As Aldous Huxley observed in Brave New World Revisited: “Non-stop distractions of the most fascinating nature are deliberately used as instruments of policy, for the purpose of preventing people from paying too much attention to the realities of the social and political situation… Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are constantly and intellectually ‘on-point’ can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures.” AND:
As Murray N. Rothbard stated in “Anatomy of the State: “The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism; there is no better way to stifle that criticism than to attack any isolated voice, any raiser of new doubts, as a profane violator of the wisdom of his ancestors. Another potent ideological force is to deprecate the individual and exalt the collectivity of society. For since any given rule implies majority acceptance, any ideological danger to that rule can only start from one or a few independently thinking individuals. The new idea, much less the new critical idea, must begin as a small minority opinion; therefore, the State must nip the view in the bud by ridiculing any view that defies the opinions of the mass. “Listen only to your brothers” or “adjust to society” thus become ideological weapons for crushing individual dissent. By such measures, the masses will never learn of the nonexistence of the Emperor’s clothes.”
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall." Psalm 27:1–2
re "Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends. "
a fine essay indeedy--but chillin' to the bone--readin' this goes beyond the "banality" of evil...it's the twisted rope of the self-perceived "GOODNESS" of those committin' evil--not seen as evil, seen as assuring the "greater good" -- as virtue--thus not ironic that folks who "signal" virtue are often condonin' pure evil in the name of "good"... I see it as a contagion too--everyone much "catch" the goodness an' denounce those they are sure are promotin' "an apartheid state" committin' "genocide"---those not "infected" with such "goodness" will be repeatedly inoculated with the dogma 'til they comply or are shamed inta exile...
Thanks Barry, I have recently read Words and Behaviour, Aldous Huxley that addresses similar themes,
The evil passions are further justified by another linguistic error—the error of speaking about certain categories of persons as though they were mere embodied abstractions. Foreigners and those who disagree with us are not thought of as men and women like ourselves and our fellow-countrymen; they are thought of as representatives and, so to say, symbols of a class. In so far as they have any personality at all, it is the personality we mistakenly attribute to their class—a personality that is, by definition, intrinsically evil. We know that the harming or killing of men and women is wrong, and we are reluctant consciously to do what we know to be wrong. But when particular men and women are thought of merely as representatives of a class, which has previously been defined as evil and personified in the shape of a devil, then the reluctance to hurt or murder disappears. Brown, Jones and Robinson are no longer thought of as Brown, Jones and Robinson, but as heretics, Palestinians, gentiles, Yids, niggers, barbarians, Huns, communists, capitalists, fascists, liberals—whichever the case may be. When they have been called such names and assimilated to the accursed class to which the names apply, Brown, Jones and Robinson cease to be conceived as what they really are—human persons—and become for the users of this fatally inappropriate language mere vermin or, worse, demons whom it is right and proper to destroy as thoroughly and as painfully as possible. Wherever persons are present, questions of morality arise. Rulers of nations and leaders of parties find morality embarrassing. That is why they take such pains to depersonalize their opponents. All propaganda directed against an opposing group has but one aim: to substitute diabolical abstractions for concrete persons. The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. By robbing them of their personality, he puts them outside the pale of moral obligation. Mere symbols can have no rights—particularly when that of which they are symbolical is, by definition, evil.
What I find is people understand your article and Aldous Huxley's essay intellectually, and possibly understand it historically, but don't understand the nuance or subtlety of the message as applied to real time situations happening. Palestinians, Jews, Israelis, vaccinated, unvaccinated, oh no that's different. I currently have the company I employed at celebrating and patting themselves on the back regarding their diversity and inclusion, whereas one year ago they bullied, threatened with termination of employment and ostracised anyone who was unvaccinated, but that's different.
Exactly. But we could also organize and problem solve in much much better ways to avoid tyranny as well.
Our systems are corrupted. It is our #1 problem as humanity.
