The Triumph of the Good Samaritan

Those trying to justify parasitic behaviors often invoke the language of charity and compassion. But true charity is about enforcing a superior form of life.

Managing Editor Ash Milton has come out with a new article on the nature of charity, neighborly love, and how those two concepts get weaponized in a low-trust society.

It seems like everyone has a story of a relative or friend who has at one point succumbed to drugs, mental illness, or the other pressures of modern life. On the societal level, homelessness has grown to such a point where tent cities, street violence, and mental health crises are greeted with indifference by passerby—all anyone does is avert their eyes. While there is an entire industry centered around rights for the homeless, their vision of acceptance for the homeless community puts no expectations on their actual reintegration into society:

By rhetorically re-premising neighborly duties as a one-way relationship of tribute and deference paid to the wretched by society, they rendered the very moral concepts they invoked useless. They demanded neighborly duties from strangers but provided no possibility of those involved ever becoming anything like real neighbors to each other.

Ash contrasts this with the congregation of a small Byzantine church he encountered some years ago. There, he was impressed not only by the warmth and mutual care of its parishioners, but also how people contributed to its social fabric:

This openness did not entail a lack of obligations. In a small community, things only happen because people do the work. Someone has to bring the food for common meals. Someone has to chant and read and assist at the altar. Someone has to prepare the eucharistic gifts. There was no central directive for most of these things. Instead, people took them on through personal callings and individual encouragement. I was surprised that it was sometimes those dealing with the greatest personal struggles who were the most dedicated to their roles, which became stable anchors in their lives.

People who are strung-out or in a bad place in their life can be transformed into “anchors” of a community as Ash writes, and new patterns of life can lift them out of the social stagnation they are surrounded by. Building up from there, a vital new culture can be born. But a superior form of life today will demand the awareness and reciprocity of social duties. It’s up to us figure out how.

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Here’s what’s been on the front page lately:

The Triumph of the Good Samaritan by Ash Milton. Those trying to justify parasitic behaviors often invoke the language of charity and compassion. But true charity is about enforcing a superior form of life.

When Every Child Is a Choice by Ginevra Davis. As a normal life becomes more difficult for middle class parents to acquire, optimizing a child’s upbringing for educational and career success has become the norm—but at great expense. Is there another way?

The Answer Is Better Gangs by Seth Largo. As long as criminal enterprises offer the best gangs around, kids will continue to enter them. The question is where the better gangs could be.

Why I Live in San Francisco by Chris Robotham. San Francisco is upstream of America, and its social crises are spilling across the country. It is also the best place to find a path out.

“At the Edge of Life” With Pietro Boselli. Pietro Boselli is a model, mechanical engineer, and adventurer. He discusses the value of many sources of experience, trusting your instincts, and death-defying solo trips into the unknown.

That’s all for now.