Friday, August 30, 2013

Progressives: Parasites on Progress

Insufficient time for a fully loaded post, but maybe enough to nibble at the margins of George Gilder's Knowledge and Power, which is again enthusiastically raccoomended to all.

Matters up here are further complicated by what turns out to be a fractured metacarpal. I declined the cast in favor of a brace, but still, I was a primitive hunt 'n pecker to begin with. This is ridiculous. My thoughts are running so far ahead of my available fingers that it's like typing under water.

So I'll just highlight and expand upon some peripheral points without getting into the main core of the argument. For example, Gilder writes of scouring the Harvard catalogue and concluding "that 80 percent of the courses stultified their students."

And they don't just stultify intellectually, which is bad enough, but spiritually; you might say they warp the person both existentially and ontologically, i.e., in both knowing and being.

Thus, a significant majority of courses at this quintessentially "elite" university are "either self-evident or wrong, ideological or tautological, twisted or trivial." No doubt Miley Cyrus will soon be a guest lecturer in their Womyn's Studies department.

Why is it our business if deluded parents want to shell out 200 large to have their children indoctrinated with the latest perverse nonsense?

I see two potential problems: first, some of the children will lack the skepticism, or self-awareness, or independence of mind, or grounding in higher truth, to resist the indoctrination. Second, one of these idiots might become president.

D'oh!

Or as Gilder says, "Now those stultified students are running the country."

Stultified, like how?

Well, if, say, a president has no allegiance to truth but only power, then we have no right to expect intellectual consistency, as truth will be in service to power rather than vice versa. To the extent that consistency is present, it will be in terms of adhering to the needs of power, which change from day to day.

Thus, the Constitutional Scholar assured us when running for president that "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat."

Your point being? That was then. The needs of power were different. Likewise, no one was more outraged than Obama about the IRS's political persecution of taxpayers. Now? Phony scandal.

An associated question is why do the tenured despise the very economic system that makes their frivolous lives possible? This strikes me as a plausible motive:

"Capitalism offers nothing but frustrations and rebuffs to those who, by virtue of their superior intelligence, birth, credentials, or ideals, believe themselves entitled to get without giving, to take without risking, to profit without understanding, and to be exalted without humbling themselves to meet the unruly demands of others in an always perilous and unpredictable life."

The market, for example, can only offer health insurance, and compete with other companies for your patronage -- i.e., in pleasing the consumer. (I should add that this would be the case in a real market, uncontaminated by the abundance of low-entropy noise from the state.)

But Obama didn't even need to please a majority of skeevy politicians, let alone citizens. Rather, through outrageous lies, naked bribery and legislative trickery -- thuggery, humbuggery, and skulduggery -- he was able to force this beast upon 300 million other human beings, who are now significantly less free than they were the day before.

At any rate, "It is not surprising, therefore, that the chief source of misunderstanding of capitalism is the intelligentsia, who disdain bourgeois or 'middle class' values and deny the paramount role of individual enterprise in the progress of the race."

In the deluded minds of progressives, they believe they are the cause of progress rather than its parasites.

25 comments:

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Speaking of parasites...

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Stultifying indoctrination explains Obama's stultifying speech whenhis teleprompter isn't working.

And no wonder Obama thinks all the scandals he created are phony. He has a phonybaloney education.

In fact, everything Obama and his followers claim about him is phony.

mushroom said...

I don't think the Amish are growing reefer, but they do all right otherwise.

I go along with the quote Robin used to have up from St. Francis -- "Don't change the world; change worlds."

Our political sickness was chronic though fairly low-grade for a long time. It was more of a political disorder or neurosis than political psychosis. I suppose you could pick the point of escalation -- Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson, Reagan (reaction), Clinton. I see the fever being elevated, the disease becoming acute and psychotic during the 2000 election.

The point is, though, like any disease or setback or challenge that comes, we have to face it with faith. I still have a God and a country I can trust, just not so much a government.

julie said...

No time to read right now, but I would be forever grateful if all you praying folks could say a few for my boy. Hopefully, it's only some type of childhood epilepsy, but we'll find out more over the weekend.

Thanks, everyone.

mushroom said...

We'll be praying.

ted said...

Julie, you definitely have my prayers!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Aye, we'll be praying for your son.

Leslie Godwin said...

Julie, we are praying for your son and you and your husband. If you need a second opinion, I have a close relative who I can ask for a referral. Let us know what we can do to help.
Leslie

julie said...

Thanks, Leslie. I appreciate that. We're checked into the hospital for tonight, with MRI and EEG scheduled for tomorrow. L is having a pretty good adventure so far; his hospital room is way nicer than any I've ever had!

John Lien said...

julie, will do.

Matthew C Smallwood said...

Wishing your metacarpals well -
Here's a quote from Civilizing the Beast blog:
" A limited return to tradition is possible in the following way:

I suppose the old WASPS did not purposefully cause the decline of American culture, it was greed, the old “root of all evil.” This made it easier for what Mark Steyn calls the PORGI, post-religious globalist intellectuals, to overcome the WASPS (Chronicles, Aug. 2013).

The PORGI have accomplished their “long march” through all of American culture, from the globalist business world through the universities and the media, and now not much of real America remains. What is real America? The modernists have of course tried to change the historical and biological facts, but culture is derived from race, religion and ethics, and shared language. Global modernism is the opposite of these things, as Robert Beum points out in the same issue.

