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What is Evil?

Revisado: 12-15-24

I’ll be honest, after reading this text, I’m still not really sure it helped me form a seriously concrete definition. What it did do, however, is help me to understand what we should NOT define as evil. The text, like any, should be understood in the historical time and context(s) in which it was written, which in this case was at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. This is especially important because, to The West (especially my country, the USA), evil was best understood as our enemies in the War on Terror: radical Islamism, and rogue states such as North Korea. Surely, if anything is evil, those enemies must be! Not so fast, says Eagleton, as he breaks down the problem with this understanding of evil. That’s really just a somewhat minor portion of the text, yet it seems to me this text wouldn’t have been written, or at least not when it was written, had we not been nearly a decade into that war on terror, and of course just moved past perhaps the most blood soaked century in history (of course he also explores the horrors of the 20th century).

Across the text he dives into a good deal of literature, as he’s done in nearly every text of his that I’ve read up to this point. It certainly helps to have familiarity with the texts he uses as examples in exploring the subject matter, though it’s not necessary to get the points he’s making (I am not very familiar with most of these texts, save for Paradise Lost). It also helps to be somewhat familiar with the most violent events of the 20th century, though again it’s not necessarily required (I think this is more important than familiarity with the literature he explores). He mostly explores these sources to examine what’s been understood as evil, as opposed to using them to help define what it definitely is.

Ultimately, I spent much of the text feeling uncertain of where he was going, and often feeling I was maybe in over my head a bit, in spite of enjoying the ride. I’ll say that it’s definitely the “last chapter”, what here is described as “end credits”, where I really felt I was getting the most out of the text. That’s where I often felt the best insights where being made most clear, and where I felt I was really understanding some important and deep points that I maybe hadn’t thought of so clearly before, if at all.

Highly recommended for any fans of Eagleton, first and foremost, but also for those philosophically and politically minded who are really interested in the idea of “evil”. This may be one of those texts best absorbed as an actual book, but it’s not necessarily difficult.

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Fire, Fury, and Love

Revisado: 12-08-24

As I don’t have the time to say everything I’d like about this great, fiery text, I’ll emphasize that this is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of race, racism, and the fight for justice (not merely racial) in America.

Lately I’ve been reading (listening to) as much Baldwin as I have the time/ability to, and I only wish I’d done so when I was younger. Not that I think it would have differently shaped my perspective in any radical way, but rather that I think this kind of beautiful writing, fiction and non, would have made my younger mind all the better for it. In this, perhaps Baldwin’s most celebrated nonfiction, I don’t find myself agreeing with 100% of Baldwin’s claims (eg, I think he’s too harsh on the communists), but I find myself moved by all he has to say, and how he says it.

What I would want to emphasize most in my little review is that Baldwin has reminded me of the importance of LOVE in the fight for justice, and in the analysis of the past and present. Love doesn’t mean excuses, it needn’t even mean forgiveness all the time, but without it one is at risk of losing their humanity, especially when dealing with the fight for justice in the face of humanity’s most merciless cruelty. A necessary part of the antidote is love. It’s not all we need, it’s not enough to win our battles, but it is a necessity if we’re to maintain all that makes us beautiful as humanity. This point perhaps more than any other moves me the most reading Baldwin, especially this work.

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Brilliant Essays

Revisado: 11-24-24

Brilliant insights from one of the great minds of the 20th century, in this my first “reading” of his nonfiction work.. I’d read and heard small parts of “The Fire Next Time”, something common when one studies the civil rights movement in the US, and watched his brilliant debate performance against his opponent, right wing celebrity/writer, William F, Buckley Jr., but this is my first actual “reading” of any of his nonfiction essay collections. It was excellent. I’ll be buying a paper version when I find it.

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Truly Incredible..

Revisado: 11-19-24

At risk of writing an essay on this, I’m just going to highly recommend it to anyone interested in great autobiographical fiction, great writing, brilliant narrative, and frankly moving, conflicting, intensely human themes…

I’m not a good enough thinker or writer to put into words all I’m feeling after reading this, but as someone who grew up in similarly religious environments (though white, and 60-70 years later), who struggled to cling to religious fire in hopes it would destroy my teenager (not hetero) lust, who grew up with a hypocritical deacon step father, etc, I really highly related to John’s struggle.. Too much of this is oh so familiar, but also much of it falls far outside my experience, most obviously not being a black man growing up in Harlem while Jim Crow raged at peak power in The South.. Still, I have empathy, and just felt taken on a roller coaster up spiritual heights and valleys, jerked around between the themes of light and darkness, the struggle and ecstasy of the spirit and the carnal. So much intensity packed into a relatively short listen.

