or
How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and Love the Trump.
Dear Kirk,
After your last tirade over text, I decided I must destroy you. Well, not you, just your belief system. You’re a good guy.
In “The Coddling of the American Mind”, liberals Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff present three leftist lies taking hold of the younger generation:
1.
What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker.
2.
Always trust your feelings.
3.
Life is a battle between good and evil people.
The lies are nefarious enough as untruths but the real problem is their effect on the mind. The science says these beliefs cause anxiety, depression and resentment. They also tear us apart.
The core difference between right and left is not racism or greed but beliefs about the nature of man. The left believes man is good from birth. Or maybe with tweakable software waiting for the right programmer. Pain is an unnatural state caused by poor education, insufficient resources or racism or whatever. It’s not you; it’s the world. We could totally fix things, of course, if not for conservative obstructionism. But one man’s good idea is another man’s crazy scheme. Conservatives ask, “Yeah, but will it work?” We believe in progress, too. Life has gotten immeasurably better in the last few centuries (Thanks to OUR principles. You’re welcome.) But there are no “hacks” to life, no solutions, only tradeoffs. Plans that rely on society becoming more kind or selfless? Please. If you don’t believe humanity is flawed and selfish, you are doomed to forever watch the news in a state of confusion.
WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU
MAKES YOU WEAKER
This belief in fragility, the need for young minds to be protected from bad ideas, is not universal on the left but the underlying principle is that human happiness rests on the right experiences, the right structures, the right environment. If everything aligns, if a child is free from material want, indoctrinated into the ways of peace and brotherly love, that child is destined for happiness. The unintended consequences of this “safetyism”, however, are feelings of weakness, lack of control and disempowerment. Against it stands the whole of human history and the obvious point that some of the most wealthy and advantaged have also been the most miserable.
Some of the greatest humans in history have had deeply troubled pasts. Abraham Lincoln’s mother died. His father beat and berated him and Lincoln was so depressed at times, he was on suicide watch. Winston Churchill’s father was cold, harsh and abusive. In contrast, Hitler had a normal childhood, was a vegetarian, treated his mistress, subordinates and dog with kindness and respect. As the body needs exercise and stress, so does the human will and spirit. All are born with burdens. Happiness rests on overcoming them and choosing goodness.
Hitler’s dog Blondi: “I
know, but he was a good master!”
ALWAYS TRUST YOUR
FEELINGS
T.H. Huxley said, “A man’s worst problems begin when he is able to do as he likes.” An atheist, he agreed with the Christian notion of universal depravity. The anti-religious left mocks the religious and claims the mantle of reason but when you embrace notions of inherent goodness, you must also believe that feelings within are mostly trustworthy. Yet, think of people who follow not a code but their desires, who satiate every whim and act on every feeling. Are they good and decent people? More likely they are monsters. The screaming toddler acts on feeling. The man has learned to master his.
Haidt, in a previous book called “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Disagree on Politics and Religion”, describes research showing humans are inherently bad at reason. He describes the mind as an elephant and a rider. The elephant (subconscious mind or worldview) goes where it chooses. The rider’s job (the intellect) is to come up with post hoc reasoning for the elephant’s movements. Social science does not say man cannot reason but it does say objectivity is remarkably uncommon. Without considerable effort, the stew of biases, painful experiences and fears shape our beliefs. Feelings are not good guides for life. We would do well to examine where they have led us astray.
The conservative solution is to embrace reason as superior to emotion but also to tame our wild minds with the bridle and bit of doctrine and tradition. The answer is to choose what is tried and true, some proven system that has worked over time. Feelings betray us. Reason fails us. Look to the future, yes, but respect the past. Imperfect as this is, there is no other way.
"TRADITIOOOOOOOOON, TRADITION!"
LIFE IS A BATTLE BETWEEN
GOOD AND EVIL PEOPLE
Karl Marx’s contribution to the modern left is the idea that the classes are and should be at war. Conservatives talk about growing the economic pie for everyone. Marx says, “STOP EATING ALL THE FRICKIN’ PIE!” Rigged from the start, there is no game everybody can win, only winners and losers. What puzzles Omnipotentblog is that, after a century of failure, anyone is still attracted to socialism. It has been tried on all continents among all races, in states both industrialized and agrarian, totalitarian and free, in countries mountainous, tropical, and flat, in countries hot and cold. It has failed every time. Miserably. “What about Denmark? Or Sweden?” Listen to Denmark’s president scold Bernie Sanders, saying Denmark is most certainly not socialist.
In the 60’s, thinkers like Herbert Marcuse argued that if tolerance for opposing ideas was not abandoned, society would never progress. Marcuse sowed the seeds of our current fractiousness because he understood the leftist vision could never transpire democratically. How could justice ever be realized except through imposition? Interests are too entrenched. Martin Luther King Jr. was successful because he thrust in America’s face the hypocritical rejection of our own values. We had only to live up to what we already believed. The current thinking on race is the opposite of King’s spirit of common humanity. Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that whites have the irredeemable stain of original sin. There is no reconciliation, only rectification. Can this ever work? Can the races truly never live as friends and equals until the darker-skinned get their turn at cracking the whip? Intersectionality forces on us a lens of conflict, revenge over peace, hate over love. One is victim. The other is victimizer. No others. Aren’t people more complicated than this? These philosophies allow no room for good white people or bad people of color. Isn’t that the very definition of racism and bigotry, to judge men not by actions but by accidents of birth? Ask yourself another question: If it’s good for people of color to fashion identities primarily from race, why wouldn’t whites do the same? What would be the likely result of a white racial awakening?
Kirk, think of the barrage of commentary you imbibe on MSNBC. Try this: Every time you hear “black,” substitute it for “white”, “Republican” for “Democrat.” If you are honest, you will see an ideology of hate, a fear that only through tearing opponents down, can they achieve success. Can you not see that it is the most cynical manipulation by people who think you are stupid? The fact they most certainly believe at least some of their own preaching makes it no less propagandistic.
In my next piece, I’m going to show you America is not the bastion of racism you believe it is and conservatives are, by and large, decent people.
