Monday 4 July 2016

The Boromir Strategy (as advocated by the Boromirosphere)

We have been hearing recently discussion of the Benedict Option for resisting Secular Leftism -

http://www.jrganymede.com/2015/07/02/the-benedict-option

which derives from Thomist philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre writing in After Virtue (1981), recently popularised by Rod Dreher.

But this is regarded as effete and defeatist by the Secular Right of the Boromirosphere - so named by this blog's commenter Ingemar after the (pre-his-repentance) Tolkien character from Lord of the Rings, and summarised by the phrase:

Hey lads, let's use the One Ring to fight Sauron!

http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-secular-right-alternative-right.html

The Boromir Strategy correctly diagnoses that we are in a state of warfare with Secular Leftism/ Political Correctness/ Social Justice Warriors which are evil - but fails to recognise that this is essentially a spiritual war, which must be 'fought' with spiritual weapons - and that evil cannot be defeated by evil; and that the weapons of the Good are all Good.

The Boromirosphere is easily recognised by its tone of hatred, gloating Schadenfreude, and foul-mouthed invective. The Boromir strategy is that the opponents of Leftism need to beat Leftism at its own game - fight one-sided feminism and women-preference with one-sided macho posturing and women-oppression, fight antiracism with pro-racism, fight uncontextualised kindness with shock-and-awe cruelty - in sum, to be even-more ruthless, hardline, expedient, and materialistically-focused than The Left.

An example of the Boromir Strategy is the 'No Enemies to the Right' meme; which argues that because the mainstream political Left do not reject vicious Leftist extremists - whatever their methods and motivations; then their opponents should not reject vicious Right Wing extremists - whatever their methods and motivations; because that would be to weaken the movement.

However, all this is understandable given that the Secular Right are... Secular. They do not believe in the reality of God, the unseen world, the spiritual realm - so the only effects they will recognise and advocate are in the exact same material world that is approved and taken-seriously as valid public discourse by the modern mass media.

In sum, the secular Left and Right are two sides serving the same (demonic) masters - exactly like Labour and Conservative, Democrat and Republican, and all the rest of mainstream politics.

Whereas, the simple reality is that we live in a world of divine entities and communications - mostly un-perceived by the five senses - a world in which all Goodness is necessarily effectual, and where apparent defeat of real Goodness can only be temporary.

The motives and methods of Good are identical; Good ends can only be attained by Good means - and all Good means will sooner-or-later lead to Good ends. We need not be concerned by expediency - if we do the right thing then we will be on the side of eternal destiny, and all manner of synchronicities and unforeseen eucatastrophes* will come to our aid.

That is all that ought to concern us in a world created by a God who is Good and is our Heavenly Father. Politics is, after all, very simple - if we truly understand it.

And this attitude is called faith.


Note: Eucatastrophe is a Tolkien coinage meaning good-catastrophe - the 'fortunate' but once-experienced-known-to-be-destined last minute twist in a story to achieve a happy ending in the face of apparently-inevitable defeat by evil.

10 comments:

Bruce Charlton said...

Comment edited from 'Hoyos':

"Yes, good article. "No enemies to the right" is usually code for "tolerate the Nazis". Which is awful because Nazism is just communism for racists (NB this is not the dreaded Godwin's law, I am referring to actual pro Hitler, anti Semitic white nationalists); they aren't really on the right at all. The only reason we think they are is because more orthodox socialists say that they are and not for honest reasons.

"There are also grave misunderstandings about the tools of power, and that you have to be just as wicked as the enemy to win. There are two points to make here, the first is that we have failed to recognize that a lot of the "wisdom" of the wicked only "works" short term. Ruthlessness routinely sabotages the ruthless. The second is that more is permitted to us by way of resistance than is commonly supposed. We have bought into what the world says about the church, namely that Christians must be pacifists or simpletons.

"I have been rereading some OT history and you will see David and Solomon face down terrible enemies, and they did not hesitate to use all of the tools at their disposal, spiritual, political, or physical, but frequently in an oddly humane way. They knew when to show mercy and when the greater mercy required firmness. They weren't above being cunning either.