So, can the country defeat the PORGI empire? The old demographics, which determined American culture, were also treacherously changed by the PORGI, and so a return to tradition is no longer possible, accept in the following limited way:

Our original Constitution still prefers nearly independent regions and states, protected by a light federalism. Since the PORGI made sure to distribute apparently unassimilable people and cultures throughout the land, it will be a gradual thing, and it won’t be perfect, but eventually even the WASPS may return in this way, living in their own regions or states, in cooperative competition with other demographics in other regions and states. This is the way the de-civilizing PORGI empire can collapse without the whole country crashing down around us. I love my country and I think this can be done to save it."

The other option is some kind of spiritual reaction that crosses all boundaries, but these types of thing usually take a lot of TIME, which Leftist policies don't allow for. In particular, the education system needs more than a decade or two to reform & produce the quality of citizens that would make it work. Now we're starting to see the effect much more dramatically in the youth & in the nature of crimes that are committed - the writing is on the wall, and has been for a long time. How long ago did Gilder write this? I remember my father reading that book over two decades ago, it seems....

julie said...

Thanks, everyone, for your prayers. We've had good news today. L had his tests, and was seen by the neurologist. The MRI is normal; the EEG showed some abnormality. He most likely has juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, which has a good chance of being successfully controlled with medication, and it's possible he may grow out of it eventually. They've put him on Keppra, which seems to have already made a difference. He had several seizures this morning; this evening, none.

I'm extremely glad it's not a tumor or any kind of brain trauma. And it's nice to think he could once again get through a day with only a normal risk of giving himself a concussion...

I can breathe again :)

Leslie Godwin said...

Julie, I am so relieved to hear from you, and thank you for the update. That sounds very scary to see him have several seizures, but I know what you mean about it still being good news. Please keep us posted when you can. Glad there are meds for that!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks for the update, Julie.
We willkeep L in our prayers. Glad you and DH can breath again. :^)

ge said...

How legendary* can some singer be who you likely havent heard [of]?
He does quite the perfect job on this rouser
rip Joe Higgs

*Marley et al's mentor?

Joan of Argghh! said...

Julie, I'm sorry to be late on this thread, but glad that your boy is okay. Better to find out early.

My son developed his in his teens, we think, but we never spotted it for sure until one day in his 20's. Two of my brothers are epileptic as well. All have full, and fully functioning, lives. Drop me a line at my screen name at gmail, if you like.

Christina M said...

Julie, I'm late but will continue to pray. Glad you got some good news.

Gagdad Bob said...

Regular posting should resume tomorrow. For the time being, the combination of the fractured metacarpal and an upper respiratory infection has me laid low. I'm pretty sure I exposed myself to the bug when my soul briefly left my body on the way down from the ladder. Can't help letting one's guard down in such trying circumstances...

ge said...

no matter how bad a shot your hand took it will probably look better than his when healed!
Django

arguably the fluentest guitarist ever--the 3rd and 4th fingers on his left hand were completely paralyzed.

Gagdad Bob said...

Talk about mind over matter.

Van Harvey said...

"For example, Gilder writes of scouring the Harvard catalogue and concluding "that 80 percent of the courses stultified their students.
...And they don't just stultify intellectually, which is bad enough, but spiritually; you might say they warp the person both existentially and ontologically, i.e., in both knowing and being."

Yep.

"Well, if, say, a president has no allegiance to truth but only power, then we have no right to expect intellectual consistency, as truth will be in service to power rather than vice versa. To the extent that consistency is present, it will be in terms of adhering to the needs of power, which change from day to day."

'Zactly so.

"At any rate, "It is not surprising, therefore, that the chief source of misunderstanding of capitalism is the intelligentsia, who disdain bourgeois or 'middle class' values and deny the paramount role of individual enterprise in the progress of the race."

In the deluded minds of progressives, they believe they are the cause of progress rather than its parasites."

To apply a darweenieian perspective, it took tens of thousands of years for mankind to discover the importance of Truth, and another couple millenia longer to realize that reality could only be fully realized, and improved, by seeking and applying what is true equally to man and material.

Every step away from what is real and true, is regress, not progress, and chortling their superstitious nonsense of relativistic diversity, changes that not one whit.

Progressives are for nothing of the sort - they can't even handle the weather changing - they pursue nothing but regress, they are instead ProRegressives, and if there is any truth to evolution, they are doomed by their devolving nature to extinction - may it be swift in coming.




Van Harvey said...

opentrench said ""

And "" seems a sufficient reply.

Van Harvey said...

Julie, oh I feel for you, and am so glad it wasn't the more severe possibilities. As Joan noted, I'm sure your boy will not only be fine but will soon be busy thinking of alternative ways to acquire a concussion.

(Believe me, it's a never ending quest)

Van Harvey said...

Matthew quoted "A limited return to tradition is..."

Sorry, but seeking any return to tradition is a fools quest. The ProRegressives yearnings to the contrary, there is no going back, and with just a bit of forethought, few would try.

It's not like those of our Founders era, or any other, didn't have many things wrong, no matter how much they might have had right in other areas, and if you attempt to improve your situation by reclaiming tradition, there is will be no possible way to disentangle the right from the wrong - not when the impetus is 'Tradition!', rather than what was right and wrong to begin with.

Other eras absolutely had much right, and those areas need to be identified and understood so that we can benefit from them - but we must not shy away from acknowledging what they had wrong.

If the quest for what is True is not the guide, Power is the only alternative - and my how it loves disguises.

julie said...

Re. concussions, yep. He gave himself a shiner last week tripping over the play carpet in his bedroom. Plus he has a fantastic habit of purposely looking in any direction except the one he's running. He's living up to the nickname "Captain Calamity" :)

Re. the return to tradition, good points.

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