Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Deference to Jenn
Hi Jenn--Well that highschool kid was generous (if that is what you were asking.) He made good with everyone in that he was friendly, supportive of their positions and their doings, went to their parties; he’s still a best friend to me. What was wrong was that he thought football was important, like those poor kids in Hoop Dreams, and he thought this because all adults in that school, PTA, town thought it too. And yes, so right about good mentors. I can’t tell what a good mentor could be, because that would require some metaphysical position unavailable to me. A good mentor is good only because what is good is good in the way of belief.
If you extend the realm of other practices that look like or act like games, then you can include financiers, entrepreneurs, professors, all of whom are well paid. This class might be larger than the class of professional athletes. I would claim that these people are better educated than athletes, but that’s just construing education to academic ends. Athletes educate their bodies, after all. And I hear Kasparov is an asshole. So I think Chris is right. Power corrupts. I just don’t think he or I should worry about it too much. At least not retroactively. It’s impossible to be powerful forever. Every Bush becomes a Trent Lott, a Newt Gingrich eventually. You just have to keep the next Bush from being a Bush. Or something like that, which again begs the question that I have some metaphysical scheme to make that determination. But I think in Bush's case I do.
Oh well. But isn’t talking about all this fun?
Oops, forgot to sign this
Will Esposito
If you extend the realm of other practices that look like or act like games, then you can include financiers, entrepreneurs, professors, all of whom are well paid. This class might be larger than the class of professional athletes. I would claim that these people are better educated than athletes, but that’s just construing education to academic ends. Athletes educate their bodies, after all. And I hear Kasparov is an asshole. So I think Chris is right. Power corrupts. I just don’t think he or I should worry about it too much. At least not retroactively. It’s impossible to be powerful forever. Every Bush becomes a Trent Lott, a Newt Gingrich eventually. You just have to keep the next Bush from being a Bush. Or something like that, which again begs the question that I have some metaphysical scheme to make that determination. But I think in Bush's case I do.
Oh well. But isn’t talking about all this fun?
Oops, forgot to sign this
Will Esposito
