I’ve long read that a great appeal of Communism is not that as a faith that it is easy, but on the contrary that it is hard. We all instinctively want boundaries and rules. Freedom is good, but too much freedom is scary. Many of the freedom preaching Existentialists were Communists. Heidegger was a Nazi.
I’ve long read that a great appeal of Communism is not that as a faith that it is easy, but on the contrary that it is hard. We all instinctively want boundaries and rules. Freedom is good, but too much freedom is scary. Many of the freedom preaching Existentialists were Communists. Heidegger was a Nazi.
And our nation was not founded to protect the freedom to be a loud self indulgent moron. It was to protect the right to be a disciplined believer in some variant of Chritianity not allowed in Europe. Many of the colonies, in any event.
To be an adult is to take serious things seriously. Adulthood is in decline in our nation, so it is small wonder people are clinging in increasing numbers to cultish attachments; or, in this case, to what is seemingly stylistic posturing.
But Leftism is a cult. Rational thought and dissent are not allowed and all outsiders are hated and reviled.
'Rational thought and dissent are not allowed and all outsiders are hated and reviled.'
An excellent description of not only the Far Left, Barry - but of extreme Islam itself. With an angry violence component included. First manifested in Western eyes with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie in the late '80's (and attacked not long ago..), then repeatedly ever since with knifings in schools in Europe and the streets of London, terrorist attacks throughout the Continent (and of course, here) the killing of journalists who dare depict Mohammed in the wrong way, the crackdown on wearing the wrong clothes in Iran, the demolition of women's rights in Afghanistan - quite the rogue gallery's list of achievements. (Longer lists can be found elsewhere.) I haven't seen the progressive Left do that lately.
Our man Tate says it ' "feels like the last religion on Earth,” the only faith that stands a chance of mounting an effective resistance to moral decay and decline.' Yikes.
It looks like Tate wants not only masculine boundaries and discipline but perhaps to also be on the warpath - not a 'cultish' adult we would like to have around.
There are many moderate Muslims. In general, the world over, people are born into this faith and the overwhelming majority practice it peacefully. Best guesses are 10% are radical, 20% are somewhat supportive, and two thirds are decent people who abhor stupid and unnecessary violence.
Of course 10%, when there are perhaps a billion Muslims, is a huge number.
But Leftists are self selecting. You have to adopt their worldview and if you fail to pivot when they say pivot—as they do often—you get cast out as a heretic.
This is the thing; Muslims at least have holy scripture. The Left only has their Daily Cause, one utterly separated from principle and often commkn decency, whose only purpose is political power. There is no rest or peace in such an environment. Some Muslims are angry but most are not. They have a choice. Leftists do not. Nothing they claimed to believe last week can be safe from mandatory reversal the next.
I agree there are moderate Muslims, the vast majority are, which is why I stated extreme Islam. And extreme Islam will kill. It has before, it kills as we speak and will again in the future - and it appears it is that 'resistance' quality to it that attracts a nobody named Tate.
I hate today's iteration of Left progressivism, and how its stain has infected everything from newsrooms, corporate boardrooms and universities. It is insufferable. But to my knowledge at least, it has not killed anyone yet.
And the holy scripture you cite as a positive for Muslims does not seem to have energized their somewhat muted response worldwide against atrocities committed on their religion's behalf.
The Left in this country has caused the deaths of millions of people, from the New York Times refusal to report on the Holodomor, to a Cambodian genocide only made possible by what was at the time called the Imperial Congress run by Democrats, to the guy who ran over a bicyclist last week, then got out and stabbed him, in an act of random racist violence.
Todays Left stands in a firm and obvious line of idrological succession with the Soviets, Maoists, and even the Ethiopian Communists who created a famine everyone in the West cared about, but whose causes no one wanted to talk about.
I am happy to call anyone capable of rational and honest dialogue a Liberal, but among todays Democrats the few Liberals—like Gabbi Tulsard and Kristen Synema— who remain are unwelcome.
Well if you want to include today's somewhat illiterate generation of the radical left with their weird ideas with Stalinism and Mao that is your choice. But is that present rabble I'm referring to - not regimes in the past that had about as much to with the Communism of Karl Marx as the latest iteration of the GOP has to with Lincoln.
That this generation is violent is obvious. They just stormed the Oklahoma State House. They tried to storm the Arizona State House a year or so ago. They called Trumps murder everywhere for more than four years. In perhaps half a dozen cases white people have been killed in patently racist attacks, lije the Grannies in Wisconsin.
