Thursday, December 15, 2022

The Progressive Death Spiral

In yesterday’s post we alluded to the causes of a death spiral in aviation, which results from the pilot instinctively responding to it with actions that amplify it.  

I asked my fine feathered friend how one exits the loop, and he said you have to ignore sensory information and “trust the instruments,” which generally involves doing the opposite of what the brain is telling you to do.

Now, I don’t have an inordinate interest in aviation, but I do want my pilot to have more than a passing interest. But we all have an interest in how the progressive brain responds to crises by making them worse -- which then justifies the next round of progressive “solutions.” It’s a brilliant scam, nor will it end until we hit the ground. It’s gotten to the point that we can actually make out the contours of the terrain below, but it doesn’t matter. The ship of state is not about to pull out now.

So many aphorisms:
Modern man resolves his problems with solutions worse than the problems.

The reformers of current society persist in decorating the cabins of a sinking ship.

With the generosity of his program does the liberal console himself for the magnitude of the catastrophes it produces.

Liberal ideas are congenial. Their consequences are disastrous. 

The theses of the left are rationalizations that are carefully suspended before reaching the argument that dissolves them.

The leftist emulates the devout who continue venerating the relic after the miracle has been proved to be a hoax.

The liberal mentality is an angelic visitor impervious to earthly experiences. 

He is called a liberal who does not understand that he has sacrificed freedom until it is too late to save him.
Note that the progressive -- the tenured pilot -- is never adequately trained in instrument flying, so he systematically ignores the very data that would counter the death spiral. 

For example, there are instruments that inform us about crime, inflation, budget deficits, illegal border crossings, adolescent mental illness, post-vaccine excessive deaths, the Biden crime family influence-peddling scheme, a failed educational establishment at every level, etc.  

Now, some on the right believe the left knows all about the instruments, but not only doesn’t care about them, but actually wants to crash the plane — the old Cloward-Piven strategy. 

Whatever the case may be, it is rarely helpful to attack motives, as the left always does with us. But at the same time, it is rarely helpful to address their arguments, because a leftist cannot be “informed” with fact and logic, rather, must be deprogrammed, converted, and often exorcised.  

That we win every argument scarcely matters, for there is a religious component -- to be precise, an ideology that partakes of religious categories and impulses -- that cannot be confronted head on, as all readers know by now. 

Anyway, *coincidentally*, yesterday I read a passage by Lonergan that perfectly encapsulates our present civilizational nosedive:
For the flight from understanding blocks the insights that concrete situations demand. There follow unintelligent policies and inept courses of action. The situation deteriorates to demand still further insights, and as they are blocked, policies become more unintelligent and action more inept. What is worse, the deteriorating situation seems to provide the uncritical, biased mind with the factual evidence in which the bias is claimed to be verified (emphasis mine).
There you have it: the Obama-Brandon death spiral, a feedback mechanism of  ever-increasing amplification of stupidity into an ever-tightening spiral of deadly…. PROGRESS! 

Yes, anyone can see the progress, if only you ignore all the idiot lights flashing on the console.  

Now, what I did not know until reading this Reader is that Lonergan’s whole project was aimed at pulling us out of the death spiral of civilizational decline. But what if the plane has already broken into pieces before it has hit the ground? 

If that’s the case, there is no putting the pieces back together. Rather, each of us is just clinging to a fragment of the plane and hoping to remain airborne. Or maybe attempting to rebuild the plane in mid-descent, reminiscent of the Apollo 13 astronauts who had to improvise their way out of certain death while on board the craft.

It also reminds me of the fall of the Roman Empire, for which elites tried to blame Christians. The more things change…. 

The question is, “How can human intelligence hope to deal with the unintelligible yet objective situations which the flight from understanding creates and expands and sustains?” 

Best I can do is keep you updated as I make my way through the book.

18 comments:

ted said...

On the topic of understanding and intelligibility, I have to admit I found this so fascinating. I'm curious what others perceive from this. Is A.I. is creepily creeping in on "us"?

John Venlet said...

