"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”

[Me.]

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”

I have long taken comfort from that saying. The fact that there is a moral arc to the universe, that acts, on its own volition to set things right, even if it takes longer than I would wish, has held me these last 8 years. It’s slow work, seemingly, however I see some evidence of its influence. Barack Obama becoming President-Elect was a biggie but there have been smaller events that have confirmed that there is a moral force in the universe that is operational. Ann Coulter getting her jaw wired, Katherine Harris under investigation, the now dropped indictments of Cheney & Gonzales I take as a warning of things to come for them, Howard Dean being vindicated, that awful anchor at Faux who after a decade didn’t have her contract renewed, Friedman giving up drinking the kool-aid now that his family has lost all that money, Kathleen Parker finally having to write truth and then finding out first hand how her conservative pals treat those who lose their lock-step, the judge who attended a Federalist Society speech given by Mukasey and shouted TRAITOR, out loud, at the ‘not for long’ attorney general.

This is not a call for vengeance, but for a redressing of the ills that have been visited upon us and our country; the willful and vile hatemongering, the theft of our national treasure by those on K and Wall streets, the crippling and breaking of our justice system, the desecration of our environment and so much more. Terms like collateral damage for the killing of innocents and food insecure to describe those who are hungry or starving. All of this speaks to the fact that those without a moral compass have had it in their heads to take, grab, steal, plunder and pirate (with the same viciousness and disregard as those bandits in Somalia). what is rightfully ours.

It isn’t that we haven’t fought back, but for so long it seemed that the army of ‘they’ were winning. No longer. Every day it is becoming more and more apparent that the balance has shifted There are other small acts of justice being meted out in one form or another though some are under the radar and don’t receive attention. The important point is that there is a force out there, not of our making, that will do what humans are seemingly incapable of.

It’s been said on a number of occasions that time is speeding up, hence the potential for a lot more scores to be settled in quick time. I’m waiting and watching to see what happens to all the villains and crooks as well as domestic terrorists like Kristol. There’s a reckoning to come and I know it will happen. How long? Not too long for "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”

[kentuck]

1. Indeed it does.

I have no doubt.

[shadowknows69]

2. I have less faith than I did in my youth

I've only been part of this, so far, unjust universe for 39 years, (this time round) and I'm still looking at my watch and thinking, "Any time now".

[Me.]

7. It's Happening, Just Not Obviously So

There's the desperate meme out there that says the country is center-right, but many have been noticing that the road has been curving in a more progressive direction for at least 5 years now. But it's happening quietly, people making different choices and moving on from what has been. I believe a book by John Hawkens talks about this. By the time it's done it will be too late to stop it. And there are those moments of amazement when comeuppance pays a visit (shaudenfreuden (sp?) for some and I do admit to a laugh here and there) which will come faster and faster, big and small.

[Warpy]

3. I believe in that about as much

as I believe in the invisible hand of the self regulating free market, but I do believe in the moral arc of humanity.

Most of us have an innate sense of fairness vs. unfairness. Sometimes the people without this sense get the upper hand and the cash flow is good enough that the rest of us go along for the ride, but eventually our sense of fairness and basic decency reasserts itself.

Conservatives have taken us on a 40 year ride, in other words. Now it's our turn.

However, the universe itself remains completely impersonal.

[madokie]

4. Of course it does

and we will see justice in all this before its all said and done. I am confident on that.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. The Earth looks Flat when you're standing on it

And injustice is all around you when you're living in it.

In some generations there are set-backs and atrocities. But over the centuries we are getting better. One differnce now is that fewer massacres and acts of tyranny escape notice.

[misanthrope]

29. Although the same technological progress...

...that can tell us of that tyranny and injustice also enables more swift and terrible atrocities. It's much easier to kill and harm far more people now than it was in the past.

What is more barbaric, having to endure the struggle of killing another with your bare hands or being able to effortlessly wipe out millions with one push of a button?

[Me.]

39. Interesting Question

Speaks to the collateral damage, don't take pictures of coffins ease with which modern 'war' is fought

[leftofthedial]

6. I see no evidence of a moral arc, long or otherwise.

I no longer believe that justice is a natural phenomenon in any way. If anything, nature seems to be opposed to justice.

