On Political Cults
Jun. 16th, 2020 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusThere is one in particular that has been on my mind as of late. And no I'm not thinking of any currently-trendy leftist mass (bowel) movements or anything of that sort. But rather a fringe right-wing assemblage of ideas, mostly from the mouth of a one person whom a small, but fervent cult following has spouted up around. I won't name specific names, as (1) my intention here is not to shame or gossip about any specific individuals, and (2) not to give any free advertising or publicity to the group in question.
First I must say that, in my view, the act of centering one's own worldview around a set of secular political beliefs, is a common product of modernity and its various modes of thought. At the end of the day, if an ideology has no metaphysical grounding, then we could say its staying power is quite limited and the group will fizzle out the moment the next big shift in secular thought trends rolls around. Even Christianity, which was very much a political movement in its early days, (and arguably so long after that) was able to persevere for centuries, owing to its very strong metaphysical core. Ditto with Judaism and Islam.
The particular cult-like group I have in mind is headed by an eccentric leader who loudly and proudly insists that he himself (and his ideas) is above metaphysics and thus philosophers and adherents of religious and spiritual worldviews are to be cast aside as promulgators of false ideas. Now this sort of assertion on its own is nothing peculiar at all in the modern age, as there has been no shortage of secular sophists who have arrogantly declared metaphysics to be dead and irrelevant, and little more than a vestige of the (inferior) past which just needs to go away right now. Or something.
But this particular cult leader has a habit of constantly invoking the term "Natural Law," which according to any sane definition of the concept is a metaphysical principle. Yet this man is a staunch empiricist, in the typical anglo-rationalist sort of way, who denied that there is any reality beyond that which is intelligible by way of the human five senses. He also invokes "Natural Law" as some kind of ongoing process humans engage in, particularly the creation of laws. This is a very bizarre definition indeed. As if Natural Law is something that human beings create by fiat!! When I read through enough of his rhetoric, I must conclude that "Natural Law" in his system is simply whatever his own opinion is on whatever topic he is talking about at the time. Strange definition indeed.
Really, this person's seemingly-megolomaniacal plan "to save civilization" is yet another manifestation of the "Faustian" (see: Oswald Spengler) world-picture, and a rationalist-empiricist-materialist version of it, and of course accompanied by a linear, progressive conception of history. The Faustian worldview is a conception of reality which leads its adherents to perceive natural reality as something that can be shaped by human ego. Reality is what we do to it; it shall bend to the ego's will if it must. Most members of non-Faustian cultures don't at all perceive reality in this manner.
Anyway, I digress. This man's plan "to save civilization" is basically to place a caste of ideologically-correct lawyers in charge of the social order (how is this much different than how the US is run right now??). This lawyer priesthood will have the power to prosecute and convict any parties that run afoul of what the ideological doctrine deems to be acceptable behavior. (Sound familiar?) This is just Plato's "Philosopher Kings" redux, though in this version, it's not even spiritual men and philosophers....just lawyers. No, in the cult leader's rhetoric, philosophers and spiritual teachers are nothing more than parasites who swindle their followers with false promises of a cozy afterlife or whatever. And to add another layer of irony on top of this mess, the cult leader constantly trashes Plato, Platonism and Idealism in general, in his poorly-organized ramblings. He never gives a coherent explanation of why Idealism is inherently problematic; just that he's says it's bad, therefore it's bad.
And like many other cult leaders, he uses specialized jargon to serve as delivery mechanisms for his own opinions and assertions. His followers mindlessly parrot/repeat those buzzwords and scold newcomers who have the gall to kindly ask for simple explanations of what those buzzterms are supposed to mean in any objective sense. The charge is usually something along the lines of (paraphrasing) "you haven't yet done any of the reading, therefore you are not worthy of an explanation!" In other words, the newbie must invest many hours of their own time reading the cult's propaganda before they are permitted to have any questions answered. This really is just the classic go-to defense mechanism that the purveyors of bad ideas use to protect their bad ideas from outside scrutiny. And to be fair, it's not just small cult-like groups who employ this strategy -- plenty of large institutions use it as well! Contemporary Academia is a great example, as we know countless intellectually-bankrupt "Social Science" and "Humanities" departments use circular sophistry and self-referential jargon to keep any criticism from unwashed outsiders at bay.
And finally, one of the most dangerous things about this particular cult is the overtly-seditious rhetoric they use regarding their views on political change and the urgency of inciting such changes. They openly advocate for armed rebellion against the US government (when the time is right, of course) and a total replacement of the existing constitutional order with their own laws, to be drafted and enacted by.....well, the dear cult leader I have been talking about above. And on top of that, their website is chock-full of unapologetically-Eurocentric views on human diversity and the human condition, to put it politely. Much of this rhetoric would earn the quick and easy label of "white supremacy" from anyone remotely left-of-center who happens to stumble across the cult's web page. So for anyone making the imprudent decision to openly affiliate with this group they are getting themselves instantly grouped in with secessionists and White Nationalists. Basically, joining this group is fool-proof way of getting oneself instantly cancelled from polite society.
Yes, the cult leader does have some sound ideas and concepts mixed in with all the bad ones, namely the idea that a sane legal system should be based around the concept of Reciprocity, and the exclusion of parasites and unscrupulous opportunists from the reigns of power. But those ideas stand on their own footing and certainly don't require a half-baked "theory of everything approach" which just ends up lumping in a whole host of weak ideas and filler content into the mix. So yes, there are a few strong ideas in there; after all, groups would never be able to attract followers if all of their ideas were demonstrably weak or harmful.
