Inspired by a post by LB Lee

As much as I don’t want to die, I love the fact that I live in a world where Saddam Hussein was not capable of living forever. That which is petty and selfish and cruel may outlast me, or I may outlast it, but when both of us are dead, there will be people who are alive and free of us.

There are people who approach this in a different way: that which lives forever is not conceptualized as petty and selfish and cruel, even if it acts that way. This can be a religious thing, but it doesn’t have to be, like when a fantasy author assumes that elves or dragons will automatically impress readers with their long-lived magnificence. The elves or dragons don’t actually do anything that would cause me to have any respect for them. If anything, they’re much more selfish than the humans I’m supposed to think are insignificant by comparison. It’s just treated as tautological: they’re magnificent because they’re magnificent.

(The other concept I am very, very glad not to believe in is karma, but that’s a completely different rant.)

In response to a post by Discoursedrome

The problem isn’t that we elect major politicians based on whether we want to have a beer with them. The problem is that there’s such a thing as a major politician who has more important job responsibilities than being someone you want to have a beer with. Anything important that can be done by a president can be done better by a congress or council. A president’s job should be as a national mascot (or in W’s case, a court jester.)