Sanity Rules

The latest Sanity Squad podcast is up.

The topics of discussion this week include the unfolding events in Pakistan. The Squad got into a heated debate as to what events in that country mean for the future of that nation. In this instance, we are not of one mind (insert schizophrenia or other MPD joke here). We also discussed Hillary Clinton and her attempts at managing a campaign that seems to be slipping out of her control.

This week’s broadcast was hosted by the always erudite Shrinkwrapped. The world famous pipe smoking, sport coat with leather elbow patches attired oenophile and gourmet psychiatrist did a marvelous job of corralling the herd of massive egos that are the Sanity Squad (a job made easier by our own humble and self effacing selves).

Join Shrink, Neo, Dr Sanity and ourselves as we plumb the minds and meanings of current realities and personalities in the news in this latest installment of the Sanity Squad podcast.

Think of our podcasts as a shortcut to smart.

It’s All Natural

Last week, the Anchoress wrote, Iraq And Warming: A Study In Irony. The piece is understated in many ways, not the least of which is in how we define and understand stewardship.

Is parenting a kind stewardship? If so, how do we determine the different kinds of stewardship as it applies to infants and teenagers? When do we guide, when do we interfere and when do we let nature takes it’s course?

For decades, it was public policy to eradicate all forest fires, all in the name of conservation. Eventually we learned that we learned that nature has a remarkable and complex capacity to take care of herself. Now, we allow nature to take her course and and in many instances, fires burn without intervention. After Mount St Helen’s erupted in 1982, experts predicted a moonscape for decades, if not longer. Within a few years, nature proved all the experts wrong as life established itself again and with great tenacity. Forests have been reborn and animals have returned- all despite the dire warnings of the experts.

Of course, if there is kind and benign stewardship there can also be malignant and repressive stewardship.

Human nature is as part of the natural world as anything else. The great attempts to ’steward’ human nature in the past, all in the name of Utopian ideals have all resulted in failure and misery. Can- or should- human beings be subject to any kind of stewardship imposed on them?

We want to write further on what is or isn’t stewardship. That isn’t easy. With each effort, we find the ‘plot thickens.’ For example, Pervez Musharraf declared martial law in Pakistan and people are up in arms at the suspension of civil rights in that nation. What if reinstating constitutional rights leads to mass violence and death? What if reinstating civil rights were to provide radical Islamists the platform with which to impose a vicious and violent Sharia Law on Pakistan? Attacks on churches and Christians are not uncommon in that nation, all in the name of God. Does the reality that women, gays and Christians might be subject to random violence in the name of religion provide some justification for Musharraf’s actions? These questions aren’t academic. Religious violence in Pakistan has long been seething and has nothing to do with America, Iraq or Israel.

Recent events in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan have forced us to reconsider our thoughts on the meaning stewardship. The current presidential campaign only highlights and emphasizes the issues of political stewardship of the benign and not so benign varieties.

We will have more to say on stewardship as we attempt to make another attempt at corralling the very ethereal components and fine lines that distinguish between benign and malignant stewardship. Read the Anchoress post for a really good primer.

Allowing nature to take it’s course appears to be a lot more complicated than it sounds.