Pith: Behind the Western Guilt Complex

My take on the courage deficit afflicting us.

One of the defining characteristics of our society is a sense of guilt.

This guilt manifests itself in the way we bend over backwards for marginalised groups, and the way we defend weakness with ferocity.

White guilt, LGBT allies and male feminists abound.
Obesity is championed as body positivity.

People are villainised and ostracised for their lack of feeling for those who struggle. You are a bad person if you are against redistribution.

Our judgement of people's character primarily takes place through this lens.
Empathy, rather than courage, has the moral high ground.

I say this merely as an observation, rather than to dismiss the merits of empathy as a virtue.

I've long wondered why this is, and have been presented with various explanations.
One is colonial and slaver guilt - that we feel ashamed of the horrors we committed as the British Empire and as white slavers in the US.

Another is our culture's roots in Christianity, where the notion of original sin breeds a sense of shame.
Most recently it was suggested that the decline of masculinity and the ascent of femininity is behind our preference for empathy, a trait more associated with women, rather than courage, a more masculine trait.
This explanation, while interesting, doesn't explain why such a rebalancing has occurred.

I've come to the conclusion that it is perhaps more straightforward than this, and is an inevitable consequence of a prosperous, peaceful society.
In times of war and strife, courage is essential to the survival of society. It is the most essential of commodities.

Meanwhile, cowardice, its shadow energy, becomes the most contemptible of traits.

In such times, the upside of empathy is limited.
As a society transitions to peace, the social value of empathy and courage starts to rejig. When there are no threats to survival, people have little excuse not to do their bit to help those that struggle.
A successful society becomes a function of the extent to which it integrates those who have fallen between the cracks.

In these times, the costs of cowardice are low and largely invisible, mainly falling on the particular coward in question.
Thus courage becomes undervalued, and empathy starts to be overvalued.

All of this makes us susceptible to guilt and shaming.
This analysis provides a granular explanation for the adage:

Bad times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create bad times.
Prosperity creates perverse incentives, where the less hostile climate becomes inimical to the creation of strong men.

This causes the foundations of a society to crumble, before strife once again moulds men of the right character.

More from Sport

When thinking about who to play in DM for Leeds the word "role" is important. Let's have a think about the role:


A lot of people think Struijk isn't good enough in the build-up phase. Well, what does the DM do in build-up?

Here's a passing network from last season:


As you can see, Phillips' role in the Championship last season was largely facilitating build up in the wide area (on the left interestingly).

Per Wyscout, Phillips is putting up a figure of 7.03 long passes per 90 minutes and completes around 59%. Last season he was making 6.94 long passes per 90 mins at around 52%.

Per dribbles he's putting up similar numbers across both seasons (between 1 and 1.5 p90) and per duels he's putting up the same number (20 p90).

All of this suggests his role hasn't changed much over the last couple of seasons.

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A THREAD ON @SarangSood

Decoded his way of analysis/logics for everyone to easily understand.

Have covered:
1. Analysis of volatility, how to foresee/signs.
2. Workbook
3. When to sell options
4. Diff category of days
5. How movement of option prices tell us what will happen

1. Keeps following volatility super closely.

Makes 7-8 different strategies to give him a sense of what's going on.

Whichever gives highest profit he trades in.


2. Theta falls when market moves.
Falls where market is headed towards not on our original position.


3. If you're an options seller then sell only when volatility is dropping, there is a high probability of you making the right trade and getting profit as a result

He believes in a market operator, if market mover sells volatility Sarang Sir joins him.


4. Theta decay vs Fall in vega

Sell when Vega is falling rather than for theta decay. You won't be trapped and higher probability of making profit.