Is there anything wrong with a lifestyle of sleep all day and game all night? If you have the financial means to live that way, what’s the harm in the sloth life? Sloth is an ancient, picturesque word for laziness. Diligence is the antidote.
Bill Whittle and Zo Rachel start their new series — The Virtue Signal — by examining the 7 deadly sins, and their contrary virtues. See the whole series at our Virtue Signal archive.
The video below is hosted at Rumble.
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34 replies on “Sleep All Day, Game All Night: If You Have the Cash What’s the Harm in the Sloth Life?”
Loving this.
I’m haunted by this discussion, especially combined with Bill’s episode on The Power of Wanting. Unfortunately, I’m also frustrated by this episode and series. Luckily, I believe the flaw I see is correctable..
My personal solution to inertia was a little strategy called “1, 2,3”. That basically was a little promise to myself to count to three whenever I recognized Sloth (AKA inertia) in myself – – Upon reaching 3 in the count, I promised to just do whatever it was I was hesitating to do. This ultimately became a habit that made me both a happier and more productive human being.
Zo’s point though is very well taken, as well as the fact he reflexively responded to Bill, saying that these virtues don’t exist in a vacuum. I.e., Bill provided nice examples of Diligence, but in so doing he naturally used the words “I” and “you”. Further, he pre-supposed all sorts of stuff that traditional Philosophy doesn’t – Stuff like the self-concept needed for Diligence, or the beliefs about existence and consciousness that are also needed. Most people think that stuff is irrelevant or too intellectual, but if we lack it then we lack the needed foundation upon which Individualism, Capitalism, and conservatism rely.
In traditional Philosophy, this foundation is called Metaphysics and it is one of 5 layers. The upper layers include Ethics and Politics. I learned that if we can’t distinguish and integrate presuppositions on each layer then I can get easily fooled into making bad very decisions; especially those based on “good” intentions.
Bill alluded to a larger context for the series and that’s where I hope you guys can connect The Power of Wanting to these virtues and vices. You see, if we are to not just conserve, but re-build a better America, we must be crystal clear on the relationship between these virtues and vices as well as their derivation. That crystal clarity and virtue – call it Integrity – then should then be the thing we re-builders of America – want. In fact, we need to be taught, trained, and encouraged to want such Integrity MORE (and that is the key) than any other vice!
My suggestion then is that this series teach us how to recognize Dis-integration and Mis-integration, and then contrast that with a love for Integrity.
Bill, Scott, Steve, and now Zo, you guys are great role models for this. Please help us as your proxies be equally influential!
(By the way, there is a fantastic ancient website that lays this integration out graphically, check it out! http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Chart.html. Another, and perhaps the absolute greatest resource is Leonard Piekoff’s The DIM Hypothesis.)
I have a problem with treating it as if the connection to Christianity is necessary… even if you sincerely believe it is, and for that matter, even if you are right.
The thing is, you come off as no different from the people who claim that all whites are inherently racist, and while they expect you to do everything you can to change for the better and to atone for being white, you’ll still be racist and evil anyway.
Remember how you react to that? Remember why?
If you try to teach people who have not already accepted Christianity to be virtuous, but the result is acting as if yes, you want them to try to act virtuously, but if they don’t become Christian it doesn’t matter because they’re all going to Hell anyway…. how do you expect to be received any differently than the “all whites are racists” SJWs?
Mrs. Ron recently retired from her first career after 32 years. She had laid out plans for second career, and boom Covid changed that. She has been having some daily difficulties getting motivated. When we talked about she said – I have no purpose anymore. We diligently started to find areas where she could feel useful and needed because she wasn’t ready to sit on the couch and play videos.
Humans have a need deep down to be productive and useful. That means something different to everyone. But we all have it and when it is not there, we get sad and depressed.
“We should never underestimate how psychologically weakening and damaging it is to be forced to treat as true something that is not true, with the effect strengthening the more obviously false it is.”
https://newdiscourses.com/2020/12/psychopathy-origins-totalitarianism/
Not being steeped in social science jargon, this piece was a bit difficult for me to get through, but if you’re able to wade through it, you may find it relevant. A major life change like retirement is always challenging, but doing it at the time our betters are turning the country upside-down is unimaginable. Best of luck to you both.
