A closing thought, thirty seconds after hitting the "post" button: Have serious doubts about any essay that tries to pitch the premise of "stable and competent autocracy."
What's new isn't the social division, or the contempt of the elites for the poors. The novelty is more in the massive levels of delusion. People have believed absurdities in the past, but have we ever had a situation where the entire social order was defined by mandatory belief in a constantly evolving set of obviously and observably insane deceptions, which is neither internally consistent nor consistent across time - indeed in contradiction with the mandatory beliefs of the previous week?
I think my favorite is the recent announcement that the government and the media have been colluding to lie, but that this is wise and noble because it hurts Russia somehow.
See, plebs? The constant deception is for your own good!
My recent favorite is the pivot from "Citizens United is bullshit, because corporations aren't people and shouldn't be allowed to participate in politics," to "Hell yeah, DeathSantis, Disney is kickin' your ass!" It's like the Huffington Post is the one dark force in human history that's actually nailed the problem of mass hypnosis.
I also fall prey to the idea that the country, being more racially, ethnically, and religiously homogenous in the past, must have been more stable for that reason. But the WASPs couldn't even agree on what made one a full human, much less a citizen, and fought a civil war to that end. It's clear that division in this society - as in virtually all our societies - is baked in.
What strikes me as novel is the sheer distance between the elites and the proles, which has always existed, being combined with the utter, roiling, seething *hatred* by the former for the latter, which (per your post on the Schism) feels new. I'm not saying there hasn't always been a sniffy contempt for the great unwashed; of course there has. But I don't think, for example, the Boston Brahmin's sense of superiority manifested itself in a cruel, punitive view of the affairs of the lower orders. I'm far from an expert; I could well be wrong. But it feels that now the cruelty is the point, and while old-school noblesse oblige resulted in robber barons and cholera-ridden tenements, it felt like it came from greed and not hate. The top-down hate is new, to me.
Complicated! Complicated! This will take some time to answer, but briefly, I think the form of elite contempt is new -- and really irritating. "The Boston Brahmin's sense of superiority" manifested itself in some incredibly dark ways, including the burning of the convent in Charlestown...
...and the brutal punishment of Irish enlistees in the war with Mexico, which led a bunch of American soldiers to desert and switch over to fighting for Mexico:
Look at Boxing Day. And here, the help typically got help from their employers. This was a mutually beneficial relationship. The laptoppers don't see that anymore. Narcissism and mental illness abound unchecked as well. Poison.
our government would love it if they could just padlock us plebes in a high rise apartment building & toss the key... they hate suburbia, too unwieldy.
Yours is an excellent response to Mr. Haidt's exaggeration. But let's give the devil his due.
I have spent much of these past 10 years reading old American newspapers dating back as far as the 1790's. It is true that this country has had few periods without serious internal strife. The only time in our history when the "news" reflected a pervasive mood like we see today, however, was just before the Civil War.
Just before the Civil War, the United States was an open powder keg waiting for a spark. Then, as now, hope for the next election was the only thing that kept hotter heads from throwing a lighted match into that powder keg. We all know what happened when the election did not work out as hoped in 1860. Our mood today is such that I think we can expect something similar in 2024 if not 2022. In short, we were, by comparison, a united country - even during the violent episodes you mention.
The one thing I would say is that the "just before the Civil War" part has deeper roots than *just* before. David Walker was arguing for violence by 1829, Elijah Lovejoy was murdered in 1837, the Christiana Riot was 1851, the Fugitive Slave Act riot in Boston happened in 1854, and the Pottawatomie Massacre happened in 1856. The powder filled that open keg over several decades.
And the New England states were at least willing to consider secession at the Hartford Convention, though they backed away from it.
Apr 13, 2022·edited Apr 13, 2022Liked by Chris Bray
Federal powers and confiscatory taxation were designed to favor industrialized states and abuse rural southern states for years leading to the CW. Slavery was already on the way out, but the war was about more than that. I expect something similar to happen when they either revive zero-Coof measures, continue to squeeze us with the energy policy that doesn't square with the realities of living outside of cities, or when they force us onto their great new currency that they control for us.
Haidt repeated the "Good people on both sides" lie in his book Coddling of the American Mind and to my knowledge never retracted or corrected it. That ruined his credibility for me. So, until then, I think he's a useful idiot for the progressive left.
Great thoughts, thanks so much. I also have a great respect for JH and because of that took his essay at face value without a critical thinking hat. Your article really gave me a great perspective. Hope JH chimes in here, would be so interesting….
