“It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one.”
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Put another way, the truth is the truth even if only one person discovers it, an observation that seems self evident but one that is nevertheless warred against endlessly by authoritarians of all stripes.
As I’ve tried to explain for over a decade, the left has every reason to turn interpretation into a “democratizing” endeavor: doing so allows them to mobilize politicized “interpretive communities” that rely on manufactured consent and the will to power to rejigger “truths” to bend to their whims, and in so doing, to rob the individual of legitimate meaning making — that act of projecting the individual will into existence — by assuming the role of meaning’s ultimate deciders. Those who control meaning control everything.
To call this collectivizing impluse hive-minded is to do a grave injustice to bees. Because with bees, the behavior is driven by a kind of genetic memory.
— Whereas the human has the free will to break from the hive and assert the kind of individualism that, at its grandest, can cause entire paradigm shifts, fundamentally altering a prevailing epistemology. See, eg., “Independence, The Declaration of”.
The left despises such abilities, because the individual and his free will are a constant threat to the totalitarian impulse that they so willfully follow. The individual is the Utopian’s fly in the ointment. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass.
Go ahead. Do some research. Count the leftists who are actively trying to promote a fatalist conceit, to convince humans that their free will is an illusion, and that therefore the entirety of Enlightenment humanism has been a fraud, creating a social dynamic — made manifest in the US as founded — from which they aim to rescue us.
Now. Back to my hole. Away from all the “reasonable” and “pragmatic” people who fret over things like “electability” and who stand for nothing but power and the jealous protection of their own egos.
Oh. And yippy-ki-yay, mother fuckers.
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!
At the museum on NAS Pensacola they have the last aircraft known to be a survivor of the battle of Midway. When it landed it had over 200 bullet holes.
Before Midway, the Japanese Empire had been expanding, arguably, since 1912. After Midway it had three years left to exist.
Before Midway the US had suffered a string of humiliating defeats and stalemates. After Midway victory was certain, it was just a matter of time.
My 14 year old son, who knew nothing about the battle of Midway was amazed that there was only one plane left of the hundreds in the battle and asked the docent why only one reminder of such a world-changing battle. The docent told him that they weren’t there to change the world, they were just there to put it back the way it should be.
I had never thought of it that way.
we past the tipping point many moons ago
so i learned how to make my own ganache
you’re damn right i did
Fatalism also expresses itself in the argument that we’re at a sociopolitical tipping point — a right-wing echo of the leftists’ and Establicans’ mantra that “demographics is destiny.”
A movement co-founded by a man whose instinct was to stand athwart history yelling “STOP!” deserves better.
Greetings:
My first attempt at a college education involved the Jesuits whom my dear old Dad had convinced me were, back in those days, like God’s Green Berets. One of their contributions to the development of my intellect and character was an assertion by the Rev. Teilhard de Chardin that “Truth and one man is the majority.”
Unfortunately, no one thought to write it on the subway walls.
I’m presently working my way though the Kindle edition of a 1956 book that has some relevance to this. Available for sale or for free download. Found it due to this Federalist piece.
Teilhard de Chardin was a huge influence on Flannery O’Connor. I wish she had lived; she’d hate PC so much she’d spit endless barbs at it.
geoffb
Donald Trump is a total buffoon and his “announcement” of running for President is ego-theater all the way down.
Yet, Hillary jumped onto the Left’s glee with the Charleston shooting by saying Trump’s comments are the stuff that “triggers” violence like Charleston
Re. Trump: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/19/donald-trump-king-of-trolling-his-critics-should-be-the-internets-choice-for-president/
Me, I think it’s great to have teh Donald in the field. No, I don’t intend to vote for him, don’t think he can win, and don’t think he even wants the job. But, there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to say some populist things that resonate with blue-collar America (and the Reagan Democrats, if any are still alive) — proper “America First!” things that the rest of our pathetic GOP candidates are too “but what about the moderates?!?” brainwashed to say. As such, if people seem to like the ideas (while rejecting the clownish man saying them), I believe it could push the Overton Window, if not exactly rightward, at least in some direction other than the default.
Jeff, your hive mind analysis is spot-on; you see the linguistic methodology the left employs, but that’s not the only weapon they bring to bear.
