I love your lists John. Saved in my archive as they are timeless.
All of this seems to boil down to liberals being grade-A hypocrites.
Looking at the entirety of their collective behavior and considering Haidt's uncovering the liberal truncated moral filter of only care/harm, my recent epiphany is the following.
The changes to the economy becoming more tech, service and paper-pushing, and females entering and dominating the workforce, has made liberal personality types richer. And with their higher income and wealth they have become more controlling. But they lack all the moral drivers of the old producer class that used to account for the control. They pursue only care and harm reduction, but as egoism dominates all human behavior, they pursue their own care and harm reduction as the priority. Without other moral filters engaged, their behavior is just selfish and greedy. They believe they are righteous because they cannot moralize outside the selfish care/harm filter... they dont value any other moral considerations. They are actually defective in their decision processes because of these moral blind spots. This is why all states and cities they control are in decline.
They are hazards in control. If you think about fundamental human capability from an evolutionary perspective, they are people that would always tend to be subordinate. But tech, plus changes to the economy, and feminism have all flipped the script against what God and/or Darwin intedended.
Thanks for posting this list, John. Every time I get to thinking that I might be judged harshly for judging Libs harshly, I like to see exactly what it is that is so wrong about the ideas that they have and the effects of those ideas on others and on society in general. The hypocrisy alone is impossible to reconcile with honest conduct; it's usually thinly veiled theft and fraud. I don't enjoy knowing that half of my family has the morals of an alley cat and the rapacious appetite of a Great White, but they do indeed check off all 20 items on this list; I've heard them speak in support of all those notions amongst themselves, at times, over the years, and it hurts me in a way, because I can't reach any of them with gospel truth, logic, or real world results. Incredibly, they "know-" with a moral certainty- that they, not we, hold the moral high ground... God help them all.
I exchanged emails today with someone I count as a friend, a friendship that will delight the philosemitic John Hawkins and appall a lot of my other friends.
He is a Hasidic Rabbi.
The exchange was on the subject of whether liberals are evil.
I am pasting it below as a comment of what Hawkins said. (I will compose another comment tomorrow. That comment will be on psychologically diagnosing liberals, a matter that our mentor Hawkins did not include with his other insights.)
Here's my exchange with the Rabbi. His comments are first, of course, and then I reply.
I assure my appalled friends that I have not taken leave of my senses and that my friendship with the Rabbi, who shares many of our ideas, has not blinded me to the problems we have with the Jewish minority.
Are Liberals Evil?
HERE IS WHAT THE RABBI WROTE ME:
Reb Shmuel:
You have correctly listed many evil motivations for the Bad Guys. Gelt, career etc
And, also correctly, that they falsify stuff in order to win.
BUT at most your position might be that they are indifferent to bad results, not that they will them.
What sayeth my Calvinist Rebbi?
PS - Are you still pals with that brother of yours?
HERE IS MY REPLY:
My favorite Rabbi:
I think liberals are much worse than only being indifferent to bad results.
I think many of them (like Mary Louise Kelly, the top NPR journalist on its All Things Considered program whom I particularly detest) knowingly lie, suppress the truth and haven't the slightest human sympathy for people who suffer from the policies they promote. They do this to put groceries in the pantry or to get an approving nod at the cocktail party.
All of them are narcissistic, self-promoting virtue signalers who are empty of moral introspection.
Not all of them are like that when they start out but like our own Dr. Pangloss* the ones with integrity, moral introspection and intellectual curiosity rather quickly cease to be liberals.
The gold nuggets are winnowed out. The dregs are left and remain liberals. Liberaldom thus becomes a stinking swamp of waste products.
So, as time progresses, liberals become worse and worse.
I am a very bad Christian:
I hate them.
Jared, for all his atheism, is much kindlier than I am. He thinks that liberals are scrupulously moral and can be rescued if only they are approached as the moral paragons that they are.
I recognize how good hearted Jared is but I think he is blind.
As for my brother:
There's a mantra one hears frequently if one hangs out with the New Age crowd as I sometimes do:
"Friends are the family you choose."
The intent of this phrase is to denigrate family loyalty and provide an excuse to wash your hands of your family members. As such, of course, it is in direct conflict with the Commandment "Honor thy father and thy mother" but, since such people are generally not religious, the commandments don't count with them.
I heard this phrase and thought it over. I interpreted it 180 degrees contrary to the meaning they give it.
Yes. Family is more important than friends. You don't choose your family. That's why it's more important to remain a member of a family instead of "finding yourself" by "ending the denial" and disconnecting with family.
So, I remain my brother's brother even if it works better to tamper down connections.
Remember that unlike most "conservatives" "freedom" doesn't count much with me.