I would say that the damage of sloth is that a slothful person is purposeless.
I commented earlier on the subject of greed, and remarked that every single person who made an advance in human capabilities was trying to get the same or better results than his neighbors, using less money, less resources, less work, less time. In other words he was, by the standards of his own culture, greedy and lazy.
Lazy, sure… but not slothful, in fact he was diligent. He was, within his sphere of activity, going for the leaderboard.
The guy who just plays video games may be going for the leaderboard, too… but nothing he’s doing connects to the real world. The guy who competes as a video gamer, his passion connects back to the real world, it’s his actual job. His passion is diligent.
That’s about as much as I have on this subject, expect to toss in something a friend of mine once told me.
Boredom: The Silent Killer of Marines.
See? Lack of purpose can be literally deadly.
In his novel “Time Enough For Love” Heinlein has the main character tell a story titled “The man too lazy to fail”. Basically about a guy smart enough to see the easy way to do things. Who accomplished a lot but by always wanting to make his life less arduous. It is an interesting story within a story.
This is a good discussion, but as a new member, I tried to watch it here, but it stalled out. Fortunately, the link to Rumble worked and I saw it there. I am paying $9.95 per month for your service, but it is not working as seamlessly as your same page on Rumble. I can comment on your videos on rumble without paying the $9.95 per month. I am beginning to doubt that your site will perform as I am hoping.
Joseph – First – welcome aboard and glad to have you. Second -please be patient. The link to Rumble is new as previously they used the YT link. It worked well but the site is trying to divorce itself from YT / FB etc. When Rumble first came out, they used that link and it was . . . bad. In a cross the streams kind of way. This so far is better though not without its own growing pains. In the meantime, you have >5000 new friends to meet here.
Thank you Ron, I am continuing to test the site as time permits. If I start a blog post here, is the content truly mine?
Yes on Yeshua ….following the Light will eliminate that emptiness in a sloth. I think today, with “participation awards” ….there is no longer any goals to achieve in sports, and counting your victim “virtues” doesn’t require much effort.
I think I would avoid playing devil’s advocate. We have enough of that from our opponents. I think we need a strong singular message.
I just got through discussing this with my high school students. We read Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, and seven of the characters each embody one of the seven deadly sins.
The PRIMARY meaning of sloth (in the context of the seven deadly sins) is the spiritual version Bill mentioned. (Also, props to Bill for finding a modern Jesuit with an honest take on sin! They are a rare breed nowadays!)
Also, that kind of sloth not pronounced like the animal (the common pronunciation) but with a long o (as in “home”).
Thus, the character in the novel (Padre Gallegos) exhibits sloth because he can’t be bothered to perform his priestly responsibilities even though he is VERY active with fun social engagements and the like. He’s lazy, but only where it counts, spiritually.
Not for certain, but that modern Jesuit may be member here, Robert McTeigue who hosts a show called the Catholic Current and had Bill on as a guest in January. search for TheCatholicCurrent or TheStationoftheCross. You can find the show with Bill in the Listen on Demand section toward the bottom of the catholic current show page.
It will be good when we get to the Sins of Greed and Pride. Is it possible to have/want too much?
And when are we too good for other people?
And what of the non-monetary virtues: Honesty, humility, and Courage?
Greed has been done.
Zo, God did not have to snap his fingers, “He spoke and the world came into being by the power of his word.” (Jesus is the word-logos) BTW- I have read all the word many times over and still do every day.
I used to work with a guy who resented me for “doing all the fun jobs.” When I’d turn over one of those “fun jobs” to him, he’d then exclaim (with astonishment every single time), “This is really hard!” Economists tell us that scarcity creates value. From the very moment we are born, our time is an ever-diminishing resource. Each resource so generously granted us is both a blessing and an obligation. I rue the poor souls who’ve never been shown that to enjoy any resource’s highest or best use demands sufficient maintenance. There’s no escaping it; we all pay admission to Planet Earth. What we get in return for that price of admission is fairly proportional to what we put in.
