A nice piece, and you make some very good points. As a fellow traitor, I have given some thought to why the bourgeoisie is so ready to swallow the many absurd ideas eructated by the elites. You ascribe it chiefly to laziness, and there's no doubt some truth in that. But I believe that there's also a far more active embrace of the absurd going on - a human variety of simian grooming which has great social rewards, reassuring individuals that they are valued members of the tribe to which they aspire to belong. It's something I explore in this post, which you may care to read:
Hi Tom. I really enjoyed your article and have shared it about. You are of course 100% correct. I suppose I would loosely group this phenomenon within my framework under the 'rank servility' category, but there is a bit more to it than that as you outline in your piece. You've got my brain going - which is awesome! I feel like doing a follow up article now!
I'm curious to know whether you have read / heard of Hilaire Belloc's short book "The Servile State"? Written in 1912 it is perhaps slightly dated however many of the main points he brought up back then have and are happening now. Kenneth Minogue (a fellow kiwi of yours) also wrote an updated version of the Servile State titled "The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life". I have found these books really helpful in understanding how we have come to this point and what we can do about it.
Keep fighting the good fight! I look forward to reading more of your essays!
A nice piece, and you make some very good points. As a fellow traitor, I have given some thought to why the bourgeoisie is so ready to swallow the many absurd ideas eructated by the elites. You ascribe it chiefly to laziness, and there's no doubt some truth in that. But I believe that there's also a far more active embrace of the absurd going on - a human variety of simian grooming which has great social rewards, reassuring individuals that they are valued members of the tribe to which they aspire to belong. It's something I explore in this post, which you may care to read:
https://harrumpf.com/2022/01/22/the-trouble-with-common-sense/
Hi Tom. I really enjoyed your article and have shared it about. You are of course 100% correct. I suppose I would loosely group this phenomenon within my framework under the 'rank servility' category, but there is a bit more to it than that as you outline in your piece. You've got my brain going - which is awesome! I feel like doing a follow up article now!
Excellent article J.J.
I'm curious to know whether you have read / heard of Hilaire Belloc's short book "The Servile State"? Written in 1912 it is perhaps slightly dated however many of the main points he brought up back then have and are happening now. Kenneth Minogue (a fellow kiwi of yours) also wrote an updated version of the Servile State titled "The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life". I have found these books really helpful in understanding how we have come to this point and what we can do about it.
Keep fighting the good fight! I look forward to reading more of your essays!
Thanks so much Abraham. I had not heard of these works, but I am intrigued and have added them to my reading list. Thank you for the suggestion.