Taking the Pithos - Part Four

October 08, 2021

Taking the Pithos - Part Four

When the elegant presentation of exceedingly important information is not treated seriously by persons in positions of power and authority, responding wisely tends to require satire.

What do you know about the muse of satire?

What, for example, do you know about saving the world especially carefully on Friday afternoons?

How do you attempt to outwit a political buffoon on any afternoon?

The metamorphosis of politics is especially urgent at present.

Where have you most recently been reporting upon political improvements?

Perhaps you have difficulty answering that question.

When have you ever reported upon political improvements, and to whom?

The Muse of the World is also the muse of suitable satire. She is also the Spirit of Enlightenment.

Suitable satire is always enlightening to the people requiring enlightenment.

As chief executive officer of the International Training Centre for the Harmonious Interplay of Beauty, Understanding and Magnificence, the Muse of the World/Spirit of Enlightenment seeks to enhance your political and satirical activities as effectively as possible. The Revolutionary Climatological Needlework Committee is happy to assist, of course.

If you are currently unfamiliar with the earlier records in this series, please do update yourself immediately:

How has the sky been pressing down on you recently?

Who has been bothering you and why?

How have you been thinking about etiology and poetry and politics and satire and corruption?

There is still much aggression to address, including financial aggression.

What have you been doing already in that regard this month?

If you think you have been practicing political philanthropy quite diligently over the past few years, how do you know you have not accidentally thrown a large amount of secret money into a tax haven?

The members of the Secular Order of the Perpetual Wait have been anticipating your suitable contributions towards political improvement for a considerable time now. They have received no evidence that you are actually philanthropic at all. You apparently take much more than you give.

With COP26 beginning at the end of this month, the politically corrupt will be gathering to pretend they are not corrupt at all. Yet the most corrupt will probably make excuses and not bother turning up.

What do you intend doing?

Perhaps you will be like a sheep rather than a shepherd. Or maybe you will be like a fox.

How have you been assessing the human condition over the past few weeks?

There continues to be much to consider.

How are you, as a matter of fact, taking on the kleptocracy and its hubris?

Who are the people using state resources as their own property?

Many of those people practice toxic positivity to distract attention from their greed.

Others pretend to be highly seriousness as a way to cover up their own immorality.

So, how should satirists respond?

How do you ensure your own satire never strays into slander or libel, particularly in societies with unjust defamation laws?

The Revolutionary Climatological Needlepoint Committee assesses intentions very seriously indeed, though never hypocritically or cruelly.

All the most esteemed digital organisations in this virtual vicinity assess intentions very seriously, too.

What do you do?

Preparing properly for COP26 obviously requires much research, even though the even will inevitably be a failure in terms of future public policy, and possibly even future private investment.

The necessary requirements of policy and investment are immense.

How do you distinguish between comedy, tragedy, politics, satyr plays and satire?

Perhaps you often use a lyre or something similar to help bring a liar to justice.

There are many ways to address important matters.

Perhaps you regard satyrs as much like ordinary men.

Perhaps you regard anthropogenic climate change as a curse to be removed.

Perhaps you regard political satire as too dangerous to practice in most parts of the world, in much the same way as quality political journalism.

The purpose of both, of course, is to hold powerful people to account for their actions, and especially for ignoring corruption.

There are many people in the world who are suffering from severe mental health problems. Perhaps you are one of them.

What would make you feel better, in your view?

What do you really want to happen and what is preventing it from happening?

Whether you have severe mental health problems or not, how do you respond to various persons who do have such experiences?

What do you know about the madness of excessive revenge?

What do you know about the madness of obscene greed?

What do you know about the madness of hubris?

What do you know about the madness of cruel indifference to suffering?

What have you been learning through satire?

Why is real life so much like dystopian fiction in the 21st century?

Why is politics so often like dark comedy?

Why is real life for the most vulnerable people so much like a horror film?

How should the public respond to reality?

How should artists respond?

How should good people organise to confront the harm caused by bad people, particularly excessively rich ones?

The supernatural has done nothing to protect the vulnerable from harm, even though some people may misguidedly view their own good fortune that way.

Belief in protection from the supernatural often leads to hubris, as does belief in protection from powerful organisations, groups and friends.

Kleptocrats, like oligarchs, plutocrats and dictators, consistently practice hubris.

Most people lack the leadership qualities necessary in order to respond wisely.

Perhaps you regard political leadership as a joke.

Perhaps you think politicians make a mockery of democracy.

Perhaps you think wealthy rock musicians make a mockery of poverty by dressing down scruffily.

Who is taking the pithos, and why, and how?

What is heavy to you?

And what is heavenly to you?

How helpful are you, and to whom?

The Revolutionary Climatological Needlepoint Committee hopes you understand its work very well indeed by now.

Yet persuading you to help make the world a much better place than it would be without you is not easy. You seem to think politics is a joke, even though you are meant to be an enlightened world leader.

What should the committee do to persuade you to take your responsibilities seriously?

Perhaps you do not really care about the suffering in the world. Most politicians do not care. That is why they want the unpaid, underpaid, inadequately trained and overworked to provide care instead.

What are your goals and the plans to achieve them?