So I was in this city diner, flat-footed and with nothing to do while I waited for things to happen. This guy came in and stood in the light. The shadow fell over all of us. I didn’t move. People who come in with violence are moving quickly. People who come in to pose always [...]
Posts under ‘Socialization’
Civilizations make rules, and rules are inferior to goals
Conservatives see civilization as a collaborative goal, not a series of institutions. To us, civilization is not roads, government, corporations, etc. but the moral decisions and corresponding values made by a group of people that constitute their identity. This is the mentality you would expect from someone who can make a civilization. Those people are [...]
Detox
How do you tackle something as overwhelming as the Kali Yuga of modernity as a single human being? For a long time, I choose to be cynical about it. I would tell myself things like: “It’s a good thing that our civilization is collapsing. Most people are idiots anyway.” “We are just being punished for [...]
Hall of mirrors
Movement and rest are relative terms. Imagine that you are traveling on a train. It may be moving at a high speed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sit back and enjoy your morning coffee. Now picture your fellow travelers. Perhaps they are sleeping or reading the paper. Most look as if they are only [...]
They’re using you
Years ago, this blog started some of its analysis about Conservatism with the means-ends question. It’s a common sentiment that Conservatism is “ends over means,” which translates into the idea that if the goal is accomplished, it doesn’t matter what method you used to get there. To some degree this is true, because among purposeful [...]
Between Fantasy and Reality
The imagination mediates between fantasy and reality. You have a decision to make, the consequences of which occur in reality. However, before you make the decision you imagine the possible scenarios and outcomes in the realm of fantasy. Then you decide. You cannot renounce your imagination. That would be a potentially harmful asceticism similar to [...]
Follow the luminous
The right is in a tough spot: in order to avoid comparisons to failures of the past, we’ve neutered our opinions, which lets our opposition portray us as dishonest and in retreat. In a sense, we are, in part because like all mobs centered around a stupid idea, leftism has taken over and the lunatics [...]
Scapegoat ritual
Modern politics forces people into polarity. This is not an issue of left-right, but really a question of “what issue will decide the election?” We tend to pick politicians, and vote for plans, based on a single consideration at a time. This is part of the way group dynamics work: in order to get change, [...]
Time
When we think about politics, we tend to abstract away our concerns into measurable things, or at least, things that we can measure laterally. Money. Lives lost. Surveys. These things oddly are tangible, in part because they’re intangible. Putting them in numbers renders the unknown to the known and the manipulable. That makes us feel [...]
Competition creates conformity
All of us who grew up in the West grew up under a mythos that liberty, capitalism and freedom were better than the regimented societies we saw in Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and North Korea. The problem with this myth is that it’s true. Having someone tell you what to do is a motivation killer, [...]
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