The Eighth Circle and Beyond

 

If you've read Dante's Divine Comedy, and specifically the first volume, Inferno, you know that Dante imagined Hell as an inverted cone divided into nine circles to which sinners were assigned for punishment. The circles grew smaller in diameter as one neared the lowest depths of Hell, and at each descending level the punishments of the damned souls grew worse according to the severity of their sins. At the ninth - lowest - level, Satan was imprisoned in ice for all eternity.

But it's the eighth circle I want to talk about today, because I think it's the circle that is uniquely suited for the present day.

Unlike the other circles of Hell, the eighth was divided into a number of subcircles for a particularly loathsome group of condemned sinners, lumped together under the general sin of fraud; it housed those condemned for sins like:

Flattery;

Political Corruption;

Hypocrisy;

Theft;

Fraudulent Rhetoric;

Divisiveness;

Falsification;

Pimping and Seducing; and,

Sorcery and False Prophecy.

All of these exist in our present-day political culture as they did in Dante's time; indeed, given the advances in banking, computer science, communications technology, and broader horizons of white-collar graft, they're probably even more widespread at every level of politics:

Flattery - have you listened to Der Furor's appointees constantly praising his genius? It's fawning obsequiousness at its most sickening.

 

Political Corruption - Senator Bob Menendez and Justice Clarence Thomas ... need I say more?

 

Hypocrisy - the correct spelling of this word is "M-i-t-c-h-M-c-C-o-n-n-e-l-l."

 

Theft - do we know what President Musk's techno-kiddies did when they took control of sensitive Treasury Department computer systems?

 

Fraudulent Rhetoric - all politicians lie, although their fraudulent rhetoric is usually focused on shading of the truth for advantage, rather than the blatant out-and-out falsehoods that are daily occurrences with Der Furor and his appointees. See "Falsification" below.

 

Divisiveness - the noisy and shameful fight over DEI encapsulates it perfectly.

 

Falsification - in his first administration alone, Der Furor was estimated to have told more than 30,000 falsehoods. During his campaign, the interregnum, and his first few weeks as president, he continues to have only the most tenuous of relationships with the truth. Because he gets away with it and dismisses any attempt to check his claims as "fake news," his acolytes have no trouble doing the same. Pinocchio would be proud.

 

Pimping and Seducing - particularly widespread during election years, when credulous voters are seduced with grand promises immediately forgotten or downplayed one the desired office has been attained.

 

Sorcery and False Prophecy - these are, of course, the bedrock upon which most conservative economic theories rest. False prophecy is particularly useful to bolster claims about the fantastic economic benefits of tariffs, and how quickly the prices of homes, gas, and groceries will come down in a rosily-painted future.

One last category of sin punished in the eighth circle is Simony (the abuse of power within the Church). While Dante was focusing on things like the venal sale of Church offices and blessings, one might also consider simony today to include the sexual abuse of children by priests and - beyond the Catholic Church - clerics and adherents of religions who incite violence against those who observe faiths or sects other than their own. The equivalent of simony in modern government would probably include things like nepotism, favoritism, and sexual misconduct.

A 1998 article in the satirical newspaper The Onion announced the expansion of Hell to squeeze in a new tenth circle - Corpadverticus, The Circle of Total Bastards - between levels eight and nine. The new circle was said to have become necessary because many new arrivals possessed souls far more evil than the original nine circles were equipped to handle, such as demographers, advertising executives, tobacco lobbyists, and corporate lawyers. A spokesdemon quoted in the article as representing Satan said these new arrivals represented "a wave of spiritual decay and horror the likes of which Hell has never before seen.” Of course, Der Furor and Elon Musk hadn't arrived on the scene yet.

The Eighth Circle definitely isn't big enough.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo