A Critique of Pure Criticism

To review where we left off: feminism necessarily tends to statist tyranny, since only something as powerful as the state can block and undo the consequences of biology and freedom, AKA reality.  If facts are stubborn things, reality is downright intransigent.  

It's our one hope, really: that leftism will never succeed because it cannot succeed.  Miracles are nice, but in our postmodern world there is insufficient appreciation for the miracle of reality: thank God for Real Things! (And vice versa.)

Which perhaps sounds like another throwaway line, but it's not. Rather, it goes to the very foundation of our metaphysical dispute, i.e., whether reality exists and the intellect may know it. Everything else is commentary. It's the first step to the first principle. Choose unwisely and it's the last step. 

I'm reading another book by Fulton Sheen, this one called Religion Without God, which picks up where the previous one -- God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy -- left off. Note that God and intelligence is what you call a pleonasm, since there can be no real intelligence in the absence of God as its ground and vector, alpha and omega. 

Which is why our world of postmodern ideology is so thoroughly anti-intellectual: not just in- or non- or pre-intellectual, but in absolute rebellion against the intellect. Why? Again, because the intellect is the mirror of the real, and reality is the perennial constraint on progressive dreams, fantasies, wishes, desires, and delusions.

One needn't even believe in "God" to understand conceptually what we're saying. One must, however, leave a "placeholder" for the Absolute -- an empty seat at one's innertable -- which will, if one is serious, be gradually filled with content. Eventually this will result in a tipping point and whoops, there's God, maybe a little late but always on time.

Which isn't really all that different from any other skill, say, music. One begins playing a musical instrument with the faith that music will eventually be reached and made present, so to speak.  Anyone who plays an instrument will recall the point at which one broke through to the other side -- the side from whence music comes -- and became a channel as opposed to a mere tool beating against its outer wall. 

It's like a fractal iteration of the transition from will to grace, bearing in mind that these two aren't actually opposed, rather, that grace is the perfection of nature.  Man's will isn't a line but a curve, or arc, or spiral -- ultimately a projectile from and to God. Just keep peddling, and soon enough you're riding upright on the tricycle.  

Here's a forbidden thought, especially for a clinical psychologist:

The proper therapeutic for bad living is clear thinking. We must supply the will with the right kind of projectiles, and trace for it the proper trajectory, for the will, by its nature, is inspired by the intellect.

If the will is not inspired by the intellect, then it will be spired by something that runs counter to the intellect -- AKA bad ideas, which, when systematized, become worse ideology -- or by something lower than intellect, AKA the untutored will.  

Which is why so many human beings are engines with no steering wheel. As Sheen says, "our knowledge and our love should be harmonious," not unlike the Trinity itsoph, "in which Knowledge and Love are in harmonious balance -- the Son and the Spirit being equal." 

But not equivalent, or what's the point? Back to Freedom and Feminism: male and female are likewise equal but  obviously not equivalent. And vive la différence. To which the left responds: No, kill it! Preferably before it reproduces!

Harmony, balance, and proportion. Or just a little perspective, please:

In the normal order of things there is a balance between the transcendent and the immanent, for all life is an equilibrium between the forces of within and the forces of without.

We know all about the forces of without, e.g., gravity, electricity, magnetism. But what the heck are the Forces of Within?  Objectively speaking?  

Now that is a large subject. Come to think of it, in the absence of this subject, there is no large or small, significant or insignificant, meaningful or meaningless, etc.  Truly, it is the biggest of bangs, at least on our side of the rug.

Which is why the world is so small to the ideologue.  One of the purposes of ideology is to cut the world down to size and make it -- and us! -- manageable.  This is why it requires a vocabulary of about a dozen words to be a progressive activist, the most important being "you have" and "I want."  

Oof. I need to stop this reverie in midsdream. To be continued....

A Critique of Pure Criticism

To review where we left off: feminism necessarily tends to statist tyranny, since only something as powerful as the state can block and undo the consequences of biology and freedom, AKA reality.  If facts are stubborn things, reality is downright intransigent.  

It's our one hope, really: that leftism will never succeed because it cannot succeed.  Miracles are nice, but in our postmodern world there is insufficient appreciation for the miracle of reality: thank God for Real Things! (And vice versa.)

Which perhaps sounds like another throwaway line, but it's not. Rather, it goes to the very foundation of our metaphysical dispute, i.e., whether reality exists and the intellect may know it. Everything else is commentary. It's the first step to the first principle. Choose unwisely and it's the last step. 

I'm reading another book by Fulton Sheen, this one called Religion Without God, which picks up where the previous one -- God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy -- left off. Note that God and intelligence is what you call a pleonasm, since there can be no real intelligence in the absence of God as its ground and vector, alpha and omega. 

Which is why our world of postmodern ideology is so thoroughly anti-intellectual: not just in- or non- or pre-intellectual, but in absolute rebellion against the intellect. Why? Again, because the intellect is the mirror of the real, and reality is the perennial constraint on progressive dreams, fantasies, wishes, desires, and delusions.

One needn't even believe in "God" to understand conceptually what we're saying. One must, however, leave a "placeholder" for the Absolute -- an empty seat at one's innertable -- which will, if one is serious, be gradually filled with content. Eventually this will result in a tipping point and whoops, there's God, maybe a little late but always on time.

Which isn't really all that different from any other skill, say, music. One begins playing a musical instrument with the faith that music will eventually be reached and made present, so to speak.  Anyone who plays an instrument will recall the point at which one broke through to the other side -- the side from whence music comes -- and became a channel as opposed to a mere tool beating against its outer wall. 

It's like a fractal iteration of the transition from will to grace, bearing in mind that these two aren't actually opposed, rather, that grace is the perfection of nature.  Man's will isn't a line but a curve, or arc, or spiral -- ultimately a projectile from and to God. Just keep peddling, and soon enough you're riding upright on the tricycle.  

Here's a forbidden thought, especially for a clinical psychologist:

The proper therapeutic for bad living is clear thinking. We must supply the will with the right kind of projectiles, and trace for it the proper trajectory, for the will, by its nature, is inspired by the intellect.

If the will is not inspired by the intellect, then it will be spired by something that runs counter to the intellect -- AKA bad ideas, which, when systematized, become worse ideology -- or by something lower than intellect, AKA the untutored will.  

Which is why so many human beings are engines with no steering wheel. As Sheen says, "our knowledge and our love should be harmonious," not unlike the Trinity itsoph, "in which Knowledge and Love are in harmonious balance -- the Son and the Spirit being equal." 

But not equivalent, or what's the point? Back to Freedom and Feminism: male and female are likewise equal but  obviously not equivalent. And vive la différence. To which the left responds: No, kill it! Preferably before it reproduces!

Harmony, balance, and proportion. Or just a little perspective, please:

In the normal order of things there is a balance between the transcendent and the immanent, for all life is an equilibrium between the forces of within and the forces of without.

We know all about the forces of without, e.g., gravity, electricity, magnetism. But what the heck are the Forces of Within?  Objectively speaking?  

Now that is a large subject. Come to think of it, in the absence of this subject, there is no large or small, significant or insignificant, meaningful or meaningless, etc.  Truly, it is the biggest of bangs, at least on our side of the rug.

Which is why the world is so small to the ideologue.  One of the purposes of ideology is to cut the world down to size and make it -- and us! -- manageable.  This is why it requires a vocabulary of about a dozen words to be a progressive activist, the most important being "you have" and "I want."  

Oof. I need to stop this reverie in midsdream. To be continued....

Kakistocracy & Cuckocracy, Toxic Women & Weak Men

I want to complete the previous post on the subject of toxic femininity. 

We left off with the observation that women can never be "equal" to men (in terms of outcomes) without the intervention of something much stronger than men, which is the state.  (We could also say God, but that's not an option for the left.)

But this only kicks the can down the road, since it sets up a new hierarchy in which weak and ineffectual men -- AKA politicians -- will have a chance to compete.  

Now you know how the Party of Feminism end up with a Joe Biden at the top. Biden will boast about a cabinet that supposedly "looks like America," but let's not confuse with power with pander. Nor will the choices have anything to do with merit, because they are designed to patronize (as in pater) various yapping, resentful, and petulant identity groups.   

It's not as if (non-Trump) Republicans don't do the same thing, except to say they do it vis-a-vis philosophy rather than identity. In other words, they pretend to support conservatives. It's how the Party of Actual Men ends up with a Mitt Romney, or John McCain, or Paul Ryan. The sooner these types die off, the better.  

The bottom line is that Democrat rule results in kakistocracy, while Republican rule results in cuckocracy.

Some more observations from the book:

It is not by accident that feminism has had its major impact through the necessarily coercive machinery of the state rather than through the private decisions of individuals (Levin).

In many ways, the soft coercion of the welfare state is a mirror image of the hard coercion of law enforcement and prison. As we know, the great majority of criminals are young men who come from broken homes with absent fathers. 

As such, the institutions of "law enforcement" and "criminal justice" are like the return of the Father, only in a crude and heavy-handed manner: too little and definitely too late. It's a quintessentially masculine response to the problem of toxic -- or uncivilized -- masculinity.  (And in this context, the defund-the-police movement is just a sick mother screaming that her murderous baby is innocent.) 