I believe that community, race, family (in sum - connectedness) are what matter and freedom often gets in the way.
When I was an undergraduate, I went to a campus musical event, which I rarely did since my musical tastes leaned toward classical music, folk songs, ballads and so on and I disliked "popular music."
Friends of mine were going and I tagged along.
I was so cut off from pop culture and in my own world that I didn't even know who was singing.
It turned out to be a woman named Janice Joplan.
I listened to her screeching with distaste.
But then she sang something that made me sit up, perk up and think.
She sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristopherson (sp?). I had never heard "Me and Bobby McGee" before.
The lyrics swept over me:
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
Freedom. That's all that Bobby left.
Feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and Bobby McGee."
"Yes!", I thought. Exactly so.
All this" freedom here, freedom there" talk.
Nonsense.
I hear the word "freedom" from people leaving their spouses and their children. From people who are repudiating their parents. From people who are "breaking free" from the ties of race, culture, family, country, religion.
Freedom can be desirable but it's not the ultimate desideratum.
Loyalty, fidelity, community - all are more desirable.
You as a Hasidic Jew know that better than most people.
Nietzsche said a lot of wise and instructive things but not always.
When he said, "the strong man is strongest alone" he was almost as nutty as Thomas Jefferson when he wrote, the truly lunatic words "All men are created equal."
The ancient Greeks had it right when they said:
"One man - no man."
Here endeth the lesson.
Sam
*DR. PANGLOSS IS MY NICKNAME FOR ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS WHOM THE RABBI KNOWS AND WHO IS A MAJOR FIGURE AMONG FREE THINKING AMERICANS. MY NICKNAME MAKES FUN OF HIS OPTIMISTIC, GOOD-BELIEVING ATTITUDE TOWARD PEOPLE AND PROBLEMS. IT COMES FROM VOLTAIRE'S NOVEL CANDIDE AND IS THE NAME OF THE "PHILOSOPHER" WHO IS ALWAYS LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE IN THIS "THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS."
"BUT at most your position might be that they are indifferent to bad results, not that they will them."
I don't believe that. Not one iota. Because they're adults, many of them are intelligent, and these bad results have pointed out to them over and over and over again. Even if they pretend otherwise, they know.
That about covers it, but at the top of list should be !!!HATES AMERICA!!!
I love your lists John. Saved in my archive as they are timeless.
All of this seems to boil down to liberals being grade-A hypocrites.
Looking at the entirety of their collective behavior and considering Haidt's uncovering the liberal truncated moral filter of only care/harm, my recent epiphany is the following.
The changes to the economy becoming more tech, service and paper-pushing, and females entering and dominating the workforce, has made liberal personality types richer. And with their higher income and wealth they have become more controlling. But they lack all the moral drivers of the old producer class that used to account for the control. They pursue only care and harm reduction, but as egoism dominates all human behavior, they pursue their own care and harm reduction as the priority. Without other moral filters engaged, their behavior is just selfish and greedy. They believe they are righteous because they cannot moralize outside the selfish care/harm filter... they dont value any other moral considerations. They are actually defective in their decision processes because of these moral blind spots. This is why all states and cities they control are in decline.
They are hazards in control. If you think about fundamental human capability from an evolutionary perspective, they are people that would always tend to be subordinate. But tech, plus changes to the economy, and feminism have all flipped the script against what God and/or Darwin intedended.
Thanks for posting this list, John. Every time I get to thinking that I might be judged harshly for judging Libs harshly, I like to see exactly what it is that is so wrong about the ideas that they have and the effects of those ideas on others and on society in general. The hypocrisy alone is impossible to reconcile with honest conduct; it's usually thinly veiled theft and fraud. I don't enjoy knowing that half of my family has the morals of an alley cat and the rapacious appetite of a Great White, but they do indeed check off all 20 items on this list; I've heard them speak in support of all those notions amongst themselves, at times, over the years, and it hurts me in a way, because I can't reach any of them with gospel truth, logic, or real world results. Incredibly, they "know-" with a moral certainty- that they, not we, hold the moral high ground... God help them all.
Bingo! Right on.
Bingo!
You have observed the libs behavior with 100 percent accuracy. Thank you for writing this.
You have a great list.
I exchanged emails today with someone I count as a friend, a friendship that will delight the philosemitic John Hawkins and appall a lot of my other friends.
He is a Hasidic Rabbi.
The exchange was on the subject of whether liberals are evil.
I am pasting it below as a comment of what Hawkins said. (I will compose another comment tomorrow. That comment will be on psychologically diagnosing liberals, a matter that our mentor Hawkins did not include with his other insights.)