Haidt isn't writing about divisions in this country over the past 250 years. He's talking about the past decade. Right now we have an unstable, incompetent, and immoral Fascist Eugenicist Oligarchy running things. They've caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people and put the citizens of this nation at eachother's throats. There's only a few ways a "stable and competent autocracy" could be much worse...
Less of a long march through the institutions and more of a long sit-in, but yes. For all the carping about useless degrees, this country really hasn't reckoned with its academy in any serious way.
he's correct from the place that American academia and those who are spun out from it, generally espouse China's collectivism in a positive light. this i've gleaned from personal conversations which always depict Americans (and possibly western ideology?) as some caricature of individualism as the bootstrappin' lone cowboy. frustrating and narrow minded, imo
Unity and peace, knowledge and ignorance, hatred, division and violence all seem to cycle. When I've started to despair that I'm living in the most corrupt and nonsensical time EVER, I start to remember that this isn't the first time in history idiocy has ruled. There was a time when children were routinely sacrificed for a robust harvest in the coming months. When a war to forcibly convert infidels to believe in a loving God was waged. When a supreme court ruled that a person with dark skin was not fully human.
The history of man is the story of this battle between what is just and good and that which is broken and wrong. Yes, we are living in a time of madness, (pronouns and blockers, masks and Pharma, Putin and Xi, Tiktok and Twitter), but this isn't the first time humanity has devolved into this place. Here's to the next Renaissance! (And yes, soon would be nice.)
A closing thought, thirty seconds after hitting the "post" button: Have serious doubts about any essay that tries to pitch the premise of "stable and competent autocracy."
"Citizenry delighted with dog-beating, reports Undersecretary to the Deputy of Opinions of the Citizenry."
"All cadre delighted by agonized screams of dying kitten."
Justin Trudeau said he admires that about China.
What's new isn't the social division, or the contempt of the elites for the poors. The novelty is more in the massive levels of delusion. People have believed absurdities in the past, but have we ever had a situation where the entire social order was defined by mandatory belief in a constantly evolving set of obviously and observably insane deceptions, which is neither internally consistent nor consistent across time - indeed in contradiction with the mandatory beliefs of the previous week?
James Comey is a piece of shit who should be fir-- wait, Trump fired James Comey? HOW DARE HE JAMES COMEY IS A HERO.
It's the single thing that I find most fascinating about the current weirdness. I keep shouting BUT YOU JUST SAID at the computer screen.
I think my favorite is the recent announcement that the government and the media have been colluding to lie, but that this is wise and noble because it hurts Russia somehow.
See, plebs? The constant deception is for your own good!
My recent favorite is the pivot from "Citizens United is bullshit, because corporations aren't people and shouldn't be allowed to participate in politics," to "Hell yeah, DeathSantis, Disney is kickin' your ass!" It's like the Huffington Post is the one dark force in human history that's actually nailed the problem of mass hypnosis.
Agree 100%. Also, technology has enabled the spread of insanity more rapidly, whereas in the past it might have been confined locally.
I also fall prey to the idea that the country, being more racially, ethnically, and religiously homogenous in the past, must have been more stable for that reason. But the WASPs couldn't even agree on what made one a full human, much less a citizen, and fought a civil war to that end. It's clear that division in this society - as in virtually all our societies - is baked in.
What strikes me as novel is the sheer distance between the elites and the proles, which has always existed, being combined with the utter, roiling, seething *hatred* by the former for the latter, which (per your post on the Schism) feels new. I'm not saying there hasn't always been a sniffy contempt for the great unwashed; of course there has. But I don't think, for example, the Boston Brahmin's sense of superiority manifested itself in a cruel, punitive view of the affairs of the lower orders. I'm far from an expert; I could well be wrong. But it feels that now the cruelty is the point, and while old-school noblesse oblige resulted in robber barons and cholera-ridden tenements, it felt like it came from greed and not hate. The top-down hate is new, to me.
Complicated! Complicated! This will take some time to answer, but briefly, I think the form of elite contempt is new -- and really irritating. "The Boston Brahmin's sense of superiority" manifested itself in some incredibly dark ways, including the burning of the convent in Charlestown...
http://www.celebrateboston.com/crime/ursuline-convent-destruction.htm
...and the brutal punishment of Irish enlistees in the war with Mexico, which led a bunch of American soldiers to desert and switch over to fighting for Mexico:
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/st-patricks-battalion-incredible-story-irish-american-soldiers-defected-mexico/
To be continued!
These are new to me! Sobering stuff indeed.
