Thursday 31 March 2011

What we cannot have: modernity minus PC

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Whatever the future holds, one things we cannot have (even if we want it) is modern society minus political correctness.

We cannot have freedom, growth, capability, comfort etc.... minus PC.

And of course we cannot have freedom, growth, capability, comfort etc with PC; because PC is actively destroying all of these.

We are going to lose modern society whatever happens - whether PC continues, or whether PC is destroyed and replaced.

Modernity is doomed: suck it up!

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We cannot return to modern society pre political correctness.

That is, we cannot go back to 'the fifties', which was merely a transitional era when PC had not quite broken through to dominance; but it was there, and all trends were set for it to take-over.

Furthermore we cannot overcome the problem by returning to Victorian times, or the early American Republic, or the Stuart absolute monarchy, nor even to Medieval Europe.

It would be futile to try, but we cannot even try; because there are no grounds for leverage.

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For example, we cannot generate reactionary change using democracy, or hedonism, or economic materialism, or nationalism, or science, or art, or via the mass media or even via Christianity - since all of these systems are now PC.

Any use of any of these will merely loop-back to PC via a short detour.  

We would be trying to get rid of one part of PC by using another part of PC - hauling on a folded lever with both ends in the same place.

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(What can we do? Repentance is the first step. We must repent the modern experiment. Which is why the delusion of working to restore modernity-minus-PC is fatal: it prevents, or at least delays, repentance. Acceptance that we cannot have what we want (or, what we think we want) is the first step in making a choice between the options on offer.)

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That which cannot continue, will not.

PC is a religion, or quasi religion, or something close analogous to a religion. It is Christianity transliterated to this world. Thus original sin is retained, but salvation and forgveness is discarded.

The ruling elite is a theocracy. It seeks to obtain internal cohesion by recruiting true believers, and external support by inculcating everyone with the religion. This, however, has the side effect that the religion gets crazier and crazier, less and less attractive and more repugnant to reason.

Anonymous said...

The ever rising deficits are caused both by loss of internal cohesion among the elite, as each steals what he can, unpunished, and by increasing efforts to buy enough voters to maintain the appearance of democratic legitimacy.

Now I expect the republic to fall with PC, I do not expect them to be voted out, but fall they will.

Bruce Charlton said...

@JAD - Thanks. I take your point about the 'religious' nature of PC, but it is a misleading term for such an anti-soul, anti-supernatural, anti-Christian thing.

Lineally, PC is a Christian heresy about ten times removed - but there really isn't much left at the end of this process...

About the parasitic elites - indeed. But (near universal) democracy makes this inevitable in modern conditions. The proportion of parasites/ dependants in the UK outnumbers the productive people approximately tenfold (I am one of the parasites) - so (combined with short-termism and selfishness/ lack of cohesion) the cancer of dependency will grow until it has killed the host.

The disproportion is now stunning. The first and last twenty years of life are spent in dependancy - so that is half the population. But the proportion of retired people is increasing.

Several percent of the population of working age will never work, but are supported at a high level (by historical standards) - the unemployed and the chronically 'sick'. Several millions (but in fact deliberately un-counted numbers) of migrants and refugees have been added to this in the past decade.

Most women work part time. The proporiton of college students (prime productive age and ability) has gone up more than three- to four-fold in 15 years - further reducing the productive workforce.

Of those that remain half are in the public sector; therefore consumers (mostly, although some provide useful services - nonetheless their conditions, un-sackability, early retirement and lavish pensions greatly reduce productivity), and about half in the private sector are in actively-damaging jobs of various types (harmful forms of management and regulation, make-work etc.).

The proportion left-over - people who produce more than they consume, must be very small indeed by now, and still shrinking. Roughly 90 percent of the population supported by 10 percent, maybe?

And the 90 percent are continually voting themselves a bigger share, and rioting when this is denied.

Bruce Charlton said...

Comment from Peter Arnold :

"I second Dr Charlton's disapproval of desecrating the holy name of religion, especially that of the truth - Christianity - by comparing it to the foul modern liberal disease.

"It's a frequent, and erroneous, imputation from reactionary atheists to scorn religion as causing this evil when of course it was the eradication of religion, and Christianity in particular, which generated the demon of modernity.

"Rather than conceiving of our foe in satanic, or unholy terms, they paint it as the (distorted) emanation of Religion.

"Modernity is and always has been purely, positively atheistic and rationalistic.

"It believes it is impossible for God to exist, and that Reason is not a mere tool of the human mind but a key which can unlock every mystery."