We have a culture which has prized cynicism, radical rejection of norms and values, and transgression. Ironically, many of the people who promote these qualities ASSUMKE that there will be some reservoir of decency and common sense to play off of. "OF COURSE kids aren't going to be taught about polycules and BDSM! That would be crazy and indecent." But it's only indecent according to traditional ideas, which they're busily working to delegitimize and marginalize.
A culture built on transgression and cynicism is a very unhappy and unhealthy culture indeed, and not long for this world.
Reminds me of Philip Rieff and the toxic, oxymoronic idea of crafting a "transgressive order".
The purpose of higher education has become taking a sledgehammer to the load-bearing walls of our societies (culture, history, norms, civics, rituals etc), which is why they seem to be collapsing.
I do not say this to be a dick, but you've got a wee typo, the first mention of the zoom call date says it's on Sunday March 31st, but it should be March 30th.
Hope the call goes well, I'm sorry that I won't be able to join, hopefully next time!
Have fixed, and no, you’re not being a dick. The only area where my (very serious) childhood dyslexia shows these days is in an inability to think calendrically or to process calendrical information. I check and re-check constantly (and indeed managed to find one mistake, but not the one you’ve identified). When I was in practice, my secretary saved me constantly from double-booking myself or standing clients up. One does not keep secretaries in retirement, however.
Sounds like a pain. I partly earn my keep as a project administrator, AKA a secretary in old money, so I quite like a bit of proof-reading. I will politely notify you if I spot any future calendar cock-ups.
I’m fortunate this is the only bit left of it (I can actually remember what it was like to be seven years old and unable to read after two years of schooling). I’ve written (for Law & Liberty) what that was like, and how I was rescued from it thanks to an IQ test: https://lawliberty.org/the-coming-war-over-intelligence/
Well, lucky you weren't born in the time of neurodivergence BS and told, sorry, ordered to embrace your dyslexia as a beautiful, inherent part of your authentic self, and to demand that the world completely change to accommodate you.
I have had people try to claim me for “neurodiversity” and I absolutely refuse to be dragged into this sort of nonsense. Dyslexia is not a “gift” or superpower. It cost my parents a fortune in fees to a phonics tutor (for two further years) to fix and has caused me lifelong embarrassment (as you have all just seen).
I do not expect people to accommodate the missing of meetings and appointments, either. I was once booked (in the 90s) to appear in the functions room of a large independent bookshop and managed to muddle up the dates. 150 people expecting to see the Miles Franklin winner were left high and dry.
I was never forgiven, never invited back again, and I did not expect to be. I explained the dyslexia, but all those people I’d let down were absolutely right to be annoyed. I am not on board with “neurodiversity”.
This kind of thing should hold you back: it makes for a less reliable, less capable employee or business manager or lawyer or academic or anything really.
The attempt to make the world bend to fit people who are genuinely less capable (or rude and obnoxious in the case of those with ADHD or autism) is not on par with building a wheelchair ramp or letting a blind person bring their guide dog to the office.
But I submit this is also a moment when we might actually find our religion. At the very least, it is an opportunity to rediscover where and in what we ultimately place our faith.
We are accustomed to trusting "institutions", in large measure because they have done an excellent job of selling themselves as the repositor of human moral and scientific wisdom over the centuries. They have billed themselves as "authorities" and we have accepted that billing.
But they are not authorities, and they never were. No institution can ever have a monopoly on fact, or on reason, and therefore no institution can ever have a monopoly on truth.
Institutions which properly understand this, and which give proper accord to the facts, to reason, and therefore to truth should be rewarded with a measure of reliance, but only with the caveat that such reliance endures only as long as they present facts and not fiction.
Whether in a Christian/religious context or in a secular context, no, we should not trust institutions. We should avoid that Pharisaical leaven at every turn. We should seek out facts, we should seek out reason, because only facts and reason will lead us to truth.
In attempting to decolonise the West, they became worse than the worst aspects of the construct they sought to erase. Culture is river which flows from the past into the future. Many of things they believe are universal aspects of humanity are precious and unique to the West, or only occur rarely in human history.
That's really cool of you to allow a truly private space. It's why I haven't joined numerous chats over the years. I don't worry about myself at all, but my family has no control over my thought process and it's unfair to put others in harms way. Good on ya!
Both of us have experienced at least attempted cancellations, and in my case there was a strategy of using private correspondence and an unpublished part of a manuscript against me. As a result, I am paranoid about not exposing other people—particularly people who pay us money, natch—to anything similar. It is horrendous. Doxxers (including journalists) should be exposed to criminal penalties, in my view.
I’ll never understand people doing this stuff about a disagreement - I’ve always been content to close the page after, at most, making a comment. Disagreements shouldn’t be personal with an author.
It’s not so much that we have lost our religion, i.e., we believed something without verifying it. We never should have had such religious faith in our fellow humans.
I’m not familiar with that concept. For me it was more of the “put not your faith in princes” idea. We humans are all flawed, fallible, corruptible, and subject to temptation and the seduction of power.
No official in any capacity seeking to infringe on the people’s rights should be allowed to do so based on trust alone.
I think of a marriage where one is caught lying about something; not just an exaggeration or fib, but outright deception. And then again, along with denial. Can the other partner ever trust them again? And how secure is that marriage,how long does it take to ever regain confidence again?
We have a culture which has prized cynicism, radical rejection of norms and values, and transgression. Ironically, many of the people who promote these qualities ASSUMKE that there will be some reservoir of decency and common sense to play off of. "OF COURSE kids aren't going to be taught about polycules and BDSM! That would be crazy and indecent." But it's only indecent according to traditional ideas, which they're busily working to delegitimize and marginalize.
