Someone I am vaguely acquainted with tried to make a point about the misuse of the media to create a 'both sides' narrative, rather than directly creating a path to a positive and comfortable future.
He went with Dante Alighieri.
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."
A fine phrase, and one that makes the point perfectly. Yet it's also one that exemplifies a robust quandary for me, as it should for many.
So much perfectly sensible philosophy, even laudable rational thought, springs up in the most absurd of places. The Divine Comedy is, at its core, no different from something like 50 Shades of Grey. It's self-insert fanfiction based in the universe of a story that was never worthy to be told in the first place- proven over and over again by the thoughts, words, and deeds of some of its staunchest advocates.
But does the poisonous origin invalidate the impact of the works that follow? Where does one draw the line for where you draw the core tenets of your way of life? How profound a turn of phrase can come from the last place you might ever think to look?
"Do you think God stays in heaven because He, too, lives in fear of what He's created here on Earth?"
If you don't know where that quote is from, take some time to think and then make your best guess.
Look it up afterward.
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