6 Comments
Sep 23, 2020Liked by Salomé Sibonex

Nice comparison of those that are condescending of the morality of the past and those that scoff at foreign cultures when travelling. I have always found it fascinating how people switch from complete cultural relativism to moral universalism sometimes in the same breath.

Expand full comment
author

You've noticed that paradox too, huh? It is a strangely massive leap from the kind of bending over backward attitude adopted for justifying even some of the more questionable traditions in modern foreign cultures to a strict judgemental standard applied to the past.

The past is its own culture, with different beliefs, contexts, and reasoning. It holds the same foreign framework we suspend judgment of other contemporary cultures for. It's an interesting disconnect. Glad you appreciated that!

Expand full comment

You are beautiful as you are righteous. Inside and out.

Expand full comment
Aug 3, 2020Liked by Salomé Sibonex

As soon as humans became complex thinking beings that considered things like "the future" and "success" and "outcomes" we became beings whose entire lives could be shaped by something as abstract as "expectations". It's changed us mostly for the better and a little bit for the worse. Expectations of people can change everything, like beauty and the beast it's a tale as old as time

Expand full comment
author

So well said! With that evolution in mind, the tale of Beauty and the Beast can be seen not as the individual's growth, but as the ascent of the human species itself under the power of our newfound expectations.

It's a shame the idea of expectations has taken on such a negative and one-sided connotation today. Like you said, it's those very expectations that set us apart from animals and allow us to imagine and aim for goals that may not even exist yet.

Expand full comment