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“To put cruelty first,” she writes, is to disregard the idea of sin as it is understood by revealed religion. Sins are transgressions of a divine rule and offenses against God.… However, cruelty—the willful inflicting of physical pain on a weaker being in order to cause anguish and fear—is a wrong done entirely to another creature. When we think only of religious “sins” as the ultimate bad stuff we want to avoid, we end up manufacturing justifications for horrible atrocities; her example is the European conquerors coming to the “New World,” encountering its Indigenous peoples, and rationalizing genocide as the will of a Christian God. If we elevate cruelty—transgressions against other humans—to the top of the “worst crimes we can commit” list, we can no longer find and exploit any such loopholes.”
― How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
― How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
“We didn’t have to do anything to have a good time. It’s an incredible gift to be able to make your own fun.”
― Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Principles for Delicious Living
― Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Principles for Delicious Living
“Quoting the great Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu, she tells us that “ ‘knowledge makes men gentle,’ just as ignorance hardens us.”
― How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
― How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
Katy McKinnon’s 2025 Year in Books
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