Sunday, September 14th, 2025
Laramie Wyoming
By Dan Denning
Not many people know that the Judgement of Paris was preceded by the Golden Apple of Discord. But if you didn't before, you do now! And given the week we’ve just had, it might be a good time to revisit this ancient story of love and strife, before we dive back into financial markets, rate cuts, and more tomorrow.
Eris was the Greek god of Strife. It may seem a little weird that the Greeks HAD a goddess of Strife. But that tells you chaos, discord, and strife are part of the human condition and not anything modern or new. The Roman goddess of Strife was named Discordia, which will be important to our story in a moment. Back to Eris.
Unlike other more important gods, Eris wasn’t invited to the marriage of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, a mortal king. She decided to cause a little chaos as a result. She inscribed a golden apple into the wedding banquet with the words ‘To the Fairest’ written on it. The Greek word for fairest is ‘Kallisti.’
Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each claimed the apple was obviously meant for her. A dispute ensued. The female gods turned to Zeus for a final decision on who ‘the fairest’ was. Being a wise man, Zeus wanted nothing to do with the argument. Instead, he appointed a mortal, Paris, a prince of Troy, to be judge. ‘The Judgement of Paris’ is the famous name given to the choice Paris made.
The thing is, not trusting in their own beauty (or the good judgement of Paris), each of the goddesses tried to bribe him. Proving that things never change, it worked, at least for one of them. Aphrodite promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world if he chose her. Paris gave Aphrodite the Golden Apple (of discord) and Aphrodite caused Helen of Sparta to be in love with Paris.
Happily ever after. Blah blah blah. End of story, right?
Nope. The trouble, as you probably know now, is that Helen was already married to Menelaeus, the King of Sparta. Paris didn’t let a small matter like that get between him and true love. He abducted (or eloped, depending on how you read it) with Helen and took her back across the wine dark sea to Troy.
The ten-year Trojan war–which resulted in the fall and sack of Troy and the death of Paris, his brother Hector, and his father Priam–followed. Paris did manage to kill the Greek warrior Achilles in the war, firing an arrow that was directed by the god Apollo and hitting Achilles in the only area of his body not protected by divine intervention, the heel.
The story of the return of the Greeks back home, The Odyssey, is currently being made into a movie by the director Christopher Nolan. We tell these stories because they are timeless and remind us that people haven’t changed much. But for now, the point: Discord is not a deity. But it is a part of human history and will be part of the future too. A big part of present as well!
Discord the name of a social media technology that facilitated a revolution in Nepal this week. Given the week that the world had, you can be forgiven if you missed what happened. But it’s worth passing on quickly.
Gen Z (younger Nepalese who are savvy with technology) used Discord servers to organize and protest a corrupt communist government in Nepal, and even voted in their choice to replace the disgraced former Prime Minister. It all happened lighting fast.
The government tried to silence dissent by imposing a social media blackout. It didn’t work. Discord servers–which are a little like live chat rooms where people can talk to each other live and share files and links–became the main tool for organizing the first digital revolution of its kind in the world.
It was a pretty amazing story. You can read about it now on-line. My favorite part was the Finance Minister fleeing naked into a river after being chased by an angry mob. That’s the kind of accountability we should expect from the people who manipulate the value of our money and influence (negatively) the quality of our lives.
In any case, discord (and Discord servers) are part of the modern landscape. Since our beat here is money, we’d like to suggest that most of these problems have their ‘root causes’ in the money. When the value of the money goes…all values tend to go with it.
If that’s true, your best bet in the current chaos is to hang on to your values and those things most valuable to you. As investors, that means objects of permanent value like gold, precious metals, and high quality companies. As people, that means friends, family, your relationship with God (if you have one). And don’t forget your furry friends too. My brother’s dog Bandit crossed the Rainbow Bridge this week, which sucked.
It’s a big week coming up with the Fed meeting. We’ll be on the case. In the meantime, you’ll find a quick review of the week that was below. Have a good Sunday and get outside from some fresh air and peace and quiet.
Until tomorrow,
Dan
P.S. If you found the story of Eris and Paris thought provoking, you might do what I just did and pick up a copy of The Essential Classics: An Anthology of Greco-Roman Literature. The hardcover edition from late last year has an introduction from my old managing editor Van Bryan, and a forward from Anya Leonard. Long-time readers will recognize Anya as the head of Classical Wisdom, a project she and Bill Bonner began years ago. Anya’s been running the show on her own for years and sometimes even gets some help from old BPR collaborator Joel Bowman (her husband). The book is a must have for lovers of books and of Classical Wisdom.
Bought the “Classics” book. Two actually. One for my daughter and one for myself. Also the book “The Preparation” by Doug Casey. The latter, I’m discovering, is somewhat autobiographical. The thesis also somewhat in parallel to Charlie Kirk’s own story. As a deist myself, all I will say is that “God works in mysterious ways”. Thanks to you Dan for your research as well as your timely thoughts. Hope you can also agree with me that our dogs go to heaven and wait patiently by “the pearly gates” for their masters to return home.