"This isn't "the ends justifies the means", but a right knowledge of what means are legitimate to fight the enemy, and which are not.(...)"

Bruce Charlton said...

Comment from 'George':

"You sometimes seem to be the only voice of sanity, Bruce.

"It seems all alternative right bloggers believe in fighting evil with evil.

"And it isn't a secular thing - maybe the best example is blogger [XXX], and he claims to be a devout Christian. He even uses satanic imagery (...).

"What's the point of being a Christian if your behavior is literally indistinguishable from evil people? So at some distant future date, after you've been evil for a long time, once you win, you'll just stop being evil?

"And it seems so uneccessary. You can argue against leftists while avoiding using their methods. There simply seems no point."

Alex said...

When you tear 'the Right' from its original Christian roots, and redefine it in generic terms as 'hierarchy', 'inequality', 'order' &c., you're going to end up in some pretty grotesque places. Traditionalist Christians and satanists stand in solidarity against the common liberal foe!

The Continental Op said...

I, too, have noticed recent comments about how the Left practices "No Enemies to the Left" so the Right ought to do similarly. It escapes their notice--a telling defect!--that on the Left, all evil is welcomed and celebrated, and anyone speaking for good has been beaten down or routed.

Unknown said...

I believe it's Rod Dreher you're referring to, not Ross Douthat. Same initials!

Bruce Charlton said...

@garymar - Yes, of course! Modified. Thanks for the correction.

Ingemar said...

Dr. Charlton,

I don't know if you see comments to much older posts, but lately I find that the "Boromir disorientation" does not apply solely to the secular right. You said,

The Boromirosphere is easily recognised by its tone of hatred, gloating Schadenfreude, and foul-mouthed invective. The Boromir strategy is that the opponents of Leftism need to beat Leftism at its own game - fight one-sided feminism and women-preference with one-sided macho posturing and women-oppression, fight antiracism with pro-racism, fight uncontextualised kindness with shock-and-awe cruelty - in sum, to be even-more ruthless, hardline, expedient, and materialistically-focused than The Left.

I recently joined a group of pro-Hispanics online (I don't consider myself one, but I was accepted on the basis of my ethnicity deriving from the Spanish Empire) and initially I was impressed that Latin America and the Philippines maintained the most robust religious patrimony. Yet despite the lip service the group paid to the nature of the world's conflict being spiritual rather than material, many/most of them exhibited that "tone of hatred, gloating Schadenfreude, and foul-mouthed invective." Most tellingly, I found that the only lynchpin of the group was a hatred of the Anglo-American neoliberal world order and a desire to destroy it, even though most of them were born and live in the United States. This hatred is so consuming that they embrace communist or socialist leaders, not for any virtue but for how much they can "stick it" to America.

This, I think dovetails nicely with the points you made last year regarding Sorathic evil.

I have my own criticisms of the postwar, post Christian, American spearheaded System, just as I do of the rise of China which these Hispanic America haters think will solve their problems (ignoring the fact, of course, that their more overt godlessness and materialism is simply continuing the same problems under a different landlord). But a desire for wanton destruction without regard for the harms it cause is pure Sorath, and all for a fantasy of returning to a Spanish Empire (which, though the most powerful European power for two centuries, still managed to collapse as all empires do). Which they already admit they can't do since the best they can come up with is to bargain with China to become a thorn on America's side.

That said, one of the members of this group considers LatAM's poverty and simplicity as virtues that have shielded them from the accelerating degeneracy of the West. This I agree with, but would further add that they need no more than this.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Ingemar - Yes, I see all comments for moderation, no matter how old.

Negative and oppositional goals are hellish, whoever they are directed against.

From the spiritual perspective; that old proverb about 'my enemy's enemy being my friend' is about as wrong as it possibly could be!

Glaivester said...

At least some elements of the Boromir strategy were endorsed by Paul the Apostle:

https://biblehub.com/philippians/1-18.htm

"What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice" (CSB)

Bruce Charlton said...

@G - I think that you will probably see 'Boromir'-like suggestions all over the place, now you have come across the idea.