I see also their fervor to destroy the notion of a Creator, a God if you will, supplanting the creator’s purpose for humans to even exist on this carefully-crafted Cinderella world: to be soulful creatures, given souls to hold in jars of clay, purposed to fulfill temporary existences. Your purpose is not the same as mine, and is for you to find. Subtract much of modern religion’s add-ons and you get to basic understanding.
Government is animal husbandry. Without souls, without God and purpose, humans are but animals needing oversight; needing more and more top-down Government Control as our population grows in size and the animals gain ‘enlightenment’.
Take that kid in Charleston. He sat in a church and didn’t see soul-filled humans surrounding him, only animals. He is a perfect Government creation, Godless and soulless, but lacking just that next level of necessary control…that level Government will now rush to provide.
Support, don’t mock, your local religions…they might be the last hedge between us and the Control Operatives who will happily take God’s places.
Trump is worse than a mere buffoon I think: he seems too close in character to Menon the Thessalian, a condition which, should it prove true, we’ll find not to our political benefit at all in the final analysis. (see Xenophon’s Anabasis 2.6.21 to 2.6.29 for a sketch of Menon, or see Plato’s Meno for a fuller drawing)
Mr. Cookies!
Mr. 57 had a question about your story
the problem, John, I don’t think The Donald is in any way a Conservative.
Indeed, I get the feeling he’s stalking horse for Hillary.
I am Lobo. I hunt Alone
Obviously you don’t know your Ernest Thompson Seton. Or maybe you have something against Blanca? Sexist.
Obviously you don’t know your Ernest Thompson Seton. –
*shout of joy*
I have my grandfather’s 1900 edition of The Biography of a Grizzly … it was read to him as a boy, he read it to his kids, he read it to me.
(btw it’s Ernest Seton Thompson)
Trump is going to suck all the energy out of the GOP’s big tent unless one of the other would-be nominees grows a pair and starts acting like him.
And that’s all I have to say about Trump on this non-Trump thread about teh Donald.
No it’s not.
ok, weirdness
I see it listed on Google search as Ernest Thompson Seton
But my book says Ernest Seton-Thompson.
How many times, and when, did Seton-Thompson change his name??
The families of these Charleston victims are amazing, and much better people than me. I’d be looking for a chance to gut that piece of shit. These are people who have got God in a very real way, and they’re actively defeating evil, reducing it to a quivering little speck.
Was it the number of donations he’s made to her?
Was it the number of donations he’s made to her?
Yep, there’s that. Plus I think a lot of his buffoonery plays as an inside joke against the rubes.
The families of these Charleston victims are amazing, and much better people than me. –
Totally agree. I was listening to their courtroom statements and almost cried. What strength they find in their faith, how humbling.
At least twice it seems
From Ernest Evan Thompson, to Ernest Seton Thompson to Ernest Thompson Seton
Probably after 1900, but I don’t know.
Probably after 1900, but I don’t know
well, at least “Caitlyn” wasn’t one of them. ;-)
This young man was raised exceptionally well. God rest his mother.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=M4nkpLSNQs8#t=1543 (pertinent part starts at 25:40 mark)
The Donald made contributions to Hillary?! I’m disappointed in myself for not knowing that.
Makes his motives pretty sketchy for sure, and puts him in the John McCain file of surreal candidates seeking to lead the Republican Party.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/donald-trump-donations-democrats-hillary-clinton-119071.html#ixzz3dXhgOlxS
Trump is going to suck all the energy out of the GOP’s big tent
Is there even any to be had?
Carly is kicking ass. Could be our Lady Thatcher if she has Thatcher’s nerve.
It’s early yet, I didn’t give her much credit when she ran here for governor, but she’s saying saying the right stuff now I think (disclosure: I’ve only watched one speech on FOX some weeks ago, and a few clips since), and according to certain people I trust.
I think it’s between her, Walker, Cruz , or Rubio*. Right now I think all are being low key and getting ducks in a row so when the campaigning season hits they don’t look like a rapidly emptying clown car.
*Perry and maybe a few others have a shot if fate smiles on them. Trump and a few others want to make it about them self, barkers at their own personal circus, clown car part of the show…
The GOP’s chock-a-block with people who can talk the talk.
It’s the walking without falling on your ass that’s the problem.
“Now this is the Law of the Jungle–as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back–
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack
Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip; drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember the night is for hunting, and forget not the day is for sleep.