Analogously, the welfare state is like a smothering and controlling mother who doesn't allow the child space to grow. Nor is there freedom to fail. Of course, failure still occurs, just minus the freedom. Consider the female dominated public school system, which no one but the wealthy are free to avoid, and yet assures so much failure.

For example, 

In 19 of Baltimore’s 39 high schools, out of 3,804 students, only 14 of them, or less than 1%, were proficient in math.

In 13 of Baltimore’s high schools, not a single student scored proficient in math.

In five Baltimore City high schools, not a single student scored proficient in math or reading.

(https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/walter-williams-last-column.php)

One could cite similar statistics for Washington, D.C. Which, of course, is why Democrats would like to make it a state.  Which is also why they want children to vote. Speaking of identity groups, they need all the morons they can get.

So,

Although feminism speaks the language of liberation, self-fulfillment, options, and the removal of barriers, these phrases invariably mean their opposites and disguise an agenda at variance with the ideals of a free society.

To put it mildly. Putting it bluntly, feminism is the very opposite of what it pretends to be. Which goes to the essence of toxic femininity, which revolves around deception (and seduction).  Conversely, toxic masculinity revolves around violence (and the coercion that is at antipodes to seduction).

Let's take a giant leap into the past -- not the horizontal past but the vertical past. Why is Genesis 3 structured as it is? Why does the whole catastrophe begin with the woman? Why is she more vulnerable to the spirit of deceit, and how is it that she seduces the man into the deception?

Hey, at least Eve didn't murder anyone! No, that doesn't occur until the next generation. But make no mistake: lies lead to violence and murder.  

Back to the text: it doesn't actually get into the why, only the what. The text is but a mythico-clinical description of what happens, and we err if we try to blame one or the other sex. 

Recall the principle discussed two posts upstream -- that masculinity and femininity are two complementary poles of a single reality. Genesis 3, being a "story," necessarily deploys in time. But in reality, the poles play out in a timeless metaphysical reality.  

Moreover, there are other considerations to consider, which we won't consider at the moment because they will take us too far afield. Suffice it to say that if we wish to have an integral understanding we must consider the fall in the context of redemption, and vice versa. It's a Big Story, the biggest ever. The struggle of Man v. Woman is just the undercard, a sideshow.

Let's ponder for a moment the following description of the Adversary:

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. 

Interesting: a liar and a murderer. Eve and Cain, respectively, are the first we know of, but again, these are characters who illustrate principles; if they don't embody principles, then there is nothing to be learned from them. But let's not get into the blame game, for there's more than enough of that to go round and round. Just call it history.

Let's come back down to earth:

Feminism has been presented and widely received as a liberating force, a new view of the relations between the sexes emphasizing openness and freedom from oppressive stereotypes (Levin).

Oppressive stereotypes like, oh, "Eve" and "Adam."  

This is, of course, a Lie, truly, among the biggest and most breathtaking ever.

And yet, it's the same old lie. Same snake, new skin.

Feminism is an antidemocratic, if not totalitarian ideology (ibid.).

Bob, you just have a problem with women. 

Well, you're half right. In fact, I have a problem with human beings. And feminism only aggravates the problem.

Today's bottom line:

Since innate gender differences express themselves as differences in the typical preferences of men and women, so that people will never freely act in ways which produce a world devoid of sexism, the equalization of the sexes in personal behavior and in the work world demand implacable surveillance and interference (ibid.).  

Good news, though: if there's one thing that unites all leftists at all times, it's the need for more surveillance and interference, AKA less freedom and more coercion by the deceitful and the violent, by liars and bullies; or, speaking mythologically, just the endlessly circular riverrun, past Eve and Adam's... 

Kakistocracy & Cuckocracy, Toxic Women & Weak Men

I want to complete the previous post on the subject of toxic femininity. 

We left off with the observation that women can never be "equal" to men (in terms of outcomes) without the intervention of something much stronger than men, which is the state.  (We could also say God, but that's not an option for the left.)

But this only kicks the can down the road, since it sets up a new hierarchy in which weak and ineffectual men -- AKA politicians -- will have a chance to compete.  

Now you know how the Party of Feminism end up with a Joe Biden at the top. Biden will boast about a cabinet that supposedly "looks like America," but let's not confuse with power with pander. Nor will the choices have anything to do with merit, because they are designed to patronize (as in pater) various yapping, resentful, and petulant identity groups.   

