tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post8915851064655329216..comments2024-03-28T12:35:42.918-07:00Comments on The Forty-Five: On Giving AccountToirdhealbheach Beucailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-19655781948844313742022-12-28T16:15:28.204-08:002022-12-28T16:15:28.204-08:00Will, that is the other side of the account - even...Will, that is the other side of the account - even if there was a desire to hold various and sundry to account, there is simply not a meaningful way to do so. And if there is no longer any meaningful way to hold someone to account, that seems a lot like a tyranny to me.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-33702390952732930162022-12-28T13:27:05.519-08:002022-12-28T13:27:05.519-08:00Yes, there is definitely a lack of accountability ...Yes, there is definitely a lack of accountability from the powers that be - when was the last time that any politician or similar person in authority resigned over their mistakes or bad judgement? And, increasingly there just aren't any ways to hold them to account?Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06715674477635617592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-37975663442877750862022-12-28T07:49:51.523-08:002022-12-28T07:49:51.523-08:00Nylon12, while I try not to relate current trends ...Nylon12, while I try not to relate current trends too closely to a lose of Christianity (as it leads to unpleasant arguments and not conversations, which I try to foster here), this is one place where the cause and effect is clear. Even the Founders, who were not all Christians, all believed in some higher Deity that they in some way were accountable to - yes, I know, they did not always get it right, but what we are left with today is everyone having no sense of giving account to anyone, especially anyone "beneath" them. After all, if there is nothing after, except this general sort of "good place" which most everyone gets to based on a rather indeterminate set of rules but which the "bad people" do not (again, instinctively the "bad people" are known), what account is needed to be given on what one has done with one's life? It ultimately appears not to matter in that world view.<br /><br />The only sort of "accountability" that is current and trendy is the accountability "to each other", a phrase taken from Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I have always found it a disturbing and pernicious thought.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-86688377274296091992022-12-28T06:47:52.343-08:002022-12-28T06:47:52.343-08:00A thoughtful post TB. A loss of cultural conscious...A thoughtful post TB. A loss of cultural consciousness as you stated accompanied by a loss of believers in God. This country doesn't have the same belief in a deity as back a century or more ago.Nylon12noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-86405317702107339122022-12-28T06:10:09.741-08:002022-12-28T06:10:09.741-08:00Leigh - As humans we seem pretty good at looking e...Leigh - As humans we seem pretty good at looking everywhere but ourselves for the accountability. What disturbs me (more and more as I think of it) is that the idea that we have to give account - all of us - is something that is slipping away out of our cultural consciousness. What replaces it? Machiavelli's dictum "The end justifies the means", and historically we have seen what happens when that becomes the standard.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-63902549794984403712022-12-28T06:07:52.699-08:002022-12-28T06:07:52.699-08:00I have to admit as I have read the daily prayers o...I have to admit as I have read the daily prayers of the Orthodox Church, they sound very similar to what you are expressing. This seems to be a place that Western Christianity has very sadly fallen down on the job. <br /><br />The biggest thing for me must be my responsibility, not the responsibility of others. Ultimately I will be judged for what I did or did not do, not what happened around me.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-39713006532931559382022-12-28T05:37:51.149-08:002022-12-28T05:37:51.149-08:00Accountability is definitely not a popular concept...Accountability is definitely not a popular concept nowadays. So much easier to make excuses, point the finger elsewhere, and blame someone else. Unfortunately, this seems to be part of human nature. <br />God: "Adam?"<br />Adam: "It's Eve's fault!"<br />God: "Eve?"<br />Eve: "It's the Serpent's fault!"<br /><br />We're still in the same rut.Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02435811789823712254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-17804907422463420222022-12-28T02:50:02.794-08:002022-12-28T02:50:02.794-08:00Part of my daily prayers is asking for forgiveness...Part of my daily prayers is asking for forgiveness for my sins and my weakness for giving in to regretable actions. I ask for patience and strength to help me stay on the straight and narrow path. I acknowledge I am a sinner and hope that God can forgive me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com