Monday, July 06, 2020

The Road to Hell is Paved by Saintly Ideologues

Time enough for a short post consisting of MORE STUFF I CAN USE!

We ended in the midst of a discussion on the intrinsic impossibility of honest debate with ideologues who inhabit second realities impervious to reason. As they say, you can't reason a person out of something he was never reasoned into. It is why leftists respond to rational argument with irrational slander, every time. Math, physics, merit, standards, the National Anthem, anti-racism: all racist.

As we know, no amount of logic, evidence, or personal behavior can impact a leftist's delusions about race. The delusions are rock solid, and they are rock solid for a reason: because they serve purposes having nothing to do with race. I know, Captain Obvious, but perhaps we can dig a little deeper.

For example, what's really happening when a typical race-obsessed leftist calls a racially colorblind person a racist? First of all, you will notice that there is an immediate shift of planes -- or modes, rather -- from the logical to the moral. In other words, instead of addressing the argument in the mode of reason, the person is attacked from a childishly Manichaean standpoint of good vs. evil.

Childish arguments are appropriate for children. But how and why do they persist in adults? That is the subject of a future post, as it is elaborated in a book called Worldview and Mind. While I can't recommend it, it nevertheless contains some STUFF I CAN USE!

"Dogmatic propositions," writes Voegelin, "survive socially, even when their fallacious character has been thoroughly analyzed and exhibited to public view." As such, there again must be something -- for there is no effect without a cause -- "engendering them and sustaining their life."

I know: the leftist reveals the whole plot when he shifts modes from the rational to the moral; for every time he accuses you of being evil (a racist, a sexist, a homophobe), the real point is that he is elevating himself to membership in the Righteous, and Righteous people transcend any need to be logical. Sanctity is its own argument.

Al Sharpton or Barack Obama or Cornell West, for example, don't need to make sense, because the fulgurant light of their holiness radiates from them so profoundly. Only racists aren't blinded by its power.

Here's a compact truthbomb that has been thought and said and understood by countless normal people, but is still worth mentioning because it is so fundamental and so irrefutable (by intelligence, anyway):

a universe which contains intelligent beings cannot originate with a prima causa that is less than intelligent.

As we know, the universe is a vertical hierarchy deployed in time (i.e., horizontally). As we also know, there is no hierarchy that isn't conditioned from the top down, i.e., teleologically. Having said that, I guess I don't have to repeat what Voegelin says about it.

In short, the telos of thought is O: "the knowledge of something that 'exists' beyond existence is inherent to the noetic structure of existence." Sounds paradoxical but it isn't, because thinking has a Point, and the Point is located nowhere in existence. If you believe otherwise you're well on the way to ideology, whether scientistic, political, or spiritual.

Can you say more about that? Sure. Let's begin with "experience." Where in existence is this thing called experience? Correct. It is nowhere, inasmuch as anything to which we can point must presume it. You can pretend to make it go away, as do materialists, but that's just the thinking of a preoperational child: "out of sight, out of mind."

Would it be correct to say that experience doesn't exist, or that it partakes of a real mode of non-existence? Yes, paradoxical as it sounds,

existence is not a fact. If anything, existence is the nonfact of a disturbing movement in the In-Between of ignorance and knowledge, of time and timelessness, of imperfection and perfection, of hope and fulfillment, and ultimately of life and death.

And "if man's existence were not a movement but a fact, it not only would have no meaning but the question of meaning could not even arise."

Another quickie: consciousness is "the point of intersection of the timeless with time." The Cross roads, so to speak. How wide is your intersection? That's really the question.

Ideologues, for example, reduce the intersection to a oneway horizontal road. Then they insist we must arrive at the destination now. All we have to do to forge this intersectional paradise is to hand over ultimate power to the state and joint the utopian in his imaginary intellectual prison. For those who resist in preference to reality, there are gulags and concentration camps that actually do exist.

This goes back to the appeal of ideology and its "resistance to rational argument. The alternative to life in the paradise of [the activist's] dream is death in the hell of his banality."

In other words, ideology -- which is to say, political religion -- is a way for the leftist to transform his banal life into a world-historical drama of good vs. evil, starring himself.

In this dream of self-salvation, man assumes the role of God and redeems himself by his own grace

It's past 10:00. Work to do. To be continued.

59 comments:

ted said...

Music is in the air! Mooding out for spaghetti Western and Bossa Nova sounds, I see. The heat will do that!

Gagdad Bob said...

