tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post1972294569221248985..comments2024-03-29T15:13:42.610+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Transcending (not deleting) LeftismBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-49981894979002479552015-09-21T16:41:21.897+01:002015-09-21T16:41:21.897+01:00@JP - I am talking about the good things of the pa...@JP - I am talking about the good things of the past 200 plus years. For example the many great artists in music, literature, architecture and the visual arts who were radicals/ progressives etc to a greater or lesser extent. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-1524490881528550922015-09-21T16:02:04.107+01:002015-09-21T16:02:04.107+01:00@BB - Because the Left are anti-Christian - that t...@BB - Because the Left are anti-Christian - that trumps most things - and the Left is also anti natives, whites, men etc. <br /><br />In other words, the modern New Left is oppositional, hence not coherent. They are not trying to establish a utopia - as was the Old Left - they are instead in a state of perpetual opposition and permanent revolution. <br /><br />Ultimately, and this is becoming clearer with every passing year, the Left are anti-The Good - mainly by first subversion, then inversion of The Good (the Good is ultimately Truth, Beauty and Virtue - all of these have been inverted by the Left so that what was Good-TBV is now Bad; and what was Bad (Vice, Ugliness, Immorality) is now promoted as Good. <br /><br />Of course the process is not complete, because nihilism destroys itself before being completed - but this is the overall picture. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-84699875847448450482015-09-21T15:38:23.813+01:002015-09-21T15:38:23.813+01:00Not sure the "Mormonism in relation to Christ...Not sure the "Mormonism in relation to Christianity" analogy holds. Mormonism could build upon the "good things" out of Christianity because there were a lot of good things to use, and the basic purposes and intentions of Christianity were good. <br /><br />What are the "good bits" of Leftism that we're going to use to rebuild? Can the evil purposes and intentions of Leftism be used for good by some new Boromir? Can we re-frame, re-interpret, transcend and build-upon Hell in order to create Heaven?JPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-29116793814605822002015-09-21T15:25:14.042+01:002015-09-21T15:25:14.042+01:00Bruce, if the sexual revolution is the litmus test...Bruce, if the sexual revolution is the litmus test, why are they (the left) enthusiastic supporters of the followers of a certain religion, a religion which does not support the sexual revolution and which may undo the sexual revolution, particularly in Europe and Britain?Bruce B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-21910781481837225382015-09-21T15:21:33.686+01:002015-09-21T15:21:33.686+01:00My way of trying to understand things (which could...My way of trying to understand things (which could be entirely wrong) is based on identifying the now ubiquitous modes of thinking (the ways of seeing the world that were not the norm a few generations ago). There seem to be two major modes of thought: one clustered around liberty/individualism/autonomy and one around equality/victimization-narratives. It seems like most all people manifest these two modes of thought but with varying degree of emphasis. The ones that relatively emphasize the former are on what’s commonly called the right, the latter on what’s commonly called the left. There are occasional religious considerations that, to the extent they can be, are justified by reference to these “right/left” principles. When they can’t be justified I suppose they become Auster’s unprincipled exceptions.<br /><br />Forgive me for belaboring this but for some reason I find this topic fascinating. Your view seems to be that the fundamental divide is secular/religious with almost all people on the secular (leftist) side.<br />Bruce B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-11652273370386788832015-09-21T13:14:26.502+01:002015-09-21T13:14:26.502+01:00@BB - Not the same - American conservatives and re...@BB - Not the same - American conservatives and reactionaries (and Republicans and Libertarians) are nearly-all Leftists. <br /><br />This is because mainstream culture has gone so far to the Left now, that hardly anybody nowadays is not on the Left by world-historical standards. <br /><br />The proper distinction is between the various types of religious people who believe that society should be run in conformity with their major religious tenets who are on the Right; and Leftists. <br /><br />By this account, there are no secular Right-wingers, there is no-such-thing - they are merely a species of Leftist, because secularism is intrinsically Leftist (and the Left is intrinsically and primarily anti-Christian in its historical roots). <br /><br />Since the sexual revolution is the litmus test of modern politics - therefore *simplistically*, as a rule-of-thumb and in modern conditions in the West: the Left is anyone who advocates sex of any kind outwith traditional marriage - who says that this is Good or of equal esteem (recognizing that there have been and are different religious traditions wrt what constitutes marriage). <br /><br />Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-31698646386963112822015-09-21T05:28:09.424+01:002015-09-21T05:28:09.424+01:00@WmJas - Yes indeed. @WmJas - Yes indeed. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-36791174986942602152015-09-21T02:20:59.508+01:002015-09-21T02:20:59.508+01:00Perhaps a more familiar example to most readers wo...Perhaps a more familiar example to most readers would be the way Christianity itself transcended (without deleting) both Judaism and Graeco-Roman paganism.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.com