Don’t Listen to the Complicit

"In Cato’s time, Caesar’s partisans wanted to cast his usurpation of the Republic as somebody else’s fault. The system is broken, they said. The old ways don’t work anymore. Don’t blame Caesar, it’s really Cato’s fault, they said. He is too uncompromising, too resistant to change. Why couldn’t he be more like Cicero, willing to go along? By being so difficult, they said, he forced Caesar’s hand. "Ryan explains the danger of being like these partisans, and how you can avoid resembling them today, in today's Daily Stoic Podcast. We want to encourage every Daily Stoic podcast listener to make an informed vote in your elections, as safely and as early as possible. Also, no matter what country you live in, it’s a Stoic’s duty to be engaged and active in their government and so it’s never a bad time to be reminded to vote. The New York Times made this tool for figuring out the options to vote in every state, and Slate published an article on the best way to make sure your vote counts.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  Don't listen to the complicit. In Cato's time, Caesar's partisans wanted to cast his usurpation of the Roman Republic as somebody else's fault. "The system is broken," they said. "The old ways don't work anymore. Don't blame Caesar. It's really Cato's fault," they said. "He is too uncompromising, too resistant to change. Why couldn't he be more like Cicero, willing to go along?" By being so difficult, they said, he forced Caesar's hand. It's an old refrain. European fascists in the 20th century used the same playbook, but with an added wrinkle. "You need us to do this," they said. They excused their abuses, their violence, their destruction

• 1:11Ryan Holiday?

  of old institutions by claiming that the socialists and the communists would be much worse if they didn't intercede on the people's beheaths. They might be the devil, but they were the devil you knew. And when we interviewed Annie Applebound, the Pulitzer Prize-winning expert on authoritarianism for the Daily Stoic podcast, she actually pointed out that even Vichy France made this argument. "We are surrendering to the Nazis," they said, "to protect you from left-wing illiberalism." It's a preposterous argument, of course, but one that dupes people when argued forcefully enough. The Stoics struggled with it in their own time. On the one hand, you had the opposition to Nero by Stoics like Thrasse and Helvidius

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  and Agrippinus and Musonius Rufus, who fought the emperor at every turn. Then, on the other hand, you had Seneca on the inside, working for Nero. He likely told himself that he was mitigating Nero's worst impulses, that he was containing the damage, that he was making a difference. And that, don't forget... Whoever comes next might be worse. While the Stoic opposition was not perfect and Cato was not blameless in Rome's troubles from an earlier generation, these resisters were largely correct. They saw tyranny for what it was. They risked their lives, quite literally, to fight it. They put differences of opinion aside, along with petty politics, and took a stand. Other Stoics and fellow travelers like Cicero and Seneca, while good men, were complicit.

• 2:37Ryan Holiday?

  Their judgment was impaired. Their fear and self-interest blinded them to the reality of what they were supporting. When the Stoics talked of clear judgment, of resisting the passions of the mob, of doing the right thing no matter what, it was these kinds of situations they were hoping to prepare us for. They knew that politics were tricky. They knew how conflicting obligations can lead people astray. They knew that power corrupts. They wanted to make sure that you knew how to keep your head amidst all this, and they wanted to remind you that in the end, what counts is character, your character and the character of the leaders you support. Everything after that is rationalization, or worse, it's appeasement.

• 3:19Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoic Podcast. If you could leave us a review in iTunes, it helps a great deal. And of course, if you know anyone who would benefit from these messages, please spread the word. Thanks.