The Rise and Fall of Reason.
It’s not hard to see that things have changed over the last few decades.
Speculation about what may have happened falls all too easily into the realm of “conspiracy theory” and can be quickly disregarded by those disinterested in having their carefully curated world-view sullied by fact. It is a path we must walk carefully when seeking to understand exactly what has occurred, as there is a warren of rabbit-holes visible - depending on the clarity of the lenses you choose to view the landscape through. Although they may be wildly entertaining, the dangers of a twist of logic, non-sequitur, or other fallacy mean our steps must be carefully measured.
Today’s social environment is rich with examples of how simple “If - Then” reasoning can clearly show the routes taken by The Playwrights of Misery in their never-ending global campaign against freedom. The reasons behind these actions are a thousand fold, but can most easily be distilled down to that awful liquor of power and all that it brings.
While there may be many forces at work, capitalizing on convenient opportunities to forward their individual goals, there are simply too many parallels which exist between historical sequences and current events to ignore. Humanity has always struggled with the hubris of perceived enlightenment and the smugness of it deeply pervades much of our current intellectual pursuits.
This is where focusing on the HOW and the WHAT becomes more important than any speculative efforts into the WHO and the WHY, and even if the latter may have more draw by way of immediate gratification via self-soothing finger pointing - the former shows the structure that has allowed this malfeasance to stain our society yet again.
Scottish historian Alexander Tytler pointed out in 1787 that,
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
This cycle was laid out as a process involving a series of thresholds at which a society will undergo a change (historically - in roughly 200 year cycles) and is shown here:
As you can see, at the furthest point from bondage you have a transition between Abundance and Selfishness.
In today’s cycle I believe this is where Western Democracies have suffered their own abbreviated turning point, or apogee, in the societal orbit around tyranny we inevitably travel.
The reasons for the shortening of our current cycle can be shown to be technological and ideological in nature - through both the speed at which we reach abundance, and the ability of ideology to fast-track the fall, both aided by technological progress. All the while, abandoning reason like a hypothermic peeling off layers of clothing in the snow.
The Ideological Martini.
For the mix:
2 ounces of Power
1 ounce of Influence
Twist of Fear
Ice of Character
Shaker of Society
Pour both shots of power on the Ice of Character and watch as it immediately starts to melt in the Shaker of Society.
Add a shot of Influence (It can be any kind - Money, Sex, Safety) and shake vigorously until character is sufficiently melted.
Add your Twist of Fear and shake again (to remove any residual Context).
Serve frequently and consistently, to as many as possible, and watch what happens.
(It is often best to only serve this one drink, as if others are offered people may lose their taste for it.)
Don’t Think and Drive.
In Havel’s The Power of the Powerless he attributes the driver behind the totalitarian state as an, “extremely flexible ideology that, in its elaborateness and completeness, is almost a secularized religion.” In this situation ideological control was passed through government policy into the population where the people themselves then enacted the measures needed to maintain the system. These dogmatic actions became automatic in nature.
“In an era when metaphysical and existential certainties are in a state of crisis, when people are being uprooted and alienated and are losing their sense of what this world means, this ideology inevitably has a certain hypnotic charm. To wandering humankind, it offers an immediately available home: all one has to do is accept it, and suddenly everything becomes clear once more, life takes on new meaning, and all mysteries, unanswered questions, anxiety, and loneliness vanish. Of course, one pays dearly for this low-rent home: the price is abdication of one’s own reason, conscience, and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority.”
Today’s world is strikingly similar in nature, with ideological clouds once again blocking the rays of Truth from reaching the roadways of our minds. While we have accelerated through Courage and Liberty, into, and beyond Abundance, (with Spiritual Faith initially providing the air needed for combustion) we have since launched ourselves into Selfishness, Complacency, and Apathy.
As Havel wondered in 1978,
“For the real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?”
So, what was it that provided the Nitrous boost into the weeds and sent us fishtailing towards tyranny once again, far faster than any prior society?
Quite simply, if the apogee of our orbit fell between demonstrable Abundance and Complacency:
Our rockets today were built with the same bits as the chariots of the past - the brand was “Politically Correct”, the injectors were Social Media, and the fuel (as always) was Ideology.
“Trust the Science.”
Ideology as a Broken Religion.
Rule VI of Jordan B. Peterson’s “Beyond Order” clearly lays out the reasoning of why we should Abandon Ideology in our personal lives. His concepts are the fundamental base of what Living Within the Truth might be built upon, and show a remarkably homogeneous blend of thoughts and action between how one’s personal life can be changed for the better and how that changed individual can then effect society as a whole.
Peterson tackles the “isms” of our time, calling their practitioners, “monotheists, practically speaking - or polytheistic worshippers of a very small number of gods.”
“These gods are the axioms and foundational beliefs that must be accepted, a priori, rather than proven, before the belief system can be adopted, and when accepted and applied to the world allow the illusion to prevail that knowledge has been produced.”
If we look at the impact of these isms on society today we clearly identify those which have most significantly driven the shifts in Tytler’s cycle. Environmentalism, postmodernism, and most anything attached to gender an race all drive society away from objective reality and into the realm of ideological fantasy - living the lie. As Peterson explains,
“Since the ideologue can place him or herself on the morally correct side of the equation without the genuine effort necessary to do so validly, it is much easier and more immediately gratifying to reduce the problem to something simple and accompany it with an evildoer, who can then be morally opposed.”
These isms based on ideology act as a dogmatic road map for those willing to submit, for whatever reason, to this life of delusion. The philosophical conundrum posed by an abundance of information combined with a distinct lack of faith has created a fertile field for seeds of doubt to be sown. The gap left by the removal of organized religion from our culture has proven to be a double-edged sword which lays waste on both sides of the argument, but may prove to be far more damaging when the alternative scenario unfolds. There is an obvious need for many to attach themselves to a belief, and regardless of whether that belief is tied to a coherent platform - their grip on it, and it on them, remains just as strong.
By laying the foundation for wilful ignorance The Playwrights of Misery are able to create a script in which society can then act as its own oppressor, through ideology slowly woven into the fabric of democracy a simultaneous unravelling can be induced. In the post-totalitarian state experienced by Vaclav Havel he described it as, “the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority.”
What does the ditch look like?
Western Democracy has been slowly eroded to a point at which Solzhenitsyn would feel right at home.
We are in a pre-totalitarian state, there is no denying it, but it might not be too late.
When we realize that we can choose to Live Within the Truth, and act accordingly we can start to affect a change on the system that has evolved around us.
The difference between then and now is that we have the means to oppose what is being imposed on us through measures just as effective - the same tools are available through platforms such as this.
Please stay with me as I explore more about the specific isms and their role in the system next time.