“Money is the root of all evil”
Suddenly, quite out of the blue, this phrase popped into my head, and I looked up the source – a song which I remembered from my youth.
I know we pride ourselves on the extent to which modern society has benefitted from inventions stemming from research, IT, space exploration – an endless list – but I fear we do not often enough look at the flip side of the coin.
The concepts of good and evil are often regarded as old-fashioned and linked to religious thinking, and certainly the words are more often used by those who claim religious beliefs.
George W Bush referred to ‘the axis of evil’, yet the harm done by his administration in the Middle East and Asia – from which he amassed a fortune through his interests in oil and armaments – belied any claims he might make to be a fervent Christian.
Australia currently is suffering under an administration which is led by another man who claims to be guided by his religious beliefs.
We are part of a world which is battling a health crisis which can only be subdued if we recognise the interconnectedness of people – and the fact that we can derive more pleasure from helping others than from hurting them – unless, of course, we are psychopaths!
Those people who proudly claim the right to refuse to wear a mask, for example, have a totally wrong conception of community obligations.
We wear seat belts to protect us in the event of an accident – and many people would be able to attest to their having benefitted from ensuring they complied with this restriction on freedom.
Wearing a mask in the context of COVID-19 is to fulfill a mutual obligation – that neither party, if infected (knowingly or not), will transmit the infection to others.
To refuse to do so is to put lives at risk – including your own.
That is care at a personal level.
But governments have duties at a community level, and it is when they concentrate on the financial implications of their concerns, rather than the human effects, that we are afflicted by bad policy making.
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) is a clear example of government lack of awareness of the need to protect people from the greed of corporate entities.
The Act imposes a strict duty on a Corporation to put the interests of shareholders as a top priority.
No mention is made of any need for a corporation which offers a service to give any high priority to the needs and rights of the individuals using those services.
The banking Royal Commission bore clear witness to the damage that can – legally – be done in those circumstances – not only through banking practices but also and particularly in the area of insurance – and in the absence of effective regulation.
And, despite the existence of the Fair Work Commission, the power imbalance between employer and employee ensures that the employee gets the short straw in times of financial crisis.
Economists over the years have done people a grave disservice in their discussions involving Capital and Labour, which appears to totally equate Capital, an amorphous entity, devoid of any significant human characteristics – save possibly greed! – with people, capable of emotional reactions.
Capital = money, a non-human entity which is usually shared around very unevenly and can continue indefinitely in circulation.
Labour = living, human beings whose lives, always finite, can be brought short in accidents which can then affect other people quite disastrously.
Many entrepreneurs, hoping to establish a profitable enterprise, seek risk capital to underpin the launch of that enterprise. If they are unsuccessful they end up poorer, but still living. The very term – ‘risk capital’ – indicates the foreknowledge and acceptance of likely loss.
People, on the other hand, when thrown out of work through a crisis, with no prior warning or notice, such as with COVID-19, usually have dependants and commitments requiring support.
The way in which the Coalition government has handled the current crisis has been very ill-thought out, with thousands offered no help at all.
And this occurred at a time when bush fire victims were (and still are !) waiting for promised help to materialise and those defrauded by Robo-debt are mainly still waiting for their money to be refunded.
Governments MUST have contingency plans for disasters, particularly ones like pandemics, which may be few and far between but which are, sooner or later, inevitable.
To have a government which looks after the wealthy with greater care than it does the needy could be seen as incompetent or even evil.
And the next election is still almost 2 years away!
I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:
“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”
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You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
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13 comments
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Jack Cade
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Anthony Judge
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Win Jeavons
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Yes Minister
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Phil Pryor
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Lurline
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Matters Not
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Jon Chesterson
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Jon Chesterson
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Alc
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Jack Cade
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ajogrady
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Matters Not
Return to home pageSaint Paul said the love of money is the root of many evils. It is a biblical allegation that the Pentecostal churches absolutely ignore, because the love of money is the benchmark of their beliefs.
Too easy — given that there is little if any reference to what would replace it if the good were to triumph over such an evil. More to the point, how would the “bad guys” manipulate the system in the absence of money? Does a money-free system engender no evil?
As a regular church goer, though not exactly a traditional christian, I contend that the principles Morrison lives by do not bear even a passing resmblance to christianity. The emphasis in both old and new testaments is on justice and mercy for the poor and disadvantaged . Like other religions there is a golden rule of treating others as oneself . That God shows approval by providing wealth is quite contrary to all this. This is so far from christian I hesitate even to suggest it is heresy. His cult uses the name to steal the votes of the less thinking devout.
To me , it is more important to care for the people ( and the rest of creation )to give them justice and a chance to flourish, than to worry about the soul’s destination. ” he who would save his own soul will lose it”
Note particularly that the Apostle Paul (later to be sainted by the catholic church, incidentally one of the most corrupt organizations on planet earth, although that is no reflection on Paul) was on about the love of money (AKA avarice) rather than money itself. Interestingly, avarice is one of catholicism’s seven deadly sins, a point that doesn’t appear to be taken on board by the management. In theory, the financial system doesn’t necessarily need to be evil as it could easily distribute money equitably, it is the humans who manipulate the financial system to their own benefit and conversely to the detriment of others, that makes it evil. SCUMMO and his grubby cohorts are prime examples. It is interesting to dwell on whether or not a money-free system would engender no evil. Personally I don’t believe so since humans are quite capable to turning the most honorable thing into something horrific. For example, anyone who has done business with the non-constitutional kangaroo tribunals in every state knows they are run by full-on psychopaths. Power and control are what floats the boat, not necessarily money. Mind you, the legislated incestuous relationship between kangaroo tribunals and public trustees certainly enables no end of financial shenanigans at the expense of victims.
