Who Gains?

The Disconnected, part 2

So, you might write me off as just another wacko, prattling on about vague conspiracies to demoralize and fragment our society. My kind of worldview is often marginalized and pushed out to the fringe. It is a convenient way to dismiss views that are unpopular or alarming. Even people close to me – especially people close to me – prefer to turn a deaf ear, rather than allow any kind of challenge to their deeply entrenched and comfortable views. It amazes me how people will cling to popular ideas simply because they are popular. Even if these ideas are wrong-minded and in the end destructive, people stay with the crowd, like proverbial buffalo charging over a cliff together.

And that precisely is the enemy: the normal human tendency to go along with the herd. That’s what makes our enemy all the more deadly and our struggle more challenging. No, I am not deluded that there is some sort of organized conspiracy to spoil us into complacency, mediocrity and utilitarian compassion, while disconnecting us from each other. I understand that something bigger is at work here. Collectivism. It is a grand ideal that plays perfectly into our pride and preys on our fears and guilt. It is also a natural extension of tribal, familial and even genetic urges to further the species. But all forms of collectivism suffer from the same moral bankruptcy as was popularized so eloquently by Karl Marx. That vile little Rasputin-like man who could not love himself much less understand true love for another, has infected all of civilization with his insidious, cynical, spoiled-rotten, lazy views.

Throughout the halls of academia, Marx is taught as a modern saint, selfless and interested in the well being of everyone. Well, that was "his concept" of well being in any case. "Whose concept" of well being is the operative point. It doesn’t really matter if the ideas are played out in the Soviet style or Maoist style, as communism, socialism, democratic-socialism, mixed economics, as good old American styled social insurance or simply as academic notions like utilitarianism. The operative point always comes down to who gets to decide – who the decision makers are. Who decides how many natural rights and individual liberties must be violated to serve the good of the many and do the greatest good for the greatest number? And I don’t mean the uninformed masses. They largely are expected to pick between two big levers, the left and the right. The masses decide little or nothing, even with the help of public opinion polls, activism and political coalitions. The big talk about the so-called equity of democracy is just talk.

The kinds of personalities who come to power in society are fairly predictable. The ruling class tends to be aggressive, ruthless and deceptive; one does not ascend to power otherwise – puppet rulers excluded. They must also be charming to the point of narcissism, so that when they tell you what to do, it almost sounds like it was your own idea. What better way for an opportunist to seize power than to wrap oneself in an ideology that boosts the public’s pride and sense of charity, and plays on their fears, while soothing them and promising a safe future. It doesn’t hurt to have ready-made enemies. Better yet, if they are pervasive yet elusive enemies like corporations and capitalism – eerie modern day replacements for the Jews of World War II.

Finally, success is all but guaranteed if you can get people to act out of their own selfish interests, while ironically demonizing greed and promising to fight poverty. Because, if you can manipulate people to start lying to themselves, then your own lies will ultimately be more palatable. The easiest way to rule society is to get the people to subjugate themselves voluntarily – they will shout down and shun any dissident fringe for you. Marxism and every other form of collectivism since share these attributes. They make no room for exceptions. As I’ve said before, big government is collectivism.

No. No one wants to hear the message of liberty. Blunt assholes like me aren’t going to stroke you gently and tell you everything is going to be okay. Your big lies are more comfortable than the truth we have to offer. Even worse, we won’t let you play off your self-interest as being charity towards others; we think that pretending that we don’t all act out of self-interest is dishonest. We think self-interest is the source of much of the good humanity has to offer. We will expect you to pull your weight. Well, we’re not going to pull it for you anyway. If you can find some suckers who’ll carry the weight of a slacker, that’s your business. And likewise, count me out if you plan to waste time and money on hopeless causes, making it easy for those most in need of a collective kick in the ass to continue sitting on their asses. I’ll do my part – do it even better with you and government out of my way. My time and money will do my bidding rather than someone else taking it from me to serve their own interests and system of values.

Passionately protecting our natural rights and individual liberty IS for the good of the many and IS the only way to create the greatest good for the greatest number. A person or group who takes any of your liberty when you have done no wrong, has oppressed you. Oppression doesn’t always come in the guise of steel jawed sergeants breaking down your door. On the contrary, the cruelest kind of oppression demands your consent, that you fall in line with the rest of the mad stampede. And, if people like me can’t avert tragedy and send the herd charging off in safer directions, then the surviving few, those who were not trampled or dragged over the cliff against our wills, can take bitter solace in being right.