Sunday, March 18, 2007
What is courage?
There is an almost certainly apocryphal exam story that floated around Princeton in my day. Supposedly, a philosophy exam asked the question, "what is courage?" Legend has it that the only A+ in the class went to a student who wrote two words in his blue book -- "This is" -- and handed it in.
May I humbly suggest that putting this bumper sticker
Via Glenn.
MORE: This one
11 Comments:
By 
Habu, at
Sun Mar 18, 02:22:00 PM:
TigerHawk,
I have a load of bumper stickers that are in a "family album " of unused bumper stickers.....why get your car keyed in a parking lot or some road raged idiot from doing you and your family harm.
I do have a Marine Corps Emblem on my window but so far so good.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sun Mar 18, 03:34:00 PM:
With moonbats like Alexis Fecteau on the loose, staying under cover is prudent.
By RandomThoughts, at
Sun Mar 18, 03:59:00 PM:
That is a really good bumper sticker. I wouldn't put it on my car, but its a lease.
TigerHawk, did you ever attend any of Brian Decoster of Big Ten Rentals tailgates or parties?
By Fausta, at
Sun Mar 18, 05:57:00 PM:
One of those, and a bumber sticker saying "I don't believe Al Gore" should get you run out of the Township and the Borough in no time!
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Sun Mar 18, 07:57:00 PM:
I think we wrongly assume that physical courage implies moral courage. Many of our politicians who have served in the armed services showed exemplary courage in fighting for their country, but have shown an unwillingness to risk unpopularity in their chosen tribe. This often progresses slowly, as a person becomes an important person in their party and does not wish to risk losing that status. We won't sell ourselves for a million dollars, but will sell parts of ourselves for a few thousand bucks a crack, until there is only a shell left.
CS Lewis suggested that courage was not a virtue in itself, but a measuring stick of how much we really cared about the other virtues.
By Pudentilla, at
Sun Mar 18, 08:21:00 PM:
ah, but honest courage would require you to add, "and if you can read this in a text message without NSA reading it too - don't thank the soi-disant conservatives; thank the traitor/faggots."
By Country Squire, at
Sun Mar 18, 08:31:00 PM:
TH,
Here are a few bumper stickers guaranteed to get you run out of Princeton on a rail:
“Earth First – We’ll strip mine the other planets later”
“I am an escapee of a political correction facility”
“Fight Global Warming – Turn on the A/C”
“Honk If You Voted For Gore – that’s the big button in the middle of your steering wheel”
“The road to Hell is paved with Liberals”
“Peace Had A Chance”
“Welcome To America – Now, Speak English!”
“Celebrate Truth Not Diversity”
By 
, at
Sun Mar 18, 10:12:00 PM:
Oxford Compact English Dictionary
Def of Hero. • noun (pl. heroes) 1 a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements
This topic reflects the continuing dumbing down of the English language. This is similar to Hannity calling all and sundry "A great American"
Is it really heroic to place a bumper sticker on your car.
I live in a pretty liberal secton of Washington, DC. Before the 04 elections I placed a Bush/Chaney sticker of the back of my wheel chair. Apart from a number of people who knew me being shocked that I supported Bush my problems were limited to a few angry stares and a half drunk crazy guy shouting at me at the top of his voice in a restaurant.
Using a bumper sticker to advertise you views may require fortitude, it is not heroic.
By Lanky_Bastard, at
Sun Mar 18, 10:23:00 PM:
Can we stop pretending Princeton is some liberal bastion? It's about as conservative as higher education comes.
By , at
Sun Mar 18, 10:32:00 PM:
I apologize for my earlier column. It was off topic.
Based upon the definition of courage I would say that the use of bumber stickers in certain situations would be courageous.
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Mar 18, 11:47:00 PM:
There seems to be some confusion on one point: no, I do not actually think that putting a bumper sticker on one's car can ever be courageous.
Lanky, Princeton the town is far to the left of most, if not all, affluent New Jersey suburbs. Princeton the university is to the left of most universities that have professional schools -- law, business and medicine -- which tend to pull a university's "average politics" rightward toward the center. Princeton is also more left wing than, say, virtually all land grant universities, and most private liberal arts colleges west of the Appalachians or east of the Sierra Nevada. It is, however, probably more conservative in its undergraduate student body than most urban universities and liberal arts colleges, which tend to attract people who are pretty left to begin with.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
