Posted on 11/13/2009 7:35:55 PM PST by aSeattleConservative
When actor Jim Carrey was quoted as saying the following "I was thinking about it this morning, how this story ties into everything we’re going through.” “Every construct we’ve built in American life is falling apart. Why? Because of personal greed and ambition. Capitalism without regulation can’t protect us against personal greed.. . .". Carrey was right, sort of.
The "regulation" Carrey should have been talking about was Christian values (instead it was obvious he was talking about more government control via regulations). The values, customs, conventions, and norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition inform and guide a free society. Without such ordinances, society induces its decay by embracing a relativism that rejects an objective moral order. A free market economy (i.e. "capitalism") is subject to decay as well without "such ordinances".
"The current crisis sheds light on what happens when things get out of control. Dishonesty enters the picture at many levels, and the economy is threatened by a lack of trust. Without trust, the entire system collapses. This current crisis should also remind Christians that we are called to be good stewards. Everything we are, everything we do, and everything we own truly belongs to God and is to be at the disposal of Kingdom purposes. This world is not our home and our treasure is not found here. We are to do all, invest all, own all, purchase all to the glory of God."
Gordon Gekko: Greed is good.
The thought has occurred to me many times lately. The less Christian our nation becomes the more unpleasant and un-civil everything is. When God is removed from society you no longer have a society.
A really nice version of the tale: full of Christian wisdom.
That’s a stretch. Hollywood wouldn’t know values if it burnt Beverly Hills to the ground.
It is falling apart because too many want something for doing nothing and we’re getting more and more of them moving here every day. Greed and ambition are poles apart.
When Carey or any other Hollywoodtard agrees to act for the value of my salary, just “for the love of the craft”, I’ll be interested in their pontificating.
Yep. More wannabee pundits trying to sound intelligent and just throwing rhetoric out there.
This country is falling apart for a myriad of reasons.
Traditional American values are not one of those reasons. But all of the reasons have to do with abandoning those traditional values.
Adam Smith: “The uniform, constant and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition, the principle from which public and national, as well as private opulence is originally derived, is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration. Like the unknown principle of animal life, it frequently restores health and vigour to the constitution, in spite, not only of the disease, but of the absurd prescriptions of the doctor.”
The Wealth of Nations, Book II Chapter III
yes, right, I’m supposed to take advise and think this guy is wise.... this sick in the head pretend actor.... I don’t think so...speak for yourself, I am not greedy, nor are those I live everyday life with.
Puritan Work Ethic:
“The Puritans declared the sanctity of all honorable work. In so doing, they rejected a centuries-old division of callings into “sacred” and “secular”… This Puritan rejection of the dichotomy between sacred and secular work has far-reaching implications.
It judges every honorable job to be of intrinsic value, and integrates every vocation with a Christian’s spiritual life. It makes every job consequential by regarding it as the arena for glorifying and obeying God and for expressing love (through service) to a neighbor.”
Puritan Work Ethic: the Dignity of Life’s Labors
Christianity Today, October 1979, p. 15
The greatest advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science and literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.
Milton Friedman
A Christmas Carol was written pretty much as an allegory. It is the depiction of the sinful man and his redemption. Dickens purposely used the Christian message of salvation to show how love and sacrifice can change lives. Most people do not realize this even though the story is replete with Christian allusions.
Re-read my post. You didn’t catch the jist of it.
You also didn’t get the gist of my post. Re-read it.
Greed and ambition can be poles apart. I guess it depends on if your ambition is fueled by greed. People that have responded to my thread don’t realize that it was based on Judeo-Christian values, something Carrey didn’t even mention. “A sense of fair play” is what keeps the free market running smoothly. Without it, you have to have government intervention, i.e. big brother constantly looking over your shoulder.
It’s too bad that Hollywood didn’t do that with Carrey’s version. But then, will Hell freeze over before we see that sort of thing coming from Hollywood? (You never know; Hollywood has been making some pretty good pro-life movies in the past few years).
Well said. Government then becomes “god”.
LOL!
No one has the right to deny a person the fruits of his labor, even if it is based solely on greed (provided those fruits were made ethically). My thread was based on the concept of “fair play” by using Judeo-Christian principles.
When I think of greed, I think of major corporations that have sold out American workers by taking their factories to China where they can get slave labor.
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