It's not the heat it's the humanity: the Maestro has died.

Anonymous said...

In other words, ideology -- which is to say, political religion -- is a way for the leftist to transform his banal life into a world-historical drama of good vs. evil, starring himself

Good lord man, you are a psychologist, can you not be aware that you are projecting like a 10-screen IMAX cineplex?

I'm a leftist and I worry a lot about rising fascism, but hardly at all compared to someone like you who writes multiple long screeds against the evils of "the left", every week for many years.

Gagdad Bob said...

Pretty good run, though, scoring over 450 films. Artistically his peak years were the mid-'60s to mid-'70s, during which he must have scored a couple hundred.

Gagdad Bob said...

Like all great composers, he literally created a distinct sound world.

Gagdad Bob said...

One of those spaces where the soul of man never dies.

Gagdad Bob said...

and where the vertical bisects the horizontal...

Anonymous said...

Bob wrote: "In other words, theology -- which is to say, religion -- is a way for the conservative to transform his banal life into a world-historical drama of good vs. evil, starring himself."

Wait, is that what Bob wrote? Something like that, anyway. By way of explaining his blogging career. Makes perfect sense.

Gagdad Bob said...

in an expansive sensorium....

ted said...

I'm behind on news, but just looked it up. Amazing career and contribution.

Gagdad Bob said...

of sound-color and suprasensible light....

Gagdad Bob said...

I think Morricone exemplifies precisely what we've been writing about life lived in the in-between. He lived and worked in that inexhaustibly creative space between (¶) and O...

Gagdad Bob said...

Which is the real world, humanly speaking, even though it doesn't exist.

ted said...

Everybody's gotta live somewhere. But few are alive there.

Gagdad Bob said...

St. Thomas... Voegelin... Schuon... Eckhart... all my favorites...

Gagdad Bob said...

My list of essential thinkers is getting more compact: the above, plus Davila, Pieper, Norris Clarke, Polanyi, Hayek, and a handful of others...

ted said...

I'm with you on your choices. I would also include Tomberg, Chesterton, David Walsh, and maybe Merton.

julie said...

I was going to comment on the post, but the news about Morricone merits a moment of quiet reflection...

Gagdad Bob said...

Well, lucky me. My local library has a copy of this interesting looking book on the Maestro. I'm curious to find out his views on "The Origins of Life and the Universe." Perhaps he agrees with us that truth is poly-symphonic.

Gagdad Bob said...

Shakespeare gets the point of today's post:

All this the world well knows yet none knows well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

Baba Rum Raisin said...

THERE ARE SEVEN LEVELS!

Anonymous said...

Hello Gagdad Bob. Good Post. You also commented:

"Shakespeare gets the point of today's post:

All this the world well knows yet none knows well,
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell."

I feel sheepish because I don't get what is meant here. Shun a heaven that leads men to hell? What the F-bomb is that? What is the difference between "well knows" and "knows well?"

A little help please. To tell the truth I don't understand most of what is in the post. Embarrassing.

Julie commented "I was going to comment on the post, but the news about Morricone merits a moment of quiet reflection..." Can you please reveal why you cannot both comment on the post and have a moment of quiet reflection? Are these two things somehow mutually exclusive? It wasn't easy to parse what you were getting at there.

Unknown Soldier, can you please clarify what the F-bomb you are trying to express? It was not exactly obvious.

And Hello Baba Rum Raisin: Can you tell us more about the 7 levels? And how they relate to the post (or to anything?) Please come out with it.

Thank you all, be safe.

Love from Sugar Tits

Anonymous said...

Better be careful, Morricone's work might suggest that leftists are something other than evil.

He also did the score for Battle of Algiers, a landmark of left-wing cinema.

Anonymous said...

Wagner's work might suggest that anti-Semitism is something other than evil

Anonymous said...

Charlie Parker's work might suggest that heroin addiction is something other than unhealthy.

Anonymous said...

Jimi Hendrix's work might suggest that choking on vomit is something other than a pathetic way to die.

Anonymous said...

Kurt Cobain's work might suggest that shooting oneself in the head is something other than suicidal.

Anonymous said...

Maybe some performance artists just take their work very very seriously?

So Tits, I’m sure you can recall the final Tuco scene in that Sergio Leone movie. “HEY BLONDIE, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE? YOU’RE JUST A DIRTY SON OF A (insert the infamous Morricone good-bad-ugly tune here)”.