One can certainly point to crimes connectable to both sides, but to call the Left blameless or peaceful is a patent absurdity.
A rabbi. I listened to calls it unchosen obligations. The thought that there are some things in life that we just need to do whether we like it or not. I really love that concept.
Your post helped me recall something my late father said often to me while I was growing up. He liked to say 'No one should expect a blue ribbon for doing what one is supposed to do.' I love your rabbi's concept as well because it is an absolute truth.
I will add that it is odd to me that there can be HUGE internet trends I’ve never heard of. Until he giot arrested I had not heard of Andrew Tate. His following itself seems a bit cultish
We are atomized and lonely. Very little good comes of that without vigorous effort of a sort few seem willing to individually undertake. We are habituated to consuming, not creating, so the only question becomes which option on the shelf we will pick; and it is entirely possible nearly all are toxic.
I think honest Islam, Christianity and even humanistic Agnosticism are all largely healthy.
But everyone needs to be careful what they let in their minds, because much of the internet is a radioactive swamp.
I had heard of Tate and wondered what the fuss was all about. I watched one of his interviews. Tedious. Another fakir masquerading as a guru to the masses.
Seems like another guy running sex crimes businesses, and hiding it behind a facade of religion. A scam as old as “masculine” religions, it would seem.
I disagree. Communism is an anti-humanism. It is cruelty and hubris elevated to sacred values.
I myself believe in God, but if we view each religion as an effort at describing reality I think all are only partly right. Ethically, though, you don’t need much more than the Golden Rule, and even humanists can embrace that.
A lot of disagreement happens when we have completely different pictures in our heads. When I say Humanism I have Erasmus and people like him in mind, who opposed tyrannical theocracies.
And in the very rare cases I use the word Liberal I have people like Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, and John Stuart Mill in mind.
To my mind Communism is rooted in emotional imbecility and this is certainly common among intellectuals, many of whom are atheists. But stupidity is never inevitable. It is just common.
I’ve long read that a great appeal of Communism is not that as a faith that it is easy, but on the contrary that it is hard. We all instinctively want boundaries and rules. Freedom is good, but too much freedom is scary. Many of the freedom preaching Existentialists were Communists. Heidegger was a Nazi.
And our nation was not founded to protect the freedom to be a loud self indulgent moron. It was to protect the right to be a disciplined believer in some variant of Chritianity not allowed in Europe. Many of the colonies, in any event.
To be an adult is to take serious things seriously. Adulthood is in decline in our nation, so it is small wonder people are clinging in increasing numbers to cultish attachments; or, in this case, to what is seemingly stylistic posturing.
But Leftism is a cult. Rational thought and dissent are not allowed and all outsiders are hated and reviled.
'Rational thought and dissent are not allowed and all outsiders are hated and reviled.'
An excellent description of not only the Far Left, Barry - but of extreme Islam itself. With an angry violence component included. First manifested in Western eyes with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie in the late '80's (and attacked not long ago..), then repeatedly ever since with knifings in schools in Europe and the streets of London, terrorist attacks throughout the Continent (and of course, here) the killing of journalists who dare depict Mohammed in the wrong way, the crackdown on wearing the wrong clothes in Iran, the demolition of women's rights in Afghanistan - quite the rogue gallery's list of achievements. (Longer lists can be found elsewhere.) I haven't seen the progressive Left do that lately.
Our man Tate says it ' "feels like the last religion on Earth,” the only faith that stands a chance of mounting an effective resistance to moral decay and decline.' Yikes.
It looks like Tate wants not only masculine boundaries and discipline but perhaps to also be on the warpath - not a 'cultish' adult we would like to have around.
There are many moderate Muslims. In general, the world over, people are born into this faith and the overwhelming majority practice it peacefully. Best guesses are 10% are radical, 20% are somewhat supportive, and two thirds are decent people who abhor stupid and unnecessary violence.
Of course 10%, when there are perhaps a billion Muslims, is a huge number.
But Leftists are self selecting. You have to adopt their worldview and if you fail to pivot when they say pivot—as they do often—you get cast out as a heretic.
This is the thing; Muslims at least have holy scripture. The Left only has their Daily Cause, one utterly separated from principle and often commkn decency, whose only purpose is political power. There is no rest or peace in such an environment. Some Muslims are angry but most are not. They have a choice. Leftists do not. Nothing they claimed to believe last week can be safe from mandatory reversal the next.
