It’s been a while, so let me write down my thoughts. This will be a bit different because it’s an attempt at something a little more stream-of-consciousness, the sort of thing I think about driving my car. I wrote this all in one paragraph and then went back and put ‘breaks’ in it after the fact.
I enjoyed the part about psychyatry. The "normal" for these doctors is being a passive slave. I was held against my will in a clinic from drug addicts without being one, because my stepdad pushed me so much to the point i punched his face. I was deemed "dangerous" in a document signed by my mother and my father and i was kidnaped and sent to a rehab clinic. When boyish violence is pathologized as something worthy of imprisionament you know you have a sick society. To all the people that keep telling me they could not legally do that, i don't know, it seemed pretty fucking legal to me. There in that clinic i saw some much horrible shit (being done by the doctors) that it took me three years to get over the fact that i was there for a month.
Moral of the story is: Stay away from psychyatrists. They can and will fuck you up with their "science". They can incarcerate you for not being an NPC.
And what would be the healthy way to resolve me punching that man? In a normal society? I hear you ask. Bro, he punches me back. Simple. Psychiatrists are the real lunatics. Too much power.
Ironically, the only way to be at peace as an individual is within a family or gang of mates who love and accept you for the oddball that you are.
And those little things.....the mundane things. The little joys in life. Talks after work. School runs, cuddles watching tv, all the domestic stuff.....that is what contentment is. That's all there is in the end.
This stream of consciousness piece is a red flag for me; has such a Camus-esque vibe to it.
As someone who came from a broken, highly dysfunctional family, I'm perfectly at peace with living a properly domesticated home life now. My Gen-X nihilistic navel-gazing neuroticism has long been defeated, rightfully so. Idk, but this angst laden piece hints that you take your own family life for granted. Sigh.
The ship Frodo took went to the Undying Lands, not Rivendell. It was a land only reachable by taking "the straight path" over the sea, remaining from before the world was made Spherical.
(was I baited?)
Another song on this same topic is "Brandy" by "Looking Glass."
Love this kind of stream of consciousness writing. I agree with some of what you wrote: it is now decidedly mainstream and "correct" to be the blue haired feminist. They will never run afoul of tptb for their ideas and they can safely engage in their 2 minutes of hate for whichever unperson the state designates.
I do have a couple points of contention. First, the individualistic streak is indeed very healthy and even critical for a society's greatness. However, this individualism is only helpful when it is safely ensconced within a culture of overall conformity. And by conformity, I mean that of an organic and intrinsic nature: how is it normal and natural for Germans to live? The French? Koreans? Etc. If the insufferable leftists would leave a society one for a few generations, into what form would it stabilize? This is the calm, homogenous environment wherein the individual is most valuable.
Second, as a disillusioned Gen Xer brought up by two narcissistic and individualistic Boomers, who were convinced that they were too cool and interesting for a boring and normal life, I will tell you that a normal life is a sweet, blissful thing. Now that I'm an adult with children and a home and a career, I find it extremely satisfying to partake in the mundane acts of life. Walking the dog with my kids. Mowing the lawn. Sitting on the couch and reading with my girlfriend. Talking with neighbors. Basically living a sane, stable life with kids (I honestly think that is the key factor) fills me with an abiding contentment that all my rambling and rebelliousness in my 20s never could.
Although I've always been an individualist of the uncompromising sort, I have no issues with conformity per se. I recognize that conformity of the many (but not the all) is the glue the holds society together. Civilization is impossible without it. The trouble with conformity nowadays is that it's been hijacked by rootless individuals who have lost sight of their deeper long-term needs as dignified members of their species. Any conformity worth its salt must be rooted in time-tested tradition, not the latest whims of the freak-flag crowd. Nor can it be over-authoritarian. It must leave room for the individualist-few, for the pioneers of great achievement in literature and the arts, in exploration and discovery, and in leadership and mentoring.
I enjoyed reading this! Very interesting about families separated across the globe - a sister sets off searching for novelty in youth, then material comfort in middle age. Sad really - captured well in those two Kinks songs. I too earn for the village life but only at arms length/ on the outskirts.
Our sphere inevitably attracts those who cannot be domesticated.
The reason we're not globohomo NPCs is also the reason why we cannot be satisfied with a normal life. It's the curse of the outside perspective (importantly distinct from outsider perspective).
Excellent article. I too have recently pursued a kind of "streams of consciousness" series of articles as well, AA. These articles are harder than they sound, are they not?!
