They Will Never Admit It.
I recently watched, for the first time, Squanto, A Warrior's Tale and was, for the most part, totally unimpressed with it. Basically it was little more than politically correct "the world was a paradise until the White Man and Christianity came along!" hogwash. One thing that did strike me though was the leader of the monastery where Squanto was hiding could not acknowledge that Squanto came from across the Atlantic because there was nothing over there and everyone who claimed to visit the New World was a liar. The world was flat and that was that.
Part of his problem of course was that his world-view required that the world be flat. That was based on a misunderstanding of the Bible (in fact, if you read it in the Hebrew, Isaiah 40:22, where most translations say God sits above the vault of the earth, actually says He Who sits above the BALL of the earth.) If the earth was not flat than his beliefs were wrong, and his life and purpose were all wasted. (Again most Christians had no problem with the world being round, but hey, this is Hollywood.)
We have a similar problem with today's leftists. They have devoted their entire lives to a Class Struggle ideology and believe that all conflict can be reduced to the struggle between the rich and the poor, the powerful and weak. Now along comes the Islamic Jihad which is an attempt to enforce a religious view on the world by swordpoint and it has nothing to do with the class struggle. The left cannot conceive of this because, by their understanding, all conflict must be class struggle oriented; it is impossible for any other type of violence to exist. As long as they insist on this being a conflict between the oppressed Muslims and the oppressive West they are going to fail to see what is really happening.
When it comes to the Class Struggle there are two kinds of idiots. The first kind of idiot totally dismisses it and says it isn't happening at all. (It is happening, but the left totally misunderstands it as it is part of a matrix of many struggles that interact with each other in different ways.) The other kind of idiot believes that the class struggle is the defining struggle of history and human existence. Because of this philosophical tunnel vision, our liberal college professors, our unthinking Hollywood celebrities, and our progressive media voices will never see or acknowledge what is truly happening. If there is a violent conflict that involves something other than the class struggle then their entire world-view is wrong and every thing they believe is false. They cling to the class-struggle ideology in spite of the mountain of evidence against it because their self-value and self-image is wrapped up in it.
Some time ago I came across a new look at liberalism. I can't remember who wrote it but it was fascinating. It said basically that socialism was a philosophy based on envy that gave legitimacy to theft while liberalism was not so much a philosophy as it was a defense mechanism and survival strategy designed to deflect that envy to others and protect one's own property from being confiscated by the socialists. It was long article but I think it needs to be looked at, as this "defense mechanism" is now getting in the way of our cultural and national survival.
Part of his problem of course was that his world-view required that the world be flat. That was based on a misunderstanding of the Bible (in fact, if you read it in the Hebrew, Isaiah 40:22, where most translations say God sits above the vault of the earth, actually says He Who sits above the BALL of the earth.) If the earth was not flat than his beliefs were wrong, and his life and purpose were all wasted. (Again most Christians had no problem with the world being round, but hey, this is Hollywood.)
We have a similar problem with today's leftists. They have devoted their entire lives to a Class Struggle ideology and believe that all conflict can be reduced to the struggle between the rich and the poor, the powerful and weak. Now along comes the Islamic Jihad which is an attempt to enforce a religious view on the world by swordpoint and it has nothing to do with the class struggle. The left cannot conceive of this because, by their understanding, all conflict must be class struggle oriented; it is impossible for any other type of violence to exist. As long as they insist on this being a conflict between the oppressed Muslims and the oppressive West they are going to fail to see what is really happening.
When it comes to the Class Struggle there are two kinds of idiots. The first kind of idiot totally dismisses it and says it isn't happening at all. (It is happening, but the left totally misunderstands it as it is part of a matrix of many struggles that interact with each other in different ways.) The other kind of idiot believes that the class struggle is the defining struggle of history and human existence. Because of this philosophical tunnel vision, our liberal college professors, our unthinking Hollywood celebrities, and our progressive media voices will never see or acknowledge what is truly happening. If there is a violent conflict that involves something other than the class struggle then their entire world-view is wrong and every thing they believe is false. They cling to the class-struggle ideology in spite of the mountain of evidence against it because their self-value and self-image is wrapped up in it.
Some time ago I came across a new look at liberalism. I can't remember who wrote it but it was fascinating. It said basically that socialism was a philosophy based on envy that gave legitimacy to theft while liberalism was not so much a philosophy as it was a defense mechanism and survival strategy designed to deflect that envy to others and protect one's own property from being confiscated by the socialists. It was long article but I think it needs to be looked at, as this "defense mechanism" is now getting in the way of our cultural and national survival.
posted by shoprat at 3:51 PM
6 Comments:
Interesting, Shoprat. I think you are a natural philosopher. I've never seen the movie you are referring to, but I've seen dozens like them. We are the bad guys, and the Indians, who were slaughtering enemy tribes off far before we arrived, were peace-loving and misunderstood.
I agree that socialism is a philosophy based on envy, but I don't get liberalism being a defense mechanism "designed to deflect that envy to others and protect one's own property from being confiscated by the socialists." Well, that may be partially true, but I think there's more to it. These days it's hard to tell the liberals from the socialists.
Excellent post though. There's much to think about here.
If you remember where you read that "liberalism was not so much a philosophy as it was a defense mechanism and survival strategy designed to deflect that envy to others and protect one's own property from being confiscated by the socialists" I would like to know. It is a very interesting idea.
My wife and I were talking about something similar recently about extremism. Everything seems to be given in the extreme lately. There's no moderation. It's all excessive and dominate. In life, all things are about balance. Liberalism, socialism, environmentalism, etc... all tip the scales.
I'm also confused about the liberalism being a survival strategy, unless by that you mean a form of denial of reality.
As for the statement, "socialism was a philosophy based on envy that gave legitimacy to theft", I agree and I call that evil.
lp and gayle I have written more on this.
Shop:
A people do what they can when they can. Trust me, if American Indians had had their Bronze Age and Industrial Age before ours, they would have smelted metal, poured forms, built ships, acquired gunpowder, crossed the oceans and conquered the shit out of whoever they could whenever they could. American Indians carried out wars against other tribes, slew their women, their children, took human slaves, pissed and shat in streams -- everything you never believed these kinder, gentler, INDIGINOUS peoples capable.
BZ
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