Anyway, this is becoming much longer than intended. The last point I really want to emphasize is the brilliance of the performance. This is one of the best narrations I’ve ever listened to, fiction or nonfiction. Brilliant work! 10/10

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Michael’s Only Book

Revisado: 07-24-24

I remember shortly after this book was published that Michael already was way over talking the IDW, and he was much more interested in expanding on the “Cosmopolitan Socialism” aspect of the text. Really, the IDW as anything approaching a coherent group (never truly was) was already over by the time the book was published, but the answer to the IDW types, and to liberalism, conservative or “progressive”, was still relevant, and remains so. Hell, some of these IDW guys are still popular, and so these critiques still stand, but imo the solutions part is so much more important.

Michael had a way with inspiring us. All these years later, he’s deeply missed. I actually got choked up at the end there, knowing he never got to expand on “cosmopolitan socialism”, let alone keep inspiring us to fight for socialism, and against reaction, in general.

RIP Michael Jamal Brooks, and thank you, comrade.

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Beautiful Wisdom

Revisado: 04-09-24

Finally got round to it after many years meaning to read it.. Listening to it will do for now, but I will return to it in text form again. It’s too good and too quick not to. This book is for thinkers, seekers, hedonists, and the faithful, all alike.

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A Beautiful Strange Trip

Revisado: 12-17-23

Even if one don’t love the band, but of rock n roll or jazz, I think this is worth listening to. If you are a fan, then this is essential.

I’m really glad I decided to break up my normal media consumption with a beautiful story that happens to be a true story. This brought me joy, sadness, some laughter, and above all inspiration. It was worth every minute, and I’ll probably buy the book.

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Excellent Introduction/101 Level Book

Revisado: 10-24-23

Ignore the claims of “bias”, and research further to substantiate this books claims. The criticism of the format is valid enough (it’s part interview, part essays, part Chomsky address to UN), but the contents are still valuable particularly to those who’ve never read up on the history of the “conflict” up through about 2014. I don’t think this should be the sole book one reads on the subject, but I gave it a high rating regardless as an introductory text. This is a fine jumping off point with the insights of historians and activists who know what they’re talking about.

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Great Nietzsche Intro/101

Revisado: 01-04-23

If you are relatively or completely unfamiliar with Nietzsche, then this course is a fantastic introduction. I say this as someone not unfamiliar with Nietzsche, but also by no means well read when it comes to his work. I’ve read some of his work, but listened to quite a lot of lectures on the man, his philosophical insights, “progeny” (impact on existentialism and poststructuralism), enough that I consider myself to have a novice level familiarity. This familiarity is where I’m coming from when I say I think this is a great introduction, so take that for what it’s worth.

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Great Book (Ok Recording)

Revisado: 12-05-22

The book itself was great, and I particularly learned a lot about Nietzsche I didn’t know before. Overall, I think the author succeeded in making their point that (their reading) Nietzsche and Marx can be reconciled, in spite of Nietzsche’s problematic, reactionary politics, particularly his renouncing of the socialism he was aware of, and his belief that Greek style aristocracy was the preferable form of government/social organization. The author does a good job of showing that the socialism he was aware of was likely not Marxist, but the same socialists who Marx was critical of.

At any rate, I unfortunately couldn’t give the performance more than three stars, not because of the reader (the author), but because of some issues with the recording itself. These aren’t merely mistakes on the author’s part, but somehow certain parts were edited together in such a way where sections are being read together simultaneously, thereby making a few minutes of the book unintelligible. I planned on buying the actual text anyway, so I’ll find out what those sections actually said, but it was disappointing to run into the problem when it arose (two times I think, three at most). It didn’t prevent me from getting the gist of the chapters where it happened, so I wouldn’t let it be a reason to not get the audiobook, but I feel I would be a dishonest review to not point it out.

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