[misanthrope]

30. Nature moves toward entropy, that is all.**nm

**

[DavidDvorkin]

8. It's a nice self-deception, but that's all it is.

[undeterred]

9. And sometimes we have to give a tug on it-

I believe Obama said that. :hi:

[bleever]

10. It's true because of the people who make it so.

Just as it's true that all evil needs to prosper is for good people to do nothing, all it takes for the evolution of just and enlightened society to continue is for good people to do what comes naturally to them.

K&R.

[Me.]

11. A Confluence Of Events Helped The Good People Succeed

I was often amazed during the primary and general how events worked against HRC and McCain. Just when they thought they had him cornered, a big pow hit Them on the chin. As the recent Rolling Stone Article puts it "For this to happen, absolutely everything had to break right. And for that we will someday owe sincere thanks to John McCain, and Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush. They not only screwed it up, they screwed it up just right."

[Oregone]

12. Thats just gibberish

Sounds pretty though.

[Me.]

13. It Is Indeed

If you have so sense of it

[Oregone]

14. And I definitely have no sense of it...

Im overwhelmed by a sense of reality instead

[bleever]

16. It's from Martin Luther King Jr.

For more than two centuries our forebearers labored here without wages. They made cotton king, and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of the most humiliating and oppressive conditions. And yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to grow and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery couldnt stop us, the opposition that we now face will surely fail.

Were going to win our freedom because both the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the almighty God are embodied in our echoing demands. And so, however dark it is, however deep the angry feelings are, and however violent explosions are, I can still sing "We Shall Overcome."

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKRemainingAwakeThroughGreatRevolution.htm

[Me.]

18. Lovely To See In It's Entirety

"We shall overcome because Carlyle is right"No lie can live forever."

[Oregone]

22. Which explains why it sounds pretty,

but gibberish it is, indeed.

[robertpaulsen]

15. Hard to believe it was almost a month ago.

Everything felt uncertain, on the edge. Now we've got a firm majority in both houses, and most important, a rational adult in the White House that will appoint other rational adults to that other branch of government leaning toward fascism, the judiciary.

All is not right with the world, but things are heading in the right direction.

[Me.]

19. In One Night The World Changed

and exposed the 'little foxes' for what they were

[RedCappedBandit]

17. I don't believe it for a second

The entire history of life on this planet has been one long, unjust clusterfuck.

[H2O Man]

20. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

should serve as progressive and liberal democrats' role model in the upcoming months and years. I try to always be reading/re-reading books by and about him, along with whatever else I'm reading.

The progressive/liberal left-wing of the democratic party (along with non-democrats) will need to understand his thinking and actions from when JFK (and even LBJ) were in the White House. It will benefit our cause, as well as the Obama administration.

That quote is, of course, exactly the type of thing that we need to understand, and act upon.

[Me.]

24. Morality

and not the bible thumping type, is as you say, what we need to understand and act upon. Martin and others had it so right. As opposed to the info on the released tapes of Nixon where he talks of firebombing and how the Ivy League schools are finished. Funny, now a man who was the president of the Harvard Law Review is going to start putting right the legacy Nixon left this country.

[autorank]

21. k*r Here's why I believe this

We're bending the ark toward moral justice without leaders and heroes.

Two examples:

1) Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web -- 11.24.08
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-12/ff_kaminsky

Dan Kaminsky is testing software and discovers a major fault in the Internet routing architecture. He didn't believe the depth of the discovery but proceeded to test again and agian, finding that the fault did indeed exist. This fault, if dicovered before it was fixed, would have allowed the looting of banks and other commerce on a world wide scale. With our economy, it would have lead to chaos.

Did he see it to the highest bidder, rake off some for himself? No, he called the right people and they got it fixed WITHOUT ANY GOVERNMENT OR POLITICAL HELP.

It was the right thing to do and he did it. Got the job done.