It's not as if (non-Trump) Republicans don't do the same thing, except to say they do it vis-a-vis philosophy rather than identity. In other words, they pretend to support conservatives. It's how the Party of Actual Men ends up with a Mitt Romney, or John McCain, or Paul Ryan. The sooner these types die off, the better.  

The bottom line is that Democrat rule results in kakistocracy, while Republican rule results in cuckocracy.

Some more observations from the book:

It is not by accident that feminism has had its major impact through the necessarily coercive machinery of the state rather than through the private decisions of individuals (Levin).

In many ways, the soft coercion of the welfare state is a mirror image of the hard coercion of law enforcement and prison. As we know, the great majority of criminals are young men who come from broken homes with absent fathers. 

As such, the institutions of "law enforcement" and "criminal justice" are like the return of the Father, only in a crude and heavy-handed manner: too little and definitely too late. It's a quintessentially masculine response to the problem of toxic -- or uncivilized -- masculinity.  (And in this context, the defund-the-police movement is just a sick mother screaming that her murderous baby is innocent.) 

Analogously, the welfare state is like a smothering and controlling mother who doesn't allow the child space to grow. Nor is there freedom to fail. Of course, failure still occurs, just minus the freedom. Consider the female dominated public school system, which no one but the wealthy are free to avoid, and yet assures so much failure.

For example, 

In 19 of Baltimore’s 39 high schools, out of 3,804 students, only 14 of them, or less than 1%, were proficient in math.

In 13 of Baltimore’s high schools, not a single student scored proficient in math.

In five Baltimore City high schools, not a single student scored proficient in math or reading.

(https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/12/walter-williams-last-column.php)

One could cite similar statistics for Washington, D.C. Which, of course, is why Democrats would like to make it a state.  Which is also why they want children to vote. Speaking of identity groups, they need all the morons they can get.

So,

Although feminism speaks the language of liberation, self-fulfillment, options, and the removal of barriers, these phrases invariably mean their opposites and disguise an agenda at variance with the ideals of a free society.

To put it mildly. Putting it bluntly, feminism is the very opposite of what it pretends to be. Which goes to the essence of toxic femininity, which revolves around deception (and seduction).  Conversely, toxic masculinity revolves around violence (and the coercion that is at antipodes to seduction).

Let's take a giant leap into the past -- not the horizontal past but the vertical past. Why is Genesis 3 structured as it is? Why does the whole catastrophe begin with the woman? Why is she more vulnerable to the spirit of deceit, and how is it that she seduces the man into the deception?

Hey, at least Eve didn't murder anyone! No, that doesn't occur until the next generation. But make no mistake: lies lead to violence and murder.  

Back to the text: it doesn't actually get into the why, only the what. The text is but a mythico-clinical description of what happens, and we err if we try to blame one or the other sex. 

Recall the principle discussed two posts upstream -- that masculinity and femininity are two complementary poles of a single reality. Genesis 3, being a "story," necessarily deploys in time. But in reality, the poles play out in a timeless metaphysical reality.  

Moreover, there are other considerations to consider, which we won't consider at the moment because they will take us too far afield. Suffice it to say that if we wish to have an integral understanding we must consider the fall in the context of redemption, and vice versa. It's a Big Story, the biggest ever. The struggle of Man v. Woman is just the undercard, a sideshow.

Let's ponder for a moment the following description of the Adversary:

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. 

Interesting: a liar and a murderer. Eve and Cain, respectively, are the first we know of, but again, these are characters who illustrate principles; if they don't embody principles, then there is nothing to be learned from them. But let's not get into the blame game, for there's more than enough of that to go round and round. Just call it history.

Let's come back down to earth:

Feminism has been presented and widely received as a liberating force, a new view of the relations between the sexes emphasizing openness and freedom from oppressive stereotypes (Levin).

Oppressive stereotypes like, oh, "Eve" and "Adam."  

This is, of course, a Lie, truly, among the biggest and most breathtaking ever.

And yet, it's the same old lie. Same snake, new skin.

Feminism is an antidemocratic, if not totalitarian ideology (ibid.).

Bob, you just have a problem with women. 

Well, you're half right. In fact, I have a problem with human beings. And feminism only aggravates the problem.

Today's bottom line:

Since innate gender differences express themselves as differences in the typical preferences of men and women, so that people will never freely act in ways which produce a world devoid of sexism, the equalization of the sexes in personal behavior and in the work world demand implacable surveillance and interference (ibid.).  

Good news, though: if there's one thing that unites all leftists at all times, it's the need for more surveillance and interference, AKA less freedom and more coercion by the deceitful and the violent, by liars and bullies; or, speaking mythologically, just the endlessly circular riverrun, past Eve and Adam's...