If you were in danger of forgetting, William Wildblood may help remind you.
But it is one of the most successful demonic inversions when atheist hedonists who are in reality of the Left, but who personally oppose political correctness, try to argue that Leftism is an heretical Christianity, an evolution of Protestantism, or puritanism.
This error is mostly based on false rationalisation (from people who don't want to become Christians, because it would limit their sexual options) - but also derives from a US-centric kind of ignorance; because the US had nothing to do with the origin and development of Leftism.
Leftism originated in Britain and France (in the late 18th century), where its anti-Christian animus was obvious.
The US was very slow to adopt Leftism - which it got from Europe; and only took-over world leadership of Leftism from the middle 1960s
I have read the origin of this rationalization in the text of Mencius Moldbug (Curtis Yarvin). Moldbug quotes some Christian texts of 19th century and early 20th century that, in fact, are full of leftist ideas. What Moldbug does not understand is that these ideas appeared in texts from Christian environments that had been infiltrated by the Left and by leftist ideology. They are not Christian in origin, but leftist in origin.
ReplyDelete@Chent - I agree.
ReplyDeleteMM was Not, at the time he wrote this stuff (I would not be at all surprised if he has changed his mind by now) very knowledgeable about Christianity; he saw it from the perspective of his background in secular-Jewish/ Mandarin culture.
MM also saw things from the persepctive of someone who wanted to re-engineer society on a *hedonic* functional basis. Indeed he stated explicitly that the aim was to minimise human suffering, which is the *exact* same *core* aim of c1980s Left-Liberal philosophical opinion (eg Richard Rorty, Judith Shklar, Martha Nussbaum) which I read, and I expect MM would have read.
In other words There Is No Doubt that Moldbug was a Leftist in his aimed-at 'end' or goal; but he put forward a different suggested *means* to reach that end. In essence MM implicitly claimed to be a more efficient and effective Leftist than the mainstream.
Because of this, Moldbug could not see that the *only* alternative to this-worldly hedonic-leftism was a society based-on/ aimed-at Religion (and only some religions, some types of religion); and the only proper question is: Which Religion?
Many anti-Christian alt-righters, following the example of Adolf Hitler himself, admire Julian the Apostate, thinking he was a great man. And his defiant last stand for ancient paganism certainly was a dramatically interesting historical episode.
ReplyDeleteBut I actually believe that Leftists could admire Julian even more as their predecessor. For Julian realized that a powerful "reformation" of paganism was needed if Christianity was ever going to be overthrown, and thus he ended up borrowing many Christian traits for his own new cult. Deep down, he probably knew that the old gods were not all that powerful, and therefore he needed the support of the great god MAMMON against Christianity - simply put, buying people off so that they would not listen to Christians.
Basically, Julian was the first important "post-Christian" character in history, who plagiarized Christianity, even while ferociously struggling against it. And isn't that just what modern Liberals and Leftists are doing - trying to outbid Christians in charity (with other peoples' money), while actively trying to sabotage them?
In this letter to Arsacius, high-priest of Galatia, Julian is clearly implementing some sort of Socialist welfare-state scheme to rival Christian charity:
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/julian_apostate_letters_1_trans.htm
"In every city establish frequent hostels in order that strangers may profit by our benevolence; I do not mean for our own people only, but for others also who are in need of money. I have but now made a plan by which you may be well provided for this; for I have given directions that 30,000 modii of corn shall be assigned every year for the whole of Galatia, and 60,000 pints3 of wine. I order that one-fifth of this be used for the poor who serve the priests, and the remainder be distributed by us to strangers and beggars. For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.1"
Julian goes even further in his semi-Socialist ideology in this document, as he, with quite apparent sincerity, finds "social justice" sentiments in the ancient Homeric writings. He even promotes the idea of universal brotherhood (without Christ) that is so important to modern Socialists, Freemasons and other globalists:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tertullian.org/fathers/julian_apostate_letter_to_a_priest.htm
"Again, the man who worships Zeus the God of Comrades, and who, though he sees his neighbours in need of money, does not give them even so much as a drachma, how, I say, can he think that he is worshipping Zeus aright? When I observe this I am wholly amazed, since I see that these titles of the gods are from the beginning of the world their express images, yet in our practice we pay no attention to anything of the sort. The gods are called by us "gods of kindred," and Zeus the "God of Kindred," but we treat our kinsmen as though they were strangers. I say "kinsmen" because every man, whether he will or no, is akin to every other man, whether it be true, as some say, that we are all descended from one man and one woman, or whether it came about in some other way, and the gods created us all together, at the first when the world began, not one man and one woman only, but many men and many women at once. For they who had the power to create one man and one woman, were able to create many men and women at once; since the manner of creating one man and one woman is the same as that of creating many men and many women. And one must have regard to the differences in our habits and laws, or still more to that which is higher and more precious and more authoritative, I mean the sacred tradition of the gods which has been handed down to us by the theurgists of earlier days, namely that when Zeus was setting all things in order there fell from him drops of sacred blood, and from them, as they say, arose the race of men. It follows therefore that we are all kinsmen, whether, many men and women as we are, we come from two human beings, or whether, as the gods tell us, and as we ought to believe, since facts bear witness thereto, we are all descended from the gods."
@V - Thanks - I don't know much about this topic, but it's an interesting line of argument.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are analogies from the ancient past, we also need to bear in mind that this current era is something new, unprecedented.
For example ideas such as the the transgender agenda; or the positive-desirability of permanent, unlimited, uncontrolled mass immigration - the fact that such ideas have become not just signs of high morality, but a compulsory-enforced, global mainstream among ruling elites, is a deeper form of psychosis, and of purposive evil, than any previous society has attained.
This kind of disconnection from reality is probably only possible when not just Christianity, but almost every vestige of spirituality has been expunged from awareness.
"This kind of disconnection from reality is probably only possible when not just Christianity, but almost every vestige of spirituality has been expunged from awareness."
ReplyDeleteChrist clearly taught that when unclean spirit has been exorcised, it will be seven times worse if it manages to return, so we can deduce from that that post-Christian society will be much more corrupt than pre-Christian society was - it will have developed certain perverse immunity to the Gospel:
https://biblehub.com/luke/11-26.htm
Simply put, post-Christian heathen are much more morally reprobate than pre-Christian heathen were. They have "lost their innocence," so to speak, and can have only contemptible hypocrisy or open brazen foulness in their worldview.
@V - Part of what I am saying is that modern people are Not post-Christian *heathens* - because heathens were/are pagan; they believe/d in gods, the soul, an objective morality, some continuation of life after death etc. This distinction is an example of the ways in which the modern West is something that has never before existed.
ReplyDelete"The US was very slow to adopt Leftism - which it got from Europe; and only took-over world leadership of Leftism from the middle 1960s"
ReplyDeleteBut when Americans decide to do something, they do it BIG, in an over-the-top, going-too-far kind of way...