Your article made me recall that phrase from The Populist Delusion "human history is the history of its elites" and elites be it Shakespeare, Newton, Berners-Lee, Badder, T.E. Lawrence are individuals on some level. That Faustian drive to go beyond accepted norms and boundaries make them exceptional men. However, a distinction has to be drawn between the rampant selfish individualism we see on display in modernity, an altogether different kind of individualism that all reactionaries and centrists almost unconditionally oppose.
"The pre-planned routes" have a master who build their railroads, as you have pointed. What is the purpose you notice those that conform to these roads? Since the tone in adressing them is not negative enough, why bother with justifying those who are different? Hopefully not for cv-ing ourselves to this low level. Or is it we crave the place where all these comformist have risen? The fame they get. By? Being seen. This place has a landlord and the requirement of being seen there is conformity. I was looking for more than a description of sides, which focus on the same land. To be. But where?
Not mysterious, (culturally western) humans want a sense of agency, but humans NEED community and identity. So, individualism/atomisation will always be in conflict with community/society.
Reeks a bit of Brave New World.... Mass Production of NPCs.
Personally I would love to be Sam so much. But I find it impossible to try and steer my life in that direction exactly because I couldn't stand to see my children be swallowed by The Machine.
Yea I agree things are fake and gay, normies have called me a philosopher for just pointing that out, eh at least they accepted my tism instead of scorning the heretic.
Just finished doing online mandatory training at work which is literally designed to make me into a robot. The topics expand further and further beyond obvious industry topics into social ones.
"our society is awash with a drive towards ‘mindfulness’ and ‘self-actualisation’, but the moment it touches an institution – a university course, Google, a corporate team day, a Tedtalk, a BBC documentary, a YouTube video with 12 million views and so on – everything authentic and real in it dies."
This rung too true. I'm not sure if any society has ever had a genuine relationship with its ideology, but it feels especially hollow for an ostensibly liberal order, one that's hegemonic enough to not even be threatened by rivals, to be this way.
On the DSM. The problem with subversive psychologists is that they fail to mention that the criteria for these diagnosis have to be to the extent that is it actually disabling. When Autism was coined by Kanner in the 1930s it usually meant a lifetime of serious disability, to the extent that if you left an autistic adult unsupervised it was possible they would wonder off and be found dead under a bridge.
The DSM criteria are often not describing empirical reality but simply what the elite want the public to BELIEVE the empirical reality is. If you read this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66731265 it claims that autism is not associated with lowered life expectancy but then later claims the child had no fear and fell off a cliff. This is exactly the sort of double-think that plagues the field.
I enjoyed the part about psychyatry. The "normal" for these doctors is being a passive slave. I was held against my will in a clinic from drug addicts without being one, because my stepdad pushed me so much to the point i punched his face. I was deemed "dangerous" in a document signed by my mother and my father and i was kidnaped and sent to a rehab clinic. When boyish violence is pathologized as something worthy of imprisionament you know you have a sick society. To all the people that keep telling me they could not legally do that, i don't know, it seemed pretty fucking legal to me. There in that clinic i saw some much horrible shit (being done by the doctors) that it took me three years to get over the fact that i was there for a month.
Moral of the story is: Stay away from psychyatrists. They can and will fuck you up with their "science". They can incarcerate you for not being an NPC.
And what would be the healthy way to resolve me punching that man? In a normal society? I hear you ask. Bro, he punches me back. Simple. Psychiatrists are the real lunatics. Too much power.
Ironically, the only way to be at peace as an individual is within a family or gang of mates who love and accept you for the oddball that you are.
And those little things.....the mundane things. The little joys in life. Talks after work. School runs, cuddles watching tv, all the domestic stuff.....that is what contentment is. That's all there is in the end.
This stream of consciousness piece is a red flag for me; has such a Camus-esque vibe to it.
As someone who came from a broken, highly dysfunctional family, I'm perfectly at peace with living a properly domesticated home life now. My Gen-X nihilistic navel-gazing neuroticism has long been defeated, rightfully so. Idk, but this angst laden piece hints that you take your own family life for granted. Sigh.
The ship Frodo took went to the Undying Lands, not Rivendell. It was a land only reachable by taking "the straight path" over the sea, remaining from before the world was made Spherical.
(was I baited?)
Another song on this same topic is "Brandy" by "Looking Glass."
Love this kind of stream of consciousness writing. I agree with some of what you wrote: it is now decidedly mainstream and "correct" to be the blue haired feminist. They will never run afoul of tptb for their ideas and they can safely engage in their 2 minutes of hate for whichever unperson the state designates.
