"Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral." --Bertolt Brecht (This is hard to translate. "Fressen" is to eat, but in an animal way, to feed. The best translation I can come up with is "First comes the feeding, then comes morality," i.e., humans are, in an Orwellian way, just pigs in disguise, we worry about our own stomachs first then deal with morality. It's a cool line, though, and very Mackie Messer.)
I just got back from playing Texas Hold Em' Poker with:
2 German-English speaking Germans,
1 German-English-Greek speaking Greek,
1 German-Italian speaker,
1 German-Italian-English speaker,
and 1 English-Italian-Croatian immigrant to Italy speaker.
The Italians I met were very friendly and reminded me of America a lot. No wonder they do so well there. They were very open and inquisitive, and had questions about America and the English language. One wanted to know what Americans thought of Canada. I told him we didn't, then I said, "When I think of Canada, I think of trees.... Lots of trees."
I put my Reparienantrag for some minor repairs in my room at the Hausverwaltung yesterday around 4PM. I came back to my room today around 5:30 and found the slip on my desk, with both items repaired to perfection.
I love Studentenstadt. I'm gonna miss this Augustiner-Bier-drinking place so much, even if the food at Pot and Tribuehne isn't so awesome (I had some VERY sorry excuses for chicken fajitas the other night at Pot, and what they call "nachos" are tortilla chips with some cheese melted on top), the atmosphere makes up for it by about a thousand. Mabee Dining Hall won't have a fraction of the Cool Factor that is here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I don't think Brecht means "humans are, in an Orwellian way, just pigs in disguise, we worry about our own stomachs first then deal with morality." It's more that if we don't have enough to eat, we are reduced to animals; our basic physical needs take precedence. It is only possible to be moral (and, hence, human) when those needs are met. That's why he was a communist: only under communism, at least in his day, could everyone have enough to eat (as long as there was enough to eat; if there wasn't; everyone would equally share what there was). Therefore a moral society was possible only under communism.
"Ethics take a back seat to hunger"
Bertrand Russell
Dostoeevsky said it 50 years before Brecht or Russell in the Grand Inquisitor " Feed them first then ask virtue of them." His warning that men would surrender their freedom gladly, his vision that both religion (Catholicism in this case) and socialism lead to slavery.
In Brecht's mind it was more than just an observation on human proclivity, it was a commandment to all those who would preach morality to starving people: "before you start telling them how to live their lives according to your notions of morality, fill their bellies first: if you want men to stop thieving and women to stop whoring, first make sure they don't have to resort to thieving and prostitution in order to put food on the table." Remember, the cast of The Threepenny Opera, where the song comes from where this line is used, consists of thieves (Mack the Knife and his gang), swindlers (Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum and is organized group of fake beggars) and whores (Jenny Tawler, Suky Tawdrey, etc.) as well as corrupt policeman (Police Chief Brown). The point of the song is that people are forced to live by cheating, thieving, whoring, etc., and that if you want them to forsake those "trades" for something more honest and elevated, first see to their material needs and then you can preach all you want.
Post a Comment