything, even into men." It can be done, but it isn't appropriate to do. In the transition lies the real trouble, Nietzsche says... Furthermore, men will be angry because the arts and sciences will be choked up by "unheard-of dilettantism," politics will be more fantastic and partisan than ever, society will be in dissolution -- all because women, "the custodians of ancient morality and custom," have become ridiculous to themselves. Once they let go of being guardians of morality and custom, where else will they find a comparable power (Mansfield, Manliness, p. 118)?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that women (and men who are controlled by women) are indeed ridiculous to themselves today. And the primary catalyist to the formation of the "Lace Curtain" is none other than impressionable revolutionaries who studied Book V of the Republic.

The societal ills that affect us today are numerous and complicated. Feminism alone is not the cause of all of our troubles. However, Leftist feminism has done much to bring us to this unfortunate state of affairs; and in many instances, it is the driving force behind unwelcome change.

By the way dear reader, this is Plato's "managed health care" approach:

“ This then is the kind of medical and judicial provision for which you will legislate in your state. It will provide treatment for those of your citizens whose physical and psychological constitution is good; as for the others, it will leave the unhealthy to die, and those whose psychological constitution is incurably corrupt it will put to death (The Republic p. 108).”

Is this the kind of socialized medicine that Mr. Michael Moore promotes in his latest movie?

Lets hope not!!

Thank you dear visitor, for your patience. I know that today's post was long, but it is essential to the rest of my argument. All of this leads us to a critical examination of Book V of the Republic. In this section, our favorite philosopher will lay out his grand scheme for the female Guardian; one that certain groups of yesterday and today seek to impose upon our societies, leaving a trail of carnage, devastation, and corpses in its wake.

See you next crime!

Kumo.