The Jackal may follow the Tiger, but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a hunter–go forth and get food of thine own.
Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle–the Tiger, the Panther, the Bear;
And trouble not Hathi the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair.
When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken–it may be fair words shall prevail.
When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel, and the Pack be diminished by war.
The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home,
Not even the Head Wolf may enter, not even the Council may come.
The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, but where he has digged it too plain,
The Council shall send him a message, and so he shall change it again.
If ye kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods with your bay,
Lest ye frighten the deer from the crops, and the brothers go empty away.
Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and _seven times never kill Man!_
If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride;
Pack-Right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head and the hide.
The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat where it lies;
And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.
The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He may do what he will,
But, till he has given permission, the Pack may not eat of that Kill.
Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his Pack he may claim
Full-gorge when the killer has eaten; and none may refuse him the same.
Lair-Right is the right of the Mother. From all of her year she may claim
One haunch of each kill for her litter; and none may deny her the same.
Cave-Right is the right of the Father–to hunt by himself for his own:
He is freed of all calls to the Pack; he is judged by the Council alone.
Because of his age and his cunning, because of his gripe and his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of the Head Wolf is Law.
_Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is–Obey!_
All I can tell you hap, is what the docent and the sign told me.
I’m not at all sure a reasonable man would agree.
So, which chunk of the bureaucratic behemoth is “Carly” going to lop off and throw onto History’s pyre? Which nubbin of Leviathan are any of them going to send back to the deep, never to be seen again (or at least for the length of a human generation)?
There will be no wishing/voting a way out of this latest iteration of crowd stupidity. There will be only survival or death, followed by picking up the pieces in a (possibly) wiser world.
For all that I admire Jeff, his lone wolf metaphor is rather apt, for a reason. There are too few of his type to carry the day.
Because with bees, the behavior is driven by a kind of genetic memory.
Bees do productive things: produce honey, pollinate plants, guard the hive, make more bees.
If human collectivism could be THAT efficient and THAT productive and THAT positive, I’d join right on in.
However…
Jonah’s column about Nietzsche seems relevant:
Also, MLK’s commitment card from 1963, if you’re interested in going that route.
I wish TheBlazeTV’s site were more search-friendly. He did an interview with a Rabbi about the passive resistance movements that succeeded— Gandhi, MLK, Mandela—and what kinds of virtues the members of those movements must cultivate within themselves and as a movement to get them to work.
IIRC, there are three things:
(1) The movement must be self-critical, at both the individual and group level. People have to self-examine, to be willing to admit that they made mistakes here or there, and to question what the group is doing from moment to moment. This does not include hand-wringing or self-loathing—just thorough and honest reality checks.
(2) The movement must recognize the 1% truth that the opposition holds: not make a moral equivalence but to recognize the tiny bit of validity they might have, e.g., the Nazis were right that Versailles was humiliating to the German people and ISIS stands for something solid whereas the West is adrift, morally.
(3) Drawing a blank.
I’ve provided plenty of feedback the TheBlazeTV.com about their searchability FAIL but they never really change it.
Morons. Just because Glenn isn’t detail-oriented doesn’t mean the web-site staff shouldn’t be.
got it it’s still a poignant story
Mike
So, which chunk of the bureaucratic behemoth is “Carly” going to lop off and throw onto History’s pyre?
I don’t know. But I’d hazard a guess that as long as Cabinet positions are in the Executive Branch, and were created by same, I do not see why any President couldn’t unilaterally dissolve a Cabinet position and the bureaucracy tied to it (e.g. Secretary of Education)
BTW why the scare quotes around Carly’s name?
SBD Dauntless BuNo 2106
That’s the one! I recommend a visit to the museum when you’re down there. In between all of the heavy metals from the shellfish and the gallons of shitty light beer, I may need a new liver. That’s OK though, because the skin cancer will get me first.
Also the blue angels were practicing, so on occasion I’d awake from my stupor only to have weird homoerotic dreams about the other fat guys on the volleyball court. My call sign was “Toll house” and I had great teeth.
The completely unnecessary Office of Homeland Security was created by executive fiat, but Congress wanted in and demanded it be upgraded to a department, which would require legislation. POTUS can invite officials into Cabinet-level importance by his own authority, but that’s a different thing.
Ditto abolition.