Friday 19 March 2021

Is it more accurate to think of The System (as of 2021) as Fake Ahrimanic?

In the early and middle 20th century; there seems to have been a powerful group of leftist intellectuals and power-seekers who were genuinely Ahrimanic - that is, they were idealists about the idea of a world government running a total System which would provide everybody with a decent standard of living, law and order and peace. 

I was very familiar with this ideology via George Bernard Shaw, who was an active leader of the Fabian Society; devoted to this incremental, democratic type of socialism. It was all about organization and control - a descendent of Weber's 'rational bureaucracy'; in which clear, explicit, coherent rules took the place of individual judgment, laissez faire, irrational superstition (such as religions), and tradition. 

Humans themselves were also to be 'improved' by The System; especially by universal education and eugenics; and by the provision of arts, crafts; and a clean, healthy, attractive, managed environment. 


And this, of course, is a genuinely Ahrimanic materialism; in which humans are conceptualized as cogs or units in a System; and the 'good' of the System is pursued by-means-of the people. Humans are means to a systemic end. 

In the end (as with modern Transhumanism) humans were to be eliminated and replaced by something 'better'. 

In terms of Dungeons and Dragons - this had the alignment of Lawful Evil - its goals were evil (by Christian standards: because against God and divine creation); but the methods to attain The System, and the running of The System itself, were intended to be wholly coherent, ordered, lawful... 

Indeed, most scientists and many other intellectuals were attracted to Fabian-type socialism - with rule in the hands of rational managers, experts, scientists, statisticians etc. (people such as themselves) -  precisely because it seemed by far the most rational and coherent socio-political possibility than rule by an hereditary aristocracy, and money-grubbing merchants and manufacturers... 


My point is that - for a while - this kind of managerial society was (although evil in intent) substantially sincere, rigorous and honest movement. There was some genuine (albeit abstract) altruism, and self-sacrifice, among the advocates. 

And the 'world government' (or 'governance') rhetoric of 2020-1 that we associate with the United Nations/ WHO and the Great Reset is very similar to this old Fabianism. 

But the reality is extremely different. The new Systemic ideal is a fake; and disguises its opposite. Lawful evil has actually been replaced by 'Chaotic Evil' - but without dropping its old 'Lawful' forms. 


For a start it is dishonest - from top to bottom; from the Big Strategic Lies to the dozens of dishonesties (selection, distortion, suppression, exaggeration, non sequitur etc.) that are the minute-by-minute staple diet of all modern organizations in their inner (as well as outer) working.

Secondly it does not even try to be rational, coherent and efficient. 

Thirdly, we are still ruled by the same gang of aristocrats and merchants (often their direct genetic descendants) as for the past several hundred years. And the managers, experts, scientists, statisticians - plus the new class of mega-mass media moguls - are merely bought-and-controlled toadies and lickspittles of this ultra-rich, ultra-powerful, ultra-influential elite. 


Consequently; The System (here and now) is irrational, incoherent, inefficient and increasingly ineffective

All the major 'reforms' make these System flaws worse.

And those in-charge Know It.  


In sum - we still have a façade of the same Fabian Socialist Ahrimanic System that was standard in the middle 20th century. It is still the rationale for everything. But nobody now really believes it - we are ruled by nihilists and cynics; by selfish, cynical and strategically destructive individuals. 

(Scratch a 'believer' in modern Leftism, and you will find an employee.)

The old leftist ideals are now just disposable, temporary excuses. Socialism/ Communism plus a bunch of more recent excuses manufactured from feminism, antiracism, sexual revolution, environmentalism and now the pseudo-healthism of the birdemic. 

What we actually have Now - is the remnant of an Ahrimanic System, which is being actively and purposively dismantled by Sorathically-motivated individuals (and the demons behind them) for their own pleasure and profit


But mass consent for destruction continues to be manufactured on an ad hoc basis, using 'random', rotating, expedient elements of the old Fabian, Ahrimanic rationale - because because, after all, something must be used to justify the destruction. 

It has become obvious that - so corrupt is the mass population, so lacking in discernment, so lacking in courage and goodness - almost any half-boiled, excuse (no matter how ridiculous, how illogical, how sheerly non-sensical) will be accepted by most of the masses (and the bureaucrats and media drones) as a 'reason' for pursuing system-destruction. 

And this farrago of drivel can later be discarded and something else - almost anything - put in its place. Or it can, at any time, be revived to justify more of the same. Or not... 

Anything goes, in practice. Most people will believe, forget, ignore, or remember anything - to order; so long as a thin top-dressing of Ahrimanic leftism is first applied...


The world, national and major institutional leadership are by-now almost purely selfish and short-termist; are - in truth - almost-wholly-sinfully motivated by pride, resentment, fear, lust and/or despair; but they cynically mask this with the façade of fake Leftism gleaned from communists, socialists, and other radicals of the 20th century. 


The Global Establishment and their servants are (before our very eyes, on a daily basis) purposively dismantling The System for their own profit, pleasure - or mere survival, for a while longer - while tossing-out bits-and-pieces of jumbled, garbled, nonsensical leftism to the masses, under the weary pretense of 'building a better world'. 


The alliance of evil is itself a mere expedient; holding-together loosely for the temporary purpose of looting and sacking the Global System. 

There is constant infighting among them, of course; and this will increase, in a race to the bottom. 

Meanwhile the masses look-on with blank expressions of unthinking stupidity; while their rulers are smashing and stealing The System upon which the lives of seven billion people depend under the tired guise of 'saving the planet', or 'promoting justice and equity', or whatever...

And squabbling over the spoils, under the guise of 'fair redistribution'...

Until the whole thing inevitably comes crashing-down. 


(When exactly? Who knows. But once it starts; it will surely accelerate rapidly and uncontrollably; as failure of the crippled System here causes failures there and there; and so on and so forth.)

4 comments:

Restitutor Orbis said...

I'm a long-time reader of your blog but I've mostly just lurked. Posting today because I was delighted to see you tied D&D alignments into the Ahrimanic-Sorathic distinction, and I'm a professional D&D nerd.

If Ahrimanic Evil is Lawful evil, and Sorathic evil is Chaotic Evil, what is Luciferian evil? Neutral Evil? Or is it Chaotic Good, in that it breaks God's Laws without necessarily seeking Evil ends?

Many years ago I penned an essay equating D&D alignments to real-world philosophies wich you can find here:
https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/checkfortraps/8386-All-About-Alignment

My conclusion was that Lawful equated to Deontological; Neutral to Aretological; and Chaotic to Consequential; while Good was Altruist; Neutral balanced Altruist and Egoist; and Evil was Egoist without consideration for others.

Bruce Charlton said...

@RO - This may be or interest

https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2020/11/how-dungeons-and-dragons-alignment.html

Actually, I can't make much deep sense of 'neutral' evil - but if it is maximum selfishness with just enough cooperation to optimize this over the medium term; then maybe it could indeed be regarded as Luciferic. e.g. An alliance of hedonists cooperating to exploit their situation, to become more effective hedonic parasites - like some of the sexual revolution lobby groups.

Restitutor Orbis said...

Thanks for the response! I agree with your assessment of the alignment of the orcs.

I am a tabletop role-playing game designer ("Adventurer Conqueror King System") so it's a delight to see one of my favorite bloggers opine on D&D.

Bruce Charlton said...

@RO - Most of what I know of D&D is from my son - who is DM for two games, and studies game mechanics etc. I participated in a few brief family games - and read Appendix N by Jeffro Johnson - but essentially my knowledge comes secondhand through detailed conversations over the years.