We could go on, but the above three anecdotes point towards a crisis the United States and Western Civilization are slowly, but unavoidably wandering into. A crisis of a deluded population crashing into the impenetrable wall of reality.
We could go on, but the above three anecdotes point towards a crisis the United States and Western Civilization are slowly, but unavoidably wandering into. A crisis of a deluded population crashing into the impenetrable wall of reality.
Thanks for the good read, Captain.
But while I share your disgust at the current state of intellectual discourse, I don’t share your gloomy outlook, and it’s not just because I have a few gallons of fermenting grape juice in the basement.
Western Civ is, to my way of thinking – that is, from an historical viewpoint – the exception to the overall tendency of the entire human race for magical thinking and self-delusion. So Western Civ is the exception, not the rule.
As you note, over the course of history (with some bumps, I’ll admit), it has demonstrated that it self-corrects delusional thinking. By running into walls.
But – this self correction takes less and less time in each cycle, I think. Principally because of technological advances. The fall of the Roman Empire took centuries to fix, because most people were illiterate, diseases were rampant, and all Western Civ had to work with were oxen, quills, and the ard. Nazi Germany, on the other had, only screwed things up for couple of decades, because Western Civ had books, and the Marshall Plan.
Yeah, Cultural Studies 101, moral relativism, and voluntary ignorance have made a pretty fine mess of things, but from what I can see, advances in information technology allow this stupidity to be rejected rather more quickly than it has been in the past – note how tired most people have become, recently, of idiots who see “entitlement” and “microaggression” around every corner. And the advances in other technologies – energy production and manufacturing, for example – will, I think, allow us to get past this civilizational drunken weekend without too much of a hangover.
Which is not to say that there won’t continue to be a significant number of pitable wretches that continue to reject the gift of sanity. It’s just that they matter less and less now.
For what it’s worth.
With respect, I’d argue that your final assertion is itself a rejection of reality. Power matters. Who holds it and what are their beliefs? From municipal apparatchiks to foreign policy makers to fortune 500 companies.. totally bonkers. They won’t matter less and less until there is a broad and deep adjustment of the type that no sane person truly wants.
A good rant with crystal clarity Aaron – it confirms a theory I have held for some time – that being, that since society has largely abandoned individualism and it’s enablers-(free enterprise, property rights, personal freedom, transparent responsible government, free thinking and free markets) to embrace various forms of communism(progressivism/collectivism/socialism/communitarianism) it has essentially halted our development as a culture and stalled human evolution.
We should be freeing mankind from the burdens of tax and debt and political slavery and spend less time working for government to pay the fraudulent claims it puts on us to enrich those who have no will to enrich themselves.
We should be (if freedom and ethical free market capitalism were left to evolve as prosperity engines) spending our time in efforts to learn and colonize the universe – instead dissolute collectivist politics has us struggling to come to grips with our genitalia and how to use it – or sanitizing life and reality for those intellectually and spiritually unsuited for both.
Essentially we have abandoned the pursuit of excellence for the pursuit of pulling humanity down to its lowest common denominator.
Good post on a terrific article but I disagree only on the fact that historical corrections have always required strength and war to correct political failures. A delusional society that expects instant gratification without personal sacrifice will be the first to push a button in the hope of averting financial , political and social disaster to avoid that “wall of reality”. North Korea and certain middle east factions notwithstanding. You state that this self correction takes less time each cycle. If true then the next cycle could be very quick, and take thousands of years to correct. I’m cheering for slow and cumbersome but that wall of reality is approaching too fast for my comfort.
The only thing that changes thinking is shattering military defeat. Since the British avoided this the same old useless load of parasites (public school perverts) are still in charge, with suitable lip service to political correctness where it doesn’t count.
You got something there. For example, in more modern times, Russia made drastic changes after losing the Crimean war, such as abolishing serfdom, modernizing its military, and putting more emphasis on educating the population. After the loss to Japan, tentative changes to the system of government were made and more military structure changes. Peasants became generals. You might even say that Germany and China have experienced this to some degree.
Captain, this is definitely one of your best articles ever. I salute you. As much as I dread even thinking about it and what it would mean for my children and grandchildren, I think that western civilization has gone too far in trying to create the “new man” and it will take a serious reset of some catastrophic sort to bring reality back.
Just last night I got to thinking that in the real world we don’t need women to pretend to be men and thus abandon the feminine role. In fact we need the polarity that is the dynamic of masculine and feminine because each enhances the other. When one capitulates and tries to be the other then the Marxist ideal of ‘equality’ kicks in and both are reduced to uselessness.
I certainly agree with the article’s sentiments and try as we might, moral ignorance based on hedonism destroys the strength of any society/empire. Things are going to change and for the moment, not for the better. The first law of holes is to put down the shovel with it’s corollary as long as you keep digging the bottom hasn’t been reached yet. Our rulers are not yet done with the shovel so we have further to go before reaching bottom.
All empires are toppled by aggressive less sophisticated societies. China by the Mongols, Rome by the Vandals and Goths, etc. all of whom were at the time led by self serving incompetent leaders. The US and Europe are no different and will suffer the same fate. History repeats itself not because we failed to learn from the past, but because the primitives/barbarians learned to beat the “civilized” by exploiting their moral ignorance.
The only way to avoid this fate is to remove incompetent leaders, but in a society that chooses its leaders in the first place, society itself must be reformed. Either the West undergoes a voluntary reformation OR it will be imposed by waves of invading murdering barbarians. Who are the barbarians of the 21st Century? Islamofascists.