Western liberal democracies have been engaged in a narrative of political and social progress, believing themselves superior to all that came before. According to this story, the scientific revolution led to the Enlightenment, which produced new social technologies to replace the backward superstitions and traditions that once governed human relations. Armed with a more scientific and rational understanding of human affairs, these new political technologies would free those who had once been subjects of the state.
The left, brilliantly so, used the apparent weaknesses in western liberalism to create a new aristocratic class that’s wasn’t necessarily based on wealth, but more along the lines of identity and political affiliation in the name of civil rights.
Auron writes: "Couple that fact with the almost deistic elevation through victimhood, and the drive to achieve this new aristocratic status becomes overwhelming. Who would not want to be on the right side of history while getting to punch people they hate in the face?"
First of all, Auron, thanks for the brilliant writing and articulation of the politics of victimhood. You have provided crucial insight into leftist "progressive" politics. As a commenter below notes, it is 10/10.
Second, regarding your reference to "almost deistic elevation through victimhood"----
Rene Girard, the French Academy "Immortal," provides an important theoretical understanding of how this "almost deistic elevation through victimhood" functions in society.
Girard argues that all humans are complicit in an anthropological process of ritualized violence, repeated over and over in the scapegoating "mechanism." (As Girard says, this mechanism is present "from the foundations of the earth.")
In Christianity, says Girard, the scapegoating mechanism seems to break forever, as the mechanism's injustice becomes inescapably evident and brutally obvious in the lynching of Jesus.
But of course, Girard says, the scapegoating mechanism doesn't die. It mutates endlessly, deviously. The victims figure out how to game the system. The former victims become the new scapegoaters/victimizers, with a vengeance.
Christians reflexively recoil from the new, abhorrent scapegoating, and they are reluctant to scapegoat the new version of scapegoating. The transgressive scapegoaters (who are now even seeking to victimize parents who aim to protect the innocence of their children), operate under no such reluctance.
It is important to realize that scapegoating is not a phenomenon that can be derailed via logic and persuasion. The scapegoaters are acting out of an existential distress and confusion that is only resolvable via ritual persecution and "lynching."
(Donald Trump is, of course, the current goat for the new scapegoaters. But he is just a man, and his removal will not resolve the unresolvable distress of the "progressive" left. But he is an important symbol, a la "Emmanuel Goldstein," to focus the scapegoating rage.)
On the geopolitical stage, the ultimate strategy and goal of modern and post-modern scapegoating must inevitably and always be "elimination of unreliable elements" and "final solution."
“Woke,” “wokeism,” “wokeness,” etc., are weasel words used to hide the truth about the Jews and the Frankfurt School . . .
NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE GERMAN STUDENTS' UNION BURNED ALL THOSE BOOKS IN 1933.
The Frankfurt School adapted Marx’s theories on revolution to include Freud’s theory of the subconscious. The Cultural Marxists’ main focus was to reshape the subconscious of Western men and women and thus create new type of person: one who would react passively to provocations of all kinds.
The left, brilliantly so, used the apparent weaknesses in western liberalism to create a new aristocratic class that’s wasn’t necessarily based on wealth, but more along the lines of identity and political affiliation in the name of civil rights.
Hi Auron: Can you please put the blaze link at the top so we can just click over right away? Thanks!
Tremendous article. Precise, relentless, spare. 10/10
Auron writes: "Couple that fact with the almost deistic elevation through victimhood, and the drive to achieve this new aristocratic status becomes overwhelming. Who would not want to be on the right side of history while getting to punch people they hate in the face?"
First of all, Auron, thanks for the brilliant writing and articulation of the politics of victimhood. You have provided crucial insight into leftist "progressive" politics. As a commenter below notes, it is 10/10.
Second, regarding your reference to "almost deistic elevation through victimhood"----
Rene Girard, the French Academy "Immortal," provides an important theoretical understanding of how this "almost deistic elevation through victimhood" functions in society.
Girard argues that all humans are complicit in an anthropological process of ritualized violence, repeated over and over in the scapegoating "mechanism." (As Girard says, this mechanism is present "from the foundations of the earth.")
In Christianity, says Girard, the scapegoating mechanism seems to break forever, as the mechanism's injustice becomes inescapably evident and brutally obvious in the lynching of Jesus.
But of course, Girard says, the scapegoating mechanism doesn't die. It mutates endlessly, deviously. The victims figure out how to game the system. The former victims become the new scapegoaters/victimizers, with a vengeance.
Christians reflexively recoil from the new, abhorrent scapegoating, and they are reluctant to scapegoat the new version of scapegoating. The transgressive scapegoaters (who are now even seeking to victimize parents who aim to protect the innocence of their children), operate under no such reluctance.
It is important to realize that scapegoating is not a phenomenon that can be derailed via logic and persuasion. The scapegoaters are acting out of an existential distress and confusion that is only resolvable via ritual persecution and "lynching."
(Donald Trump is, of course, the current goat for the new scapegoaters. But he is just a man, and his removal will not resolve the unresolvable distress of the "progressive" left. But he is an important symbol, a la "Emmanuel Goldstein," to focus the scapegoating rage.)
On the geopolitical stage, the ultimate strategy and goal of modern and post-modern scapegoating must inevitably and always be "elimination of unreliable elements" and "final solution."
“Woke,” “wokeism,” “wokeness,” etc., are weasel words used to hide the truth about the Jews and the Frankfurt School . . .
NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE GERMAN STUDENTS' UNION BURNED ALL THOSE BOOKS IN 1933.
The Frankfurt School adapted Marx’s theories on revolution to include Freud’s theory of the subconscious. The Cultural Marxists’ main focus was to reshape the subconscious of Western men and women and thus create new type of person: one who would react passively to provocations of all kinds.
https://nordicresistancemovement.org/what-is-cultural-marxism/
Auron: its like the West is self-destructing on purpose.
James Burnham: here, hold my beer.
It is eradication of our Creator, Auron, it always is. It leads to a demonic madness. This is a good SHORT article from The Federalist today. https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/05/we-are-all-made-in-the-image-of-god-not-made-into-it/