Amerika

Inertia is an odd thing. When an object is at rest, its tendency is to stay there. When enough pressure is applied, a certain inevitability takes over, and its tendency shifts toward the explosive.

The West has spent the past two centuries in inertia because it has never fully accepted the events of July 14, 1789. Liberalism split civilization in two: there was the social order, and then there was an entirely new way of living based on abstractions.

These abstractions justified themselves with morality, but at essence, were justifications. They were not forward-reaching reasons, but reasons-why that looked backward and dug around until they found reasoning that supported what individuals desired.

Since then, the West has been conquered in progressive stages by extreme individualism. In this, the individual creates rules that demand equality for all people — so the individual can always demand whatever is at hand. It is like a nagging mother not permitting locks on bedroom doors.

When individuals band together to enforce these rules — a state called Crowdism — they take over all politics, society, academia and even the very words we use to express ourselves. It is a pervasive, evangelical and paranoid movement that is convinced of its absolute moral correctness.

During the time it has been active, the West (Europe, USA and related societies) has declined like a cancer patient. Our technology has surged forward, but like doctors treating symptoms in an illness that is otherwise fatal, it’s a show of strength and not a cure.

In the meantime, our society has degenerated from within. We are now a bazaar-culture, having replaced national culture with commerce, advertising and government pamphlets. Our cities are ghettos covered in advertising. We commit ecocide through the selfishness of individuals. And yet we have no goal.

But of late, things have been changing. Words that once took an inconceivable amount of courage to utter are now being said. Questions that were once considered the domain of society’s rejects and assholes are now being asked. Inertia is reaching a tipping point when inaction becomes action.

[E]xperts say a frank debate about immigration may be the best way to prevent similar explosions of violence.

{…}

But experts argue overly aggressive political rhetoric and scare tactics have inflamed passions rather than address the many complex, underlying problems.

{…}

British Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy have all declared in recent months that multiculturalism has failed, in speeches that were otherwise careful to highlight the contribution of immigrants.

But critics say such statements at best do little to offer solutions to tackle the economic and societal pressures that stem from increasing immigration and globalization, and do even less to harness the benefits of a multi-ethnic society.

{…}

“What has clearly emerged from recent speeches and ensuing public national debates on multiculturalism is a sense of confusion, malaise and often contradictory messages,” said Sara Silvestri, lecturer in religion and international politics at London’s City University, in an article dated June 8. – Reuters

If you look carefully, you can see the tipping occurring. It’s like a see-saw.

First we are told how complex it is, how amazing multiculturalism is, how multi-ethnic societies have obvious benefits.

We’re also reminded that the far right are terrible Nazis, monarchists, elitists, Charlemagneists and probably fascists, but we get enough of that from our TVs that we’re actually ready for that be glossed over.

Finally, we start to get actual debate, and people ask the “Emperor has no clothes” questions: we assume there are benefits to diversity, so what are they? Are the problems we find on the way caused by irrational people, or a design flaw in diversity itself?

As you know when reading this blog, we’re fond of pointing out that diversity contains a design flaw. It is popular as a way to import voters, cheap labor and future consumers. But it requires that each person have no culture except mall culture and government pamphlets, or for us to have a society that replicates the order of the world — many Chinatowns, each one per nationality, religion, political inclination, sexual identity or lifestyle choice.

That type of society doesn’t hold together well because it has no unifying principle. Saying that our unifying principle is some abstract hoodoo-voodoo like “equality” only works so far, because that’s really a political concept and not a practical daily-life belief.

That type of society is guaranteed to have perpetual internal war, just like how the USA now has 150+ years of race riots under its belt with none in sight, and Ireland has several centuries of religious warfare continuing ad infinitum, and Pakistan and India will be at war covertly over the Muslim-Hindu fracture, etc.

Many of us do not want to live in such a society. We would rather give up some freedom — the right to do just about anything — in favor of a lesser number of permitted activities, and greater stability. This allows us to focus on what well-adjusted people: build things.

We build careers so we have interesting things to do to pay the bills. We build families and invest heavily in educating and rearing our young. We build religious centers, learning centers, community centers and interesting new technologies. This is the creative force of life at its finest.

But doing that requires an organic society. We don’t want a centralized authority enforcing rules on us, or a snitch culture where people cut us down for not following rules to the letter. We want a cooperative culture where people come together and work together based on mutually-held values, ideals, goals and notions about life.

The best examples of organic culture are the traditional ones. Hinduism for India; Judaism for Israel; England for the English; Germany for the Germans; Christianity or “Christian atheism” for Europe; Islam for the middle east.

But that offends people who are so unstable that they think having infinite options is a substitute for having a path.

For a long time, we’ve listened to such people. We are worried they might riot, or break out the guillotine (or gulag) again. They are like a capricious Crowd of houseguests we keep in the front room, always hinting we want them gone, but never brave enough to say “here, my need is greater than yours, so you need to leave.”

Until now. The cracks in the facade are widening.

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.

The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.

