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submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago

The book Candide by Voltaire is a must for you! The main genesis of the story was Voltaire mocking a philosophy of "everything is going to be ok".

One of my favorite parts is there is a huge fire and the fire brigade is trying to put it, on All Saints day of course! Candide and his philosophical teacher/mentor is arguing with the guy in charge and the guy gets tired of them arguing about it and just picks up Candide's mentor and tosses him in the fire.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I've read it in high school, many years ago :D It was one of the 2-3 assigned readings that the class clearly enjoyed over all those four years (along with Decameron and Crime and Punishment).

As far as I remember, it parodies the philosophical (or theological) idea by Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds, which is supposed to explain why God allows it to be apparently so shitty - it's still the best you can get. IMO it's not really fair to just describe it as "everything is going to be ok", as you and Voltaire do, because the original idea is not really optimistic or pessimistic with regards to what you can expect of the world, it is in fact just deeply apathetic (and a bit dumb).

The difference in the meme here is that "everything is going to be ok" is not a hard philosophical law, but a conspiracy theory, going aginst the accepted or obvious knowledge. It suggests some active, nefarious force behind the scenes, unlike Leibniz's inertia.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

The beautiful theme that it truly is the best of all worlds for Candide, at the expense of everyone he meets. It's utter bullshit that sometimes one person can get away with a lot of shit when they are arrogant and ignorant

[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Everything will be okay for some definitions of okay. The human species may well go extinct in the next few centuries, after which it will be free of worry and tribulation.

Here in the US, things may explode in three months or three years or thirty years, depending on how bad our natural disasters are and if we can monkey-wrench the unrelenting march of the Heritage Foundation and the transnational white power movement.

On a more mystical note, its Year of the Dragon (like 2000 and 2012) and should be a year of growth and opportunity, Y2K bugs that weren't that bad and Republicans cheating to get into the White House.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024

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