Because the progressives have no principles or permanent standards to adhere to, they are willing to try anything to implement their sick idea of utopia, though they will simply call it progress, albeit slow progress, and a few eggs have to broken to make an omelet. Progressives lack of principles and permanent standards to adhere to, also buttresses their inability to become informed, as you noted.

Gagdad Bob said...

They literally play Calvinball, and Republicans are always fooled by it.

Gagdad Bob said...

Like Lenin, they do have a single principle: whatever it takes to gain and maintain power.

John Venlet said...

I didn't think that avarice was a principle.

Gagdad Bob said...

The Devil's own, after deception and murder.

julie said...

It’s gotten to the point that we can actually make out the contours of the terrain below, but it doesn’t matter. The ship of state is not about to pull out now.

Don't just do something, stand there!

Ted, re. A.I., I haven't watched the video yet, but for now remain unconvinced. Perhaps stubbornly so, but by way of comparison, no matter how much higher and more detailed an HD image becomes, it is still just a picture. A video may (and I use that word advisedly) show us what happened, but itself is not what happened. AI may be a result of a massive accumulation of data and rules about how that data responds to various queries, but no matter how detailed and life-like, that doesn't mean it is alive, much less sentient.

Heck for that matter these days I'm not even sure how many humans qualify as sentient, but that's a different discussion...

julie said...

Whatever the case may be, it is rarely helpful to attack motives, as the left always does with us. But at the same time, it is rarely helpful to address their arguments, because a leftist cannot be “informed” with fact and logic

With certain types of people, I often find it useful to use the techniques described in the "Happiest Toddler on the Block" book (Thanks, Mrs. G - I always recommend that series to young families!). You can't treat them like you would a normal sort of person, as an equal and equally rational, properly developed human. Rather, you have to manage them, in order to keep their emotional issues from ruining your mental or even physical well-being.

Lord, have mercy...

julie said...

“How can human intelligence hope to deal with the unintelligible yet objective situations which the flight from understanding creates and expands and sustains?”

At a certain point, it is out of our hands. Then all that's left to us is to pray without ceasing.

John Venlet said...

Julie, sounds like an interesting little book that many parents I see today need to read.

julie said...

I think it helped with my kids (though they are both ridiculously good-natured, so it's hard to know how much was our parenting and how much just who they are).

I did have a surprising experience using it in a daycare setting once, with a toddler who was inconsolable while her mom was in a Bible study lecture (this was a Mom & Kid Bible study where everyone helped). I followed the technique exactly and it was like magic, the little girl calmed down in moments and eventually even had fun until her mom came back.

Gagdad Bob said...

Jill Biden would be lost without it.

julie said...

Ha! Indeed.

Gagdad Bob said...

Related: Dictionary redefining ‘man’ and ‘woman’ is what happens when you reject reality for one group’s fantasy.

Goes to the physics of the death spiral of male-female relations, fatherhood, and the family.

Petey said...

Any time a word is severed from reality, a progressive demon earns his wings.

Leslie Godwin said...

Re Happiest Toddler...
The premise is that you put into words what the tantruming toddler is feeling. This calms them immediately because they want to be understood more than they want what they want. (Compare the typical, "We have to go home and make dinner. We can come back tomorrow." to "You are so mad that we are leaving the park!! You are having fun and want to stay!!")

Or in Jill's case, "You are so mad that the Secret Service is making you go back to your office!! You want to wander around this nice garden!!

julie said...

That's hilarious, you can totally see her whispering that to Joe as she drags him along.

Exactly what I did with the crying toddler: "You are so sad that mommy went to another room! You want mommy to come back right now!" She just nodded her head, then went to sit with the other kids.

Van Harvey said...

"The question is, “How can human intelligence hope to deal with the unintelligible yet objective situations which the flight from understanding creates and expands and sustains?”

Oh that's easy, ask any politician and they'll give you the answer: 'We've got to raise our students test scores!', which of course is done by adding new programs, increasing funding for teachers, and holding parents and students accountable.

Simple as.

This is fine.

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