Money is the evil of all rooting, political, social, commercial, personal. The donors want an insertion or ten for their insistance on personal greed, its results, its rewards and status. People follow instincts and enjoy what the big bull gets, even on a doco. Some ordinary ones dream of enhanced and advance rooting, with suprerior rewards, better vibrationa and sensation, imagined bliss. The Murdoch types get a buzz from denying others the rootability of difference, and chases a world of utter supremacist heirarchy, complete control by barely noticed methods of the brainwash, indoctination, protection, insertion and intrusion, His roots are planetsized and figurative, but he wants and needs them. For st, Paul, the real rooting was fantasy, subliminal, compressed fantasy. Ah, bliss. It’s a world of money seeking for the truth is out, that, money is exchange, the medium of misfittery, the way to get it, what ever it is.., so hoard and scrape, bury, offshore, keep and squirrel, for, the day will come when your kind of existential rooting needs funding, Buy a car, pussy, drugs, drinks, horses, yachts, governments, nations, bets on your little or big outcome, Root a Toot, this Dick can Shoot, Trump that with words when control of the money is the real rooting of life, the way to win…it’s rooting for the future, the rooter’s future, the replication, the genetics, the control of destiny, so, imagine Murdoch’s Midget Maypole up the world, to perpetuate his future, in his image. (vomits into a currently recommended sick bag of great size.)
I feel for those who’ve list their jobs and will have to subsist from the end of next month, but I’m a disability pensioner. We, along with carers and the aged, have received only $1500, mine all went on my pharmacy bill.
Re: the statement
Yes and No. Morrison stated that it’s his religious beliefs which guide his personal/private life, but he also claimed that his public/political life was a different matter entirely. In drawing that distinction at the beginning of his tenure as Prime Minister, Morrison attempted to forestall any charge of hypocrisy by readily admitting that he would lead two lives. He could play two parts. One private and one public and he could keep them well apart.
But a truly moral person cannot wear two hats. A truly moral person cannot profess to be both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ depending on the role being played at particular moments in time. Yet when he attempts to do just that, the MSM look the other way.
I am no bible fiend, I read it as a kid and as much can be learned from it as misinterpreted, pleasure or warning. I don’t believe in God but I do believe in humanity – The principles by which we behave to one another, respect our world and all living creatures with it, the universe is an awesome and fearful place.
This is probably one of the most misquoted phrases of the bible. It is: ‘Love of money is the root of all evil’ (1 Timothy 6:10) – A very important distinction, money is an inanimate concept, it has no consciousness, it has no meaning other than what humans attribute and do with it, how wealth is shared and money as the instrument of trade is managed and controlled. Misquoting this proverb seriously undermines the social and moral message and allows those who abuse it off the hook.
What I meant to say but hit the wrong button on my keyboard and ran out of time, guess we’ve all done that!
I am no bible fiend, I read it as a kid and as much can be learned from it as misinterpreted, pleasure or warning. I don’t believe in God but I do believe in humanity – The principles by which we behave to one another, respect our world and all living creatures within it, the universe is an awesome and fearful place.
This is probably one of the most misquoted phrases of the bible. It is: ‘Love of money is the root of all evil’ (1 Timothy 6:10) – A very important distinction, money is an inanimate concept, it has no consciousness, it has no meaning other than what humans attribute and do with it, how wealth is shared and money as the instrument of trade is managed and controlled. Misquoting this proverb seriously undermines the social and moral message and allows those who abuse it off the hook.
At the end of the argument however well intended, the statement, the proverb, the meme remains with its succinct messaging, memory and lesson. While ever it does, at best philanthropy and charity will continue, while greed, abuse and injustice will be allowed to prevail as a political and economic ideology and excuse. We should not be beholden to philanthropy and charity to excuse the disease ‘love of money’, we should call it out. Such disorder along with its cousin, ‘abuse of power’, are the symbolic and symbiotic instruments of human treachery primarily responsible for the collapse of civilisations, progress and ultimately our downfall.
Love of money, as money itself has no currency in the physics of the universe or the biology of the natural world, it is irrelevant, we cannot eat it. When the food has gone and love is re-directed, all money can ever do is buy us oblivion, and without us it is dead, as are we.
As the inimitable Annie Leibovitz said, “ In Russia, Capitalism destroyed Communism, in the USA, Capitalism destroyed Democracy.” Google Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Du Plantis discussing their need for private jets to travel the country and spout their religious diatribe to the utterly deluded souls taken by utter rubbish. Having had business dealings with Hillsong many years ago , there was no evidence of their so called Christianity, but plenty of hard nosed business “ practices” all skewed to their financial gain. The fact that Morrison claims Houston as his mentor should be enough to ring loud alarm bells.
Jon Chesterson
That is the point I was making in my earlier post. Money itself is just a form of exchange. The lusting after it is the source of evil, not the money.
Evil is evil. Money is just an excuse for evil people.
Anyone wishing to cleanse themselves of this evil of money should feel free to donate as much of that particular evil as possible to this site. No doubt you will feel better.