Is Nobless Oblige Dead or Just in Remission?

In our Carnivelesque sidebar, one of the country clowns has asked my old friend, and prep school roomie, Dick Minim, of the East Coast Minims, now one of the leading consultants to grant-makers for social impact, whether nobless oblige is dead. The country clown is working off personal data. He has noticed that the country is nearly bankrupt, that Wall Street, our god-principal, and carrier of Freedom, is corrupt, that our government, both its parties, is in bondage to wealth, and no less addicted to debt than is the general public, that the activists of the 60s have now evolved their consciousness beyond doing anything in particular to meditation in safe places, they became the change they seek in the world, the change being what Wm Blake called, Beulah Bliss, or what is commonly called narcissism or the Oceanic feeling that Freud likened to the womb. So, I gave Dick a jingle at the philanthropic advisory firm he manages here in Philadelphia. He said,

Well, Tallyho!, Amigo. So good to hear from my old prep school pal of pals. How goes it? Have you heard from Whale or Grimm recently? I hear Whale is under consideration as the incoming head of Rooster Foundation. Grimm, I hear is going to be commissioner of baseball, once he retires from the Board at Exxon. What can I do you for, old pal? Nobless oblige? Dead? You have to be kidding me! Don't you know that according to my recent white paper, foundations have a moral imperative to give to the poor? Well, with any luck, we are going to pass a law! Yes. We will pass a law making each foundation give at least 10% of its grants each year to the least among us, chosen by lot or some such thing. Like a lottery, you know, only the tickets will be allocated by some kind of formula, based on needs with some kind mechanism to distribute the tickets fairly among the races. The lottery will serve to replenish the blood of the upper classes, by raising up one wealthy person a year from the great unwashed. Plus, it will give hope to the oppressed and legitimize the rule of inherited merit. Breeding tells, as with horses. Now, forgive me, must scoot. Mummy is in from the coast and we are off to Sothebys. The jade this year is simply superb; some of the best I have seen, Amigo. Do ring me up again some time.

I found this encouraging and hope it will lay to rest any misconceptions among the country clowns that their interests have been neglected by the ruling elite.

Comments

[jr]

Telephone: Ring! Patient: Hello? Nurse: Your numbers are a little high. Doctor wants to know if you'd like to take some medication to bring them back in line. Patient: Oh. What do I have? Nurse: Your numbers are too high. Patient: Oh. Well I suppose we had better bring them down, then. Nurse: If that's what you want. Telephone: Click. Patient: Hello? Pope: Yes? Patient: What do you think? Pope: Take the pills. Patient: (smiling) My Sweet Lord... Chorus: Alleluia!

[Phil Cubeta]

How about this?

Patient: "I am sick, depressed, suicidal."
Dumpster Dr.: "Do someting worthy of your talent and call me in the morning."

[jr]

That's one reading. The greater one still applies, though, I think.

[Phil Cubeta]

What number did you you use to get the Pope? Does he still answer his own phone in Latin?

[jr]

He's always on the line, for those with ears to hear. Remember: There's no such thing as 'dead air'.

[Phil Cubeta]

Maybe it is the conscience whose still voice we hear?

[jr]

Maybe so, old bean, maybe so.

[wirearchy]

"tis a bitter and thin soup our overlords have brewed for us .. but it's all we have to drink, so .. drink and be merry, better times are on the horizon. They always are ..

[Phil Cubeta]

Yes, as Scruton says our sufferings will teach us wisdom and make us grateful to God for His instruction. Every society's finest flower grows upon the dung heap of the average man. Thus, we serve our purpose, manuring the roots of AEI.