What do horror movies, the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and elections have in common? In each one, a new and unexpected stimulus — that is, one that hasn’t happened before, so people can’t use their memories and have to actually think analytically — reveals the depths and breadth of human stupidity. A good horror [...]
Posts Tagged ‘democracy’
Globalism is liberalism
When you live in a dying time, you are told many things about history. You are told to rely upon those ideas as truths. Only later do you learn they were propaganda, constructed to manipulate you toward thinking in a political way. Conservatives tried to keep our time from becoming a dying one. Tooth and [...]
Citizens of the World?
Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in the Quest for Universal Values [Part 1] 1. Introduction I will argue that the philosophy of Rawls, echoing Hobbes, in his quest for consensus effectively disables us from politically asking the question what makes for a worthwhile human life. This is done to avoid clashes between comprehensive doctrines about the question [...]
USA trashes its credit rating
If you do not live under a rock, you are probably drowning in commentary about the S&P dropping USA’s credit rating for the first time. You do not need me to contribute to this flood with excessive bloviation, so let me say simply: The big deal (S&P credit rating drop) is not the real story. [...]
How civilizations die
Think of the diagnostic process. You use this to fix your stove, figure out why your computer has weird pop-ups advertising Viagra, or understand what’s making your six-year-old upchuck so expressively at 4 am. The process is straightforward: First, you recognize a problem; then, a series of symptoms; then, whatever states keep renewing those symptoms [...]
Endless class warfare
Let me introduce you to the future of diversity: endless class warfare. Diversity — of any form: ethnic, racial, cultural, religious, customs or language — pits a majority against an underdog minority. All underconfident people then flock to defend that minority as a means of raising their own social status. Since the French Revolution in [...]
The enemy
The sad truth is that you cannot subdivide the human problem. If you want to find The Enemy, you will end up like Hitler, murdering Jews while he should have been out-maneuvering the Russians. If you pretend there is no enemy, you end up like John Lennon, shot to death by an obsessed fan. For [...]
Victims
In a time of the embittered, who are the victims and who are the oppressors? From my experience, it doesn’t matter; there will always be someone rising above on the backs of others. This is equal parts the ambition of that person and the incompetence of those they rise above. In fact, this can lead [...]
Blog drama
When you tap into an audience of the embittered, you are no longer aiming for exact truth. Much like “good writing” as most people see it is not super-accurate (what, do you want a text book?), good politics makes good reading more than it makes perfect sense, although it helps to claim it is pure [...]
