Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Is It "Their" Fault?

 If you are on Gab you know that the front page more often than not consists of memes and slogans, with a couple thought-provoking posts thrown in between. One of the memes spread around today went along the lines that the society is collapsing because "they" made the art ugly (among other things). Now I've seen the variations of this theme going around for ages. 

Who are "they" you will ask. Well, it could be anyone. "Deep State", "Special people", "Liberals," "Communists", "Demonrats", "Bankers" and sometimes, "elites" in general. 

Here is something I have been thinking about recently. The idea behind this type of posts is always that the elites are doing it on purpose, for some nefarious reasons, which is, possibly, at least, partly true. There is, however, an aspect of the problem which nobody seems to consider. Any society, how progressive and liberal it is in theory, has social classes. In traditional Western class system we have  upper class, middle class and lower class. Upper class are ruling elites, middle class are free property owners and craftsmen, while lower class is rather heterogenic. 

Traditionally it would consist out of the descendants of medieval serfs, landless peasants (and in general people too poor to own any kind of property), various vagabonds and antisocial/criminal elements.

European class system has never been very rigid, and there was both upward and downward mobility, however, the upper class still largely consists of those who are called "old blood/money". I read about some Swiss/Italian families which are 1000 years old and all this time have been in top 10% of the income bracket. In UK and Germany there are families who own property such as historical castles for more than a thousand years. Well, you get my point.

Upper class people, whether good or evil, generally have a higher IQ which, together with clannishness and ambition/lust for power is one of the factors which allows them to keep their dominant position in society. It is those people who throughout the centuries have had time to create high culture, works of art, music and literature. Their youngest sons became clergymen and studied theology. They have shaped European culture for more than a thousand years.

It was European nobility who first converted to Christianity, made it the official religion, and sometimes forced it on the peasants, who had kept their old pagan folks-beliefs well into Late Middle Ages. It was upper and upper middle class in Great Britain who created Victorian culture we admire so much.

Lower classes? Well, they did enjoy stuff like gladiator fights, public executions, traveling circus, and fairs where cripples were showing their handicaps for money. In the 19th century, there was an enormous effort by the elites to "enlighten" poor folks and to improve their living conditions. It worked! Even factory workers were reading novels like those of Dickens in Victorian England and visiting opera.

And then, what happened then? Somewhere in the mid-19th century Western elites lost their faith. They put their trust in science and "killed God". Some stayed "Christian in name only", others turned openly atheist. Ironically enough, it was lower middle/lower class who kept to their faith the longest, but now in Europe they chiefly lost it, too. In the USA, many people still identify as Christian, but for far too many of them, their religion is more like belonging to a social/entertainment club. My husband calls it "circus churches". 

Once Western elites stopped being Christian they simply lost their ability to create transcendental works of art. The last one of this kind in English language was probably Lord Of The Rings. Recently I read the preface to a Game of Thrones novel which stated that it is more morally complex than LOTR. The very first page I opened had a sentence that ran approximately like this: She f888ed her father. And later "she needs a good f888" Well, that is modern moral complexity on a display right here. I'm fairly certain that Tolkien could not have written it.

Western elites are currently atheistic nihilists (some think they are downright satanic) or (like some American politicians) use religion cynically to appeal to their voters and manipulate them into obeying the government (how many churches have adopted the alphabet agenda?) Elite sons are not choosing careers in the church which is one of the reasons of the theological stagnation and church having lower status in general. 

Art and culture produced by these elites naturally reflect their essence. "They" probably aren't even doing it on purpose, to corrupt the masses. They simply can't behave otherwise. Modern art and culture simply reflects their core values, on the one hand, while on the other hand, it appeals to the lowest common denominator because it sells better. You know, the types who used to enjoy gladiator's fights and public hangings. 

Until "they" become Christian again, there will be no change for the better.

 

16 comments:

  1. Could not agree more.

    Without God, we become orcs. It is as simple as that.

    And when it comes to Game of Thrones, I have read the books and watched the show, and it is not morally complex. It is totally amoral from the first syllable to the last. There is just different degrees of lust for power and far too much unnecessary sex scenes. Only one character, Ned Stark, has some morals and he is killed in the end of the first book.

    Also Martin's language is really poor compared to Tolkien's. But so it is with all modern literature. I resently re-read some Nancy Drew -stories and noticed, that even in those books, written for teenager girls, language was better at 50's and declined rapidly. 90's books are not worth reading anymore. And everything written after year 2000- well, it is like those "plain news" they have for retarded (at least in my country). And the decline just goes on...

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  2. BTW I hate it when men whine online how "they" have done this and that, feminists, women, liberals, whoever "they".

    I always ask: Why did you LET them?

    I mean, if they were real men, we wouldn't be in this mess. Men lost their Faith, got weak and allowed "them" to do what they did.

    Of course women have been joyful little helpmeets on this process, but it all comes back to men. Who is to protect their family? Who is to be the spiritual head of family?

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    1. I know what you mean:) But saying too much can get one in trouble for "fedposting".

      There was an old black-and white French movie which was an adaptation of Stendahl's novel (spelling) about some obscure Italian city state. Well, there is a young aristocratic guy in this movie with progressive views who keeps ranting to his reactionary uncle how Parma needs a revolution. The uncle then says: "To have a revolution, you first need revolutionaries. And we have none:)"

      It all happened in Minecraft, of course...

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  3. I watched 7 episodes of the 1st season of GoT. I'm not really a total prude, despite what some may think:) However, I decided to stop watching after they showed that guy with his naked d888 hanging around. I thought may be it was not really fair to my husband that while he was at work I was looking at other men's s8xual organs, you know. BTW, in the past it was considered an insult to a free/decent woman to make her look at the man's naked body. That's just gross, as was the show.