So while Julie repeatedly replays that scene in her mind in loving contemplation of Morricone’s passing, there’s something I need to share with you. Just between us, Tits. It’s about these others. I'm thinking... well, I think we might be talking about rats in the attic. Away with the fairies. Just a step to the left, and then a jump to the right, but with no pelvic thrusting whatsoever. Bithering nutjobs.

I always took the “road to hell” thing to mean that the well intentioned actually are trying to build roads to heaven, and that these roads would actually get to heaven if it wasn’t for a few assholes who have to detour the road and then the fools just keep following like that marching band in the Animal House movie.

What if that wasn't allowed to happen? Then the road to heaven might be paved with good unmentionables.

ted said...

Think Chris Rock could get away with this today?

Gagdad Bob said...

My son has been binge-watching Seinfeld, and pointed out that it could never be made today. Every episode has something to offend the totalitarians.

Gagdad Bob said...

I wonder why they haven't yet canceled MASH yet due to Klinger.

Anonymous said...

ted, I really think that most people get it. They just want the police which they pay for with their tax money, to operate under reasonable “protect and serve” principles, very unlike the ways our Powers That Be get to operate.

But I’m not that way. I say that if the cops are gonna be allowed to beat the crap out of quacking duck blacks suspected of dealing drugs, then why can’t they beat the crap out of multimillionairesses suspected of dealing underage girls?

Cousin Dupree said...

It's impossible to take seriously any racist who isn't a vocal supporter of BLM, given that thousands more blacks will be murdered and assaulted as a direct result of their war on cops.

Karen said...

Maddow's next to be cancelled. There's no constitutional right to make gay men look like such paranoid conspiracy nuts.

Anonymous said...

I just saw this:

The United States has 4.2% of the world’s population, but over 25.3% of the infections and 24.4% of the deaths. It is an overwhelming indictment of gross negligence and incompetence.

and this:

The total amount of wealth controlled by U.S. billionaires’ swelled by more than $565 billion since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

Why handle the virus competently when you can gobble up all the competing small businesses which have been keeping your “capitalistic competition” more honest?

Plus I hear that if you’re one of the unlucky ones who get the virus badly, your hospital bill could be well into seven figures.

While hanging on that cross, Jesus said: "forgive them for they know not what they do". Poignant and memorable. And most everybody who hears about it gets the meaning.

Maybe that particular time period was chosen for that reason. Had Jesus just been strangled by some cops for "being a stoned black guy", it might've been far less memorable.

julie said...

Don't know why you're so interested, Tits. Quite simply, I was enjoying following the convo about Morricone much more than I would have enjoyed anything else I might have added. However, in order to subscribe to the comment section from my computer, one must say something. So I did.

Anonymous said...

In reality Morricone was pretty cool (but not as cool as John Williams, IMHO). But that's all water under the bridge now. It's time for more serious talk. Because I say so.

Modern conservatism revolves around the mantra “just deserts”. As in, in this life you get what you deserve.

I’d be all in, except the rules are way different from what I’d ever been taught. Damned liberals, teaching all that Golden Rule crap.

Oh wait. My parents were Bible banging Christians. Since it’s law of the jungle out there, I was obviously too dumb to understand all the unspoken rules. My bad?

julie said...

If you honestly think that, then there is literally nothing anyone here can say to you to change your mind; we are speaking from very different understandings of reality. Which is handy, because changing your mind is not our job.

Cousin Dupree said...

I don't know about Juan Williams' music, but his opinions are ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Dupree,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Darth Vader March, "Christmas Star" from Home Alone2? The man's a compositional genius!

As for his personal opinions, I don't obsess over those much since I'm just paying him to make my movie experience more memorable. But if he ever decides he'll make a good president just because he'd fill G7 meetings with more memorable music, then I might vote for him. I've been sick of that same old "Hail to the Chief" all the damned time for a while now. Plus he'd probably be better than most alternatives.

So Julie, what is your job? What exactly are we paying you for? Or are you just another typical millennial slacker?

Cousin Dupree said...

A reminder that anyone can imitate intelligence but no one can fake wit.

Anonymous said...

As Lord Trump so aptly demonstrates. Every. Single. Day.

Cousin Dupree said...

One must have a heart of stone to hear Lord Trump desecrate the left's idols without laughing out loud.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen "Trumpy Bear" advertised on TV for two easy payments of $19.95? I kind of like it. If anyone has one, what is the quality of the material? Would you recommend buying?

