Social Matter

Not Your Grandfather's Conservatism

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Yearly Archive: 2014

Thursday

18

September 2014

7

COMMENTS

Left, Right, and Tribal Loyalty

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It’s been my observation that, when someone tells you to stop thinking in terms of “left vs. right,” they’re always in some sly sense complimenting themselves. On their sophistication as analysts. On the complexity of their worldview. They want you to recognize that they’re not a narrow-minded partisan, someone who can only parrot the talking points handed down from party headquarters. (That’s what those racist, red-state FOX viewers do. They’re the ones who oversimplify political affiliation.) They want you to recognize that they’re capable of drawing their own conclusions, of crafting their own platforms, independent of the chattering groupthinkers surrounding […]

Wednesday

17

September 2014

4

COMMENTS

Exosemantics, Therefore Universal Basic Income Probably Isn’t Egalitarian

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Last week, I argued that ideologies are proxies for thedes. There are about five posts more queued up in my head, which all unpack the concept in different ways, but I’ll only explore one here. It’ll help keep the blood from leaking out of your ears, owing to all the autism. Ideologies are proxies for thedes, and so are policy instruments. Employ a little bit of Bayesian reasoning for a moment. If you encounter someone who refuses to label themselves while simultaneously advocating for extensive health and safety regulations in the workplace, minimum wage laws, child labor laws, a progressive […]

Tuesday

16

September 2014

7

COMMENTS

Why I’m Tired of Universal Basic Income Arguments

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Universal basic income arguments have become increasingly popular, thanks to high-profile advocates like Charles Murray, who is in turn adapting a proposal by Milton Friedman for a ‘negative income tax.’ [1] I haven’t had the time to read Murray’s In Our Hands, so I can’t address what he says in that directly. In any case, the majority of people that you’re likely to run into who argue for basic income tend to shave off the serial numbers of their arguments, instead just pretending like the idea came to them through the ether. Because many of the advocates for it are […]

Saturday

13

September 2014

4

COMMENTS

Looking To The Mencken Club And What Lies Beyond

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Occasionally I reflect on the craziest things I have ever heard other whites in their twenties say, whether it be in coffee shops, bars, or college campuses. Then again, the Baby Boomers really are not any better. The list gets intense: A Scottish left-anarchist once tried to convince me that the origins of the word “Christian” came from 1850s America, and that it was invented by nativists who were trying to unite Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, etc. against non-Christian immigrants A Maoist Boomer I knew in Chicago earnestly tried to convince me that there was no other way to describe what […]

Friday

12

September 2014

1

COMMENTS

Red Line

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His finger is on the button instead But what could he be thinking Is he nodding or is he blinking What thoughts could still be in his head Gesturing as he is wont to do To that thing that he will never do Does he live in just a world of thought Does he dwell inside his drooping head With his finger on the button instead Of marking more than ideal ought Within a memory of a fading dream Where strength may be what it may seem Thus they wait for us to make our move A thing which wise […]

Thursday

11

September 2014

9

COMMENTS

Shooting for the Top

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This week, I’m going to do my best to tie together a few of the threads I’ve been working with recently: anarcho-tyranny, resistance, and the right to bear arms among them. To kick it off—and in an act of contrition for my uppity contentious clickbait last Thursday—I’ll lay some groundwork in classic neoreactionary style, i.e. philosophically dense assertions made at rapid fire. Deep breath. Here goes: Anarcho-tyranny is war on the middle by the top. It’s not totally accurate to say that it’s war on the middle by both the bottom and the top, because only the top is waging […]

Wednesday

10

September 2014

13

COMMENTS

Why Non-Liberals Are Stupid And Crazy

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The strongest argument for liberalism is that non-liberals are stupid and crazy. Conservatives tend to be cretins, and if liberalism is the heights of high-society fashion, conservatism is like donning a pair of ripped carpenter jeans. Signalling conservatism is signalling low status. And that’s because conservatives more often than not are low-status. It takes psychological resolve and resilience to give the finger to all the glorious and respectable and reputable institutions of the Cathedral. Everything societally good and respectable on the highest level stems from the Cathedral. To step outside is to face ostracism and exclusion. So who exactly would […]

Tuesday

9

September 2014

6

COMMENTS

The War on Culture

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The refrain we read in most of the conservative papers is that the ‘culture war’ is over and that the left won. The truth is that the left won the culture war in the late 18th century and has just been solidifying its control and issuing new edicts with every succeeding century. There’s not all that much more culture left to destroy, unless the left goes through our remaining museums, burns them down, and digitally purges records of past literature. This wouldn’t be all that necessary, because the alternative to complete destruction is quite serviceable. When you pump out junk […]

Saturday

6

September 2014

2

COMMENTS

The King In The Mountain

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Arise now patriot; beat Drake’s drum! Let him know the time has come; Though his younger brothers’ lips are dumb Their hands must soon be red. Arise now patriot; sing Scott’s song! Tell the mad unthinking throng For strangers they have labored long And now their souls are dead.   Arise now Bran and Charlemagne And Roderick and Holger-Dane And Vytautas of Lithuane And Vlad and Finn McCool! Arise Sebastian and Glyndwr! Arise, Briton king of yore Who lies at Glastonbury Tor But still awaits his second rule.   Rise roaring from your hidden halls! Rouse Franks and Saxons, Slavs […]

Friday

5

September 2014

1

COMMENTS

The Necessity of Religion

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Who was responsible for the deaths of those who perished in the camps of the Third Reich? Don’t worry, it’s not a trick question where I’ll end up claiming atheists caused Nazism. It stands as I wrote it. So let’s try and answer it. Was it Hitler? One would think so…to an extent. But one man could never have acted on such a scale alone. Surely there is some responsibility to be shared around. Other top Third Reich officials? Again, presumably. But many of those never personally killed a single individual. So…guards? Soldiers? The engineers who designed the camps to begin with? […]