tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post1804143829808658618..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The Implosion of the Mandarin Class (The Establishment or 'Cathedral')Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-6159405888961559592016-07-04T03:24:44.164+01:002016-07-04T03:24:44.164+01:00"...Mandarins are therefore unique among huma..."...Mandarins are therefore unique among humans both in their perspective on life - in their evaluations of what is important; and in being immune to learning from experience..."<br /><br />This is most excellent. Note they do not have to pay for their wrong views. They also have their ego tied up in their ideas. If you're a businessman or military leader you pay and the outcome is based on output or wars won not just an idea. Therefore the "idea" becomes less important than the outcome. For the elite it's all about the idea. The only acceptable outcome is that the idea work.Sam J.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-9648993456058566022016-06-30T05:19:40.493+01:002016-06-30T05:19:40.493+01:00@David - Thanks for the heads-up about Ashenden...@David - Thanks for the heads-up about Ashenden's article. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-47375834631184436492016-06-30T03:24:27.727+01:002016-06-30T03:24:27.727+01:00J's question somehow makes me suddenly think o...J's question somehow makes me suddenly think of Jerzy Kosiński's Being There (especially the film version) - and that, again, of the Fellowship hobbits in various circumstances - the innocent among 'the Madarins'.<br /><br />I don't know if this, among recent posts, is the best place for it, but it seems a possible one - I just became acquainted with Pierre Manent and his works via this interesting post:<br /><br />http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/06/the-european-union-what-went-wrong.php<br /><br />I've also been much struck by Peter Hitchens's recent Mail online blog entries.<br /><br />And Gavin Ashenden's post at Anglican Ink.<br /><br />David Llewellyn Dodds<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-3580927384119647512016-06-29T14:10:56.110+01:002016-06-29T14:10:56.110+01:00@J - My most recent idea is to examine your fundam...@J - My most recent idea is to examine your fundamental (metaphysical) assumptions about 'reality' - to see whether they are plausible, coherent, lead to absurd consequences etc. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-62468931786779882882016-06-29T14:06:27.347+01:002016-06-29T14:06:27.347+01:00Dr Charlton,
As someone who is prone to "Mand...Dr Charlton,<br />As someone who is prone to "Mandariness" (advanced degree, Mandarin-type social circle), how do you suggest inoculating against it?Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04137271666814486522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-10455040497473786562016-06-29T05:37:11.247+01:002016-06-29T05:37:11.247+01:00@TedW - I don't know.@TedW - I don't know. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-27082804836598614032016-06-29T02:39:12.892+01:002016-06-29T02:39:12.892+01:00All I know is resistance is never futile, that it ...All I know is resistance is never futile, that it is always the dirt people who rescue humanity from itself, from tyrants and tyranny time and time again, that it all begins with each of us, and what is really happening is not a revolution because of arms or civil war, but an evolution in honesty and first principles, that without virtue, without integrity of the man first, without facing the harsh realities of the predicament we are in in this country, we will never be freemen, we can only have our liberty and the primal freedoms, the component parts of living as a sovereign man, if we become that man who not only looks the truth straight in the eyes and never flinches, but goes after the truth with a bone in our teeth and a rifle in our hands, and in this way we all become leaders, ambassadors of liberty, and then we set the bar, the standard for others to aspire to and follow or become leaders in each his own way… This is the indomitable thing, it can not be stopped, it is called winning.…..The only thing more dangerous than fighting our tyrannical corrupt government that has amassed unlimited resources against us freemen; this tyrannical corrupt government facing an awakened citizenry who face the unlimited power of and truth they have their liberty and freedoms within their hands and always have….Dougnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-3195850318916874612016-06-29T00:12:38.812+01:002016-06-29T00:12:38.812+01:00I posted the link to this article on Facebook. Fo...I posted the link to this article on Facebook. For the first time ever it came up with a security check. Has Facebook put you on the blacklist, Bruce?TedWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-56364351142161870012016-06-28T17:46:49.679+01:002016-06-28T17:46:49.679+01:00@AdamW - No I haven't read that one.
"I...@AdamW - No I haven't read that one. <br /><br />"It's interesting that high thought is valuable, but practical solutions must be something everyone can understand." Agreed. And if they don't understand, they will simplify it until they do. In fact, politics just is very simple - and inevitably so. There is no nuance about it. What matters most is the motivation of the people. <br /><br />The Remain response is quite appalling - and embarrassing. The Establishment are apparently competing to scream opinions, and reveal attitudes, that ordinary people will not be able to forget, and which cannot be unsaid. It is like they have all ripped off their masks together. <br /><br />They are also very obviously engaging in deliberate lying, destruction (eg in financial markets) and incitement. The fact that they are watching each other do this will make it very hard again to pretend that they are decent people whose motives are good. <br /><br />In sum, it looks like a very sudden collapse of self-confidence and morale. <br /><br />I do not know what will happen - nobody yet does - but things will never be the same again. The Remain response - not the Brexit vote - has ensured that. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-14602853903265418362016-06-28T16:45:53.585+01:002016-06-28T16:45:53.585+01:00Have you read Stefan Zweig's 'World of Yes...Have you read Stefan Zweig's 'World of Yesterday?' An interesting first-hand account of German intellectualism before the War.<br /><br />It's interesting that high thought is valuable, but practical solutions must be something everyone can understand. A Christian revival, for example, must fall into the latter category.<br /><br />The anti-Leave reaction by the mainstream journals is not exactly surprising but I find its degree quite shocking. 'Spittle-flecked' seems an apt description of most editorials.<br /><br />On a lighter note, someone once told me, 'A politician is someone who lies to the press and then believes what he reads in the papers'.AdamWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06729190099956182183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-88306444317080692982016-06-28T13:23:24.283+01:002016-06-28T13:23:24.283+01:00@Simon - It would take too long to describe and be...@Simon - It would take too long to describe and be obsolete before I had finished writing - I would suggest readng some of Google News or the main UK Newspapers (Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Mail, Express, Mirror, BBC News - The Times is behind a paywall) online to get a flavour. Of these the Telegraph and (sort of) Mail are pro-Brexit, the rest *very* against. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-21105255464986541532016-06-28T13:19:30.971+01:002016-06-28T13:19:30.971+01:00@AnteB - Over the weekend I conversed with someone...@AnteB - Over the weekend I conversed with someone who has had detailed detailings with the Euro elite, who confirmed from personal experience everything you and I had inferred. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-81696519662342012312016-06-28T11:13:07.828+01:002016-06-28T11:13:07.828+01:00And the Mandarins of the Mandarins are the EU-elit...And the Mandarins of the Mandarins are the EU-elite. Only a couple of days after the referendum it is clear that they will not learn from the loss of Great Britain - they will not use it as an opportunity to reform the EU in any meaningful way.<br /><br />Instead there is an outpouring of spite and resentment towards Britain and mockery and wrath and mockery against all those who voted to leave. It is like they are truly unable to view disagreement in good faith - it HAS to be racism or ignorance. <br /><br />In other words, they behave exactly like you predicted they would. AnteBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00249366173494889527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-56127349710942735532016-06-28T10:32:45.249+01:002016-06-28T10:32:45.249+01:00Dr Charlton, I do not read the news at all. Would ...Dr Charlton, I do not read the news at all. Would you be able to briefly summarise what is happening in the UK?Simonnoreply@blogger.com