I Punch in All Directions
Nov. 26th, 2018 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusI punch left, right, center, up, down, high, low, you name it. And I punch myself a lot too. That's right; my own style of critique is to not dish out free passes to favored groups or classes. Basically, I believe that we live in massively-corrupted times (something akin to the Kali Yuga) and that this corruption finds a home among every human group imaginable. Of course the corruption will manifest in different ways among different people in different places, but it's still going to be there nonetheless. Even that pristine house with the perfectly-manicured lawn is probably going to have problems under the hood. And you might find kind, humble people living in that dilapidated house everyone loves to hate.
When any set of ideas or positions hardens into a distinct ideology, you better bet there will be a small gang of charismatic opportunists lining up to play the role of firebrand demagogue and vigorously champion whatever ideology they happen to adopt. Ideological activism always ends up promising easy solutions to the sort of confused and desperate people who turn to ideologies to address whatever their particular grievances might be. And easy answers usually require easy scapegoats to conveniently pin the claimed source of every grievance on.
We could call the modernity of the industrialized west, "the age of the masses." With the "virtues" of Democracy supposedly being self-evident and unquestionable, there's a natural assumption that rightness and virtue is grassroots and thus should be a bottom-up proposition. But of course, any intellectually-honest thinker knows that mass-sentiment means lowest-common-denominator ideas. Yeah, the average person possesses a very limited slice of knowledge with regard to how the world actually works; even the most intelligent and educated people today are specialists in some specific trade, discipline or profession and barely know their ass from their forehead when it comes to knowledge outside their own wheelhouse. Gifted generalists and polymaths are really a thing of the past; the highest of "professionals" each have their own disciplinary fiefdom to guard like how a lioness guards her precious cubs.
And thus the demagogue of today panders to the mass of atomized individuals who each posses their own little shard of very specific knowledge, contextualized understanding, and overall life experience. Ideologies appeal to the mass mind and as a result, are wholly unequipped to address problems at their root causes. Well, because root causes tend to be things that can't be exposed though easy answers and the hasty pointing of fingers.
If we're to meander our way out of this dark age, the generalists shall rise to the occasion once again. Truth-seeking generalists punch in all directions and are quite aware they may anger and offend people wherever they might tread on any given day. Remember how most people in Athens hated Socrates. A lone truth-seeker is the easiest target for the rabble mob of people who act almost entirely on emotion. Truth-seekers who put aside petty differences and collaborate in groups might be a whole different story though. It might be worth the attempt.
When any set of ideas or positions hardens into a distinct ideology, you better bet there will be a small gang of charismatic opportunists lining up to play the role of firebrand demagogue and vigorously champion whatever ideology they happen to adopt. Ideological activism always ends up promising easy solutions to the sort of confused and desperate people who turn to ideologies to address whatever their particular grievances might be. And easy answers usually require easy scapegoats to conveniently pin the claimed source of every grievance on.
We could call the modernity of the industrialized west, "the age of the masses." With the "virtues" of Democracy supposedly being self-evident and unquestionable, there's a natural assumption that rightness and virtue is grassroots and thus should be a bottom-up proposition. But of course, any intellectually-honest thinker knows that mass-sentiment means lowest-common-denominator ideas. Yeah, the average person possesses a very limited slice of knowledge with regard to how the world actually works; even the most intelligent and educated people today are specialists in some specific trade, discipline or profession and barely know their ass from their forehead when it comes to knowledge outside their own wheelhouse. Gifted generalists and polymaths are really a thing of the past; the highest of "professionals" each have their own disciplinary fiefdom to guard like how a lioness guards her precious cubs.
And thus the demagogue of today panders to the mass of atomized individuals who each posses their own little shard of very specific knowledge, contextualized understanding, and overall life experience. Ideologies appeal to the mass mind and as a result, are wholly unequipped to address problems at their root causes. Well, because root causes tend to be things that can't be exposed though easy answers and the hasty pointing of fingers.
If we're to meander our way out of this dark age, the generalists shall rise to the occasion once again. Truth-seeking generalists punch in all directions and are quite aware they may anger and offend people wherever they might tread on any given day. Remember how most people in Athens hated Socrates. A lone truth-seeker is the easiest target for the rabble mob of people who act almost entirely on emotion. Truth-seekers who put aside petty differences and collaborate in groups might be a whole different story though. It might be worth the attempt.
