Pity is a vice?

Pietas

Achilles had no pity. And as far as much as we could deduct, Achilles was probably the finest man of all time. His sword and his beer had no pity, and reading the Iliad by Emily Wilson… it is so amazing to me how zero pity he feels when killing all these people.

What is also interesting to me is I think I’m modern daytimes, it seems that the primary problem we suffer is that we are made to feel bad, guilty etc. in the context of war, killing etc.

For example,  America is very bizarre… We are a protestant Christian nation, which means we follow the teachings of Jesus, one of the first things is do not kill. Yet we have to brainwash these 18-year-old boys to kill people in the Middle East, with guns, and certainly the PTSD you will experience is the guilt of I suppose “delivering justice” yet,  moral and ethically your taught from a very very young age that killing is evil and morally reprehensible.

Suppose the issue here then is war, the military industrialized complex, is a commoditized thing. For example for Achilles, it was very simple… He desired revenge for the death of Patroclus, very similar to how John Wick wanted revenge for the Alfie guy killing his dog, which his dead wife left behind for him.

And even myself, I don’t really care for dogs, I get it… Not only that but it was a puppy!

Revenge has to be personal?

I suppose the nuance is revenge, killing has to be personal. It cannot be a non-, once again the issue with modern day war is that it is a bunch of politicians, who have no skin in the game, trying to brainwash random boys to go do the dirty work of killing. NASSIM Takeb has a very wise idea: 

no politician should ever be able to vote for war, unless he or she has a direct bloodline child or family member who will fight on the front lines of that war.

Or better yet… I think the ultimate filter; assuming you are a father, and you only have one kid, one son, your first born child is a son… the ultimate blessing ,,, would you ever ever ever send your firstborn son, your only son your only child to fight on the front lines of any war, with even a .5% chance they could die? Of course not! 

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Achilles

Even Achilles, after he kills Hector… Doesn’t find recompense in his heart. Killing Hector doesn’t bring back the life of Patroclus. And also at the end of the Iliad is quite somber… After Achilles has wearied of dragging the dead body of Hector around the walls of Troy in his chariot, finally king Priam comes to him disguise… And asks Achilles back for the body of his son. And what is very very interesting and bizarre to me is that even when King Priam reveals himself… Achilles welcomes him in hospitably,,, and both of them share their griefs and sorrows with one another, on equal footing.