The solution is simple. It is three steps:
Step 1: Fix trust in our systems. How? We make our own (no government involved) new high-trust transparent systems that we build and control 100% as citizens, then migrate to them as a place to solve problems together.
Step 2: Use Human Swarm Intelligence and/or think tanks (idea labs) to control the direction of the new high-trust systems in a decentralized way.
Step 3: Plug our new high-trust systems into our current corrupted systems in order to fix them.
Do you want to find solutions and fix our problems? We must address our corrupted and broken systems first. How? By first understanding the problem with our systems and some methods we could be using to fix them. Learn more:
Scary shiz and so true. Think for a moment of how the Covid scamdemic/plandemic a its draconian measures controlled us. I kept looking around me wondering “Are people really going to do this?“ Then soon thereafter I discover that my church is closed for Easter Sunday Mass. I just couldn’t believe it. I did enough research on the virus to know that most people and myself would not be critically affected by it. Meanwhile I realize the contradiction that it wasn’t bad enough to close our borders – they were (and remain) wide open!
I got a new bumper sticker, it is Smokey the bear saying, “Only you can prevent communism.“ We must maintain our diligence. We must continue to think critically. Then we must have the courage to educate our loved ones. Yes, I have lost a few friends in the process.
Almost everyday I pray at least twice, “God give me serenity in accepting things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.“
Barry and responders herein, thank you for your courageous writing.
As Aldous Huxley observed in Brave New World Revisited: “Non-stop distractions of the most fascinating nature are deliberately used as instruments of policy, for the purpose of preventing people from paying too much attention to the realities of the social and political situation… Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are constantly and intellectually ‘on-point’ can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures.” AND:
As Murray N. Rothbard stated in “Anatomy of the State: “The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism; there is no better way to stifle that criticism than to attack any isolated voice, any raiser of new doubts, as a profane violator of the wisdom of his ancestors. Another potent ideological force is to deprecate the individual and exalt the collectivity of society. For since any given rule implies majority acceptance, any ideological danger to that rule can only start from one or a few independently thinking individuals. The new idea, much less the new critical idea, must begin as a small minority opinion; therefore, the State must nip the view in the bud by ridiculing any view that defies the opinions of the mass. “Listen only to your brothers” or “adjust to society” thus become ideological weapons for crushing individual dissent. By such measures, the masses will never learn of the nonexistence of the Emperor’s clothes.”
Thanks Carl for the excellent additions to my essay.
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall." Psalm 27:1–2
re "Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends. "
a fine essay indeedy--but chillin' to the bone--readin' this goes beyond the "banality" of evil...it's the twisted rope of the self-perceived "GOODNESS" of those committin' evil--not seen as evil, seen as assuring the "greater good" -- as virtue--thus not ironic that folks who "signal" virtue are often condonin' pure evil in the name of "good"... I see it as a contagion too--everyone much "catch" the goodness an' denounce those they are sure are promotin' "an apartheid state" committin' "genocide"---those not "infected" with such "goodness" will be repeatedly inoculated with the dogma 'til they comply or are shamed inta exile...
Thanks Barry, I have recently read Words and Behaviour, Aldous Huxley that addresses similar themes,
The evil passions are further justified by another linguistic error—the error of speaking about certain categories of persons as though they were mere embodied abstractions. Foreigners and those who disagree with us are not thought of as men and women like ourselves and our fellow-countrymen; they are thought of as representatives and, so to say, symbols of a class. In so far as they have any personality at all, it is the personality we mistakenly attribute to their class—a personality that is, by definition, intrinsically evil. We know that the harming or killing of men and women is wrong, and we are reluctant consciously to do what we know to be wrong. But when particular men and women are thought of merely as representatives of a class, which has previously been defined as evil and personified in the shape of a devil, then the reluctance to hurt or murder disappears. Brown, Jones and Robinson are no longer thought of as Brown, Jones and Robinson, but as heretics, Palestinians, gentiles, Yids, niggers, barbarians, Huns, communists, capitalists, fascists, liberals—whichever the case may be. When they have been called such names and assimilated to the accursed class to which the names apply, Brown, Jones and Robinson cease to be conceived as what they really are—human persons—and become for the users of this fatally inappropriate language mere vermin or, worse, demons whom it is right and proper to destroy as thoroughly and as painfully as possible. Wherever persons are present, questions of morality arise. Rulers of nations and leaders of parties find morality embarrassing. That is why they take such pains to depersonalize their opponents. All propaganda directed against an opposing group has but one aim: to substitute diabolical abstractions for concrete persons. The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. By robbing them of their personality, he puts them outside the pale of moral obligation. Mere symbols can have no rights—particularly when that of which they are symbolical is, by definition, evil.