“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

As an example, the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt appear to exhibit a similar process, according to Szymanski. “In those countries, dictators who were in power for decades were suddenly overthrown in just a few weeks.” – PhysOrg

As our society faces its tipping point, we’re going to climb back up the ladder of assumptions that we slowly descended to get to this state.

1. Diversity.

   Also called multiculturalism, but more conventionally known as internationalism, diversity is the idea that heritage does not matter, that all people are biologically equal, and thus we can assemble a country of random people and — with the right laws, police force and economy — make it into a prosperous, Western-European style nation.

   However, we are seeing that diversity does not work on many levels. First, people are not biologically equal, not even within very specific ethnic groups. Some rise above others, which is why school is hard and not everyone is a neurosurgeon. Most people end up at where they are in life because of what their abilities are, including that nebulous ability called “judgment” which includes delayed gratification.

   Second, diversity requires people give up what they know to be necessary — culture, including values, religion and heritage. This their identity and how they know what will be valued and accepted in their social group. It is how they explain their lives, and understand their importance in the world. It is their role. With multiculturalism, they must either give it up (and adopt the generic mall culture) or retain it and be marginalized like Amerinds.

   Finally, having a consensus — a shared set of values, customs, languages and ideals — forms the most stable society. You need fewer laws, and fewer cops, when there’s a standard of behavior that isn’t written in legal language but understood as a form of common sense. Multiculturalism destroys this, as it destroys the identity that conveys it to people.

2. Wealth redistribution.

   If we tell people that they are politically equal, they remember that as equal. We are all the same, they think. Well, then how did my neighbor end up rich and I end up poor? It cannot be a difference between their actions and my own; instead, it must be witchcraft, subterfuge or theft.

   This creates a social tsunami of people who want to redistribute wealth. The problem is that this takes money away from those who can earn more of it, and transfers it to those who are unable to do that. Several problems arise as a result: first, there is no longer incentive to exert oneself, which drives smart people away or into boredom and self-destruction. Second, you produce a large captive population who are not particularly good at anything, and more in subsequent generations. Finally, you remove your mechanism for picking those who are competent above those who are not. Mediocrity results.

3. Equal freedom.

   Our favorite notion is that all people are equal in ability, so should be able to do whatever others are able to do. The problem with this is that people vary in competence, so putting them all in cars on the same road, for example, means that everyone waits longer. Putting them all in the same lines means that every person waits for the slowest person with the most convoluted issues.

   Even more, we are making the assumption that people given freedom will not abuse it, when they have never done anything to earn it. They view it as a right that they can then test through abuse. They know it cannot be taken away, so why bother applying it only to good things? Try some destruction.

   The final result here is that people become accustomed to moving in mass culture, where the presence of the slower and less capable forces everyone into a one-size-fits-all lowest common denominator. They adjust their expectations and behaviors accordingly. Society plummets downward as standards of behavior and competence fall.

4. Equality.

   The last taboo to fall will be the one idea that the French Revolution in 1789 was based upon: the equality of all people, with none given any privileges or powers because of their greater degree of ability or moral character. Equality manifests itself as democracy, consumerism and endless competition for rising socioeconomic status.

   The result is chaos. Where people formerly had a guaranteed place, they now can be usurped by any other equal person — so they become controlling, territorial, manipulative and deceptive. Since the masses will throng anywhere they can, and seem to have less to do than they need, elitism of a nasty sort arises as some people try to insulate themselves from the mess with money.

   Even more, the notion of equality is psychologically destructive. People need to know that they fulfill a specific local place, a specific role in that place, and are valued for who they are. Saying we accept everyone equally sounds good until you realize it is also by extension saying that we deny what makes people exceptional, not in a linear sense, but in the sense of being great at being who they are.

We have held onto these sacred cows for too long. (And unlike real cows, they do not produce delicious milk.)

They make us miserable, but because we assume they are necessary, we put it out of our head and struggle onwards.

They make us psychologically unstable, and create an ugly and controlling society, which hides behind a facade of “freedom”,”justice”,”peace”,”love” and anything else it could put on a Hallmark Card.

Right now, people look at us as heretics when we oppose these things. That is nothing more than the sheep instinct: they perceive a threat to the group, and so react against it as individuals, without realizing that the group in which they are assembled is a false group.

However, we’re reaching that tipping point. It takes a few brave people to speak up, and to do so without emotion or drama, taking the argument away from being about them personally and their self interest. Instead, they focus the argument on what is best for society as a whole.

As this happens, people begin to see. A few at first, but each of them invites a friend to ride along. Soon the movement begins momentum.

For the first time in two centuries, we are moving closer to that magic 10% (probably more like 2-5% who are local experts and born leaders) and there is the hope of change.

If you close your eyes for a moment, and forget your vertigo, you might find something new: a sense of fear and joy intermingled, the rush of finding yourself again in charge of your future. The thrill of exploration and possibly, better things.

Any time dark thoughts visit you, remember that this universe for all the darkness it contains seems to be guiding itself toward ultimately a good and loving end. This tipping point is just one small step on that journey.

Tags: crowdism, equality, method