Pope, Integrity, and Why
“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” — Alexander Pope So, I don’t know how I feel about Pope overall (I like him better than Milton as poets go, #18thcforthewin), but I love this part of “An Essay on Man” which was quoted in conference a while back. I feel like Scott said something similar…probably in Ivanhoe . (I might rant on it in another vein some other day). The point is, society had lots of good ills, but when we normalize the ills, we do no one good and only pave the way for things to get worse. Lately, I’ve seen numerous people with similar values to me, encourage behavior that contradicts everything they stand for. They usually do this in the name of “love,” but it always strikes me as hypocrisy. They believe one thing but support another. Surprise! You can support a person without supporting immoral or even generally negative...