Courage is a rarely seen virtue in the modern world?
Mostly True. There have been a number of notable dissidents who have stood up against censorship, mobs, and lawfare, but that's largely been countercultural traditionalists against the modern culture of stifling conformity that has prevailed for much of the past decade.
Most modern virtues involve restraint?
ROFLMAO!
Self-restraint, in almost every context other than self-censorship for everyone insufficiently woke, has not merely fallen out of favor as a virtue in modern culture, it's been actively demonized. Inhibition and self-regulation have been rebranded as repression and oppression. It's the LACK of restraint that has been made a modern virtue: "self-expression" understood as little more than the glorification of hedonism and complete surrender to the basest passions. Eat whatever you want and then have a liposuction or Ozempic. Sleep as much as you want and do as little work as you care to and then demand that government provide for your needs. Have sex as often as you want, any way that you want, with whoever you want, and be celebrated by society for "challenging heteronormativity" by making your queerest perversions public. Embrace the recreational use of mind-altering drugs and find yourself culturally in the company of famous musicians, actors, and tech innovators. Even those who preach restraint in the area of carbon emissions are blatant hypocrites, jet setting around in private planes to and from massive private mansions, with far greater carbon footprints than the poor proles they hector about daring to drive to work. To throw tantrums in public is now upheld as a moral form of activism and to miss work or school because of it is now pampered and excused as caring about the right things. Heck, even riots, arson, looting, and assassination have become valorized as a somewhat legitimate expression of political frustration (at least, are long as your cause is "progressive" or demographic is "oppressed").
Modern 'Liberalism' has degenerated into mere Libertinism, concerned almost solely with removing all remaining negative consequences that Nature might otherwise impose for lack of self-control. It's true that this is contrary to producing courage as a virtue. This worldview implicitly rejects the possibility, much less any responsibility, for "the oppressed" to need to display courage (rather, those with power are obliged to remove all obstacles for them and 'empower' them regardless of their own efforts or lack thereof). Likewise, this worldview refuses to credit anyone opposing the culture with 'courage', but rather attributes them only with malice and/or ignorance. Yet to draw from that culture of cowardice a dichotomy of courage v restraint is unfounded. Courage can be opposite of external restraints, sure, but it is born from applications of self-restraint: discipline, integrity, conscientiousness.
I agree with all of your claims. I think "modern virtues involve restraint" doesn't necessarily contradict the things you're saying. Our culture VALIDATES and feeds off of people's lack of restraint (shopping, sex, narcissism, vanity) but I don't think it regards those things as virtues, per se. It simply advertises and allows a philosophy of boundless self-indulgence and impulse. Questioning the attitudes or behaviors of other people is very much frowned upon (which I wrote about earlier).
What are our virtues? Kindness, flexibility, open-mindedness tolerance... these are the things that are prized in our cultural narrative.
I think the quote is trying to say that our culture doesn't demand that people DO anything to be virtuous. All of those virtues are about NOT doing something: not acting, not judging, not interfering. The old virtues of assertiveness, courage, strength, etc. have been downgraded and the new scheme urges people to be quiet, weak, indecisive... and to never criticize their fellows.
That's why those who stand up for truth or decency are often so poorly treated. Cowardly people despise the brave, for shining an unkind light upon their own character.
The Campbell quote made me laugh.
Courage is a rarely seen virtue in the modern world?
Mostly True. There have been a number of notable dissidents who have stood up against censorship, mobs, and lawfare, but that's largely been countercultural traditionalists against the modern culture of stifling conformity that has prevailed for much of the past decade.
Most modern virtues involve restraint?
ROFLMAO!
Self-restraint, in almost every context other than self-censorship for everyone insufficiently woke, has not merely fallen out of favor as a virtue in modern culture, it's been actively demonized. Inhibition and self-regulation have been rebranded as repression and oppression. It's the LACK of restraint that has been made a modern virtue: "self-expression" understood as little more than the glorification of hedonism and complete surrender to the basest passions. Eat whatever you want and then have a liposuction or Ozempic. Sleep as much as you want and do as little work as you care to and then demand that government provide for your needs. Have sex as often as you want, any way that you want, with whoever you want, and be celebrated by society for "challenging heteronormativity" by making your queerest perversions public. Embrace the recreational use of mind-altering drugs and find yourself culturally in the company of famous musicians, actors, and tech innovators. Even those who preach restraint in the area of carbon emissions are blatant hypocrites, jet setting around in private planes to and from massive private mansions, with far greater carbon footprints than the poor proles they hector about daring to drive to work. To throw tantrums in public is now upheld as a moral form of activism and to miss work or school because of it is now pampered and excused as caring about the right things. Heck, even riots, arson, looting, and assassination have become valorized as a somewhat legitimate expression of political frustration (at least, are long as your cause is "progressive" or demographic is "oppressed").
Modern 'Liberalism' has degenerated into mere Libertinism, concerned almost solely with removing all remaining negative consequences that Nature might otherwise impose for lack of self-control. It's true that this is contrary to producing courage as a virtue. This worldview implicitly rejects the possibility, much less any responsibility, for "the oppressed" to need to display courage (rather, those with power are obliged to remove all obstacles for them and 'empower' them regardless of their own efforts or lack thereof). Likewise, this worldview refuses to credit anyone opposing the culture with 'courage', but rather attributes them only with malice and/or ignorance. Yet to draw from that culture of cowardice a dichotomy of courage v restraint is unfounded. Courage can be opposite of external restraints, sure, but it is born from applications of self-restraint: discipline, integrity, conscientiousness.
I agree with all of your claims. I think "modern virtues involve restraint" doesn't necessarily contradict the things you're saying. Our culture VALIDATES and feeds off of people's lack of restraint (shopping, sex, narcissism, vanity) but I don't think it regards those things as virtues, per se. It simply advertises and allows a philosophy of boundless self-indulgence and impulse. Questioning the attitudes or behaviors of other people is very much frowned upon (which I wrote about earlier).
What are our virtues? Kindness, flexibility, open-mindedness tolerance... these are the things that are prized in our cultural narrative.
I think the quote is trying to say that our culture doesn't demand that people DO anything to be virtuous. All of those virtues are about NOT doing something: not acting, not judging, not interfering. The old virtues of assertiveness, courage, strength, etc. have been downgraded and the new scheme urges people to be quiet, weak, indecisive... and to never criticize their fellows.
That's why those who stand up for truth or decency are often so poorly treated. Cowardly people despise the brave, for shining an unkind light upon their own character.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/the-primacy-of-subjectivity