A culture built on transgression and cynicism is a very unhappy and unhealthy culture indeed, and not long for this world.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/the-poverty-of-transgressive-allegiance
Reminds me of Philip Rieff and the toxic, oxymoronic idea of crafting a "transgressive order".
The purpose of higher education has become taking a sledgehammer to the load-bearing walls of our societies (culture, history, norms, civics, rituals etc), which is why they seem to be collapsing.
I do not say this to be a dick, but you've got a wee typo, the first mention of the zoom call date says it's on Sunday March 31st, but it should be March 30th.
Hope the call goes well, I'm sorry that I won't be able to join, hopefully next time!
Have fixed, and no, you’re not being a dick. The only area where my (very serious) childhood dyslexia shows these days is in an inability to think calendrically or to process calendrical information. I check and re-check constantly (and indeed managed to find one mistake, but not the one you’ve identified). When I was in practice, my secretary saved me constantly from double-booking myself or standing clients up. One does not keep secretaries in retirement, however.
Sounds like a pain. I partly earn my keep as a project administrator, AKA a secretary in old money, so I quite like a bit of proof-reading. I will politely notify you if I spot any future calendar cock-ups.
I’m fortunate this is the only bit left of it (I can actually remember what it was like to be seven years old and unable to read after two years of schooling). I’ve written (for Law & Liberty) what that was like, and how I was rescued from it thanks to an IQ test: https://lawliberty.org/the-coming-war-over-intelligence/
Well, lucky you weren't born in the time of neurodivergence BS and told, sorry, ordered to embrace your dyslexia as a beautiful, inherent part of your authentic self, and to demand that the world completely change to accommodate you.
I have had people try to claim me for “neurodiversity” and I absolutely refuse to be dragged into this sort of nonsense. Dyslexia is not a “gift” or superpower. It cost my parents a fortune in fees to a phonics tutor (for two further years) to fix and has caused me lifelong embarrassment (as you have all just seen).
I do not expect people to accommodate the missing of meetings and appointments, either. I was once booked (in the 90s) to appear in the functions room of a large independent bookshop and managed to muddle up the dates. 150 people expecting to see the Miles Franklin winner were left high and dry.
I was never forgiven, never invited back again, and I did not expect to be. I explained the dyslexia, but all those people I’d let down were absolutely right to be annoyed. I am not on board with “neurodiversity”.
This kind of thing should hold you back: it makes for a less reliable, less capable employee or business manager or lawyer or academic or anything really.
The attempt to make the world bend to fit people who are genuinely less capable (or rude and obnoxious in the case of those with ADHD or autism) is not on par with building a wheelchair ramp or letting a blind person bring their guide dog to the office.
Could not agree more!!!! The whole thing is unhinged, unschooled and ahistorical.
Have you read Mania by Lionel Shriver? It's soooooooooooooooo good.
Are we losing our religion?
Quite possibly.
But I submit this is also a moment when we might actually find our religion. At the very least, it is an opportunity to rediscover where and in what we ultimately place our faith.
https://blog.petersproverbs.us/p/beware-the-leaven
We are accustomed to trusting "institutions", in large measure because they have done an excellent job of selling themselves as the repositor of human moral and scientific wisdom over the centuries. They have billed themselves as "authorities" and we have accepted that billing.
But they are not authorities, and they never were. No institution can ever have a monopoly on fact, or on reason, and therefore no institution can ever have a monopoly on truth.
Institutions which properly understand this, and which give proper accord to the facts, to reason, and therefore to truth should be rewarded with a measure of reliance, but only with the caveat that such reliance endures only as long as they present facts and not fiction.
Whether in a Christian/religious context or in a secular context, no, we should not trust institutions. We should avoid that Pharisaical leaven at every turn. We should seek out facts, we should seek out reason, because only facts and reason will lead us to truth.
In attempting to decolonise the West, they became worse than the worst aspects of the construct they sought to erase. Culture is river which flows from the past into the future. Many of things they believe are universal aspects of humanity are precious and unique to the West, or only occur rarely in human history.
They will miss it when it's gone.
They don’t wish to decolonize the West at all. Instead they want to recolonize it in their own image.
The question is always wrong if the answer is socialism:)
That's really cool of you to allow a truly private space. It's why I haven't joined numerous chats over the years. I don't worry about myself at all, but my family has no control over my thought process and it's unfair to put others in harms way. Good on ya!
Both of us have experienced at least attempted cancellations, and in my case there was a strategy of using private correspondence and an unpublished part of a manuscript against me. As a result, I am paranoid about not exposing other people—particularly people who pay us money, natch—to anything similar. It is horrendous. Doxxers (including journalists) should be exposed to criminal penalties, in my view.
I’ll never understand people doing this stuff about a disagreement - I’ve always been content to close the page after, at most, making a comment. Disagreements shouldn’t be personal with an author.
It’s not so much that we have lost our religion, i.e., we believed something without verifying it. We never should have had such religious faith in our fellow humans.
along the lines of Thomas Sowell's Conflict of Visions??
The divide or dichotomy between the Constrained Vision vs. the Unconstrained Vision seems to explain an awful lot about humanity to me.
I’m not familiar with that concept. For me it was more of the “put not your faith in princes” idea. We humans are all flawed, fallible, corruptible, and subject to temptation and the seduction of power.
No official in any capacity seeking to infringe on the people’s rights should be allowed to do so based on trust alone.
I think of a marriage where one is caught lying about something; not just an exaggeration or fib, but outright deception. And then again, along with denial. Can the other partner ever trust them again? And how secure is that marriage,how long does it take to ever regain confidence again?
A relationship may survive adultery by one of the pair, but I doubt it will ever be the same.