On standards and hypocrisy
…Hold yourself and those you support to the same standards you demand of your enemies and opponents, and show the same respect to those who fail them as you would want for yourself and those you care for.
On reactionary conservatism
…“It is curious how the reactionary conservatist and fascistoid obsession with tradition and culture never really focuses on the actual, living and near traditions, never on the ambitions and hopes of those living two, three, four generations back, who worked hard at making society better, often living under very harsh and oppressive circumstances, making great sacrifices in the process.Instead the focus is on timewise quite distant cultures and traditions millennias or at least several centuries back, predating the French Revolution and “modern society”, completely rejecting democracy and strive for equal opportunity. In that it literally is against the dreams, traditions and culture of our closer ancestors of the last 150 years or so, and against their hardwon legacy, rejecting them as not part of tradition, while in reality it is very much a consequence of our history, our culture and our traditions, and something which has been constantly debated and fought over for millennias in our societies, not least in the past times these people choose to look to, even in the Talmud, the Bible and the Koran, and certainly in Greek, Roman, medieval and Renaissance philosophy.It is a pure fantasy of a time with no connection to anyone alive, outside of theory and book reading, and often quite ill-informed, built on romanticized stereotypes and cherry-picking of pretty and cool pieces of times which for the majority were very far from what most of us would want or desire.
What to fight over and what is at stake
‘Any ideological “war” has to also be fought in the same arenas as the ones chosen by the opponent, using the same tools, tactically and with consideration. Focusing on single issues, like e.g. racism, is doomed to fail simply because it just doesn’t affect the majority or move them deeply enough.
This ideological war is not simply on fighting the opponents of the extremes, or about convincing those on our side, but more so about influencing all the ones caught in no man’s land, all the ones not committed or even particularly aware of what or how much is at stake, or how they are being manipulated and deceived by the reactionary. It is primarily over them that this war is fought. And while the minorities will benefit greatly from this, this is really not a war of minorities, but one of the majority, just as it was for our ancestors who sacrificed so much to leave us this great legacy.
So, it is necessary to broaden the scope, to show how a move towards reactionary conservatism and fascism fundamentally changes the lives of everyone, deeply, at its core, literally removing democracy, removing the right for everyone to vote and the opportunity to have a little influence on their own lives, and a chance to a dignified life, replacing it with a rule by the very elite, replacing it with a separation of people who already live together and have done so for generations. It would inevitably mean losing many hardearned rights as a citizen, as an employee, as a student, as a parent and as a life partner, and would put society even more in the hands of the elite, in the hands of those who have simply been born into a family with the right connections, and with a chance for higher education, having been streamlined into positions of power and influence over generations, just as has been the case for millennias before, and is blatantly evident even now.
On hypermasculinity
…“It is curious how we have come to a time of idealized hypermasculinity. Now more than ever, media shows us men very muscular, toned and fit, and capable of withstanding and delivering more and more brutal violence than ever before. Looking back to the idealized decades and centuries before, people were in reality, in some ways likely more resistant, while in other ways likely less so, but the concept of manhood was quite different to how it is perceived today, and quite a bit less focused on muscles and raw violence. Just going back to the 60s and 70s shows how even the hero at times is knocked out by a single punch and by comparison is commonly quite skinny or chubby compared to today’s ‘heros’.
And the violence was commonly extremely tame in comparison to the extended scenes of blood and assault of even standard dramas of the current time, now constantly pushing the edges. Of course one aspect of hypermasculinity peaked already in the 90s with the new bodybuilding and martial arts subcultures, but other aspects continue, not least with a hypermasculinity tied to never displaying emotion, and not shying away from the most brutal of violence or even cruelty. We seem to, with a few rare exceptions, be moving away from the clever and witty hero, who acts with compassion and solves issues using his intelligence, as opposed to the simple, brutal and violent nature of the evil and criminal protagonists. It’s a move away from inner greatness, to outer one. From the strength of the righteous, to the righteousness of the strong.
Everything matters
…“Every single word spoken or not spoken, every single action taken or not taken, counts and matters, as in some way your choices have changed the life of someone else. The final question is whether it was for the better or not.”
The hardest lies
…“The hardest lies to see through are the ones you tell yourself”
A bit of a pretentious knobhead with thoughts too big for his head and a need to get them out to leave room for other things.