    Also the way they talked. Euro aristocrats in the times past weren't shrinking violets, of course, but they invented the whole moral code and rituals around cutting each other throats, like dueling, e.g.:) The whole difference between them and "peasants" were their court manners.

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  4. From reading social commentary from the 18th century, it seemed to me that most kings of that era had them quiet a harem and that man thingy of theirs poked quiet a few wealth and peasant, so this nonsense that the elite had better morality is a bit of a fair tale though this may not have been the norm among all upper classes.

    I guess what puzzles me here in the US is how most of the buildings are all ugly boxes we go to work in though I've seen some ugly stuff in Europe as well. I like the old Victorian style public works and homes and one would think as cheap as building materials had been up until Covidiocy, that we as a civilization could build more attractive structures.

    I had an older home up until a couple years ago that was built in the 1940s. It had wooden floors and real wooden trim along the floors and ceilings. It was a working class person's home, but I loved the wooden doors and glass door knobs. I had a couple of antique secretary desk that I used for storage and just like the look of them.

    The problem is that there are too many low IQ dumbed down people. The US Constitution was written at a 12th grade or higher level if you plug it and the Federalist Papers into a reading grader. Most people, even those with alleged college education, are too dumb for it which is a big part of the problem of maintaining freedom and liberty or what is left of it.
    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/02/paul-craig-roberts/is-truth-as-mighty-as-evil/

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  5. Texan, not only kings and not only in the 18th century (though from what I read about France right before the revolution, their morals were exceptionally wicked. Liaisons dangereuses anyone? :) I didn't say that elite men (and some women) had exceptionally good s8xual morals, but many/most of them were undoubtedly believers. They realised they were sinners and the stories of that period reflect it.

    Also Christian Church then didn't make a big deal about male chastity, unlike modern Evangelicals. In France, e.g. a royal mistress was an official position, they were even paid a salary. Elite culture was an honour culture. Men's honour is courage, women's honour is chastity. It's women who were supposed to be all chaste and virginal, not men.

    Ever heard of "Intrigue and Love" by Schiller? A nobleman falls for a bourgeois girl and wants to marry her, then his father tricks him into thinking she is unchaste so he poisons her only to learn about his mistake. Honour killings aren't only a Mid-Eastern thing...

    But yes, elite men often cut each other's throats and banged each other's women, despite all this. They just did it with style and good manners, lol!

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  6. About your last point: and we keep importing them...

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  7. Architecture became really ugly after the war.

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  8. To be fair on the architecture you can blame the government. If you look at old NYC the older buildings were unique and amazing. From what I was told the government eventually got involved with building codes and other regulations and strangled architecture to the point all we get now is dull or horrible looking things because they have to meet the codes. - W

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  9. About Europian honour culture: here we used to understand thing or two about human beings. People understood that men need to do their "wild oats" -things and on the other hand, women being chaste at all times is only way men can know their heirs are legitimate. It was all about practicality. In French court, after producing male heir, noble ladies could have a lover too.

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  10. BTW interesting what you Sanne wrote that it used to be an insult to make a decent woman look man's naked body. I must have really medieval instincts, because I really dislike being exposed to other people's flesh. Including modern sports "clothes", people wear everywhere nowadays. They look like bodypaint, and most fat ladies apparently have never seen their back view... Gross.

    It is interesting, how all somewhat civilized cultures and religiongs have always promoted modest clothing, even hindus (see the link). And somehow after the year 1960 all this wisdom, millenias old and widely agreed on -well, now we just know so much better!

    Even hindu's seem to think that one can get possessed by demons or bad energies if you wear wrong kind of clothing. And in many pagan europian cultures women used to cover their hair, because it was tought wind fairies can make woman crazy when tey mess her hair. (So it wasn't just christian "oppression").

    I am not making much sense, am I? But I just thinking that if everybody, christian, jews, sikhis, hindus and all other pagans agreed on something, and it worked for millenias, maybe they actually KNEW something, that has been forgotten?

    And even modern witches perform their rituals skyclad...


    https://www.sanatan.org/en/a/291.html

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  11. Anon W, here we are actually experiencing the revival of the 1930s architecture style, at least in private housing. Office buildings are still in this hideous modern style. I suppose it has its own charms though;)

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  12. Blanka, about the French, it really depended on how "tolerant" her husband was. Some weren't. Their laws allowed for some sort of honour killings right until 1970s, under some conditions (the husband had to catch them in flagrante delicto on his premises).

    About witches and other stuff. "Decent" women were presumed chaste. A chaste woman may only look at one man's naked body, her husband's. To force her to look at strange men or to undress her publicly is an offence against her chastity. In Rome slave girls wore short tight dresses, because their chastity wasn't protected, while free women wore long robes and covered their hair.

    I also read that wearing long skirts gives women the energy of Earth, which they need for fertility. And there there is this story about fallen angels lusting after mortal women, hence the need for headcoverings...

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  13. P.S. in medieval times it was nuns who performed nursing duties. They were supposed to swear off all the delights of flesh and be basically as8xual, so it was OK for them to watch strange men naked, for charity purposes.

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    1. If seeing men naked was concidered humiliating, maybe nuns also saw it as a means of self-humiliation? I read about st Therese of Lisieux; on easter, they washed the feet of poor and then drank the water, to humiliate themselves.

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  14. Blanka, I think in this case, nuns (and monks, too) were simply viewed as as8xual. Like some sort of eunuchs. In fact, there is this Bible verse of making oneself eunuch for the sake of the Kingdom, and there are also Protestants who believe that nursing and working outside home in general, should be reserved only for "female eunuchs" because they aren't suitable for family life any way. Kinda like Protestant nuns, but living in the world.

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