What I find is people understand your article and Aldous Huxley's essay intellectually, and possibly understand it historically, but don't understand the nuance or subtlety of the message as applied to real time situations happening. Palestinians, Jews, Israelis, vaccinated, unvaccinated, oh no that's different. I currently have the company I employed at celebrating and patting themselves on the back regarding their diversity and inclusion, whereas one year ago they bullied, threatened with termination of employment and ostracised anyone who was unvaccinated, but that's different.
Andrew, Thank you for taking the time to add your wisdom.
I recently downloaded the Huxley essay. Thanks for the reminder that I need to read it.
Absolutely. We all can neglect to apply what we think we have learned.
You might enjoy reading Martin Buber's book I and Thou.
Thank you for the recommendation.
Exactly. But we could also organize and problem solve in much much better ways to avoid tyranny as well.
Our systems are corrupted. It is our #1 problem as humanity.
The solution is simple. It is three steps:
Step 1: Fix trust in our systems. How? We make our own (no government involved) new high-trust transparent systems that we build and control 100% as citizens, then migrate to them as a place to solve problems together.
Step 2: Use Human Swarm Intelligence and/or think tanks (idea labs) to control the direction of the new high-trust systems in a decentralized way.
Step 3: Plug our new high-trust systems into our current corrupted systems in order to fix them.
That's it. Nullius in verba
*********************************************************************************
Do you want to find solutions and fix our problems? We must address our corrupted and broken systems first. How? By first understanding the problem with our systems and some methods we could be using to fix them. Learn more:
THE UNSTOPPABLE POWER OF HUMAN SWARM INTELLIGENCE and PROBLEM SOLVING AS GROUPS: https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most
RUNNING A SYSTEM AS A SWARM (such as a business for example): https://joshketry.substack.com/p/fix-any-business-using-human-swarm
HOW CAN WE FIX TRUST (online and in person)? https://joshketry.substack.com/p/fixing-trust-online-and-in-person
RESOLVING CONFLICTS AS A SWARM (Muslims and Transgender athletes in jiu jitsu competition) : https://joshketry.substack.com/p/resolved-transgender-and-muslim-athletes
Thanks for the worthwhile homework. I will take a look.
Some "totalitarian" leaders, such as Stalin and Mao, still have some supporters even today. Nuance is the key to history.
Scary shiz and so true. Think for a moment of how the Covid scamdemic/plandemic a its draconian measures controlled us. I kept looking around me wondering “Are people really going to do this?“ Then soon thereafter I discover that my church is closed for Easter Sunday Mass. I just couldn’t believe it. I did enough research on the virus to know that most people and myself would not be critically affected by it. Meanwhile I realize the contradiction that it wasn’t bad enough to close our borders – they were (and remain) wide open!
I got a new bumper sticker, it is Smokey the bear saying, “Only you can prevent communism.“ We must maintain our diligence. We must continue to think critically. Then we must have the courage to educate our loved ones. Yes, I have lost a few friends in the process.
Almost everyday I pray at least twice, “God give me serenity in accepting things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.“
Barry and responders herein, thank you for your courageous writing.