in in defence defence of of moderation moderation Words by Alexander Karpov My recent years in uni have been plagued with ardent and sometimes exhausting search for moderation. And not simply in food, drinking, pleasures or habits, but more importantly in my beliefs and persuasions, in the way I think and judge the world around me. To simplify, I began to think more and say less, to observe more and judge less. And while this may seem a dubious achievement in our age when we all have to react fast, whether online or in real life, I have noticed how these simple changes affect your perception of the world, how common-sense ideas that you held to be indubitable begin to fade in comparison to what introspection allows you to discover. I guess the reader should expect me to say what this all rant is about. Well, it’s politics, what else? And not simply your good old stupol with so much toxicity that I wonder how uni is still not closed down due to general health concerns. It’s politics in general, whether in Australia or the US, whether it’s the adherents of capitalism or the disciples of
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communism and whether it’s your rich dad advocating for neoliberalism and claiming how the poor never want to work or your good LGBTQ+ friend who never seems to stop raving about the oppression capitalism produces and the need to destroy the whole system. It seems that a very ancient idea of moderation enunciated by the Ancient Greeks and Buddhists alike has suddenly become extinct in our world of progress, knowledge and mass-scale happiness. Surely those Greek fellas missed the point when they said that too much of a good thing can be harmful (that’s for you, my dear capitalist friends). Surely, they were simply not astute enough when they said that you can’t rid the world of evil with evil means (and that’s for you, my Communist stalwarts). And finally, surely, they were talking nonsense when they claimed that humans are essentially both bad and good and that the idea of progress is rather foolish and complacent (and that’s for both of you so it’s all fair and square). You may think that these appeals to
