Theodore Dalrymple's take makes the most sense to me:
"Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the bett…
Theodore Dalrymple's take makes the most sense to me:
"Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to."
I'll qualify my endorsement of the quote slightly. To say it's "communist propaganda writ small" suggests that it's primarily a communist product. I'm not sure at all about that; a lot of players - not all of them communists - have an interest in controlling people, and an effective tool is an effective tool regardless of who is wielding it.
A lot of people scoff at the idea of spiritual warfare. I have no idea if you do or not, but I certainly take it seriously. To offer another quote, this time from Wendell Berry, "If the devil doesn't exist... how do you explain that some people are a lot worse than they're smart enough to be?”
That being said, I suspect that the diabolical puppet masters have the same goal they always have; i.e. the damnation of individual souls. I also suspect that their human puppets have imagined for themselves all sorts of mutually incompatible goals. Not being of demonic intelligence myself, I can only guess that the puppet masters find the resulting chaos a bonus.
I should have mentioned that the quote is from Berry's novel, "Jayber Crow". If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. If you *have* read it, I don't *need* to recommend it. Anthony Esolen has seen in it a modern analogy or retelling of Dante's love for Beatrice.
Well...combine the facts that civilization (western/classical liberal) is very fragile, ethereal, really, and the human heart is basically evil, and you have the outcome - a very psychologically ugly segment of the population desiring evil to triumph over good. Evil celebrates power in a way that (human) good does not.
Going forward any transactions that do not adhere to the Big Brother alternate reality should be done using cash or when not possible money orders or traveler's checks.
The eventual destination is Indonesia in the 1960s or Cambodia in the 1970s. That's not anyone's "goal", per se, and we have ample opportunity left to avoid it. However, if we allow the rich bastards to continue to rule with no input from the rest of us, we'll get there eventually. For more recent efforts, look at Libya, which formerly was the most prosperous nation on its continent.
As has been suggested countless times, we seem to be following Rome's playbook to a "T", as they descended into oblivion. The similarities are countless and eery in their likeness.
Definitely there are similarities, but dwelling on this comparison just fuels the Stupid War Machine because the war marketers start seeing Visigoths and Lombards under every rock.
No they see Russians under every rock. And under every bed.
Empires are authoritarian by nature, controlling speech, punishing political enemies, stealing their assets, is more efficient (no mater how misguided, unethical or even illegal) than having an exchange in the marketplace of ideas.
What if "wrongthink" wins out?? People would have to die.
Hey, listen to this from a Wikipedia humorist summarizing, in a glorious nub of dismissal, Teddy Dalrymple's opinion of anybody to the left of Reagan or Thatcher, cough, cough.
"...In his writing, Daniels [Dalrymple] frequently argues that the leftist views prevalent within Western intellectual circles minimise the responsibility of individuals for their own actions and undermine traditional mores, contributing to the formation within prosperous countries of an underclass afflicted by endemic violence, criminality, sexually transmitted diseases, welfare dependency, and drug abuse. Much of Dalrymple's writing is based on his experience of working with criminals and the mentally ill."
"Leftist views" as death rays from outer space, or sewer CHUDS making their way out of the nation's sewer pipes.
Too bad that right-wingers don't buy into global warming---they could write off the climate as just another "traditional more" done in by "leftist views."
Theodore Dalrymple's take makes the most sense to me:
"Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to."
I'll qualify my endorsement of the quote slightly. To say it's "communist propaganda writ small" suggests that it's primarily a communist product. I'm not sure at all about that; a lot of players - not all of them communists - have an interest in controlling people, and an effective tool is an effective tool regardless of who is wielding it.
And then what? Is the goal to have a Western version of the CCP or something?
A lot of people scoff at the idea of spiritual warfare. I have no idea if you do or not, but I certainly take it seriously. To offer another quote, this time from Wendell Berry, "If the devil doesn't exist... how do you explain that some people are a lot worse than they're smart enough to be?”
That being said, I suspect that the diabolical puppet masters have the same goal they always have; i.e. the damnation of individual souls. I also suspect that their human puppets have imagined for themselves all sorts of mutually incompatible goals. Not being of demonic intelligence myself, I can only guess that the puppet masters find the resulting chaos a bonus.
We Catholics do not scoff at the idea of Spiritual Warfare, in part for the reason Wendell Berry suggests.
I should have mentioned that the quote is from Berry's novel, "Jayber Crow". If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. If you *have* read it, I don't *need* to recommend it. Anthony Esolen has seen in it a modern analogy or retelling of Dante's love for Beatrice.
"...That being said, I suspect that the diabolical puppet masters have the same goal they always have; i.e. the damnation of individual souls..."
Always important---especially these days---to not conflate real life with a "Game of Thrones" scenario.
Well...combine the facts that civilization (western/classical liberal) is very fragile, ethereal, really, and the human heart is basically evil, and you have the outcome - a very psychologically ugly segment of the population desiring evil to triumph over good. Evil celebrates power in a way that (human) good does not.
The left covets China's system of social credit, and this is how they are going about accomplishing it.
Contribute to a disfavored candidate? Say good by to your bank account.
Going forward any transactions that do not adhere to the Big Brother alternate reality should be done using cash or when not possible money orders or traveler's checks.
The left wants to eliminate cash, hence the push for a central bank digital currency.
The eventual destination is Indonesia in the 1960s or Cambodia in the 1970s. That's not anyone's "goal", per se, and we have ample opportunity left to avoid it. However, if we allow the rich bastards to continue to rule with no input from the rest of us, we'll get there eventually. For more recent efforts, look at Libya, which formerly was the most prosperous nation on its continent.
As has been suggested countless times, we seem to be following Rome's playbook to a "T", as they descended into oblivion. The similarities are countless and eery in their likeness.
Definitely there are similarities, but dwelling on this comparison just fuels the Stupid War Machine because the war marketers start seeing Visigoths and Lombards under every rock.
No they see Russians under every rock. And under every bed.
Empires are authoritarian by nature, controlling speech, punishing political enemies, stealing their assets, is more efficient (no mater how misguided, unethical or even illegal) than having an exchange in the marketplace of ideas.
What if "wrongthink" wins out?? People would have to die.
Hey, listen to this from a Wikipedia humorist summarizing, in a glorious nub of dismissal, Teddy Dalrymple's opinion of anybody to the left of Reagan or Thatcher, cough, cough.
"...In his writing, Daniels [Dalrymple] frequently argues that the leftist views prevalent within Western intellectual circles minimise the responsibility of individuals for their own actions and undermine traditional mores, contributing to the formation within prosperous countries of an underclass afflicted by endemic violence, criminality, sexually transmitted diseases, welfare dependency, and drug abuse. Much of Dalrymple's writing is based on his experience of working with criminals and the mentally ill."
"Leftist views" as death rays from outer space, or sewer CHUDS making their way out of the nation's sewer pipes.
Too bad that right-wingers don't buy into global warming---they could write off the climate as just another "traditional more" done in by "leftist views."
I thought is was now climate change because the warming part hasn't panned out?
Daniels is right.
Where I live it's panned out plenty.