Bob Commented: "I wonder why they haven't yet canceled MASH yet due to Klinger." Damn it man, you are a genius! How did we overlook it? I have notified the Aktion Kommittee. And I will mention Seinfeld too while I'm at it.

Julie, front and center. You are the most prominent female on this blog, and that has gotten you noticed. You will be questioned about what you do. Women out in Internet Land are craving strong female leadership, and you could very well be the It-Girl.

You mentioned you 'subscribe' to the comment section, and therefore you must post a comment? Fascinating. Is there really a subscription process? I thought any old dame could get on here and let it rip, or lurk, or what have you, ad lib with no restrictions. This is interesting.

You are interesting. I'll bet people tell you that all the time.

Love to all from: Gorgeous Honey Sugar Tits

Van Harvey said...

"Ideologues, for example, reduce the intersection to a oneway horizontal road. Then they insist we must arrive at the destination now. All we have to do to forge this intersectional paradise is to hand over ultimate power to the state and joint the utopian in his imaginary intellectual prison. For those who resist in preference to reality, there are gulags and concentration camps that actually do exist."

Indeed they do. Rather than pursue the moving target of philosophy's qualitative love of wisdom, Ideology's 'Science of ideas' quantifies those ideas into the fixed positions of dead facts mounted on their wall, and both thoughts and those daring to think them, risk becoming their trophies.

Anonymous said...

One must have a heart of stone to hear Lord Trump desecrate the left's idols without laughing out loud.

Trump desecrates basically everything. He's a direct insult to all normal human values, such as "honesty", "responsibility", "knowledge", "compassion", "not committing sexually assault". I don't think any of those are particularly leftist, although their opposites seems to be becoming more and more entrenched on the right.

Desecrating leftist idols is all they are good at, and it's so important that they don't care gets trashed in the process, up to and including human life itself. There are going to be hundeds of thousands of people who are or will be dead dead thanks to Trump, possibly even people you know. But hey, he pisses off the left, and that's the important thing.

Cousin Dupree said...

It's simply not true that Trump has caused the left's insanity. Rather, he has only revealed it.

Cousin Dupree said...

Math is just white privilege with numbers!

Anonymous said...

In reality, whiteness is a genetic defect of blackness.

Anonymous said...

We're cancelling Islam next because of Muhammed's involvement in the slave trade.

Hotep said...

We wuz kangs!

Anonymous said...

And slavetraders. Africa must pay reparations to black Americans NOW!

Cousin Dupree said...

If not for slavery, black Americans would be as wealthy today as their African cousins.

Muhammad Ali said...

Thank God my granddaddy got on that boat!

Anonymous said...

Come again? We leftists don't get irony.

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "...He's a direct insult to all normal human values, such as "honesty", "responsibility", "knowledge", "compassion", "not committing sexually assault". I don't think any of those are particularly leftist..."

Hmmm... let me fix that for you:

"..."honesty", "responsibility", "knowledge", "compassion", "not committing sexually assault", are a direct insult to leftist values, but appealing to those values is the only way that leftist's can hope to stir up an inattentive public (aka: 'educated') against Trump. Sorta like how "Black Lives Matter” Is Preying on America’s Belief That Black Lives Matter", while helping to destroy as many black lives as possible, in order to get what matters most to the Left: Power.


Hi Lance.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the BLM is that it implements policies weighted towards the interests of sheep farmers, loggers and miners in many states. Not everyone is happy with the BLM's vision of how our natural resources, which belong to all Americans, should be used.

Blacks are especially unhappy about exploitation of wild resources, as evidenced by the recent protests.

Evidently there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the BLM across racial and party lines. It is unprecedented, really. It shows what Americans are really concerned about, which is preservation of the environment for future generations.

Law enforcement has come under attack for being to lax on offenders like poachers, claim-jumpers, and pop-up illicit ranching enterprises.

I think Trump gets what American's want and need. Trump was never that big on mutton, lumber, or mineral exploitation. We can depend on him to rein in the BLM and prevent any further environmental depredations, while at the same time ensuring merchants have enough product to meet demand. It is a balancing act and this is why Trump's business acumen is so valuable.

What does the panel think? Am I on the right track with all this?

Anonymous said...

If only there were something like an "internet" through which you could check out the BLM "website" and see that they're just another leftist hate group using race as a way to play on white guilt to get what they want.

Van Harvey said...

Somebody's "B"'s got Bundy confused with Black. Which... is interesting and all, but... yeh.

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