Here's my exchange with the Rabbi. His comments are first, of course, and then I reply.
I assure my appalled friends that I have not taken leave of my senses and that my friendship with the Rabbi, who shares many of our ideas, has not blinded me to the problems we have with the Jewish minority.
Are Liberals Evil?
HERE IS WHAT THE RABBI WROTE ME:
Reb Shmuel:
You have correctly listed many evil motivations for the Bad Guys. Gelt, career etc
And, also correctly, that they falsify stuff in order to win.
BUT at most your position might be that they are indifferent to bad results, not that they will them.
What sayeth my Calvinist Rebbi?
PS - Are you still pals with that brother of yours?
HERE IS MY REPLY:
My favorite Rabbi:
I think liberals are much worse than only being indifferent to bad results.
I think many of them (like Mary Louise Kelly, the top NPR journalist on its All Things Considered program whom I particularly detest) knowingly lie, suppress the truth and haven't the slightest human sympathy for people who suffer from the policies they promote. They do this to put groceries in the pantry or to get an approving nod at the cocktail party.
All of them are narcissistic, self-promoting virtue signalers who are empty of moral introspection.
Not all of them are like that when they start out but like our own Dr. Pangloss* the ones with integrity, moral introspection and intellectual curiosity rather quickly cease to be liberals.
The gold nuggets are winnowed out. The dregs are left and remain liberals. Liberaldom thus becomes a stinking swamp of waste products.
So, as time progresses, liberals become worse and worse.
I am a very bad Christian:
I hate them.
Jared, for all his atheism, is much kindlier than I am. He thinks that liberals are scrupulously moral and can be rescued if only they are approached as the moral paragons that they are.
I recognize how good hearted Jared is but I think he is blind.
As for my brother:
There's a mantra one hears frequently if one hangs out with the New Age crowd as I sometimes do:
"Friends are the family you choose."
The intent of this phrase is to denigrate family loyalty and provide an excuse to wash your hands of your family members. As such, of course, it is in direct conflict with the Commandment "Honor thy father and thy mother" but, since such people are generally not religious, the commandments don't count with them.
I heard this phrase and thought it over. I interpreted it 180 degrees contrary to the meaning they give it.
Yes. Family is more important than friends. You don't choose your family. That's why it's more important to remain a member of a family instead of "finding yourself" by "ending the denial" and disconnecting with family.
So, I remain my brother's brother even if it works better to tamper down connections.
Remember that unlike most "conservatives" "freedom" doesn't count much with me.
I believe that community, race, family (in sum - connectedness) are what matter and freedom often gets in the way.
When I was an undergraduate, I went to a campus musical event, which I rarely did since my musical tastes leaned toward classical music, folk songs, ballads and so on and I disliked "popular music."
Friends of mine were going and I tagged along.
I was so cut off from pop culture and in my own world that I didn't even know who was singing.
It turned out to be a woman named Janice Joplan.
I listened to her screeching with distaste.
But then she sang something that made me sit up, perk up and think.
She sang "Me and Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristopherson (sp?). I had never heard "Me and Bobby McGee" before.
The lyrics swept over me:
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
Freedom. That's all that Bobby left.
Feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and Bobby McGee."
"Yes!", I thought. Exactly so.
All this" freedom here, freedom there" talk.
Nonsense.
I hear the word "freedom" from people leaving their spouses and their children. From people who are repudiating their parents. From people who are "breaking free" from the ties of race, culture, family, country, religion.
Freedom can be desirable but it's not the ultimate desideratum.
Loyalty, fidelity, community - all are more desirable.
You as a Hasidic Jew know that better than most people.
Nietzsche said a lot of wise and instructive things but not always.
When he said, "the strong man is strongest alone" he was almost as nutty as Thomas Jefferson when he wrote, the truly lunatic words "All men are created equal."
The ancient Greeks had it right when they said:
"One man - no man."
Here endeth the lesson.
Sam
*DR. PANGLOSS IS MY NICKNAME FOR ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS WHOM THE RABBI KNOWS AND WHO IS A MAJOR FIGURE AMONG FREE THINKING AMERICANS. MY NICKNAME MAKES FUN OF HIS OPTIMISTIC, GOOD-BELIEVING ATTITUDE TOWARD PEOPLE AND PROBLEMS. IT COMES FROM VOLTAIRE'S NOVEL CANDIDE AND IS THE NAME OF THE "PHILOSOPHER" WHO IS ALWAYS LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE IN THIS "THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS."
"BUT at most your position might be that they are indifferent to bad results, not that they will them."
I don't believe that. Not one iota. Because they're adults, many of them are intelligent, and these bad results have pointed out to them over and over and over again. Even if they pretend otherwise, they know.