Had a colleague like that once. She always complained I got to “go out of the house” (go to satellite client offices). So one day I brought her along. Never been more embarrassed. We were there to prepare evidence for hearings in a backlogged county that was trying to catch up. I completed packets for seven hearings to be held ten days from when we were there, she did not complete one. Instead, she socialized. I had told her that, hard as I worked in the office, I worked twice as hard when out of the office, because I wanted to be able to keep working out of the office (Often, they were closer to home). She was actually detrimental, as she tied up other people’s time.
Yeah . . . and oftentimes what they tie you up with is incessant moaning about how much work they have to do. Funny how the ones actually doing the work don’t spend much time complaining about it. People who don’t value their own time seem to have little to no conception that others value theirs. The participation trophy movement deluded its victims into equating their mere presence with accomplishment. Multiple employers have told me that recent entrants to the workforce truly have no idea that they are required to perform actions that benefit their employer in exchange for their pay. I hate to sound like the old codger crabbing about “these kids of today,” but we really are in new territory in our postmodern age. My local grade school has a sign out in front that says “You are the best possible you!” Every time I go by it, I want to tack a bigger one below it that says, “No you’re not! Kids, don’t buy into that touchy-feely BS – no matter how old you get, there’s always room for improvement. That’s what keeps life interesting!”
Think of how educational it would be if they simply changed the sign to “You can be the best possible you!”
I like it! Of course, that would require an education intelligentsia that wants the kids to improve and believes in the values that achieve it. It’s easier to manipulate and control the amoral and ignorant, don’t you know.
We all know. Look at the last election….
Have a friend who has been very successful. They usually hire from typical good state schools, but one time hired a guy fresh out from Ivy. When he got there and got his work for the day, he asked his manager – where’s my staff? Manager answered – You are the staff. Very entitled guy. They went back to hiring from the state schools, people who know how to be diligent and productive.
You’ve just discovered the 80/20 Rule: 80% of the work in any organization is done by 20% of the people. Our challenge is to find out what, exactly, motivates that 20% … and inculcate it across the slacking 80%.
Beatings and/or fear of starvation worked for millennia. Now . . . who knows? It’s so too bad that the joke’s on the slackers who deny themselves the satisfaction experienced those of us who actually enjoy working and the challenge of using our time to the best of our ability, no matter how mundane the task – especially on the ones we’ve all encountered who work harder at work avoidance than they would at the actual job. We do know one thing for certain – what doesn’t work is setting up the slackers for failure by rewarding them regardless of their results.
Balance. Throughout my life, I have struggled with. Raising a family of 6 helped ground me as far as priorities, that is what to spend time and effort on, but also carving out time for me to help clear my head for the next set of family challenges and responsibilities. Balance is the key to avoid burnout, and we must allow our soul mate the same room to recharge, even if their sense of responsibily tells them otherwise. Some of us spend much time nurturing a garden, but not each other. It is the same.
Being a sloth is living a life without purpose
I make it a point to be a sloth on occasion. Maybe once a month. Being like that every day would be depressing and sad.
Timely episode. Did you see this?
NBC News Slams Dolly Parton’s Super Bowl Ad (pjmedia.com)
I just saw you guys switched over to Rumble. Good deal. My membership well spent.
Only one comment from me. Every so often, I need a “sloth break”. That is, do as little as possible, be a couch potato. The Bible mandated a day of rest every 7 days. Otherwise, you can get burnt out. The problem is sloth to extreme. (Note: unless my dogs are in a kennel, I don’t get the whole day off. They won’t let me.)
I work two jobs, seven days a week. Some days, I definitely feel like slothing it. And, admittedly, some days I probably do “work book slow down” it. I get the need to occasionally do nothing. Maybe more than many, because I generally don’t have such a luxury. But, when I do, I can’t seem to do nothing for too long.
“Then freedom is not for you”.
Sadly, that’s the deeper issue under the problem of sloth