I do have a couple points of contention. First, the individualistic streak is indeed very healthy and even critical for a society's greatness. However, this individualism is only helpful when it is safely ensconced within a culture of overall conformity. And by conformity, I mean that of an organic and intrinsic nature: how is it normal and natural for Germans to live? The French? Koreans? Etc. If the insufferable leftists would leave a society one for a few generations, into what form would it stabilize? This is the calm, homogenous environment wherein the individual is most valuable.
Second, as a disillusioned Gen Xer brought up by two narcissistic and individualistic Boomers, who were convinced that they were too cool and interesting for a boring and normal life, I will tell you that a normal life is a sweet, blissful thing. Now that I'm an adult with children and a home and a career, I find it extremely satisfying to partake in the mundane acts of life. Walking the dog with my kids. Mowing the lawn. Sitting on the couch and reading with my girlfriend. Talking with neighbors. Basically living a sane, stable life with kids (I honestly think that is the key factor) fills me with an abiding contentment that all my rambling and rebelliousness in my 20s never could.
Although I've always been an individualist of the uncompromising sort, I have no issues with conformity per se. I recognize that conformity of the many (but not the all) is the glue the holds society together. Civilization is impossible without it. The trouble with conformity nowadays is that it's been hijacked by rootless individuals who have lost sight of their deeper long-term needs as dignified members of their species. Any conformity worth its salt must be rooted in time-tested tradition, not the latest whims of the freak-flag crowd. Nor can it be over-authoritarian. It must leave room for the individualist-few, for the pioneers of great achievement in literature and the arts, in exploration and discovery, and in leadership and mentoring.
I enjoyed reading this! Very interesting about families separated across the globe - a sister sets off searching for novelty in youth, then material comfort in middle age. Sad really - captured well in those two Kinks songs. I too earn for the village life but only at arms length/ on the outskirts.
Our sphere inevitably attracts those who cannot be domesticated.
The reason we're not globohomo NPCs is also the reason why we cannot be satisfied with a normal life. It's the curse of the outside perspective (importantly distinct from outsider perspective).
Good post.
Excellent article. I too have recently pursued a kind of "streams of consciousness" series of articles as well, AA. These articles are harder than they sound, are they not?!
Your article made me recall that phrase from The Populist Delusion "human history is the history of its elites" and elites be it Shakespeare, Newton, Berners-Lee, Badder, T.E. Lawrence are individuals on some level. That Faustian drive to go beyond accepted norms and boundaries make them exceptional men. However, a distinction has to be drawn between the rampant selfish individualism we see on display in modernity, an altogether different kind of individualism that all reactionaries and centrists almost unconditionally oppose.
"The pre-planned routes" have a master who build their railroads, as you have pointed. What is the purpose you notice those that conform to these roads? Since the tone in adressing them is not negative enough, why bother with justifying those who are different? Hopefully not for cv-ing ourselves to this low level. Or is it we crave the place where all these comformist have risen? The fame they get. By? Being seen. This place has a landlord and the requirement of being seen there is conformity. I was looking for more than a description of sides, which focus on the same land. To be. But where?
Not mysterious, (culturally western) humans want a sense of agency, but humans NEED community and identity. So, individualism/atomisation will always be in conflict with community/society.
Reeks a bit of Brave New World.... Mass Production of NPCs.
Personally I would love to be Sam so much. But I find it impossible to try and steer my life in that direction exactly because I couldn't stand to see my children be swallowed by The Machine.
Yea I agree things are fake and gay, normies have called me a philosopher for just pointing that out, eh at least they accepted my tism instead of scorning the heretic.
Just finished doing online mandatory training at work which is literally designed to make me into a robot. The topics expand further and further beyond obvious industry topics into social ones.
"our society is awash with a drive towards ‘mindfulness’ and ‘self-actualisation’, but the moment it touches an institution – a university course, Google, a corporate team day, a Tedtalk, a BBC documentary, a YouTube video with 12 million views and so on – everything authentic and real in it dies."
This rung too true. I'm not sure if any society has ever had a genuine relationship with its ideology, but it feels especially hollow for an ostensibly liberal order, one that's hegemonic enough to not even be threatened by rivals, to be this way.
On the DSM. The problem with subversive psychologists is that they fail to mention that the criteria for these diagnosis have to be to the extent that is it actually disabling. When Autism was coined by Kanner in the 1930s it usually meant a lifetime of serious disability, to the extent that if you left an autistic adult unsupervised it was possible they would wonder off and be found dead under a bridge.
The DSM criteria are often not describing empirical reality but simply what the elite want the public to BELIEVE the empirical reality is. If you read this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66731265 it claims that autism is not associated with lowered life expectancy but then later claims the child had no fear and fell off a cliff. This is exactly the sort of double-think that plagues the field.