2) 12 year old saves the planet

William Yuan's science project resulted in a huge design modification to 3D solar cells. Look what he did:

"If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption
His advisers at major solar research facilities think he's right. This is huge. If produced and combined with other breakthroughs (solar cells emulating photosynthesis and storing energy overnight), then we're out of the woods.

All without any government or political assistance except the Beaverton Oregon Public Schools.

How about that - a hacker who lives like any single young man should live, in a barren apartment, with a bed and computer, saves the internet and keeps us from global chaos AND a 12 year old solves a major part of the energy crisis.

The people are turning the arc in the direction of order and the light and they're doing it because it's the right thing to do. Soon we won't need "them." What will they do;)

[Me.]

23. Wonders To Behold

So many thinking and doing wonderful things on their own initiative, not asking permission from anyone, so much coming into play. It will be interesting to see, as we go along the next four years where we end up and what confluence of events are brought into play.

[bleever]

25. Interesting that some people are invested in denying the possibility

of moral and social evolution, especially on the cusp of such an incredible change in the governance of America, a change that seeks to institute a government of consensus and not division, and to reinstitute the rule of law as the protector of civil rights instead of the stronghold of tyrants.

[glitch]

26. I think they are part of it too.

Always a tug against progress, in case it should move too fast and overstep the margin for survival. IMO.

We'll get there, anyway.

[autorank]

27. The magician's trick is exposed

Every trick in the book was used to turn us into a backward, uninformed, fascist state. I don't
need to enumerate them. Now, based on an election that reflects the choice of the peopoe, we're
in a position where the door's open. The public will define what this administration does because
the boot is off of our throat. They can't unring this bell!

[Me.]

33. What I Find Stunning

And I know you can relate to this, is that the election wasn't stolen. They had the capacity and certainly the will. Was it as simple as the numbers being too great, which, in and of itself is a statement.

[autorank]

35. The statement was to emphatic to deny

imho, the statement was, first and foremost, NO MORE Bush, neocon, nihilism. NONE! "We're done and
you're gone" to the perpetrators. There was a huge statement for what Obama represented to the
voters. I think that the first statement was more powerful. People had just had it. When was the
last time we spontaneous demonstrations in the street, peaceful ones, about an election? It reminded
me of being in Charleston, SC at the end of a hot summer, a long drought, just when the torrents of
rain came down. People were out in the streets with their hands up welcoming the rain. It was like
a force of nature, psychic nature, release. It's a tremendous opportunity for leadership. But it's
not something that's given. It's just there. People manifested the shift to positive, life
affirming efforts in the election. They'll continue to manifest those elsewhere. Nice to have these
characters gone. A huge barrier has been removed.

[Me.]

36. Yes We Have Been Parched

And I found your rain metaphor to be profound on several levels

[bleever]

37. Nihilism is nowheresville.

So nothing that there's no room for it.

[autorank]

38. Confusing me with double negatives;) (my limitation)

No room for nothing. Got it!

But what the heck does it mean when they say "nothing lasts forever." Don't answer please. It will
only provoke me.

The one campaign promise I look forward to is a concentrated project on the environment. I'm sure
that this will quickly dwarf all other concerns. I also think that a lot of the important research
is done on the energy front. What a life affirming effort that would be with the rest of the
world. It would also make the mindless wars seem absurd with the whole world working for survival.

[Me.]

32. Beautifully Put

[FiveGoodMen]

28. There is as much justice in the world as we can manage to create.

[Gregorian]

31. This beautiful post simply fills me with inspiration.

I can tell this is a dense work of thoughts that have been formulated from your experience over a long period of time.

I too know how it feels to feel this moment in time.

We hear of young children who are inspired by Obama. It's as though the world was in suspense, patiently waiting for positive energy again.

[Me.]

34. Thank You

And yes, the thought has been with me for a while, I find the idea of a moral arc existing in the universe both compelling and comforting. The idea of morality existing in and of itself, standing alone for it's own sake is an intriguing concept/possibility. Do ideas and values have a 'life' of their own and under what 'laws' do they operate? I'm sure you can see where this leads.

As for Obama, he, it seems to me, is the key in the lock to who we could and might be.