I agree there are moderate Muslims, the vast majority are, which is why I stated extreme Islam. And extreme Islam will kill. It has before, it kills as we speak and will again in the future - and it appears it is that 'resistance' quality to it that attracts a nobody named Tate.
I hate today's iteration of Left progressivism, and how its stain has infected everything from newsrooms, corporate boardrooms and universities. It is insufferable. But to my knowledge at least, it has not killed anyone yet.
And the holy scripture you cite as a positive for Muslims does not seem to have energized their somewhat muted response worldwide against atrocities committed on their religion's behalf.
The Left in this country has caused the deaths of millions of people, from the New York Times refusal to report on the Holodomor, to a Cambodian genocide only made possible by what was at the time called the Imperial Congress run by Democrats, to the guy who ran over a bicyclist last week, then got out and stabbed him, in an act of random racist violence.
Todays Left stands in a firm and obvious line of idrological succession with the Soviets, Maoists, and even the Ethiopian Communists who created a famine everyone in the West cared about, but whose causes no one wanted to talk about.
I am happy to call anyone capable of rational and honest dialogue a Liberal, but among todays Democrats the few Liberals—like Gabbi Tulsard and Kristen Synema— who remain are unwelcome.
Well if you want to include today's somewhat illiterate generation of the radical left with their weird ideas with Stalinism and Mao that is your choice. But is that present rabble I'm referring to - not regimes in the past that had about as much to with the Communism of Karl Marx as the latest iteration of the GOP has to with Lincoln.
That this generation is violent is obvious. They just stormed the Oklahoma State House. They tried to storm the Arizona State House a year or so ago. They called Trumps murder everywhere for more than four years. In perhaps half a dozen cases white people have been killed in patently racist attacks, lije the Grannies in Wisconsin.
One can certainly point to crimes connectable to both sides, but to call the Left blameless or peaceful is a patent absurdity.
I’ll leave it there.
'Stand Back and Stand By..'
Ah, what a moment that was. And the Proud Boys stood back alright, for a little while..
So yes, I guess we'll leave it there..
Excellent Barry! Well said.
Everything is about diversity until it comes to diversity of thought.
A rabbi. I listened to calls it unchosen obligations. The thought that there are some things in life that we just need to do whether we like it or not. I really love that concept.
Your post helped me recall something my late father said often to me while I was growing up. He liked to say 'No one should expect a blue ribbon for doing what one is supposed to do.' I love your rabbi's concept as well because it is an absolute truth.
I’ve seen it put as “none of us are expected to complete the work but none of us are exempt from it.”
I will add that it is odd to me that there can be HUGE internet trends I’ve never heard of. Until he giot arrested I had not heard of Andrew Tate. His following itself seems a bit cultish
We are atomized and lonely. Very little good comes of that without vigorous effort of a sort few seem willing to individually undertake. We are habituated to consuming, not creating, so the only question becomes which option on the shelf we will pick; and it is entirely possible nearly all are toxic.
I think honest Islam, Christianity and even humanistic Agnosticism are all largely healthy.
But everyone needs to be careful what they let in their minds, because much of the internet is a radioactive swamp.
I had not heard of Tate until Greta supposedly "owned" him on Twitter.
I had heard of Tate and wondered what the fuss was all about. I watched one of his interviews. Tedious. Another fakir masquerading as a guru to the masses.
Seems like another guy running sex crimes businesses, and hiding it behind a facade of religion. A scam as old as “masculine” religions, it would seem.
The Venn diagram of humanism and communism is a circle.
Secularization... Creates new ways of being religious- this needs more emphasis. Never a true statement
I disagree. Communism is an anti-humanism. It is cruelty and hubris elevated to sacred values.
I myself believe in God, but if we view each religion as an effort at describing reality I think all are only partly right. Ethically, though, you don’t need much more than the Golden Rule, and even humanists can embrace that.
The main thing they have in common is the narcissistic megalomaniacal motivation behind each ideology.
The end result of communism is always anti-human, as you said, and I would suggest that the endpoint of humanism is always communism.
But this is a discussion that could take decades so let’s just agree to somewhat disagree and move on so as not to waste precious resources.
😂😂🙏🙏
A lot of disagreement happens when we have completely different pictures in our heads. When I say Humanism I have Erasmus and people like him in mind, who opposed tyrannical theocracies.
And in the very rare cases I use the word Liberal I have people like Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, and John Stuart Mill in mind.
To my mind Communism is rooted in emotional imbecility and this is certainly common among intellectuals, many of whom are atheists. But stupidity is never inevitable. It is just common.