Look at Boxing Day. And here, the help typically got help from their employers. This was a mutually beneficial relationship. The laptoppers don't see that anymore. Narcissism and mental illness abound unchecked as well. Poison.
our government would love it if they could just padlock us plebes in a high rise apartment building & toss the key... they hate suburbia, too unwieldy.
Thank goodness diversity and multiculturalism have saved us from the savages we were.
Yours is an excellent response to Mr. Haidt's exaggeration. But let's give the devil his due.
I have spent much of these past 10 years reading old American newspapers dating back as far as the 1790's. It is true that this country has had few periods without serious internal strife. The only time in our history when the "news" reflected a pervasive mood like we see today, however, was just before the Civil War.
Just before the Civil War, the United States was an open powder keg waiting for a spark. Then, as now, hope for the next election was the only thing that kept hotter heads from throwing a lighted match into that powder keg. We all know what happened when the election did not work out as hoped in 1860. Our mood today is such that I think we can expect something similar in 2024 if not 2022. In short, we were, by comparison, a united country - even during the violent episodes you mention.
The one thing I would say is that the "just before the Civil War" part has deeper roots than *just* before. David Walker was arguing for violence by 1829, Elijah Lovejoy was murdered in 1837, the Christiana Riot was 1851, the Fugitive Slave Act riot in Boston happened in 1854, and the Pottawatomie Massacre happened in 1856. The powder filled that open keg over several decades.
And the New England states were at least willing to consider secession at the Hartford Convention, though they backed away from it.
Federal powers and confiscatory taxation were designed to favor industrialized states and abuse rural southern states for years leading to the CW. Slavery was already on the way out, but the war was about more than that. I expect something similar to happen when they either revive zero-Coof measures, continue to squeeze us with the energy policy that doesn't square with the realities of living outside of cities, or when they force us onto their great new currency that they control for us.
Haidt repeated the "Good people on both sides" lie in his book Coddling of the American Mind and to my knowledge never retracted or corrected it. That ruined his credibility for me. So, until then, I think he's a useful idiot for the progressive left.
Awesome read.
Great thoughts, thanks so much. I also have a great respect for JH and because of that took his essay at face value without a critical thinking hat. Your article really gave me a great perspective. Hope JH chimes in here, would be so interesting….
As a friend used to say, "People are basically assholes." I believe that goes across all timelines.
First and most importantly human beings are flawed. Self centered and pleasure seeking. Pridefull. That pretty much explains all.
Haidt isn't writing about divisions in this country over the past 250 years. He's talking about the past decade. Right now we have an unstable, incompetent, and immoral Fascist Eugenicist Oligarchy running things. They've caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people and put the citizens of this nation at eachother's throats. There's only a few ways a "stable and competent autocracy" could be much worse...
You might want to give Days of Rage by Bryan Burrough a look-see. The early 70s were a hotbed of near-revolution.
Then the revolutionaries went into the colleges and raised up 2 generations of establishment revolutionaries....
Less of a long march through the institutions and more of a long sit-in, but yes. For all the carping about useless degrees, this country really hasn't reckoned with its academy in any serious way.
And the "Fundamental Transformation" of America continues apace. Gotta break some eggs to make that omelette, comrade...
he's correct from the place that American academia and those who are spun out from it, generally espouse China's collectivism in a positive light. this i've gleaned from personal conversations which always depict Americans (and possibly western ideology?) as some caricature of individualism as the bootstrappin' lone cowboy. frustrating and narrow minded, imo
God and country/patriotism used to unite us well enough.
Both are now considered evil.
Basic facts like men and women, marriage and family used to bind us together.
Everything is under assault now.
The only culture promoted is: no culture, chaos.
So that is what we have.
No common narrative.
No culture other than no culture.
Chaos
Unity and peace, knowledge and ignorance, hatred, division and violence all seem to cycle. When I've started to despair that I'm living in the most corrupt and nonsensical time EVER, I start to remember that this isn't the first time in history idiocy has ruled. There was a time when children were routinely sacrificed for a robust harvest in the coming months. When a war to forcibly convert infidels to believe in a loving God was waged. When a supreme court ruled that a person with dark skin was not fully human.
The history of man is the story of this battle between what is just and good and that which is broken and wrong. Yes, we are living in a time of madness, (pronouns and blockers, masks and Pharma, Putin and Xi, Tiktok and Twitter), but this isn't the first time humanity has devolved into this place. Here's to the next Renaissance! (And yes, soon would be nice.)
Thank you for such an excellent read.
The Vietnam War era.