I suppose the moral of the story here is that Political Cults like this one are more often than not based on the passions of the moment, rather than genuine metaphysical principles that have been expounded upon across many different cultures in many different times and places. The outright rejection of Metaphysical Truth makes this painfully apparent for the cult.
First I must say that, in my view, the act of centering one's own worldview around a set of secular political beliefs, is a common product of modernity and its various modes of thought. At the end of the day, if an ideology has no metaphysical grounding, then we could say its staying power is quite limited and the group will fizzle out the moment the next big shift in secular thought trends rolls around. Even Christianity, which was very much a political movement in its early days, (and arguably so long after that) was able to persevere for centuries, owing to its very strong metaphysical core. Ditto with Judaism and Islam.
The particular cult-like group I have in mind is headed by an eccentric leader who loudly and proudly insists that he himself (and his ideas) is above metaphysics and thus philosophers and adherents of religious and spiritual worldviews are to be cast aside as promulgators of false ideas. Now this sort of assertion on its own is nothing peculiar at all in the modern age, as there has been no shortage of secular sophists who have arrogantly declared metaphysics to be dead and irrelevant, and little more than a vestige of the (inferior) past which just needs to go away right now. Or something.
But this particular cult leader has a habit of constantly invoking the term "Natural Law," which according to any sane definition of the concept is a metaphysical principle. Yet this man is a staunch empiricist, in the typical anglo-rationalist sort of way, who denied that there is any reality beyond that which is intelligible by way of the human five senses. He also invokes "Natural Law" as some kind of ongoing process humans engage in, particularly the creation of laws. This is a very bizarre definition indeed. As if Natural Law is something that human beings create by fiat!! When I read through enough of his rhetoric, I must conclude that "Natural Law" in his system is simply whatever his own opinion is on whatever topic he is talking about at the time. Strange definition indeed.
Really, this person's seemingly-megolomaniacal plan "to save civilization" is yet another manifestation of the "Faustian" (see: Oswald Spengler) world-picture, and a rationalist-empiricist-materialist version of it, and of course accompanied by a linear, progressive conception of history. The Faustian worldview is a conception of reality which leads its adherents to perceive natural reality as something that can be shaped by human ego. Reality is what we do to it; it shall bend to the ego's will if it must. Most members of non-Faustian cultures don't at all perceive reality in this manner.
Anyway, I digress. This man's plan "to save civilization" is basically to place a caste of ideologically-correct lawyers in charge of the social order (how is this much different than how the US is run right now??). This lawyer priesthood will have the power to prosecute and convict any parties that run afoul of what the ideological doctrine deems to be acceptable behavior. (Sound familiar?) This is just Plato's "Philosopher Kings" redux, though in this version, it's not even spiritual men and philosophers....just lawyers. No, in the cult leader's rhetoric, philosophers and spiritual teachers are nothing more than parasites who swindle their followers with false promises of a cozy afterlife or whatever. And to add another layer of irony on top of this mess, the cult leader constantly trashes Plato, Platonism and Idealism in general, in his poorly-organized ramblings. He never gives a coherent explanation of why Idealism is inherently problematic; just that he's says it's bad, therefore it's bad.
And like many other cult leaders, he uses specialized jargon to serve as delivery mechanisms for his own opinions and assertions. His followers mindlessly parrot/repeat those buzzwords and scold newcomers who have the gall to kindly ask for simple explanations of what those buzzterms are supposed to mean in any objective sense. The charge is usually something along the lines of (paraphrasing) "you haven't yet done any of the reading, therefore you are not worthy of an explanation!" In other words, the newbie must invest many hours of their own time reading the cult's propaganda before they are permitted to have any questions answered. This really is just the classic go-to defense mechanism that the purveyors of bad ideas use to protect their bad ideas from outside scrutiny. And to be fair, it's not just small cult-like groups who employ this strategy -- plenty of large institutions use it as well! Contemporary Academia is a great example, as we know countless intellectually-bankrupt "Social Science" and "Humanities" departments use circular sophistry and self-referential jargon to keep any criticism from unwashed outsiders at bay.
And finally, one of the most dangerous things about this particular cult is the overtly-seditious rhetoric they use regarding their views on political change and the urgency of inciting such changes. They openly advocate for armed rebellion against the US government (when the time is right, of course) and a total replacement of the existing constitutional order with their own laws, to be drafted and enacted by.....well, the dear cult leader I have been talking about above. And on top of that, their website is chock-full of unapologetically-Eurocentric views on human diversity and the human condition, to put it politely. Much of this rhetoric would earn the quick and easy label of "white supremacy" from anyone remotely left-of-center who happens to stumble across the cult's web page. So for anyone making the imprudent decision to openly affiliate with this group they are getting themselves instantly grouped in with secessionists and White Nationalists. Basically, joining this group is fool-proof way of getting oneself instantly cancelled from polite society.
Yes, the cult leader does have some sound ideas and concepts mixed in with all the bad ones, namely the idea that a sane legal system should be based around the concept of Reciprocity, and the exclusion of parasites and unscrupulous opportunists from the reigns of power. But those ideas stand on their own footing and certainly don't require a half-baked "theory of everything approach" which just ends up lumping in a whole host of weak ideas and filler content into the mix. So yes, there are a few strong ideas in there; after all, groups would never be able to attract followers if all of their ideas were demonstrably weak or harmful.
I suppose the moral of the story here is that Political Cults like this one are more often than not based on the passions of the moment, rather than genuine metaphysical principles that have been expounded upon across many different cultures in many different times and places. The outright rejection of Metaphysical Truth makes this painfully apparent for the cult.
