Where is The Courage?

These are times of increasing political extremism. They are also times of corruption and rising inequality. Enormous, alarming trends are sweeping through culture, government, and the economy. In some sense this is new, but in other ways it’s a story as old as civilized society. So the question is not why or what or who or even how—it’s where. Where is the courage? Where are the people standing up to stop all this? Where are the heroes, big and small? The city council member who refuses to rubber stamp the pocket-lining policies of her fellow council members. The parent who turns in their own child for his alarming obsession with guns. The celebrity who uses their platform to speak truth, rather than pile onto whatever the mob has decided is right. To the Stoics, courage was the greatest of the virtues. Being brave enough to take a stand, to risk one’s own neck. To throw yourself in front of the car to save someone else. Or, as Mario Savio put it on the Berkeley campus in the 1960s during the Free Speech movement, “to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus…to make it stop.”Courage was also independence. Refusing to cow to the majority, and instead to hold oneself to a higher standard. That standard was justice, another essential virtue. That meant insisting on what was right. Attacking corruption, intolerance for unfairness. Protecting the downtrodden or the weak. Are there still heroes out there? Yes. We see it in Lori Gilbert-Kaye, who died protecting her rabbi from a gunman. We see it in James Melville, the ambassador who resigned on principle after Trump’s comments about NATO. We see it when people admit they were wrong. When academics challenge political correctness and orthodoxy. We see it when a classmate stands up to a bully. We see it when a fireman rushes into a building, or when a police officer runs towards the shooting. When the ordinary person says, “Hey, don’t say things like that. Don’t treat other people that way. It’s not right.”But we don’t see it enough. In part because we don’t do it enough ourselves. See 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.

• 0:28Ryan Holiday?

  Where is the courage? These are times of increasing political extremism. There are also times of corruption and rising inequality. Enormous alarming trends are sweeping through the culture, government, and the economy. In some sense, this is new, but in other ways, it's a story as old as can be. The question is, where is the courage? Where are the people standing up to stop this? Where are the heroes, big and small? The city council member who refuses to rubber stamp the pocket lining policies for fellow council members. The parent who turns in their own child for his alarming obsession with guns. The celebrity who uses their platform

• 1:12Ryan Holiday?

  to speak truth, rather than to pile on to whatever the mob has decided is right. To the Stoics, courage was the greatest of virtues. Being brave enough to take a stand, risking one's neck, throwing yourself in front of the car to save someone else. Independence, refusing to cower to the majority, to hold oneself to a higher standard. And that standard was justice, another essential virtue. That meant insisting on what was right, attacking corruption, intolerance for unfairness, protecting the downtrodden or the weak.

• 1:51Ryan Holiday?

  Are there still heroes out there? Yes. We see it in Lori Gilbert-Kay, who died protecting her rabbi from a gunman. We see it in James Melville, the ambassador who resigned in principle after Trump's comments over NATO. We see it in the people who admit they were wrong. When academics challenge political correctness and orthodoxy. We see it when a classmate stands up to a bully. We see it when a fireman rushes into a building, when a police officer runs towards the shooting, when an ordinary person says, "Hey, don't say things like that. Don't treat other people that way. It's not right." We don't see it enough. We don't do it enough ourselves.

• 2:35Ryan Holiday?

  If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com/email.